Podcasts about Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation

Produced by KSQD 90.7, 89.5 & 89.7FM “Be Bold America!” Sunday, May 5, 2024 at 5:00pm (PT) Back in 1929 when the market crashed and the Great Depression began, Uber, TaskRabbit, and the gig economy were almost a century in the future. So why are the laws we use to protect the workers who power those businesses unchanged from 100 years ago? As we learned with startling clarity during the unprecedented economic upheaval of the pandemic, our social safety net legislation is divorced from how Americans on the margins survive today. Government policies have not kept up with the changing nature of how we work, and too many people—the forgotten jobless of the gig-economy who don't qualify for government assistance—are falling through the cracks. While the relief money provided during the pandemic was a godsend for millions, for others, namely workers like drivers, delivery people, and handymen, that vital assistance never came due to archaic and pro-business unemployment laws.  Interview Guest: Alexandrea Ravenelle, PhD, is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Her first book, Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy has been translated into Korean, Spanish, and Traditional Chinese.   Dr. Ravenelle's research has been published in The New York Times; Regions, Economy and Society; Journal of Managerial Psychology; Consumption Markets and Culture; and New Media & Society. She is the recipient of grants from the National Science Foundation and Russell Sage Foundation to study the impact of COVID-19 on precarious workers in New York, and funding from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation to study the impact of elite gig work.

Have you ever wondered how entrepreneurship can change communities? This episode dives deep into business ownership with Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace, a leader with an impressive track record in government, education, and philanthropy. Now, she's at the helm of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a powerhouse dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs, especially women and people of color. Here's what you won't want to miss: Inspiring stories: Dr. Wallace shares her incredible career journey, from diplomacy to higher education to making a real difference in communities. Leadership lessons: Learn how Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace of the Kauffman Foundation fosters a culture of empathy and active listening within the organization. Supporting women-owned businesses: Discover how the Kauffman Foundation prioritizes grants and resources for female founders and businesses owned by minorities. The future of entrepreneurship: Explore the Kauffman Foundation's exciting plans to empower underserved communities and build a thriving ecosystem for innovation. Empowering words for women leaders: Get a boost of inspiration from Dr. Wallace and Lauren Conaway as they share their wisdom for navigating demanding roles and achieving success. Tune in and get ready to be motivated by the power of entrepreneurship and the incredible women leading the charge!     Find Startup Hustle Everywhere: https://gigb.co/l/YEh5   This episode is sponsored by Full Scale: https://fullscale.io/   Visit the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation website:  https://www.kauffman.org/    Learn more about Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace: https://www.linkedin.com/in/deangelaburnswallace/  Highlighted Discussion Points Entrepreneurship and women's history with Dr. D. Angela Burns Wallace. 0:33 Leadership, entrepreneurship, and community impact. 2:13 Joining the Kauffman Foundation and its impact. 8:15 Community building and leadership approach. 13:57 Entrepreneurship, grants, and local suppliers. 19:19 Leadership and strategic plans for the Kauffman Foundation. 23:53 Entrepreneurship, economic empowerment, and community development. 27:53 Entrepreneurship, innovation, and community impact. 32:48 Philanthropy, empathy, and community impact. 3722 Leadership, self-care, and superpowers. 42:47 Women's leadership and entrepreneurship. 50:34 See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

On this episode of Banking on KC, Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace, President and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, joins host Kelly Scanlon to explore the role of diverse leadership in driving access, opportunity and innovation within our communities. With a rich background that spans diplomacy, higher education, and now philanthropy, Dr. Burns-Wallace shares her insights into how inclusive leadership and community investment can pave the way for a more prosperous future for all. Tune in to discover: 1. The Evolving Role of Black and Brown Leaders—the significance of diverse voices in leadership positions and how they contribute to the holistic development of our communities. 2. Challenges and Opportunities in Diversity—how addressing the challenges underrepresented communities face in accessing opportunities opens up new pathways for growth and innovation. 3. The Kauffman Foundation's Approach to Community Investment—how the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation integrates Mr. Kauffman's principles of innovation and community commitment to support underrepresented communities and amplify the voices of black and brown leaders. Dr. Burns-Wallace's journey from her roots in Kansas City to her global experiences and back to serving her community through the Kauffman Foundation offers valuable lessons on the power of service, diversity, and intentionality in leadership. Country Club Bank – Member FDIC

In this episode, we welcome Academy Fellow, Dr. DeAngela Burns-Wallace, President and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation  to discuss best practices for states and locals to share information as well as protect it. The discussion includes questions: "What are the biggest challenges that state governments face with data security threats and privacy?" and "How can government interact with citizens online while also moderating privacy and security?"Support the Podcast Today at:donate@napawash.org or 202-347-3190Music Credits: Sea Breeze by Vlad Gluschenko | https://soundcloud.com/vgl9Music promoted by https://www.free-stock-music.comCreative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported Licensehttps://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/deed.en_

Hello and welcome to The Rob Burgess Show. I am, of course, your host, Rob Burgess. On this our 242nd episode our guest is Alexandrea J. Ravenelle. Alexandrea J. Ravenelle is an Assistant Professor in Sociology at the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, a Faculty Fellow with the Center for Urban and Regional Studies (CURS), and a 2023-24 Russell Sage Foundation Visiting Scholar. Her newest book, “Side Hustle Safety Net: How Vulnerable Workers Survive Precarious Times,” was released by the University of California Press on Oct. 24. Her first book, “Hustle and Gig: Struggling and Surviving in the Sharing Economy,” was released in March 2019. She is currently working on two mixed methods research projects: “Work in the Time of COVID-19,” previously funded by an NSF RAPID Response grant, currently funded by the Russell Sage Foundation, to study the impact of the coronavirus pandemic on precarious and gig workers in New York City, and “After the Hustle,” funded through a Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation inaugural Knowledge Challenge grant, examining the impact of high-status gig work and sudden platform closings on gig economy entrepreneurs. Subscribe to my newsletter: http://tinyletter.com/therobburgessshow Follow on Mastodon: https://newsie.social/@therobburgessshow Check out my Linktree: https://linktr.ee/therobburgessshow

EPISODE 1845: In this KEEN ON show, Andrew talks to Ben Wildavsky, author of THE CAREER ARTS, about how to use college to successfully build a careerBen Wildavsky is a veteran higher education writer, strategist, and speaker, host of the Higher Ed Spotlight podcast and author of The Career Arts: Making the Most of College, Credentials, and Connections. A frequent keynote speaker and moderator at education conferences and retreats, Ben cuts through the noise and anxiety surrounding this issue to offer sensible, clear-eyed guidance for anyone who is making decisions about education and career preparation with a view to getting ahead in the workforce. He has held senior roles at the Brookings Institution, the College Board Policy Center, Strada Education Network and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. He is currently a visiting scholar at the University of Virginia.Named as one of the "100 most connected men" by GQ magazine, Andrew Keen is amongst the world's best known broadcasters and commentators. In addition to presenting KEEN ON, he is the host of the long-running How To Fix Democracy show. He is also the author of four prescient books about digital technology: CULT OF THE AMATEUR, DIGITAL VERTIGO, THE INTERNET IS NOT THE ANSWER and HOW TO FIX THE FUTURE. Andrew lives in San Francisco, is married to Cassandra Knight, Google's VP of Litigation & Discovery, and has two grown children.

Through its Real World Learning initiative in the Kansas City metropolitan area, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is working to ensure that all students in participating districts graduate from high school with a diploma and at least one market value asset (or MVA). MVAs are designed to prepare students for further education and employment. They can include such activities as completing an internship or employer-sponsored project, earning an industry-recognized credential, engaging in an entrepreneurial experience, or earning college credits. MDRC is the learning and evaluation partner on this project.  In this episode, Leigh Parise talks with Dan Tesfay, senior program officer at the Kauffman Foundation, and Osvaldo Avila, research associate in MDRC's K-12 education policy area. They discuss what it takes to create partnerships between school districts and industries to develop MVAs and what they hope to learn from MDRC's evaluation work.

Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn't always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success. In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we'll examine those headwinds and solutions. We'll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.   This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Earlier this month, I spent part of Global Entrepreneurship Week in Kansas City, Missouri. I went there because I had heard that K.C.-MO was a great example of a city and its people doing what they can to support entrepreneurs trying to start a business or trying to take that next growth step forward. I truly was blown away by what I found. Kansas City has a homey, small town vibe – easy to get around and welcoming – with a global, diverse population and attitude. Leaders from local government, the business community, nonprofits, and foundations are mentoring, funding, and breaking down barriers to capital for entrepreneurs who want to make KC their home base. In 2016, Convene Magazine ranked Kansas City in the top 20 cities to start a business in the U.S. It also ranks high in other categories – top five for good pay and affordable housing, second best city for jobs, and the fourth most cultured city in the nation. The engine of the K.C.-MO economy is small business startups and the city is doing everything it can to encourage them. It is a group effort. Mayor Quinton Lucas calls it the city's "secret sauce." "(A) very few dollars into entrepreneurship actually goes a very long way. Compare that to a billion-dollar real estate property tax incentive where really you're only getting those 4,000 jobs and they usually don't bloom or grow any more," Lucas tells me. He says the goal is to give entrepreneurs with ambition and vision a little help, because when they succeed, the city prospers. "Development isn't just (saying) we'll find a way to expand the giant department store. It's instead saying, how come to be as diversified as possible both in businesses and the people who are represented within them, and more than anything, how do we help them grow and survive?" There are many organizations out there helping the city create a welcoming environment for business owners. In this episode, we talk with leaders from KCSourcelink, The Porter House KC, and the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce about what they're doing. You'll also meet a diverse group of entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, age, and experiences. They'll explain why they chose to start their businesses in Kansas City and how they are getting help from the community – and each other – to ensure that they succeed. And you'll learn about a little corner of the city that has cultivated and grown businesses started by transplants from many other countries, something one resident described as like taking a "trip around the world' without leaving home. There is so much to share about how Kansas City residents work together to provide economic mobility and lift up the who community. So, listen to the podcast here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts. Guests in this episode: Quinton Lucas, mayor, Kansas City Michael Carmona, senior director, KCSourcelink Bobbi Baker, president, Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Dan Smith, co-founder, The Porter House Kansas City

Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn't always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success. In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we'll examine those headwinds and solutions. We'll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.   This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Earlier this month, I spent part of Global Entrepreneurship Week in Kansas City, Missouri. I went there because I had heard that K.C.-MO was a great example of a city and its people doing what they can to support entrepreneurs trying to start a business or trying to take that next growth step forward. I truly was blown away by what I found. Kansas City has a homey, small town vibe – easy to get around and welcoming – with a global, diverse population and attitude. Leaders from local government, the business community, nonprofits, and foundations are mentoring, funding, and breaking down barriers to capital for entrepreneurs who want to make KC their home base. In 2016, Convene Magazine ranked Kansas City in the top 20 cities to start a business in the U.S. It also ranks high in other categories – top five for good pay and affordable housing, second best city for jobs, and the fourth most cultured city in the nation. The engine of the K.C.-MO economy is small business startups and the city is doing everything it can to encourage them. It is a group effort. Mayor Quinton Lucas calls it the city's "secret sauce." "(A) very few dollars into entrepreneurship actually goes a very long way. Compare that to a billion-dollar real estate property tax incentive where really you're only getting those 4,000 jobs and they usually don't bloom or grow any more," Lucas tells me. He says the goal is to give entrepreneurs with ambition and vision a little help, because when they succeed, the city prospers. "Development isn't just (saying) we'll find a way to expand the giant department store. It's instead saying, how come to be as diversified as possible both in businesses and the people who are represented within them, and more than anything, how do we help them grow and survive?" There are many organizations out there helping the city create a welcoming environment for business owners. In this episode, we talk with leaders from KCSourcelink, The Porter House KC, and the Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce about what they're doing. You'll also meet a diverse group of entrepreneurs from diverse backgrounds, age, and experiences. They'll explain why they chose to start their businesses in Kansas City and how they are getting help from the community – and each other – to ensure that they succeed. And you'll learn about a little corner of the city that has cultivated and grown businesses started by transplants from many other countries, something one resident described as like taking a "trip around the world' without leaving home. There is so much to share about how Kansas City residents work together to provide economic mobility and lift up the who community. So, listen to the podcast here, or download it wherever you get your podcasts. Guests in this episode: Quinton Lucas, mayor, Kansas City Michael Carmona, senior director, KCSourcelink Bobbi Baker, president, Northeast Kansas City Chamber of Commerce Dan Smith, co-founder, The Porter House Kansas City

Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn't always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success. In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we'll examine those headwinds and solutions. We'll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.   This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. According to research by the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, the odds of Latino-owned businesses getting loans from national banks are 60% lower than all other businesses. In 2020 Latino-owned businesses received less than 2% of the available venture capital funding in the U.S. That's despite Latino-owned businesses pumping $470 billion into the economy.  Nevertheless, the number of Latino-owned employer firms has grown 35% over the last decade, compared with 4.5% among white-owned businesses, with job growth outpacing even that.  McKinsey and Company has new research showing that if Latino businesses' access to capital was improved – and their representation in growing sectors such as tech increased – they would contribute an additional $2.3 trillion in revenue to the economy and create 750,000 new employer firms, resulting in more than six million jobs. Martha Montoya is a Latina who comes from an entrepreneurial family, but she didn't set out to be her own boss. She started her own tech company five years ago – Agtools – after leaving a very successful 25-year career in logistics in the global agriculture industry. David Favela is a Latino who started his Border X Brewing company after his nephews received a home-brewing kit as a Christmas present. He kept his day job even as he and his family moved his small business from his home to three brick-and-mortar locations. Montoya and Favela took two very different entrepreneurial paths to create a successful company of their own. They share their journeys with us in this episode, talking about financing and the can-do spirit. Episode 251: Charting the Latino Founder's JourneyHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn't always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success. In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we'll examine those headwinds and solutions. We'll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.   This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. According to research by the Stanford Latino Entrepreneurship Initiative, the odds of Latino-owned businesses getting loans from national banks are 60% lower than all other businesses. In 2020 Latino-owned businesses received less than 2% of the available venture capital funding in the U.S. That's despite Latino-owned businesses pumping $470 billion into the economy.  Nevertheless, the number of Latino-owned employer firms has grown 35% over the last decade, compared with 4.5% among white-owned businesses, with job growth outpacing even that.  McKinsey and Company has new research showing that if Latino businesses' access to capital was improved – and their representation in growing sectors such as tech increased – they would contribute an additional $2.3 trillion in revenue to the economy and create 750,000 new employer firms, resulting in more than six million jobs. Martha Montoya is a Latina who comes from an entrepreneurial family, but she didn't set out to be her own boss. She started her own tech company five years ago – Agtools – after leaving a very successful 25-year career in logistics in the global agriculture industry. David Favela is a Latino who started his Border X Brewing company after his nephews received a home-brewing kit as a Christmas present. He kept his day job even as he and his family moved his small business from his home to three brick-and-mortar locations. Montoya and Favela took two very different entrepreneurial paths to create a successful company of their own. They share their journeys with us in this episode, talking about financing and the can-do spirit. Episode 251: Charting the Latino Founder's JourneyHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn't always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success. In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we'll examine those headwinds and solutions. We'll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.   This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. According to research by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, in 2021 one out of ten new entrepreneurs in the U.S. were Black. Around one in 14 were Asian American. One quarter were Hispanic. And more than half were white.  The percentage of entrepreneurs from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds is growing,  but they still have significant barriers to accessing the financial capital they need to start and grow their businesses.  In this episode, we'll speak with business owners of color who faced those barriers and overcame them to create and build their companies. We'll also hear from the leaders of programs that are helping fund and mentor these businesses, putting them on a path to success. Guests in this episode: Kelly Holmes, founder & editor-in-Chief, Native Max New Media Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, co-founder, Known Holdings Lisa Gevelber, founder, Grow with Google Oscar Pedroso, founder & CEO, Thimble IO Bill Bynum, founder & CEO, HOPE Tinia Pina, founder & CEO, Re-Nuble Episode 250: Breaking Down the Barriers to Equitable Access to Financial CapitalHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn't always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success. In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we'll examine those headwinds and solutions. We'll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.   This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. According to research by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, in 2021 one out of ten new entrepreneurs in the U.S. were Black. Around one in 14 were Asian American. One quarter were Hispanic. And more than half were white.  The percentage of entrepreneurs from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds is growing,  but they still have significant barriers to accessing the financial capital they need to start and grow their businesses.  In this episode, we'll speak with business owners of color who faced those barriers and overcame them to create and build their companies. We'll also hear from the leaders of programs that are helping fund and mentor these businesses, putting them on a path to success. Guests in this episode: Kelly Holmes, founder & editor-in-Chief, Native Max New Media Valerie Red-Horse Mohl, co-founder, Known Holdings Lisa Gevelber, founder, Grow with Google Oscar Pedroso, founder & CEO, Thimble IO Bill Bynum, founder & CEO, HOPE Tinia Pina, founder & CEO, Re-Nuble Episode 250: Breaking Down the Barriers to Equitable Access to Financial CapitalHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn't always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success. In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we'll examine those headwinds and solutions. We'll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.   This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. When people join the military, they find clear duties and unwavering chains of command – essentially their career is mapped out for them. But when a service member leaves the military, they can struggle with deciding “what's next?” Many have learned valuable skills in the service, but it can be difficult convincing an employer that those skills will translate to a civilian job. Instead of looking for full-time employment, some veterans choose to strike out on their own, as entrepreneurs. It's a path that can also work for military spouses who face their own challenges finding work… because of gaps in their resumes caused by repeated redeployments with their loved ones.  In this episode, you'll hear from entrepreneurs, nonprofit, education, and business leaders – all veterans and military spouses themselves – on mapping your own path to career success after your time in the military is over. Guests in this episode: Krystyne Wilson, founder, Sweet Peas Play Café Barb Carson, managing director of programs and services, D'Aniello Institute of Veterans and Military Families Joshua Wilson, corporate relationship manager, America's Warrior Partnership Jason Murff, founder & CEO, Grill Your Ass Off Vivian Greentree, SVP and head of global corporate citizenship, Fiserve Camila Reyes Camacho, head of operations, Native Chats Ikram Mansori, COO, VetsinTech Mark Montefiori, founder, Mountain Flower Concessionaires Episode 249: Veterans and Military Spouses: Mapping Their Own Career PathsHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

