Startup: Conversations With Louisville Entrepreneurs: Recent Episodes
Startup: Conversations With Louisville Entrepreneurs is hosted weekly by Dan Vonderheide. He talks with those working in, on, and around the startup community in Louisville to find out what has worked, what hasn’t, and what Louisville needs to become a burgeoning startup community in America.
After 94 great episodes and two great years, I’m pulling the plug on the Startup Podcast – not because I don’t love it or because it wasn’t working. I simply don’t have the time and flexibility to carry my own show. I’m grateful for the time and attention you’ve given me. Listen in for the full story.
It’s arguable that nobody is as consistent and makes as much of a difference in the Louisville startup scene than Tendai Charasika. Easily one of the most likable and dialed in guys, he’s made the jump from startup support to startup CEO of SuperFanU. In this episode, he details the challenges of balancing life in a startup with family and talks about the challenges of working on a company at the early stage of aggressive growth mode.
Finding a way to serve others and blend that into entrepreneurship has been a goal for Sean Vandevander throughout his career. He now volunteers for a Louisville social entrepreneurship startup called Waterstep and is working on facing the challenges that come with a non-profit.
The @kycoffeeguy came in for a chat about his history in the Louisville tech scene why he stays involved. Richard Meadows is around every turn at startup events and provides a few laughs on this week’s episode.
As a guy who has made his living in sales and networking, John Zeydel knows a thing or two about making connections. He and his business partner, Christy Smallwood, own and operation Arkham Executive, a “group therapy” of sorts for entrepreneurs. They also organize an annual event called Gear Up Louisville.
Having grown up with a dad in the Navy, Jason Kelly is no stranger to travel. That helps as he hops across the map as part of his company, Drifter Events, that hosts outdoor biking and running events around the company. The first event was an experiment that caused him to see enough potential to abandon a company he had already started and was doing well in.
As a native Lousivillian, Chris Bailey has seen his fair share of rear-end collisions on the highways and biways of the area. It took his being a witness to a giant pileup on I-71 to realize that there’s a better way for drivers to be aware of velocity changes on the highway. That incident was the seed of his idea for Gear Brake, one of the young companies participating in the Velocity Accelerator this winter.
After spending four years at Miami (OH) and time in the Marines (including a tour in Afghanistan) to hone his leadership skills, Andrew Klawier is heading up the development of GroomHQ, one in the new class at the Velocity accelerator in Jeffersonville.
After finding Louisville a good match for raising a family and starting a business, Brian Wallace and his wife settled here to get their marketing company, NowSourcing, to a place where they could rapidly grow. After several years of success and observation in the city, they’ve started up a Louisville suburban coworking space with several differences from others that have tried. The Ville is out in the wild and Brian sits down to tell the story of how it came to be.
For a guy who wasted too much time skateboarding around UofL’s campus (according to him), Keith Ringer has accomplished some things. He and his partner Chuck Burke were early in no the social network thing with LouisvilleMojo.com. After selling the business off, he’s been busy with other projects and staying relatively active in the Louisville startup scene, something on which he has a few strong opinions.
Brandon Powers is no stranger to the startup world, having worked as a developer with Andy and Landon Swan for many years, but now, as a leader of his startup, LensFactory.com, he’s in uncharted waters. Brandon tells us what lessons he’s learned so far and how he manages his time with a wife and 3 kids under four years of age.
A seasoned veteran of startups and investing, Andy Swan has plenty to say about what works and what doesn’t. His latest two projects, Voomly and LikeFolio are both operational and creating revenue within an unbelievably short time of inception. He has strong things to say about Lean Startup, the Louisville scene, and why he doesn’t want to be a “personality”.
Creating a whole new platform of communicating isn’t easy, and getting to the point where you can execute on that idea isn’t either. After many years in the workforce at several different startups in northern California, Jonathan Erwin moved back to Louisville to start a family. Fast forward a few years and he’s taken the plunge as a founder and leader of Red e App, a secure internal communications platform that’s picking up big-name customers and making more than a few waves in the Louisville startup scene.
Recent “Launch It” graduate (and Scotsman) Angus McLachlan came to Louisville two years ago to work on medical devices. His work developed so far down the road, he found himself at the helm of a new effort with the blessing (and assistance) of his former employer. He’s still two years from product launch, but has plenty of work to do in the meantime.
In the digital age, become a brand unto your self is “easy” to do. Elite Pierre is a youth mentor, public speaker, and soon-to-be publisher who is finding out that it takes a lot of focus and determination to make it happen. After completing the Nucleus Lean Launchpad training last spring, Elite is primed and ready to hit the ground running.
