Metro Startup Launcher

In the last MetroStart podcast, we talked to Cornbread Hemp's Jim Higdon about their ongoing equity crowdfunding round. This week, we talk to Jim again about how they knocked it out of the park - nailing an oversubscribed $107,000 round in just 17 days! Listen to the podcast to learn how they were so successful, even in the middle of the Coronavirus shutdown.   Podcast Transcript (This is machine transcribed, so please forgive the typos.) Alan (00:03): Welcome everyone to the MetroStart podcast. This is Alan Grosheider and I'm here today again with Jim Higdon. Jim is the co founder of Cornbread Hemp ,and it's a first for Metrostart because I'm interviewing Jim for the second time in a row. So it's the first time I've ever interviewed the same person twice right in a row. And there's a good reason for that. In the last podcast we talked about a capital raise that a cornbread hemp was going through and what was the first, because they received $20,000 from Render Capital and they were the first to be accepted into we funders special program with render capital for a discounted rate with we funder and they were doing a capital raise and I won't spoil the surprise but uh, about what happened cause we'll talk about it but Hey Jim. Okay, great to have you back again. And I guess we'll go ahead and say what it is and congratulations because Jim and Cornbread Hemp, they just finished a fund raise on Wefunder and raised the full amount in, what was it, two weeks? Jim (01:20): It was 17 days. Alan (01:24): Wow and in the middle of the coronavirus thing, Jim (01:29): Right in April of 2020. Alan (01:33): Crazy. But it's a, it's a great sign of what's going on with crowdfunding. Crowdfunding. Equity crowd funding is a really good way to raise capital for your company. Even in tough times. Probably an easier way during tough times if it's a product that people like and people can identify with. Um, so quickly, just, just so in case somebody is listening to this podcast and didn't listen to the other one, tell a little bit about what corn bread hemp is. Jim (02:03): Sure. So cornbread hip is a CBD brand based here, Louisville, Kentucky, where the first Kentucky based CBD brand to offer USPA certified organic CBD oils, which is how we kind of got out of the, uh, out of the norm brands and really elevated ourselves to a national level. Um, we've been, uh, we've been offering certified organic CBD products since, uh, the end of last year. Uh, and, um, we had been plotting several different fundraising strategies last year and nothing really clicked. A Louisville is a particular sort of, uh, you know, ecosystem, uh, for capital and fundraising. Um, and so at the beginning of the year we decided to shift gears and pursue a crowd funding strategy. Equity crowd funding was new to me, a learn. Most of my beginning, uh, understanding of crowd was through talking to you and some of these other folks in the Louisville startup community. Um, I was familiar with a Kickstarter and go fund me and Patrion, but none of those are pro, uh, platforms that, that sell equity, uh, in a, in a crowdfunding capacity. Jim (03:16): So understanding the mechanics of what equity crowd funding would look like is something that I had to learn on the fly and we put these pieces together and we were ready to go. Um, in March, uh, we were going to go on another platform and someone in the Louisville startup community, actually, Larry Horn at leap said, told us, Hey, did you know about this matching fund between render and we funder. Um, and we didn't. So we switch gears and replatform I'm really in the Nick of time. Um, and um, it just really set us up for success. Uh, we got that Mmm relationship between render and we funder, um, that we got a discount on the percentage that we funder's going to take on the res. And a render matched our first 20 K. so on our first day out in the, in the raise,

Louisville's Cornbread Hemp just scored a local fundraising first. They're the first company to receive Render Capital's $20,000 investment in their WeFunder Match Fund. They're also the first local company to raise funds using Regulation CF equity crowdfunding through WeFunder, one of the nation's top equity crowdfunding portals. Equity crowdfunding is the way of the future for startup companies, and Cornbread Hemp is blazing the trail in the Louisville area. In this episode of the MetroStart podcast, learn: --- how Cornbread hemp got started; --- what they learned about equity crowdfunding; --- the pros and cons of equity crowdfunding; --- pitfalls to avoid; and --- how to make equity crowdfunding successful.     Transcript (This has been machine transcribed, so there may be some typos.) Alan (00:02): Welcome everybody to the MetroStart podcast. I'm Alan Grosheider, and today I'm talking to Jim Higdon. He's a cofounder of Cornbread Hemp Company, and we've been talking about raising capital and what he did to get his company started for a little while. And I've been trying to give him any experience that I could and what I've learned in raising capital. And he is hot in the middle of doing a regulation CF crowdfunding capital raise on Wefunder. So we thought it was a good, a good time for us to talk, to help others learn the process that he went through to get his company started and, and what he's doing to raise capital. Hey Jim? Jim (00:47): Uh, Hey. Thanks for, thanks for having me. It's really, this is really great. Alan (00:51): Yeah. So just, just for recording our thoughts right now, we're, we're right in the middle of all the coronavirus stuff and everybody's on lockdown and staying home. So it's, it's a really weird, interesting time. Jim (01:07): Yeah. It's a strange time to be running a business and raising capital. It really kind of afraid about, uh, you know, how this was, you know, obviously you and I had been talking about Cornbread Hemp and us raising capital for six months now or so. Um, and so this is not an, not a new thing for us, but as we finally got our legs under us and finally figured out the path forward and how to do a reg CF crowd fund and, and, and, and to find the right platform for our crowd fund, uh, all these things took a little time and as soon as we got everything lined up ready to go, that here here comes a global pandemic, you know, not something that we anticipated dealing with obviously. Um, but you know, doing a quick heat check on ourselves and our company, we really feel like we're a company of the moment. Uh, we were getting reviews from customers saying that our products help them with the anxiety they're feeling as a result of social distancing, uh, related to the coronavirus. And it's just a really, um, it's a really good time too to be, I'm trying to grow a company that is helpful in this situation. Alan (02:18): Yeah, I think there's, there, there are a few industries that are going to do pretty well. You know, my day job is a company called Bluetooth 22 that helps companies manage remote employees and manage remote contractors. And it looks like it's actually going to be something that is a good thing in this weird economy where people can't travel. Jim (02:42): So we're, or the travel is certainly going to be deemphasized and all alternatives are going to, are going to be looked at first. Alan (02:49): Right. So let's talk about how you got the company started and maybe maybe a little bit of back about your background first. Where did you grow up in the Louisville area? Jim (02:59): I grew up in Lebanon, which is Marion County, which is on the other side of Bardstown, hens on who you ask whether that's the Louisville area or not. But anytime I've ever been in a bar and anyone asks me where I was from, I can always point to the bottle of maker's Mark behind the bar and say, I'm from there. Um, so, uh,

