Dingman Bootstrapped

Cafés full of cats are uncommon in the United States but are a trend in other countries around the world. This is the quirky story of how a young entrepreneur quit her consulting job to change that and open one of the first five “cat cafés” in the States. Kanchan Singh (UMD ‘12), one of Joe’s former QUEST students joined our show to tell us about how she raised over $35,000 on Kickstarter to fund Washington, DC’s first cat café, Crumbs & Whiskers in Georgetown. Play along as Elana, Joe, Oscar and Kanchan play "Kickstarter or Not?"

This Bootstrapped episode features Angel Investor Sam Medile. Sam is a University of Maryland scholarship football athlete who graduated in 1980. He is a serial entrepreneur in the parking world. Sam's first valet parking company became the nation’s premier provider of hotel parking services with over $200 million per year in sales and 9,000 employees in over 40 plus cities. As an investor, Sam works with startups as well as fully developed companies on their growth, direction and recapitalization. Sam has been an active investor with the Dingman Center Angels for many years. He is passionate about mentoring entrepreneurs and structuring deals. Listen to hear Sam talk about innovations in parking, his tips on investing and his next big idea. Play along with Elana, Joe, Oscar and Sam as they play "Kickstarter or Not?"

In this Boostrapped episode, Oscar Santana, Talk Show Host at the Mike O'Meara Show and current Smith School of Business EMBA student, talks about how he pitched the idea of doing a startup podcast to his professors Elana Fine and Joe Bailey and how it came to fruition.  The special guest is Mark Walsh, serial startup operator and veteran of AOL, who is now leading investments and innovation at the U.S. Small Business Administration (SBA). He will talk about what the federal government can do for startups to prove, validate and scale their businesses. Mark gives some insider tips on the "non-trivial (crappy) government paperwork" needed to get SBIR funding. He'll also cover hot trends in government funding. Finally, find out why Mark thinks pitching a startup is similar to pitching a Hollywood movie script.  Play along as Elana, Joe, Oscar and Mark play "Kickstarter or Not?"