Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 068: Seth Twery, a successful corporate life leads to angel investing and entrepreneurship
A successful corporate career with travel and very good compensation with a well-respected Fortune 500 company comes to an end in 2012 – so an individual can pursue ‘growth.’
What does ‘growth’ even mean as a pursuit? Can you find it in Charlotte? What does it look like?
How about ‘consciously stumbling’ into the very early days of a little parking app in Charlotte, offering a 5 page critique of their software and eventually becoming an early investor as part of the friends and family raise? What happens when that company goes on to become Passport and raises in excess of $40 million from the likes of Bain Capital and chases the opportunity to become the next unicorn in Charlotte?
What happens when pursuit of ‘growth’ leads you to mentoring early stage companies at QC Fintech and several years later you have the opportunity to work with a successful foreign based company looking to establish their US headquarters in Charlotte, not New York or San Francisco or Austin? Tookitaki is a Singapore based company with a very well respected founder, who is the process of completing a funding round and is looking to expand rapidly now.
Tell Seth Twery in 2011 that will be his path – along with some other twists and turns – through 2018 and he’d ask why does it have to be so hard. But he'll readily admit the path he took then looks to be much easier today for those looking to follow in his footsteps.
Along the way, Seth has become an investor in IDEA Fund Partners, gotten very involved in the Charlotte startup scene and is working to increase the number of early stage investors through a series of quarterly events targeted at investors – who like him are craving the opportunity for growth.
Listen to Seth talk about his story today and how it all came together. Listen to what is now a seasoned investment professional who made the leap and talks openly about what from his corporate life was applicable and what he’s learned along the way.
Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 067: Walt Frye Part II, Past Executive Director of Innovate Charlotte
Walt Frye has been a friend of the startup community for the last several years. A little more than 18 months ago, Walt took on a new challenge as the Executive Director of a somewhat stagnant entity – the Charlotte Regional Fund for Entrepreneurship (CRFE).
As you heard last week, Innovate Charlotte has sprung out of CRFE and has a clear vision Walt helped to establish. Listen to Walt continue his thoughts on the Charlotte startup ecosystem - past, present and future - and his time as Executive Director of Innovate Charlotte.
In what I consider to be bad news for the Charlotte ecosystem, Walt has stepped down as the Executive Director – as the news was officially announced Thursday August 16. Few people have the unselfish motivation the ecosystem currently needs, Walt did. The opportunities are great within the ecosystem if it’s allowed to grow naturally (look no further than the recent successful exit of DealCloud). Politics and egos can ruin those opportunities and the young ecosystem if allowed.
Fortunately, Keith Luedeman has agreed to take the reins as the interim director. Keith is well-known in the startup ecosystem. His eagerness to immediately give back after selling GoodMortgage has been a huge benefit already to the Charlotte startup scene. Keith can lead this to the next stage if given the support and opportunity.
He has the credibility to put things in place to support current programs, improve existing infrastructure and create new opportunities. Hopefully everyone gives Keith the space to lead us there as it will mean great things for many aspects of Charlotte - the city and business community included.
Let's support Keith and the next full-time Executive Director to give room for more DealClouds, Passports, Avid's and more.
Walt will continue to do great things. Great people always do. I'm excited about what lies ahead for him!
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 066: Walt Frye, Executive Director of Innovate Charlotte
Last time we spoke to Walt Frye (summer 2017 here) he was working on reinventing the Charlotte Regional Fund for Entrepreneurship (CFRE). Fast forward a year and Walt has made tremendous strides as Innovate Charlotte has become the execution arm for CRFE.
Walt has taken on a job few probably wanted or truly understood since CRFE was initially funded by the Charlotte Chamber of Commerce and the city of Charlotte. As such it's a political juggling job looking to balance the desires of the Chamber and the needs (political and other) of the city - along with other stakeholders. Yet Walt has balanced that well and is in the process of growing a mentoring program through Innovate Charlotte which targets early stage companies in Charlotte (business process, validation stage, Charlotte based, and not too much investment/revenue).
If successful the mentoring program has the opportunity to serve a great role in the city's entrepreneurial space. This mentoring program has been launched through an initiative with MIT - where Walt and several people visited Boston in February 2018 to get trained on the program. Since coming back from Boston, they've a put together a great group of mentors - including two past guest on this podcast (T.J. Eberle and Keith Luedeman). You can listen to T.J (Part I and Part II) and Keith (Part I and Part II).
This is a community effort though. Walt, nor anyone other individual, has the ability create this community by themselves. It takes a concerted effort from current stakeholders who can't be selfish about their intent or with their time, money, and knowledge. It has the potential to be so much bigger than any of them if allowed. As such, a homegrown entrepreneurial ecosystem in Charlotte can support and create many of the things we need as a city - it just needs a chance to find its way without top down control.