Steven Plappert and two co-founders, Andrew Busa and Chris Pierce, started an online fantasy sports company in 2013 called FantasyHub. The company saw early promise and growth, moved to Austin, TX to join the TechStars accelerator program, and even attracted $1.1 million in investments. However, due to issues in the industry as a whole, FantasyHub eventually shut down and sold parts of their operations to another fantasy sports company called DraftKings. In the world of startup companies, you learn more from being in the game than you ever could from reading any books or even earning an MBA. So, the experience was a fantastic learning opportunity. Steven is now back in Louisville, sharing his experience with our local startup community. He's also back in the game with a new startup called Forecastr. In this episode of the MetroStart podcast, learn how Steven got started as an entrepreneur, how he funded his previous company, and what he has learned from his entrepreneurial journey. Also learn what's happening with his new startup and where they're going.   Transcript (Machine transcribed, so please forgive the typos.) Alan: 00:02 Hey everybody. Welcome to the MetroStart podcast. This is Alan Grosheider. On this podcast I talk to local entrepreneurs about how they got started, about their ups and downs, and about anything else that might help other entrepreneurs. Today I'm talking to Steven Plappert. He started a company a while back called FantasyHub, and he's currently the CFO and in business development for a company called VentureFirst, and is building another startup called forecaster. Hey, Steven. Steven: 00:28 Hey Alan. How's it going? Alan: 00:30 Good. Does that, did I say everything right there? I said, is that accurate? Steven: 00:34 Sorry, I'm, I'm not the CFO of venture first. I'm in the finance department, so I do operate as an outsourced, uh, head of finance or CFO for a lot of our client companies, but not a venture first proper. Alan: 00:46 I got you. Steven: 00:46 Other than that, you've got it perfect. Alan: 00:48 I understand. Did I say Plappert right? You did. You did. All right. Everybody butchers, my last name is pronounced "Gross - Hider", not "Gro - Shider" you know, so I'm used to, so anyway, let's talk about kind of how you got started. I love finding out what people, you know, when people kind of got the entrepreneurial bug. And I'm always interested in finding out what, what got you started at a young age. Were you entrepreneurial as a kid? Steven: 01:19 Yeah, I'd say so. I was definitely entrepreneurial is that give, but I don't think I used that term or knew that I was, if that was, you know, I mean I, I was very curious. Uh, I was always very independent. I was kind of uh, do my own thing kind of guy. And I always asked a lot of questions. So I think at a basic level that's kind of the entrepreneurial mindset, you know, you want to asking questions, solving problems, being kind of a self starter. Um, and actually my father was an entrepreneur and still today as he's owned his own business for the last 20 years, uh, somewhat paradoxical. I didn't really view him as an entrepreneur because again, I would, didn't really have a lot of exposure to that world. So I didn't really see him as a, as a founder, if you will. Steven: 01:59 I just saw him as I just said, hey, you know, I Know Dad dad's got his own thing. Uh, but that's all I really, really thought about. And, uh, when I went into, when I went into college, actually wasn't planning on starting my own business at all. I wasn't even on my radar. Uh, I was always kind of a math nerd growing up and that was always my forte. So when I went into college I was like, well, you know, I'm good at math and I want to make a good money so you know, what's the profession where I could do that? And I looked at, I was actually considering being an actuary as funny as that is to me now,

People often cite healthcare as an area of expertise that may help propel Louisville, KY to greater startup and business prominence in the United States, and Dr. Angelique Johnson is helping us make that happen. She holds undergraduate degrees in mathematics and in computer engineering, a masters in electrical engineering, and a PhD in electrical engineering. Her doctoral work lead her to the development of technologies that she now applies in her own company called MEMStim. To quote directly from their website: "At MEMStim we produce implantable electrode leads capable of providing targeted electrical stimulation to highly dense and small nerve fiber groups. Using automated Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) manufacturing similar to that of the micro-computer chip industry, we create biocompatible electrode leads, which, just like computers, can be made smaller, and do much more than their hand-assembled counterparts." The website also notes that, "We are an early stage startup dedicated to enhancing the full lives of individuals with Parkinson’s tremors, chronic pain, or hearing loss." So, Elon Musk is not the only guy out there creating implants! Learn how Dr. Johnson got started and how she is helping to put Louisville on the high tech healthcare map.  

After years of working in the corporate world, Mo Sloan saw a need. Online ordering systems that were available to restaurants had a glaring problem. They do not integrate with the restaurant's current point-of-sale systems. This causes many restaurants to forego offering any sort of online ordering, even though the demand is very high. Mo set out to create a solution: EZ-Chow. The company found early traction and is growing fast. Entrepreneurs like Mo are a great example of how the "Third Wave" of growth of the Internet is happening. Specifically, people like Mo with industry experience are spotting problems and creating solutions with current technology. Learn how Mo saw the opportunity, how he got started, and where EZ-Chow is headed in this MetroStart podcast interview.  

What single Louisville company is part of the same fraternity as Airbnb and Dropbox? It's a company called WeatherCheck, and they now are an alumnus of the prestigious Silicon Valley accelerator Y-Combinator. They're the first and only Y-Combinator company to date from Kentucky! Demetrius Gray, Founder of WeatherCheck, and Co-Founder Jermaine Watkins recently returned from their 4-month stint with the accelerator, and it has proven to be an amazing accelerator for their company. In this podcast, I have an in-depth conversation with Demetrius and learned: ◊ more about his background and how he became and entrepreneur, ◊ how WeatherCheck got started and raised early seed capital, ◊ how they got into Y-Combinator, ◊ what they learned from Y-Combinator that can apply to our startup community, and ◊ where they're headed. This is a must-listen podcast for our startup community and aspiring entrepreneurs.   Transcript (This was machine transcribed. Please forgive the typos.) Alan: 00:00:01 Hi everybody. Welcome to the MetroStart podcast. This is Alan Grosheider, and today I'm interviewing Demetrius Gray. He's a founder of WeatherCheck and the first Louisville area company to, I think. right Demetrius, ever get into Y-Combinator? Demetrius: 00:00:18 Yeah, man. The first actually in the state of Kentucky. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's, wow. Alan: 00:00:25 That's pretty amazing because that's one of those, if you're an entrepreneur, you've heard of y Combinator and you've heard of Airbnb and I guess Dropbox and some of the big companies that have gone through y Combinator. So congratulations man. That's amazing. Demetrius: 00:00:39 Man. It was, it was a heck of an experience. I mean we, uh, we were out there for like three months and I'm like, I'm just telling you, you know, I'm out there still once a month for about a week at a time and um, it's been really cool to kind of, um, build a little bit of a bridge to the bay area, um, with a heck of a lot of access. Alan: 00:01:02 Yeah. And I think I'm excited because it seems like that access is going to be good for other companies in our area, since you guys are pretty tied into the startup community. And in fact, you know, you and I have, have, have some combined founders and, and you know, I, hopefully it's going to be good for the whole startup community. It's those connections kind of take off. Okay. All right, well why don't we start, let's kind of get an idea about, I like to find out what got somebody started being an entrepreneur and it seems like there's a lot of common common denominators that, you know, got somebody that made somebody want to be an entrepreneur. So I'm just curious, you know, about growing up and what got, what made you want to be an entrepreneur? Would you do, what was your, your childhood like were you an entrepreneur as a kid? Those sorts of things. Demetrius: 00:01:54 Yeah. So, um, so you've heard of the Book Rich Dad, Poor Dad? Yeah, I probably will eventually write a book called Black Dad White Dad. Alan: 00:02:06 Okay. Demetrius: 00:02:08 Um, my mother actually married a, um, petroleum engineer, white guy from, um, uh, central California, um, Stanford educated, um, petroleum engineer. Um, his, his, his father actually had invented the horizontal drill, um, for the oil and gas industry, which really kind of, um, opened my world. And then, um, my, uh, grandmother on that side, um, her father had invented a form of die casting, um, called Granger's. Dot Casting and southern California. And so, um, it was really my first sort of foray into entrepreneurship, having watched to them I'm running oil and gas proliferation company, um, that was eventually sold to Halliburton. Um, then, uh, before that, um, then watching my, my great grandfather Harlow's, um, die casting company, um, pass success simply through generations and eventually be sold. Um, and so, you know, every meal was about sort of like what's going on in the busin...

