Charlotte Angel Connection: Recent Episodes
William Bissett, CFP
Charlotte Angel Connection is a means to connect those both in Charlotte and across the country to Charlotte’s fast growing startup and angel investing community.
In this episode of the Charlotte Angel Connection, we talk with Heather McCullough of Society 54. During today’s podcast you’ll learn how Heather took a job and turned it into a business by paying attention to what she liked about her work.Heather’s marketing expertise and her drive to help lawyers keep their attention on billable hours built the successful platform now employing 11 remote workers spread across the U.S.Highlights from the episode include: Carving out company with passion Finding leaks in the buckets and using your knowledge to offer value Transitioning from employee to business owner Why gamifying fires up the competitive juices Adding technology to aid a coaching business Coaching vs technology for scaling a business Knowing when to expand Life in the day of an all-female team Challenges and benefits of remote working Funding challenges and benefits of being a female founder How entrepreneurship affects the family How travelling across the US in a camper van is like being and entrepreneur Heather’s impressive Georgia Bulldog barkCheck out this episode to learn how Heather took a profession and turned it into a profitable business, creating an asset that her family is proud of, and her legal customers are grateful for.William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
In this episode of the "Charlotte Angel Connection", Marcia Dawood, a seasoned angel investor, accomplished TEDX Charlotte speaker, member of the Angel Capital Association and SEC Small Business Capital Formation Committee shares her recipe of "doing good by doing well" by “helping entrepreneurs’ dreams come true’.
Marcia takes us through her journey of becoming an angel investor, how ALS (Lou Gehrig’s disease) helped her see the true value of investing in start-ups to affect meaningful change, and the value that ALL angel’s bring to the table when investing.
Key Highlights:
Comparing the angel investment environment across the U.S. Becoming and angel by “contributing through curiosity” and embracing “story time”. The value of waiting for the right opportunity. How to start with as little as $50. How a family ALS diagnosis inspired Marsha to use angel investing to give back. The value of company contribution to changes vs. charities. Encouraging the younger generation to get involved.
Learn more about Marcia Dawood and the work she’s doing to promote angel investing in the U.S. and abroad, by checking out her podcast, the Angel Next Door. We definitely recommend Marcia’s Charlotte, NC TedX talk to learn more about her as well as the launch of her upcoming book.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
In the latest episode of the Charlotte Angel Connection podcast, we had the privilege of speaking with Leo Adams, the visionary founder of Skylink Aerial Imaging. At Skylink, Leo and his team have harnessed the potential of drones to offer solutions in industries ranging from real estate and construction to renewable energy. They are at the forefront of utilizing drone technology to provide valuable insights, streamline operations, and enhance decision-making processes.
We delve into the importance of systematizing processes for scalability. Leo emphasizes the significance of creating sustainable, repeatable systems within the business to reach new levels of growth.
Key Highlights:
Leo Adams' journey from drone hobbyist to the visionary founder of Skylink Aerial Imaging. Utilizing drone technology to provide solutions across industries, from real estate to renewable energy. Harnessing the power of data for efficient operations and decision-making. The significance of systematizing processes for scalability and growth. Personal insights into Leo's morning routine, growth mindset, and approach to personal and professional development. Aligning business growth with conscious capitalism and value creation. An inspirational story of innovation, collaboration, and success in the dynamic world of drone technology.
Tune in to this high-flying 152nd episode of the Charlotte Angel Connection podcast to gain a deeper understanding of how Leo Adams and Skylink Aerial Imaging are redefining industries through the transformative power of drone technology.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we have the pleasure of interviewing Steve Wilcenski, the co-founder of BN Nano, a company that specializes in developing nanomaterials with myriad properties and applications. With a focus on creating materials that are stronger, lighter, and more efficient in dissipating heat, BN Nano has captured the attention of various industries, including aerospace, defense, electronics, and clean energy. During our conversation, Steve delves into the fascinating world of nanomaterials, sharing the challenges he faced during the company's early stages and the strategic approach to expanding their customer base. He sheds light on BN Nano's groundbreaking work in water purification, revealing how their nanomaterials can remove harmful substances from water sources thus addressing environmental concerns we now face. Key Highlights:
Introduction to BN Nano and its pioneering work in nanomaterials. Industries benefiting from BN Nano's materials: aerospace, defense, electronics, and clean energy. BN Nano's commitment to solving water pollution through innovative purification methods, through Invicta Water. Strategic partnerships and crowdfunding initiatives driving their growth. Plans to spin out the water purification division as a separate company. The urgency of BN Nano's mission to make a positive impact on global challenges.
Tune in to the Charlotte Angel Connection’s 151st interview with Steve Wilcenski to gain deeper insights into BN Nano's revolutionary nanomaterials. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome David Jones to the podcast. David founded Peak 10 (now known as Flexential), a hybrid IT infrastructure provider focused on colocation, connectivity, cloud, and managed solutions.
David started Peak 10 in 1999 after being fired from a previous job. In 2010, he sold Peak 10 to a private equity group. In 2014, they sold again to another private equity group (who is still the majority owner of the company). David stayed on as Chairman until Peak 10 completed its acquisition of ViaWest in 2018, giving the newly formed combined company - Flexential - a national reach. Today Flexential is a multi-billion-dollar company.
We cover many topics during our conversation with David, including…
Surviving a recent critical health event & how it altered his sense of purpose The importance of recognizing and playing to teammates’ strengths Raising $1.5 million in 4 weeks for the original Peak 10 business plan Why expecting success can be a mistake The power of resilience in health, business, and life
… as well as some of David’s accumulated wisdom from speaking with countless executives, founders, and investors.
Please enjoy this conversation with David Jones.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Alan Fitzpatrick to the podcast. Alan is the cofounder and CEO of Open Broadband, an internet service provider (ISP) focused on serving traditionally underserved areas.
Alan and his cofounder, Kent Wenrich, started Open Broadband in 2016. Today, Open Broadband is one of Charlotte’s fastest growing startups, having been named to Charlotte Business Journal’s Fast 50 list each year since 2018.
We cover several topics during our conversation with Alan, including…
How $42B of federal government grants are changing the ISP space Rural and urban markets both containing underserved segments Meeting an angel investor through a startup pitch event in Raleigh Weighing exit opportunities in growth and decision-making How this business differs from their previous 2 software companies
…as well as what’s next for Open Broadband in the coming years.
And for those brave souls who want to listen to our original podcast with Alan, here is Episode 35 and Episode 36.
Please enjoy this conversation with Alan Fitzpatrick.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Meggie Williams to the podcast. Meggie is the founder and CEO of Skiptown, an all-in-one ecosystem for bar, park, and pet care services.Skiptown started as a dog-walking company named Waggle in 2016. Fast forward to late last year when Skiptown closed a $28M fundraising round to expand the concept around the country. By next year, Skiptown will have launched in Atlanta, Houston, and Denver in addition to the Charlotte location (with more coming).During our wide-ranging conversation with Meggie, we cover topics including… Losing 95% of revenue during the beginning of COVID Why ‘Riding the Scooter in the Rain’ is an important company value Her process for finding great investors and board members Being a mom and CEO of a fast-growing startup How Charlotte’s entrepreneurial ecosystem has grown over the years…as well as what’s next for Skiptown in the coming years.Please enjoy this conversation with Meggie Williams. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Alex Smereczniak and Dan D'Aquisto to the podcast. Alex and Dan are the cofounders of 2U Laundry, a laundry subscription service and laundromat franchising company.Alex and Dan became friends in 6th grade while growing up in Minnesota. Fast forward to today and 2U Laundry recently closed a $20M Series B round to scale their 2U subscription service and LaundroLab franchising model nationwide.We cover several topics with Alex and Dan, including… Pivoting before and during COVID-19 How they remain friends while holding one another accountable Lessons learned from raising and deploying 4 rounds of capital The benefits of great board members Incorporating the good, bad, & ugly into board updates…as well as what’s next for 2U Laundry in 2023, and beyond.Please enjoy this conversation with Alex Smereczniak and Dan D'Aquisto. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Sagar Shukla to the podcast. Sagar is a cofounder of Foresight, a B2B software company that helps sales and client success teams reduce churn and expand client relationships.Sagar started his career at Red Ventures and cut his startup teeth as one of DealCloud’s earliest employees. Today, Sagar and his cofounder Nigel are using Foresight’s seed round to help companies (including their former employer DealCloud) create customer-led growth infrastructure.We cover several topics with Sagar, including… Why studying abroad in Bolivia prompted an entrepreneurial epiphany How working at a large company is like the ‘Snap to Grid’ feature The client question that led to founding Foresight The product-building stage vs. the company-building stage for founders What it’s like returning to a more mature CLT startup ecosystem…as well as what’s next for Foresight in 2023, and beyond.Please enjoy this conversation with Sagar Shukla. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Lauren Marturano to the podcast. Lauren is the founder and CEO of Zinnia, a software company that helps businesses plan in-person events such as offsites, client dinners, and more.Lauren began her career at Microsoft as an Enterprise Account Executive before joining Salesforce and eventually leaving corporate life to pursue entrepreneurship. Now, Lauren is getting ready to close a seed round that will help grow Zinnia’s team and product.We cover several topics with Lauren, including why… Taking a 90% pay cut to pursue entrepreneurship was worth it. Being an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at Atlanta Ventures helped Lauren launch Zinnia. Zinnia became a travel agency. Hypothesis-driven development helps keep product & sales aligned. Enterprise sales budgets are so resilient in economic downturns. …as well as what’s next for Zinnia in 2023, and more.Please enjoy this conversation with Lauren Marturano. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Ernest Eich to the podcast. Ernest is the founder and CEO of Shandoka, an electric motorcycle company.Ernest began developing his electric motorcycle concept in 2012, performing custom carpentry during the day to bootstrap research, development, and early tinkering. Today, having received a utility patent in late 2022, Shandoka is successfully into a $12M fundraise and is opening a manufacturing facility in South Carolina.We cover several steps along Shandoka’s journey with Ernest, including… Meeting dozens of famous inventors during his time in Colorado The pros and cons of living in an ecosystem not known for CleanTech Why CleanTechs play a major role in advancing developing countries’ public health Unique challenges (and opportunities) presented by running a global hardware company Playing into the tailwinds of global interest in reducing carbon emissions…as well as what’s next for Shandoka in 2023, and more.Please enjoy this conversation with Ernest Eich. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 143: Trey PhillsToday we welcome Trey Phills to the podcast. Trey is the co-founder and CMO of Gymble, a software company helping athletic facilities, personal trainers, and athletic trainers better manage their businesses and client bookings.After graduating from Yale in 2019, Trey played in the NBA G League and launched his TikTok (@tphills), quickly growing to over 800K followers and becoming a TikTok Partner. During 2019 and 2020, Trey and his cofounders (Devon Oakley and Akim Mitchell) began working on the idea that became Gymble. Today, Gymble is participating in Techstars’ Anywhere Accelerator as a member of the 2023 Winter Class.We cover a lot in our wide-ranging conversation, like … Parallels between professional/collegiate athletics and building a company How being transparent about getting cut helped Trey grow a sizeable TikTok following Techstars’ process for helping founders do more, faster with systems Maintaining and growing a professional network by sharing social media expertise The importance of finding true believers instead of converting skeptics in both fundraising and sales…as well as Gymble’s plans for 2023, and more. Please enjoy this conversation with Trey Phills. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Natalie Waggett to the podcast. Natalie is the co-founder and CEO of Ohanafy, a software company that provides end-to-end craft beverage management software for breweries.After starting out at Bank of America and joining nCino as an early employee, Natalie took a short break from the corporate world. During this break, the inspiration behind Ohanafy came after reading her friend Inez’s book Life After Windows. Natalie reached out to Inez and, while catching up, learned the challenges associated with running a brewery. Shortly thereafter, Natalie (and her co-founders Ian Padrick, Chris Dowling, Davis Bryson, and Matt Keeter) launched Ohanafy to help breweries manage their businesses and build community.We cover several topics in this episode, including how Natalie… Learned to think big as one of nCino’s earliest employees Transitioned from a banker mentality to a founder mentality Thinks about various trends such as Gen Z’s decreased alcohol consumption Created internal systems that spawned multiple new product offerings…as well as why Natalie supports grassroots goal-setting over top-down planning.Please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with Natalie Waggett. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Tyler Traudt to the podcast. Tyler is the founder and CEO of DebtBook, a software company that provides debt and lease management software to government, higher education, and healthcare finance teams.After a two-year stint in Citigroup’s public finance investment banking team, Tyler spent several years consulting for public finance teams before connecting with his cofounder, Erik Pelletier. They started DebtBook in 2019 and recently closed a $7.5M Series A round.We cover many topics in this episode, including how Tyler… Signed DebtBook’s first 15 clients pre-product Thinks about fundraising (and why they’ve raised 4 seed rounds) Shaped DebtBook’s culture as it scaled from 0 to 85 FTEs Learned to onboard new employees more quickly Shares DebtBook’s 10-Year Vision regularly with new hires and at All-Hands meetings…as well as a few lessons Tyler learned from reading The Great CEO Within by Matt Mochary.Please enjoy this wide-ranging conversation with Tyler Traudt. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Dr. Margaret Kocherga to the podcast. Margaret is the founder and CEO of Margik, a hardware tech company looking to make organic-based lighting mainstream.A self-described ‘accidental entrepreneur’, Margaret started Margik while earning her PhD in Nanoscale Science at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. After founding the company, Margaret was awarded a NC IDEA grant, completed the Department of Energy’s Chain Reaction Innovation program, and even appeared on Amazon Prime’s Unicorn Hunters television series.We cover many topics in this episode, including how Margaret… Immigrated from Kyiv, Ukraine to Charlotte, NC at the age of 15 Recovered from an ACL tear that prematurely ended her ballet career Discovered her passion for science out of necessity Navigated different funding sources and grants to finance Margik Knocked on doors in Silicon Valley to land Margik’s first commercial pilot…as well as how Charlotte can stop losing hardware tech startups to places like Silicon Valley, and more!Please enjoy this conversation with Margaret Kocherga. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Matt Beck to the podcast. Matt is the co-founder and CEO of Hoppy Planet, a food sustainability company fortifying everyday snacks with the nutrients and vitamins your body needs.
While working for Google in Chicago, Matt launched the company along with his co-founder and wife, Allie. During the pandemic, they relocated to Charlotte and scaled the business to new heights by taking on additional funding, growing the product lines, and expanding Hoppy Planet’s retail footprint.
We cover several steps along Hoppy Planet’s journey with Matt, like…
Why chocolate chip cookies are the perfect food to make with cricket protein Experimenting with 45+ different recipes to crack the code on cricket cookies Maturing the company operationally by moving from Chicago to Charlotte Scaling recipes and ingredients from kitchen quantities to an industrial operation How paranoia helped 5x Hoppy Planet’s SKUs in 4 months
…as well as Matt’s goals for the next 12-18 months for Hoppy Planet, and more.
Please enjoy this conversation with Matt Beck.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Andrew Ashur to the podcast. Andrew is the founder and CEO of Lucid Drone Technologies, a YCombinator-backed company building industrial drones for labor-intensive tasks.
While studying Economics and Spanish at Davidson College, Andrew learned mechanical, electrical, and software engineering to create Lucid Drones’ first prototype. Fast forward to today and Lucid Drones is scaling rapidly to alleviate labor shortages in the service economy.
We cover a wide variety of topics in this episode, like how (and why) Andrew…
Increased the company’s “surface area of luck” by cleaning Mercedes Benz Stadium Flew an early-stage drone into a tree minutes before an investor demo Powered through a chemical burn to clean a parking garage in the early days Found his first investor in Chicago and raised funds to fly there to pitch Lucid Drones Fundraises continually with a relationship- and traction-driven process
…as well as the role NASCAR played in Andrew’s decision to headquarter Lucid Drones in Charlotte, and more!
Please enjoy this conversation with Andrew Ashur.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome David Jones, General Partner of Bull City Venture Partners to the podcast. BCVP has a great reputation across NC and the southeast and they just finished raising their 3rd fund.
Over the pandemic, David reached out to me twice to check in and see how I was doing – and I’m not an investor in the fund or a company they’ve invested in.
In a recent conversation with David, it hit me how founder friendly he had to be based on my interactions with him. I had also recently been having conversations with founders who seemed timid to ask their venture partners/investors questions about what they can/can’t do with company stock or how they should treat certain business situations that greatly impacted them. As such, I reached back out to David to see if he would be willing to do a podcast discussing what it means to him when someone says a venture firm is founder friendly.
Naturally, we start off the podcast learning more about David and how Bull City Venture Partners has developed over the years. David was kind enough to discuss some aspects of their due diligence process and how it may differ from others. And I think David’s background getting into VC and the path of Bull City over the years is such a great story and so beneficial for them.
From there, our discussion turned into what meant to David when I said ‘founder friendly VC’. I thought it was great that one of the first things he said was it didn’t mean they were easy on terms. That’s such an important point to make when talking about being founder friendly but then he opened up about working with founders AFTER funding them and how that dictates what founder friendly can really be. David was naturally honest and open about where they have been helpful but also in some places where they be more engaged with their founders.
Hopefully listening to this podcast will help all the founders out there know that they investors want them to be successful and have seen other founders be successful in the past. As such, they are oftentimes more than happy to engage in discussions about ways to maximize the growth of the business to the founder(s).
If you have any questions, we are going to do a founder only ‘office hours’ in the coming weeks with David where only founders can join in a 60-minute discussion with David about aspects of their business they would like to get feedback on. Please email me directly if you’d like to be included (william@portusadvisors.com). If you’ve been on the podcast before, don’t worry. You will automatically receive the invite.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Matt Hudson, founder and CEO of Bildit (pronounced Build It), to the podcast. Bildit has created a “rapid mobile app development platform for ecommerce brands”. It’s a concept Matt has had for quite some time and it’s really excited to see him bring it to life.
After spending years helping Belk build their mobile app and experience for their shoppers, Matt became acutely aware of the issues companies face when they are trying to deliver content and a shopping experience. So as any good entrepreneur would do, he left Belk to create the business that could solve the problem for so many other ecommerce companies. And he’s built a team around him that is ready to pounce on the opportunity ahead of them. They’ve got a team of 12 at the moment and with their current capital raise they are going to staff up as they start their growth phase.
We had a fun time with our interview as we discussed a number of topics. One area where I thought there was tremendous value for listeners is where we dove into how they created service revenue last year as they continued to build out there technology and how they are pivoting away from that now that the technology is ready to release. Matt has a business degree from the University of Arkansas and he saw the team was capable of creating revenue last year rather than having to burn through cash and he jumped right into it. Some investors will question the service revenue but creating cash early on is a great concept for entrepreneurs – especially in today’s environment.
It's a great podcast with Matt and I think you’ll enjoy listening to how they are building the company. Matt has been a huge benefit to the startup community as a mentor and friend. He will have plenty of people in his corner pulling for Bildit as they grow and scale.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Rich Camacho, CEO and Co-Founder of BlueRecruit. BlueRecruit is a startup based in Raleigh NC. They match blue collar skilled workers to hiring companies based on experience and certifications desired by the hiring company.
Rich is a graduate of West Point. Cattle ranching and military service runs in the blood of Rich’s family. Thus, he followed in the family footprints and served in the Army as a Black Hawk helicopter pilot. Following his military service, Rich helped fellow veterans make the transition into corporate America. While helping many of America’s top companies, he recognized that the recruiting industry largely ignores the need of blue-collar workers and employers desperate for their talent. This inspired him to lead the team at BlueRecruit.
In our podcast today, Rich shared his story of how and why he started BlueRecruit. He talks about the database/platform they built for trades people and the importance of creating the marketplace. We spoke about their growth pattern and what they have learned in their hiring process. Their future focus along with partners is the importance of educating young people that the trades industry is an incredible opportunity.
It's a fun podcast!
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Landon Glenn, CEO and Founder of ASA. I met Landon at the RevTech Labs fall Venture 135 Conference. We ended up sitting at the same table together and quickly started talking about ASA and his background.
Landon was a key component of scaling Banzai (an online financial literacy application for kids). During that time (about 5 years) Landon was attending 10 - 12 fintech conferences a year and kept hearing about fintech startups struggling to integrate with banks and the financial institutions. ASA came about when Landon realized the difficulties of Fintechs partnering with financial institutions. ASA has developed a solution that allows them to integrate with the banking system's core.
Landon and Ryan Ruff, who has been through RevTech Labs' accelerator in 2017 with Envudu (know known as Spendpal), started working on this problem as soon as Landon left Banzai. What they have come up with is a very unique solution. The regulators here in the US want to see the banking system open up more as well so you've seen them move towards requiring the financial institutions integrate more with systems like Plaid - which is similar to the open banking/open API platform commonly being used in Europe. But the open banking system has its own set of problems.
Landon and ASA call their solution, colloborative banking, as it allows the Fintech and the banks to work together - to the benefit of the end user. Fortunately, they've already been working with regulators on their solution and it has been well received. What they have is a solution that allows fintech companies to quickly access data directly from the banks core processor (which Landon describes in our podcast). As such, startups don't have to worry about the issues that come from scraping data and banks get to protect aspects of their business they can't with open banking.
Sounds like a homerun right? Listen to the podcast for more about Landon and ASA is doing and how they are doing it.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Paul Clark, Managing Director at VentureSouth, to the podcast. Prior to co-founding VentureSouth, Paul was Senior Vice President of M&A at a multi-billion-dollar bank in South Carolina. Paul has extensive private equity investment and fund experience in New York and London. In 2013 Paul, along with Matt Dunbar and Charlie Banks formulated the Venture South Plan.
We’ve had Paul on the podcast before with portfolio company, Threatswitch, but this time we wanted to purely focus on the VentureSouth story and what they are doing. As such, we turned to how Paul ended up in Greenville, South Carolina as the Managing Director of VentureSouth – ultimately this meant the transition from investing in large companies to startup stage companies. From there, we dive into the early days of just being in a single city and how they’ve expanded from there to multiple cities across the Carolinas to where they are today.
We also discuss how the VentureSouth model is different from other cities and what the process is like for founders. Listening to their process should be very helpful for both founders interesting in pitching to VentureSouth and investors wanting to know more about their process. This opens us up to dive into the opportunities and challenges dealing with a southeast investor verses a west coast investor.
It’s a great podcast detailing how has become considered to be a top 10 early-stage venture firm developing and managing angel investment groups and funds throughout the Southeast. Their growth, which is highlighted by their 400 investors across three states and multiples funds and groups, has allowed them to deploy more than $80 million into 80+ companies.