Entrepreneurship is part of the American Dream and it is booming. A record 5.4 million new businesses were started last year, as workers across the country struck out on their own, searching for a different path to a fulfilling career and economic mobility. But that road isn't always a smooth one for some new business owners who hit roadblocks such as access to financial capital, lack of a strong social network, and other barriers to success. In this special four-part Work in Progress podcast series – Economic Mobility Through Entrepreneurship – we'll examine those headwinds and solutions. We'll hear directly from entrepreneurs, and get advice from leaders in business, education, and government – to learn how starting your own business can be a fulfilling and profitable career choice and a boon to a community.   This podcast series is made possible through the support of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. When people join the military, they find clear duties and unwavering chains of command – essentially their career is mapped out for them. But when a service member leaves the military, they can struggle with deciding “what's next?” Many have learned valuable skills in the service, but it can be difficult convincing an employer that those skills will translate to a civilian job. Instead of looking for full-time employment, some veterans choose to strike out on their own, as entrepreneurs. It's a path that can also work for military spouses who face their own challenges finding work… because of gaps in their resumes caused by repeated redeployments with their loved ones.  In this episode, you'll hear from entrepreneurs, nonprofit, education, and business leaders – all veterans and military spouses themselves – on mapping your own path to career success after your time in the military is over. Guests in this episode: Krystyne Wilson, founder, Sweet Peas Play Cafe Barb Carson, managing director of programs and services, D'Aniello Institute of Veterans and Military Families Joshua Wilson, corporate relationship manager, America's Warrior Partnership Jason Murff, founder & CEO, Grill Your Ass Off Vivian Greentree, SVP and head of global corporate citizenship, Fiserve Camila Reyes Camacho, head of operations, Native Chats Ikram Mansori, COO, VetsinTech Mark Montefiori, founder, Mountain Flower Concessionaires Episode 249: Veterans and Military Spouses: Mapping Their Own Career PathsHost & Executive Producer: Ramona Schindelheim, Editor-in-Chief, WorkingNationProducer: Larry BuhlExecutive Producers: Joan Lynch and Melissa PanzerTheme Music: Composed by Lee Rosevere and licensed under CC by 4.0Download the transcript for this podcast here.You can check out all the other podcasts at this link: Work in Progress podcasts

Today, I want you to meet Cecilia Wessinger, who I've known for several years through her work as a community activator with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and her role at Startup Champions Network.Cecilia shares what types of conflict she has encountered in helping convene an ecosystem of ecosystem builders. Cecilia also talks about how she approaches trust building among diverse parties.Find out why we shouldn't quiet but encourage dissent and what places you need to check out if you ever make it to Tulsa, Oklahoma. Cecilia Wessinger is an entrepreneurial ecosystem builder and founder of Mass Collaboration. She is also the Director for Global Community with the Global Entrepreneurship Network (GEN).  Prior to joining GEN, Cecilia was a consultant with the Kauffman Foundation, Future Agro Challenge and has led small group mastermind workshops and cohorts around the world. She has extensive experience mentoring and advising startup founders, ecosystem builders and organizations.Cecilia has served as a speaker, facilitator and panelist at innovation- and entrepreneurship-focused events such as Shift, Tom-Tom Festival and ESHIP Summit. She has judged and supported pitch competitions for SXSW, U.S. Small Business Administration and the U.S. Department of State's Global Innovation through Science and Technology program. She currently serves on the executive board(s) of the Institute for Work and the Economy and Startup Champions Network, and has served on over a dozen non-profit boards in her local community ranging from the arts to education and entrepreneurship.Listen to the full episode to hear: How Cecilia's role as an ecosystem builder of ecosystem builders brought her close to being “collateral damage” when navigating conflict Why Cecilia says that cooperation can actually get in the way of real progress, and why dissent is necessary to problem-solving and innovation The lessons Cecilia has learned about transparency and relationships Why Cecilia defines trust in terms of hope, consistency, and honesty Learn More About Cecilia Wessinger: CeciliaWessinger.me Twitter: @Liminal_Nexus Connect with Cecilia on LinkedIn Read Cecilia's Blog Post on Phenomenology Learn More About Anika Horn: Website: www.socialventurers.com  Instagram: SocialVenturers Newsletter: Sign up for Impact Curator Resources: Kauffman Foundation Global Entrepreneurship Network Startup Champions Network Who Do We Choose To Be? Facing Reality | Claiming Leadership | Restoring Sanity, Margaret Wheatley

This episode features an inspiring discussion hosted during NACCE's inaugural Future Building Summit, sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation, an integral part of our 2021 Annual Conference, where we convened innovative thinkers and doers from higher education, entrepreneurs, philanthropists, public officials, and policymakers to chart a course for unified economic recovery and equity that leverages a dynamic community college ecosystem.Tune in to hear key takeaways from Andy Stoll, Senior Program Officer, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (MO), who inspired us all to consider how every one of us can make an impact, creating a lasting legacy in entrepreneurship. 

Do you have some start up business ideas? Can entrepreneurship be your ticket to fame and fortune? It worked for Mark Zuckerberg. Why not you? If the thought of starting your own business has ever crossed your mind, you've got startup fever. Join host Hanna Hasl-Kelchner as she welcomes Professor Ted Zoller. He has a prescription for how to achieve more entrepreneurial success and tips for how to separate the start up business ideas from the losers.   WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER ABOUT START UP IDEAS: ● Why entrepreneurship requires more than good startup ideas. ● How successful entrepreneurs solve problems in a sophisticated and complete way. ● The value of co-creating solutions with your customers. ● Why accepting failure is a necessary part of testing and refining your startup ideas. ● The magic formula that catapults your startup ideas into the winner's circle. ● The deal making research you need to find the ideal investors for your venture. ● Why an advisory board is a critical rite of passage for your startup. ● How to recruit the right advisory board without being "salesy." ● And MUCH MORE. GUEST:Professor Ted Zoller is the Director of the http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/entrepreneurship (Center for Entrepreneurial Studies) and T.W. Lewis Clinical Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship in the http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/ (Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).  The Center is a leading, a nationally-ranked, entrepreneurship program focused on growth venturing and entrepreneurial leadership. He is also President of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the largest American association of academics and practitioners dedicated exclusively to entrepreneurship.  As a senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Ted is engaged in core strategies of the foundation in the area of entrepreneurship, and serves as an active practicing entrepreneur.  Unlike other entrepreneurs, he approaches winning startup ideas from multiple perspectives, as a business professor, as a practicing entrepreneur, as an investor, board member, and founder of three organizations: CommonWeal, OpenRange and Launch Chapel Hill. Ted meshes the theoretical with the practical to provide integrated strategies. It's extremely powerful.   RELATED RESOURCES:http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/faculty/meet-our-faculty/ted-zoller (Contact Ted) and connect with him on https://www.linkedin.com/in/tedzoller (LinkedIn) and https://twitter.com/Ted_Zoller (Twitter). 

On this special episode of The CityAge Podcast, brought to you by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Anna & Alon share a feature on what we like to call The Natural City. Then CityAge Co-Founder, Miro Cernetig, sits down with Monte Wilson, the Global Market Director for the Built Environment at Jacobs, to dive in a bit deeper. They talk about the practice that makes the Natural City possible (biomimicry), what it means for the future of cities, what kind of work Jacobs is doing in this area right now, and how the public, especially in Houston, is responding to the idea of biomimicry. Learn more about our collaborators:Jacobs: https://www.jacobs.com/Kauffman Foundation: https://www.kauffman.org/Biomimicry 3.8: https://biomimicry.net/Then Anna and Alon share this week's story: 8 Cities That Show You What The Future Will Look Like

In this episode, Don Macke talks with Andy Stoll, Senior Program Officer for Entrepreneurship at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Andy is a champion of community-centered entrepreneurial ecosystem building. Our conversation explores Andy's life journey, Nebraska roots, ecosystem building in Iowa, and now his work within the Kauffman Foundation.

In this episode Don Macke hosts Chris Harris from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. The episode focuses on the Foundation's commitment to entrepreneurship investments in the four states adjacent to the Foundation's home in Kansas City including Missouri, Kansas, Nebraska, and Iowa.

About 1 Million Cups: Based on the notion that entrepreneurs discover solutions and engage with their communities over a million cups of coffee, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation developed 1 Million Cups in 2012—a free program designed to educate, engage and inspire entrepreneurs around the country. Through the power of volunteers, 1 Million Cups have grown to more than 180 communities. As a program of the Kauffman Foundation, 1 Million Cups works with entrepreneurs, empowering them with the tools and resources to break down barriers that stand in the way of starting and growing their businesses. Mr. Kauffman believed it was a fundamental right for anyone who had a big idea to be able to bring it to life—and we're here to fulfill that mission. About Donnell E. Johns Sr., Command Sergeant Major Retired, CEO of Avision Worldwide Leadership Consulting Firm is a Certified Business Coach (C.B.C.), Lean Six Sigma Black belt. He is also an innovative, strategic thinker with proven success in executing critical business objectives, making organizations successful, and facilitating collaborative decision-making and planning. He has an intense focus on recruiting and retention, human capital improvement, performance, and organizational development with over 26 years of experience in a variety of market sectors. Donnell harnessed his training, education, experience, successes, and failures to go from Private to Command Sergeant Major in the Army and now as Chief Executive Officer in corporate America. He believes that the most powerful asset of any organization is their people. Each organization is a sum of all parts working together to achieve results and is comprised of individuals with their own gifts and talents achieving results. As the CEO of Avision Worldwide, he assists individuals and organizations to enhance their hiring process, manage strategic change, innovation, cultural transitions, and goal achievement.   Website: www.1millioncups.com/fairfax