  Since the very beginning, MetroStart (formerly Metro Startup Launcher) has worked to make it easier for startup companies in our area to raise capital and get started. With a lot of trial and error, we believe we have figured out a much easier way for startups to raise capital. The same method allows investors to invest smaller amounts and spread their risk, which statistically produces huge returns compared to typical stock market returns. As we have worked to build the audience for MetroStart over the last couple years, we've heard a lot of common themes: ◾ It's REALLY difficult to raise the first $25,000 to $50,000 for startups that need a small amount of cash to get started. ◾ NO ONE wants to be the first investor to help me get my concept off the ground. ◾ After raising my initial chunk of capital (sometimes even hundreds of thousands of dollars), we just can't seem to find any additional investors. ◾ All the serious angel investors say they are tapped out.   And, from the investor side, we've heard similar things: ◾ I don't want to be the first investor on someone's idea. ◾ Come back after you have proven your concept. ◾ Come back after you have traction in the marketplace. ◾ Come back after you're profitable. ◾ I invested $25,000 in a startup one time, and I lost all my money. I'm not doing that again.   Not only does this lack of very early stage capital lead to less startups, this means that the MAJORITY of ideas for companies never get started at all. I'm not saying that ALL ideas deserve to be funded or should even get started. However, there are many great ideas and great companies that never get started and/or eventually fold because they can't raise the capital they need to maintain momentum. From the investor side, it makes sense for us to launch a lot more startups and for investors to invest in a lot more startups. If you download MetroStart's ebook, Little Angels, Big Profits, and look at the information contained in multiple studies of angel investors, there's an important statistic. Angel investors MUST invest in multiple startups in order to be profitable. Here's the stats: ◾ If you invest in one startup company, you're likely to lose all your money. ◾ Invest in 6 or more startups, and you'll probably reach break-even. ◾ Invest in 12 or more startups in a 5 year period, and you'll start to approach a 27% annual return on your investments.   I think this leads to a pretty obvious plan for our area: ◾ Teach startups how to set up their company, file with the SEC, and raise capital in small chunks (as small as $1,000 per investor). ◾ Make it easy for investors to invest small amounts ($1,000 or so) in multiple startups. ◾ Help the best startups get the funding they need to get started and grow. ◾ Help angel investors actually make money over time through DIVERSIFICATION.   What have we learned: After assisting with several local capital raises, we believe we found a formula that works: 1 - Create your company as an LLC so that you can write off all early losses. 2 - Write a short business plan that is polished enough to get investors to write you a check. 3 - Create a SAFE agreement, which investors will sign to invest as little as $1,000 in your company. 4 - Submit a Regulation D 506(b) SEC filing, which allows you to take investments (privately) from any number of accredited investors and up to 35 non-accredited investors per year. 5 - Raise capital from family and friends (including non-accredited). 6 - Switch to a Regulation D 506(c) SEC filing, which allows you to ADVERTISE as much as you want and take investments from accredited investors only. 7 - Advertise on LinkedIn, Facebook, and social media to find investors that have interests in your product or service. So what are we doing to help: 1 - We're in the process of creating an online course that will provide complete step-by-step details on how to perform all the steps above.

Patrick Henshaw came to Louisville about 4 months ago to lead the Louisville Entrepreneurship Acceleration Partnership (LEAP) as CEO. If you're part of our entrepreneurial community, you've probably seen him speak at an event or two. You've probably heard some of his vision for the local startup world. However, he probably hasn't had time to talk too much about his background. It's become more and more clear with successful entrepreneurial communities around the country that startup communities are more successful when they are lead by entrepreneurs. Well, when you hear his story, you'll see that Patrick has real, in-the-trenches, entrepreneurial experience, including pitching many, many, many angels before getting his first investment. In this podcast, you'll learn about his entrepreneurial journey and more, including his real life combat experience, which earned him a Bronze Star. You'll also find out what Patrick has learned from 4 months on the job and his thoughts about the growth and success of our startup community. So enjoy the latest MetroStart podcast with Patrick Henshaw. Transcript (machine transcribed, so please forgive the typos) Alan: 00:02 Hey everybody, welcome to the MetroStart podcast. This is Alan Grosheider. And today I'm talking to Patrick Henshaw . He's the CEO that was just brought in about four months ago to run the label entrepreneurship acceleration, partnership or leap. And uh, we've met a number of times that I've seen him speak a number of times at events. And, uh, with this podcast we're going to kind of dig a little deeper into who Patrick is and how he's qualified to help us bring our startup community together and accelerate this startup community. So, Hey Patrick. Patrick: 00:37 Hey Alan. How are you? Alan: 00:39 I'm doing all right. We've, we've already had our discussion about the weather so we can, Patrick: 00:44 right. I'm more impressed not only at the weather but the fact that you knew the entirety of leaping its acronym of Louisville Entrepreneurship acceleration partnership. That's good. Alan: 00:54 Well that's the benefit of being able to sit on my computer while we're having the interview. Cause I'm looking at here at your linkedin profile right now. I love it. I can like bending. You're one of those guys like me that has your whole resume on there. And so now I can really just roll through it and pick, you know, try to find things to ask you about some Patrick: 01:14 that's right. Well, it's been quite the journey with, uh, I think we're up to 20 addresses in 20 years now. So literally and physically been all over the place. Alan: 01:23 I, you know, I was rolling through your resume out here and just thinking, man, um, you know, you're, for one thing, you're younger than me and you've in so many places and done so many different things on there. I don't even know how you were able to keep your head on straight while you're doing awesome. Patrick: 01:40 Supporting spouse Alan: 01:41 Yeah, and married to the same person the whole time. Patrick: 01:45 Yeah, exactly. Alan: 01:46 Yeah, that's, that's amazing itself. So once you kind of start with, um, where you grew up and I always like to try to figure out what things in your childhood made you more entrepreneurial than somebody else now what, where, where'd you grow up? What was your childhood like? And you know, we don't have to get into like anything really traumatic rating. Patrick: 02:10 We can, we can go there too. I'm a, I'm a transfer kind of guy. So I grew up in Houston, Texas, uh, born and raised, uh, moved once my entire life. Uh, one, one of the reasons was because of, uh, our neighbors. Uh, their backyard. Well, I'll fast forward the story because it was full of grass. Uh, I, he marijuana, uh, and that was not as kosher as it was as it is moving into today. So it was, it was not a great neighborhood shop of the day, old bread store, you know, uh,

Rebah Wheeling was a successful insurance claims adjuster. One emotional day while meeting with a hurricane victim lead to the founding of her fast growing local company - Schedule It. In this podcast, Rebah talks about the emotional moment that lead her to start her company. Her description of the process of building her company is a MUST-LISTEN for any aspiring entrepreneur in our area and anyone else who would like to see our area prosper with technology startups in the "Third Wave" of the global economy. Learn how she got started, how she got funded, and how she is building a very successful software as a service company right here in the Louisville area.   Transcript (machine transcribed - please forgive the typos) Alan: 00:01 Hey everybody, welcome to the Metro Startup Launcher podcast. This is Alan Grosheider and today I'm talking to Reba wheeling with schedule it and we've known each other for a while, but I think we were introduced originally about Greg Langdon. Right. Rebah: 00:17 I think that everybody gets introduced to somebody else by greg, master connector in the city Alan: 00:24 every time you ever talked to anybody to make a connection Xyz and that's almost, they're always first responses. Have you talked to Greg Langdon and is he. Rebah: 00:36 No, I mean as a volunteer in our city, I don't think he's paid by anybody. I mean what an incredible asset that we have in our community with Greg Langdon. Alan: 00:44 Yeah. He really works tirelessly for without anybody around him and I don't know how he does it, but it is nice to have somebody working that hard for the community and I think our startup community. Yeah, there's been. I think there's been some of the early things with metro startup launch era. I said, what's wrong with our startup community? It wasn't really intended to say there that we have a bad startup community. It, it was just saying what could we do better? And I kind of put it in a way that was a little maybe abrasive to some people, but that got attention. But our startup community is really great, you know, it's so supportive and you know, people like Greg and enterprise court for the size of our city, we really do have a lot going on and start a community now. We just need a few more billion dollar companies that put money back into it. So I just wanted to kind of what I normally do, I don't know if you've listened to any of the metro startup launch your podcast, but a lot of times I just talk to people about their journey getting started as an entrepreneur. Maybe things that you did early in life that led you to become an entrepreneur. Were you somebody that did a lot of entrepreneurial things as a kid? Rebah: 02:04 Um, I grew up in an entrepreneurial family for sure construction businesses, um, you know, and my family's in medical. They're in construction there in restoration on the insurance side, so our dinner conversations were always about profit loss, employee issues, benefits, um, you know, rfps, all those types of things. So I didn't know really that there was another way to be able to live even though I did go to corporate and corporate environment. Alan: 02:43 So when, when you were growing up, were you thinking, I don't ever want to get into all that because I know my daughter, uh, I have always been an entrepreneur and her mom has always been an entrepreneur and a lot of times these days she'll say, that seems too stressful for me. I don't want to get into all to being an entrepreneur. Was that, did you think you would eventually become an entrepreneur? Rebah: 03:07 No, I mean my goal is a little girl was never to grow up and own a technology company for sure. Um, you know, um, when I started out then I really focused on just doing the best at whatever I was doing at that time. I owned my own business at night. Um, I burnt myself out at 23. Then, um, I went to the medical field, uh, took the logical, um, you know, and the more you work,