Necessity (and opportunity) are the mothers of invention. Mike Pifer’s wife exclaimed that outdoorsmen will buy anything and challenged him to come up with something. He did, and DCVR Outdoors was recently named one of Louisville’s “Hot Dozen” companies. It’s a great story of a “regular joe” who made up his mind to do something…then did it.
Clay Turner and Michael Browning recently fired up www.onovative.com to help startups get their product to market quickly.
Seeing an opportunity to help his father make something marketable got developer Clay Turner into the entrepreneurial space at an early age. He eventually teamed up with Michael Browning to work on a software business aimed at the banking industry and now the two have spun off another company called Onovative that aims to help startups develop their projects and get them to market quickly.
After leaving town and returning during a great career in web hosting, Stacy Griggs found himself with some time on his hands and an opportunity to helm a Louisville startup that is revolutionizing the way ads are targeted online with www.eltoro.com.
Chuck Baxter at #opencoffeelou 46. Photo courtesy of Insider Louisville. Thanks, guys!
We all have ideas and they’re easy to steal. So what can you do to protect yours? We dropped a microphone in on Open Coffee Louisville on Monday, October 14 as Chuck Baxter from Intellectual Property Insurance Services shared the basics of IP, trademarks, patents and more. Great basic listening for anybody with an idea on which they’d like to move. Special thanks to iHub, Insider Louisville, and Will Bogel for moderating the day.
Producing and marketing a hard good isn’t easy, but Todd Schleuning and his family don their yellow dresses and hit the concert circuit to introduce the world to Shart, a quick and easy way to frame your favorite t-shirt as wall art without damaging it. He’s also teamed with his wife to write and illustrate a book that was funded by a Kickstarter campaign. Selling these items have taught great lessons to Todd, who freely shares his failures so we can all learn.
Opening a retail location isn’t easy, nor is it cheap in the new millennium. Jeff Miller loved his active lifestyle and decided to make it his life when he opened VO2 Multisport – and it cost him more than just money.
The Louisville Free Public Library is now offering the Treehouse online learning tools to anybody with a library card, and to kick off that service Dan recorded a live panel discussion with TryItLocal.com’s Todd Earwood, The Graceship’s Emily Gimmel, and U.S. Chia’s Zack Pennington. It’s a hour-long discussion with three seasoned entrepreneurs about where they got their interest in entrepreneurship, their biggest challenge they’ve faced, and plenty of great advice on getting something started.
As part of Idea Festival week, Johnathon Sandlund of The Crowd Cafe and Jeffrey Bekiares of Sparkmarket, part of the Wyatt, Tarrant, and Combs Equity Crowdfunding Panel, sit and break down what the new SEC regulations on equity crowd funding means moving forward.
Beer is big in Louisville, even to the point of a recurring Open Beer Louisville event taking place in the startup scene. Sterling Beer president Todd Jackson saw an opportunity to take a familiar brand that had fallen by the wayside and resuscitate it as a new venture and he couldn’t be happier with how much fun it’s been.
Crowdfunding is clearly a “thing” and Stacey Servo, along with her team of Louisville fluggers, are using the RocketHub platform to try and fund their trip to Chicago to compete in the Red Bull flying competition.
Startup Weekend is coming up on September 20-22 and co-organizer Daniel Johnsen comes by to talk about what participants can expect and what his experience was like during the last event this past March.
Jon Matar from LocalView.
Before the team from Why Wait launched their app, they believed one thing about their customers. When they launched the app to the world, reality was different. The team gathered, re-strategized, and LocalView was born.
When opportunity presents itself, some take it and some don’t. Todd Tallon was a kid with a tough job cleaning up industrial power plants all over the region when he saw a way for the business to run more efficiently. Instead of suggesting it to the boss, he borrowed some money, invested in equipment, and made is employer his customer.
After brewing beer for their own personal consumption for a long time, buddies Gordon Taulbee and Terry Rothman discovered the mead is delicious, viable, and in demand.
The internet has created plenty of wealth for people who sell stuff online, but inventory management was a problem that needed to be solved. Enter Andy Eastes and Agile Harbor, a company that morphed out of online retailer and Louisville startup Street Moda.
With crowd funding ramping up and the SEC forming the rules and regulations, Kent Oyler formed the Commonwealth Crowdfunding Committee to help be proactive for not just Louisville entrepreneurs, but for those around the region who might take advantage of this “hidden money” in the economy. This week, we dive in to what it means and where it might go and Kent is on top of it.
Mark Palmer of Oohology.
The advertising business is extremely competitive, but Mark Palmer and his web development company saw an opportunity to go all in. One of Louisville’s most creative people sits down to talk about how he got started with his first company, merged it with another company, and where they (and media in general) go from there.