On this week's episode of Inside Outside Innovation, we sit down with Melissa Vincent, Executive Director of Pipeline Entrepreneurial Fellowship. This recording was part of our IO Live series and Melissa and I sit down and talk about the people, the resources, and the companies making the Midwest a great place for startups to grow and prosper. Let's get started.Inside Outside Innovation, is the podcast to help new innovators navigate what's next. Each week, we'll give you a front row seat into what it takes to learn, grow, and thrive in today's world of accelerating change and uncertainty. Join us as we explore, engage, and experiment with the best and the brightest innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneering businesses. It's time to get started.Interview Transcript with Melissa Vincent, Executive Director of Pipeline Entrepreneurial FellowshipBrian Ardinger: Welcome to Inside Outside Innovation. I'm your host, Brian Ardinger. And as always, we have another amazing guest with us today. This is part of our IO Live series, which is our virtual conversation series to talk innovation and entrepreneurship. Part of our Inside Outside platform, where we have our podcast and newsletter and ongoing events like this. So I'm super excited to host Melissa today. Melissa is a good friend. She's the Executive Director of Pipeline. So welcome to the show, Melissa. Melissa Vincent: Brian, thank you so much. I love it when I get to chat with you. Brian Ardinger: I'm excited about this conversation. Before we get too far. I always like to thank our sponsors. Today our sponsor is the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. They are a private nonpartisan foundation based in the Kansas City, Missouri. They seek to build inclusive prosperity through entrepreneur focused economic development. They've been a huge help to a lot of things going on, including Pipeline. I believe they're a sponsor for. If people are interested in finding out more about Kauffman, go to kauffman.org or check them out @KauffmanFDN on Facebook and Twitter.And so huge shout out to our sponsors for making things like this happen. And having conversations that make Midwest Entrepreneurs even better. I was gonna say, you're new to Pipeline, but you were new from the standpoint of you started working at Pipeline right before the pandemic. It seems like that's a short time ago, but it seems now we're what, almost two years into this thing. So it's exactly, exactly the pandemic years. But I wanted to have you on, because I think Pipeline has been one of those proven things in the ecosystem that has helped entrepreneurs across the Midwest here. And I wanted to get you on to talk about, you know, what have you seen? What's different and, and more importantly, what's going to happen moving forward. So maybe let's start the conversation with, tell us a little bit about what Pipeline is. For those who may not know that and where we're at right now. Melissa Vincent: I would love to. Yes. So I have been there for, as you mentioned, it'll be two years next month. So it's kind of crazy because it feels sometimes like six months and other times it feels like 10 years because of the pandemic. So you never know. So Pipeline is a fellowship for high- growth entrepreneurs in the Midwest. We are industry agnostic. So we do everything from Bio to Ag. You name it, everything in between. And do not take equity in the organizations that we work with. And so we're different in that way as well. And we focus on serial entrepreneurs because they have the greatest economic impact on the region, when you focus on someone who's going to get right back up, if they have a failure. And if they succeed, they're going to get back up, start another company and invest in the community. Brian Ardinger: Pipeline's been around for a number of years. It was actually started even prior to me starting Nmotion and that. I think you have over 140 or a 150 entrepreneurs that have gone through the program. Had had an economic benefit. 2,700 employees I think are, are based in Kansas and Missouri and Nebraska because of the founders that have been part of Pipeline. Your founders have raised over $600 million in capital since joining Pipeline. And it's a flywheel approach. So, you know what started 10 or 15 years ago. Now we're seeing some of the fruits of that payoff. So tell us a little bit about how you got involved in Pipeline. Melissa Vincent: Pipeline was started 14 years ago. It was started by Joni Cobb and a number of key people kind of in the Midwest. She was the CEO. And the idea was that there was such, as you mentioned, like 14 years ago, we were in such a different place.There weren't all the entrepreneur support organizations that we have now. And so, you know, when she started the organization, it was around this idea that if you came and you brought resources from the coast to the Midwest. And you focus specifically on serial entrepreneurs to have a massive impact on the region because of what we talked about earlier, they're going to reinvest, they're going to get back up, start another company. And that was really true. So over the last 14 years, our members are not just creating jobs. They're creating really high paying jobs. So average salary for an employee of one of our members is $52,000. So they're creating great jobs. They're creating a lot of them. And they're raising capital and they are staying here in the Midwest.And so really over 14 years, that whole concept that we were seeing, if it could be proved or not, if you bring in these resources, what impact would that have if you focused on serial entrepreneurs is proven. So it's like, okay, successful, we've done that. That's really amazing. But then it becomes the question of 14 years later, how things changed. Like to your point, we've had, with the pandemic and we've had social injustice that's been ongoing that really came to a head last year.So we have all these different things that happened over the past few years. And so I think for us as an organization, we've really looked at well, how do we respond to that? And I think there's a lot of other entrepreneurial support organizations that are doing the same. How do we step in. How do we be a part of that progress and change that really needs to happen? That's where Pipeline is headed. But we couldn't have gotten there without the legacy that was started 14 years ago, by bringing in all these resources and creating some amazing fellowship programs. Brian Ardinger: It's been a very important piece of the puzzle. When I started Nmotion, I think it was 10 years ago, ish. It was the first accelerator in Nebraska at the time that's a equity based accelerator. But we quickly wanted to tie ourselves with Pipeline and get our founders an opportunity to move through the Pipeline. And you find those early stage founders. You get them a little bit of capital. You surround them with mentors and investment capital.We help build that. And then you also then connect them into a wider network. I think that was one of the most important things about like an Nmotion is, you know, we started in Lincoln, Nebraska. But we realized quickly that you can't build a startup ecosystem by yourself. In just the four walls of your own county or city.And so how do we create opportunities for those founders to make network connections that can help them grow their business wherever they end up. And, you know, we've had some great founders that went through Pipeline. Brett Byman who started with Nobl. And now he's with another company, BasicBlock.You mentioned that serial net nature of entrepreneurs. Vishal Singh with Quantified Ag. Liz Whitaker with Pawlytics and that. And now with Brooke Mullen who's with Sapahn and she came through the GBeta Program with Gener8tor that we're now working with. So those are just some of the things, but maybe let's talk about some of the success stories of some of the Pipeline Entrepreneurs that have had success based on having access to your program.Melissa Vincent: Yeah. You know, one of the things that, you know, we're really looking for when we're investing is we're looking at high growth. So they're already at a decent place. And then we're really trying to help them get to that next phase of growth to hopefully, like we said, either exit or re invest in their community.And so some of those are ones that everyone kind of in the Midwest, you know, your Toby Rush with EyeVerify. So everyone kind of always thinks of Pipeline. They're like, oh, that was, you know, Toby went through that. But the thing that I love is that we have so many other organizations. So a couple that people know of that may not have realized that their founders went through Pipeline is ShotTracker Davion Roth.So that's a company that is still ongoing. Doing massive things. In the news. Part of Pipeline program back in the early days. Another one, let's go to Nebraska here. We have Blake Lawrence with Opendorse. Oh my goodness. Since the NIL law changes, like, I mean, he already was killing it. But now it's like, those are just like set him in a whole other trajectory because he can capitalize on college sports now and college athletes.So there've been these really successful founders. And I think that there's a lot of different pieces that in the ecosystem, like what you're doing and what Pipeline's doing. It takes more than just one organization to be able to provide the support. You really need layers to that. So you need some groups that are a little bit earlier stage. And then you have Pipeline which fits in this very unique role of serial entrepreneurs who are high growth, who are looking to exit and give back.It's a very unique spot that we fill. And so really trying to figure out how do we support each other. And I think that's kind of in the Midwest, what everyone's looking at right now. So it's like, we have organizations like yours that have been around for 10 years. Pipeline is fourteen. Like these established organizations that are now looking and saying, okay, we've done this. How do we work better together? Because if we work well together, we can do even more. So I think that's kind of the shift that's starting to happen. And I don't know if it's the pandemic that was part of like, kind of being the catalyst to that. Realizing that we all needed each other. And we needed, our entrepreneurs need more support than one organization could give solo. But when you combine forces, we can do so much more.Brian Ardinger: So let's talk about the program itself. So obviously there are specific things about the program. You go through things over the course of your year, and that. I think most people think of Pipeline and think of the value that's created from the network that's been established and the access to that network. But talk a little bit about the program itself. Melissa Vincent: When you're a Fellow In the program. You go through four modules a year. And those are really intense three day workshops, basically. And they are focused on helping you really scale your company. So the first module that they go through is understanding who your target customer is. Which these are all going to sound very like early stage.They're not. I mean, they're digging in super deep to analyze this information. So finding your target customer. The second one is all about your business model. And making sure that you have the right business model now that you know who your target customer should be. And the third is telling your story through your financials.Which, in all honesty is probably the one that everyone fears the most. Because one understanding your financials is one thing. Telling your story through your financials. Nobody wants to do that. And then when they get through that module, they are just able to easily tell the story through their financials.And then the fourth we just wrapped in St. Louis. Was about telling your story and what's your why? So taking all of the things that you learn throughout the year. Putting that into basically a pitch for an investor or a potential client. And being able to tell the entire story of your company in one single pitch. Brian Ardinger: One of the interesting things, because I've been a mentor in Pipeline for a long time, and I've seen the evolution of how these companies kinda go through that. And you mentioned things like just that customer discovery piece, for example, your business model. I think a lot of times we forget that that's not necessarily something that all entrepreneurs understand or know or use.And oftentimes just having that forced function of let's re evaluate, let's make sure that we are in the right business. And we have the right metrics. The right things that are going on can do such a powerful thing to an entrepreneur because it kind of levels the system, especially when you're surrounded with other entrepreneurs and other business models and that. It gets them thinking and doing things differently.Melissa Vincent: And we certainly saw that in the pandemic where I think as entrepreneurs we're hit across the board, just like everyone else, but realizing when you're the one who is out there as an entrepreneur, It comes to you. It's so, it is lonely at the top. It's especially lonely when you're a serial entrepreneur, because we do think a little bit differently.It's that whole like, ah, knock me down. I'll get right back up and start something else. And if I succeed, I'm gonna put myself through this all over again. But I think that in the pandemic, what we really saw was the value of that network and that connection. And really being able to lean on other people who were struggling.But because this isn't a program where you go through, and yes, you've gone through that program, but that's it, you become a member. And you're part of this pipeline family. They were really able to lean in and support each other in a very unique way. And obviously Pipeline provided resources, and we did a lot of stuff around mental health and wellness.However, that support of that network was so powerful. And you could really see it during the pandemic. Cause there was a safe space to be able to talk about things that you were struggling with, that had they not had that network maybe wouldn't have come up or they wouldn't have felt comfortable talking about. Brian Ardinger: Well, I think everybody was in that boat. Reevaluating what they're doing for who they were doing it for, et cetera, et cetera. We've got a number of people in the audience. If anybody has a question from the audience, feel free to type it in the chat, or there's a great feature in this Run the World called Grab the Mic.So you can also click the little microphone button and come on stage with us and ask your question directly. Happy to do that. So, yes, we're excited to make this a little bit more interactive. So we talked a little bit about ecosystems. So talk about the different ecosystems that you support. You know, you're in Kansas, you're in Missouri, you're in Nebraska. And obviously the cities are involved. Talk a little bit about the differences in the ecosystems and where you draw your entrepreneurs from. Melissa Vincent: You nailed it. Thank you for you have exactly right. So we are Kansas, Nebraska, and Missouri. And I think everyone always asks the question, like, are you guys planning to expand further? Yes, we may at some point. However, right now there is so much like attention. Resources that we know we need to provide just on that three state region, that it's super important that we stay there. But those are the areas that we look at. We are actually, we just finished. We've just closed our apps for recruiting. Had in all honesty, the best turnout we've had in years. I mean, it's interesting because at some point you don't know, during the pandemic are people really starting companies. You know, for some, it might be a really difficult time to start a company, but that's such a great, you know, response from that. And we're super excited about that. We see a lot of pockets. So we have Wichita pockets. We have Lincoln Omaha pockets. We have St. Louis pockets. And then obviously Kansas city on both sides. And so we see a lot of people coming from there. I think as far as how the different regions, and the only I can really compare it to, because I feel like I've become entrenched over the last two years here in our three state region.But when I look at like Oklahoma or some areas that aren't part of that really strong network of ESOs or Entrepreneur Support Organizations. You know, Oklahoma is further behind than let's say Kansas or Nebraska, and certainly St. Louis. I think part of that is because they have not brought in outside organizations to come in and help them establish some of the entrepreneurial groups that you need. You need more than just one group within a region. And again, when you've been doing it, as long as you know, we have here and in Nebraska and certainly in Missouri, I think that that's where you're able to, you've been doing it for a while. You realize where you play well, and then you find other people to compliment. And I think when you look at other regions who aren't there yet, they're just trying to figure out who do we even want to bring in? They're not to a place yet where they could even say, oh, here's the part that we do really well. Let's find other organizations to supplement that. So I think that the Midwest, when we're talking about Nebraska and Missouri and Kansas is unique and really amazing, and its ability to work together regionally to create really strong entrepreneur. Brian Ardinger: Are you seeing fundamental differences or different expertise in the different ecosystems? Like how does St. Louis compared to a Lincoln or? Melissa Vincent: So St. Louis has a lot of bio. Obviously there's Bio STL. So we see a lot of bio coming out of St. Louis. And then Nebraska, we see a lot more animal health resources. And obviously healthcare resources as well. And then Kansas City, this conglomeration of bio and, and also Nebraska would be sports tech. I would put that in there too, even the shot trackers here in Kansas. So you have this interesting mixture and I think along the whole corridor, you have a lot of animal health cause we're in that kind of quarter for animal health. And then we have some amazing entrepreneurs who are rural because that's an area that we really have tried to focus on. And so we have rural entrepreneurs who are doing really unique things, you know, in ag and everything else. Brian Ardinger: So talk a little bit about the mentors themselves. What type of mentors did you bring in? And how do they work. Melissa Vincent: We love to bring in a mixture of regional mentors, like yourself, and then national mentors. And we feel like that mix is super important. Because one regionally, you want people who actually understand the ecosystem, understand the issues of raising capital that are still here. And, you know, that we need to address and change if we want to really be able to grow the ecosystem. And then we want people from the coast. So we know that a lot of times what we're seeing is that on the coast, we have PE and VC that are looking to invest here in the Midwest. And so we're able to kind of capitalize on that. And because Pipeline takes our entrepreneurs through such a strong vetting process to even get into Pipeline, it's not the easiest thing to get into, but there is a pretty long process to get in. And then you have a year's long fellowship. And then they know they're going to get that extra support. We get a lot of interest from the coast about what our entrepreneurs are doing, because you're adding those layers of continued support and resource, which should hopefully help their success rates continue to go up. So that's kind of where we are. Brian Ardinger: And the type of people that you bring in, like a Chris Shipley has been on the podcast before. And spoken at our events before. People like that who have been in the industry for a long time and can navigate east, west and in between is really helpful. Melissa Vincent: And even international. I will tell you, I love Chris Shipley. She is so able to help you take and tell your company's pitch. And we just saw this because she leads our fourth module. And you can tell your entire company story in your five minutes. You're in. And she'll be like, so what I think you're saying is, and she'll like completely boil down your company to like a minute.And it's like, oh yeah, that. And it's like, oh my gosh, please tell me I wrote that down. One of my other favorites that I think, it just reminds you of how unique Pipeline is in the mentors that we bring in. So Laura Kilcrease, she leads our module three on financials. If you look her up, she's literally credited with starting the tech scene in Austin.And she's just this ridiculous, amazing leader and ecosystem builder. And now she's in Alberta running the entire Alberta, the province of Alberta, she's running their entire new innovation arm. And so she's just, it doesn't even seem real when you talk to her. I mean, she's just, she can give you stories of companies that you know, she's been on the board for, that had sold for, you know, ridiculous amounts. And she's been through so many different things. So it's that level of just resources and expertise. And just people who really care about entrepreneurs, who understand the entrepreneurial lifestyle. What's it's about. How hard it is. And really care about giving back and supporting our entrepreneurs.Brian Ardinger: I want to shift to COVID. And again, you started right before a lot of this stuff happened. Talk a little bit about how COVID and the remote nature has changed Pipeline and, and change your entrepreneurs. Melissa Vincent: You know, so I would say there were both good and, you know, difficult pieces. So Pipeline for anyone who doesn't know is very, very much an in-person organization. The modules are in person. They're three days. The professional development was always in person. There are all of these pieces that it's like a hundred percent an in-person organization.And then you have a new leader that starts, and then you have a pandemic that doesn't allow anyone to be in person. And so it was really interesting because the downside was. Our Fellows had one module, the very first one, and then everything else was virtual. And for me just research thought was okay, how does that impact, you know, who becomes a member who doesn't, or their engagement with each other. And we started with 13 Fellows, we've finished with thirteen fellows, despite the pandemic.We were very intentional as soon as the pandemic hit to go virtual with resources. So rather than having, you know, a handful of professional development. We went weekly. Everything from, okay, how do I communicate? What is this pandemic? How do I communicate to my customers, my team? I mean like things that now it feels like, oh, that was 10 years ago, but it was just last year.And so we were trying to really figure out and then PPP loans and all of that. So just started doing virtual resources. So in that way, I think it was positive because it allowed us to really beef up, any type of professional development. I mean, it was just weekly. We're coming at you and we're helping you feel connected.And then after that, I would say the downside was not being able to have those in-person connections, but we just finished our last module for this year, which we had the first two, which virtual. The last two modules were in-person. And again, we've finished with thirteen, started with 13, finished with 13.So I think really for us, it allowed us to do a whole lot more because we could do it virtually. The transition for an organization that is so heavy on live in-person events is probably some of the members who have been around for a while. And we're like, whoa. When are we going to get in the person? I heard that a lot. Brian Ardinger: Absolutely. But Hey Bob, I saw you Grab the Mic and I didn't have a chance to click the button. So if you want to grab the mic. There you go. Welcome Bob. Bob: Yeah, there's some other people from the Midwest I'm in Cleveland, Ohio, I'm at Case Western Reserve University. I run something called Launch Net. We used to be a Blackstone Launchpad, which is around the country and now we're at Launch Net, There's five of us, in different universities in the area. Besides that I'm an Entrepreneur in Residence at the economic development called Jumpstart. And also doing some business incubator. Question I had, St. Louis. Is I, I was working with a guy from Kent State. And Melissa, I don't know if you know this guy or not in St. Louis, Brian Stoyfield. Does that ring a bell? Okay. I was just curious. He's a troublemaker, which in a good sort of way. He was trying to put rockets into suborbital space for experiments. And because there's so much aerospace in St. Louis, he ended up moving down there and hung out a lot with, begins with a C the big area where everybody collaborates, connects. No people in the middle, we just have to work harder. But I think it's turned a lot. Got quite a few friends out in SF and they're leaving. Some of them, just the cost of structure. And it used to be that a VC said if I can't have lunch with you, without flying somewhere, I don't want to invest. That has changed dramatically. Austin's picked up, as you know, and Miami has picked up. We picked up a little bit here. Actually rental costs for homes have escalated tremendously. And inventory has dropped. Because people were working from here, but a number of people are staying. Which is good to see.So, but yeah, I just wanted to, you know, say hello. I'm also involved with Techstars a little bit. I just had one in Techstars, Chicago. And then Techstars, Minneapolis. And so we're gaining that. And then I used to work with GSV Global Silicon Valley. GSV.com. If you want to take a look. They just did a $220 million spec and then something called GSVbootcamp.com.We do it now twice a year. And it could be helpful for some of the people in your cohort. It's not just ed tech, it's a broader spectrum. And they kind of did it to help during COVID. And now it kind of stuck. That they said, hey, this is good. You know, while we concentrate on ed tech for our SPAC, GSV invests in other entities, plus this is a good way that people can't, you know, do something in person physical can do this.I've also done a number of, three times now, startupschool.org, which is run by YC. Which has been really helpful. But yeah, the in-person the, the two that went to Techstars. One in Chicago, that was right in the midst of COVID. So there was no in person. The other one went to Minneapolis or Farm to Fork and he was in person. And they've got a delivery robot and it's really, really, really cool. And EcoLab. The company has helped a lot. Melissa Vincent: I've been taking notes as you've been talking Bob:  CarbonOrdinance.com. It's a grad again, getting into aerospace. So a guy who worked on the Mars rover, and some other folks, one who dropped out. That basically you can deliver food in these little carts. And you can observe or be kind of like not the driver, but kind of the driver in virtual reality.So those people who don't own a car. Who maybe don't have the ability to drive a car can be drivers of this. And we already have 300 people signed up. Yeah, to drive these vehicles in virtual reality. And we're getting some restaurant pickup again. Ecolab has been a great partner in Minneapolis. It's not the best place to have a little cart delivery because when the snow flies.Brian Ardinger: Yeah, next time. Spring and Summer time. Bob: Exactly. So, but they're, they're working hard. And the other one that was in Chicago was called undone.com. Yeah. During COVID I did a hell of a lot of stuff online. I'll give you one more. If your MPD is one of the it's called pitch-force.com. They went from being in person only in San Francisco and they were charging $75 to pitch.And I don't like to pay to pitch, but they would then turn around and buy pizza, beer and pop. They went to online. Free. And I've attended almost every week for over a year. And they've got 10 companies and five VCs. These VCs generally were San Francisco based. And now they're all over the place, including Austin, including New York.And there, now that it's virtual, they now have other entities pitching from Argentina, from Australia, from Israel. And it's a good way to learn how to pitch and see how things are going for people and also things, how they're going poorly for people. So it's a good way of see a real entrepreneur. It's your real business.And so friends of mine and I, we would literally watch it and text each other, our votes. And after a while, you get pretty aligned with what the VCs would do. And the downside is you get good. And all of a sudden you see these very, you both understand, you see these very smart people going, okay, you're in love with your technology, but what's it going to do for the customer? How much are you asking for? And then you're going, this is going to burn down. And sure enough, they get a two.Other ones you go, holy crap, did they hit it. I work with a lot of students and you know, they're just learning how to do this. And I sent them there. And they see, you know, the real people putting it all on the line to do it. Max who runs it, he runs a staffing agency and he also helps startups who don't have the finances to maybe pay someone right now, get somebody to work for equity only. And that's how he makes money that you have to pay him like five grand and then a certain percentage after let's say six months, once you put them on a salary and you know, maybe they're going for that Series A or something like that, but they can't get there because they don't have that chief marketing officer. Well, he knows off people who are bad exits and they can do that. Melissa Vincent: That's awesome. I love hearing from other regions on, well, not regions, but just other states that are kind of right next to us. What's going on there and how it's similar or different. And one of the things you brought up about the VC groups out of San Francisco being like the pandemic really did shift.And I think, you know, when you're talking about who you would put capital, that has been, I think one of the best biggest shifts. The ability for us to bring capital in from the coasts. Because to your point, exactly. That was not something. If you could not do lunch or coffee, there was not capital happening here and you'd have to move.And so it's really allowed us to have a lot of people moved back to the Midwest, their roots. And then allow people who would have had to leave previously, get to stay here in the Midwest. Which is just an enormous benefit, that was a by-product of the pandemic. Bob: Absolutely. One of the entities who didn't make it into the top five does a Reg A. He pitched at going public and he didn't make it to the top five and he did a great job. And I reached out to him and his name is Darren Marble. And he has a show that he he's working with Entrepreneur magazine. It's called Goingpublic.com. And so my friend is the board director for Gen Global. Jeff Hoffman.We just went through Global Entrepreneurship Week. And I introduced Jeff to Darren. And now Jeff is one of the advisors and one of the producers on Going Public. But that wouldn't have happened if again, to go to Pitch Force, I would have had to been on San Francisco that week. And I'm going to like do that maybe twice a year.Brian Ardinger: Well, Bob, thanks for coming on stage. Anybody else have any questions? Feel free to put them into the chat. And we have a couple more minutes to keep going. You've changed parts of that program. You're actually creating a new program focused on the diversity inclusion side of things. So maybe talk a little bit about that part of Pipeline and some of the new things that are happening.Melissa Vincent: Yeah, so super excited to be able to, as I mentioned, this is a great kind of success story of what Pipeline was traditionally for the first 14 years. And without that, you know, legacy of success, you can't really add or expand. But because of that legacy of success, and because we were able to successfully say, you bring in resources from the coast to the Midwest, and you focus on these entrepreneurs who are really going to scale.And one of the things that we realized in going through the recruitment process during the pandemic was that, in order to get into Pipeline traditionally, you have to working on your company full time. And so during the application process, what we saw were a lot of really great ideas for high growth companies that the person just wasn't able to yet work on their company. Full-time. And when you looked more closely, we realized that there were a lot of those people were from underserved communities. And for us, that is rural, female, and minority entrepreneurs. And so the only thing that's holding them back is they haven't had an even playing field to get to a place where they are actually ready to be able to get into Pipeline.And so we wanted to do something to address that. And so we created a new program. It's called Pipeline Pathfinder. That is kind of like a starter program to be able to get into the Pipeline traditional fellowship. But our hope is that when you go through the program and it starts next year, we just finished recruiting for it.That it will be something that you're either able to run your company full time at the end of it. Or you get to a place where you're ready for Pipeline traditional and a really scale to the next level. So that is our hope. Next year, will be our first year to pilot it. And then after that, we hope to expand and continue to grow.For More InformationBrian Ardinger: It's exciting to see changes that are happening across the ecosystem. You know, we mentioned one of the benefits of being an entrepreneur in the Midwest is this comradery. And this ability to get access to people that you wouldn't normally have access to necessarily in the big tech hub. Where again, if you find the right person typically are one or two degrees separated from getting to the people that you need. And appreciate everything that you've done to move it forward, and then also take it in new directions. So if people want to find out more about yourself or about Pipeline, what's the best way to do that. Melissa Vincent: So go to pipelineentrepreneurs.com or reach out to me on LinkedIn. Or you can always email me at melissa@pipelineentrepreneurs.com. Could we have any longer of an email? Probably not, but. Brian Ardinger: Melissa, thank you again for coming on Inside Outside Innovation. Thanks for doing this live and thanks for all the audience folks that came and participated. We look forward to having future events and that. If you want to find out more about Inside Outside, go to InsideOutside.IO. Subscribe to our newsletter and watch the podcast every week. So appreciate you coming on Melissa. Look forward to having further conversations and thanks very much. Melissa Vincent: Thanks so much for having me. I appreciate it. Thanks everybody.Brian Ardinger: That's it for another episode of Inside Outside Innovation. If you want to learn more about our team, our content, our services, check out InsideOutside.io or follow us on Twitter @theIOpodcast or @Ardinger. Until next time, go out and innovate.FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER & TOOLSGet the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HEREYou can also search every Inside Outside Innovation Podcast by Topic and Company.  For more innovations resources, check out IO's Innovation Article Database, Innovation Tools Database, Innovation Book Database, and Innovation Video Database.  