What's the most effective way to raise capital for your startup? How do most companies actually raise capital for their startup in our area? What changes in SEC law have made it easier to reach a lot more investors? What's the best way for YOUR startup to raise capital? In this video and podcast, Alan Grosheider, Director of Metro Startup Launcher, recaps his recent speech at Venture Connectors to discuss all of the above and more. Transcript Below (Machine transcribed, so please forgive the typos.) Hey everybody, it's Alan Grosheider with Metro Startup Launcher in this video and we'll also put it out as a podcast on how to get capital for your startup. I'm recapping a speech that I gave recently to venture connectors and in the speech I talked about what seems to be working and not working for raising capital for your startup in our area and some of the law changes that allow you to be more public about raising capital for your startup and what I would recommend that you do. So first let me ask you if you think it's a good idea to raise capital from lots of small investors to get your company started. Well, let me give you a couple examples of companies that have done that and had been very successful with it. The first I witnessed myself when I was going to college, I would come home in the summertimes and workout at a gym in Southern Indiana and at that gym there was a guy who would walk around asking people to invest in his company and he was asking for five or $10,000 and talked to a guy, another guy one time who was pointing in mountain talking about it and said, this guy's crazy. He walks around the gym every time he's here and he's trying to get people to invest in his company and he thinks he's going to build this big national company and it's going to compete with pizza hut and little caesars and dominoes. So I think you can probably guess who I'm talking about: Papa John. Everybody's heard the story about him selling his Camaro so he could buy an oven and put the oven in his dad's bar and get his company started. But what they haven't heard is he also raised capital from fairly small investors in a number of fairly small investors in the area to get the company started. And of course now he is the first Forbes 400 billionaire in the Louisville area. So the point is small investors can definitely lead to big success. I'll give you another example. My company, it was called ESA1 in 1994. I was 25 years old and I found for investors to put $6,000 each into my company and I started this company that was going to be a nationwide environmental inspection company. We then ended up, I ended up putting an $85,000 on credit cards and I definitely would not recommend that to anybody. But from there we raised $350,000 from 52 to individual investors. And then finally $3,000,000 from a venture capital firm. From there we built the company to include operations in all 50 states with employees in 30 different cities around the country. So again, small investors can definitely lead to big success. So how do you do it? If you want to raise capital for your startup, the classic way I'll call it this, is the way that most companies still raise capital around here and probably the most common way that's raised around the United States. You start with an idea and then you form your corporation and you create a business plan. Then you get your friends and family to invest in. Hopefully you've got some friends and family who are willing to put some money in that. If you're lucky, you find a lead investor and the lead investor knows how to set up all of these things. They set up your help. You set up your Cap Table and your valuation and shareholder agreement. All of the different pieces that you need in order to successfully raise more capital and then the lead investor helps you go out and get more investors. But this can. There's a lot of places this can go wrong,

  The "Sharing Economy" has been an amazing driver of wealth and convenience for the world. Companies like Uber, Lyft, and, Airbnb have dramatically changed the way we get from one place to another, stay in one place or another, and get things done. They also have created HUGE company valuations and wealth for investors. Where does Louisville fit into this? Can we get a piece of the pie? Are we actually poised to be a leader in some areas of the sharing economy? Most people these days are familiar with Uber and Airbnb. If you like to travel, they can make your life a whole lot easier, more convenient, and more cost-effective. They have attained recent valuations of $60+ billion and $30+ billion, respectively, and they continue to grow rapidly. But, there's only so many markets and services that will work with these kinds of software-based peer-to-peer plays, right? Actually, I believe the sharing economy will continue to dominate the landscape of great scalable companies for quite a while. I also believe that Louisville can and will make an impact in that arena. I was triggered to write this article by the recent announcement of a $185 million investment in a trucking startup called Convoy. CapitalG, the investment arm of Google's parent company, Alphabet, just led the round. Trucking is a $740 billion per year industry in the U.S. More individuals in the U.S. are employed as truckers than any other occupation, and, the industry is often very inefficient. Many truckers are independent contractors. They rely on various brokers to send them business. Attempting to maximize their profits by efficiently planning trips is a critical function that is sorely in need of automation, artificial intelligence, and overall disruption. That's where companies like Convoy come in. They're "Uberizing" the business of trucking, and CapitalG saw enough potential to bet $185 million on the company. Convey is not even a Silicon Valley company! Imagine that. It's in Seattle, which, granted, is a much more tech advanced community than Louisville, but it does show that companies outside of Silicon Valley are creating major disruptions in the sharing economy. This is where Steve Case's Rise of the Rest philosophy will really kick in. More and more companies in the central parts of the United States will begin to develop these technologies. Why? Because, experience in an industry is where the ideas come from, and a lot of industries besides software tech are located in pockets around the country besides Silicon Valley. I recently posted an article that shows the MOST successful age for an entrepreneur to start a company is 50! It's not 22. It's 50. (By the way, I am exactly 50 years old...just saying...

Increasing the number of local angel investors has been the goal of Metro Startup Launcher from the very beginning. We've done a lot of blogs, emails, and podcasts, and now we've participated in two different types of crowdfunding campaigns. How's it going? Well, one of the companies just landed an investor/partner that has agreed to invest up to $10 million and is launching one final $300,000 local investor round. Learn more about this final $300,000 angel round!   So what's working and what's not working? If you look at angel investing in our area, here's what's happening: 1. Companies like Edj Analytics, MobileServe, and SentryHealth (formerly Edumedics) are raising millions of dollars in capital. They're raising capital the "classic" way, using a Regulation D 506(b) SEC exemption. Under this type of exemption, you can raise an unlimited amount of capital from accredited investors, up to 35 non-accredited investors per year, and you must only raise capital from people with whom you have an existing relationship. Generally, an accredited investor is defined as a person with an income of $200,000+ or $1,000,000 net worth (excluding the value of their home). You cannot use any form of public advertising. This method of capital raise is still very successful, IF you know the right people. You must find a lead investor to help you set up your capital raise, get all the right paperwork in place, and encourage all of their friends to invest. Typically, they shoot for $25,000+ investments from each investor. 2. One local company, Cuddle Clones (https://cuddleclones.com/), has utilized the Regulation CF exemption for equity crowdfunding. This is a newer method of crowdfunding that allows anyone, accredited investors or non-accredited investors, to invest. It is very similar to Kickstarter in that you can publicly advertise as much as you like; however, you can actually sell equity investments in your company. Investments can be very small, as little as $100 per investor, so just about anyone can afford it. You can raise a maximum of $1,070,000 per year using this exemption. To use this method, you must utilize one of the licensed online equity crowdfunding portals (such as WeFunder, StartEngine, or SeedInvest). They provide great online resources for walking you through the process and for collecting your funds. But, they're not so great at marketing the capital raise for you. You must be prepared to execute a significant marketing effort (and dollars) in order to make this work. Your capital raise also is limited to a set period of time. If you haven't completed your full raise, you're out of luck. Finally, with most of the portals, you cannot access any of your raised funds until the full capital raise has been completed. However, if you perform an amazing marketing campaign for your capital raise, this process can be very effective. Over $100 million has been raised using Regulation CF since it became legal in May 2016. 3. Finally, another local company, Blue222 (https://blue222.com/), has been successful in utilizing the Regulation D 506(c) SEC exemption. The 506(c) exemption allows a company to raise an unlimited amount of capital from an unlimited number of accredited investors only. You can publicly advertise as much as you like. The one caveat is you must prove that each investor in an accredited investor. The great thing about this exemption is that it is easy to set up, and you don't need to go through a licensed portal to collect funds. You can deposit the funds directly into your account and utilize the money immediately. In the first trial run of this method, Blue222 raised $214,000. Blue222 has intentionally chosen to raise capital in small chunks using the 506(c) exemption. Each small chunk of $200,000 to $300,000 is being sold at higher valuations. This allows earlier investors to get more bang for the buck and encourages people to move quickly to get involved.

