Charlotte Angel Connection

  Today, we have Jarod Latch and Tim Baier joining us on the podcast.  Jarod and Tim are co-founders of Spiracle Media – a video content agency working with businesses to craft a better story to share. Jarod and Tim started Spiracle Media in 2011 while still working at different local news stations. They lived in a house together with a couple of other guys – Funday Monday was not a welcome addition to their neighborhood.  It took time living together but they finally came to a decision to start what is now Spiracle Media. Not surprisingly, the business started off with a different idea/concept.  It wasn’t until a surprise meeting with an existing client – listen for the story about a birthday cake– that the company turned into what it is today.  Tim and Jarod talk about several tough conversations they had to have as the conversation continued to grow. Tim also shares his first startup – a failure – and what it taught him. Jarod further expanded on the discussion as we learn his position was eliminated b

Today, we have Jason Tuttle joining us on the podcast.  Jason is a Principal and a co-founder of Nova Capital Partners – a local real estate investment firm. Jason is a different guest for us. At Nova Capital Partners, they’ve spent the last 8 years (2011 – 2019) identifying under-appreciated real estate in the Carolina’s and raising money from investors to purchase each property - in a special purpose vehicle (SPV) type entity. After successfully doing it over 11 properties and continually providing income to investors, Jason and his business partner, Andy English, made the decision late last year to raise a real estate investment fund to allow them to make purchases as they arise without the constant need to fundraise.  They expect to close the fund in the next several weeks.  However, it will have an annual opening of which they will take new investor money. I’ve known Jason for 5 years now and have been constantly intrigued by their business model.  They aren’t interested in the glamorous real estate p

Today, we have David Stunja joining us on the podcast. David is the COO of Petscreening.com which recently completed a Seed Round led by Grotech Ventures. Many of you know David, but for those that don’t he took the corporate America route before he joined Petscreening.com. David spent most of his career in Washington, DC before relocating to Charlotte and was a VP of Corporate Strategy for Bank of America. All along, he knew he wanted to work with a fast-growing startup company. He just had to find the right one for him. To aid in his search, he starting writing stories on Charlotte Area starts for Start Charlotte (now Charlotte Inno), for which he has authored sixty articles. David’s involvement in the start-up scene through Start Charlotte, and his passion about using technology to turn innovative ideas into sellable products and connecting like-minded people, lead him to PetScreening.com, and in 2018, David joined the company as its COO. PetScreening.com was started by John Bradford in 2016. PetScreen

Today our guests are Evan Rozantes and Chris Heivly.   By the end of the podcast, you will clearly understand their passion and the importance of building a strong innovation ecosystem in the Charlotte and Raleigh areas. Chris Heivly began his career in DC, then Lancaster, PA then Chicago and moved to the Raleigh/Durham area in 2005. Chris is an entrepreneur (MapQuest Co-Founder), early-stage investor and now serial startup community builder. He’s spent time building up the ecosystem in Raleigh/Durham as well as other cities and joined up with Techstars in 2017 to continue that mission on a global basis. In that role, he is an Entrepreneur in Residence as well as a VP of Innovation. His passion is to help other communities grow their start-up scene, not just in North Carolina but around the World. Evan Charles Rozantes started his career in Boston working in Private Equity at Bain Capital prior to moving to DC to work in private equity and distressed lending at Capital Source Finance. In 2006 he got the ent

Today we welcome Will McGuire and Mark Easley to the Podcast.  Will and Mark are building CrowdfundNC – an investment crowdfunding ecosystem in North Carolina.  North Carolina is one of 38 states who have enacted legislation allowing for anyone to become an angel investor. Will McGuire has been an investment crowdfunding investor and advisor since 2016.  Mark Easley has been an active advocate, advisor, and investor in the investment crowdfunding space since 2012. Mark was the leader of the NC PACES Act Team which was recently honored with the 2017 WRAL Techwire Editor’s Choice Award for their work in getting the NC PACES investment crowdfunding law passed.  Will was introduced to Mark by Lewis Sheats knowing they were both interested in helping grow the NC Investment Crowdfunding space.  Over the last year or more, the two of them have been building relationships and talking with startups and local businesses aiming to raise capital to grow their companies while providing returns for investors who support