It’s a great podcast and it is good to hear how VentureSouth deploys capital, has fun and does good.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Dmitry Norenko, CEO and founder of upSWOT, to the podcast. Dmitry and the team at upSWOT have been hard at work building a platform to help small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) make better decisions based on insight, personalized advice, and cashflow insights from within their banking portal.
Dmitry and his team moved to Charlotte back in the summer of 2020. Originally from Ukraine, they had moved out to California to take their business through an accelerator program on the west coast. But upon completing those and being thrown full force into a pandemic, they relocated to Charlotte to continue what they started.
Dmitry originally reached out to me in August 2020 - I remember asking him how he was holding up in the humidity! Needless to say it was a little bit of a shock to his system. But he and his team haven't let that stop them. He immediately jumped into a demo of the software to show what they had been building and how impactful it can be for SMBs - and by extension the banks who service them.
Over the last 2 years, the team has refined and expanded the offering and experience phenomenal growth. They are now working with over 50 financial institutions - and this includes Mastercard.
Sitting down with him in this podcast interview was great as we were able to talk about the business. I love his comment that "he is his company and his company is him". You'll listen to him in this podcast and realize that means it is high energy, focused, and impactful.
I really enjoyed listening to him to talk about the cultural differences between building success in the US versus back home in Ukraine and in eastern Europe. He dives further into how he became different through a book he read at age 10. The book, written by Theodore Dreiser, talked about a guy who kept trying and failing before he created success. It obviously stuck with Dmitry because about 5 minutes before this story he said, "by making mistakes we become better." They are definitely getting better.
Listen to the rest of the podcast with Dmitry and learn about him and the company they've been building. Learn how he wants the success of his company to change the cultural differences about success in the Ukraine. And learn how they are going to continue to make mistakes on their way to building a successful company.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we welcome BJ McAndrews, co-founder of Flyp, to the podcast.
BJ was introduced to me by Todd Buelow from Dualboot Partners (who was on Episode 95). I always enjoy meeting startup founders in our introductory calls. BJ and I hit it off right out of the gate. Like so many founders, he has an infectious happiness about him. After all he spends every day building his company - a company he wants to see change the way banking is delivered to millions of people.
BJ is the kind of entrepreneur I've often thought Charlotte was creating but didn't know about. He was a successful banker working in a coveted role. He could have put it on cruise control and used his knowledge, experience, and connections to drive value to the bank all the way until he was ready to 'retire'. But in early 2020, BJ decided to step away from the bank to start his own - Flyp.
"Flyp was founded with one primary goal in mind: to help you get where you want to go in life." BJ had read about the lack of mobility in Charlotte in the infamous report listing Charlotte at the bottom of upward mobility among top cities. Access to banking is such a key component of wealth creation but far too many people don't have access to banking - or banking that doesn't penalize people (with excessive fees).
Flyp issues a debit card utilizing Sutton Bank - the same bank used by Robinhood, Monzo, Cashapp, and many others. With the debit card, they offer awesome rewards and no hidden fees. This space has been gaining traction for a few years and Flyp's approach should give it an opportunity to get some early wins.
And I think their approach to 'gamifying' aspects of banking, spending and financial literacy is a fresh approach. BJ and I talked a little about all the creative ways they can and will do this on the podcast and then we further discussed over lunch a few weeks later.
BJ is part of a class of entrepreneurs Charlotte should celebrate - the banks have loads of talent waiting to unlock economic value for the city. The success BJ, and others like him have, should grease the wheels for others to follow in their footsteps and help create the next stages of momentum needed for Charlotte's Fintech growth.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we welcome Blake Wood, co-founder of APAY, to the podcast.
Blake reached out to me back in 2018 to discuss the beginnings of what would become APAY and asking for advice. At that point, Blake and his co-founder, Owen Brady, were still working in the bank and trying to figure out how to build their company. They had a little bit of seed money but were trying to map their path forward to helping people better understand and manage their student loans.
Fast forward to now and APAY was acquired this fall by Ramsey Solutions – Dave Ramsey’s company. It’s a great match for them as Dave has long taught debt management as a solution to wealth creation. It’s an exciting step for them as they move to Tennessee to help bring their APAY app to the entire Ramsey Solutions audience.
In our podcast today we learn about the beginnings of APAY and how they tackled various aspects of getting the company off the ground. APAY became a way for people to better understand their student loans and tackle paying them off in the best possible way. But before they were able to build it, they talked many potential users and even turned ‘know it all skeptics’ into additional subscribers on their waiting list.
Most importantly, we learn about their challenge during the pandemic. The entire business model was turned upside down the minute student loan payments were suspended in March 2020. And when the suspension of payments was extended to January 2022 it put further pressure on the business.
Listen early in the podcast for his mention of his grandmother. Then stick around till the end to hear as we wrap our discussion.
I hope you enjoy this one. Blake and Owen tackled an enormous problem, fought through a completely unforeseen pandemic that could have toppled their business, but they kept grinding through and ended up in a great place for their users, investors and the two of them.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Justin Adams and Pat Morrell, co-founders of Anduin. Many of you know this is their second startup together as they sold Digitize.ai back in 2019 – which is now part of Waystar. So, this is our first podcast dealing with co-founders in Charlotte who have built and sold and are now building again, together.
For that reason, we get to dive into some great topics with them. We didn’t ask them, “what would you do differently”, we asked, “what ARE you doing differently?” This dynamic allows us to cover some great aspects of their entrepreneurial journey. We dove into the concept of Digitize.ai and how they jumped into it as co-founders. We learn how they built the product and sold it customers. Along the way, we hear about their travels to Atlanta as well as the sacrifices – personally and professionally – they both made along the way.
As we run through their trials and tribulations with Digitize.ai, we naturally break straight into the discussion of how Anduin has been developed differently. What have they instantly put into practice with the second startup and where are they seeing the results along the way?
For a little background, Justin serves as the CEO of Anduin and was also the CEO of Digitize.ai. Prior to the startup route, Justin spent his career helping transform organizations through technology and innovation from Fortune 500 firms to the United States Intelligence Community. He also sat on a board that advised a venture capital firm on promising new technologies
Pat Morrell is the Chief Revenue Officer at Anduin. Pat grew up Raleigh and spent some time in DC, dealing with campaign politics. He moved back to Raleigh to work for a start-up, Three Ships. Pat and I first met when he was with Skookum where he was the Director of Strategic Partnerships.
Anduin started in June 2020. They help accounting firms fix their billing process and speed up their cash flow. Their intelligence-based billing solution automates and improves time-consuming back-office finance processes. Anduin’s mission is to fix the work-to-cash cycle to help accounting firms save time, speed up cashflow, and deliver a superior client experience.
It’s a great podcast to hear of their success from their beginnings to where they are now.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we welcome Haley Sutton, Founder of Box Babe Gift Co., to the podcast. I first met Haley when she was an intern for Packard Place a few years ago. She was regularly at Packard Place as we recorded podcasts and showed up for startup/investing events. So it was awesome to have her on the podcast to talk about her own startup and the path she has taken to get here.
The one thing Haley continued to say in our podcast I loved was how it was worth swinging for the fences. That’s the mentality that has allowed her to flourish and grow as a person and as an entrepreneur. While she has been selling goods online through Etsy and other platforms since she was 14 years old, her journey as an entrepreneur wouldn’t prepare her for the twists and turns as she launched Box Babe Gift Co. It took guts and grit to leave Element Brands, a position with health insurance benefits, in the spring of 2020 – right during the early days of the Covid19 pandemic.
Yet, her bet on herself paid off. She started working out of her apartment and quickly moved the business into her boyfriend’s new house for extra space. She quickly outgrew the house and continues to outgrow each space she moves the company into and the existing one is no different as she is already thinking she’ll have to move again by the end of 2021.
But growth hasn’t come easy. She looks to support small female business owners as they pack their boxes of gifts. But maintaining a steady supply of product creates challenges for Haley and the company. As such, Haley had to learn how to make candles from her home as a way to make sure they had plenty of supply. It was a messy learning process but just demonstrates the mindset of an entrepreneur willing to do what it takes.
Listen for the part in the podcast where we talk about Haley’s “Jeff Bezos Moment”. It’s a great Bezos story and awesome to hear Haley’s version of it too.
I hope you enjoy this one. Haley has an infectious mentality and attitude and she’s using it to build a great company – one that is still swinging for the fences.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Ben Boyer, co-founder and Executive Chairman of R-Zero Systems, to the podcast. Prior to March 2020, Ben had worked in Venture Capital – getting his feet wet with Lehman Brothers as he came out of college.
After the Lehman bankruptcy, he went to work for Tenaya Capital which was spun out of Lehman Brothers. At Tenaya, Ben focused on global consumer and related investments, with an emphasis on vertical applications and network effect businesses. He led investments in companies based in four countries and on three continents. In 2020, he remained a Partner at Tenaya Capital but he stepped away from raising new funds to focus on R-Zero Systems. Ben now lives in Park City UT.
Ben speaks about his early days at Lehman and the fall of the financial business. He shares in-depth stories of investing in venture capital including some of the success stories.
Ultimately, though , as Covid begins to develop in the US it brought back emotions of 9/11 – and what he could do to help. This led to him to research pathogens, how they are treated and ultimately R-Zero was launched in April 2020.
Ben started it with Grant Morgan and Eli Harris to help combat all known pathogens: COVID-19, seasonal flu, Norovirus, E.coli, MRSA, C.diff and whatever COVID-25 might be. R-Zero designs hospital-grade disinfection solutions for the day-to-day realities of modern businesses.
Ben explains UV-C disinfection and their goal to make it better and cheaper. We discuss the roles and strengths of each of their founders and he shares his story of entrepreneurship.
Great podcast and it’s good to see that R-Zero is keeping to their goal to create safer communal spaces, today and forever.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Noam Mani, Co-Founder of Quartix. Quartix is a company combining technology with institutional cash to transform vendor early payments into a true win-win for both the buyer and the vendors. I met Noam several years ago when he was participating in the QC Fintech Accelerator program (run by RevTech Labs).
The company has come a long way since those early days and they are now growing quickly – which is a great testament to Noam, his co-founder (Dror) and the rest of team including his stable of advisors they picked up along the way (some of which he picked up as a result of his participation in in the accelerator program).
Noam is originally from Israel but he and Quartix now call Charlotte home. It’s great to see founders like Noam and Dror come through the QC Fintech program and ultimately decide to call Charlotte home. It’s a testament to the types of mentors in the program as well as the quality of program Dan Roselli and the rest of the team over there have built.
Noam served as an Engineer in the Israel Military and after fulfilling his military duties in Israel he became a consultant. This is where the idea of Quartix started to brew. His co-founder Dror was seeing the vendor payments as a real pain point and the two of them teamed up to deliver a powerful solution. It’s a complex problem for many of us who don’t sit in this space to understand but Noam does a wonderful job walking us through the problem and the solution in today’s podcast.
At the end of the day, Quartix is a data and technology driven alternative lender operating in the US and Canada. Their mission is to improve the financial performance of supply chains on the buyer side and reduce the borrowing costs of SME suppliers by offering effective supply chain finance.
Noam shares their takeaway from QC Fintech and how and why he Dror Polak, started Quartix what it took to start and how they keep up with the demand. Noam also explains that working with both sellers and buyers will expand the business. We discuss working with funding partners, and how they add value.
At the end of the podcast we discuss the different type of markets that utilize their service and the opportunities that scale the business and what’s on the horizon for them in the future.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we welcome Jim Roberts to the podcast. Jim is a familiar name in the Charlotte area startup and investor ecosystem. Today, Jim runs the Wilmington Angels for Local Entrepreneurs (WALE), Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW), and his own consulting firm, Rojo Octo Ecosystem Consulting.
Yet, in 2000, he started a non-profit ecosystem in Charlotte before moving to Ashville to start their startup ecosystem and angel network. From there Jim was recruited to work for the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Division in Raleigh. In 2013 he moved to Wilmington to start UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE). The CIE offers programs, services, and activities to promote and support entrepreneurship and the creation of innovative new ventures in Southeastern North Carolina.
Jim has been around the entrepreneur ecosystem since it’s infancy and has helped get several cities off the ground. It was a great opportunity for him to talk about how Wilmington has – and continues to develop/support the startup ecosystem.
Jim talks through the difference of what WALE does verses NEW. NEW holds free monthly events for a wide variety of entrepreneurs, investors, professional service providers, and community supporters considering entrepreneurship. The mission of NEW is to make the Wilmington region a more nurturing community for local startup entrepreneurs to improve and diversify the regional economy.
WALE on the other hand is a platform for local angels to invest in Wilmington area startups. Jim also dives into the reason why he started WALE, why it is important is to local entrepreneurs and how people (even Charlotte area people) can become members.
I also wanted to talk with Jim a little about the differences of working in Raleigh and Wilmington.
We also dive into how UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship built an innovation organization in 8 years that has been globally ranked. He explains how they started the ecosystem in the Coastal corridor and their success stories of their first conference.
Jim discussed his excitement about the PBS Start-Up Series being filmed in Wilmington. At the end of the podcast, we discuss the future of Wilmington’s ecosystem.
Anyone who has talked with Jim knows he has worked tirelessly across NC to build startup communities. It is great to see the Wilmington area getting more than its fair share of press thanks to Jim’s hard work in putting the city on the map.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we are pleased to welcome Luke Wilcox, CEO and founder of Ethos, to the podcast. Luke was part of the most recent RevTech Labs program and we got the chance to sit down with him and a few of his classmates to talk about their experience with the world class program as well as learn more about their businesses.
Ethos is a first-of-its-kind FinTech platform to align your money with the causes you care about, including racial justice, climate change, LGBTQ equality, and more. Essentially, it is a tool allowing investors and their advisors identify the causes most important to them and then screen the investment world for opportunities best fitting for them. Luke started this as he was trying to identify investments whose causes aligned with his own and it has grown rapidly since then. At first Luke was targeting individual investors only but he has allowed the platform to grow and is working with financial advisors and others to broaden it's reach.
Luke started his career with McKinsey and clearly learned a lot about business and growing them. Luke is bringing that skillset to Ethos as it expands its screening capabilities and continues to grow the number of advisors and investor on the platform. Listen in to today’s shorter podcast to learn more about the business model and how Charlotte has and continue to help Ethos grow.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we are pleased to welcome Nish Krishna, CEO of Lend-Grow, to the podcast. Nish was part of the most recent RevTech Labs program and we got the chance to sit down with him and a few of his classmates to talk about their experience with the world class program as well as learn more about their businesses.
Lend-Grow is an online lending marketplace connecting borrowers with community banks to offer the best deals on loans. Borrowers can check their rates in less than two minutes and get matched with the lender that has the best deal for their needs. Nish and his team are having success building out a marketplace which is a tough thing to do. But they are creating that success by partnering with local community banks who are looking to expand their reach. It's a great concept to serve a very large niche.
Nish started his career with Capital One which is a very data intensive company and he is bringing that skillset to Lend-Grow as it scales up the number of loans it can and will provide through its marketplace. Listen in to today’s shorter podcast to learn more about the business model and how Charlotte has and continue to help ArchiveCore grow.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we are pleased to welcome Lennox McNeary, CEO of ArchiveCore, to the podcast. Lennox was part of the most recent RevTech Labs program and we got the chance to sit down with her and a few of her classmates to talk about their experience with the world class program as well as learn more about their businesses.
ArchiveCore is a creating a simplified credentialing process for complex industries. Lennox understands this well as she is a physician as well as a co-founder and grew frustrated with the process of hiring in her profession. The typical delays of 90 days or more are costing hospitals money and reducing access to care for patients.
ArchiveCore is building a software - utilizing blockchain technology - and a process to help the process become much more efficient. Listen in to today's shorter podcast to learn more about the business model and how Charlotte has and continue to help ArchiveCore grow.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we are fortunate to have Nat Clarkson and Dan Roselli join us on the podcast to talk with us about CFV Ventures. We all know Dan and Nat from their work at RevTech Labs/QC Fintech.
We wanted the opportunity to sit down and explore what CFV Ventures has been up to since closing their first fund. Since this is our first time talking with Nat on the podcast we spend a good bit of time learning more about his background before we shift the discussion over to the fund. Once we dive into the fund discussion we get into what types of companies they are investing in and where they are investing.
It's great to hear the relationships they are creating and the awareness this fund is having on the world's perception of Charlotte. Listening to Nat and Dan talk I realized how far Charlotte's ecosystem has come and yet how much further it can continue to go. Fortunately, Charlotte continues to recruit good companies and talent - in large part to the work of Dan, Nat and many others have had in supporting the ecosystem.
Next week, I'll publish interviews with several of the companies from the recently graduated class of RevTech Labs. These podcasts are short 20 minute versions meant to get a quick understanding of young startups and their founders. I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk with each of the founders - I think you'll find them interesting and full of opportunity too.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we are fortunate to have Jonathan Kite join us on the podcast to talk with us about Rent Ready. Jonathan and the Rent Ready team (including co-founders Ryan McMillan and Will Brugh) completed a $10 million Series A in March 2021 - another great raise for a Charlotte based company.
Jonathan grew up in Charlotte and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Jonathan started out leading the IT and marketing functions for Rent Ready to ensure their technology platform is constantly adapting to meet customer and Service Pro’s needs. He co-founded Rent Ready after a 6-year tenure at Microsoft working as a technical account manager, operations consultant, and program manager. Jonathan has a passion for technology and how it unlocks new potentials.
Rent Ready is a rapidly growing services platform that uses technology to help coordinate the process of getting vacant apartment homes ready to rent (“turn”). Built to eliminate the frustration of typical apartment turns, Rent Ready utilizes a proprietary logistics platform to connect communities to skilled professionals. Rent Ready is transforming the apartment turn process.
They are a B-to-B model and Jonathan explains their processes of what communities need to do to get a unit ready. They are in the process of releasing a mobile app.
Rent Ready currently is in Charlotte, Raleigh and Atlanta and they have 35 employees. They just recently completed the Series A round and Jonathan discusses raising the capital and the importance of staying in touch with people who can add value and the network affect of building connections.
We talk about the importance of keeping communication open with vendors and investment group. Jonathan also shares their success of a new service line they launched because of the pandemic which has scaled to a national level and how they capitalized on it.
At the end of the podcast, we discuss the roles of the three Co-Founders at Rent Ready, the diverse mind set it brings to lead the team, and the vision and importance of future product development.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we welcome back Matt Potere, CEO of Sunlight Financial, to the podcast. Matt joined us early in the days of the podcast with Episode 20 and Episode 21. Back in these days, Sunlight Financial was growing rapidly and in the process of moving into their new office space as they 'graduated' from the halls of Packard Place. Fortunately, Matt and the rest of his team have continued to see growth over the last couple of years - so much growth they will be going public through a merger with a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) later this year.
Given this is our first podcast guest to take his company public, we wanted to sit down with Matt to get an update of what the company has been doing and what it sees ahead.
As a quick reminder, Sunlight Financial is co-headquartered in NY and Charlotte. They have recently expanded into home improvement financing and they continue to offer consumer loans for residential solar. They are also expanding to new products, including energy storage and energy efficiency. Sunlight partners with leading solar installers nationwide to help homeowners save money and protect our environment. The company’s front-end tools and back-end credit expertise simplify and streamline home energy lending, enabling Sunlight’s channel partners to provide homeowners with the benefits of system ownership.
At the beginning of the podcast we discuss the saturation of the solar market, or lack thereof. In 2020, 3% of homes in the US have solar power. So while Sunlight has surpassed $4 billion in funded loans it translates to about 125,000 homes - meaning they have lots of opportunity ahead of them as a company if they just stayed in the solar installation market. Naturally, we discuss a lot of what it has taken to get the company ready for the next stage, how Matt and his team have worked with their investors to position the company, and the culture they have worked hard to create for a 100 year company.
Matt and I discuss some of their challenges during the 2020/2021 Covid pandemic.
As we near the end of the podcast, we discuss the Charlotte energy and financial eco-system and what’s happening. It will be great to see what the future holds for Sun Light Financial.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Mike Murphy, CEO and Co-Founder of ProctorFree and Kevin Eckert, Partner with TFX Capital to the podcast.
Mike served in the Army and later worked as a defense contractor. Prior to starting ProctorFree, Mike worked as marketing director for Everblue Training Institute, a startup focused on marketing environmental sustainability and green building (Jon Boggiano – Founder of Everblue was on guest #3 on the podcast – listen to it here).
ProctorFree is an on-demand, convenient, and cost-effective online proctoring solution for education and corporate environments. The ProctorFree platform allows organizations to elevate their credibility and reputation while providing convenient learning opportunities for a global audience.
Kevin is originally from Update New York and joined marines before ultimately ending up in Charlotte. He worked for a private equity firm where he got the start-up bug. In 2018, he joined TFX Capital. TFX Capital is a founder focused venture capital firm led by former military leaders, investing in seed and early-stage Veteran-led businesses and startups.
ProctorFree has been through successes and challenges over its years as a business and TFX Capital has been right there with them for almost the entire time. As such, we dive into what those successes have been and how they’ve had to tackle the challenges. This means the tough discussions and decisions Mike has had to have with his investors, the hard decisions he had to make to keep the business afloat at its low point and how they have been able to grow through the pandemic. All this brings us back through the core vision of TFX Capital investing in former military leaders and why they see those founders as great CEOs.
This is a great podcast with founder and investor. It shows the strength of good relationships between the two and how making tough decisions can lead to results over time.
Mike shares the stories how they recognized problems in testing, staffing and their milestones, as well as the actions they took during the pandemic. Kevin shared what the focus for TFX Capital and their portfolios companies was in 2020 and how they executed it throughout the year.
We also here from Kevin on the importance of the start-ups knowing when it is time to raise the next round of capital.
At the end of the podcast, Mike describes the four customer segments of ProctorFree (1) higher education institutions (2) on-line courses and training (3) professional certifications and (4) brand name dedicated companies.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, Juan Garzon jumps back on the Charlotte Angel Connection – his second time and first since his appearance as the 4th guest (listen to Juan’s first podcast here). Juan is the Executive Director at Innovate Charlotte.
Most of us have known Juan, or known of Juan, for nearly a decade now as he has been an integral part of the startup ecosystem. Between his work over the years with Pitch Breakfast, launching the Start Charlotte newsletter (now Charlotte Inno), or any number of other things Juan has done to help startups over the years, Juan has been a tireless advocate of all things startup related in Charlotte.