Jennifer Williams of Cuddle Clones is making Louisville startup history! Cuddle Clones already made world history by creating the only scalable company that allows you to order online and create a lifelike replica of your pet (https://cuddleclones.com/). Now, they just made Louisville history by becoming the first Louisville area company to sell equity in their company to the general public under the new Regulation CF crowdfunding laws. These laws allow a company like Cuddle Clones to sell equity in their company to ANYONE for as little as $100 minimum investments. This method of startup fundraising is the way of the future. It will help Louisville get more startups started and let a lot more local people share in the profits! INVEST NOW!   Check out my interview with Jennifer and find out: ◊ Where did the idea come from for Cuddle Clones? ◊ How did they get started? ◊ Where did their early funding come from? ◊ How did they decide to use Regulation CF crowdfunding to raise capital, and what's the process like? ◊ What can we do to continue to improve Louisville's startup scene?   Transcript (machine generated, so please forgive the typos): Alan: 00:02 Hey everybody, welcome to the Metro Startup Launcher podcast. This is Alan Grosheider, and today I'm talking to my friend Jennifer Williams. She's the chief cloning officer of the company. She started called cuddle clones and in my opinion, Jennifer's now blazing a trail that will be the way of the future for startup companies to raise capital in the area and said, Hey Jennifer, how are you? Good. So she just started a regulation cf crowdfunding capital raise that allows anybody, not just rich accredited investors to invest as little as $100 bucks in her company. But first let's kind of talk a little bit about what your company is it called. It's called cuddle clones. Tell us what's the. What do you do at cudell clones Jennifer: 00:53 and our flagship product. The cuddle clone is a stuffed animal that's made to look just like your pet. So customers go onto our website, they upload pictures, they tell us all the special characteristics about their pet and make a few choices and in several weeks they get a plush animal that looks just like their pet and has the markings and every other sort of special thing that represents their pet. Alan: 01:19 How did you get it to look? Right? I had to have some that came back and you're just like, what is that? Jennifer: 01:30 Definitely. Um, it took a while. Uh, this business started out of an idea from the University of Louisville Entrepreneurship Mba program and we kind of did a lot of the academic thing, like a business plan and industry analysis. And at the end of the program we said, okay, well, does anyone actually know how to make a stuffed animal? And we're looking at each other like, no. Alan: 01:53 Okay. Jennifer: 01:55 So a good two years from the program until we launch to get the product. Right. So we went through several consultants. Um, we did, we looked at the US, we looked at Vietnam, we looked at uh, other places, uh, ended up in China where we actually own our own workshop now and that's actually a really good competitive advantage for us just because we have full control over the quality and there are employees, so, so that's super nice Alan: 02:31 entrepreneurs, a lot of opinions as to whether you can start a company where you don't necessarily know how to do exactly what you're going to do. And I'm, I've always been of the opinion that the entrepreneur, the person who makes the company work is the person that just pulls everybody together. There. Tom Sawyer that gets everybody on board and convinces them to keep moving in the right direction. And it's, you know, it'd be nice if you are sometimes if you're an expert in the area that you're starting the company, but if you really have a passion for,

What a week we had recently for local entrepreneurs! I hope you had a chance to attend some of the Kentucky Startup events. With Endeavor's International Selection Panel and Steve Case's Rise of the Rest Tour making Louisville its only return city to date, we have a lot to be proud of. So how do we keep up the momentum? We're collectively doing a lot of great things, but let's see if we can crank it up a notch! At Metro Startup Launcher, we're working on a better way to increase the amount of available capital for local startup companies, spread the risk much more effectively, and help all of our local angel investors make more money (statistically, an AVERAGE of 27% annually). How do we do that? Well, to start we've stumbled into some funding that will help make a huge difference in our area: 1. We've partnered with a group that is creating multiple $500,000 mini-funds that we can access for very early startup capital. 2. The same group also is creating two $100 million funds that will be available for follow-up capital. 3. Finally, we're tying in crowdfunding to allow a lot more local investors to get involved in the whole process. The investment strategy we're using is based on what we've learned over the last couple years of researching multiple studies of successful angel investors throughout the United States. (If you sign up below, we'll send you a short eBook that summarizes the studies.) We're calling this the 1000x Club, and the idea is pretty simple: 1. Build a huge list of potential angel investors in the Louisville area, adding lots of people who currently are not angel investors. 2. Use local pitch groups, angel groups, accelerators, and individuals to screen and recommend startups and/or companies that are further along in the process. 3. Work with our partner funds to provide capital for local companies. 4. Allow lots of local angel investors to piggy-back on the fund investments using the new equity crowdfunding mechanisms that were promoted by Steve Case and made legal under the JOBS Act, allowing smaller investments from any investor (accredited or non-accredited). 5. Encourage more local investors to invest small amounts ($100 to $5,000) in 10 to 12 startups every year. 6. Help a higher volume of startups raise their first $25,000 to $100,000 and get started. 7. Get enough people involved that we can quickly raise $1 million (1000 x $1,000) for any local startup that has proven itself. Why is this important? 1. We need to keep companies here. Rubicon Global is a great Louisville startup success story, but they moved to Atlanta for a $1 million investment. Now it's a $1 billion valuation company. Wouldn't it be nice if they had stayed in Louisville? 2. Lots of startups need a small amount of funding to get started. These days, $25,000 can be enough capital for an online business to at least prove an interest in their concept. The more of these we produce, the more we can build the next Rubicon or Airbnb right here in Louisville. 3. Statistically, investors who invest in 12 or more companies in 5 years AVERAGE a 27% annual return! Wouldn't it be nice to invest small amounts in a way that statistically produces great results, spreads the risk out to a lot more people, AND helps produce great companies and jobs in our area? So, I'm asking for your help in one or more of these ways: 1. Become a potential 1000x Club "micro-investor." 2. Help to screen and review startups for the club (in exchange for equity). 3. Help to get the word out to your friends to join the 1000x Club. All you have to do to join is sign up below, and I'll send you more information as we progress. Thank you! Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ges2016/27866935085 #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the prec...