On this week's episode of Inside Outside Innovation, we sit down with Dave Parker, five-time founder, and author of the new book Trajectory: Startup. Dave and I talk about a range of topics for helping founders go from ideation to product market fit. And this conversation was part of our IO Live Series recorded during Startup Week Lincoln. Let's get started. Inside Outside Innovation is the podcast to help new innovators navigate what's next. I'm your host, Brian Ardinger, Founder of InsideOutside.io. Each week, we'll give you a front row seat to what it takes to learn, grow, and thrive in today's world of accelerating change and uncertainty. Join us as we explore, engage and experiment with the best and the brightest innovators, entrepreneurs, and pioneering businesses. It's time to get started. Interview Transcript with Dave Parker, Five-time founder and Author of Trajectory StartupBrian Ardinger: I wanted to thank our sponsors for this event. We are part of the Techstars Startup Week here in Lincoln. So, we wanted to give a shout out to them and Startup LNK for making this all possible.Also Inside Outside is sponsored by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. As many of you may know about the Kauffman Foundation, they run 1 Million Cups and a variety of other things, but they're a private, non-partisan foundation based in Kansas City. They seek to build inclusive prosperity through entrepreneurship- led economic development. So, we're super excited to have them as partners with us here. And you can find out more about them at kaufman.org or follow them on Twitter at Kaufman FDN on Facebook or Twitter. So, thank you again to the sponsors. Thank you, Dave, for coming on, we had set this up when your book was coming out and I said Hey, I've got the perfect time to do this during startup week. When we might have some startup founders who may be having some questions. You and I met eight or nine years ago through Up Global. We were with Startup America. And you were based in Seattle. You also helped found Code Fellows and you're a five-time founder, so you've got a lot of experience in this particular space. Eight years ago, the startup ecosystem, and what it was like was a little bit different than is today. So, what has been the biggest trends or things that you've seen that it's changed over the course of the few years that we've known each other? Dave Parker: Well, let me go a little further back. I started my first company in 98 in Seattle. And believe it or not bill gates and Jeff Bezos weren't really giving back to the startup community at that time. Oh, wait, they haven't yet. I mean, Bill gives back to like global change the world stuff. Right. But the idea there was, wow there's a bunch of us doing this startup thing, but there's not really anybody to give much advice. So, we did a peer cohort. Which was my first thing. And after a while I was like, wow, we need to level up our city. All of us tend to think of the next city bigger than us as like, oh, we want to be more like, Seattle doesn't want to be like Vancouver, Canada. We want to be like San Francisco. Where Portland's like, well, we want to be more like Seattle.Because I grew up in Portland and then moved here to go to college and never went back. First startup in 1988. Built a software distribution company called license online. The company went from zero to 32 million in sales in 4 years. Which was ridiculously fast. And we went from 3 employees to 150 and in four years. And then we sold the company in 2002.So then in 98 to 2002, if you remember back there, there was a tech bubble in there and there was 9/ 11 in there. So, it was an interesting time. Wasn't a great time to sell a company now, too. But got it sold anyway. And that was my first startup. First of five. Three of them sold. Two of them failed. One in a rather epic crater fashion. Which is funny. Because it was after the first one, that actually worked. So, you know, people were like, I wouldn't do this again. And they're like working on the next one? I'm like obviously got a serial glutton for punishment. So, 16 exits total. So as a founder board member advisor. So, my day job is helping companies and founders sell their companies. Which allows me to my 20% time to work on community building and giving back.Which kind of got me to Startup Weekend and Up Global. Up Global was the merger of Startup America and Startup Weekend. And we did about 1,265 events worldwide, my last full year there, before we sold to Techstars. Including launching Startup Week globally. And we launched it in 26 cities globally, the second year. I ran it in Seattle.Andrew Hyde started it in Boulder. And we ran it in six cities, the first year. And 26 cities the second year. So, startup communities stuff is awesome. And I love it. It's, as you know, though, it doesn't pay, so you have to have a day job. You have to have a side hustle, so you can keep your community building job, right. Or vice versa.Brian Ardinger: Exactly. Yeah. I think we're nine years here at the Startup Week in Lincoln. We got grandfathered in when Techstars made it a global deal. But we found it very helpful to have these conversations, even if it's just once a year to get people connected and reengaged with why it's important to have a startup and why a startup ecosystem is so important in your own backyard.So, you've got a great book out called Trajectory Startup. I would encourage you to take a look at this. There's a lot of books about startups out there. What made you say, I want to take a different take in this and give back to the community by writing a book about startups Dave Parker: Two big things about the book gap that I saw in the marketplace is one, I mean, you, you know, Brian, you've been around Startup Weekend. I'd see people coming out of Startup Weekend and they're like, woo. I met my co-founder, Charles. We're going to leave at eight and then go start our start up. And I'm like, yikes. Like, there are some things you can know before you leave your day job and your benefits and all those things, which allow you to really look at what do I want to know so I can de-risk this as the first semester, right. So, I got to do the market research and competitive analysis and look how big the market is and like, and how do I do that? The book's really focused on, the original title was Six Month Startup. And then I started delivering it in different formats and I'm like that doesn't work for the brand. So, it became Trajectory Series. But the program now is focused on a five-month program that takes you from ideation to revenue. And the idea there is, if you can't get to revenue in six months, it's probably not a great idea. There are exceptions to that rule. Like if you're a B2B or B2B enterprise and you need to build a really robust product, like that's an exception. Or biotech. Or you're doing B to C and you're competing with clubhouse and you're really about growth of users, right? You won't get to revenue in six months. But in general, you should be able to validate or invalidate your idea in six months was the goal. The second thing that came out of it, I kind of backed into was somebody came to me during my time at Startup Weekend. And they're like, hey, can I have your financial model?I'm like, well, yes, you can have it. But yours is a business consumer marketplace and mine's a business- to- business subscription. And those are fundamentally different. I mean, we use the same lingo. And as you know, in startup land, we have our own language, which is knowing how to work the system for sure.But the key there was how many templates would there be. So, I reached out to Crunchbase at the time and the CEO of Crunchbase and said, hey, can you give me a list of every seed funded company in the last 18 months globally. Ends up being twenty-six hundred and fifty-four companies. So hired a team. My son who was in college at the time was my project manager.And we basically looked at all twenty-six hundred and fifty-four websites and where they didn't have a pricing model or a revenue model, that was obvious, I reached out to them and said, Hey CEO, I'm doing this research project on revenue models. How do you monetize? So, we ended up breaking down 2,600 companies into the logical revenue models and there were 14. And that was it.So, I would say the most unique part of the content of the book is really the breakdown of the 14 revenue models that are successful in tech. And how you monetize them. So, the basic unit economics of what are the key metrics and KPIs of each of the 14 revenue models. Consequently, I became super geeky about pricing and revenue.When somebody now gets to give a pitch and they're like, hey, we're doing a blah, blah, blah. I'm like, oh, you're a marketplace that monetizes this way. And people are like, how did you know that? And I'm like, it's actually not a secret. There's 14 just like pick from the list. Right. So, I think for first time founders, the question then becomes what you're building I hope is unique, but how you monetize it is almost never unique. The Ewing Marion Kauffman FoundationSponsor Voice: The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation is a private, nonpartisan foundation based in Kansas City, Missouri, that seeks to build inclusive prosperity through a prepared workforce and entrepreneur-focused economic development. The Foundation uses its $3 billion in assets to change conditions, address root causes, and break down systemic barriers so that all people – regardless of race, gender, or geography – have the opportunity to achieve economic stability, mobility, and prosperity. For more  information, visit www.kauffman.org and connect with us at www.twitter.com/kauffmanfdn and www.facebook.com/kauffmanfdn. Brian Ardinger: That's an important point, because I think a lot of times we think about the features or the problem we're solving, but we don't necessarily think about the business model itself and you don't have a business without a business model. So, that's so critical to think even at the earliest stages. It may pivot. It may change based on what you find in the marketplace, but at least going in with here's our initial assumption of how we might make money. And the model that we need to... Dave Parker: And that, let me break down the business model in three parts for you, because I think one of the things that all of us look at and we're like, oh, it's in our business model. Kind of like this. It's a black box and it's a secret thing. And one of the things I discovered in the process was here are the components of the business model. So, think about it as a Venn diagram. The top circle is really creating value and how you create value is your product, your service, and your team. And those are the costs associated with creating a product or a service.So, if you're in a service business, if you and I were lawyers, God forbid. We would bill out on an hourly basis. We'd have a pay rate and a bill rate, and that differential would create gross margins. It's a service business. In a product business it's a little harder to predict because we build the software once and we have thousands of users. So, it's not like, oh, every time we build it, we have to create a new and separate version, right. But the cost of building that product, whether it's the six engineers in six months or three years, depending on what it is, is a cost associated with creating value. The value created is the product or the service. There's a cost associated with creating a value. Circle Number Two is the cost of delivering value. And that is your pricing. Because that's a variable, right. That I can adjust. It's my revenue model. How I monetize. It's my marketing and my sales. I fixed the cost to build. I have now fixed the cost to sell. And there's lots of variables in there. There's lots of marketing things you can test. There are a few sales models, not a lot. Marketing is the most creative, and obviously it can be the most expensive in some ways too. And then what you have leftovers, the third bubble which is your top line revenue and your gross margin and hopefully net profit. Those are outcomes. You don't get to control those. You get to control your cost to build it, and you get to control your cost to sell it and the price. But when you think about it, that way, you're like, oh, there's only so many variables I get to be in control of. And since those are the ones that you control of, then I'm a strong advocate of like, know what the levers are you can pull. I talk to a lot of founders and some of the research was interesting. It basically showed that most founding teams don't change their price at all in the first three years. Which is when you think about it kind of crazy. But us as founders, were like, oh, I know all the product detriments and you know, it was kind of like, I would liken it to, if you said, hey, show me a picture of your son, Brandon, I'd be like, oh, I can show you a three-year-old picture of Brandon.He's a super cute kid. He's 28 today. Plays lead guitar in a metal band. Tatted up and you know, with sleeves and gages in his ears. It would be true, but I just want it to be accurate. Right. And I think that as founders, one of the challenges we have is how do I continue to reprice my product as a product feature set goes.So, one of the things I always recommend to founders is having a pricing council, you do once a quarter. Not that you're going to change price every quarter, but you are, you should really think about it. Brian Ardinger: Well, and you can also do tests around it as well. I remember a story, Eric Ries was talking about. He was working in a corporate environment, but they were saying like, this is the price. And he said, well, have you ever tested it? Do you know if you can go higher? And they said, no, no, because you know we know our customers and blah, blah. And he said, well, why don't we just run a test? And let's, you know, throw out a different price and see what happens. So, they ran the test. And it worked. And they said, well, why don't we do it again? Let's bump up the price again. And they ran a test and it worked again. And they realized like all these years they were leaving all this money on the table, so to speak. Because they had never even tested it. They never test to see if they could extract more value out. Dave Parker: There was a company in Seattle and I'm blanking on the name, that I was trying to see if they pull up real quick. So, they were doing a competitor for PowerPoint. It would look at contextually what the content was, and it would make the image suggestions for you. When they launched the product, the product is all the same price, and they came back at one point, and they just doubled it. And they had zero churn. Right. Which makes you think like, oh my God, how long ago could we have done that? Like nobody left. Everybody's like, yeah, makes sense. Like it would have paid more for it all along.Brian Ardinger: So, what are the most common questions that you get from founders at the earliest stages? What are most founders struggling with when they come to you? Dave Parker: When we think about the go to market strategy is definitely a question. So, I'm a product person or I'm an engineer and I'm new to like go to market. There's still a little bit of that theory of like, well, if I get on Tech Crunch, I'll just go viral. And the answer is, no, it doesn't work that way. Right. I mean, it would be awesome if it did. And we see some examples of companies going viral and there's a misattribution Brian of like, well, I'm going to go to market like Clubhouse.I'm like you're B2B and only B to C companies get a chance to go viral. Like B2B companies get good word of mouth maybe but going viral is math. Right. There's probably three big things in startups that are mysteries, but when you peel them back, they're actually not a mystery. It's just math. Going viral means it's called a K factor.So, if you have a K Factor of greater than two, I'll give you this base formula. Every customer I buy, I generate two additional paid customers. So, if you think about WhatsApp right or clubhouse, the answer is I'm in a business model there that actually doesn't require a business model. So, I call it new media.And what you're trying to do is grow your customer base so fast that at some point you'll monetize it through advertising. Not a surprise. Facebook, WhatsApp, et cetera. At some point you'll monetize it through advertising. So Clubhouse, you're starting to see some of those things, Tik TOK with pre roll. And people apply that revenue model or lack of revenue model to like a B2B business and B2B companies don't go viral.There's been two examples of things that went close, right? So Slack super close to viral. Interestingly enough, Slack before their pivot was a gaming platform. The game sucked but the communication platform was great. So that's one example of a B2B company kind of going viral, but it's really just group invitations.And the second one was LinkedIn for a very short period of time, about nine months, early, early on. And they built a tool that allows you to upload your entire contact database. And for that nine-month window, they went viral for every paid customer, they got more than two. So that's what viral means. The second one is traction or product market fit.And one of the things you'll hear from investors all the time. And I work as a venture capitalist now for a fund out of Atlanta. People are like, well, when you get traction, come see us again. Which is really the VC patting you on the head and saying, you're really cute. Like, let me know how it goes. And most first-time founders are walk away from those and go like, oh, that was an awesome meeting.And I'm like, actually, no, it wasn't, you're going to get ghosted. This is just like, they just swipe left or right. Or I don't know, I don't use dating apps. So whichever way they swipe, they swipe. Wrong way. Traction and product market fit is just math as well. Right. So, when people are like, oh, it's a mystery. Like we'll know it when we see it. I'm like a VC saying it's like porn, like that's crazy. Right. But product market fit is really not a mystery, it's math. So, when I think about the method Product Market Fit, there are early indicators of Product Market fit and there's trailing indicators. And the trailing indicators are easy. Churn. Surveys of, hey, if you didn't get use our product, what would it be like and how much disappointed would you be? And lack of customer retention through either contracts going down in value versus contracts going up in value. Those are lagging indicators. The early indicators are really things around like, is the traffic at the top of your site going up, right? Are the number of people downloading your app? Is that going up? Is the time to close going down? Is the conversion from demo to customer going up? And is my average contract value going up? When I put those five factors together. Right? So, closing ratios are improving. Traffic is improving. Demos are improving. Time to close is going down. And average contract value is going up.It's like the miracle of compound interest. If you don't have any of those indicators moving the right way, maybe you have product market fit, but it's too early to tell. If you do have those indicators coming together, then the answer is right, good on you, man. This is, this is exciting. And as an investor, that's where I get excited about writing the check. Because I'm like... Brian Ardinger: Because you know your money is going towards the fueling of that growth versus building something or guessing. Dave Parker: It's the early shift between risk capital and growth capital. And typically, what I see in the early stages are people like, well, we're not spending any money, we're just doing organic growth. And that's okay. But the big question is, okay, how do you scale it with paid growth so that organic growth can go fast. Oh, I'm just doing it through my network today. So I think about it as 10, 100, 1000 customer rule, right?The first 10 customers as the founder, you're going to go hand-to-hand combat. Go get them yourself. The first hundred, you probably can't do that. You're going to need to hire a salesperson or two. And you need to get good at making them, your value proposition clear. You need to get good at getting your pricing, right.But that's when you start to scale and as the first investor for you as the founder, that's good news, right? Because it's starting to scale past what I would call the Binary Risk Stage. Right? It's a zero or one it's going to succeed. Right. And angels will invest in you because we like you, right? I'm like, oh, writes you a check for $10,000 and you know, maybe be a board advisor, right, as an angel. When I'm ready to check for the fund, our average check is $650,000. I'm looking for like numbers and math. Right. And I can help the founders see it. But typically, what happens in venture is if a VC sees the math before you do, they're going to get a really good deal because they're going to put a check in and go like, Ooh, we saw the math before the founder did. And I'm not good at that. So, when I talk with founders, I'm like, here's the math you should be looking for. And one of the funds I used to work for, it was like, why are you telling them that? And I'm like, because I think better trained founders is always a good thing. So, if you're geeky about math and numbers and unit economics, you'll love the book.If you're new to that. And don't know, you're like Dave, you're speaking a foreign language and I recognize it is English. You'll learn the lingo with the book as well. Brian Ardinger: Well, I do think that's vitally important. Especially as you go out and want to go that more venture capital type of route, because these are the things you have to be able to talk to and understand and know, like you said, the levers and that, that you have to pull to make that work. The other question I want to talk about is early-stage solo founders. One of the biggest things they've got to figure out is how to build that team and the culture and things along those lines. What kind of advice or insights have you seen at the early stage of how do I build that team create it.Dave Parker: I'm going to give you a little contrarian advice. It frustrates me at times when people pontificate around stuff that they don't actually know. So you'll hear VCs often say culture matters is the most important thing. What they mean by that is personality. When you have a two-person founding team or a three person founding team, you don't actually have culture.Like there are few repeat entrepreneurs or people come from organizational development, or maybe you're in the services business. And you're like, we're going to build our company on a services culture, and that we really understand. If you're building a product, your first milestone is product market fit. Because if you get the culture wrong, you can fix it. But if you don't get product market fit, your culture doesn't matter. You don't have a company. Right? Right. So, the first milestone is product market fit. So, in VC you say, oh, culture really matters. What they're really talking about in a three-person startup is do they like you from a personality standpoint or are you an ass?Right? So, cause if the answer is, I don't think you'll listen to feedback, I'm probably not going to write a check. If I'm like the average investment for me as an angel is probably eight years to exit. So, if I don't like you, I'm probably not going to write a check. Right. So, there's, the things I'm looking for there from a personality profile type tends to be, then there's totally from views, right?There's the Introvert view, right? Bill gates did okay. Jeff Bezos, I don't think it was really an extrovert. But people will over-index on charisma or salesmanship when the answer is maybe, right. So ultimately, I kind of look at it first and say, is this the right founder? Is it Founder Market Fit? Are they the right people to solve this problem or not?So, I remember with Mitsui when I was there at one point. I was with a big fund out of Silicon Valley for three years. We got invited to invest in this deal, that was like spin the bottle where 70% of the attendees were girls and 30% were boys. And it was like late teenagers, early twenties. I'm like, we can't invest in this. This is just creepy. We're a bunch of old guys by comparison. It's just weird. Like, wait, this is the wrong investor fit for us. So, I'm looking at the founders and going, are they the right founders for this market and for this product first off. Brian Ardinger: And I think that's an important point for the founders to understand is like not every angel or not every fund is the right fit for you. And it's not necessarily, they don't like you or don't think it's great or whatever, sometimes it's an industry that they don't invest it. Dave Parker: For sure, like the fund that I'm supporting out of Atlanta, is called the Fearless Fund. So Fearless Fund is two African American women were the founders of the fund. They launched the fund with a $5 million exploratory fund. For all the wrong reasons. It blew up, right George Floyd, et cetera. And they're going to close on $30 million. We invest exclusively in black and brown women. And when they recruited me on it, I was like, oh, hell yeah, this is like, so on-mission right. Because 3.1% of all venture capital over the last 20 years is went to white dudes named Dave. Now I just want to pinpoint Jims are worse than the Daves. They got 3.4%. 2.8% went to all women. 0.8% went to people of color. Like if I could spend the next chapter of my life helping to level that playing field, I'm in. Like, it's kind of a no brainer. But if you came to us and said, hey, I'm a black and brown woman, but I'm based in London.We would be like, sorry, I can't do it. It doesn't matter how good your ideas because we have what's called an LP Agreement. An LPA. The LPA says we invest in these things, US-based companies, black and brown women founders. And if you're not in that mix, it doesn't matter how good your idea is. And people tend to take it personally. They're like, I can't believe you told me. No, my idea is brilliant. And I'm like, you're not in our thesis. Right. And if you're not in our thesis, we can't invest in it. So, know that that's pretty common for a lot of venture capital funds. Some VCs are opportunistic by definition and the answer is they can invest in a very broad category and angels can invest in the stuff that they love. Right. I like you as a founder. And I think it's a cool idea. I give it a shot. Brian Ardinger: Yeah. At Nelnet where I do some investing, obviously on our venture capital side, we are a lot more opportunistic or we'll take different bets based on community or other things, rather than things that are always in our sweet spots, so to speak. So corporate venture is a lot different as well. So, it pays to understand who has the money. Why do they want to invest for sure? What are they looking for? Dave Parker: One of the chapters, I break down what the investor profiles are and why they invest. So, if you think about this as an enterprise sales process, if you, as a founder are out raising money, the question is, is like what stage appropriate capital. Right? So as a corporate VC, you're probably not investing in early risk stage capital. But you're investing in markets you want to keep an eye on usually. Because you're like, oh, that's a super interesting development. Let's put some money over there and see how that works and we'll follow on with it. Brian Ardinger: So, Andrew has a question in the chat. He says, I work with very early-stage VC funding, pre prototype presales. I've noticed this new trend where companies are being trained in their pitch to propose who they might be acquired by in the coming years. Do you feel this as a legitimate trend and if not, how we advise founders to prepare for acquisition? Dave Parker: So, I've done 16 exits. So, I definitely have an opinion on this one. I would say the first thing you need to focus on is like focus on building a great product and a great company. Right? And then your acquisition thing becomes a lot easier to discuss. Like I will say my general default is I like products and companies that have logical upmarket buyers.Right. So there's like, oh, it makes sense that they've and people like, oh, Google's going to buy me. I'm like, actually you can, there's a Wikipedia page. Every acquisition that Google has ever made. And in most cases I will tell you, they're not going to buy you. Now, I know aspirational, you want them to buy you and that's super cool. But there's a big difference between oh, Microsoft will buy us or it's like, actually, no. Right. So, we're selling a company right now. They're doing about $10 million runway and run rate and revenue. And at one point I was talking with the CEO and he's like, Salesforce will buy us. I'm like, no Salesforce, isn't going to buy you. You have to be way over 10 million in revenue to have Salesforce actually be interested.So, they bought Slack for, you know, something incredible in the billions of dollars. But they have to do an acquisition that moves the needle in the billions, not in the oh, it's 10 or 20 million. Right. It doesn't mean you're a bad company, it just means you have limited buyer set. So, from a founder perspective, I think if they're asking you the question there may or may not be the right investor because we don't typically look to flip deals.I know I'm going to be in the deal 7 to 10 years. But I do like where there's a logical upmarket buyer who has a track record of doing acquisitions. So, I would say it's a bit of a Catch 22. By contrast, I will tell you I've been on the board of the company for 17 almost 18 years. That we're the largest player in our space. Which means the company today is a great, you know, kicks off great dividends. We do really well with it, but there's no easy exit for it because we're the biggest player in that kind of niche market. Which gets you back to the market sizing and why you want to go after a market, that's a much bigger market than a niche market for sure. Brian Ardinger: Andrew says. Thanks. Great insight. Thank you for that. Question around what are some of the trends that you're seeing and what are you excited about when it comes to startups?Dave Parker: I think one of the ones that I'm aspirationally looking for, and I can't get myself to get off the bench and go do myself, is I think there's going to be a shift in the social platforms, not just solely based on the fact that watching Facebook stab themselves has been awkward. But the idea of platforms that empower the creatives and creators is super interesting to me.Like when I look at Sub Stack and things like that, it's like the revenue models are still flipped. Where it's too much of the money, goes to the platform and not enough money goes to the creator. So, I think there's probably a really interesting opportunity that says, hey, how do you flip that model, where the creators make most of the money and the platforms making less.You know, obviously Facebook's the extreme version of that. But Tik TOK is a good example of, hey, somebody gets on to try to monetize something and finds that they made quite a bit. I think we'll see more platforms develop that empower the creatives. Creative class. I think that's super exciting. Brian Ardinger: That's interesting too. The whole no-code low-code movement has really changed over the last five years where again five or six years ago, you, at some point had to have a development team or a, or a developer on your team to start building product. And nowadays I tell most founders, there's probably enough out there with low-code no-code tools that you can at least get your MVP some early insight without having to have that developer co-founder on board. Dave Parker: Yeah, I think that's super exciting as well. It's one of the categories we're following. And I think low-code no-code is the equivalent of what AWS was to buying servers. So, I've raised $12 million and exited $85 million. In my first startup, we had to buy servers and racks and build them ourselves and put them in a, an Exodus Data Center.And people were like Exodus, what was that? It was one of the biggest epic fails of all time. And when AWS came along and they didn't have to, I could just turn up a virtual server. I didn't have to order something from Dell. It fundamentally changed the cost of doing a startup. Low-code no-code I think will be the same. And my cost of actually doing it.Now, I still have to learn how to do that. But from a founder perspective, I can learn how to do that in months and not years. And then not have to build the development team. So, using Bubble or Air Table, for sure. Monday, I would say is the expensive version of Bubble or Air Table by comparison, from a founder perspective.Brian Ardinger: What I like about it is it allows for greater customer discovery and experimentation around your product earlier to get that feedback, to see if you're on the right stage and figure out what features you do need to build or scale or optimize. Dave Parker: Yeah. Yeah, that one's great. I think in a revenue model side, one of the things we're seeing is in the marketplace components. As we're seeing marketplace shift from transaction fees only to subscription fees, plus transaction fees. I would tell you watching revenue models over the last seven years, ish, total, there's been a few changes in them. One, if you remember Groupon, there's thousands of competitors to it because at a fundamental level, I would say revenue models aren't, they're not defensive. Revenue models, so think of they're very public domain. So even Google and pay-per-click copied that model from Yahoo. Lost the lawsuit against them. Yahoo had bought a company from Idea Lab who'd had actually patented the pay-per-click model. Yahoo ended up being a great holding company for Alibaba and Google stock, right at the end of the day.Revenue models are defensible, but if you look at all the copycats of Groupon, you see, most of those went away. Groupon is still alive in a public company, but they traded 0.49 times trailing 12 revenue. So, if you take the market cap of the company divided by sales, I would say that it's 50 cents on the dollar. Right. So as far as what they trade at. Now, compare that to a subscription business. Well, maybe the next step up would be you and I do a consulting business for a million dollars. That company is worth roughly a million dollars. It's worth one times revenues. So, because if you remember Groupon booked the top line sales of what they sold you for that certificate, but they really only made the margin on the, you know, the 10 or 15% on the margin of it.So, if you and I had a consulting company for a million dollars, it'd be worth roughly a million dollars. If we did a million-dollar subscription company, it would be worth somewhere between 12 and $15 million. And one of the new models that really came out in the last five years was the idea of a metered service company.So Twilio is a great example, AWS, if it was pulled out of Amazon is a pay as you go model. It is predominantly is B2B, but those companies traded really 35 times, right? So, if you think about, okay, if I'm going to do a startup, which revenue model should I use, I would tell you to think about again, if you're going to go back to Andrew's question about the exit multiple, I would be interested in less than who's going to buy it. More interested in the revenue model and the multiple of sales. So, I'd be like go for a metered service company for sure, or subscription at very least. Brian Ardinger: I wanted to ask around the topic of founders. It's obviously a very lonely, difficult journey at the very early stage. Do you have any advice for early-stage founders to how to get better connected and deal with the mental challenges of building a company?Dave Parker: Yeah. Great question. It was probably my most read blog post ever is I wrote about my personal battle with depression. And then I hit publish and I thought, what the hell? What did I do? What was I thinking? And I got more positive comments on it than I could have imagined. Brad Feld, who used to be on my board, as you know. Brad sent me a note with one word, and it just said brave. I think that the challenge there from a founder perspective is, you know, you're always trying to be positive. You're trying to, I was trying to be upbeat. If it's motivate the team or motivate investors. And so consequently leads to a lot of isolation.And I think that's one of the things that, like, one of the things we're doing here in Seattle is we run a cohort program for founders. We don't take any equity. There's no cash. They don't pay for it. And it's really about us up leveling the community of founders 25 to 30 founders twice a year, which is our math.And we're really helping them navigate the ecosystem, here in Seattle in six months instead of 18 months, which improve their odds of success. But also connecting them with other founders. Because other people are asking the same questions you're asking. They're not competitive. They're going through the same challenges.And by putting them in community, it serves one of those two purposes. One is we want to help them navigate the ecosystem, but we also want to help them connect with other founders like them at the same stage, which we think has two benefits. One is personal connection and not being in isolation for sure.And second is really helping them think about reinvesting in the community over time. So, if you think about classically, it was the PayPal mafia and then reinvested in each other. So, Reed Hoffman and Elon Musk and Peter Thiel, et cetera. And then it's now become the Uber mafia, right? All the people that were at Uber that are now launching other companies that are reinvesting in each other. We've never had that in Seattle. And most cities don't. It's one of the biggest gaps. So that's our secondary benefit is we think if we have them in community and at five years, but when we launched this as a program, which through the Washington Technology Industry Association. And I went back to the CEO. I'm like, this is a ten-year plan. Right. I'm like you can't judge it at three years or four years. And we're coming into our fourth year right now. And I'd say it's worked out better than we thought. But as I told him, I'm like, you don't get actually judge on it for 10 years. We've had some exits; we've had a bunch of fundraising. Our teams do it a lot faster than other teams. So, it's become a program. People are like, I want to get in. So, we just actually, Brian took it and put it into an document for a national scale-up grant for the Department of Commerce, with the State of Washington. So, we actually have those documents set up now. If somebody wanted to take it to Nebraska and say, Hey, we want to replicate all of this programming.We've opened source all the programming, we've open sourced, the narrative doc and the fundraising docs. So, somebody could turn around and say like, okay, we're going to go launch this program here as a, as a copycat with, with pride. Like we want you to knock it off. Brian Ardinger: Well, that's interesting. That may be an interesting model to explore now with COVID and the whole virtual remote angle of it. Or even in communities like Lincoln, where again, just by the pure numbers, we're not going to have thousands of founders. So how do you scale that? Dave Parker: For sure. And we're basically taking a program we were running in Seattle now and run it in Kent, Washington and Yakima. And Vancouver, Washington, and Tacoma. And we're trying to provide it from an access perspective. Like we want to make sure that we provide people with access that didn't have access to that before.But also, with a path to funding, because if you give people access to programming, but no, they can't ship an MVP at the end because they don't have any money. That's still a problem. So, we're trying to address that problem next. But the grant was a $750,000 grant over three years. Which means we'll kind of be able to take the show on the road and obviously virtual too. I think the nice thing about if there's a positive outcome of the whole COVID thing is place matters a lot less than it used to.Like the good news is I don't have to get on a plane to come be on stage with you. I'd like to be. That'd be kind of fun, because we could go have a beer afterwards and have dinner. But that that'll happen too. But I think from an efficiency standpoint, I've been doing programs for the Middle East, like six or seven cities in the middle east over the last two years. And I fly out Thursday night to Abu Dhabi for four days. And I'm like, it's kind of a fast turn for Abu Dhabi. Could do it just virtually. And be fine. More InformationBrian Ardinger: I wanted to thank you again for coming on. Here's Dave's book Trajectory Startup. Pick it up at any place you buy books. I'm going to put it in a call to action. He also is giving away some free stuff on his website. So let me share that right now. You can download his free resource guide on 14 successful Tech Revenue Models to check that. And then I also, again, I want to thank all our sponsors for bringing this today. And I encourage folks to also sign up for Inside Outside.io. Our newsletter and our podcast, where we bring these types of things whenever we can. So that's the link to that. Thanks for coming out. Thanks for all the audience for being here. Thanks for the great questions and looking forward to doing this again, at some point. And maybe having you come and see us in real life. So, I appreciate your time. And thank you again, Dave. If people want to find out more about yourself or your book, what's the best way to do that?Dave Parker: Yeah, they can find all the information is on my blog, DKparker.com. If you don't want to buy the book, you just have to figure out how to navigate all the blog posts in order. But that should be, you know, there's only 180 blog posts there. So DKparker.com, you can find the book and more information. The 14 revenue models.You can also find me on social media. I'm at Dave Parker CA for Seattle, when you find, you know, LinkedIn, Twitter. I'm not on Facebook anymore. I just finally had to just say, no. I'm still on Instagram because I want to see what my kids are doing. But Daisy, my dog has more followers on Instagram than I do at this point. But so yeah, you can find me on social media, and you can find me on DK parker.com. Brian Ardinger: Excellent. Well, thank you again, Dave. We're looking forward to having future conversations. And go out and have fun everyone at Startup Week Lincoln, and we'll see you around the neighborhood. Thanks very much for coming out.That's it for another episode of Inside Outside Innovation. If you want to learn more about our team, our content, our services, check out InsideOutside.io or follow us on Twitter @theIOpodcast or @Ardinger. Until next time, go out and innovate.FREE INNOVATION NEWSLETTER & TOOLSGet the latest episodes of the Inside Outside Innovation podcast, in addition to thought leadership in the form of blogs, innovation resources, videos, and invitations to exclusive events. SUBSCRIBE HEREYou can also search every Inside Outside Innovation Podcast by Topic and Company.  For more innovations resources, check out IO's Innovation Article Database, Innovation Tools Database, Innovation Book Database, and Innovation Video Database.  As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases.