IOS mobile app WhereTheTrucks.At is a product of Will Bogel’s mind (well…his wife’s mind) and became a reality after the Spring ’13 Startup Weekend. Will talks about his experience with the idea, how his team formed, and how they continue to work together on this recently released thing that is 4 months in the making.
As part of the VelocitySI Accelerator inaugural class, Rob Rosario and his company Steel Fashion relocated to Jeffersonville. Rob is no stranger to the Midwest, however, and fills us in on how he’s using that geographical experience to work up his customer validation for his startup.
The first class of VelocitySI is in session and A.J. Agrawal dropped by the Louisville.AM studio to shed some light on his experience with the program so far. He talks about the lean launchpad method and what it’s meant to his business plus gives us an outsider’s look at what the Louisville startup scene is like.
After spending all day publishing a medical newspaper, Ben Keeton and his business partner Tom McMahon help to organize a loose group of entrepreneurs-turned-investors into something constructinve. The Louisville Angel Network aims to educate, network, and connect angel investors in Louisville, and they’re doing quite well.
Taylor Trusty was a computer geek who got started early in the world of tech and has parlayed that experience into a successful media company that’s on the cutting edge of digital marketing. Mark Hagan and Steven Von Gerlachter are two of his henchmen keeping him on top of the game in Louisville.
At louisville.am, we clearly think that radio and media are transforming. This is also true for Sharon Scott at ART+FM, who is embracing the experimental programming aspects of broadcasting and is working to build a business with a mass collection of volunteers and their ideas for doing something that matters.
After find success in online wagering venture while in South Africa, Lou Kelmanson found himself in Louisville and was pleasantly plugged in to the startup community right away. Three years later, he’s invested in plenty but is still an entrepreneur first.
Ariel Caplan and Ron Karroll visit the Louisville.AM studio and are quite happy to be the first guests in the new facility.
Fresh off of the announcement that they’re in the inaugural class for Velocity SI, Ron Karroll and Ariel Caplan sit down in the newly Christened Louisville.AM studio to talk about their music-based startup called Collabra Music.
Staging a major (and growing) event is no small feat, and local-boy-made-good Conrad Bachmann started planning the Louisville International Film Festival 6 years ago, as he was well into his ’70s. But his history as an entrepreneur and independent guy gave him the smarts and experience to pull off this gem of a festival that keeps Louisville in Hollywood’s spotlight.
It just seems natural to use a foodie town to buoy a food concept. After a very short time, Dishcrawl has made its way across the continental 48 from Silicon Valley to Louisville and their local Ambassador, Allison Taylor, gives us the scoop on the who, how, and why.
Podcasting is a platform rediscovered and Matt McCarthy is banking on America’s love of sports and on-demand content to drive his platform called LiveSportscaster.com. He and his team have started in Kentuckiana with decent growth in just 4 months and have plans to expand. Sponsored by OPM Entrepreneurial Services.
While traveling out of Louisville, Jason Holman was hoping to go do some stuff near D.C. Problem was, he couldn’t find what was going on in town, so he came back and started down the path of doing his own thing. He enrolled in the Lean Startup program through Nucleus to get a re-boot on his project.
In conjunction with the launch of my Kickstarter campaign to fund the build out of the Louisville.AM studio, Blackstone Media podcast hosts Steven VonGerlachter and Mark Hagan were kind enough to have me as a guest on their podcast and I’ve re-purposed it for Startup. Listen in as we talk about the past, present, and future of podcasting and my views on the opportunities within. Sponsored by OPM Entrepreneurial Services.
A highly successful entrepreneur in his own right, Tony Schy has turned his sights to VelocitySI, Kentuckiana’s startup accelerator. The facility is seeking it’s first class of startups and Schy has the lowdown on what to do to be included. Sponsored by OPM Entrepreneurial Services.
We dropped microphones in front of the crowdfunding panel at the Venture Connectors luncheon on March 4 to listen in on the latest developments in this burgeoning space. This podcast is sponsored by OPM Entrepreneurial Services.
Fresh off an exhausting yet exhilarating startup weekend, Tendai and John were the “half” presentation at the end. Their tale is a lesson of customer validation…and brick walls. At the end, they were able to present their case and lessons learned for the entire room and were willing to sit and tell the story here.
Heading into the 2nd Louisville Startup weekend, I sit down with InsiderLouisville.com startup beat writer and SWlou veteran Melissa Chipman to find out what to expect from this cool event. Sponsored by OPM Entrepreneurial Services.
Of all the places in the U.S. that they could have located their business, Ken Marshall and FoodCare chose Louisville. He has his reasons and we dive into that in this week’s episode. Sponsored by OPM Entrepreneurial Services.