Alli Truttmann just celebrated a HUGE milestone for any business: the 10-year anniversary of her company, Wicked Sheets. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20% of businesses fail in their 1st year, about 50% of small businesses fail by their 5th year, and only 30% survive over 10. And things are really starting to heat up now with her upcoming appearance in front of an audience of 96 million on QVC! Alli has been interviewed for a lot of Louisville area publications, but as she mentioned during our talk, she's never been interviewed about how she got her funding to get started, what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and what she would have done differently. Since our mission at Metro Startup Launcher is increasing the number of local "micro-angel" investors and helping more startup companies get their early funding, we really enjoy learning how our amazing local entrepreneurs made it happen and getting to know them a little better. So, enjoy our podcast interview with Alli Truttmann. Transcript (machine transcribed, so please forgive the typos!) Alan: 00:03 Hi everybody, welcome to the Metro Startup Launcher podcast. I'm Alan Grosheider, and today I'm talking to my friend Allie Truttman. She's the founder and ceo of Wicked Sheets. Hey Alli. How's it going? Alli: 00:19 Great. Thanks so much for having me on today. Alan: 00:22 Yeah, we finally got on after a month of you blow me off so I know you, but Alli: 00:29 when we delve into what the, the things I've been through the past couple of months, I think you'll understand why it's been hard to get me on the phone. Alan: 00:36 I know you've had a lot of stuff going on. I'm totally kidding and I will. We'll definitely get into talking about all the stuff with in China and it's. I know you've been super busy so I'm totally kidding. So what I would try to accomplish on the podcast, just you, you know, a little bit about metro startup launcher and our primary focus has sort of morphed into really being focused on trying to figure out how to get more angel investors in our area, investing in startups and then helping startups utilize that and hopefully crowd funding to, to get a lot more startups started. So in talking to you and other successful entrepreneurs, I just really want to get a lot more information about how you became an entrepreneur, how you got started, what triggered you to want to be an entrepreneur and uh, you know, advice that you would have for other entrepreneurs and maybe mistakes you made that you could help somebody else avoid. Alli: 01:34 They're absolutely. If you, if you don't mind, I'll go ahead and take that one question and say, how did you become an entrepreneur and getting into the business world? I actually, if you ask my parents, I actually was designing what I didn't realize were small businesses when I was really young. So, um, I, I fashioned myself and inventor of sorts, not in the very technical science realm, but, you know, there were always things that when I was younger I would notice and I would say it would be so much better if, you know, for instance, OK, before the radio would tell you what the song was or who sang it, I, I, my mom said I was like six or seven years old. And I was like, if only your radio would tell me who sings a song or what the words are that I'd be a better singer. Alli: 02:20 And then everybody laughed and then we sold painted rocks in our neighborhood. And um, my favorite was like a double toasted tostito that we took chips and we, um, we basically flame broil them over scented candles and sold them to people as flavored to Tostito. And I mean, I know it was a great idea really. And uh, you know, and thankfully my first co-founder was my next door neighbor and he and I, he was, he actually grew up to be an actuary and he was always the numbers guy. And I was always a salesperson, so I didn't realize from even that early on that I was becoming,

MobileServe is a fast-growing mobile app company that helps organizations track and encourage participation in volunteer activities: tracking, managing, and reporting their social impact.  They're a great example of how you can see a problem in your own workplace and then create your own solution that you and many others can use.  They're also a great example of how a Louisville area company can help us participate in the Rise of the Rest of the entrepreneurial startups in the U.S. In this podcast, I talk with Ben Reno-Weber.  Ben and his co-founder Chris Head, started MobileServe to solve a problem that Ben saw while he was working as the CEO of the Kentucky YMCA Youth Center.  He wanted a better way to track the activities and participation of volunteers.  These guys are great examples of how to pick an idea and get started, even while you're still working your day job. Well, they're full time now and chugging along very well with successful capital raises and customer growth. Learn how Ben got the entrepreneurial bug, how they got started, and Ben's thoughts about our startup community. Transcript (Machine transcribed, please excuse the typos!) Alan:                                      00:00                     Hey Ben. Ben:                                       00:00                     Hey Alan. Alan:                                      00:07                     We're recording now. So anyway, just to get us started, I'm going to talk about how we met each other. I think Ted Smith introduced us a while back, didn't he?  Ican't remember now. It's been awhile. Ben:                                       00:25                     I feel like I've known you for awhile. Alan:                                      00:29                     I think maybe Ted did introduce us because I came down to your office in Shelby Park and we sat out on the balcony and it was a beautiful day and we were talking about all the amazing things that we knew that nobody else knew and if everybody else, everybody else just followed our lead. We'd be taking over the world here and we'd be blowing silicon valley or out of the water. Ben:                                       00:57                     Definitely. Yeah, definitely trying to figure out how to grow the entrepreneurial ecosystem and as many entrepreneurs in the pipeline as we can and as many investors interested in as we can. Alan:                                      01:08                     Yeah, and you guys, I'm really impressed with what you guys are doing because you're sort of checking all the boxes. I think there are so important these days which is starting a company that's leverageable from what I know, I haven't gone through exactly what you're doing, but it seems to be a very leverage-able company that you know as you continue to improve and it's just going to improve for all your customers and it's something that'll work for a million customers or 10 and if, if I understand what you're doing it, we need more of that and it's something that helps people so we can kind of get into a little bit more about that. But I just wanted to start by throwing you some praise. I think you're, it's good to see somebody building a company that I think is a more modern type company that is very leverage-able. So congratulations. Ben:                                       02:04                     I'll tell you, if I ever write a book about this experience, I'm going to title it Cliche. We've done all the things people said that we would do and experienced all the things that people said we would experience. So I don't know that our experiences are particularly a special but certainly validated a lot of what it takes to get a company off the ground. So I'd say we're off the ground. Alan:                                      02:38                     I want to hear the cliches and here hear the ups and downs and I think that's really good for peop...

Artificial intelligence is quickly affecting more and more of our lives, like it or not.  I personally look forward to the day that lots of "bots" do all my busy work and leave me free to be much more creative.  Could AI take over the world?  Elon Musk thinks so.  But, I tend to focus more on what it will do FOR us vs. what it will do AGAINST us.  I'm a pretty optimistic guy. Well, artificial intelligence is advancing in Louisville, and local entrepreneur John Williamson is at the forefront.  I spoke to John about his entrepreneurial journey and his latest venture, RCM Brain. Listen to the latest Metro Startup Launcher podcast to learn: ♦ How can public speaking improve your entrepreneurial skills? ♦ Do most entrepreneurs start early? ♦ Why clearly expressing your vision and getting others excited is so important for an entrepreneur. ♦ How important is persistence in the startup world? ♦ Does a person's childhood play a factor in entrepreneurial drive and success? ♦ What was John's progression into starting actual companies?  Ups and downs? ♦ How did John get started with his current company, RCM Brain, and what does the company do? ♦ How is RCM Brain using artificial intelligence? ♦ What do we need to do to improve our startup community?  

In the latest edition of the Metro Startup Launcher podcast, I interview Ted Smith, CEO of Revon Systems, Inc. Ted has been a major influencer of our startup community in many ways for quite a while.  He's been a researcher, an entrepreneur, and even the Louisville Metro Director of Innovation.  Now Ted is the CEO of Revon System, a leading developer of software applications for the treatment of chronic health conditions. Ted, Revon Systems, and their associated colleagues at Apellis Pharmaceuticals are doing amazing things to give Louisville a big star on the map in the world of healthcare innovation.  They're setting an excellent example of how we all should think much bigger about what we can accomplish right here in the Midwest. In this interview you'll learn: ♦ What is Revon, and how could their technologies improve healthcare? ♦ What's the background of Revon and Apellis? ♦ How should a local entrepreneur think about raising capital in Louisville for big vision, risky, world-changing projects? ♦ What combination of innovator and business person makes for a great entrepreneur? ♦ How does luck and timing factor into the business world? ♦ What was Ted's route to becoming an entrepreneur? ♦ How can our startup community improve?  