A believer in “Black Girl Magic” Ashlei Spivey celebrates black talent, entrepreneurship, community advocacy, and social justice. In this show, Ashlei talks about black women being a moral center and catalyst for society, women and influence, public policy, entrepreneurship, the transformative impact of spending months living and studying in Spain, and more. Ashlei works professionally and personally to create just and equitable communities as a community organizer, philanthropist, and activist. Her current philanthropy professional role is as a program officer with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation (noting that the views in this show are Ashlei Spivey's and not the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation). Ashlei is also the cofounder of a high-quality fast food outlet, https://www.facebook.com/bestburgeromaha/ (Best Burger), and the founder of the supportive community endeavor, https://www.ibeblackgirl.com/ (I Be Black Girl) and https://www.ybiomaha.com/ (Young Black & Influential). Noting her efforts, Ashlei was nominated as a 2020 https://blackfutureslab.org/black-to-the-future-policy-institute-2/ (Black to the Future Public Policy institute) fellow. 

On this episode of Banking on KC, business, civic and philanthropic leader Jan Kreamer joins host Kelly Scanlon to discuss how embracing personal involvement from all Kansas Citians has led to a stronger community. Tune in to discover the: Origins of Exchange City and what watching students become totally immersed in that model city taught her. Contributions Jan has made in shaping many of Kansas City's most well-known institutions—the Kansas City Community Foundation, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the Kauffman Performing Arts Center—and by extension, shaping Kansas City itself. Role of entrepreneurship in building a community. Importance of making the performing arts accessible to all. Investments Kansas City is making in education to create a workforce equipped with the skills necessary for current and future jobs. Country Club Bank – Member FDIC

How do social enterprise leaders create an environment for their staff to feel seen, heard, feel connected to the mission and contribute to its success? According to Philip Gaskin, Vice President of Entrepreneurship at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, it starts with understanding the different perspectives and unique lived experiences each individual brings to their role.  Listen now to this enlightening conversation with Philip, hosted by Managing Partner & Chief Social Impact Officer Patty Hampton and Senior Consultant, Strategy & Advisory Lisa Wright Ponce, and learn: -Why listening 70% of the time and talking 30% of the time is a leadership cornerstone to ensure a thriving workforce -How social entrepreneurs can empower their leaders to foster a space for innovation -The important role equity plays in enhancing collaboration

Carl Schramm is University Professor at Syracuse University and former president of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. A $2 billion endowment, Kauffman is the world’s largest philanthropy dedicated to promoting entrepreneurship. Carl is recognised internationally as a leading authority on innovation, entrepreneurship and economic growth, referred to by The Economist as the “evangelist of entrepreneurship.” In 2007, Carl and then British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, created Global Entrepreneurship Week, now observed in 165 countries. His 2010 essay in Foreign Affairs initiated the study of expeditionary economics. Carl's academic career began at Johns Hopkins, where he founded the nation’s first research centre on healthcare finance. He has founded or co-founded five companies, including HCIA and Greenspring Advisors, a merchant bank. Carl also has served in major corporate roles and chaired the U.S. Department of Commerce’s Measuring Innovation in the 21st Century Economy Advisory Committee during the Bush Administration and was a member of President Obama’s National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. He is a founding member of the Board of the International Intellectual Property Commercialisation Council, a U.N. recognised NGO, headquartered in Hong Kong; a trustee of the Templeton World Charity Foundation; and a Council Member of the National Academies of Sciences’ Government-University-Industry Research Roundtable. He has served as a trustee of the Kauffman Foundation and the Milbank Memorial Fund.

The following is a conversation between Wendy Guillies, President and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation, and Denver Frederick, the Host of The Business of Giving. The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation based in Kansas City was founded in 1966. It works with communities around education and entrepreneurship to increase opportunities that allow all people to learn to take risks, and own their success. And here to discuss that work in more detail with us is Wendy Guillies, the president and CEO of the Kauffman Foundation.

As the founder of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, Gary Schoeniger has influenced a broad audience from higher education and economic development organizations to government, corporate and non-profit clients worldwide including the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute and the U.S. State Department. Schoeniger also led the development of the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program, […] The post Coach the Coach: Gary Schoeniger with Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative appeared first on Business RadioX ®.

As the founder of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, Gary Schoeniger has influenced a broad audience from higher education and economic development organizations to government, corporate and non-profit clients worldwide including the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute and the U.S. State Department. Schoeniger also led the development of the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program, […] The post Coach the Coach: Gary Schoeniger with Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative appeared first on Business RadioX ®.

As the founder of the Entrepreneurial Learning Initiative, Gary Schoeniger has influenced a broad audience from higher education and economic development organizations to government, corporate and non-profit clients worldwide including the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Cisco Entrepreneur Institute and the U.S. State Department. Schoeniger also led the development of the Ice House Entrepreneurship Program, [...]

This week on the podcast we introduce you to another new team member at Collider, Ecosystem Navigator Kristopher Derwin Loving, Senior. Kristopher moved to Rochester from Chicago six years ago. He’s a family man who’s also a minister and sports official. He has experience in the nonprofit sector in Rochester and also is on his own entrepreneurial journey in the community. Kristopher is primarily serving the Black business community in his role as an Ecosystem Navigator, functioning as a listener and connector to link entrepreneurs to the person, education, or organization they need most for their business. Kristopher’s role is part of a two year pilot program to lower barriers to entrepreneurship in Rochester through the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Audio for this podcast was recorded in collaboration with Ambient House Productions through a ‘Keep it Local’ Grant Collider was awarded from the Rochester Downtown Alliance. Tune in today to learn more about this brand new resource in the community and how it can help move your business forward. Links from today’s show: Kristopher’s email: kris@collider.mn Collider’s Ecosystem Navigator Program: https://www.collider.mn/connect-with-our-navigators Ambient House Productions: https://www.ambienthouseproductions.com/ Rochester Downtown Alliance: https://www.downtownrochestermn.com/ Music Attribution: Jane Fonda by The Grand Affair is licensed through the YouTube Audio Library. Episode Breakdown: 0:00 Start 6:58 Introduction to Kristopher and his role as an Ecosystem Navigator 8:53 Serving as a connector in the business community 10:20 Kristopher’s desire to “pay it forward” to other entrepreneurs 11:42 Kristopher’s transition to the Rochester area six years ago 14:15 Tapping into local business resources 16:16 How Kristopher can relate to those he is serving 18:40 Personal goals and success for the program 21:14 Encouragement to other Black entrepreneurs in the community 22:32 End

Today the Getting Smart team is joined by Donna McDaniel to discuss professional learning and real-world learning. Donna is a longtime educator who has bridged the world of business and education. Through her experience and numerous school settings, Donna has invaluable experience for knowing the ins and outs of what qualifies as real-world skills. She has taken this knowledge to create the CAPS program in the Blue Valley School District, which has gone on to create a network of more than 70 professional learning-centric schools in the United States. Now, Donna is supporting Kansas City’s Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, as they seek to implement a novel regional movement towards ensuring that all students graduate with valuable professional experiences. Also joining the conversation in this episode is Rashawn Caruthers, the Director at Getting Smart. Previously, she was the Director of Career and Technical Education at Kansas City Public Schools and, prior to that, the Assistant Director of Career and Technical Education at Kansas City Missouri School District. Together, Tom, Donna, and Rashawn take a look at Donna’s journey in business and education, the importance of professional learning and market value assets, the real-world learning initiative she is a part of, and the kind of impact she has seen through real-world learning experiences. The Getting Smart team found Donna’s commitment to the intersectionality of education and the workplace inspiring and is sure you will too!   Key Takeaways: [:10] About today’s episode with Donna McDaniel. [1:00] Tom welcomes Donna McDaniel to the podcast. [1:05] Tom shares that they are also joined by Rashawn Caruthers. [2:35] Going in the “wayback machine,” Donna shares why she decided to study education in Kansas City. [3:40] What attracted Donna to being a teacher (and later, a school leader) as someone who used to personally struggle in school. [4:21] Where Donna started her career in education. [4:59] Rashawn reflects on her early career in education and how her and Donna’s paths have aligned. [5:19] About Donna’s pivot from the world of business to the world of education and why she believes this experience was crucial in her ability to lead in education. [7:26] The origin story of Blue Valley’s program, CAPS. [9:42] Rashawn shares her experience with CAPS. [10:10] How CAPS helps students develop an entrepreneurial mindset. [13:20] CAPS is a next-generation career center. Donna further describes what the program itself looks like. [14:56] Tom shares his appreciation for CAPS and how it has become a national movement in real-world learning. [15:46] How did the idea of “market value assets” from Susan Wally turn into a regional initiative sponsored by the Kauffman Foundation? [20:02] Rashawn speaks of the key pieces in real-world learning and what she most loves about the initiative. [21:00] Donna shares why she believes that this real-world learning initiative has had such strong, positive support across the region. [23:11] Which kinds of high schools are involved in the initiative and how many are involved in the initiative? [24:21] Donna shares a specific example of how the initiative has had an impact on a school that was greater than expected. [26:19] Tom highlights some rural communities and schools that have successfully modeled real-world learning experiences. [27:55] Challenges that high schools have faced trying to expand access to real-world learning. [30:45] As a district leader in Kansas City, Rashawn shares her perspective on the challenges of trying to create real-world learning experiences in a classroom. [33:00] Does Donna find the commissioners of Missouri and Kansas to be generally supportive of what the districts are trying to do? [34:41] Donna elaborates on how she has been a strong advocate across the region for getting students core credits for real-world learning opportunities. [36:03] Could this real-world initiative be replicated in other states? [37:04] What does Donna hope to see in the next five years as it relates to real-world learning? [39:07] Tom underscores one of his favorite parts about the real-world learning initiative. [40:05] Donnas shares how she thinks the pandemic has created even more of an opportunity to create jobs. [41:13] Tom thanks Donna for her leadership and for joining the podcast! [41:51] Rashawn shares some parting thoughts about the real-world initiative. [42:31] Donna shares some parting words and gives her thanks to Getting Smart.   Mentioned in This Episode: Donna McDaniel Blue Valley School District Blue Valley CAPS Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Rashawn Caruthers Northland CAPS Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Real World Learning Initiative PREP-KC Hickman Mills School District Getting Smart Podcast Ep. 265 — “Corey Mohn and Shameka Montgomery on Next-Gen Career Education”   Get Involved: Check out the blog at GettingSmart.com. Find the Getting Smart Podcast on iTunes, leave a review, and subscribe.   Is There Somebody You’ve Been Wanting to Learn From or a Topic You’d Like Covered? To get in contact: Email Editor@GettingSmart.com and include “Podcast” in the subject line. The Getting Smart team will be sure to add them to their list!  