Walt has spend a year tackling some of these things and more. I'm glad we have him doing it and look forward to sharing the podcast with you this week and next.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 065: Part II with Robert Reddick, Co-Founder of GateStaff
LinkedIn member 1,434. It goes to show how Robert has been plugged into the startup scene for a long time. Listening to and joining social networks. He visits trade shows and finds value in the conversations that can develop in those discussions.
He's failed in previous startups, he's worked side hustles while working with companies. Essentially, Robert has continued to build knowledge to be ready to build his next startup - Gatestaff.
Yet, when a Venture Capitalist calls his baby ugly he listens and ultimately changes the direction of his company based on the feedback. Does that mean this startup is the success he is looking for? It's hard to say. He's watched and participated. He's seen failure and watched success.
But this team has a focus that seems real. They have three people on the team right now yet Robert mentions 'culture' numerous times in our podcast. Specifically, he says 'the culture of the company is product focused.' Repeating they want to build great products. Let's hope they have that runway.
Robert has value outside of his own startup. He's like any entrepreneur - he's got lots of crazy ideas. Some of them relate back to what Charlotte companies can do to attract startups to the city. His experience and being in the scene give him insight from communities such as San Francisco and reflect Charlotte has a long ways to go to be the open startup community it thinks it wants to become.
Listen to Robert weave these tales and more into part II of our podcast today.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 064: Robert Reddick, Co-Founder of GateStaff
We welcome Robert Reddick to the Charlotte Angel Connection today. Robert is a Co-Founder with GateStaff and has been a part of the Charlotte startup scene for nearly 20 years.
Throughout the next two podcasts, you will learn Robert was one of the first people to sign up on Linkedin (listen in to find out his number and then go try to find yours) and has a passion for seeing entrepreneurship take off in Charlotte. As part of his involvement in the startup scene for the last 20 years - or more - you will hear his opinion on what we can do differently to attract talent and grow the startup scene.
You will also hear the thoughts of a startup founder who is working to thread a tight needle - be early to a new space without being so early that adopters won't jump on the bandwagon. Knowing he's done this act before leads us down the difficult acknowledgement that startups aren't easy and their success isn't guaranteed. But we also get to see the passion of a man who has been building up to this for the last 20 years, or more.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 063: Part II with Scott Pope, Founder of In Scope Ventures
Today we have Scott Pope, founder of In Scope Ventures, back on the Charlotte Angel Connection. As we learned last week, Scott is working to bring a health care angle to the Charlotte startup scene – not necessarily in the traditional pharmaceutical or the medical device space but in medicine as a business.
I attended the first Health Innovators meeting in July 2018 and it was full – standing room only at the back. There is certainly an interest from people in the medical community to support Scott right now, so it will be exciting to see where this Scott and the community can take things over the next 12 to 24 months.
In our discussion today, we covered the following:
Why not move to the triangle where he would have great research institutions and systems in place to support the health care initiative?
Can Premier be the catalyst in Charlotte that HCA was for the Nashville area?
What is the acquisition strategy of Premier right now?
Do you have enough community support at this time to help this thing grow, to put a flag down saying Charlotte can be a hub for health care business innovators?
Does he have to sell this to UNC Charlotte, Davidson, the Charlotte City Council and players?
Can Charlotte attract medical capital at this point in time? Not necessarily from outside of Charlotte, but within in the Charlotte medical community is there an appetite to invest in these types of companies?
Does Scott see himself setting up his own venture fund with a health care focus?
How is Scott earning a living while he pushes this effort through the Charlotte community?
Can Charlotte attract existing companies in the business of health care to move here and grow?
And much more....
Scott’s passion for developing this will take it a long ways. However, he needs support from the Charlotte community to continue to grow this effort.
Stick around next week for our first of two parts with Robert Reddick – long-time member of the Charlotte startup community. Robert launched his first startup back in 2001 – INTV – which was essentially an online video sharing platform. They were a little early to the game and then some little know company called YouTube came along a few years later and made waves. Robert is back with Gatestaff. He’s early on this one too but I don’t think he’s too early. Come back to find out what he’s doing and where he is.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 062: Scott Pope, Founder of In Scope Ventures
Today we have Scott Pope, founder of In Scope Ventures, on the Charlotte Angel Connection. Scott is working to bring a health care angle to the Charlotte startup scene – not necessarily in the traditional pharmaceutical or the medical device space but in medicine as a business. It’s an effort gaining support with some key folks in the Charlotte area and I wanted to bring the concept out to the listeners of the podcast.
In today’s interview we dive straight into what In Scope Ventures is so we can get a better concept of what Scott’s working on. From there, we dive into a host of other areas by touching base on the following questions and more.
Have you looked around and noticed Charlotte doesn’t have a medical school? Add in the fact that we don’t have a great pool of early stage capital to invest into companies and it doesn’t seem like a good mix.