One thing that makes a startup investment in Kentucky extremely attractive is the Kentucky Angel Investment Tax Credit. If you're an accredited investor and a Kentucky resident, you can get an amazing tax credit (40 to 50%) on startup company investments. This is a TAX CREDIT, not a deduction.  In other words, you get a dollar for dollar reduction of your tax for up to 50% of your investment in a qualified Kentucky startup company. These tax credits were designed to encourage qualified individual investors to make capital investments in Kentucky small businesses, create additional jobs, and promote the development of new products and technologies.  And, they have been extremely successful. Tax credits are non-refundable (only count toward actual Kentucky state taxes that you owe).  The amounts that you can claim in any one tax year may not exceed fifty percent (50%) of the total amount of credit awarded or transferred to the taxpayer.  However, any unused credits may carry-forward for up to fifteen (15) years. A tax credit may be transferred by a Qualified Investor to an individual taxpayer in accordance with procedures outlined by the Department of Revenue. The state maintains a list of Qualified Small Businesses, and these businesses must: ♦ be engaged in bioscience; environmental and energy technology; health and human development; information technology and communications; materials science and advanced manufacturing; or other new economy knowledge based activity; ♦ have no more than one hundred (100) full-time employees; and ♦ have more than 50% of its assets, operations, and employees located within the Commonwealth of Kentucky. The business must also meet one of the following conditions: ♦ a net worth of ten million dollars ($10,000,000) or less, or; ♦ a net income after federal income taxes for each of the two (2) preceding fiscal years of three million dollars ($3,000,000) or less; ♦ has not received investments eligible for more than one million dollars ($1,000,000) in aggregate angel investor tax credits; and ♦ has filed an application with and received KEDFA certification as a Qualified Small Business in the program. Click here to learn about our tax credit eligible companies! To be a Qualified Investor, you must be: ♦ an individual, natural person; ♦ an accredited investor according to Regulation D of the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission in effect as of the date of the requested certification; ♦ no more than a twenty percent (20%) owner in and is not employed by the Qualified Small Business prior to making a Qualified Investment in that business; ♦ not the parent, spouse or child of an individual holding in excess of twenty percent (20%) ownership interest in, or who is employed by, the Qualified Small Business prior to making the Qualified Investment; ♦ seeking a financial return from the Qualified Investment; and ♦ an approved Qualified Investor in the program. A Qualified Investment is: ♦ a minimum cash investment of $10,000 made by a Qualified Investor in a Qualified Small Business; ♦ offered and executed in compliance with applicable state and federal securities laws and regulations; ♦ is exchanged for consideration in the form of equity interest in the Qualified Small Business; and ♦ has been approved by KEDFA as a Qualified Investment in advance of actual investment The total amount of tax credits or each calendar year, the total amount of tax credits available for the Kentucky Angel Investment Act program shall not exceed $3,000,000. The total amount of tax credits approved to a Qualified Investor in a calendar year shall not exceed $200,000 in aggregate. Steps to Invest Step 1 - Complete this form: http://thinkkentucky.com/KYEDC/pdfs/Angel_Investor_Application.xls, and pay a non-refundable $25 application fee made payable to the Kentucky Economic Development Finance Authority (KEDFA) must be submitted along with the application.

  Local company SkuVault has won a lot of awards and made a lot of headlines lately.  They're one of the local Endeavor companies, and they're a shining example of how to go from scrappy bootstrapped startup to amazing success story. On this episode of the Metro Startup Launcher podcast, we talk to Andy Eastes, co-founder and CEO of SkuVault. If you're interested in being an entrepreneur or investing in local startups, you don't want to miss this podcast. Here's what you'll learn about SkuVault: What does SkuVault do?  Who are SkuVault's competitors?  How do you start a company these days when there seems to be competition everywhere? Do you have to have an earth-shattering, brilliant idea to start a company?  Why a niche mentality and a great "story" gives you an edge. What's Andy's story?  Any early entrepreneurial experience?  How did he become the entrepreneur he is today? Why are lots of small steps and partnerships important to get things started?  Why is very hands-on client interaction critical to early success? What steps did the company take to bootstrap and get started with no funding?  How important are great partners? What's the long-term plan for SkuVault? Suggestions for our startup community, including better communication between all parts of the startup community. What's the motto that Andy learned from an early mentor that will work for any business?  

Did you know that Kentucky is home to a fantastic new drink called Baqua?  They're poised to grow rapidly along with the world's passion for all things natural and healthy. Baqua’s founder and CEO, Sandra Marlowe, was inspired by the wonder of international cultures after a family trip to England. She fell in love with Lemon Barley Water and was intrigued by this tasty “lemonade” with a hint of grains. Sandra returned home to research and discovered the rich history of ancient grain drinks. First cultivated by the Ancient Greeks, ancient grain drinks were consumed during sacred ceremonies and believed to be a source of strength and power. Backed by studies forecasting a rapid rise in plant-based consumption patterns, Sandra and her five children developed Baqua. Sons, Daniel and Caton, formed the R&D team to test many ancient grains, settle on their favorites, and craft the delicious recipes. With a vision to disrupt the growing plant based market, the Marlowe family developed a tasty and healthy drink. Baqua delivers more balanced electrolytes than leading sports drinks and sources the body with antioxidants and prebiotics, yet includes no added sugar and artificial ingredients. Millennials are driving a “better for you” revolution, seeking innovation and function in their food and drink choices with healthy benefits for the body. Consumers of all ages are moving away from both sugar sweetened and artificially sweetened drinks. Baqua is on trend with today’s consumers – lower sugar and clean label ingredients. With three Registered Trademarks and a robust pipeline of products on the roadmap, Baqua is well positioned to attract a new era of wellness focused consumers. Baqua’s mission is to make healthy living tasty, refreshing, and revitalizing. With a vision of building Baqua into a globally recognized brand, Sandra has assembled a forward-thinking team to accomplish this goal. Baqua, a Kentucky Proud Product, is sold on Amazon Prime, and is distributed throughout Kentucky by Town and Country Foods. Listen to the latest edition of the Metro Startup Launcher Podcast to learn more about how they got started and how they plan to grow and succeed!

  From the very first Metro Startup Launcher investor meeting, Lisa Britton has been an active participant.  She understands that more startups in our community will produce more jobs and more wealth.  She also wants to help by being an active "micro-angel investor" and believes that many others in our metro area want to help too. Lisa had some questions about micro-investing, and we decided that her questions would be good for everyone to hear.  So, we recorded the Q&A.  Listen to this episode of the Metro Startup Launcher podcast as we answer these questions and more: Is the Metro Startup Launcher website for entrepreneurs or investors? Do Metro Startup Launcher's micro-investors have to be accredited investors? Why will Metro Startup Launcher help more startups get started? Does Metro Startup Launcher actually collect investment dollars? Who actually collects the money for investments? Are Metro Startup Launcher startups restricted to the Louisville area? Are Metro Startup Launcher investors restricted to the Louisville area? How will this keep the best companies from moving away from Louisville? Will Metro Startup Launcher provide advice for investors? What is a SAFE investment agreement? How do you sign up for WeFunder? What kind of companies are we going to fund? How will this help the Louisville area?

Have you ever wondered how Gill Holland got started?  He built a company that The Hollywood Reporter named as one of the top ten movie production companies in New York City.  He runs his own record label and music production companies with world famous artists.  He currently runs another movie production company with multiple award winning films.  And, if that's not enough, he and his wife spearheaded the revitalization of one of Louisville's coolest neighborhoods (NuLu).  Now they're doing it again in the Portland area of Louisville with the Portland Investment Initiative. Often, you hear people joke that to make a small fortune in the movie business, you have to start with a large fortune.  Is that what happened? The real story is much more inspiring and a great example to our local entrepreneurs! How to get started with no money?  How to build companies with grit, tenacity, and sweat equity?  How to make things happen because you believe in yourself and your goals? I really enjoyed learning how Gill got started, and you will too!  