Janine Lee is a veteran strategist and grantmaker in philanthropy, with more than 25 years of diverse leadership experience with nonprofits and foundations. She is President & CEO of the Southeastern Council of Foundations (SECF), based in Atlanta, which is the largest regional association of grantmakers in the country. During her career in philanthropy, Janine has served in leadership roles at The Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and she is co-founder and former chair of Grantmakers for Effective Organizations (GEO). She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Independent Sector and on United Philanthropy Forum's Racial Equity Committee;her previous board service includes United Philanthropy Forum, the National Center for Family Philanthropy and the Mayor's Advisory Board on Homelessness in Atlanta.Janine sat down with David to talk about SECF's journey to develop an equity framework to guide the organization's work,the changes she's seen in philanthropy during her career, and her challenge to philanthropy to step up in bigger ways to meet what she sees as a “pivotal” leadership moment for the field.

Today on the podcast I got to chat with some entrepreneurial ecosystem building friends to discuss more about entrepreneurial ecosystems and how they work to support innovators in our communities. Today we connect with Christine Beech, the Executive Director of the Kabara Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies, Garret Lieffring, a Fellow with Lead for Minnesota working for Mankato-based Greenseam, and Jamie Sundsbak, Interim Executive Director at Collider. This September, we all virtually joined in with over 800 entrepreneurial ecosystem builders across the US at the virtual ESHIP summit, which is hosted by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. Tune into the podcast today as we break down lessons learned and excitement gained from this conference experience to help us all better serve entrepreneurs within our communities. Music Attribution: Jane Fonda by The Grand Affair is licensed through the YouTube Audio Library. Episode Breakdown: 0:00 Start 5:07 Intro to our assembled group 7:28 Systemic impacts of racism in entrepreneurial ecosystems and affirmation of the work being done in SE MN 8:44 Christine’s panel discussion at ESHIP about the private/public initiative Launch Minnesota and the role of states in supporting entrepreneurship 10:35 Removing barriers to entrepreneurship through public libraries 11:31 The role of government to connect regional communities and the value of grassroots leadership 13:13 ESHIP as a “church of entrepreneurship” and the resultant excitement and momentum after an ESHIP conference 15:44 Value offered by rural entrepreneurs 16:34 Growth of entrepreneurship during times of economic downturn and the movement of knowledge through an ecosystem 18:12 Making room for new ways of doing 18:44 Leveraging networks and collaborating across startup communities 20:16 Entrepreneurial ecosystem building versus traditional economic development 21:04 Difference between a virtual versus an in-person ESHIP experience 24:19 Validation of hard problems across the field of ecosystem building 25:54 The ease of connection with other ecosystem builders enabled by a virtual conference setting 29:16 Professionalization of the field of ecosystem building 33:23 The role of ecosystem builders to unlock talent and connect entrepreneurs to resources 35:17 The value of thinking on a systems level 36:03 Teaching miners to code in Pikeville, Kentucky and exploring “majors” for entrepreneurial ecosystems 47:36 The importance of regional connectivity to leverage assets 48:43 Wrapup and final thoughts 52:40 End Other links from today’s show: ESHIP: https://www.kauffman.org/eship-summit/ Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation: https://www.kauffman.org/ Kabara Institute for Entrepreneurial Studies: https://www.smumn.edu/about/institutes-affiliates/kabara-institute-for-entrepreneurial-studies Lead for Minnesota: https://www.leadforminnesota.org/ GreenSeam: https://greenseam.org/ The Startup Community Way: https://startupcw.com/ Forward Cities: https://forwardcities.org/ Keystone Podcast: https://shows.acast.com/the-keystone/ The Unsung Heroes of Ecosystem Building: https://ecosystembuilderhub.com/the-unsung-heroes-of-ecosystem-building/ Bit Source: https://bitsourceky.com/ SOAR: https://www.soar-ky.org/ Launch Minnesota: https://mn.gov/launchmn/

Host Lauren Conaway and Wendy Guillies, President and CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, talk about the importance of equitable access to entrepreneurship, what awesome programs the Foundation have working to increase accessibility for entrepreneurs across the globe, and what Wendy hopes for the future of entrepreneurs everywhere.   This episode is sponsored by, Tesseract Ventures: tesseractventures.io   Tesseract Ventures helps companies become smarter, better connected, and more efficient through next-generation robotics, 21st-century software, and radically connected platforms. Go check out what the Inventors, Engineers, and Creatives are building over at TesseractVentures.io. From robots to flexible tech solutions for construction and beyond, the Tesseract team dream it AND make it come to life.   Watch our Demo Day Presentation on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/events/1008760086261597   Watch our Demo Day Presentation on YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GMY2laF9vEw   Follow us on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/startuphustlepodcast/   Find Startup Hustle on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/startuphustlexyz/   Visit Our YouTube Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDXy14X95mzCpGSHyDvvoVg   Suggest a Guest: https://fullscale.io/contact-us/     Learn more about:   Kauffman Foundation: https://www.kauffman.org/    Full Scale: https://fullscale.io/ See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Since the Third Way series is centered on entrepreneurship, even though it also applies to all forms of positive social change, it is only fitting for the capstone episode to be a conversation with Victor Hwang. Victor developed an evolutionary and ecosystem approach to entrepreneurship in his private consulting practice and served as Vice President for Entrepreneurship at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation between 2016-2019. Few people have played a larger role or have a more comprehensive knowledge of entrepreneurship in the 21st century and the need for it to follow the Third Way.   This episode has an accompanying article and is the Third Episode of This View of Life's new series, "Evolution, Complexity, and the Third Way of Entrepreneurship". --- Become a member of the TVOL1000 and join the Darwinian revolution   Follow This View of Life on Twitter and Facebook   Order the This View of Life book

Wendy Guillies, president & CEO of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, joins host Kelly Scanlon on this episode of Banking on KC. Founder Ewing Kauffman’s vision and philosophies continue to shape organizations throughout the world, especially in Kansas City. Tune in to learn more about the Foundation’s programs and initiatives that encourage people to live “uncommon lives,” the state of entrepreneurship, and what it means to be the leader of a global organization that is driving change. Country Club Bank . . . Member FDIC

In this episode of The Social Leader, Fr. Justin Mathews talks with Murray Woodard II, Program Officer in Education for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. They talk about the importance of seeing the need or issue right in front of you and how compassionate leadership looks like listening and acting right away.

Join the Getting Smart team today as they explore community development with community expert, Lia McIntosh!   Lia McIntosh is a marketer, organizer, pastor, and most recently, a grant-maker. She leads the Education Fellows Program at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation in Kansas City, Missouri. The program’s goal is cultivating community leaders who are advocates for education. It’s a nine-month opportunity for 37 civic and faith leaders to learn and travel together.   In the last year, the Getting Smart team has had the opportunity to plan and facilitate several site visits with Ed Fellows and Lia. During this, they visited a remarkable corporation where they learned all about the ‘Lawndale miracle’ — the transformation of a low-income community in West Chicago. It’s a great story of patient and persistent community development sparked by Wayne ‘Coach’ Gordon and the Lawndale Christian Development Corporation (LCDC). When Tom and Lia visited Coach in Lawndale they were fortunate enough to see what he’s building with the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA). And in today’s podcast, you’ll hear snippets from Coach himself from that visit!   Be sure to tune in to hear all of Lia and Coach’s invaluable insights on community development!   Key Takeaways: [:10] About today’s episode! [1:14] Tom welcomes Lia McIntosh to the podcast. [1:21] Did Lia grow up in Missouri? [1:29] Why did Lia decide to study business? [2:04] Did Lia grow up Methodist? [2:17] How did Lia get an internship at Procter & Gamble? [3:33] Lia shares how her internship led to a job opportunity after college. [3:47] Did Lia enjoy her time at P&G? What did the experience teach her? [4:28] Why did Lia choose to go to a seminary? [6:06] Did Lia find that this experience was well-aligned with her personal values? [7:24] Lia shares her perspective on what it is like to lead a church. [9:08] Wayne ‘Coach’ Gordon speaks about CCDA and community development. [9:53] Tom and Lia continue their discussion. [10:20] Would Lia agree with the idea that you’re always “on” as a community leader? [11:18] After a decade of serving several congregations, Lia decided to join the Kauffman Foundation. What originally drew her to the foundation? [13:02] Does Lia feel that all of her prior experience has really prepared her for her role at Kauffman? And how would she describe the work that they do at Kauffman? [14:29] Lia explains what the Education Fellows Program at the Kauffman Foundation is all about! [16:49] How many Ed Fellows are there this year? And when does the program start and wrap up? [17:15] Lia details what the Ed Fellows Program looks like and what they’re advocating for. [18:22] Is the fellowship model scalable? [18:55] Tom speaks about the schools he, Lia, and a group of Ed Fellows have visited together. [20:01] Lia gives an overview of what she saw at Lawndale. [21:21] Jessica shares an important resource: Getting Through on GettingSmart.com. [22:03] Tom provides some background about Lawndale and Lia gives her reflections. [23:08] Lia gives her thoughts on one of the themes Coach talked about during their trip: loving in a holistic way. [24:39] Tom speaks about Lawndale’s pastors’ commitment to community. [25:34] Lia talks about another important theme in Lawndale’s community: empowerment. [27:27] The role ownership played in Lawndale’s success. [28:18] Coach shares his story of moving to Lawndale in 1975 and why he also believes in the importance of committing to place. [29:56] Tom and Lia continue their discussion on the themes of ownership, empowerment, and commitment to place at Lawndale. [31:15] Coach provides his thoughts on community. [31:49] Tom and Lia discuss the Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) Conference and why it is of importance to the Kauffman Foundation. [34:02] Would Lia say that they are listening to community and being responsive to the needs of community in the Education Fellowship’s approach? [35:20] Lia gives advice to other foundations that are trying to approach community development in a thoughtful way. [36:44] Lia gives her closing thoughts on the importance of community during times of crisis. [39:12] Tom thanks Lia for her community-building work and for joining the Getting Smart podcast! [39:52] Jessica closes out the podcast by thanking Lia once again and thanking listeners for tuning in.   Mentioned in This Episode: GettingSmart.com/GettingThrough Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation The Kauffman Fellows Program Lia McIntosh Lawndale Christian Development Corporation Christian Community Development Association (CCDA) Wayne ‘Coach’ Gordon INROADS LEAP Innovations 1871 Cristo Rey Network William Julius Wilson   Get Involved: Check out the blog at GettingSmart.com. Find the Getting Smart Podcast on iTunes, leave a review and subscribe.   Is There Somebody You’ve Been Wanting to Learn From or a Topic You’d Like Covered? To get in contact: Email Editor@GettingSmart.com and include ‘Podcast’ in the subject line. The Getting Smart team will be sure to add them to their list!

Kansas City’s Nonprofit Voice! Sharing the stories of local nonprofits and connecting them with the community! We talk with philanthropists, volunteers, community activists, executive directors, and non-profit lovers from the Kansas City nonprofit community. Be seen, be heard with KC Cares! Kansas City’s Nonprofit Voice! On episode 377 of KC Cares, we talk with Larry Jacob, Vice President with Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation! Great discussion about community involvement! Listen now! ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation | Fri Mar 21 2020  Larry Jacob, Vice President To help individuals attain economic independence by advancing educational achievement and entrepreneurial success, consistent with the aspirations of our founder, Ewing Marion Kauffman.  kauffman.org ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Find us on Facebook:@ Kccaresradio Twitter: @kccaresradio Instagram: @Kccaresonline ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• Also available on Itunes || Spotify || Stitcher || Soundcloud || Youtube  ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• KC Cares, Kansas City’s nonprofit voice, tells the stories of Kansas City nonprofits and connects them with the community.   Produced by Charitable Communications  ••••••••••••••••••••••••••••••• In partnership with:  Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Take risks. Own success. Be Uncommon. TW: @kauffmanfdn FB: @kauffmanfdn IG: @kauffmanfdn

I interviewed John Tyler | General Counsel, Secretary & Chief Ethics Officer at Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation on Wednesday, August 7th, 2019. John and I spoke about various subjects including: The Charitable Legacy of Ewing Kauffman Education in Urban Community 1 Million Cups Modern-Day Philanthropy Research & Better Understanding the Entrepreneur His 180-Degree Career Change His Family, Faith & Community Involvement Recommended Reading _______________________________________________ Give Feedback Please share your feedback for the show, who I should interview, and the topics that interest you right now.  _______________________________________________ Links referred to in this episode: John Tyler | LinkedIn Profile Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Kansas City Royals Ewing Marion Kauffman School 1 Million Cups Chan Zuckerberg Initiative Omidyar Network Arnold Ventures Lathrop & Gage LLP Daniel Silva | Author Tom Clancy | Author Mark Greaney | Author Steve Berry | Author St. Michael the Archangel Catholic High School Cristo Rey Kansas City

Kansas City’s Nonprofit Voice! Sharing the stories of local nonprofits and connecting them with the community! We talk with philanthropists, volunteers, community activists, executive directors, and nonprofit lovers from the Kansas City nonprofit community. Be seen, be heard with KC Cares! Kansas City’s Nonprofit Nonprofit Voice! On this special Library Edition, we talk with Matt Pozel, Senior Multimedia Writer & Producer, Public Affairs for Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. _________________________ Find us on Facebook:@ Kccaresradio Twitter: @kccaresradio Instagram: @Kccaresonline _________________________ Also available on Itunes || Spotify || Stitcher || Soundcloud || Youtube  KC Cares, Kansas City’s nonprofit voice, tells the stories of Kansas City nonprofits and connects them with the community.  Produced by Charitable Communications  In partnership with the Kauffman Foundation Think. Do. Be Uncommon.

Paul Schofer is the CEO of the Kauffman Center for Performing Arts in Kansas City, a facility that opened in 2011 and houses two concert halls and welcomes 500,000 patrons a year for more than 350 performances in a building designed by architect Moshe Safdie.  The Kansas City Symphony, Kansas City Ballet and Lyric Opera all are resident performers.  The building was ranked as one of the world's 15 most beautiful concert halls, one of only two in the U.S.  His background is in accounting.  Paul worked at Hallmark and Marion Laboratories.  He wanted to move into the nonprofit sector and began working for Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation before becoming CFO and then CEO of the Performing Arts Center. Calls the secret sauce of  Center the volunteers. Vision is diverse and extraordinary performing arts experiences for everyone. Website: www.kauffmancenter.org  

The world of work is changing. Gone is the idea of a job for life. Instead, traditional employment is more uncertain than ever, leading a growing number of people to seek roles in the gig economy instead. Succeeding in the gig economy means shifting your mindset, acquiring new skills, and leveraging your knowledge and network to create your own career trajectory. Get it right, and your fortunes are no longer tied to the whims of an employer. Five years ago, before the Gig Economy was even a thing, my guest on the podcast today created and started to teach an MBA class called The Gig Economy. The class gained immediate traction and was named by Forbes as one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Business School Classes in the country. Diane Mulcahy is an active and enthusiastic participant in the Gig Economy. In between full-time jobs and consulting gigs in private equity and venture capital, Diane has been a Visiting Fellow at Trinity College in Dublin, an Executive-in-Residence at Babson College, and an Eisenhower Fellow. She has taken two different years off to travel around the world. Diane is currently a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, and an Adjunct Lecturer at Babson College. She has previously written and published two books and a widely-read report on venture capital. Her work has been featured in The Economist, The Financial Times, Forbes, Fortune, Harvard Business Review, The Irish Times, The New Yorker, The Wall Street Journal, as well as numerous industry publications. Diane speaks and lectures at conferences and universities worldwide. In this conversation, we talk about how to construct a life based on your priorities and vision of success. Here's my conversation with Diane Mulcahy, author of The Gig Economy, in episode 443 of Informed Choice Radio.

The gig economy continues to grow in importance. Whether it’s to create a second act career as a consultant, to gain greater flexibility or to generate extra income in retirement, the gig economy offers both opportunities and challenges. In fact, today it’s relevant for virtually every age group and career stage. The demand for freelance talent continues to grow and it may offer new options to leverage your skills and experience. But the challenges and transition issues are real and it’s wise to be prepared. Becoming savvy about how to navigate it well will enhance your chances of success. We talk with Diane Mulcahy, author of The Gig Economy about how it’s expanding, changing the world of work and impacting retirement. Before it was even a thing, Diane created the first course in the U.S. on the Gig Economy and teaches it in the MBA program at Babson College. The course gained immediate traction and was named by Forbes as one of the Top Ten Most Innovate Business School Courses in the country. If you’re considering working longer or pursuing a second act career in the gig economy, you’ll want to hear Diane’s perspective on how to plan ahead. Wise Quote: On Planning Ahead “I would offer two tactical steps. The first is, (and I have this exercise in my book as well) …The first is to develop an exit strategy. And what I mean by that is develop a real and concrete tactical plan for leading your job. So the exercise that I have my students and my readers do is this, imagine that you knew that you are going to be laid off in six months. What would you do to prepare? What would you do professionally? You know, what conferences would you go to? What colleagues would you reach out to? What kind of networking would you do? What kind of skills would you make sure were up-to-date on certifications, things like that? What kinds of financial things would you, do you know what? What expenses would you cut down on? What would you save?” “How much would you contribute to your retirement? What corporate benefits would you take advantage of, whether it’s, you know, 401k contributions or education or professional development, and what would you do personally? How would you think about the impact of a layoff on your personal domestic situation? What about your living situation? Is there something there that you would change in terms of where you would rather live or what you would think about in terms of your commute or how this affects your household? So think about that, all of those different dimensions, and make a list kind of a to-do list of what you would do if you knew you were getting laid off in six months. And then I would suggest really talking about that with other people, particularly if you know people who have been laid off or who are already retired and have negotiated that transition successfully. Find out what can you learn from how they made the transition and things that they did to make it successful.” For more on Diane Mulcahy: Diane Mulcahy’s book The Gig Economy: The Complete Guide to Getting Better Work, Taking More Time Off and Financing the Life You Want Diane’s website Bio Before the Gig Economy was even a thing, Diane created and started to teach an MBA class called The Gig Economy at Babson College. The class gained immediate traction and was named by Forbes as one of the Top 10 Most Innovative Business School Classes in the country. Diane is an active and enthusiastic participant in the Gig Economy. In between full-time jobs and consulting gigs in private equity and venture capital, Diane has been a Visiting Fellow at Trinity College in Dublin, an Executive-in-Residence at Babson College, and an Eisenhower Fellow. She has taken two different years off to travel around the world. Diane is currently a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and an Adjunct Lecturer at Babson College. She has previously written and published two books and a widely-read report on venture cap...