We wanted to catch up with Juan to discuss his new role as Executive Director at Innovate Charlotte. We’ve spoken with Walt Frye and Keith Luedeman as they lead the organization in the past and wanted to hear from Juan how it will expand/grow as the ecosystem continues to build up strength and momentum.
As you may know or recall, Innovate Charlotte is a nonprofit organization with a mission to enhance, elevate, and accelerate entrepreneurial success in the greater Charlotte region. Their focus is on cultivating an intentionally inclusive and high impact ecosystem that stimulates innovation, economic growth and societal change.
Juan explains the VMS and Navigator Program along with other initiatives they offer to the Charlotte’s startup ecosystem. We discuss the growth of entrepreneurship making Charlotte a destination as well as creating more opportunities for home-grown entrepreneurs. We also dive into how the City of Charlotte is getting involved to help grow entrepreneurship – with a goal of building a more diverse start-up community.
Juan shares opportunities for other non-profit organizations. NCIdea, which supports entrepreneurs/mentor programs throughout North Carolina. Pitch Breakfast, which is a platform for companies to practice their pitch, has continued to operate throughout the pandemic and is waiting for guidance and when and how it can get back to being an in person event.
At the end of the podcast we talk what it takes to have entrepreneurs stay engaged. It’s a great podcast.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, Eric Mager and Marco Burgarello, of Bundle join the podcast. I’ve been a fan of Marco’s since I met him while he was working with Dan Roselli at Packard Place. And when I saw Eric pitch Bundle at a Charlotte Angel Fund meeting I knew he was a founder and Bundle was a company worth watching. Bundle sits at the crossroads of privacy, technology, personalization, and a great user experience. Considering the mortgage industry doesn’t deliver any of that, I figured it had a decent shot at success.
But listen to the podcast today and you’ll hear for yourself why they are gearing up for more success. Their platform provides a simple way for borrowers to compare current mortgage rates while staying anonymous. They provide a place where the borrower controls the process, not the lenders bidding for the business. As you’ll hear in the interview, Bundle guarantees to never sell or give away client contact information to banks or lenders, ever.
The tough thing is Bundle is building a two-way market. They have to sign-up mortgage brokers on their site to compete for the business. And they also have to get consumers to the site to request bids. In a year like 2020 when every mortgage broker was slammed with business regardless of what they did you would think Bundle would struggle to differentiate and build out a strong proof of concept. But that thinking would be wrong.
Eric and Marco raised a small seed round in early 2020 to test the concept. They had been through the QC Fintech Accelerator program – where they met. But their seed round last year gave them the funds they needed to launch. And now after the seed round validated their business model, they are back at it raising a larger Series A round to expand the ground game.
But listen in to the podcast to hear the back stories. I love hearing how Marco pitched Eric to be on the team. For all you founders and people wanting to partner with founders take notes. Marco took a bold move to position himself with Eric. And just as importantly, Eric was humble enough to listen. Hearing them talk back and forth you can see how they may have lightning in a bottle.
Don’t get me wrong, there is a lot of competition in the mortgage industry. Yet this duo has carved out their space and they are going to go after it with bold strokes and lots of industry expertise in their corner. It’s going to be a really exciting company to watch over the next couple of years as more millennials come online to buy and refinance their houses.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Gunner Cuevas, CEO and Co-Founder of CARL. I met Gunnar a few years ago as he was coming through the QC Fintech Accelerator Program. His desire to bring unique quantitative strategies to a broader population caught my attention.
CARL is the first to provide easy access to hedge funds through a simple to use mobile app. By taking advantage of new regulations and advances in analytics and computing technologies they offer investment opportunities not previously available to most investors. .
Hedge funds have gotten a bad rap over the years as they are reported to continue underperforming the market. But Gunnar saw how hedge funds can win. He also saw how he could help investors win. This is CARL – the way to bring hedge funds to individual investors. It’s clean and simple and has an opportunity to democratize this part of the investment industry.
Gunnar is no stranger to startups. His first startup got off the ground when he was back home in Chile. After spending time traveling the world snowboarding, he met his wife and went back to school. Gunner obtained his BS and MS from George Mason University. After college he moved to NY and began working in a proprietary trading company where he built routing algorithms for market making.
Gunner shares what he learned in his previous positions before founding CARL. In 2015, he started Eight Two Capital, a quant hedge fund. It was a result of this that he met his current business partner and together they founded CARL, a new technology platform for investing in quant hedge funds.
Today’s podcast weaves these stories through along with the successes and challenges Gunnar and the team have had getting this up off the ground.
Gunner explains CARL’s concept, investing in alternative investments and the hedge fund space. CARL is currently in beta mode and we discuss the strategies currently on the platform and upcoming strategies that will join. We discuss the minimum investment and CARLS reporting tools which adds value to the space.
We discuss the simplicity of the platform and how to invest or take money out - it is 100% digital. He shares stories about the Beta testing and the growth of the platform thus far – they are having strong growth month over month.
It’s a great podcast where we discuss the ins and outs of the platform and what it takes to be a startup founder and grind through successes to the next level.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we welcome Chris Langford, a Partner at IDEA Fund Partners, to the podcast. Chris has been active in the Charlotte startup scene since at least 2015 when I joined the Charlotte Angel Fund. His education events, support of local founders, and availability to the ecosystem at large has been helpful getting the Charlotte startup community to where it is today.
In this podcast, we wanted to learn more about Chris and how he ended up being in Venture Capital. Chris has a great story of the journey he has taken and what he has learned along the way. He shares that information readily with local founders and investors too.
Chris now leads the Charlotte office for IDEA Fund partners. IDEA Fund Partners is one of the oldest and most active early-stage investment firms in the Southeast, their investment philosophy has been honed from years of experience. They invest in entrepreneurs who are applying technology and business model innovations to industries in the earliest stages of digital disruption with an emphasis on underserved people, places, and stages.
Chris did not start out wanting to be in this space though. After college he spent some time as a financial advisor at T. Rowe Price before going back to the University of Florida to get his MBA. Obtaining his MBA led him to Investment Banking where Chris got an appreciation for companies being acquired. From the investment banking world, Chris relocated to Charlotte and worked for Lowe’s in New Development and Strategic Development before he eventually founded and led Lowe’s Ventures. With Lowe’s Ventures, Chris sourced and invested in transformative companies in the housing innovation sector.
Chris has been a keynote speaker and panelist for major industry conferences and events.
He sits on several Boards. It is from this experience we discuss what Chris thinks makes a good board and why startups should have them. Chris shares some success stories of the coolest investments he has made and what makes them amazing.
Listen to the podcast and you will understand why Chris is a fanatic about technology and its impact on homes and the housing value chain.
On a separate note, we wanted to mention the Charlotte Angel connection was recently listed as one of the Top 40 Angel Investor Podcasts out there (see full list here). It’s pretty cool given this podcast started out as a way to see if we could help grow the number of Angel Investors in the greater Charlotte market. Thank you to all our listeners, guests, and friends of the show. We have really enjoyed it.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Daniel Gouldman, CEO and Co-Founder of Ternio, to the podcast. Daniel is a big picture CEO who has the skillset to get down into details and who very much understands where his business is and where they are going to take it.
Ternio is a global fintech platform built on blockchain. Their global banking platform, BlockCard, is fundamentally changing the way people interact with their money. The BlockCard, currently live in the United States, allows customers frictionless use of their cryptocurrencies in their account - connected to a Visa card.
Ternio is a Visa Fast Track Partner and Daniel explains what that means. In the discussion we hit on a couple different area of interest. A natural place for us to land is diving into raising money. Daniel shares the importance of Ternio going to the marketplace to raise money.
Not since Will McGuire’s podcast have we gotten a dose of the different types of private offerings but Daniel explains Regulation CF verses Regulation A offering. Daniel discusses cryptocurrency and its value. He explains what blockchain solutions are and the process of moving money now verses what Blockchain will allow. He gives the example of the service PayPal now offers versus BlockCard’s service.
In 2020 they doubled the size of their team. Not only are they going to have a very strong 2021, but something big is coming for them as well! He also shares where he feels where they will be in 3 years. He discusses the marketplace and their focus today and their business in its next stage.
It is a great podcast and I'm excited to learn what their big announcement will be. It's going to be an fun company to watch as they move forward.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Happy 2021!
On today's podcast, we have John Dillard, founder and CEO of Threatswitch, joining us. In addition to John, we brought Paul Clark from VentureSouth as they have been an investor in Threatswitch for the last couple of years.
As you'll hear John discuss, they just closed a $1.7 million capital raise in late 2020 and VentureSouth - in the middle of the global pandemic.
"Threatswitch is transforming the way security and compliance teams work on security. They make it easier to comply with strict regulations by radically simplifying and automating high volume, data intensive and administrative tasks."
We kick of this podcast talking with John about the 'art of raising capital.' There isn't a right way to raise capital - one could certainly argue there are some wrong ways - and John talks about how he views it. It's this early in the podcast you get a sense of who John is and how he has been able to grow Threatswitch.
Throughout the podcast, we 'check in' with Paul to get his thoughts on the process from the investors perspective. It starts out with Paul talking through the difference of investing in an existing portfolio company versus investing in a new company where they haven't done due diligence before.
We also get Paul's view on what makes John special as he has successfully transitioned from a consultant over to the CEO of a startup/software company. Lot's of people try to make that transition - myself included with my startup years ago - but aren't able to create a successful enterprise.
This is a very good open discussion between a strong founder and a very well respected angel group. It highlights the benefits of a good working relationship. Any founder would be well served to listen to not only what is said, but how it's said - and just as importantly what doesn't get said. Hope you enjoy this one!
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
On today's podcast, we are fortunate to have Bianca L. Padilla and Jonathan Magolnick, co-founders of Carewell. Carewell is a Charlotte-based, family-led ecommerce company with a mission to improve the lives of caregivers and their loved ones.
Their story began with one goal: to find a way to provide better care for loved ones through easy, personalized service. Carewell’s story began in 2015, when its founders were among the 20% of Americans who act as informal caregivers. They were unable to find the guidance and selection they needed in one place. Knowing the impact it could have, they formed Carewell to be a source of support for independent caregivers. Their goal is to provide proactive service, compelling content, and expert-vetted products - you'll hear this in their voice and stories throughout the podcast.
Bianca and Jonathan share their story about the learning curves of starting a company, the importance of customer care, and training. We also speak about the variety of products, and working with the manufacturers.
Bianca shares their story of raising a $5 million seed round in March 2020 and the process of working with investors. Jonathan describes the high demands due to Covid, how they have doubled their staff during the pandemic and the struggles of training their staff remotely. They discuss the challenges and successes the past 6 months (due to Covid) and the success of participating in the Venture from America program. Bianca shares Carewell’s plans for the future.
At the end of the podcast, they explain why they moved the business to Charlotte and also discuss Carewell being listed as one of the Best Places to Work in Charlotte.
This wife and husband team are building a really strong business in Charlotte. Listen to this interview and you'll certainly come away believing this business is part of Charlotte's future.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Trent Hawthorne, COO at Rabbu, joins us on the podcast today.
Trent is a Charlotte native, and he thinks of himself as a builder, who always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Early in his career he worked for Kyck because he knew he wanted to start his own startup one day and was looking to learn while doing it with another company. Kyck's founder, Mac Lackey, has mentored many local entrepreneurs over the years and several startups have since spun out of Kyck (including the Rabbu who was on the podcast several years ago - click here to listen).
While with Kyck, Trent relocated to London in 2013 and eventually met his wife while over there. They moved back to the US in 2015 and Trent shared his stories of successes and struggles while at Kyck. After Kyck, he worked for Palmetto Solar out of Charleston. Here he started working on his own business idea that he had originally started doing at Kyck - StandupPro was born during this time. Standup Pro is a software product that empowers you to run a 15-minute meeting with your team that will transform a business.
In 2019 he went to Rabbu, where he is COO. Rabbu is a flexible asset management platform that seeks to provide property investors higher returns on their portfolio through short, medium and long-term tenants. He talks about learning a new skill at Rabbu - sales. We discuss their business model during COVID.
Trent and his wife continue to run StandupPro as well. They funded it on their own and found a partner from Palmetto Solar. Trent discusses his core belief in what makes StandupPro different.
Trent also posts a weekly thought through "One Sharable Thing". It's a short but impactful thought expanded upon in a brief write-up delivered to your inbox every Thursday morning. I highly encourage you to sign up as it will cause you to stop and think.
For those interested in Standup Pro their Website is standuppro.io.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Anya Johnson and Will McGuire with CrowdfundNC join us for the podcast today.
Will joined us a few years ago to talk about crowdfunding and his own company, CrowdfundNC. I wanted to circle back around and talk with Will and Anya about the crowdfunding initiatives in North Carolina as well as what the industry in general looks like. I have long been a believer that local entrepreneurs are good investment opportunities as potentially investment opportunities for people willing AND able to take the risk.
Companies like CrowdfundNC make it easier for local people to invest in local businesses. As Charlotte in particular – and North Carolina/South Carolina – continue to grow more entrepreneurs will start businesses looking to capitalize on that growth. There are some new regulations coming out which impacts accredited and non-accredited investors too.
We discuss the opportunities in Raleigh and with Crowdfunding. Anya encourages people to utilize the website, NC Grind (https://ncgrind.com/) where people can go to find investment opportunities connected to North Carolina; get first access to NC business and investment news; and it provides education by luncheons, Networking events, etc.
An emerging trend in early stage capital are syndicates – which are essentially groups of similar people/organizations coming together to build businesses in their community. Examples could be investors in IoT, Med Tech, Fin Tech, real estate, etc. Crowdfunding platforms are making it easier for people to form syndicates and organize capital around communities/industries. Will and Anya dive into this during our call and I believe this is an area to watch in the coming years.
Will and Anya discuss their connection to a large partner network with resources within North Carolina and outside the state to support community awareness , help raise funding, and connect people to other groups for support.
Hear what CrowdfundNC has to offer – you will definitely understand their mission - to grow North Carolina's entrepreneurial ecosystem by democratizing access to capital for all businesses providing new economic opportunities for all. Ultimately as we’ve said before on the podcast there are avenues developing that will allow investors to better invest locally just like avenues have developed in the food world for us to buy locally. I’m excited to watch this trend and invite you to follow Will and Anya to stay in the loop.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcomed Alex Smereczniak, co-Founder and CEO of 2ULaundry, to the podcast. Many of you know the story of 2ULaundry as they have been operating out of Charlotte since 2016 (and we had his co-founder, Dan D’Aquisto as a guest on episode #7).
Click here for the video version of the podcast.
Yet, this was our first-time having Alex on the podcast where we learn he is originally from Redwing, Minnesota and went to college at Wake Forest. While he was at college, Alex and some friends started a laundry business catering to college students but they sold it as they were graduating. Alex then took on the “9-5” world with EY and moved to Charlotte. While there, he started to see some startups out west try to tackle the laundry problem and he couldn’t help but give it another shot – 2ULaundry was born in 2016.
2ULaundry is the new way to do laundry and dry cleaning that helps people make time for what matters most in their lives. Customers receive exclusive access to a full suite of offerings including flat rate laundry and dry-cleaning prices, free pickup and delivery, next business day turnaround, and more.
We discuss their initial business model and lessons learned and various pivots along the way. In 2017 they vertically integrated without buying assets. He shares their successful story of their first retail location in Charlotte and the impact it has had on the business. We also discuss their expansion into Atlanta, plans to expand (including franchising), and growth in the industry in general. We discuss the fortunate timing of their capital raise in late 2019.
Our discussion naturally evolves into Covid-19 and he discusses what they had to do to preserve cash – a constant theme for CEOs to think about these days. During the beginning months of Covid they watched and discussed what needed to happen and how they had to reposition themselves – as we learn it was a great time for a pause/refresh. We finally dive into the future and their decision to franchise and their growing relationship with Electrolux.
As is the case with so many of these podcasts, you walk away with a very high impression of Alex and 2ULaundry after this podcast. The decisions CEOs of startups have to make under normal times comes through and the clarity with which Alex and the team have been able to pivot.
For further information regarding a 2ULaundry Franchise, contact Alex Smereczniak at alex@2ULaundry.com.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
This week we welcome Desmond Wiggan, a co-founder and CEO BatteryXchange to the podcast. Like many entrepreneurs Desmond’s business model was disrupted as a result of Covid19. As an African American entrepreneur, he also engaged in the community promoting equality for minority founders and changing the narrative for minorities in technology. He’s also a new father.
You’ll quickly learn that tackling all these things is just what Desmond does – he’s a fantastic person with great drive and self-awareness.
Desmond was kind enough to talk through his journey with us. In many regards, it started out with him running track in college. Through his track team, he was able to learn how to be a leader. He took that leadership and the know-how of doing what has to be done to win to the corporate world. After spending time with Pepsi, Desmond took the opportunity to travel to China for his MBA.
In the Spring of 2018 – just before leaving China - Aubrey Yeboah and Desmond developed the concept for BatteryXchange out of convenience of needing a charged battery for their cell phone.
BatteryXchange is an IoT technology company that connects people, businesses, and communities to things that matter to each entity the most.
On our podcast, Desmond discusses their business model pre-Covid and how they had to pivot to focus on businesses in the essential worker spaces including healthcare and public transportation. He talks about crowd funding and shares his story of the hurdles of starting a new business as a black man. We also discuss Desmond’s involvement with the Black Entrepreneurship Council, a new program initiated this summer through NC IDEA.
It’s a great podcast, listen to the importance being a part of a community, globalization, and their core mission, to keep people connected.
For those wanting to learn more about BatteryXchange and Desmond, register for an opportunity to meet the team, learn more about their products and understand their investment opportunity. Registration can be found here – www.bxesummit.com/summit2020
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Lee Farabaugh and Joe Maxwell join me on the Charlotte Angel Connection today to discuss Core10.
Lee Farabaugh is the Co-Founder and President of Core10. She is a technology design, operations and innovation expert with over a decade of experience in fintech and health care IT – and she’s been fortunate to call Charlotte home before!
Joe Maxwell is the Managing Partner with FINTOP Capital. FINTOP Capital, is a venture capital firm managed by a team of seasoned operators, based in Nashville, TN. In addition, to being an investor in Core10 FINTOP capital was an earlier investor in DealCloud – a Charlotte startup that was sold several years ago (here founders Rob Cummings and Ben Harrison talk about their exit on Episode 78).
Core10, founded in 2016 and backed by FINTOP Capital, is a leading US-based provider of API Integration and SaaS implementation services to the fintech and financial services industry.
Their 100% US-based development team is located in smaller US Hereshore® communities, including Huntington, West Virginia, and Martin, Tennessee, where they offer clients expert resources at a competitive rate. These Hereshore® communities are selected because they produce highly educated developers in places with a significantly lower cost of living than the major US hubs and large cities.
During the podcast we discuss their business value of providing high quality software in US from costing a fortune. Listen to why Lee decided to start their business in West Virginia and Tennessee and learn about the success they have had in building relationships in the community, working with Universities, and becoming a community leader.
We discuss the business model now and future, partnerships with other states, and the need for building an ecosystem. They share their success stories of making the deals happen, and what business has been like for Core10 for the past four months during the early stages of the Covid19 pandemic.
You don’t want to miss this podcast and listen to their excitement and desire for everyone to win.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
We are really pleased to have Jordan Schindler, CEO and Founder at Nufabrx (previously known as Textile-Based Delivery, Inc) on the podcast today (watch our podcast on Youtube).
Much like our last podcast with Chris Wright from Whystle (click here), Jordan had to deal with a big change to his business model during March. While he was in the midst of launching into Walmart and had just finished a capital raise, the need for more masks in the US was/is directly in their line of work. As such, we explore this pivot and the impact with Jordan in detail.
Before diving straight into the meat of the pivot, we learn Jordan grew up in Arizona and at an early age knew he had a passion for entrepreneurship. He attended the University of Washington in Seattle. Fighting an acne problem in college he sought out a dermatologist who essentially recommended Jordan to change his pillowcase more often. It sounded like a crazy concept – wash your sheets to solve the acne problem. As such, Jordan took to solve the problem in a different way – creating fabric that heals.
Jordan shares his story of how he got involved with a group of people from MIT and how their relationship evolved. He moved to the Conover, NC in 2016 to have access to the Manufacturing Solutions Center. This was a pivotal moment in the business as it really opened lots of doors for Jordan and the business and provided him access to tools it would have been impossible (or highly expensive) to purchase on his own.
Nufabrx is innovating smart materials which integrate state-of-art controlled release of active ingredients within garments, offering topical and transdermal benefit with high compliance, safety, aesthetics, and convenience. Their patented platform technology enables the safe and controlled delivery of active ingredients to target locations on the body.
Listen to his success story from a pillowcase to socks with built in pain relief to masks for today’s pandemic.
Special note, for every order they receive, they donate masks to healthcare first responders. You can order there mask and glove products here (www.theramasks.com).
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Chris Wright, founder of Whystle, joins us today on the podcast.
Chris is an entrepreneur obsessed with learning and relentless personal improvement. Chris is from Indiana, grew up in upstate New York and attended University of South Carolina. After college he had a job with Deloitte and was fortunate to have a few months prior to his official start date. During his time off, Chris started two businesses which was where he knew he wanted to come back to. One of the businesses, which he still co-owns, sells private label men’s accessories thru an Amazon FBA (fulfillment by Amazon). You’ll hear a few of the lessons he learned through this business as we dive through his journey.
Chris spent two years as a consultant with Deloitte before he finally nailed down his next company - Whystle.
Whystle is an on-demand cleaning service you schedule via an app. Whystle’s goal is to provide simple to book, transparent cleaning services so people know what they were getting, how much they are paying and can get their time back!
In our discussion today, Chris discusses his consulting assignments at Deloitte and what made him decide to leave Deloitte.
With the demands of being a consultant, working long hours and traveling demands he had no time to maintain a “home”. He first got the idea to start Whystle in the fall of 2018. He thought it would be a great concept for professionals who – like him - lead busy lives so they could take back some of their free time.
Chris built his website, got operational, and started Whystle full time in March 2019. They had a successful first year, lots of ups and downs but successful. One year later COVID-19 happens and by end of March 2020 75% of their overall business had to pause services. He discusses the challenges they experienced during this time.
Listen to how they overcame the business challenges resulting from COVID-19 pivoted to a new service for commercial property owners, Whystle Disinfection Services. Chris’ goal for Disinfection Services is to help businesses reopen safely and to help create a place where employees and customers are not fearful. He discusses their back to business opening plan and discusses guidelines they have made available on their website for others to use. Chris has made his back to business plan available online including a free 15 minute consultation. Please follow this link for additional tips and details - https://www.whystle.co/back-to-business-action-plan.