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO AND SHOW NOTES/BLOG By now, hopefully you know that the goal of Metro Startup Launcher is to make it much easier for startup companies in the Louisville metro area to raise capital through equity crowdfunding. We also want to help lots of people in the Louisville area actually make money by investing small mounts in lots of startups: a strategy that statistically has proven to provide an average of 27% return on investment for angel investors in the United States. Now that we have the monthly meetings rolling for both entrepreneurs and investors, I guess it should come as no surprise to anyone that startup entrepreneurs are starting to ask: OK, so how do I actually do equity crowdfunding for my company. A lot of people around here still think that you start a business in your garage, you get in pitch contests, go to a bunch of networking meetings, and meet some rich guys who invest in your company.  Next thing you know, you’ve got venture capital money, a super cool startup company office, and all your wildest dreams come true! The problem is, around here, we have plenty of pitch contests, but not enough rich people to invest in startups. However, we do have 1.3 million people in the Louisville metro area, and equity crowdfunding is now legal. We've all heard about crowdfunding, but how does it work? Let's talk about some of the specifics. On October 30, 2015, the Securities and Exchange Commission voted to adopt “Regulation Crowdfunding” (Regulation CF). The rules went into effect May 16, 2016. Regulation CF allows a company to sell up to $1 million in company stock in any 12-month period. Here are a couple of the amazing features about the Regulation CF exemption: It allows anyone to invest in a company. The investors do not have to be "Accredited Investors" (a.k.a millionaires). You can raise capital from an unlimited number of investors, and the number of investors do not count toward the current maximum number of investors allowed by a private company (2000 total, 500 non-accredited). However, investments are limited in the following ways: If either the annual income or the net worth of the investor is less than $100,000, the investor is limited to invest the greater of $2,000 or 5% of the lesser of his or her annual income or net worth. If the annual income and net worth of the investor are both greater than $100,000, the investor is limited to 10% of the lesser of his or her annual income or net worth, to a maximum of $100,000. The transaction must be made through a broker, or through a “funding portal.” This is actually a good thing because the portals have made it pretty easy to run your fundraise. The business must be incorporated in the U.S. The business may not be an “investment” company (set up for the purpose of investing in another company). The SEC requires that issuers provide certain information to investors through the intermediaries’ platforms and to the SEC directly via a filing of Form C on EDGAR, the SEC’s data handling system. If a current offering plus previous raises amounts to $100,000 or less, the financial statements must be certified by the principal executive officer and accompanied by information from the company’s tax returns (but not the tax returns themselves). If current offer plus previous raises amounts to $100,000-500,000, the financial statements must be reviewed by a CPA. If the current offer plus previous raises amounts to $500,000 or more, the financial statements must be audited by a CPA. However, if the issuer has not previously sold securities under Regulation CF, the financial statements will only be required to be reviewed by a CPA. Issuers that have sold securities under Regulation CF must file information with the SEC and post it on their websites on an annual basis. The annual filing must be made within 120 days of the issuer’s fiscal year-end.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO AND SHOW NOTES/BLOG ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SHOW NOTES/BLOG: We've been meeting with lots of startup entrepreneurs. One recently sold his concept and had some opinions (GOOD AND BAD) about our startup community. We have attached his entire letter with our comments (in bold italics): His Letter: The State of Venture Capital in Louisville from a Startup’s Point of View Before offering my viewpoints and experiences on the state of venture capital in Louisville, one has to first recognize two other important elements of the money hunt. First is the established and formal educational and support opportunities, and secondly, the network of professionals that enhance their effectiveness. This is where Louisville shines. Few other cities approaching Louisville’s size have programs and commitments like those of GLI’s Enterprise Corp., the University of Louisville’s Nucleus program and Business School Entrepreneurial offerings. (I agree.  We have great resources.) Under the leadership of Lisa Bajorinas, GLI’s Enterprise Corp. creates and connects startups with resources that are valuable and effective. Some complain about the “revolving door of talent” at Enterprise Corp, but I see it differently, very smart and driven people are recruited, create opportunities for the community, and as a result are naturally sought by other organizations. Witness the recent departure of Terry Gill and Amelia Gandara, just two examples of high value talent, going forward to new challenges after demonstrating stellar performances locally. More than just creating programs of awards and recognition, Enterprise Corp connects, supports, and locally advocates for the startup community. (Again, I agree.  There are great people and programs in Louisville that help our startup community.) The University of Louisville has an internationally recognized program of support for health related startups, both internally licensing research as well as having impressive physical support facilities such as the Nucleus complex. Also, the University of Louisville’s Nucleus umbrella includes the Launch It program, (of which I am a graduate) that helps startups focus and accelerate the very hard but necessary work of creating a minimum viable product and customer discovery. The Business School at the University of Louisville, especially the MBA Entrepreneurial program, repeatedly wins awards and real money, from the efforts of the students, and many go off to start their own businesses, or help larger organizations create opportunities internally. Other treasures for the startup community include Start Up Weekend, GE First Build, and Maker Spaces. In addition, Louisville has a business savvy Mayor that supports the business community and startups in particular. An integral part of this network is the dedicated experts, coaches, and investors who give tirelessly and enthusiastically advice and support. People like Greg Langdon, Bob Saunders, and others support and connect start ups while never expecting anything in return, other than the satisfaction that they are nurturing and growing a vital start up community. Businesses like Mightily, and Execuity, help in marketing and strategy, and firms like Frost, Brown, & Todd give expert advice in the spirit of paying it forward. (Agreed.) Now for the ugly side. Formal groups of investors, such as the Venture Connectors, are very risk adverse. In my opinion, despite the best efforts of the board of directors, Venture Connectors should be renamed the “Chickenshit Club. “ I know what you may be thinking, sour grapes from another founder that was not able to get funding locally, besides, it has been shouted from the rooftops many times, a good idea always get funded. I’d posit that a good idea always gets funded, but not necessarily funding from Louisville based venture capitalists.

SCROLL DOWN FOR VIDEO AND SHOW NOTES/BLOG ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- SHOW NOTES/BLOG: We've been meeting with lots of startups and investors to learn more about how we can get more startups started in Louisville, and here's one of the problems we've consistently heard. The best startup companies can't find investors in Louisville, so they look outside of Louisville. Then, often, when they find investors outside of Louisville, the investors move them to a different city. When the company is successful and cashes out, all the profit and entrepreneurial talent leaves the Louisville area, which destroys our entrepreneurial ecosystem. Why is this happening? For one thing, our city doesn't have a huge pool of angel investors or early stage venture investors. We're not like Silicon Valley with lots of cashed out billionaires willing to write million dollar checks on an idea. But, in our area, the best startups are advised to look for investors with a $50,000 minimum investment. What happens? They don't find those investors, so they look outside of Louisville, find investors, and end up moving away. So how do we fix these problems? We make it easy for more people to invest in startups. One way we'll do this on the Metro Startup Launcher website is by using WeFunds. WeFunder.com will set up a small corporation (a WeFund), which can accept up to 99 investors with minimum investments as low as $100. That corporation then invests in a startup company, and the WeFund shows up as one investor on the startup company's books. This will allow local startups to raise capital from multiple local investors and stay in Louisville. So how do we find these investors? 1. First, we build a large pool potential investors on Metro Startup Launcher. Here's how we do it: a. Provide fantastic educational content to get investors excited about safely investing in startups with the highest potential for excellent returns. b. Run ads on Facebook, LinkedIn and other media to drive traffic to Metro Startup Launcher content. c. How do we pay for ads? We accept donations from local businesses and individuals to fund more and more ads to bring in more and more investors. 2. Provide a password protected section on the Metro Startup website for active, growing startups to connect with accredited investors and teach the entrepreneurs to set up WeFunds. The Louisville metro area has 1.3 million people. As more of these people invest in startups, more startups get started and more stay in Louisville. As these companies become successful, the profits get returned to investors in the Louisville area, our local wealth grows, and more and money goes into metro area startups. This is one of the ways we get more startups started, increase jobs, and increase wealth for our entire metro area. Help us get the word out by donating or just passing on this video to anyone you can! Thank you!