This week's special guests are startup strategist, LANEE JAVET, founder of Mogul in Training Membership and digital marketing and training consultant, SOCIALLY NINA, founder of Candied Bacon Agency as we discuss how not only to stay in business; but rather how to SCALE YOUR BUSINESS now and for the future. AFRICAN-AMERICANS are 50% more likely to start a business than WHITES, but BLACK-OWNED BUSINESS unfortunately fail at greater rates, according to a study by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. For all new businesses only 20% on average (1.7M) will make it past four years, and of those less than 1% scale to 100 or more employees (3200) and only 32 of those will be BLACK OWNED. Clearly scalability is a problem for all businesses, but what steps can we take to ensure our BLACK-OWNED BUSINESS survives our lifetime to leave a legacy for the next generation. MENTAL DIALOGUE asking the questions America's afraid to ask. ALL I ASK IS THAT YOU THINK --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/montoya-smith/message Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/montoya-smith/support

Guests Elizabeth Joseph and Brenda Lewis share 1MillionCups.com/Stamford - a monthly event for local entrepreneurs to meet and present their start-ups to the thriving peer network of business owners in Stamford. Based on the notion that entrepreneurs discover solutions and engage with their communities over a million cups of coffee, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation developed 1 Million Cups in 2012. A free program designed to educate, engage common and inspire entrepreneurs around the country, 1MC has grown to more than 180 communities nationwide. We continue to partner with No Such Thing As a Bully and The Moment of Kindness Foundation to help bring more kindness into the world and change the language surrounding our culture, eliminating words like “bully” and “victim.”  Thanks as always to Smith Sister Bluegrass for our closing song.   Thu 2/28 1pmET/10amPT or anytime in the archives.  Thank you sponsors Safety Bags, Inc; StadiumBags.com and Traci's Healthy Habits.  Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.  Email dori@wordofmomradio.com to become a guest or sponsor! Word of Mom Radio Network ~ Sharing the Wisdom of Women 

We live in a political climate that instantly heats up around the topic of immigration, job displacement, visa granting, and so on. In this episode, William Kerr teaches hosts Peter Cappelli about why international talent is a gift to our society.William Kerr is the D’Arbeloff Professor of Business Administration at Harvard Business School. Bill is the co-director of Harvard’s Managing the Future of Work initiative and the faculty chair of the Launching New Ventures program for executive education. Bill is a recipient of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation’s Prize Medal for Distinguished Research in Entrepreneurship and Harvard's Distinction in Teaching award. Bill’s recent book is The Gift of Global Talent: How Migration Shapes Business, Economy & Society (2018). It explores the global race for talent and how countries and businesses compete for high-skilled migrants. The book reveals how immigration has transformed U.S. innovation, reshaped the economy through the rise of talent clusters and superstar firms, and influenced society at large in positive and adverse ways. The book argues that America, and the world, can get more out of global talent flows with sensible reforms. The Managing the Future of Work project considers the unprecedented set of challenges and opportunities presented to businesses, including rapid technological revolutions, shifting global product and labor markets, aging workforces, and growing skills gaps. These forces change the ways that businesses compete with each other and engage workers. This multi-faculty project identifies how companies, schools, workers and the public sector can come together to manage the challenging transitions ahead as the nature of work is radically transformed. The initiative produces leading research on these themes and disseminates to broader audiences through platforms like the MFW podcast series.Bill’s broader research centers on how companies and economies explore new opportunities and generate growth. He considers the leadership and resources necessary to identify, launch and sustain dynamic and enduring organizations. He works with companies worldwide on the development of new ventures and transformations for profitable growth. He also advises governments about investments in the innovative capacities of their nations. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

Jeff Dennis is a lawyer and serial entrepreneur. He is a “trusted advisor” who works with high growth companies providing strategic advice and financing in their quest to get to the next level. Jeff co-founded the Toronto Chapter of the Young Entrepreneurs Organization, now called the Entrepreneurs Organization (EO). Through his association with EO and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, he created a series of "Lessons from the Edge" seminars, which have been the highest rated sessions at the EO conventions each year. At these seminars, entrepreneurs share their worst mistakes in business and the lessons that they learned. Jeff’s book, Lessons from the Edge, was inspired by the success of these seminars. --- Support this podcast: https://anchor.fm/georges-khalife/support

It's time to pump it up and flex those muscles...well, it's time to flex your curiosity muscle. They say that curiosity killed the cat but, after this week's interview, I know it's the lack of curiosity that killed the company.  My guest this week is innovation expert and author, Diana Kander, and we talk about her new book, The Curiosity Muscle. Diana shares the four questions leaders need to ask to keep their organizations from becoming irrelevant and keep their teams moving forward in the right direction.  Her insights really made me think about what I'm currently doing in my business to stay ahead but also what I could be doing in my relationships. She's super smart and I know you'll get as much from our conversation as I did.  Enjoy! More on Diana... Diana Kander and her family escaped from the Soviet Union when she was 8-years-old. By the time she was an American citizen, she had perfected her skills as an entrepreneur – selling flea market goods to grade school classmates at a markup. Today, Diana is the Director of Innovation Culture and Habits for Maddock Douglas, a Chicago-based innovation consulting firm. In this role, she trains executives and Fortune 1000 companies to be more innovative and inspires employees to think like entrepreneurs. How did she get here? Diana was a Georgetown educated attorney who left her successful law practice to start and sell a number of ventures. The businesses spanned a number of industries: software, real estate, hospitality, construction, staffing and consulting. After the sale of her last company, Diana spent three years as a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest non-profit in the world dedicated to entrepreneurship and education, and two years as a professor of entrepreneurship in the MBA program at the University of Missouri. Diana is also the author of the New York Times Bestseller All In Startup, a novel outlining lessons for launching a successful business. The book has been used in over 70 colleges to teach innovation and entrepreneurship. Diana lives in Kansas City, Missouri with her high school sweetheart and husband, Jason, and their awesome son, True. Connect with her on her website (AND BUY THE BOOK!): https://dianakander.com/

Missouri Business Alert’s Speaking Startup podcast explores news and issues important to the state’s entrepreneurs. In this week’s episode: • 1:13 - The carsharing startup Getaround has been raising a lot of capital lately, and car makers are taking notice • 3:53 - Earlier this month the St. Louis Regional Chamber released their annual venture capital report for 2017, we talk about what that means for startups • 5:44 - Kansas City startups are vying for the chance to speak at SXSW • 7:17 - Annika Merrilees talks to Jason Wiens about startup week, he’s the director of policy from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation • 13:01 - A look at important numbers from the week in entrepreneurship news Check out our website for more: www.missouribusinessalert.com/sections/m…/podcasts/ Credit to Podington Bear (soundofpicture.com) for this episode's music.

Carl Schramm is a Syracuse University Professor and former president of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation. He was a member of the President's National Advisory Council on Innovation and Entrepreneurship. His new book is Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do. Resources: * http://carlschramm.com/ – Website * @CarlSchramm – Twitter * Buy his book, Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do Sponsored by: * LEADx.org – subscribe to become 1% better every single day Subscribe on iTunes to join our VIP Club: Please click here to subscribe on iTunes, and leave a quick rating. Nothing matters more for bringing the podcast to the attention of others. After you subscribe and leave a review, send an email to info at leadx dot org to let us know, and we'll invite you into the private LEADx VIP Group on Facebook. Group members are eligible for ridiculously good prizes each month, have special access to me and LEADx guests, discounts on live events, and of course it's a great forum for peer-learning and support. Share: And, by all means, if you know someone you think would benefit, please spread the word by using the share buttons below. — What is LEADx and The LEADx Show with Kevin Kruse? Imagine if you could have the world's best executive coaches and leadership mentors whispering into your ear every morning on your way to work. Every weekday, there will be a new episode of The LEADx Leadership Show with an interview from a different thought leadership or business expert. Many of these guests are thought leaders, famous authors or high-profile CEOs from innovative startup companies. Others are creatives, artists, entrepreneurs or corporate career leaders. They have all achieved extreme success and they are willing to share practical advice on how to advance your career and develop your leadership and management skills by offering daily career tips on time management, productivity, marketing, personal branding, communication, sales, leadership, team building, talent management and other personal development and career development topics. There will be a new episode waiting for you every day just in time for your morning commute, morning treadmill session or whatever else it is you do to start your day. LEADx isn't just the name of this new podcast, it's the name of a digital media and online learning company that is re-imagining professional development for millennials and career driven professionals looking to break into manager roles or excel in current leadership and management roles. If you're looking for management training or professional development that is delivered in a fun and engaging way, sign up for our daily newsletter at LEADx.org. It's packed with life hacks, daily career tips and leadership challenges that will turn you into a high potential leader in no time. What does LEADx stand for? We are exploring leadership. We are about NEXT GENERATION leadership. We believe that professional training and workplace education has not kept up with advances in digital media. Today's emerging leaders and management professionals just don't find 5 day workshops or eLearning modules to be very compelling. Today's talent is mobile and social. LEADx wants to help those that want to make an impact. Leadership is not a choice. You don't need a title to lead.

The Economist magazine once described Carl J. Schramm as “The Evangelist of Entrepreneurship.” Professor Schramm earned the moniker during the decade he was the president of the $2 billion Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, which is among the largest private foundations in America, working to help entrepreneurs succeed. These days Professor Schramm writes about entrepreneurship and teaches at Syracuse University, one of only 16 members of the faculty since 1870 to be given the prestigious, at-large title of University Professor. This week Professor Schramm conducts a Master’s Class in entrepreneurship exclusively for host and reputation coach Dean Rotbart, using the professor’s new book – Burn the Business Plan: What Great Entrepreneurs Really Do – as assigned reading. Think you need an MBA to be a business success? Think again. Professor Schramm says that the proven path to business success is one of passion, determination, and a willingness to experiment and innovate. Class is starting right now. Photo: Carl J. Schramm, Burn the Business Plan Posted: June 18, 2018 Monday Morning Run Time: 35:07

Joining us today are Maria Meyers and Kate Pope Hodel of Sourcelink, a program of the University of Missouri- Innovation Center with a single mission: to make entrepreneurship easier. Maria is Founder Executive Director. Kate is with Special Projects. Together they run the network that builds entrepreneurial communities and stacks the cards in your favor! SourceLink has helped communities transform fragmented economic development organizations into vibrant and vital ecosystems. Developed through support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, SourceLink connects resources to each other and to a national network of best practices to help communities create jobs, accelerate business and strengthen local economies. In this episode: - How Maria became known as “the queen of entrepreneurship” throughout the Midwest. - The origins of SourceLink. - The biggest challenges for business owners. - Where business owners are least effective...Most effective...Seeking direction... - How Sourcelink establishes the ecosystems and networks. - Kate is a master of data. What stories do the numbers tell. - How an entrepreneur should find and use data. - What sources and kinds of data are best indicators. - Breakthrough programs with the Kauffman Foundation - How Sourcelink creates a pathway for success with clients. - What Kate learned from the best in the field and thought leaders. - What we can learn from the “on-the-ground implementers”. - Kate's advice for businesses owners to step outside of their comfort zone. Learn more: www.joinsourcelink.com @joinsourcelink (Twitter) @joinsourcelink (Facebook)

Joining us today are Maria Meyers and Kate Pope Hodel of Sourcelink, a program of the University of Missouri- Innovation Center with a single mission: to make entrepreneurship easier. Maria is Founder Executive Director. Kate is with Special Projects. Together they run the network that builds entrepreneurial communities and stacks the cards in your favor! SourceLink has helped communities transform fragmented economic development organizations into vibrant and vital ecosystems. Developed through support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, SourceLink connects resources to each other and to a national network of best practices to help communities create jobs, accelerate business and strengthen local economies. In this episode: - How Maria became known as “the queen of entrepreneurship” throughout the Midwest. - The origins of SourceLink. - The biggest challenges for business owners. - Where business owners are least effective...Most effective...Seeking direction... - How Sourcelink establishes the ecosystems and networks. - Kate is a master of data. What stories do the numbers tell. - How an entrepreneur should find and use data. - What sources and kinds of data are best indicators. - Breakthrough programs with the Kauffman Foundation - How Sourcelink creates a pathway for success with clients. - What Kate learned from the best in the field and thought leaders. - What we can learn from the “on-the-ground implementers”. - Kate's advice for businesses owners to step outside of their comfort zone. Learn more: www.joinsourcelink.com @joinsourcelink (Twitter) @joinsourcelink (Facebook)

Joining us today are Maria Meyers and Kate Pope Hodel of Sourcelink, a program of the University of Missouri- Innovation Center with a single mission: to make entrepreneurship easier. Maria is Founder Executive Director. Kate is with Special Projects. Together they run the network that builds entrepreneurial communities and stacks the cards in your favor! SourceLink has helped communities transform fragmented economic development organizations into vibrant and vital ecosystems. Developed through support from the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the U.S. Small Business Administration and the University of Missouri-Kansas City, SourceLink connects resources to each other and to a national network of best practices to help communities create jobs, accelerate business and strengthen local economies. In this episode: - How Maria became known as “the queen of entrepreneurship” throughout the Midwest. - The origins of SourceLink. - The biggest challenges for business owners. - Where business owners are least effective...Most effective...Seeking direction... - How Sourcelink establishes the ecosystems and networks. - Kate is a master of data. What stories do the numbers tell. - How an entrepreneur should find and use data. - What sources and kinds of data are best indicators. - Breakthrough programs with the Kauffman Foundation - How Sourcelink creates a pathway for success with clients. - What Kate learned from the best in the field and thought leaders. - What we can learn from the “on-the-ground implementers”. - Kate's advice for businesses owners to step outside of their comfort zone. Learn more: @joinsourcelink (Twitter) @joinsourcelink (Facebook)

Diana Kander is a successful entrepreneur, having founded and sold a number of ventures; a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Missouri; a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest non-profit in the world dedicated to entrepreneurship and education; & author of 'All In Startup', a New York Times Best-selling novel.

Judith Elsea is a Co-Founder @ Weathergage Capital, one of the world's leading fund of funds with over $950m AUM. Prior to Wealthergage, Judith was Chief Investment Officer of the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation from 1993 to 2001. As CIO, she directed a $2 billion globally diversified investment portfolio, committing over $600 million to US early stage venture funds and other private equity partnerships. She was also instrumental in the creation and implementation of the Kauffman Fellows Program, a global apprenticeship program designed to train the next generation of venture capitalists.   In Today’s Episode You Will Learn: 1.) How Judith made her way into the world of LPs and what makes her think venture is such an attractive asset class? 2.) What gets Judith really excited when viewing prospective fund managers for potential investments? What differentiators does Judith look for? 3.) What are the most common reasons Judith finds for her rejecting fund managers for investment? What are they not doing and how can they optimise this? 4.) To what extent do LPs have a commitment to invest in further funds having invested in one fund? Are there any situations where this changes? 5.) What are the similarities and differences between fundraising for LPs vs fundraising for startups? How should the different elements be approached? Items Mentioned In Today’s Show: Judith’s Fave Book: Patrick O'Brian Judith’s Fave Blog: The Twenty Minute VC, a16z, Founder Collective Judith’s Most Recent Investment: Felicis Ventures As always you can follow Harry, The Twenty Minute VC and Judith on Twitter here! Likewise, you can follow Harry on Snapchat here for mojito madness and all things 20VC. Eve make 1 perfect mattress – made with 3 layer technology and next generation memory foam. It comes packaged in a beautiful box and arrives the day after you order. You get 100 nights to try it with free return pick-up – it really is the perfect mattress for everyone. Just go online to evemattress.co.ukand enter the code 20VC for £50 off. Everybody deserves the perfect start with Eve. Cooley are the global law firm built around startups and venture capital.  Since forming the first venture fund in Silicon Valley, Cooley has formed more venture capital funds than any other law firm in the world, with 50+ years working with VCs. They help VCs form and manage funds, make investments and handle the myriad issues that arise through a fund’s lifetime. So to learn more about the #1 most active law firm representing VC-backed companies going public. Head over to cooley.com and also atcooleygo.com.

Do you have some winning startup ideas? Can entrepreneurship be your ticket to fame and fortune? It worked for Mark Zuckerberg. Why not you? If the thought of starting your own business has ever crossed your mind, you've got startup fever. Join host Hanna Hasl-Kelchner as she welcomes Professor Ted Zoller. He has a prescription for how to achieve more entrepreneurial success and tips for how to separate the winning startup ideas from the losers. WHAT YOU'LL DISCOVER ABOUT STARTUP IDEAS: Why entrepreneurship requires more than good startup ideas. How successful entrepreneurs solve problems in a sophisticated and complete way. The value of co-creating solutions with your customers. Why accepting failure is a necessary part of testing and refining your startup ideas.  The magic formula that catapults your startup ideas into the winner's circle. The deal making research you need to find the ideal investors for your venture. Why an advisory board is a critical rite of passage for your startup. How to recruit the right advisory board without being "salesy." And MUCH MORE. GUEST:Professor Ted Zoller is the Director of the http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/entrepreneurship (Center for Entrepreneurial Studies) and T.W. Lewis Clinical Professor of Strategy and Entrepreneurship in the http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/ (Kenan-Flagler Business School at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill).  The Center is a leading, a nationally-ranked, entrepreneurship program focused on growth venturing and entrepreneurial leadership. He is also President of the United States Association for Small Business and Entrepreneurship, the largest American association of academics and practitioners dedicated exclusively to entrepreneurship.  As a senior fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Ted is engaged in core strategies of the foundation in the area of entrepreneurship, and serves as an active practicing entrepreneur.  Unlike other entrepreneurs, he approaches winning startup ideas from multiple perspectives, as a business professor, as a practicing entrepreneur, as an investor, board member, and founder of three organizations: CommonWeal, OpenRange and Launch Chapel Hill. Ted meshes the theoretical with the practical to provide integrated strategies. It's extremely powerful.   RELATED RESOURCES:http://www.kenan-flagler.unc.edu/faculty/meet-our-faculty/ted-zoller (Contact Ted) and connect with him on https://www.linkedin.com/in/tedzoller (LinkedIn) and https://twitter.com/Ted_Zoller (Twitter). 

