Podcasts about venture connectors

Stephanie founded YourChoice Concierge because she is passionate about seeing others succeed. She discovered a major vacuum for supporting successful entrepreneurs and business leaders to balance their professional and personal demands. After analyzing the limitations of basic clerical support, impersonal on-line support and other options she decided it was time to fill this gap by starting YourChoice Concierge. Stephanie knows quality-time and busy-time balance is critical both professionally and personally and offering as-needed work-life balance support can give more individuals the tools they need to be successful and live life their way. She prides herself on excellent customer service and loyalty. Her focus on client relations makes working with YourChoice Concierge a unique and high class experience. Stephanie exudes positivity and enthusiasm for her work and has developed a long track record for exceptional results. Her high-energy level and eager attitude are infectious and a key part of our ongoing success. With over a decade of experience in a high paced corporate environment Stephanie leverages her expertise and experience to help formulate a smooth process of helping individuals find their productivity rhythm and gain hours back to their day. Stephanie is continuously showing her dedication to providing only the highest quality service and shows no signs of slowing down anytime soon! She's spoken at several events, including Venture Connectors and has been featured in numerous publications, including Today's Woman Magazine and Humble Beginning Entrepreneurs. Show Links Website - www.execuity.com Email: linda@execuity.com Facebook - @Execuity Facebook Group - @WealthEmpowermentStateOfMind Instagram - @WeStateOfMind Guest Links Instagram: yourchoice_concierge Facebook: YourChoiceConcierge LinkedIn (personal): Stephanie Heeb LinkedIn (company): YourChoice Concierge Twitter: Your_Concierge_

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

Today’s guest is Zack Pennington. The reason I wanted to have him on the show is because I always admired Zack’s successful involvement in multiple ventures and ability to connect with everyone and anyone. He’s a true master networker and if you know Zack, you know that everyone loves him and companies want him on their team. Zack Pennington recently joined EdjAnalytics, a data science and predictive modeling startup as their Sales Manager. Zack is the founder and CEO of US Chia. Zack helped open Flying Axes, an axe-throwing venue based out of Louisville. Zack is also the co-founder of Herelancer, a local freelancer marketplace. Zack is a Board Member of Venture Connectors, a non-profit connecting members of the entrepreneurial community. Zack is a Facilitator for Startup Weekend, lead guitarist of the band Light Treasons, and loves helping other entrepreneurs achieve their goals. So in today’s episode we cover how Zack is able to manage his time more effectively while being a part of multiple successful ventures, how he became the master of networking and how you can too, and so many more nuggets of value! Zack’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zackpennington/ Zack’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thezackpennington/ Zack’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zackpennington Zack’s Band, Light Treasons: Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/lighttreasons/ Website: http://lighttreasons.com/ Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lighttreasons/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/lighttreasons Edj Analytics Website: https://edjanalytics.com/ Contact Ed Analytics here to get a free consultation for your business: https://edjanalytics.com/contact/ Herelancer: https://www.herelancer.com US Chia: https://www.uschia.com Flying Axes Website: https://flyingaxes.com/ Venture Connectors FB Page: https://www.facebook.com/VentureConnectorsLouisville/ Intro/Outro Music by The Pass: Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/artist/1YZ8Q9yDeYWrCDPFSz3crB SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/the-pass iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/artist/the-pass/354059612 sonaBLAST! Records: http://www.sonablast.com/ Subscribe and leave a review for the Monumental Podcast on iTunes: http://bit.ly/eholladay Subscribe to the podcast and emails from Evan: www.evanholladay.com Follow Evan on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/evanholladay/ Follow Evan on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/EvanHolladay/ Follow Evan on Twitter: https://twitter.com/EvanHolladay

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

We dropped microphones in front of the crowdfunding panel at the Venture Connectors luncheon on March 4 to listen in on the latest developments in this burgeoning space. This podcast is sponsored by OPM Entrepreneurial Services.