It’s a great podcast, you don’t want to miss it. Chris is a great leader, a team player and truly has the desire to help and educate people on how to reopen and do it safe.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
We are exploring the world of video podcasting so please feel free to watch today's podcast here - https://youtu.be/Fn4NpldmZhQ
Scott Pope and Eric Kirsch join the podcast today to discuss Mito Station and the health care startup space in Charlotte. Mito Station is a co-working space built specifically to meet the needs of innovative healthcare start-up companies. In addition to getting this unique concept off the ground both Eric and Scott hold down other jobs in the health care space in Charlotte. They’ve been dedicated to building a network in the medical community over the last several years to help cultivate the growing need for more innovative medical startups in Charlotte.
As such, the concept of Mito Station came out of necessity and something Eric and Scott have seen become important as the healthcare startup community has grown up. Eric has been leading the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (SOPE) and their Charlotte Chapter since we last did a podcast with him and Scott has continued to grow the NC Health Innovators Group he launched in 2018. Together they have seen more healthcare-based startups in the area – and even greater demand for more.
We discuss the challenges and strategies in developing workspace in the healthcare industry and the three main needs for innovating healthcare in Charlotte. They discuss their relationship in working with other healthcare stakeholders in the Charlotte area and the direction they are going and what the healthcare ecosystem will look like in the next 3-5 years. They also discuss their opinion of why Charlotte is having success in the healthcare start-up scene.
Mito Station will offer flexible lease terms and spatial arrangements that allows tenants to become submerged into the healthcare ecosystem. Mito Station tenants will have unlimited access to the healthcare innovation center which will offer access to useful resources, events, and healthcare professionals.
SOPE is a community comprised of all types of healthcare professionals, entrepreneurs, organizations, and investors. They have regular networking meetings and an annual state conference.
NC Health Innovators is an organization looking to bridge the gap between health-care providers and technology entrepreneurs in the Charlotte region and across North Carolina.
It is a great podcast, listen to learn about Charlotte’s healthcare ecosystem.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we welcome Hall T. Martin to the podcast. Hall is the Founder and CEO of TEN Capital Networks, formerly known as the Texas Entrepreneurial Network. He has been involved in the Texas angel investors community since at least 2006 when he became the director of the Central Texas Angel Network. Since then, Hall has gone on to start or run the Wilco Angel Network, the Austin Entrepreneur Network, the Baylor Angel Network and several others.
Hall was kind enough to have me on his podcast to talk about what's happening in the Charlotte startup/angel community a few weeks ago. In those discussions, I learned some things about Hall and his approach to angel investing I thought would be valuable to share with our listeners. One of the more interesting things we dive into his view of a 3X in 3 years approach to the companies they invest in. It's a essentially a redemption right which protects the investor from having the startup turn into more of a lifestyle business than a fast growing startup to be acquired in a number of years.
As we continue our discussions, Hall has some really good advice on ways for entrepreneurs to build relationships with local angel investors. We also dive into meeting structure and what Hall's learned over the years for having angel network meetings. Hall also highlights ways the process has been partially moving online - even before Covid-19 - and something we can all attest to after fully utilizing Zoom and other online conferencing sites.
Hopefully you enjoy today's podcast with Hall!
Our next podcast is with Scott Pope and Eric Kirsch as they talk about the local healthcare startup scene and their continued efforts to nurture a growing part of Charlotte's startup scene.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today Don Rainey, Partner with Grotech Ventures, joins us on the Charlotte Angel Connection. Don is an experienced venture capitalist with a track record of successful enterprises. He has been involved with internet-based companies building large audiences and businesses for over 20 years. Over that time, he has made investments in ecommerce, fintech, networking technology and social media-related startups.
Don moved to the Lake Norman area in 2013. He is part of a growing number of Lake Norman area residents who have experience in the venture/startup space. They are increasingly utilizing Davidson’s Hurt Hub as a place to meet, network and share opportunities.
In our podcast today, Don speaks about the role of a venture capitalist. We talked some about Don’s decision to move into the VC space “way back” in 2000 – including the story of his first pitch. Given Don’s experience, we had some fun talking about the his most and least successful investments. He goes into nice detail talking about what created success for the successful one and what lead to the demise of the unsuccessful.
During the podcast we also discuss what Charlotte is lacking in the early stage capital scene and the need for valuation creation. He also shares his thoughts about the Charlotte ecosystem in the next 3-5 years.
We also dive into the Don’s desire to build a “community” which is the reason for he started a course at the Hurt Hub called “Angels and Devils: The Details of Private Investing”. It started as a 4-week course in coordination with LaunchLKN, Erica Madden, and Julie Goff before the social distancing measures went into effect. I’d highly encourage any Lake Norman area listeners to reach out to Don to find out more. One of the goals of the course is to equip someone to be a confident angel investor – and given the growing interest in this Don is a great resource.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, Tana Greene shares her story as a successful entrepreneur and mentor.
At the age of 17, she wrote a goal on a piece of paper: “own my own business by the age 30.” It was a far cry from where she was but you’ll hear why it wasn’t a long shot at all. With each passing year, her purpose beat louder and grew stronger. Along the way, the business became clear – she wanted to help others by finding them employment. Owning her own business became a reality in 1988, when she co-founded a national staffing company that grew to operate in more than 20 states.
In 2017, she guided the company’s transformation into MyWorkChoice. With over 30 years of experience in the industry she saw first-hand the changing needs of the contingent workforce and understood the vital role flexibility and technology must play moving forward.
MyWorkChoice is the first workforce solution for warehousing, logistics, call center, and light industrial companies that allows employees to make decisions about how often and when they work. Through an easy to use mobile app, MyWorkChoice embraces flexibility by empowering workers to design their own schedule and creates a culture of performance and accountability evidenced by fill rates averaging above 95%. MyWorkChoice is the dependable, all-in-one workforce solution that scales alongside business needs.
Tana’s purpose is to “ignite joy”. As a teenage mother and a survivor of domestic violence, she shares her journey with us. She’s also shared it countless other times and has become a vital part of Safe Alliance.
Tana discusses how important goal setting and core values are for business – as well as the importance of mentor relationships with other entrepreneurs (she’s been a mentor to many Charlotte area entrepreneurs including Betsy Hauser Idilbi who was on the podcast a few years ago).
She shares stories about the beginnings of their staffing business, the challenges of franchising, and what she learned along the way through some of their failures. We discuss the future of the staffing business and technology’s role -which she admits has been a learning process.
Don’t miss this podcast and hear Tana’s passion to “ignite joy” by sharing her story to help other people.
I can’t think of a better way to celebrate our 100th episode of the Charlotte Angel Connection Podcast. Tana embodies all that an entrepreneur, investor, mentor and ecosystem member should have. Be bold, make decisions, learn by them and help others along the way.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Dalton Shaull is the Founder and CEO of OmniLife. He is originally from Iowa and was born in an intense football family. He played football for the University of Iowa, but his football career ended due to a motorcycle accident.
After the accident he lost feeling in his arm and ended up having to have a nerve transplant to regain feeling in his arm. Throughout his recovery, Dalton tried several ventures and ultimately decided he really liked to create things (artistic prospective). As a result of his injury, he knew he wanted to get involved in the Medtech business. It was during a pitch he made at an Entrepreneurial class he met Eric Pahl, his Co-Founder at OmniLife.
“OmniLife was founded in 2016 based on the need to make the organ procurement process more efficient.” They launched their first product, known as TXP Chat™, as a secure mobile messaging system for transplant teams. TXP Chat™ facilitates seamless and comprehensive care delivery for organ failure patients by optimizing clinical communication among payors, providers, and patients.
In today’s podcast, Dalton shares his story of how and why he became interested with the organ transplant program. He explains what they needed to initially “focus” on and the due diligence process of dissecting the company’s potential. He tells the story of their “first” pitch and its success—which was the beginning of the momentum. He shares his heartwarming story of the start of the business, first raising round and more.
He also discusses the structure of the business now, their first success of their first study, and why they left Iowa to move the business to Lexington, KY. Dalton currently resides in Charlotte and discusses doing business in the South.
There is a lot of momentum in Health IT. Don’t miss the podcast to hear how about it and how it improves the quality of healthcare delivery.
A few notes worth mentioning along the lines of this podcast.
Dalton is in Charlotte for two reason: (1) his wife is in residency here and his uncle is a heart transplant surgeon in Charlotte as well. Scott Pope and Eric Kirsch are launching a new co-working space devoted to medical companies much like OmniLife, called Mito Station. It's a really unique concept and will help continue incubating new startups in the health care space here in Charlotte. As such, we expect to have even more health care startups in Charlotte as they finish out their space later this year and I look forward to interviewing them on the podcast in the not too distant future. Both Eric and Scott have been on the podcast but we will have them back on this spring talking about their project as well as the growing number of health care startups in town.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
On today’s podcast, we have Haley Bohon, Founder and CEO of SkillPop. I’ve known about SkillPop since nearly its inception but have never had the opportunity to sit down with Haley and talk about the business. For those of you who don’t know, SkillPop is a company facilitating ‘pop-up classes in your community’. They advertise that it’s for ‘creators, dreamers and lifelong learners’.
I think you can make the case it’s for anyone who wants to continue to grow.
And speaking of growth, SkillPop has grown tremendously since its first class. They now offer classes in Atlanta, Charlotte, Greenville, Lake Norman, Nashville and Raleigh.
Today, we wanted to learn more about this great company, hear Haley’s story and the potential paths forward straight from Haley. The best thing about doing these podcasts with entrepreneurs – at least from my perspective – is you get a good sense of the quality of the entrepreneur in Charlotte. Haley is one of many entrepreneurs who makes you feel proud to be part of the ecosystem. She knows her business very well and while I don’t want to say she held back – we dove into lots of good topics – you know she’s got more to show us in the coming years.
So that is where we tried to stay in this podcast. How has Haley and the business grown over the years? What were some of the key milestones and what have bee some of the important moments in the business? In exploring these topics we also get to ask Haley to give us glimpses into what it has taken to build this business.
We also have a little fun with her. It’s always great interviewing a fellow NC State Alum and asking them about the best university in the state. Or talking with her about her Techstars experience in Austin only to quickly dive into a discussion on the best BBQ.
Haley and SkillPop are doing great things. Hopefully you listen to this podcast and realize what an asset she is to our community. Then you go sign up for a class, learn a new skill and meet some other great folks in Charlotte.
You'll notice a new intro/exit song and format going forward. As a lifelong Grateful Dead fan, I thought it was beyond time to incorporate some personality into the podcast. The verse is from Althea and the words fit the podcast.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Dan Ariely to the Charlotte Angel Connection. Dan is the Principal for Advanced Hindsight and Founder of Startup Lab at Duke University. He is also Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University (Fuqua School of Business, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Economics, School of Medicine). Dan is also a Co-Founder, advisor and investor in numerous startups over the last decade. Many of you have probably seen one of Dan’s TED Talks which are based on Predictably Irrational and some of his more recent books.
I read Predictably Irrational in 2010 and became an instant fan of Dan’s works and continued to follow him over the year. Having him on the podcast to talk about how his work is helping startups come through Startup Labs was a fantastic experience.
As you’ll learn today, Dan studies how people act in the marketplace, as opposed to how they should or would if they were rational beings. The Center for Advanced Hindsight’s work is aimed at using behavioral insights to tackle challenging problems at home and abroad.
Dan explains why they focus on financial and health care companies and their approach to teach behavior economics and behavior change. He discusses how environmental methods impact technology. Listen to podcast and hear the examples on how they give people better tools. We discuss the information age and his explanation of less information is better.
He explains how companies can get involved in the Startup Lab and how they select companies. He speaks about investing in startups and the irrationality of founders and investors of startups. We dive into the irrationality of both investing in and being a founder of a startup and he gives great example of how investing in early stage companies has to be about more than just the financial return.
Dan believes that startups need to test their assumptions and he gives some examples of studies they have done at the Center for Advanced Hindsight. We discuss the life cycle of startups and established brands and the importance of innovation. Stick around to the end of the podcast and listen to why Dan loves experiments AND why he encourages using the library.
It’s a very enlightening podcast that you don’t want to miss!
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we welcome Derek Wang, founder and CEO of Stratifyd, to the Charlotte Angel Connection.
Derek was raised in Beijing and moved to the United States to obtain his Ph.D. from UNC Charlotte. While attending UNC he spent time on the West coast working with Microsoft Research and PARC. Derek became a Professor at UNC Charlotte and realized AI was being controlled by large companies. He wanted to deliver the same benefits the large companies were exploring to companies of all sizes.
Stratifyd is a startup headquartered in Charlotte, NC. The company has been designed to equip business leaders worldwide with deep intellectual business insights in minutes instead of months. Since its founding, Stratifyd has evolved into an Augmented Intelligence platform that leverages machine learning technology with human intellect to empower businesses to make data-driven decisions. The platform is built on their patented algorithms that leverage Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) for any businesses.
I had the benefit of doing an interview with Derek at Packard Place in February 2019 and it was my first time meeting him. Very quickly I became a fan of Derek’s and saw the charisma and passion he puts into Stratifyd.
In this podcast, the goal was to let our audience hear from themselves the type of leader Derek is. We talk about the business but also the world surrounding the business with topics like have Georgian Partners as an investor (listen to my podcast from last year with Tyson Baber from Georgian Partners where among other things we talk about their investment in Stratifyd and Derek here), when and how did Derek know it was time to raise money, and what’s the impact machine learning is going to have on the future of our kids.
He speaks about why he did a startup in Charlotte and his experience during the early days of the company. We dive into how he processed the first ‘no’ in the fundraising process (super cool to listen to this part).
Derek discusses what it takes for leaders to inspire. The importance of being frank and honest and ability to attract talent. He explains what Statifyd needs to improve upon in the next decade, the limits of machine learning and benefits, and the biggest hurdle of AI.
At the end of the podcast we speak about Stratifyd’s milestones for 2020. It’s a great podcast and insight into a company that is clearly driving Charlotte into the new decade. Enjoy this edition of the Charlotte Angel Connection.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome the Principals of Dualboot Partners to the Charlotte Angel Connection.
Dualboots mission is to partner with seasoned business leaders and entrepreneurs to build and transform businesses. If you’ve been to any startup event over the last 12 months you’ve seen someone from the dualboot team there. seasoned technology veterans with a long and proven track record of building new products and re-platforming legacy systems. There is no question they have a goal to be an important fabric, in not just Charlotte but, the southeast startup community.
They are building a nice team and have already worked with several successful Charlotte area startups – like Petscreening.com (remember David Stunja from Episode 090) – and many more. Given the impact they are having on the startup scene here locally I wanted to have them on to talk about who they are and how they are doing.
As a little background, prior to Dualboot they all worked together in the past and have expertise in different areas.
Todd Buelow’s, career is anchored at the intersection of entrepreneurship, people, and digital. Todd has over 20 years of experience managing digital products and serving as a catalyst for growth.
Daniel DelaCruz began his career focusing on asset management, banking, and capital markets at PricewaterhouseCoopers. Before founding Dualboot Partners, Daniel was the VP of Finance and Operations of a digital agency.
Ben Gilman spent more than 15 years building software products and has been intimately involved at every level of the software development process.
In today’s podcast, we discuss many fun and interesting topics including how they bring a product to market using remote teams - they currently have 7 people in US (with no “central office”) and 60 developers remotely in Davidson, Russia, and Uruguay.
As such, we naturally discuss onshore versus offshore capabilities and how companies benefit from both. We also dive into the tricky topic of how long they can/should stay on as the development team for a company.
As always, we discuss the opportunities of the Southeast region over course of the next 10 year including their own their vision, and where they want to be in 5 years.
We also get talk about the lessons they have learned by working with startups – including the importance of having a good network when you are thinking about starting your own company.
Hope you enjoy this edition of the Charlotte Angel Connection.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we have Brett Danforth, Managing Director of the Wolfpack Investor Network (WIN), and Ghazale Johnston, WIN member/investor, joining us to discuss angel investing.
“The Wolfpack Investor Network (WIN) brings together the NC State entrepreneurial community, NC State alumni network, and innovative private companies to empower the businesses that drive our future.”
It is operated as a subscription service with direct ties to the University. The annual membership is $1,500 with no requirement to invest (think of it as a fee to see deal flow with the potential to invest in each company). As of our interview in September 2019, they have 150 members and 115 members have made at least one investment through the network. WIN currently has nineteen companies in the portfolio - 15 of those include NCSU graduates in Management and four involved in licensing in technology.
Brett Danforth is the Managing Director at Wolfpack Investor Network. Brett is a graduate of NC State. Prior to WIN, he worked in financial services/investment banking.
Ghazale Johnston also attended NC State and was a Managing Director with Accenture for 20 years. She now serves as the Chief Operating Officer for Daymaker.
During the podcast Brett discusses the business model of WIN. He explains their process of communication to potential investors, and the diligence process. He also shares how they work with other networks in the triangle area (Duke, Carolina Angel Networks) and explains how people with ties to NC State can become involved with WIN as an investor.
Ghazale discusses how she became involved with WIN. She also shares her experience as a member how she reviews the companies presented by WIN to decide whether or not to invest. Additionally, we talk through the benefits she finds to being an active member of WIN.
Listen to the podcast, the benefits of being a member, and learn how to become a member and the benefits of being a member. Enjoy!
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we have Richard Maclean joining us on the podcast. Richard is a co-founder of Frontier Capital – a Charlotte area growth equity firm he co-founded in 1999 with Andrew Lindner.
Richard has seen Frontier Capital grow quickly over the years. Their second fund raised $115 million in 2007 and Fund V raised $700 million in 2017. They have started the process of raising capital for Fund VI and it will be exciting to see where they finish given their strong team and track record.
So where do you start with a co-founder of a growth equity firm whose seen success for many portfolio companies as well as his own firm? We obviously start with the first check they ever wrote to a portfolio company. From there we dive into a number of great discussions.
Richard discusses Frontier’s original business plan in 1999 and how it has changed. He speaks about the lessons learned from their first two investment funds and what it has been like seeing their subsequent funds grow into the company it is today.
We discuss how the growth equity space has changed over the last twenty years. And we dive into the challenges of early stage investing, Frontier’s biggest struggles today, and the phases of growth.
He also discusses competition, the importance of continuing to innovate, and of having the right team in place. We also touch base on some current events such as the WeWork IPO (prior to the collapse of the IPO) and how Charlotte has become a technology hub.
What comes of it is a great discussion with a founder who has been doing growth equity since the dotcom bubble and is guiding his firm into their fourth decade as the calendar turns to 2020. Hope you enjoy today’s podcast with Richard Maclean.
A little more on Frontier
When Richard and Andrew founded Frontier, they wanted to create a different kind of private equity firm - one with a personality and a soul. Frontier now manages capital for some of the world’s most sophisticated institutional investors and is recognized nationally as a trusted partner and a leader in growth capital for middle market software and services companies.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we have Jarod Latch and Tim Baier joining us on the podcast. Jarod and Tim are co-founders of Spiracle Media – a video content agency working with businesses to craft a better story to share.
Jarod and Tim started Spiracle Media in 2011 while still working at different local news stations. They lived in a house together with a couple of other guys – Funday Monday was not a welcome addition to their neighborhood. It took time living together but they finally came to a decision to start what is now Spiracle Media.
Not surprisingly, the business started off with a different idea/concept. It wasn’t until a surprise meeting with an existing client – listen for the story about a birthday cake– that the company turned into what it is today. Tim and Jarod talk about several tough conversations they had to have as the conversation continued to grow.
Tim also shares his first startup – a failure – and what it taught him. Jarod further expanded on the discussion as we learn his position was eliminated back in 2009 as a result of staff cuts in the last recession. As such, we dive into the discussion and topic of failure some and what it really means.
Listen in as we dive back into the early days of Spiracle to learn more about the original business plan and learn about their growth and expansion in Austin and potentially other fast-growing cities in the coming years. We also dig into how two – or at the time, three – guys were able to execute a business strategy when they were ‘merely’ coming from the news world.
What comes of it is a great discussion with two founders who are quickly growing and expanding their business into new markets. Hope you enjoy today’s podcast with Spiracle Media.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we have Jason Tuttle joining us on the podcast. Jason is a Principal and a co-founder of Nova Capital Partners – a local real estate investment firm.
Jason is a different guest for us. At Nova Capital Partners, they’ve spent the last 8 years (2011 – 2019) identifying under-appreciated real estate in the Carolina’s and raising money from investors to purchase each property - in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) type entity.
After successfully doing it over 11 properties and continually providing income to investors, Jason and his business partner, Andy English, made the decision late last year to raise a real estate investment fund to allow them to make purchases as they arise without the constant need to fundraise. They expect to close the fund in the next several weeks. However, it will have an annual opening of which they will take new investor money.
I’ve known Jason for 5 years now and have been constantly intrigued by their business model. They aren’t interested in the glamorous real estate properties found in Southend or downtown. They find profitable entities with solid anchor tenants and manage to grow and improve the tenant base over time with smart operational effectiveness.
It’s not an angel investment. It’s not a startup. However, Jason and Andy are taking an approach to creating shareholder value that deserves to be heard and understood. I’ve long been interested in how the ‘eat local’ movement will transition into something along the lines of ‘invest local’. I think Jason and Andy are on the front end of seeing what that’s like.
Listen in to learn more about their investment philosophy and hear Jason talk about the deal they walked away from last year (which in my view is a huge credibility boost to their approach). And learn more about how the Buffett/Munger approach can be applied to more than just businesses.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today, we have David Stunja joining us on the podcast. David is the COO of Petscreening.com which recently completed a Seed Round led by Grotech Ventures.
Many of you know David, but for those that don’t he took the corporate America route before he joined Petscreening.com.
David spent most of his career in Washington, DC before relocating to Charlotte and was a VP of Corporate Strategy for Bank of America. All along, he knew he wanted to work with a fast-growing startup company. He just had to find the right one for him. To aid in his search, he starting writing stories on Charlotte Area starts for Start Charlotte (now Charlotte Inno), for which he has authored sixty articles.
David’s involvement in the start-up scene through Start Charlotte, and his passion about using technology to turn innovative ideas into sellable products and connecting like-minded people, lead him to PetScreening.com, and in 2018, David joined the company as its COO.