Episode Summary Alicia Robb is a senior fellow with the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and the author of A Rising Tide: Financing Strategies for Women-Owned Firms. Alicia talks to us on what it's like to work with the co-founder of Portfolia and the work that she's doing with the Rising Tide Fund. She also said there are many books and resources out there, but you should always get involved with your local startup community to learn from people who are already in the trenches.  Key Takeaways 01:50 - How did Alicia get started? 04:00 - Why did Alicia work for the Federal Reserve Board? 06:15 - Are we currently in a tech bubble? 07:15 - What is it like being a senior fellow at the Kauffman Foundation? 10:00 - Is it easier to get funding today than it was a couple of years ago? 12:00 - Alicia talks about Portfolia. 17:40 - You don't have to give up equity in return for funding. 20:25 - What makes a good pitch?  22:15 - Rising Tide members are located all over the states. 23:30 - It's hard to be an entrepreneur, so you have to have passion. 26:25 - Alicia recommends the Kauffman School for more resources.   27:10 - Get involved with your startup community. 27:50 - What is 1 Million Cups about? Tweetables Passion helps overcome rejection.Show scalability for ROI.1 million cups of coffee is what it takes to be a startup.99 women join forces for Rising Tide Fund. Links Mentioned A Rising Tide by Alicia RobbEwing Marion Kauffman FoundationPortfoliaRisingTideStartup GrindThe Lean Startup by Eric RiesStartup Communities by Brad Feld1 Million CupsAlicia Robb TwitterForbes - Kauffman Want the Transcription? Click Here to Download Share The Show Did you enjoy the show? I'd love it if you subscribed today and left us a 5-star review! Click this link Click on the 'Subscribe' button below the artwork Go to the 'Ratings and Reviews' section Click on 'Write a Review'

Founded in Kansas City by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Global Entrepreneurship Week is the world's largest celebration of the innovators and job creators who launch startups that bring ideas to life, drive economic growth, and expand human welfare. During one week in November, more than eighty events inspire, engage, and connect entrepreneurs across our Kansas City community while connecting them to potential collaborators, mentors, and resources to help them succeed.  On this episode of Smart Companies-KC, host Kelly Scanlon and  Michelle Markey, Vice President of the Kaufman Fast Trac program, reflect on GEW 2015 and discuss what's next for 2016. To hear more shows with host Kelly Scanlon, please visit our archives.   Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Investing in startups is different than other types of alternative investing, with unique challenges and opportunities. In Episode 19 of Accredited Investor Markets Radio, entrepreneurial 'it' girl, Diana Kander, discusses what to look for on both the investment and entrepreneurial side of a start-up. Her discussion with AccreditedInvestorMarkets.com Managing Editor, Alicia Purdy, covers how an angel investor can help or hurt a start-up, how to avoid executing a flawed plan, how to learn and move on from a failure and how identify a perfect match between investor and entrepreneur.   Learn more about Diana Kander here.   Or you can find her here: Twitter: @dianakander LinkedIn Facebook   About Diana Kander   As refugees of the Soviet Union, Diana Kander's family escaped to the US when she was 8-years-old. By the time she was an American citizen, she had perfected her skills as a capitalist – selling flea market goods to grade school classmates at a markup.   Today, Diana is a successful entrepreneur, having founded and sold a number of ventures, a Professor of Entrepreneurship at the University of Missouri and a Senior Fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the largest non-profit in the world dedicated to entrepreneurship and education. A Georgetown-educated attorney who left a successful practice to launch her first company, Diana draws on her experience as a founder, investor, and academic to design and implement curriculum in educational institutions and the private sector.     Diana is the author of All In Startup, a New York Times Bestselling novel outlining lessons for launching successful products through a story of a struggling entrepreneur making his way through the World Series of Poker. 

Entrepreneurship has found its way on to many higher-education campuses as they work to inspire their students and prepare them to thrive in today's economic environment. In fact an organization dedicated to education and entrepreneurship, The Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, launched a program, the Kauffman Campuses Initiative (KCI), to encourage new, interdisciplinary entrepreneurship education programs throughout American colleges and universities. And while not everyone defines entrepreneurship in the exact same way, it does beg the question as to if entrepreneurship must be in one's DNA or if it can in fact be taught. Here to share his thoughts and expertise on this question and many more when it comes to academia and entrepreneurship is the Director of the Institute for Entrepreneurship at Miami University, Brett Smith. Miami University has a long history with entrepreneurship and continues to be one of the leading undergraduate entrepreneurship programs in the U.S

Hudson Institute and Public Citizen presented the recent results of a bipartisan poll asking voters across the country what their opinions are on clearer rules for political activity and the relationship between changing IRS rules and free speech. Pollsters Celinda Lake, of Lake Research Partners, a Democratic polling firm, and Robert Carpenter, of Chesapeake Beach Consulting, a Republican polling firm, presented the poll results. Also joining the panel was John Tyler, General Counsel for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a leading foundation focused on education and entrepreneurship, and Lisa Gilbert, Director of Congress Watch at Public Citizen, a nonprofit that works to ensure all citizens have a voice in the nation's capital. Hudson Institute's William Schambra moderated the discussion.

Hudson Institute and Public Citizen presented the recent results of a bipartisan poll asking voters across the country what their opinions are on clearer rules for political activity and the relationship between changing IRS rules and free speech. Pollsters Celinda Lake, of Lake Research Partners, a Democratic polling firm, and Robert Carpenter, of Chesapeake Beach Consulting, a Republican polling firm, presented the poll results. Also joining the panel was John Tyler, General Counsel for the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, a leading foundation focused on education and entrepreneurship, and Lisa Gilbert, Director of Congress Watch at Public Citizen, a nonprofit that works to ensure all citizens have a voice in the nation's capital. Hudson Institute's William Schambra moderated the discussion.

Leading economics bloggers from around the country were in Kansas City on April 12, 2013, for the fifth annual Economics Bloggers Forum at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation.  That evening, some of them, including UMKC economics and law professor Bill Black and UMKC economics department chair Stephanie Kelton, gathered for what was billed as a coffee house with food, drink, and discussion at a nearby restaurant, one of two such events sponsored by the Jobs Now Coalition and the UMKC Economics Club.   This page and the podcast are produced and maintained by Tell Somebody and may or may not reflect the edition of the show broadcast on the radio. Click on the pod icon above or the .mp3 filename below to listen to the show, or right-click and choose "save target as" to save a copy of the audio file to your computer. You can also subscribe to the podcast, for free, at the iTunes store or your podcast directory. If you have any comments or questions about the show or any problems accessing the files, send an email to: mail@tellsomebody.us  follow Tell Somebody on twitter: @tellsomebody now click here for Tell Somebody on Facebook

What are the current trends in female entrepreneurship? Alicia Robb, senior research fellow at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, discusses recent data on women-owned firms and the challenges and opportunities in expanding this sector.

Host: Indre Viskontas Because we live in an uncertain world, we arm ourselves with facts to gain a sense of control and therefore some modicum of comfort. We know that the sun will rise tomorrow even though it disappears tonight. But what happens when facts, those bits of information that we believed captured some fundamental truth about our world, are shown to be no longer true? With the exponential rise in our knowledge about our universe comes a tsunami of data overturning what we once thought we knew with complete certainty. Are there patterns that emerge from this wasteland of myths that once were accepted facts. One tried and true solution is to apply math to the problem, and network scientist and author Samuel Arbesman has done just that in his recently published book on the Half-life of Facts. Samuel Arbesman is an applied mathematician and network scientist. He is a Senior Scholar at the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and a fellow at the Institute for Quantitative Social Science at Harvard University. In addition, he blogs at Wired.com, and his essays about math and science have appeared in such places as the New York Times, The Atlantic, and the Ideas section of the Boston Globe. Prior to joining the Kauffman Foundation, Arbesman was a research fellow in the Department of Health Care Policy at Harvard Medical School, where he used network science and applied mathematics to study innovation, scientific discovery, and prosocial behavior. He completed a PhD in computational biology at Cornell University in 2008, and earned a BA in computer science and biology at Brandeis University in 2004. He has also coined a new word, named an asteroid, and created an eponymous constant and the Milky Way Transit Authority subway map.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. Friday, December 4 to Saturday, December 5, 2009University of Chicago Law School AuditoriumThis Conference brings together a group of scholars to honor the life and research of Ronald Coase. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Coase's seminal paper on the Federal Communications Commission. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of his paper on "The Problem of Social Cost", and his 100th birthday.The presentations on this occasion cover specific topics on which Coase's work has exerted profound influence, including such areas as telecommunications policy, airline regulation and development, environmental economics, economic development, organization of the firm, and general discussions of the questions of transactions costs and social rationality to which he has contributed so much.The conference web page is at http://iep.gmu.edu/CoaseConference.php.The Conference is being organized by Richard A. Epstein of the University of Chicago, Thomas Hazlett of George Mason University, and Roger Noll and Greg Rosston of Stanford University. These papers shall be published in special issues of the Journal of Law and Economics and the Journal of Legal Studies. The Conference will be held at the University of Chicago Law School on Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5, 2009. The public is invited.The event is sponsored by the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Information Economy Project at George Mason University, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics, the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, and the China Center for Economic Research.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. Friday, December 4 to Saturday, December 5, 2009University of Chicago Law School AuditoriumThis Conference brings together a group of scholars to honor the life and research of Ronald Coase. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Coase's seminal paper on the Federal Communications Commission. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of his paper on "The Problem of Social Cost", and his 100th birthday.The presentations on this occasion cover specific topics on which Coase's work has exerted profound influence, including such areas as telecommunications policy, airline regulation and development, environmental economics, economic development, organization of the firm, and general discussions of the questions of transactions costs and social rationality to which he has contributed so much.The conference web page is at http://iep.gmu.edu/CoaseConference.php.The Conference is being organized by Richard A. Epstein of the University of Chicago, Thomas Hazlett of George Mason University, and Roger Noll and Greg Rosston of Stanford University. These papers shall be published in special issues of the Journal of Law and Economics and the Journal of Legal Studies. The Conference will be held at the University of Chicago Law School on Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5, 2009. The public is invited.The event is sponsored by the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Information Economy Project at George Mason University, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics, the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, and the China Center for Economic Research.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. Friday, December 4 to Saturday, December 5, 2009University of Chicago Law School AuditoriumThis Conference brings together a group of scholars to honor the life and research of Ronald Coase. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Coase's seminal paper on the Federal Communications Commission. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of his paper on "The Problem of Social Cost", and his 100th birthday.The presentations on this occasion cover specific topics on which Coase's work has exerted profound influence, including such areas as telecommunications policy, airline regulation and development, environmental economics, economic development, organization of the firm, and general discussions of the questions of transactions costs and social rationality to which he has contributed so much.The conference web page is at http://iep.gmu.edu/CoaseConference.php.The Conference is being organized by Richard A. Epstein of the University of Chicago, Thomas Hazlett of George Mason University, and Roger Noll and Greg Rosston of Stanford University. These papers shall be published in special issues of the Journal of Law and Economics and the Journal of Legal Studies. The Conference will be held at the University of Chicago Law School on Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5, 2009. The public is invited.The event is sponsored by the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Information Economy Project at George Mason University, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics, the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, and the China Center for Economic Research.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. Friday, December 4 to Saturday, December 5, 2009University of Chicago Law School AuditoriumThis Conference brings together a group of scholars to honor the life and research of Ronald Coase. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Coase's seminal paper on the Federal Communications Commission. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of his paper on "The Problem of Social Cost", and his 100th birthday.The presentations on this occasion cover specific topics on which Coase's work has exerted profound influence, including such areas as telecommunications policy, airline regulation and development, environmental economics, economic development, organization of the firm, and general discussions of the questions of transactions costs and social rationality to which he has contributed so much.The conference web page is at http://iep.gmu.edu/CoaseConference.php.The Conference is being organized by Richard A. Epstein of the University of Chicago, Thomas Hazlett of George Mason University, and Roger Noll and Greg Rosston of Stanford University. These papers shall be published in special issues of the Journal of Law and Economics and the Journal of Legal Studies. The Conference will be held at the University of Chicago Law School on Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5, 2009. The public is invited.The event is sponsored by the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Information Economy Project at George Mason University, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics, the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, and the China Center for Economic Research.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. Friday, December 4 to Saturday, December 5, 2009University of Chicago Law School AuditoriumThis Conference brings together a group of scholars to honor the life and research of Ronald Coase. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Coase's seminal paper on the Federal Communications Commission. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of his paper on "The Problem of Social Cost", and his 100th birthday.The presentations on this occasion cover specific topics on which Coase's work has exerted profound influence, including such areas as telecommunications policy, airline regulation and development, environmental economics, economic development, organization of the firm, and general discussions of the questions of transactions costs and social rationality to which he has contributed so much.The conference web page is at http://iep.gmu.edu/CoaseConference.php.The Conference is being organized by Richard A. Epstein of the University of Chicago, Thomas Hazlett of George Mason University, and Roger Noll and Greg Rosston of Stanford University. These papers shall be published in special issues of the Journal of Law and Economics and the Journal of Legal Studies. The Conference will be held at the University of Chicago Law School on Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5, 2009. The public is invited.The event is sponsored by the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Information Economy Project at George Mason University, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics, the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, and the China Center for Economic Research.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. Friday, December 4 to Saturday, December 5, 2009University of Chicago Law School AuditoriumThis Conference brings together a group of scholars to honor the life and research of Ronald Coase. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Coase's seminal paper on the Federal Communications Commission. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of his paper on "The Problem of Social Cost", and his 100th birthday.The presentations on this occasion cover specific topics on which Coase's work has exerted profound influence, including such areas as telecommunications policy, airline regulation and development, environmental economics, economic development, organization of the firm, and general discussions of the questions of transactions costs and social rationality to which he has contributed so much.The conference web page is at http://iep.gmu.edu/CoaseConference.php.The Conference is being organized by Richard A. Epstein of the University of Chicago, Thomas Hazlett of George Mason University, and Roger Noll and Greg Rosston of Stanford University. These papers shall be published in special issues of the Journal of Law and Economics and the Journal of Legal Studies. The Conference will be held at the University of Chicago Law School on Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5, 2009. The public is invited.The event is sponsored by the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Information Economy Project at George Mason University, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics, the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, and the China Center for Economic Research.

If you experience any technical difficulties with this video or would like to make an accessibility-related request, please send a message to digicomm@uchicago.edu. Friday, December 4 to Saturday, December 5, 2009University of Chicago Law School AuditoriumThis Conference brings together a group of scholars to honor the life and research of Ronald Coase. 2009 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of Coase's seminal paper on the Federal Communications Commission. 2010 marks the 50th anniversary of the publication of his paper on "The Problem of Social Cost", and his 100th birthday.The presentations on this occasion cover specific topics on which Coase's work has exerted profound influence, including such areas as telecommunications policy, airline regulation and development, environmental economics, economic development, organization of the firm, and general discussions of the questions of transactions costs and social rationality to which he has contributed so much.The conference web page is at http://iep.gmu.edu/CoaseConference.php.The Conference is being organized by Richard A. Epstein of the University of Chicago, Thomas Hazlett of George Mason University, and Roger Noll and Greg Rosston of Stanford University. These papers shall be published in special issues of the Journal of Law and Economics and the Journal of Legal Studies. The Conference will be held at the University of Chicago Law School on Friday, December 4, and Saturday, December 5, 2009. The public is invited.The event is sponsored by the John M. Olin Program in Law and Economics at the University of Chicago Law School, the Stanford Institute for Economic Policy Research, the Information Economy Project at George Mason University, the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, the Milton Friedman Institute for Research in Economics, the George J. Stigler Center for the Study of the Economy and the State, and the China Center for Economic Research.

The 2009 Labor Day Message of the Wizard of Ads When I was a boy, I noticed that people often remember things as having been better – or worse – than they really were. I would listen to friends and family and think, “That's not what happened at all. I was there.”Call me jaded, but I came to believe that the average American is mildly self-delusional, forever attempting to sculpt a reality that matches their view of the world. “It is a wonder to see how, when a man greatly desires something and strongly attaches himself to it in his imagination, he has the impression at every moment that whatever he hears and sees argues in favor of that thing.”– Bartolomé de Las Casas (1474-1566)Most people believe, deep in their hearts, that wealthy people are happy and poor people are sad. Am I right? So one day when I was twelve, I looked at my circumstances – broken home, no father, no money, bad neighborhood – and realized that people in the future would assume I had an unhappy childhood. So I looked into a mirror and smiled as I said out loud, “Never let them convince you of it.”Growing up poor gives you marvelous advantages. The people who love you are unable to hand you the things your friends take for granted, so you develop quick resourcefulness and humble audacity. Picking up pop bottles for the return deposit. Auctions. Auto salvages. Garage sales. Odd jobs. Bartering, trading, learning from your mistakes. Resourcefulness and audacity. Priceless. The Anatomy of an Entrepreneur is a recently published study of the personality traits of the founders of 549 high-growth companies. Funded by the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation and conducted by researchers from Duke University, USC and the University of Akron, the study found that 94 percent of those high-growth entrepreneurs came from middle-class, lower-middle-class, or “upper-lower-class” backgrounds. Hah. Told you so. Money, stability, and family connections will help you get into the best fraternities at the best schools. Then, if you're lucky, you can graduate and go to work for someone who had the advantage of growing up on the wrong side of the tracks. “I felt I would live a long, lonely, useless life and die alone and unmissed…This is what happens to the overachieving but essentially useless children of parents who raised their children to do well on tests but failed to equip them with the poison-tipped spurs of true ambition.”– Jon Fasman, The Geographer's Library, p.5Would you like to give your children the poison-tipped spurs of true ambition? Would you like to use your own spurs to climb the slippery mountain of Success? I've spent the past 30 years working exclusively with self-made men and women; rule-breakers, innovators, rocket riders. Several of these have built empires worth tens of millions of dollars. They look like everyone else. But they don't think like everyone else. Want to learn how high-growth entrepreneurs think? https://wizardacademy.org/scripts/prodList.asp?idCategory=264 (Come to our 3-day Bootstrap Business Boot Camp, )Sept. 22-24. We've priced it cheap because you're not rich yet. (We're counting on you remembering the difference we made when you ride your rocket to the sky.) The campus of Wizard Academy has been built entirely through the gifts of grateful alumni. We've never sought or accepted government money or grants from big foundations. This is a family thing. http://mondaymemo.wpengine.com/?ShowMe=Manley4 (And you are family.) We're with you all the way. Roy H. Williams

Opening Remarks Ikhlaq Sidhu, Professor, Industrial Engineering & Operations Research and Director, Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology Shankar Sastry, Dean of the College of Engineering Lesa Mitchell, Vice President, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Session 1: Energy and Technology Moderator: Todd Woody, Senior Editor, Fortune Magazine author of the Green Wombat Blog Oil Independence via Sustainable Mobility Shai Agassi, Founder and CEO, Better Place Thermoelectrics for Efficient Energy Arunava Majumdar, Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley Affordable Zero Energy Home Tom Siebel, Chairman, First Virtual Group

Opening Remarks Ikhlaq Sidhu, Professor, Industrial Engineering & Operations Research and Director, Center for Entrepreneurship & Technology Shankar Sastry, Dean of the College of Engineering Lesa Mitchell, Vice President, Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation Session 1: Energy and Technology Moderator: Todd Woody, Senior Editor, Fortune Magazine author of the Green Wombat Blog Oil Independence via Sustainable Mobility Shai Agassi, Founder and CEO, Better Place Thermoelectrics for Efficient Energy Arunava Majumdar, Professor, Mechanical Engineering and Materials Science and Engineering, University of California, Berkeley Affordable Zero Energy Home Tom Siebel, Chairman, First Virtual Group