Podcasts about versame

Welcome back to the Charlotte Angel Connection – the Charlotte Area Podcast linking entrepreneurs, investors, and the broader Charlotte community.  Our goal is to interview the individuals who are building, shaping, and influencing entrepreneurship in the Charlotte region so you can be invested in Charlotte’s growth. We pick up where we left off last week with Niki Chimburg and Natalie Vick – two Venture for America Fellows (www.ventureforamerica.org). Remember in our last episode we learned Niki keep an idea book with more than 175 business ideas stored away and is in the process of starting her first company right here in Charlotte after spending two years with Versame (www.versame.com).  We also learned Natalie landed a great opportunity with a group of VFA fellows by joining Rob Cummings and DealCloud (www.dealcloud.com).  Like Niki, the pursuit of the typical Ivy League investment banking career sounded dreadful and her path lead her to Venture for America – where she will likely one day follow in Niki’s footsteps by starting her own company. In this episode, we continue our interview by learning what Venture for America does to support and develop its fellows, what benefit the companies receive from having fellows for the two-year period, where Natalie and Niki thing they will end up in the entrepreneurship scene and more. Millennials get a bad rap sometimes but I think you’d be hard pressed to not see a bright future for both Niki and Natalie – and after meeting the rest of the fellows here in Charlotte I can assure you that quality runs through the program. When I set out to do this interview, I wasn’t intending on having it be a two part series but it carried on for about 50 minutes.  As such, there isn’t a true set up as I really just picked what I thought was a good stopping and starting point.  So we are going to go straight back into our discussion with Niki and Natalie.

In today’s session, we interviewed two very impressive recent college graduates who are working with startups in Charlotte as part of the Venture for America program (www.ventureforamerica.org). If you are not familiar with Venture for America, be prepared to become educated on this fast growing initiative across the country with a growing presence in Charlotte.  Today you will learn how this impressive set of college graduates are and will continue to shape Charlotte’s future. Niki Chimburg just wrapped up her two year stint with Versame and Natalie Vick is just starting her second year with DealCloud.  I’ve wanted to interview VFA candidates for the last couple of months and Niki and Natalie were gracious enough to join me for what turned out to be a nearly 50 minute recorded session.  Rather than doing an hour long podcast, I’ve broken this down into a two part series with each being under 30 minutes. Niki has always known she wanted to start something.  She’s been collecting ideas for companies and has an ‘idea book’ with over 175 ideas.  Now she’s ready to start using what she learned in her two year internship with Versame (www.versame.com), under the leadership of local entrepreneurs and brothers Jon and Chris Boggiano, to start her own company.  Versame makes wearable technology for early education and is located up in Davidson is great startup with offices in Davidson and Menlo Park, CA (Jon Boggiano was interviewed on Episode 003 of the Charlotte Angel Connection). Natalie, on the other hand, didn’t immediately gravitate towards entrepreneurship but found her path during her time at school.  She’s been with DealCloud (www.dealcloud.com) who is a CRM, deal management and business development for principal investing and M&A professionals.  She’ll eventually strike out on her own too but right now she’s still learning and growing under the guidance of a great, maturing Charlotte startup built by Rob Cummings and Ben Harrison (Rob was Episode 008 on the Charlotte Angel Connection) Things we discussed in today’s podcast: What is the process to become a VFA Fellow? What’s the dinner conversation like when you break the news to your parents that you are going to take the entrepreneurship program through VFA? What were their expectations of working for startups versus what has been the reality? What’s the network of VFA? What are the benefits of the network? What’s up next in the second part of this series?  You’ll have to listen in to find out what their plans are next, how VFA supports the fellows in their own startup ideas, what’s the benefit for the companies they work for, and other questions. Hope you enjoy Part I of this two part series!

Jon Boggiano, Co-Founder of Versame, discusses all things startup in Charlotte and makes a great case for why people should move to Charlotte for their next startup. After starting and selling Everblue - an education platform providing green jobs training for construction and building professionals - Jon and his brother, Chris, went back to school to get their MBA Stanford University. Already armed with entrepreneurial spirits, they moved back to Charlotte with better equipped to launch their next startup - Versame (www.versame.com). Versame launched The Starling - a smart little device that tracks the number of words your child hears and says each day. They also moved back with a sense of what it takes to have a true entrepreneurial system in a community and have been working hard to build such a system in the Lake Norman area, just outside of Charlotte. Listen in to learn more.

Join Allison to meet Jacob, VersaMe's newest intern, who is working with Nolan to code audio files for emotional content.

Jon sits down with Adrienne, a mother of three and huge fan of VersaMe and Starling. Adrienne is spearheading a Starling roadshow starting later this summer.

Meet Richard, one of VersaMe's summer interns.

Jon and Chris Boggiano, two of VersaMe's cofounders, discuss the inspiration behind VersaMe, a startup on a mission to revolutionize early education.