PetScreening.com was started by John Bradford in 2016. PetScreening.com is revolutionizing the pet screening process for housing providers and property managers. The platform, supported by a legal review team that reviews all assistance animal accommodation requests (emotional support, companion, service animals, etc.), also empowers apartment owner operators to screen all pets individually much like they would a resident. PetScreening’s first-to-market risk algorithm, measures the housing-related risk for each household pet, including the pet’s owner, and provides the property manager a summarized risk-score (learn more about their FIDO score here). With PetScreeing.com, property managers, landlords and housing providers can better manage renters' pets and assistance animals for free while introducing more pet-related revenue opportunities.
During our podcast, we discuss David’s involvement with the Charlotte start-up scene and what went into David’s decision to switch from a stable corporate job to a start-up company.
We also discuss PetScreening.com’s process of looking for the “right partners” to raise money in 2019, and what their focus is for the next twenty-four months. David’s career goals, including positively impacting the community, creating jobs, and helping grow the start-up community, are already coming to fruition! Hear about it and more during the podcast.
All podcasts are edited by Brian Adams. If you've noticed the quality of the audio improving substantially since the summer of 2018, Brian is the reason. He does an unbelievable job. Any blips or issues now are due to the recording.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today our guests are Evan Rozantes and Chris Heivly. By the end of the podcast, you will clearly understand their passion and the importance of building a strong innovation ecosystem in the Charlotte and Raleigh areas.
Chris Heivly began his career in DC, then Lancaster, PA then Chicago and moved to the Raleigh/Durham area in 2005. Chris is an entrepreneur (MapQuest Co-Founder), early-stage investor and now serial startup community builder. He’s spent time building up the ecosystem in Raleigh/Durham as well as other cities and joined up with Techstars in 2017 to continue that mission on a global basis. In that role, he is an Entrepreneur in Residence as well as a VP of Innovation. His passion is to help other communities grow their start-up scene, not just in North Carolina but around the World.
Evan Charles Rozantes started his career in Boston working in Private Equity at Bain Capital prior to moving to DC to work in private equity and distressed lending at Capital Source Finance. In 2006 he got the entrepreneur “bug” and started a promotional products company which he successfully exited. Thereafter he went full steam into entrepreneurship without a net, co-founding a pediatric health care company in Boston. A lifetime learner himself, in 2012 he co-founded Launch Academy – one of the first coding schools in the world. Evan relocated to the Davidson area in 2018 with his family where he subsequently met Chris in his effort to bring a TechStars program to Charlotte.
Chris has been using the principles laid out by Brad Feld, Co-Founder of Techstars, in his book, “Start-Up Communities” to build startup ecosystems. Chris is now working with Brad on a sequel to the book, hopefully to be published by the end of this year.
Together, Chris and Evan are working to bring those three principles to Charlotte. As you’ll hear Evan mention several times during the hour, the goal is to bring an entrepreneurial mindset of experimenting often and failing fast to Charlotte and help further ignite the many excellent things members of the community are already doing.
During the Podcast, we also discuss what it takes to create an innovative ecosystem, to create collaborative programs that work within communities, and what it takes to be a good entrepreneur. We discuss the commonalities that exist between Charlotte and Raleigh and how both communities can work together to build a strong ecosystem. Chris and Evan discuss the importance of community participation in building an environment where people will succeed.
We hope you enjoy this podcast!
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Will McGuire and Mark Easley to the Podcast. Will and Mark are building CrowdfundNC – an investment crowdfunding ecosystem in North Carolina. North Carolina is one of 38 states who have enacted legislation allowing for anyone to become an angel investor.
Will McGuire has been an investment crowdfunding investor and advisor since 2016.
Mark Easley has been an active advocate, advisor, and investor in the investment crowdfunding space since 2012. Mark was the leader of the NC PACES Act Team which was recently honored with the 2017 WRAL Techwire Editor’s Choice Award for their work in getting the NC PACES investment crowdfunding law passed.
Will was introduced to Mark by Lewis Sheats knowing they were both interested in helping grow the NC Investment Crowdfunding space. Over the last year or more, the two of them have been building relationships and talking with startups and local businesses aiming to raise capital to grow their companies while providing returns for investors who support them.
In today’s podcast, we talk with Mark and Will about their backgrounds and how they came to be investors, how CrowdfundNC helps companies become investible and what it’s like for a company who wants to crowdfund using CrowdfundNC.
As part of this, we realize there are really two ways to invest through their platform. One is for non-accredited investors and the other is for accredited investors. I was surprised to learn the platform and business model supported both but learned it’s a perfect combination.
I was also surprised to learn their view on traditional angel funds and groups. Listen to the podcast to learn where they believe these traditional sources of capital will be in 10 years plus lots of other great details on investment crowdfunding.
Enjoy!
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Tyson Baber went to college at the University of North Carolina. Early in his career he worked for IBM as an M&A Business Development Executive. In 2014, he relocated to Toronto and became a Partner at Georgian Partners. Georgian Partners is a growth-stage fund focused on companies who provide unique business value through machine learning and artificial intelligence applied to unique data.
Tyson loves helping companies navigate through the growth stage and making them more valuable.
In today’s podcast, we talk about GDPR and how it will be enforced in the US. Tyson discusses the importance of building trust with his clients. We also discuss how start-ups can best compete with the “giants” in AI.
We discuss the “Uber effect”, and what drives business valuations in different parts of the US. Georgian Partners looks for companies outside of the Tech Industries. They look for the “Aces in the deck”, which they found here in Charlotte with Stratifyd and PrecisionLender.
You won’t want to miss this podcast!
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Greg Brown is the President of Cardinal Finance, LLC, and Administrator at Charlotte Angel Fund. Mark McDowell is a Partner at RealVentures, Co-Founder at Acta Wireless Capital and Chairman at LaunchLKN. LaunchLKN is a collaborative community of entrepreneurs, mentors, and community leaders dedicated to sharing knowledge and motivating growth in the Lake Norman/Davidson area startup community.
Earlier this year, Greg Brown made the decision to host a second monthly meeting of Charlotte Angel Fund up in the Lake Norman area (at The Hurt Hub at Davidson). This second monthly meeting (which will be the second Tuesday of every month) will host the same three entrepreneurs who will pitch to the Charlotte Angel Fund the following night (the traditional meeting for the Charlotte Angel Fund is the second Wednesday of every month at Packard Place).
Mark McDowell and several other Lake Norman area members of the Charlotte Angel Fund were instrumental in getting Greg to take this step. In today's podcast, we wanted to sit down to talk with both of them about this new step.
Listen to our discussion about the differences between the Charlotte and Davidson start-up communities, and the importance of making it about “community and mentoring”. We also discuss the emerging trends - AI, Cryptocurrency, Property Tech, Impact Investing; What creates a better IRR; Charlotte’s possibilities with the TechStars program; Having a fertile ecosystem; and The importance of getting entrepreneurs to stay and grow in the Charlotte/Davidson markets.
Hear about the relationship with Davidson College and their role in the Hurt Hub – a center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship aiming to bring the college’s students together with local business leaders through its co-working, interactive spaces. Mark also discusses the pathways the Liberal Arts school is now creating with start-ups.
Enjoy today's podcast.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
AJ Ratani grew up in Dubai and came to America to attend college in Arkansas.
His first experience in the US was flying in a propeller plane and seeing a lot of green as he landed in Arkansas – something new to someone living in a desert. After his college years in Arkansas and Florida, he began his career with a company in Virginia, but he was not satisfied.
He wanted a position that would offer him opportunity and growth. In 2005, pursuing a Monster.com lead, he was “lucky” and was offered a job in Charlotte with a start-up firm, Red Ventures. He started as a software engineer and grew within the organization to run Red Ventures' largest and fastest growing businesses. We discuss the opportunities and challenges in working with a start-up company of 25, growing to a large world-wide corporation of 3,000. We also discuss what to look for when hiring, changes in the work environment, and the advantages and disadvantages of growth.
In 2017, AJ left Red Ventures, and along with his wife and child, embarked on a journey around the world, visiting six continents – a life expanding and changing type of trip. Traveling with a young infant in tow inspired them to start a blog and eventually write a book to help other families travel with their children– it’s called The 2 Idiots Travel Blog (www.2idiotstravel.com). It’s a passion project for him now – a very different concept than when he was at Red Ventures.
AJ is also actively involved with advisory roles with start-ups and in mentoring programs in the Charlotte area. He discusses the importance in building relationships with others to connect with the right people for referrals in advisory roles.
Listen to today’s episode and hear about AJ’s passion and his desire to always jump on the rocket ship.
Local Notes and Thoughts
QC Fintech has Class 10 in the building already. The Demo Day for Class 10 is set for Tuesday June 11 and culminates in an full day event. You can register for the full day conference – known as Fintech Generations here (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fintech-generations-tickets-55658964461). The Demo Day for the Class 10 Cohort follows and is free. You can register for that event also here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/queen-city-fintech-class-10-demo-day-tickets-58991659642. Come out and support our local accelerator program and show them the southern hospitality Charlotte is known for. If nothing else, come out to see AvidXchange’s building and growing campus – it’s beautiful too.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Keith Luedeman is the Executive Director for Innovate Charlotte and a name you’ve heard a lot of over the last 12 months (if not before as he also was the founder of GoodMortgage.com).
When Keith and I sat down to this interview I told him I had a very simple concept for it. In our interview last spring, he indicated he wanted to take a year to get his feet wet before he committed to making investments or being overly active. I wanted to cover what the past year has been like now that he has had his chance to get acclimated and also get a sense of where things are heading.
The first part of this podcast focuses a lot on Innovate Charlotte and where it is today and turns to look toward the future. The MIT Mentoring program was launched under Walt Frye and it is having great success. They are working to match entrepreneurs with mentors to help launch startups. As we hear, Innovate Charlotte is actively looking for mentors and founders and Keith does an excellent job talking about what they are looking for in both groups of people.
The second part of the podcast talk about the future of Charlotte and the future of where Keith where will be. In this we discuss the BB&T and SunTrust merger, the announcement of a potential medical school and other aspects of where the startup and innovation hubs in Charlotte are going to be.
Given Keith’s background as a founder and current role with Innovate Charlotte, he’s got great insight into the future of Charlotte and how it has to merge with old Charlotte. We weave some of this discussion into a really good podcast exploring Charlotte, startups, and life here in this great city.
Local Notes and Thoughts
MapAnything sold this week to Salesforce. Terms of the deal have not been disclosed yet, but Salesforce Ventures was a lead investor in MapAnything’s Series C round last fall where they raised $42.5 million. Congrats to all the founders and employees over at MapAnything and for continuing to advance the Charlotte startup ecosystem.
QC Fintech has Class 10 in the building already. The Demo Day for Class 10 is set for Tuesday June 11 and culminates in an full day event. You can register for the full day conference – known as Fintech Generations here (https://www.eventbrite.com/e/fintech-generations-tickets-55658964461). The Demo Day for the Class 10 Cohort follows and is free. You can register for that event also here https://www.eventbrite.com/e/queen-city-fintech-class-10-demo-day-tickets-58991659642. Come out and support our local accelerator program and show them the southern hospitality Charlotte is known for. If nothing else, come out to see AvidXchange’s building and growing campus – it’s beautiful too.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as,
Brian Pope is a Managing Direct for Barings Alternative Investments. Barings is a name you have heard more from over the last couple of years here in Charlotte. They have hosted the 1st and 2nd Southeast Fintech Venture Conference on the 26th Floor of the Barings building in downtown Charlotte. They have also been active in the community from a community service perspective. We are also seeing Barings more frequently in the business press as their employees are great resources for the local and national media.
Click here to listen.
All of that is great for Charlotte and Barings. We are fortunate to have them in Charlotte. Today, though, I sat down with Brian to explore the alternative investment landscape from his perspective.
We talk at length about the private equity, venture capital and growth equity markets which is an active private investment space where Brian spends his time. He takes a long-term professional approach on how to invest in these asset classes. Listening to him discuss the nuances of the return potential and risk aspects of early stage investing is very interesting. Surely it’s nice to have a very large portfolio to take a disciplined and calculated approach to managing across these private markets.
We took a quick detour to talk about the Charlotte startup scene to hear Brian’s first hand views on the positives in the community relative to the global opportunity set. The momentum and increased local resources are hard to miss these days and is clearly at the top of mind of many people.
We also dove into the discussion of why companies are waiting longer to go public and the continued support companies have from private market investors. It was a topic I’ve wanted to discuss with Brian since we booked this interview in late 2018. He didn’t disappoint as it really leads us through the final 30 minutes of the interview – including a look into what else the Charlotte startup community may have to offer in addition to Fintech.
Thanks to Brian and his team for everything they do for the Charlotte Startup community. We are fortunate to have them in the community and loved having Brian on the podcast.
Local Notes and Thoughts
Dan Roselli and Packard Place are continuing to build their Public House/Keg-Side Chat event. Come join me on Wednesday March 20 as I sit in/drink in for Dan as a guest host and welcome Derek Wang from Stratifyd. Derek and his team have done phenomenal things here in Charlotte and I can’t wait to sit down and discuss some aspects of their growth over the last 4 years.
QC Fintech is also in the process of interviewing for their spring class and after speaking with Dan recently they are seeing some really good companies. Be on the lookout for announcements for the spring class and the opportunities you will have to meet them and ultimately support them as they come to Charlotte for 12 weeks to incubate their ideas and companies.
Barings Streaming Income is a new podcast which has recently launched on iTunes. Tune in to learn more about their insights.
William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company...
Emir Dukic purchased a home with a detached garage. He wanted a man cave but his wife thought differently. Naturally, the man cave lost and as a result the seed for Rabbu was born. The alternative was to rent it out through Airbnb and it didn't take long for them to realize the power of Airbnb and passive income. The room above their garage was essentially paying their mortgage.
Rather than purchasing new properties, they negotiated with existing property owners to rent their property and turn them into Airbnb rentals as well - essentially collecting a rent arbitrage through short-term rentals. Two things became apparent: (1) it was a highly profitable business model and (2) it was taking a lot of work.
Having worked with Mac Lackey at Kyck, Emir knew he needed technology to scale the business so he formally brought on his co-founder, James Strong who also worked at Kyck, and the tech and development efforts have gone full steam ahead since then.
Fast-forward and they are fresh off raising $1.5 million from investors to ramp up their efforts and quickly grow the business.
Today we are fortunate to have both Emir and James on the podcast so we dive into the business, the technology and their backgrounds. From there we leap into what opportunities lie ahead for a company with the wind at its back and plenty of road ahead.
Local Note and Thoughts:
The Charlotte Angel Connection's next quarterly event is scheduled for February 27 from 5:30pm to 8pm. John Cambier and Lister Delgado from IDEA Fund Partners will be in Charlotte to do an on-stage Partner Pitch (the pitch will be from 6:30 to 7:30pm) with Alex Smereczniak from 2ULaundry. Come see the process of professional investors as they work through a due diligence process with a strong founder. Click here to register and join us for what I hope will become an annual event.
Also SeedSpark – a technology and digital solutions company – is going to sponsor our first ever Entrepreneur Date Night Award. We will have the startups in attendance (demo tables) vote on the entrepreneur they think is most worthy of a $100 gift certificate to a Charlotte area restaurant. It’s a small token to the countless spousal/significant dinners founders must give up as they bring their projects to life.
Dan Roselli and Packard Place are continuing to build their Public House/Keg-Side Chat event. They are having Ryan Stone join them on Wednesday February 20. Ryan is the President, a Director, and co-founder of SmartSky Networks, a private-equity backed company that will be the first to provide 4G LTE-based wireless connectivity to business jets and airlines.
QC Fintech is also in the process of interviewing for their spring class and after speaking with Dan recently they are seeing some really good companies. Be on the lookout for announcements for the spring class and the opportunities you will have to meet them and ultimately support them as they come to Charlotte for 12 weeks to incubate their ideas and companies.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company.
Today we share Sam Smith’s story. Sam came to our first Charlotte Angel Connection event last February (where we first met) and has been back to each one since. She has a thirst to be part of and leading the Charlotte entrepreneurial scene. It’s led her to start Vishion, Collective Hustle and put on the 1st Seed the South event in January 2019. All three are great getting great traction and we're excited to see them grow and the impact they will have on Charlotte!
Vishion is her startup. It’s the only mobile app that uses a product’s true color data, fashion trend and user preferences to help shoppers find the ideal color. The concept came to her after her own frustrating experience after falling in love with the blackspash in the bar at Kindred on a date night with her husband. Sam’s the type of person who once she latched onto her idea, she just never let go.
Collective Hustle is a Charlotte investor and startup coalition looking to improve the Queen City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. She started it last year with Aru from botSplash. They host invitation only events with a focus on inclusion and ways to assist female and minority entrepreneurs in Charlotte.
Seed the South was last month. It took a huge effort from Sam and her team to get it off the ground and served as Charlotte’s first non-Fintech Demo Day.
Check out our podcast with Sam today to hear more about how the last couple of years have shaped who she is. It’s a great podcast as we sat down and had a couple of Triple C beers one Friday afternoon.
Local Note and Thoughts:
Stay tuned for Emir and James – co-founders of Rabbu – on the podcast next week. Rabbu recently wrapped up a $1.5 million funding round and they are ready for the next stage of growth. Listen in next week to learn how they got here and where they plan to go.
Finsiders had their annual awards earlier this week. Sam Smith won the Dan Roselli Community Organizer award. Derek Wang, CEO and Founder of Stratifyd won for Best Innovation. Tim Griffin, CEO and Founder of Cloosiv, won for Risk Taker/Fail Fast. Mark Mahoney, CEO and Founder of Jack Rabbit Technologies won the 2019 Change Champion. Congrats to all the winners.
The Charlotte Angel Connection next quarterly event is in the works – though the date may be changing to accommodate the company. John Cambier and Lister Delgado from IDEA Fund Partners will be in Charlotte to do an on-stage Partner Pitch (the pitch will be from 6:30 to 7:30pm) – which means they are going to go into detail with an entrepreneur about their company as though they are interested in investing – and they may even be. I hope to have the company named by the podcast for next week. Stay tune and come see a professional team in due diligence.
Also SeedSpark – a technology and digital solutions company – is going to sponsor our first ever Entrepreneur Date Night Award. We will have the startups in attendance (demo tables) vote on the entrepreneur they think is most worthy of a $100 gift certificate to a Charlotte area restaurant. It’s a small token to the countless spousal/significant dinners founders must give up as they bring their projects to life.
QC Fintech is also in the process of interviewing for their spring class and after speaking with Dan recently they are seeing some really good companies. Be on the lookout for announcements for the spring class and the opportunities you will have to meet them and ultimately support them as they come to Charlotte for 12 weeks to incubate their ideas and companies.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice,
Today on the Charlotte Angel Connection, we are fortunate to have Bill D'Alessandro join us. Bill is the founder and CEO of Elements Brands which is a consumer products company he started while he was in Colorado and brought back to Charlotte to grow and evolve. Bill wants to make Elements Brands the home for consumer products companies.
By 2025, Elements Brands wants to be in a place where they are doing 12 acquisitions per year.
By 2050, they want to be the Proctor and Gamble of consumer product businesses.
Those aren't small goals. And Bill isn't going to back down from them.
Bill raised money in 2016 when he made the decision to go for it and really work to growing to a large company. He used a great quote from a friend of his when talking about his decision - "you can only coast downhill." He raised money from a small group of 5 investors who also serve on his board. He didn't want to raise institutional capital because of the typical demands that comes with that type of money. Instead Bill - not surprisingly - was very intentional about how and from whom he raised money. His investors have a broad array of skills they bring to the company in helping Bill grow to their goal of being the Proctor and Gamble of 2050.
Yet Bill has a keen focus on the culture of his company and takes great pride in the fact no employee has voluntarily left the company since Bill brought it back to Charlotte. They've also been highlighted as a "Best Place to Work" for several years now and I'd be surprised if they don't keep that streak alive for quite some time. When I asked Bill where the nap room was he had a great response - "People think that culture is ping pong tables but ping pong tables are the result of good culture."
The recent acquisition - the Natural Dog Company - will look more familiar to those who follow Elements Brands going forward. This acquisition brought in 7 employees to the company and became its second largest brand upon acquisition. Bill has spent nearly 8 years working on the business getting it ready to scale and absorb consumer product companies. The size and value of future acquisitions will increase as their capacity does but also as founders see what a great place their company can land when they sell to Bill and his team at Elements Brands.
Bill stated mid-way through the interview that Elements Brands has a results based culture. I think those results are going to be pretty dang good in the next 10 to 20 years. Enjoy today's show and don't forget to share it with your friends and colleagues so they can learn more about Bill and his team too.
Local Note and Thoughts:
Seed the South - which happened January 9, 2018 - was a big success. Lots of really good startup companies were there promoting what they are doing. Sam and her team with Collective Hustle did a fantastic job and I expect we will have another Seed the South and more events like these going forward right here in Charlotte.
StartCharlotte is having their annual StartCharlotte Live event on Tuesday January 22. They will have awards for various things such as startup of the year, innovation award, investor of the year and servant leader award. Please vote for those awards by clicking here. You can register for the StartCharlotte Live event here.
Finsiders is also having their annual awards on Wednesday January 23 (click here to register). You can vote for their awards by clicking here.
QC Fintech is also in the process of interviewing for their spring class and after speaking with Dan recently they are seeing some really good companies. Be on the lookout for announcements for the spring class and the opportunities you will have to meet them and ultimately support them as they come to Charlotte for 12 weeks to incubate their ideas and companies.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser.
While working together at Falfurrias Capital, Rob Cummings and Ben Harrison experienced a need for vertically-focused software for the deal making industry. What ensued was an 8-year growth story that achieved a significant milestone when DealCloud was sold to Intapp, Inc. in August 2018. Make no mistake, DealCloud is still growing at a rapid pace and is a critical component to the Intapp growth story. But for Rob and Ben, getting to an exit event capped an incredible run together from when they started as a 2-man operation inside of a “closet” at Packard Place.
Now that the company has been sold – making legends out of Ben and Rob in Charlotte’s still young startup scene – I wanted to sit down and talk with Ben and Rob about their experience. Sure AvidXchange and Red Ventures and even Lending Tree have made it big but DealCloud signals new times for Charlotte’s entrepreneurs.
This feels different. It was a homegrown team who raised money through multiple rounds and sold the business at life changing terms.