On a serious note, though, is there another city out there to serve as a model for what you are trying to do?
How does your background set you up to do this?
We talked a little bit about your wife? She’s pretty supportive of you right? How much convincing did it take?
What does he need from the Charlotte community in order to help get this off the ground?
And much more.
Next week we continue to dive deeper into the conversation by talking about the health care space and what Scott is doing to bring focus to this growing area in the Charlotte startup scene.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.
Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 061: Part II with Cor Hoekstra, CEO of Amicus Solutions
Today we have Cor Hoekstra joining us for the second part of his podcast. As we learned last week, Cor is the CEO of Amicus Solutions, a local Charlotte startup, who has been through the QC Fintech accelerator program and continues to build momentum.
Last week we got to know Cor and Amicus and he shared with us a little bit of what it's like to be a startup founder. In the discussion, he compared it to falling out of an airplane and chasing a parachute. This week I wanted to dig deeper because the reality is that for at least a little bit there is an initial feeling of 'I'm flying' before you realize you are falling. So how did Cor and his team handle those two different periods?
We also touched base on some of the following:
What is it like to show your kids you are chasing a dream/goal?
How has his wife, Monica, been during the entire process? Hint, she's an entrepreneur too as she is the owner of Absolute Pilates in Phillips Place.
What has prepared him most for being a CEO of a startup?
It's a great overall discussion with Cor as we dig through the personal side of being a startup CEO and what it has been like for him to transition from software sales to CEO of a startup.
Next week we start a two part series with Scott Pope who is working to bring a health care startups to Charlotte. But Scott recognizes we can't compete in the traditional health care world like pharmaceuticals and medical devices. However, we do have very large businesses like Premier, Atrium and others and so Charlotte could very well make a case for health care startups looking to improve the business of medicine. It's an interesting view and he has a background and skill set which very well could pull it off. Listen next week to hear Scott lay out his thoughts.
Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 060: Cor Hoekstra, CEO of Amicus Solutions
Today we have Cor Hoekstra joining us on the podcast. Cor is the CEO of Amicus Solutions, a local Charlotte startup who has been through the QC Fintech accelerator program and continues to build momentum.
Cor and his team got some great news earlier this year which spurred us to having this podcast so we will cover that. In today’s podcast, I want to cover some of the basics of the business as it stands now. We’ll start out with some of the basics of the business – background, idea state, etc. Then we will get into the QC Fintech Accelerator program and his latest round of good news and what that does for the company.
For our next podcast, we will circle back through and talk some about the personal experience of Cor the entrepreneur and Cor the CEO of Amicus. In other words, I’m slowly changing our format here. I hope you enjoy it.
In today’s podcast we cover some of the following:
Can you give us a little background information on what Amicus does?
Based on your LinkedIn profile, you’ve been working on Amicus for almost two years. When did the idea come to you though?
What did your wife (family) say when you told them of the project?
You choose to go through the QC Fintech Accelerator program in Spring 2017. Why and what did you get out of it?
In what likely seemed like an eternity, it wasn’t until late Spring in 2018 that you got some really positive news from the company? Tell us about the Wells Fargo opportunity?
What does it mean for Amicus over the next 6-12 months and beyond?
Have you ‘made it’? If not, what are the next key hurdles for you to clear?
Stick around next week as we dive deeper into the conversation with Cor on both Amicus and his family. It’s worth the wait.
Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 059: Aru Anavekar, Co-Founder and CEO of botsplash, Part II
Today we have Aru Anavekar back joining us on the podcast. As we learned last week, Aru and her husband Ramu Pulipati are the Co-Founders of botsplash – “a software as a service messaging platform aimed at improving communications between consumers and businesses.” We focused mostly on Aru and Ramu and how they got to this point. This week I wanted to focus more on botsplash, the business.
So this week, we wanted to talk more about the business and how it’s developing. We learned last week Ramu is the developer behind the business and Aru is running the business and drumming up new business. Our conversation focused mostly around the following and just like last week Aru does a great job weaving us in and out of what’s going on.
When did they start the business?
In a ‘use case’ how would botsplash work for a business segment?
They did a big pivot in 2017. How did the business start?
What led them to pivot to their new business model?
How are they beginning to use machine learning in the business model?
How did the pilot/alpha users respond to the fact that botsplash was going to change its business model?
How has it been creating a startup in Charlotte?
What is the Charlotte Bots and AI group?
What is the plan for them to raise money from investors for botsplash? How do they intend to tackle that aspect of the business?
What is Collective Hustle and why does it exist?
Several key people have stepped up and served as mentors and advisors to the botsplash. What has that been like and how tight is the network in Charlotte.
What’s the next 12 months look like for Botsplash?
Enjoy today’s podcast.
William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.
Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.
Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under the Securities Act, and a Qualified Purchaser as defined in Section 2(a)(51)(A) under the Company Act or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.