Listen to Ben share a few stories of the early days. How they had to hustle for deals and stay with friends and relatives on trips to Atlanta to save costs. It’s funny to hear Rob talk about where he was when the deal was announced and how that day fell into place. It all worked out in the end and they are here to tell you more than you’ve probably heard them tell before. It’s a great episode and I hope you enjoy it as much as I did recording it.
Local Notes and thoughts:
This is a time of year to be grateful for what we have in our lives. As a community of people interested in watching Charlotte succeed as a startup hub, 2019 has been a very positive year and something we can all look back on as phenomenal year of growth. Let’s look back on the positive things to celebrate from 2018 in Charlotte:
DealCloud becomes a true exit story (read the story from the Charlotte Observer here).
Passport raises $43 million from Bain Capital and is well on its way to being another unicorn startup here in Charlotte (read the story here).
Tresata raises $50 million and joins Avid and Red Ventures as recent Charlotte unicorns (read the story here).
Venture for America introduces another group of motivated fellows for Charlotte area startups (read the full story here).
StartCharlotte and Innovate Charlotte both received $100,000 grants from NC Idea – propelling their growth and cementing their place in Charlotte’s startup ecosystem.
Local startups like Skipper and Rabbu – among others raise money locally and from afar.
Collective Hustle is founded by four women to make entrepreneurship and investing more accessible in Charlotte.
Sam Smith announces the first Seed the South – highlighting Charlotte’s entrepreneurial ecosystem – will be January 9, 2019.
Scott Pope launches the NC Health Innovators – which is working to put Charlotte on the map as a healthcare as a business startup ecosystem (read about their latest event here).
Ride the Scooter in the Rain - it's a a core value of Skipper. It also serves to remind CEO/Founder Meggie Williams of where the business started. Early on in the business she took a scooter to walk the dogs. Inevitably some days it rained. It's a way for her to remember who she and who the company is.
Skipper is after the trust of the Trust of the clients. It's something you won't question or doubt after listening to Meggie's interview today.
Sebastian Williams - or as she refers to her husband, Seb - and Meggie have been on a wild ride since they first met in college. Back then they were working as a team for Senior Class President at UNC Chapel Hill and really haven't stopped working together since then. Their skills complement each other well and they have an ability to put work at the door step before going home every night.
Their partnership has taken them from Chapel Hill to NYC, backpacking around the world on a shoe string budget, to Charlotte, down to Austin for the Techstars incubator program (where they roomed with fellow Charlotte startup couple Haley Bohon and her husband - Founders of Skillpop - and Dina Carey, CEO of Milkful, also a local CLT company).
Most importantly for Charlotte, though, it has led them to start Skipper (formerly The Waggle Company). They are one of a handful of Charlotte area companies the Charlotte Angel Fund has invested in. They are now in three cities - Charlotte, Austin and Dallas - and will be launching in Atlanta soon. They are very aware of their competition and are quite comfortable at how they are going to be able to win.
Before my interview, I had heard many people sing the praises of Meggie and Sebastian. Today I know first hand they are a team that is building something great. Now you get to hear about it too.
A few other local notes and comments:
Sam Smith of Vishion (local startup) and Collective Hustle is organizing a fantastic event called Seed the South. The goal with this effort is to bring investors and entrepreneurs in Charlotte and beyond together to begin to show off what’s here. The event is going to be on January 9 at the Foundation for the Carolinas and Sam is working on building a terrific list of speakers. There will be a pitch competition for 4 – 8 startups and other startups will have demo tables there too. It’s going to be a great way to start 2019 and I hope to see you there.
If you are a startup looking to learn more about the Seed the South opportunity, please register for the informational session on December 11 at Hygge. https://collectivehustle.us/events/participate-seed-the-south/
Thank you to Dan Roselli and his team at Packard Place for our first sponsorship. They have hosted more than 2 dozen of our interviews over the last couple of months and have offered one of their used Yeti’s for us to use with guests when we go offsite. They are a great community supporter for all things startup in Charlotte.
Speaking of Packard Place, come out to Packard Place Public House - December 4th 5:30pm - to listen to Dan & Alex, Co-Founders of 2ULaundry. It's free but please register here:
https://www.meetup.com/packardplace/events/jwvczpyxqbzb/
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act,
Mac Lackey is a Charlotte kid. He grew up here, returned after playing soccer in college and professionally to start his career. He started his first businesses and began raising his family here. Ultimately, he decided to return here after spending several years overseas.
He’s returned to a startup ecosystem vastly different than the one he left. And he is in the middle of it through his work mentoring companies, leading the VentureSouth efforts here in Charlotte and being an active speaker at startup and investor focused events.
Listen to our podcast with Mac today as we explore his first startup in the late 90s and expand all the way through his latest venture with Kyck. We dive deep into Internet Soccer (Mac’s 3rd) startup to explore how he was able to sell an internet company with little money left in the bank to a European company.
Listen to which company Mac would like to have back and why. And found out what some of Mac’s key guidance is to founders as they look to build their own startups here in Charlotte.
I found it really interesting to find the lessons within his stories. He’s got a great comfort around telling who is and what’s he’s done and is trying to accomplish. He’s sold businesses at fantastic numbers and talk freely about it. But how often do you hear someone admit they lost 90% of their ‘winnings’ in a market downturn.
Mac’s has a lot to offer Charlotte entrepreneurs and investors. Listening to him talk about it in this podcast is a great way to get started. You can also learn more about Mac and what he is doing at www.maclackey.com.
A few other local notes and comments:
Sam Smith of Vishion (local startup) and Collective Hustle is organizing a fantastic event called Seed the South. The goal with this effort is to bring investors and entrepreneurs in Charlotte and beyond together to begin to show off what’s here. The event is going to be on January 9 at the Foundation for the Carolinas and Sam is working on building a terrific list of speakers. There will be a pitch competition for 4 – 8 startups and other startups will have demo tables there too. It’s going to be a great way to start 2019 and I hope to see you there.
Dan Roselli and his team at QC Fintech and Packard Place did a fantastic job hosting the 2nd Annual Southeast Fintech Venture Conference yesterday along with the Demo Day for Class 9 from QC Fintech. There was a great showing of both the Charlotte community AND investors/investor funds there looking at and talking with companies. Caroline Hudson with the Charlotte Business Journal covered the event well. She’s doing a great job getting coverage for local startups and events.
Thank you to Dan Roselli and his team at Packard Place for our first sponsorship. They have hosted more than 2 dozen of our interviews over the last couple of months and have offered one of their used Yeti’s for us to use with guests when we go offsite. They are a great community supporter for all things startup in Charlotte.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly not...
QC Fintech Class 9 is getting ready for its demo day which coincides with the Southeast Fintech Venture Conference on November 14. In preparation, we had the opportunity to talk with three different founders companies who are part of Class 9:
iTrust – (www.itrustinc.com) - Trevor Horwitz
Mimble (www.mimble.co) – Chad Huber
AMUS (www.askmyunclesam.com) – Busayo Ogunsanya
After getting to know each of the companies and their founders on the podcast, we dive into the topic of what allows them to come back to Charlotte in 5 years and celebrate their success as entrepreneurs. After all, every startup city is littered with great ideas which never gained traction, found investors or made it through the difficult path of success.
We also dive into the discussion of investors. What’s it like to talk with investors as young companies and how soon is too soon to start the discussion.
One interesting topic we discuss is what success means for each founder. Is an IPO the only way to go for these founders or is there something before?
Local notes and thoughts:
Thank you to Dan Roselli and his team at Packard Place for our first sponsorship. They have hosted more than 2 dozen of our interviews over the last couple of months and have offered one of their used Yeti’s for us to use with guests when we go offsite. They are a great community supporter for all things startup in Charlotte. NC IDEA recently issued two $100,000 grants to Charlotte entities – StartCharlotte (led by Juan Garzon) and Innovate Charlotte (with Keith Luedeman currently serving as interim leader of the organization). It should be very exciting for the Charlotte Startup community that both of these local organizations have some fresh capital to continue serving the ecosystem? Go support high school area entrepreneurs at the Techstars Startup Weekend Charlotte Youth. It starts on Friday November 2 with the demo day on Sunday afternoon at Johnson C. Smith University (Stem Hall). Buy Demo tickets here - https://www.eventbrite.com/e/techstars-startup-weekend-charlotte-youth-november-2018-tickets-50613935644 Don’t forget to register for the Southeast Fintech Venture Conference on November 14 (click here). If you don’t have the time, or the money, to come to the full day event please come support the QC Fintech Class 9 companies at the end of the day. It’s FREE and starts at 5pm (click here). Collective Hustle is an investor and startup coalition looking to improve the Queen City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem. They meet monthly and their next event is coming up on November 7 – you can register by clicking here. It’s a great panel discussion with the topic of “How to land a meeting with an investor.”
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
SignUp Genius was born out of the frustrations of a couple, Dan and Angel Rutledge, who were struggling with the same tasks we labor through every week as parents and volunteers – coordinating who does what and when. It was born in 2008 – the worst economic period we’ve had in at least 30 years – in a growing southern city not known for its entrepreneurial grit, Charlotte.
Dan had been recruited to Charlotte to work with an entrepreneur (Michael Vadini) to build an entertainment company and a website design/implementation company. Angel is a former middle school English teacher and a mother of four who stepped in to help Dan in 2011.
At that time, Dan just needed help with hiring and extra help on marketing. A little more than a year later, SignUp Genius was growing by over 40% per week during October 2012.
Coming out of that period of strong growth, they realized they had something important to the world and valuable as a company. It wasn’t until 2016, however, when Dan and Angel, and Michael Vadini (Dan’s co-founder) realized it was important for them to raise capital. Given their rapid growth over the previous 8 years, they had plenty of firms lining up to make the investment. They had choices about what they were going to do and how they were going to do it. Great choices at the right time.
Over the years, through all the challenges (and we discuss a few of them) and successes (we talk about those too), they have never deviated from their core mission – to empower people to change the world by making it simple to organize groups.
Listen to this local success story with Angel. They had no accelerator program, no outside capital until nearly 10 years old, they were NOT in San Francisco and yet they’ve carved out a very nice niche for themselves.
Learn when Angel finally told Dan, “you have to fire me from doing something.” Find out her favorite role, their view of the responsibilities of having investors? Listen to what she tells her daughters about their own lives and much more in this interview with Angel.
Then come find Angel in the growing entrepreneur and investor scene here in Charlotte. You’ll come away impressed and thankful we have more and more people like Angel coming out to grow and share on a regular basis.
Local notes and thoughts:
Congratulations to SignUp Genius for celebrating their 10-Year Anniversary this week (October 2008 - October 2018). Thank you to Dan Roselli and his team at Packard Place for our first sponsorship. They have hosted more than 2 dozen of our interviews over the last couple of months and have offered one of their used Yeti’s for us to use with guests when we go offsite. They are a great community supporter for all things startup in Charlotte. Please register to attend and/or support the Charlotte High School Startup Weekend - http://communities.techstars.com/usa/charlotte/startup-weekend/12714 - November 2 - 4, 2018 at Johnson C. Smith University. Seth Twery and I host a quarterly event to help educate people on the ins and outs of being an early stage investor. Our next event is Tuesday October 23 at the new Junior Achievement facility at Camp North End. Please email me if you’d like to attend. We are going to have Greg Brown of the Charlotte Angel Fund and Mac Lackey of VentureSouth there to discuss common terms and phrases you’ll hear when talking to startups and investors. Register now for the Southeast Fintech Venture Conference on Wednesday November 14, 2018. This is also the Demo Day for the QC Fintech Class 9 Cohort. You can find out more details and register here (https://www.sefintechvc.com/).
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any l...
"Start with Why".
Something Michelle Buelow clearly had done helped propel Bella Tunno to the next stage several years ago. But reading the book and using it to define the following year of the business (she chooses a book every year to help frame the next 12 months) was just another step in Michelle's evolution from passion, to entrepreneur, to CEO.
Michelle has a clear vision of who she is and what Bella Tunno has become and is still becoming. She's learned to manage and measure the business. She speaks of margins and expenses in a product based world with extreme confidence. She delegates out things she's willing to accept aren't her strengths.
In what other ways has Michelle grown to become who she is today and what resources have allowed her to do that? We discuss it in today's podcast?
Does it need capital to grow? Of course she is aware of that. But what is the cost and the opportunity? I thought the exit would be the hardest part for her - knowing capital would all but guarantee she'd eventually need to sell a business she founded with passion and purpose after the loss of her brother. An exit would actually allow her to accelerate her work in those areas.
So does she want to raise capital? It's a question we explore in pretty good detail.
Michelle has won awards and built a successful business. She's watching her two daughters grow up in a world where they understand what she's doing and they've embraced all that comes with it.
How does she view the impact of her entrepreneurship on her daughters and girls everywhere? Listen in to hear Michelle's own view.
Listen to Michelle in her own words tell her story of growth and what she thinks of the 26 year old version of herself.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Michelle Buelow, Founder and CEO of Bella Tunno. Over the last decade, Michelle's success and the success of Bella Tunno has helped deliver nearly 1.6 million meals to the hungry as part of their buy one product, give one meal program. She's also raked in numerous personal accolades including EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women in 2009. The path she carved wasn't one she chose yet she's embraced it and created a legacy in the process.
Today, we learn Michelle:
Moved to Charlotte (with her boyfriend, Todd Buelow - way out of his league but that's another podcast).
Found a job she loved and traveled the world.
Got married (yes, to Todd) and got pregnant.
Lost her brother to addiction.
Quit her job and started sewing cute baby gear to raise money to finish her brother’s doctorate research project.
Started her business - Bella Tunno - making children's accessories with a core focus on philanthropy.
Pitched her products to 11 Charlotte area stores in a day with her baby in tow and had 10 say yes (do you think the other one comes around?).
Got called to Minneapolis to see the red bullseye (by now you can guess the outcome).
But that's far from the complete picture - it's actually just the first 10 minutes of the podcast. She continues to surpass every goal she develops. That's Michelle Buelow.
Listen to today's episode to hear her full story. It's one you will find yourself cheering for as soon as we get started.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Eric Kirsch started out running basketball camps as a 17-year old which mostly paid his way through college and ultimately became a physician's assistant. In 2003, he moved down to Charlotte to start his life in the medical community. After several years as an employee, he started his own specialty/niche practice, grew it to four locations (Charlotte, Mooresville, Asheville, and Cary) and ultimately sold those practices.
In the process, he learned how to code in order to build solutions for his own practice. As he has re-started his entrepreneurial journey after taking several years off his knowledge of technology has served as a springboard. He's created a holding company where he tests ideas for the medical community and if it starts to gain traction he raises money to help launch those companies. So he has done this with three of the four companies/ideas and hopes to travel down that path with the fourth soon.
He is currently excited about his roles with the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs which he started in Charlotte and Beacon Healthcare Benefits . With the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs starting here, he is launching an event here in Charlotte - the NC Healthcare Innovation Conference - September 21 from 8:00am to 5:00pm. If you are interested in attending, you can purchase tickets on Eventbrite by clicking here.
Listening to Eric you learn he's constantly tinkering with different ideas and concepts. You also get the sense that Scott Pope's podcast from a few weeks ago talking about Charlotte becoming health care startup city has legs.
Listen in next week as we spend more time focusing on Eric's startup which just launched - Beacon Healthcare Benefits. It's a bold concept in a market that is rapidly changing. It's crazy enough that it just may work and I think you'll enjoy hearing more.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Last week, we spent time with Seth Twery - who led a successful corporate career prior to leaving in 2011 to seek “growth opportunities.”
Can you execute? That’s the thing Seth sees being the reason behind success of a startup team. He cites the fact that IDEA Fund looks at over 1,000 ideas per year, more than a few with overlap. If there are that many ideas in the NC region (and further) then how many ideas are being incubated across the US and the world? If you can’t execute against that type of volume and competition it is highly unlikely the founding group is going to create success.
We also continue discussing the opportunity ahead of Seth as he is about to start his new role with Tookitaki – the Singapore based company looking to use Artificial Intelligence to solve. Fortunately for Charlotte, we learn they are looking to hire a development/technical team here.
From there, we transition into a discussion on early stage investing and Charlotte. Here Seth thinks out loud about the investing and entrepreneurship scene here in Charlotte. We touch base on the recent exit by DealCloud and the impact it may have versus the impact of a bigger exit along the lines of AvidXchange.
Along the way, we veer off course and discuss all things startup and investing. Hopefully, you’ll find a few nuggets by listening in.
A successful corporate career with travel and very good compensation with a well-respected Fortune 500 company comes to an end in 2012 – so an individual can pursue ‘growth.’
What does ‘growth’ even mean as a pursuit? Can you find it in Charlotte? What does it look like?
How about ‘consciously stumbling’ into the very early days of a little parking app in Charlotte, offering a 5 page critique of their software and eventually becoming an early investor as part of the friends and family raise? What happens when that company goes on to become Passport and raises in excess of $40 million from the likes of Bain Capital and chases the opportunity to become the next unicorn in Charlotte?
What happens when pursuit of ‘growth’ leads you to mentoring early stage companies at QC Fintech and several years later you have the opportunity to work with a successful foreign based company looking to establish their US headquarters in Charlotte, not New York or San Francisco or Austin? Tookitaki is a Singapore based company with a very well respected founder, who is the process of completing a funding round and is looking to expand rapidly now.
Tell Seth Twery in 2011 that will be his path – along with some other twists and turns – through 2018 and he’d ask why does it have to be so hard. But he'll readily admit the path he took then looks to be much easier today for those looking to follow in his footsteps.
Along the way, Seth has become an investor in IDEA Fund Partners, gotten very involved in the Charlotte startup scene and is working to increase the number of early stage investors through a series of quarterly events targeted at investors – who like him are craving the opportunity for growth.
Listen to Seth talk about his story today and how it all came together. Listen to what is now a seasoned investment professional who made the leap and talks openly about what from his corporate life was applicable and what he’s learned along the way.
Walt Frye has been a friend of the startup community for the last several years. A little more than 18 months ago, Walt took on a new challenge as the Executive Director of a somewhat stagnant entity – the Charlotte Regional Fund for Entrepreneurship (CRFE).
As you heard last week, Innovate Charlotte has sprung out of CRFE and has a clear vision Walt helped to establish. Listen to Walt continue his thoughts on the Charlotte startup ecosystem - past, present and future - and his time as Executive Director of Innovate Charlotte.
In what I consider to be bad news for the Charlotte ecosystem, Walt has stepped down as the Executive Director – as the news was officially announced Thursday August 16. Few people have the unselfish motivation the ecosystem currently needs, Walt did. The opportunities are great within the ecosystem if it’s allowed to grow naturally (look no further than the recent successful exit of DealCloud). Politics and egos can ruin those opportunities and the young ecosystem if allowed.
Fortunately, Keith Luedeman has agreed to take the reins as the interim director. Keith is well-known in the startup ecosystem. His eagerness to immediately give back after selling GoodMortgage has been a huge benefit already to the Charlotte startup scene. Keith can lead this to the next stage if given the support and opportunity.
He has the credibility to put things in place to support current programs, improve existing infrastructure and create new opportunities. Hopefully everyone gives Keith the space to lead us there as it will mean great things for many aspects of Charlotte - the city and business community included.
Let's support Keith and the next full-time Executive Director to give room for more DealClouds, Passports, Avid's and more.
Walt will continue to do great things. Great people always do. I'm excited about what lies ahead for him!
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Last time we spoke to Walt Frye (summer 2017 here) he was working on reinventing the Charlotte Regional Fund for Entrepreneurship (CFRE). Fast forward a year and Walt has made tremendous strides as Innovate Charlotte has become the execution arm for CRFE.
Walt has taken on a job few probably wanted or truly understood since CRFE was initially funded by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and the city of Charlotte. As such it's a political juggling job looking to balance the desires of the Chamber and the needs (political and other) of the city - along with other stakeholders. Yet Walt has balanced that well and is in the process of growing a mentoring program through Innovate Charlotte which targets early stage companies in Charlotte (business process, validation stage, Charlotte based, and not too much investment/revenue).
If successful the mentoring program has the opportunity to serve a great role in the city's entrepreneurial space. This mentoring program has been launched through an initiative with MIT - where Walt and several people visited Boston in February 2018 to get trained on the program. Since coming back from Boston, they've a put together a great group of mentors - including two past guest on this podcast (T.J. Eberle and Keith Luedeman). You can listen to T.J (Part I and Part II) and Keith (Part I and Part II).
This is a community effort though. Walt, nor anyone other individual, has the ability create this community by themselves. It takes a concerted effort from current stakeholders who can't be selfish about their intent or with their time, money, and knowledge. It has the potential to be so much bigger than any of them if allowed. As such, a homegrown entrepreneurial ecosystem in Charlotte can support and create many of the things we need as a city - it just needs a chance to find its way without top down control.
Walt has spend a year tackling some of these things and more. I'm glad we have him doing it and look forward to sharing the podcast with you this week and next.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
LinkedIn member 1,434. It goes to show how Robert has been plugged into the startup scene for a long time. Listening to and joining social networks. He visits trade shows and finds value in the conversations that can develop in those discussions.
He's failed in previous startups, he's worked side hustles while working with companies. Essentially, Robert has continued to build knowledge to be ready to build his next startup - Gatestaff.
Yet, when a Venture Capitalist calls his baby ugly he listens and ultimately changes the direction of his company based on the feedback. Does that mean this startup is the success he is looking for? It's hard to say. He's watched and participated. He's seen failure and watched success.
But this team has a focus that seems real. They have three people on the team right now yet Robert mentions 'culture' numerous times in our podcast. Specifically, he says 'the culture of the company is product focused.' Repeating they want to build great products. Let's hope they have that runway.
Robert has value outside of his own startup. He's like any entrepreneur - he's got lots of crazy ideas. Some of them relate back to what Charlotte companies can do to attract startups to the city. His experience and being in the scene give him insight from communities such as San Francisco and reflect Charlotte has a long ways to go to be the open startup community it thinks it wants to become.
Listen to Robert weave these tales and more into part II of our podcast today.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
We welcome Robert Reddick to the Charlotte Angel Connection today. Robert is a Co-Founder with GateStaff and has been a part of the Charlotte startup scene for nearly 20 years.
Throughout the next two podcasts, you will learn Robert was one of the first people to sign up on Linkedin (listen in to find out his number and then go try to find yours) and has a passion for seeing entrepreneurship take off in Charlotte. As part of his involvement in the startup scene for the last 20 years - or more - you will hear his opinion on what we can do differently to attract talent and grow the startup scene.
You will also hear the thoughts of a startup founder who is working to thread a tight needle - be early to a new space without being so early that adopters won't jump on the bandwagon. Knowing he's done this act before leads us down the difficult acknowledgement that startups aren't easy and their success isn't guaranteed. But we also get to see the passion of a man who has been building up to this for the last 20 years, or more.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we have Scott Pope, founder of In Scope Ventures, back on the Charlotte Angel Connection. As we learned last week, Scott is working to bring a health care angle to the Charlotte startup scene – not necessarily in the traditional pharmaceutical or the medical device space but in medicine as a business.
I attended the first Health Innovators meeting in July 2018 and it was full – standing room only at the back. There is certainly an interest from people in the medical community to support Scott right now, so it will be exciting to see where this Scott and the community can take things over the next 12 to 24 months.
In our discussion today, we covered the following:
Why not move to the triangle where he would have great research institutions and systems in place to support the health care initiative?
Can Premier be the catalyst in Charlotte that HCA was for the Nashville area?
What is the acquisition strategy of Premier right now?
Do you have enough community support at this time to help this thing grow, to put a flag down saying Charlotte can be a hub for health care business innovators?
Does he have to sell this to UNC Charlotte, Davidson, the Charlotte City Council and players?
Can Charlotte attract medical capital at this point in time? Not necessarily from outside of Charlotte, but within in the Charlotte medical community is there an appetite to invest in these types of companies?
Does Scott see himself setting up his own venture fund with a health care focus?
How is Scott earning a living while he pushes this effort through the Charlotte community?
Can Charlotte attract existing companies in the business of health care to move here and grow?
And much more....
Scott’s passion for developing this will take it a long ways. However, he needs support from the Charlotte community to continue to grow this effort.
Stick around next week for our first of two parts with Robert Reddick – long-time member of the Charlotte startup community. Robert launched his first startup back in 2001 – INTV – which was essentially an online video sharing platform. They were a little early to the game and then some little know company called YouTube came along a few years later and made waves. Robert is back with Gatestaff. He’s early on this one too but I don’t think he’s too early. Come back to find out what he’s doing and where he is.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we have Scott Pope, founder of In Scope Ventures, on the Charlotte Angel Connection. Scott is working to bring a health care angle to the Charlotte startup scene – not necessarily in the traditional pharmaceutical or the medical device space but in medicine as a business. It’s an effort gaining support with some key folks in the Charlotte area and I wanted to bring the concept out to the listeners of the podcast.
In today’s interview we dive straight into what In Scope Ventures is so we can get a better concept of what Scott’s working on. From there, we dive into a host of other areas by touching base on the following questions and more.
Have you looked around and noticed Charlotte doesn’t have a medical school? Add in the fact that we don’t have a great pool of early stage capital to invest into companies and it doesn’t seem like a good mix.
On a serious note, though, is there another city out there to serve as a model for what you are trying to do?
How does your background set you up to do this?
We talked a little bit about your wife? She’s pretty supportive of you right? How much convincing did it take?
What does he need from the Charlotte community in order to help get this off the ground?
And much more.
Next week we continue to dive deeper into the conversation by talking about the health care space and what Scott is doing to bring focus to this growing area in the Charlotte startup scene.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we have Cor Hoekstra joining us for the second part of his podcast. As we learned last week, Cor is the CEO of Amicus Solutions, a local Charlotte startup, who has been through the QC Fintech accelerator program and continues to build momentum.
Last week we got to know Cor and Amicus and he shared with us a little bit of what it's like to be a startup founder. In the discussion, he compared it to falling out of an airplane and chasing a parachute. This week I wanted to dig deeper because the reality is that for at least a little bit there is an initial feeling of 'I'm flying' before you realize you are falling. So how did Cor and his team handle those two different periods?
We also touched base on some of the following:
What is it like to show your kids you are chasing a dream/goal?
How has his wife, Monica, been during the entire process? Hint, she's an entrepreneur too as she is the owner of Absolute Pilates in Phillips Place.
What has prepared him most for being a CEO of a startup?
It's a great overall discussion with Cor as we dig through the personal side of being a startup CEO and what it has been like for him to transition from software sales to CEO of a startup.
Next week we start a two part series with Scott Pope who is working to bring a health care startups to Charlotte. But Scott recognizes we can't compete in the traditional health care world like pharmaceuticals and medical devices. However, we do have very large businesses like Premier, Atrium and others and so Charlotte could very well make a case for health care startups looking to improve the business of medicine. It's an interesting view and he has a background and skill set which very well could pull it off. Listen next week to hear Scott lay out his thoughts.
Today we have Cor Hoekstra joining us on the podcast. Cor is the CEO of Amicus Solutions, a local Charlotte startup who has been through the QC Fintech accelerator program and continues to build momentum.
Cor and his team got some great news earlier this year which spurred us to having this podcast so we will cover that. In today’s podcast, I want to cover some of the basics of the business as it stands now. We’ll start out with some of the basics of the business – background, idea state, etc. Then we will get into the QC Fintech Accelerator program and his latest round of good news and what that does for the company.
For our next podcast, we will circle back through and talk some about the personal experience of Cor the entrepreneur and Cor the CEO of Amicus. In other words, I’m slowly changing our format here. I hope you enjoy it.
In today’s podcast we cover some of the following:
Can you give us a little background information on what Amicus does?
Based on your LinkedIn profile, you’ve been working on Amicus for almost two years. When did the idea come to you though?
What did your wife (family) say when you told them of the project?
You choose to go through the QC Fintech Accelerator program in Spring 2017. Why and what did you get out of it?
In what likely seemed like an eternity, it wasn’t until late Spring in 2018 that you got some really positive news from the company? Tell us about the Wells Fargo opportunity?
What does it mean for Amicus over the next 6-12 months and beyond?
Have you ‘made it’? If not, what are the next key hurdles for you to clear?
Stick around next week as we dive deeper into the conversation with Cor on both Amicus and his family. It’s worth the wait.
Today we have Aru Anavekar back joining us on the podcast. As we learned last week, Aru and her husband Ramu Pulipati are the Co-Founders of botsplash – “a software as a service messaging platform aimed at improving communications between consumers and businesses.” We focused mostly on Aru and Ramu and how they got to this point. This week I wanted to focus more on botsplash, the business.
So this week, we wanted to talk more about the business and how it’s developing. We learned last week Ramu is the developer behind the business and Aru is running the business and drumming up new business. Our conversation focused mostly around the following and just like last week Aru does a great job weaving us in and out of what’s going on.
When did they start the business?
In a ‘use case’ how would botsplash work for a business segment?
They did a big pivot in 2017. How did the business start?
What led them to pivot to their new business model?
How are they beginning to use machine learning in the business model?
How did the pilot/alpha users respond to the fact that botsplash was going to change its business model?
How has it been creating a startup in Charlotte?
What is the Charlotte Bots and AI group?
What is the plan for them to raise money from investors for botsplash? How do they intend to tackle that aspect of the business?
What is Collective Hustle and why does it exist?
Several key people have stepped up and served as mentors and advisors to the botsplash. What has that been like and how tight is the network in Charlotte.
What’s the next 12 months look like for Botsplash?
Enjoy today’s podcast.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we are excited to have Aru Anavekar join the podcast. Aru and her husband, Ramu Pulipati, are the Co-Founders of botsplash – “a software as a service messaging platform aimed at improving communications between consumers and businesses.” I saw Ramu pitch this as a very early beta in 2016 at 1 Million Cups in Charlotte. It has come a long way since then with intense work by Ramu and Aru.
In today’s podcast, I wanted to get to know Aru and learn more about the backstory. As an entrepreneur and investor, I think the background is so important. It helps bring out the character of the person and lets us peak into some of their values.
I love her story of discovery and learning. It plays so well into the heart of being an entrepreneur. Not to be left out, we dive into several key aspects of botsplash too as we lay the groundwork for a really good discussion next week. In today’s podcast, we address the following and much more:
What brought Aru to where she is today?
We learn they have always had a few side hustles in the past. How have they traditionally determined what is worth pursuing and what falls to the side?
Did Aru come from an entrepreneurial family? How about Ramu?
Aru got her MBA from Wake Forest several years ago? What has she taken from the MBA as she starts her own business?
What is she learning in her ‘new MBA’ in terms of getting a startup off the ground that she hasn’t learned before now?
How did working for a huge business (a bank) help prepare her for the startup world?
Would Aru go back to work for a bank or is she a forever entrepreneur?
What would Aru take back to the banks that she has learned from a startup?
How has it been raising a child in a startup family?
And more on a family working on a startup which comes with some really good personal finance advice from Aru.
Enjoy today’s podcast and come back next week for a really solid discussion on the business. I'm really excited to post it already!
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
This week we welcome Dan Roselli and Sarah Smith back to talk about Class 8 from Class 8 of the QC Fintech Accelerator program as well as about Fintech Generations (their upcoming conference on June 13) - presented by Oracle and Carolina Fintech Hub.
Dan and Sarah have somewhat been regulars on the podcast over the last two years and we are glad to have them back. This episode I wanted to dive further into Class 8, talk about some of the successes previous class members have had over the last 3 -6 months and learn more about the upcoming conference.
QC Fintech is a world class accelerator bringing great talent and now great capital to Charlotte twice a year. And Dan has more planned to bring mature companies to the Queen City too. Listen in to learn more about what's happening now and what else is on the horizon.
Listen to this episode and then register for the Fintech Generations Conference using coupon code CLTANGEL to receive 50% off the registration price.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
This week we continue our two part interview with Keith Luedeman, founder of GoodMortgage. Last week, we spent most of our time talking about Keith and GoodMortgage in a really exciting interview. This week, we wanted to turn the page and talk to Keith about his newfound role as startup advisor and angel investor. Since he is new to this space/role, we were fortunate to get some really good insight into where Keith is in the process and I think we get a glimpse into where he will be in the future too. It’s an awesome discussion with someone Charlotte should be thankful we have on our team.
Enjoy listening to Keith discuss the following and more.
At what point in time after selling Good Mortgage did you realize you wanted to get involved in the startup community?
How did Keith find the Charlotte angel investing and entrepreneur scene?
How is Keith going to tackle his new hobby of being an angel investor? After all, it’s not something he has done before so how does he expect to grow into this new role?
He had profitability in the 1st quarter of Good Mortgage – is that something he is going to look for? If not, what does Keith expect to be a priority when he starts to look at companies?
Does Keith expect to be an active role as an investor by serving on multiple boards?
What does Keith think about the Charlotte startup and investor scene? (Hint: Keith is excited about where things are and where they are going).
Keith has owned real estate (commercial and residential) and Charlotte has many real estate investors. Why is Keith interested in early stage investments instead of sticking with something he has known and understood for the last 15-20 years?
How does Keith think about risk capital? How does Keith come up with his ‘number’ when determining how much he is going to invest in risk companies? (FULL DISCLOSURE: every investor should talk with their financial planner or investment professional before committing risk capital as every family has different risk tolerance AND risk capacity).
With such a low investment minimum for the Charlotte Angel Fund ($25,000), why aren’t more people participating in an angel investment? (VentureSouth has a minimum investment of $50,000 or a $2,500 subscription fee – click here to learn more about VentureSouth and Charlotte Angel Fund).
How much of the process for the Charlotte Angel Fund has been surprising to Keith? What has he learned along the way of going to these meetings?
And much more….
That was fun. Don’t forget to join Keith and many others at the Fintech Generations Conference on June 13 at AvidXchange. Next week, we will host Dan Roselli and Sarah Smith to talk more about the Fintech Generations conference and Class 8 from the QC Fintech Accelerator program before we jump back into some interviews with local entrepreneurs. And when you register, use the coupon code CLTANGEL for 50% off the conference price.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance,
It may be because I’m not from Charlotte – then again very few people are - but GoodMortgage was another local success story I hadn't heard much about until recently. Fortunately, I met Keith Luedeman at a Charlotte Angel Fund meeting and was able to grab coffee with some soon thereafter to learn more about Keith and GoodMortgage.
Our discussion was far ranging as we talked about the early days of GoodMortgage all the way to how he’s gotten involved in the startup and investor scene in Charlotte over the last couple of months. It was a great discussion and you'll soon learn how lucky Charlotte is to have Keith as part of its investor and startup scene. Listen in as we discuss the following and more:
You started an internet-based mortgage company in 1998. What lead you to believe it was a good idea?
Talk about the decision to start an internet business in 1998? There wasn’t much competition but there also had been people who had laid down the path about how to create businesses on the internet.
How much more difficult is it now given how much competition has evolved in the online lending space and how did they evolve as a business over the years?
GoodMortgage had 5 employees several months into business yet they never raised money. How did they do it and how were they able to continue to do it without raising money?
If you had it to do over again – knowing it could have been a land grab at that point – would you?
Keith didn’t raise money yet he talks every day to startups who are looking to raise money to scale and grow. How does he talk to them about scale and raising capital knowing he was very successful in not taking investor money?
Did Keith ever wake up in 2010 and say, shoot I should have sold four years ago?
What was the exit like for Keith? Did he expect to run the business for 18 years?
Next week, we bring Keith back to talk about the Charlotte startup and investor scene. At the time of this interview, Keith had been gone from Good Mortgage for two months and getting his perspective of where things stand 2 months into his learning was really cool. Plus, Keith built a great internet business in Charlotte and learned a thing or two along the way. Getting his insight into where the Fintech scene is today was a great little discussion. William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
For this episode of the Charlotte Angel Connection, we continued our interview with two of the founders of Credpal (they have 4) and one of the founders with Invoiro (they have 2). In keeping with tradition, the first episode is primarily dedicated to their companies and the second episode will target their experiences thus far (about 1/2 way into the program at the time of the recording).
These two companies are part of the QC Fintech Accelerator Program Class 8 – a world class accelerator program.
As a reminder, you can come see these two companies and their classmates on June 13 at the Fintech Generations conference at AvidExchange. It will be an awesome event and would love to see you out there.
In this episode we tackle some of the following questions:
How did you find QC Fintech? What was the process like for finding it? I found it interesting they were both very quick to credit (www.f6s.com).
What were you looking for out of an accelerator program?
What’s been the most surprising thing so far about the program – positive or negative?
How do they process the feedback they get from the advisors and mentors associated with QC Fintech and use it to propel the business forward to their next board meeting (they have board meetings every two weeks during the program)?
What has QC Fintech done for you so far? Has it caused them to pivot their original business, focus further, or something else?
Are they currently raising money? What do they do in the interim while they raise money? How do they stay afloat?
What are the potential exit strategies for both companies and at what point do they start thinking about the exit?
Come back next week and listen to Keith Leudeman in the first of two podcasts. As many of you know, Keith started GoodMortgage in 1998 and sold it back in 2016. After staying on board for two years, Keith started to become VERY active in the startup space in Charlotte in March 2018. For our first interview, I wanted to explore Keith’s journey with GoodMortgage – he never took investor money – and then in Part II we talk about the Charlotte startup scene in ways we have yet done. They are both worth the wait. William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we are happy to bring back two companies from the QC Fintech Accelerator Program Class 8. This is the third class now where we have brought several members onto the program to talk about their companies and their experience in Charlotte - and more importantly being a part of what has grown to be a world class accelerator program.
As a reminder, you can come see these two companies and their classmates on June 13 at the Fintech Generations conference at AvidExchange. It will be an awesome event and would love to see you out there.
For this episode of the Charlotte Angel Connection, we interviewed two of the founders with Credpal (they have 4) and one of the founders with Invoiro (they have 2). In keeping with tradition, the first episode is primarily dedicated to their companies and the second episode will target their experiences thus far (about 1/2 into the program at the time of the recording).
As such, in this episode we tackle some of the following:
What is their company and where the idea came from?
Are they scared about the fact that both companies have competition in their space?
What were the founders doing prior to starting their companies?
How did they meet their co-founders?
What's been the most difficult aspect of their startup - given they are both about 1-year into it?
How do they tackle all the various challenges they already see and anticipate the ones ahead of them?
Come back next week and listen to what they have to say about Charlotte and the QC Fintech Accelerator program. How is Charlotte attracting really high quality talent from across the world and what do they think of the program today! It's a great part II and speaks to the quality and depth of what Dan and his team have built. I'm excited to bring it to you next week! William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome back Jude Colangelo, Founder and President of Eat the Bear, to the podcast. As we learned last week from Jude, Eat the Bear has grown from a desire to fill his own protein needs to a company now shipped across the country. Last week we heard a lot of the story around Eat the Bear and how it’s grown.
This week I wanted to explore what Jude learned about being a startup raising money in Charlotte.
How did Jude make the decision to leave his day job and jump full force into growing Eat the Bear? What’s is like being a startup raising ‘risk capital’ in Charlotte? What was the response from “Eat the Bear” when they pitched high net worth investors in Charlotte? How long did it take Jude to raise his $1 million in funding last year and how long did it take him to realize Charlotte wasn’t going to be where he raised his capital? When will Jude have to raise money again and does he think any of the investors he spoke with last year will come on board for his Series B? What does Jude think it will take to increase the amount of ‘risk capital’ available for Charlotte entrepreneurs from within Charlotte? Does Jude expect to sell this in 2 years or does he expect to take it public and run it for years?
Good perspective from Jude. I thought it would be great to dive into his thoughts about raising money and really let him voice the entrepreneur side of raising money in Charlotte. We will circle back around soon and get some feedback from investors about their side of turning down the investment opportunity for some of the local startups.
In the meantime, next week we will open the first of two podcasts with the founder of two companies from Class 8 from the QC Fintech Accelerator Program, Credpal and Invoira. William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Jude Colangelo, Founder and President at Eat the Bear, to the podcast. Jude has grown Eat the Bear from simply satisfying his own protein needs to a company who raised $1 million in angel funding in late 2017 and already almost doubled in that short time (April 2018). He partnered with Luke Kuechly several years ago and has new products ready to roll out that could really open things up any further. Yet, his story is likely not known in Charlotte.
He worked in banking for years, had invested in some small startups too. As I learned about Jude and Eat the Bear – knowing he was unable to raise money in Charlotte but successful raising money elsewhere – I thought it would be great to bring the story to the Charlotte Angel Connection listeners.
This will be our standard two part podcast with Jude. I wanted to take time with Jude in our first series just talking about Eat the Bear and how it has developed over the years. As such, we covered the following topics and more:
How did Eat the Bear come into existence? What were the 10 simple things he was looking for in a protein supplement? How did Jude – with a background in investment banking – go about developing a formula for a protein supplement? How did Jude shift this from supplying his own protein needs to developing a product? Jude left his corporate job in April 2017. But for several years, he ran Eat the Bear and worked in investment banking. How did he juggle the two different jobs? How did Jude come up with the experience to run company shipping protein and other supplements across the country –including sourcing product, supply chain knowledge, dealing with retailers, etc. Given the fact that Jude hadn’t fully committed to the company (afterall he was still working with a bank), how did Jude find the talent – COO and Sales guy – to help him run the company? How is Jude adding products to his product line? Jude is trying to break into a very established industry. What makes Jude think he can take on such an established market with a brand new company? Does Jude regret any aspect of Eat the Bear – including leaving a very nice paying bank job?
In Part II of our discussion with Jude next week, we will tackle Jude’s experience raising money as a Charlotte based company. What was his experience like in raising money? What does he have to say to young entrepreneurs and investors in Charlotte? William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome T.J. Eberle back to the podcast. As you learned last week, T.J. has been involved in the angel community in Charlotte since 2011 when he sold his company NouvEON.
As a recap into last week, T.J. enjoys being the crazy uncle who can come in and mentor and advise company founders but ultimately being able to step aside and watch the founders work through the execution of developed strategies. T.J. also gave us great insight into three questions he asks of the founders before making an investment - including what are you willing to sacrifice if things don't go right.
In today's podcast, we explore more about Charlotte as an investment city with the following questions and more.
What strikes you most about the Charlotte angel investor scene? Why should Charlotte area people explore being an angel investor instead of or addition to commercial real estate or other more normal investment options? Does T.J. think small and mid-size business owners identify better with investing in angel type investments? What has T.J. learned from an early stage company he invested in that went on to fail? In T.J.’s role as a lead investor, has he ever had to step in and run the company and what do passive investors have to think about when making investment decisions? Does T.J. believe the city of Charlotte and its citizens need to take a harder look at the startup and investment scene as a greater part of the economic development of the city? What does T.J. think it takes to grow the investor scene here in Charlotte – knowing there is plenty of money in Charlotte to invest in these types of companies?
T.J.’s insights over the last two weeks as an angel investor and entrepreneur in Charlotte was really insightful. We look forward to having him back on the podcast in the future to talk about successful exits and maybe from Virginia Tech softball!!
Next week we have the first of two podcasts with Jude Colangelo, Founder and CEO of Eat the Bear. Jude raised $1 million for Eat the Bear last year and did it by leaving Charlotte to find his investors. We spend the first half talking about Jude the entrepreneur and the second half talking about his experience raising money and the Charlotte scene in general. As someone who left a large financial institution to start his own company, he’s got great insight into the leap many consider but never pursue.
Today we welcome T.J. Eberle to the podcast. T.J. has been involved in the angel community in Charlotte since 2011 when he sold his company NouvEON. During that time, he’s become a lead investor in several companies and an active angel investor through several of the local funds in town. His insight into companies through the meetings is always well received and so I wanted him to be on the podcast so everyone could hear the great insight T.J. has into this world.
This will be our standard two part podcast with T.J. I wanted to take time with T.J. in our first series just talking about being an angel investor in general. As such, we covered the following topics:
How or why did TJ start investing in young, high growth companies? What does TJ get out of being an angel investor instead of just playing golf and fishing in retirement? TJ talked a little about being a crazy uncle as an angel investor? What does that mean? What pulls TJ into the role of being an angel investor/crazy uncle? What has T.J. learned most about being an angel investor as he has gone done this path? When T.J. gives advice to a company and they shrug those recommendations and off, how does he handle those types of situations as an investor? What’s the difference between Shark Tank (the television show) and real world angel investing? What does T.J. look for in a company before he makes an investment? Is being an angel investor intimidating? What does it take to be a startup founder? Does that ‘make-up’ have to be different for a Charlotte founder? What three things does TJ ask when he’s thinking about exit strategies before making an investment decision?
Next week, we continue our discussion with T.J. and explore more about being an angel investor in Charlotte. What has surprised him most about the scene, what Charlotte needs to do to grow the investor base, and much more.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome back Curtis Watkins, CEO of BovaMetrics, to the Charlotte Angel Connection. As we learned last week, BovaMetrics is a young Fintech company based in Charlotte. BovaMetrics has developed a proprietary model designed to capture opportunities and add value in a client’s existing portfolio – in essence merging an advisor’s knowledge of the client with an artificial intelligence platform.
Last week, we spent time talking about how Curtis ended up as the CEO of BovaMetrics, what he’s learned over the years working with startups and established companies, and
This week, we discussed some of the following:
What’s different about starting a company in 2001 (Curtis’ first startup) and 2018? How does BovaMetrics begin to execute their strategy after raising a pre-seed round late in 2017 and early 2018? How does he handle recommendations from a potential investor knowing the investor may be pleased with Curtis’ agreement in the investor’s recommendation, thus, leading to a higher chance of receiving an investment? Does Curtis expect help from the city’s entrepreneur system since Charlotte has staked a claim on Fintech – where his company clearly sits? What’s the support network like for Charlotte area founders? Why isn’t Curtis scared of someone stealing the concept/idea of BovaMetrics?
Next week, we turn back to talking with an angel investor in the first of a two part series with T.J. Eberle. T.J. has been an angel investor since selling his business in 2011 and is active in the Charlotte area investing scene. We recently sat down with T.J. for an hour to discuss a number of interesting? William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome Curtis Watkins, CEO of BovaMetrics, to the Charlotte Angel Connection. Curtis joined BovaMetrics in September 2017 to help drive the company growth as it moves from the early stages of development.
BovaMetrics is a young fintech company in Charlotte targeting wealth managers with an augmented intelligence solution. It was developed as a proprietary model designed to capture opportunities and add value in a client’s existing portfolio – in essence merging an advisor’s knowledge of the client with an artificial intelligence platform.
For the Part I of the podcast I wanted to cover some of the following with Curtis:
What brought Curtis to where he is today? In essence, what experience did he have that BovaMetrics was seeking?
Given his past experience of starting CLT Joules while he worked at Duke Energy, what did he learn from a big company about innovation that can be brought to a young startup?
What is BovaMetrics and how did it come into existence?
How are they going to start finding customers for BovaMetrics?
How long will beta customers be on board for before they launch the full product?
How different is the beta testing and development phase of a company today from 2001 when Curtis launched his first startup?
What is downside to being able to be too nimble today versus the environment in 2001?
Listen in next week for Part II with Curtis as we discuss entrepreneurship and more about BovaMetrics. William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we welcome back John Espey, Co-Founder and CEO of Levvel. Levvel has started getting some much deserved press locally for the fast growth track they have burned over the last 5 years. Last week we spent the majority of our time talking about the track of Levvel over the last 6 to 7 years as it morphed from Reward Summit and into Levvel.
This week I wanted to spend some time with John exploring entrepreneurship in general and specifically in Charlotte. He’s been with several successful companies and several that weren’t so he’s seen success and failure in Charlotte. As such, he’s got great perspective and insight into doing things here.
Stay tuned to the end as John and I discuss why Charlotte can’t seem to promote its own startup successes like Avid, Passport, DealCloud, MapAnything, Stratifyd, etc.
What is necessary to grow Charlotte’s entrepreneurial community: more investors or more entrepreneurs?
How do you get more entrepreneurs into Charlotte?
Do we need home grown talent or do we need to import a bunch of millennials and future founders to come to Charlotte and start companies?
What does John say to a younger version of himself – the 36 year old John who started Reward Summit (which eventually became Levvel)?
What advice does John have for the young entrepreneur in Charlotte trying to raise capital?
What does John have to say to potential Charlotte area investors who are interested in venture capital or angel investments?
Charlotte doesn’t have a huge research presence yet – though UNCC is making big inroads – and we don’t have a medical university. What does John think we have as a community to promote as great for entrepreneurs?
Does John have a hard time finding talent in Charlotte given everyone says there isn’t enough talent in Charlotte?
Hopefully you enjoyed our podcast interview with John today. I thought it was a great discussion on entrepreneurship in the Charlotte area and entrepreneurship in Charlotte in general. I thought was it was a really good two part interview. Next week, we welcome Curtis Watkins, CEO of BovaMetrics to the podcast to talk about his company - delivering a virtual assistant to help financial advisors add value to your portfolio through use of performance harvesting. William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we have John Espey, Co-Founder and CEO of Levvel. Levvel has started getting some much deserved press locally for the fast growth track they have burned over the last 5 years. Recently John and I got together to discuss what’s most important for the Charlotte ecosystem: more entrepreneurs or more early stage money. A heated debate ensued and I think we all know who won the argument. Regardless, we had a really good lunch and a great discussion and I feel in love with the Levvel story. As such, we agreed it would make great sense to continue the conversation on the podcast.
In today’s podcast, we spent most of the time talking about Levvel because despite the fact that it’s getting covered in the press, I don’t think many people know much about the story. This allowed us to fill up the time talking about the awesome ride Levvel has had since 2012 and 2013.
What’s the back story to how Levvel got to where it is today?
How did John and Chris Hart, his original co-founder, first meet?
Levvel came out of Reward Summit. How long did it take them to realize Reward Summit wasn’t going to be the home run they wanted it to be?
How does the conversation to pivot out of Reward Summit and into consulting go?
How has Levvel gone from 2 people (John and Chris) in 2013 to 170 employees in early 2018?
It’s oftentimes talked about the vital role that ‘first customers’ play in a young company’s growth. What were the first customers like for Levvel?
What’s the benefit of being a mature entrepreneur, rather than a young, fresh recent college graduate?
Hope you enjoyed today’s podcast with John Espey and you agree the story of Levvel and the impact it will have on the Charlotte economy over the course of the next 5, 10 years and beyond. Next week, we tackle the discussion over what’s more important – more entrepreneurs or more early stage capital and the general Charlotte startup scene. It’s a really good discussion and if you enjoyed John’s story today and I think you’ll enjoy the perspective he brings to the startup ecosystem discussion. William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we have Greg Brown, Administrator of the Charlotte Angel Fund I and Charlotte Angel Fund II as well as owner of Cardinal Finance – a fractional CFO firm – back on the podcast for a continuation of our discussion from last week. Greg has been firmly involved in the startup community for at least five years now and talks with a bunch of investors AND founders. As such, he has a very unique perspective on what’s happening in the ecosystem of high growth companies.
In today’s podcast we cover the following and more:
What’s the difference in the startup/investment space since our first interview in October 2016?
Are you talking with more Charlotte based founders who want or need to raise money? Is there a difference in the founders you talk with today versus the founders you talked with in Charlotte three years ago?
Besides getting Mike Praeger and his team at AvidXchange to IPO – which seems to be everyone’s solution for Charlotte’s lack of new companies and funding – what does Charlotte need to do more of to attract new founders and companies?
Why doesn’t Fund II have 1,000 members?
How can people find out more about the Charlotte Angel Fund?
Tune in next week for the first of our two part series with John Espey – Co-Founder and CEO of Levvel – as we explore how Levvel started out (hint it was more about credit cards), why they pivoted to their current mission and where they are going along with much more. It’s a great interview that will lead us into our second part of the interview in two weeks – a discussion of what’s most important now for Charlotte’s startup scene.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener. Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance. Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Today we have Greg Brown, Administrator of the Charlotte Angel Fund I and Charlotte Angel Fund II as well as owner of Cardinal Finance – a fractional CFO firm – back on the podcast. Some of you may know but the Charlotte Angel Fund I just recently closed for new investments. And I wanted to get Greg back on the podcast to talk about the fund I and fund II. Additionally, it’s been 16 months since we spoke with Greg so a lot has changed in terms of the startup community and the angel community here in Charlotte. I thought it would be fun to get his perspective.
In today’s podcast, I want to spend a fair amount of time talking about Fund I and Fund II. What was learned? How the investments are playing out so far. Where the investments were made and just spend some time on that part of the world. In our second part with Greg we will dig more into the entrepreneurial ecosystem here in Charlotte.
Today we discuss the following:
How many members and capital did Charlotte Angel Fund I end up with at the end? What was the make-up of those members?
How many investments did Fund I end up making? What was the makeup of them from an industry perspective? How about location?
What’s the status on these investments? Have any of them sold, raised additional money – or worse gone out of business?
As the fund administrator, what is Greg’s role in the investment process?
Why is Charlotte a difficult market right now for companies looking to raise capital? How many funds can Charlotte support before it becomes oversaturated?
Next week, we turn our attention to the Charlotte startup scene and how much it has developed since Greg started Charlotte Angel Fund I – and even since our first interview with Greg (which happened to be episode #1).
Today we welcome back Brett Brohl, Managing Director of a new accelerator called TechStars Farm to Fork (www.techstars.com/farmtofork). Brett has been traveling the US the last couple of weeks and made a stop in Charlotte to talk with entrepreneurs about raising money and had open office hours to meet with a bunch of different folks.
In this episode, I wanted to explore a few different things with Brett. First, we celebrated Brett's successful prediction of watching the Patriots lose in the Super Bowl. Second, I wanted to discuss Brett's experience in Charlotte versus his expectation. We start down this theme, get sidetracked and then end the episode with a 5 minute discussion on his thoughts on the Charlotte startup scene. I also wanted to continue the theme of just learning from Brett about startups and investing.
As such, we hit on the following topics in our discussion:
The 4 key things Brett looks for in a management team.
How can entrepreneurs test for 'traction' before launching their product?
As an investor, what do you do when an entrepreneur lets you down during the due diligence process?
And stay tuned for next week's Charlotte Angel Connection as we start our 1st of two interviews with Greg Brown - Administrator of Charlotte Angel Fund I & II. Fund I just recently closed after investing in excess of $1.5 million in startups and it seemed like a great time to sit down and talk with Greg about a host of things including how far Charlotte has come in the startup world since he started CAF I 5 years ago.
Today we have Brett Brohl, who is the Managing Director of a new accelerator called TechStars Farm to Fork (www.techstars.com/farmtofork) - note Techstars is a long-running accelerator, but Farm to Fork is a brand new program within Techstars. They are working with Cargill and Ecolab to develop this program. Brett first came to North Carolina where he went to Wake Forest in college. Since then he has gone on to start and run quite a few startups and now lives in Minneapolis where he has been part of Techstars for the last couple of years.
For our typical two part interview with Brett, I wanted to change things up. We did the first part of the interview prior to Brett coming to Charlotte in early February. First I wanted to hear about the program and what Brett is setting up. I also wanted to get Brett’s expectation about Charlotte before he got here. The second part of the interview occurred after Brett had come to Charlotte. In this interview, we will explore more about the Farm to Fork program but will also talk with Brett about his experience in Charlotte and what he saw.
So as we explore those concepts, we touched on the following topics today:
What’s does Food to Fork mean what types of companies are the looking to find?
When does the first class start and how long will it last?
What does the program cover for the entrepreneurs and what can founders expect during the 3 months?
What’s life like for a company after the 3 months in the accelerator program?
What is Brett’s experience as an entrepreneur (including what was Brett’s highest selling candy bar as a middle schooler)?
Why is Brett coming to Charlotte to look for companies for the Farm to Fork Accelerator?
What are Brett’s expectations for coming to Charlotte?
What is the startup scene like in Minneapolis – Brett’s current hometown?
What does Brett think is more important to grow an entrepreneur ecosystem – founders or capital?
What do they look for in a company?
Stay tuned for next week as we continue with Part II with Brett.
Today, we welcome back Lucas Timberlake, Partner with Fintech Ventures Fund to the Charlotte Angel Connection. As you may remember, last week we spoke with Lucas about how his experience brought him to be a VC, what types of companies they look for, what traits are they seeking in a management team, and other questions in a pretty wide ranging conversation.
This week's podcast expands on that wide ranging conversation. Our discussion today hits on many of these questions outlined below:
Why doesn’t Charlotte have a Venture Capital fund?
How does a seed stage VC fund help their companies in acquisitions and exits?
How are the investments in their fund doing three years in?
What is it like to invest in a failure – a company that doesn’t make it?
Does Lucas track the companies they pass on?
How much is valuation a factor in their investment decision?
What’s the ideal holding period for their early stage investments?
How do they typically expect to exit their holding in a company?
Stay tuned for next week. We have a slight adjustment to our schedule as Brett Brohl, from TechStars Farm to Fork - a new accelerator out of TechStars - joined the podcast. Since Brett isn't from Charlotte and hasn't been much time here, especially in the last couple of years, we did an interview with Brett before he came to Charlotte to get his expectations. We will follow up with him after he left to talk with him about his experience in Charlotte. I'm excited about bringing this to you.
Today, we welcome Lucas Timberlake, Partner with Fintech Ventures Fund to the Charlotte Angel Connection. Lucas was in town in November for the Southeast Fintech Venture Conference and we had a chance to talk about Venture funds, Charlotte, Atlanta, and tech in general. It became apparent quickly that Lucas would make a great guest on the podcast. He's got experience in the Venture space and has watched Charlotte from afar over the last couple of years. More importantly, he expects to be in town more frequently as things continue to pick up with QC Fintech, the Carolina Fintech Hub, and Charlotte's startup scene in general.
Here are some key topics from today’s podcast:
Lucas's background and how he ended up Co-Founding the Fintech Ventures Fund. How were they able to raise their first fund? How many companies do they expect to invest in with their first fund? What is a growth stage venture fund and where does it fit in the venture world? Are they active venture investors or what value do they offer to the companies they invest in. How do you decide when to become active in a business versus just sitting back to see how things go? What does Lucas look for in a management team? What's the difference between venture capital in San Francisco and the rest of the country? There's a disconnect between the amount of money in the south and how much is being invested in startups. Why is that the case. And more....
We finish the podcast with an eye towards Charlotte - the startup and investor scene. We will also expand more on the role Fintech Ventures fund plays with their portfolio companies and more. Essentially, I wanted to discuss some of the operational aspects of the discussion.
Please join us next week to listen to Part II of our podcast with Lucas.
Today, we welcome back Eileen Stephens of Tavia for Part II of the podcast. Last week we learned about Tavia as well as about Eileen and Skip. In our discussion, we touched base a lot on what it has taken to get the company to this point - right on the edge of going live. In today's podcast, we began to focus more on the future of the company and what it's been like at home.
Here are some key topics from today's podcast:
We talk more about their 'go live' strategy and how they are going to launch the company into the market place (e.g., an ambassador program) and who their current and future target market is.
We learned they are already working on additional products they can launch and how Parsons School of Design in New York City is helping them develop it.
We again talk about the benefit if mature entrepreneurs (vast network of colleagues and contacts needed to expand the reach of the company).
We learn Eileen and Skip have a very firm grasp on the business model and have thought thoroughly about why the b business is structured the way it is.
If it wasn't apparent in the last podcast, we continue to learn Eileen and Skip are dedicated to having a positive impact with girls across the world.
I had to ask what it's been like at home as Eileen has become involved in developing a startup 'after hours' and what has been the contribution from her husband and three kids (including a 15-year old son)!
You will also here me mis-speak part way through the interview. I mention potentially hitting 4,000 subscribers. I meant 4 million. Again, Tavia can be a big company. Hopefully this gets you excited about spreading the word of this new Charlotte startup.
Stay tuned next week as we release the first part in a two part podcast with Lucas Timberlake, Partner with Fintech Ventures Fund - a Venture Capital Fund with a Fintech focus based out of Atlanta. I met Lucas at the Southeast Fintech Venture Conference in Charlotte back in November 2017 and wanted to get his thoughts on Venture Capital, startups and Charlotte. It turned out to be a really good two part series!
Today we welcome Eileen Stephens Co-Founder of Tavia. Tavia has the opportunity to be a wonderful company here in Charlotte. The concept is a mix between Dollar Shave Club and Tom's, except it is for feminine products. The concept will allow women to have their product of choice delivered monthly to them (in a non-descriptive package) and have a year long supply of culturally appropriate product delivered to a school age girl in Africa initially (with the ability to expand to other areas).
Eileen and her Co-Founder Skip Amos are another set of mature entrepreneurs who are utilizing their contacts and resources to help them build the base of a company that can scale quite large. It's an awesome story and was a great opportunity for me to learn more from Eileen about how they done it and who has helped them along the way.
I hope you will enjoy the podcast as we explore some of the following:
When did the idea develop and what was the moment, or series of moments, leading into it?
How do you get used to things not going according to plan, or schedule, with the company?
How were they found the capital to help get the business off the ground?
Who is the recipient of the 'give one' model and how will that work?
What is the impact this will have on those communities?
How were they able to find the first school and what was it like visiting there?
How were they able to find such enthusiastic partners as the business developed?
As you listen, it becomes pretty apparent Tavia can be a really big company having a global impact, right here in Charlotte. Listen in next week to learn more about the business and what they have up their sleeves for 2018!
Today we welcome back Alan Fitzpatrick, CEO and Co-Founder of Open Broadband, Co-Founder of Charlotte Hearts Gigabit and NC Hearts Gigabit.
For today's podcast, we pick up right where we left off with Alan and jump head first into how he keeps from becoming too excited and too depressed as he rides the ups and downs common to all startups.
From there we pick up in some comfortable territory as we discuss:
What gets Alan excited about 2018? Huge market, nationwide.
What do you look for in terms of customers before you commit to going into an area.
The best entrepreneurs aren’t extraordinary risk takers and
Why doesn’t Alan go back to the corporate world rather than the startups?
Other than raising money what has been the most challenging aspect of 2017 for Open Broadband?
How are they approaching employee compensation and stock options?
It’s easy to spend money...but it’s hard to generate it.
What are the benefits of having a Co-Founder?
At what point does Alan start to think about the scaling the company to a national level and/or selling the business?
What’s it been like for Alan to see the startup scene in Charlotte grow up since 2011 or 2012?
Does Charlotte need Amazon HQ2?
Open Broadband is a young company but they are mature founders who have clear vision. As 2018 fast approaches, it will be exciting to see what they accomplish in the next 12 months. Stay tuned....
Alan Fitzpatrick is CEO and Co-Founder of Open Broadband, Co-Founder of Charlotte Hearts Gigabit and NC Hearts Gigabit. He’s a long-time supporter and member of the Charlotte startup community and I’m excited to bring you today’s podcast with Alan. We had our interview on the day after the Southeast Fintech Venture Conference and you will hear us reference it throughout this week and next week’s interview. Alan and I almost immediately jumped straight into the interview – where as I typically start the interview after a few minutes of pleasantries so don’t feel like you’ve missed anything.
Today’s podcast covers a broad range of topics so listen carefully. As the interview progresses, you can get a clear sense Alan has been around startups for a long time. He has a very clear sense of awareness and it comes through during several points in the interview. Some of the areas we cover today are:
How is Open Broadband doing as we close out 2017?
Who is their target market and how are they selling into those markets?
How did they decide to start Open Broadband? What is the driving force behind the concept of delivering high speed internet to rural communities? Teaser 78% of the country has no access to high speed internet or only 1 provider (i.e., no competition for business).
What type of speed can Open Broadband deliver to its customers?
How is high speed delivered to rural markets and why aren’t traditional internet providers currently doing it?
What’s their competition?
Can’t these customers just use a mobile hotspot rather than have to sign up for Open Broadband?
As an entrepreneur who left DC 74 after it was sold, how long did it take Alan to come up with the concept and business model for Open Broadband?
How did Alan and Kent Winrich come together as co-founders of Open Broadband?
What has the year been like for Alan and the company?
They brought revenue in the door in the first month. Why did they do that and how did they make the decision to do so.
Open Broadband raised a small seed round to help out of the gate. What was the experience like to raise that money and what is their strategy for raising money in the future?
What’s the end market for Open Broadband?
What advice does Alan have for new entrepreneurs when it comes to building a startup in Charlotte and the fundraising process in Charlotte?
What happened when Alan went up to New Ventures in Winston Salem?
What’s the term Alan thinks every startup needs to take to heart?
So we wrap up this part talking about perseverance? This leads into some key topics we discuss for next week’s podcast including how does Alan handle the inevitable ups and downs of ‘the startup life’, what is on the horizon for Open Broadband in 2018, does Charlotte want/need Amazon HQ2 and many other topics around startups in Charlotte.
So join us next week on the Charlotte Angel Connection for the 2nd part of our interview with Alan Fitzpatrick!
Today on the Charlotte Angel Connection, we welcome back Thom Ruhe - the CEO and President of NC IDEA for the second part of our interview. Thom has been at NC IDEA since February 2016 and has already made great strides into continuing to develop and enhance entrepreneurship in North Carolina.
Again this is a longer discussion but a worthwhile one for us to exceed our typical time limit.
Today we start off the interview talking about Thom’s first impression of Charlotte after taking the job and what it takes to move the startup needle further in Charlotte. Thom talks about the KeyBank giving $24 million to JumpStart – a similar organization to NC IDEA in Cleveland – but there is still a lack of support among the corporations in Charlotte.
We talk about human capital – how the big corporations are allowing employee’s volunteer time to support efforts like QC Fintech – and how that is different from financial capital. Finally, Thom touches on the intellectual capital as well.
Thom also talks about how banks can be the first customer to many of these Fintech companies and how the ‘first customer’ issue many startups face could be lowered if the banks opened up a little more. As he talks about it though, he mentions how this process could be messy and ‘chunky’ and not a panacea. However, it could be just as important for startups to have the banks serve as first customers as it would be to have them be early stage investors.
Thom and I further discuss how early stage capital is developing in Charlotte. We now have the Charlotte Angel Fund, VentureSouth, IDEA Fund, Wolfpack Investment Network (WIN), Duke Angel Network (DAN), and Carolina Angel Network (CAN). The North Carolina Venture Capital Multiplier Fund run by Hatteras Venture Partners also has a sidecar fund that will co-invest along with WIN, DAN, and CAN. Ideally, Thom would like to see this network of university led investor networks expand into Charlotte through Davidson and UNCC.
Thom continues to go back to the three different types of capital in Charlotte. How do we further develop the talent in Charlotte as we don’t have a ton of serial entrepreneurs?
I asked Thom about the perception that NC IDEA doesn’t support the Charlotte startup scene. His response is eye opening and should continue to light a fire under Charlotte entrepreneurs.
We talk about how Charlotte still has a ‘cool club’ feel to the startup ecosystem and Thom tosses out some thoughts on that as well.
We wrap up with Thom’s thoughts on HQ2 and the bidding process that has taken place.
Stay tuned for next week when we release our first of two podcasts with Alan Fitzpatrick Co-Founder of Open Broadband. Alan’s long-term involvement in the Charlotte startup scene makes him a very well respected person but his startup is the main topic of our conversation. Join us to learn more about how they are doing!