Tyson Baber went to college at the University of North Carolina.  Early in his career he worked for IBM as an M&A Business Development Executive.  In 2014, he relocated to Toronto and became a Partner at Georgian Partners. Georgian Partners is a growth-stage fund focused on companies who provide unique business value through machine learning and artificial intelligence applied to unique data. Tyson loves helping companies navigate through the growth stage and making them more valuable. In today’s podcast, we talk about GDPR and how it will be enforced in the US.  Tyson discusses the importance of building trust with his clients.  We also discuss how start-ups can best compete with the “giants” in AI. We discuss the “Uber effect”, and what drives business valuations in different parts of the US.  Georgian Partners looks for companies outside of the Tech Industries.  They look for the “Aces in the deck”, which they found here in Charlotte with Stratifyd and PrecisionLender. You won’t want to miss this podca

Greg Brown is the President of Cardinal Finance, LLC, and Administrator at Charlotte Angel Fund.  Mark McDowell is a Partner at RealVentures, Co-Founder at Acta Wireless Capital and Chairman at LaunchLKN. LaunchLKN is a collaborative community of entrepreneurs, mentors, and community leaders dedicated to sharing knowledge and motivating growth in the Lake Norman/Davidson area startup community. Earlier this year, Greg Brown made the decision to host a second monthly meeting of Charlotte Angel Fund up in the Lake Norman area (at The Hurt Hub at Davidson).  This second monthly meeting (which will be the second Tuesday of every month) will host the same three entrepreneurs who will pitch to the Charlotte Angel Fund the following night (the traditional meeting for the Charlotte Angel Fund is the second Wednesday of every month at Packard Place). Mark McDowell and several other Lake Norman area members of the Charlotte Angel Fund were instrumental in getting Greg to take this step.  In today's podcast, we wanted

AJ Ratani grew up in Dubai and came to America to attend college in Arkansas. His first experience in the US was flying in a propeller plane and seeing a lot of green as he landed in Arkansas – something new to someone living in a desert.  After his college years in Arkansas and Florida, he began his career with a company in Virginia, but he was not satisfied. He wanted a position that would offer him opportunity and growth.  In 2005, pursuing a Monster.com lead, he was “lucky” and was offered a job in Charlotte with a start-up firm, Red Ventures.  He started as a software engineer and grew within the organization to run Red Ventures' largest and fastest growing businesses. We discuss the opportunities and challenges in working with a start-up company of 25, growing to a large world-wide corporation of 3,000.   We also discuss what to look for when hiring, changes in the work environment, and the advantages and disadvantages of growth. In 2017, AJ left Red Ventures, and along with his wife and child, embar

Keith Luedeman is the Executive Director for Innovate Charlotte and a name you’ve heard a lot of over the last 12 months (if not before as he also was the founder of GoodMortgage.com). When Keith and I sat down to this interview I told him I had a very simple concept for it. In our interview last spring, he indicated he wanted to take a year to get his feet wet before he committed to making investments or being overly active.  I wanted to cover what the past year has been like now that he has had his chance to get acclimated and also get a sense of where things are heading. The first part of this podcast focuses a lot on Innovate Charlotte and where it is today and turns to look toward the future.  The MIT Mentoring program was launched under Walt Frye and it is having great success.  They are working to match entrepreneurs with mentors to help launch startups.  As we hear, Innovate Charlotte is actively looking for mentors and founders and Keith does an excellent job talking about what they are looking for

Brian Pope is a Managing Direct for Barings Alternative Investments. Barings is a name you have heard more from over the last couple of years here in Charlotte. They have hosted the 1st and 2nd Southeast Fintech Venture Conference on the 26th Floor of the Barings building in downtown Charlotte. They have also been active in the community from a community service perspective. We are also seeing Barings more frequently in the business press as their employees are great resources for the local and national media. Click here to listen. All of that is great for Charlotte and Barings. We are fortunate to have them in Charlotte. Today, though, I sat down with Brian to explore the alternative investment landscape from his perspective. We talk at length about the private equity, venture capital and growth equity markets which is an active private investment space where Brian spends his time. He takes a long-term professional approach on how to invest in these asset classes. Listening to him discuss the nuances of t

Emir Dukic purchased a home with a detached garage. He wanted a man cave but his wife thought differently. Naturally, the man cave lost and as a result the seed for Rabbu was born. The alternative was to rent it out through Airbnb and it didn't take long for them to realize the power of Airbnb and passive income. The room above their garage was essentially paying their mortgage. Rather than purchasing new properties, they negotiated with existing property owners to rent their property and turn them into Airbnb rentals as well - essentially collecting a rent arbitrage through short-term rentals. Two things became apparent: (1) it was a highly profitable business model and (2) it was taking a lot of work. Having worked with Mac Lackey at Kyck, Emir knew he needed technology to scale the business so he formally brought on his co-founder, James Strong who also worked at Kyck, and the tech and development efforts have gone full steam ahead since then. Fast-forward and they are fresh off raising $1.5

Today we share Sam Smith’s story.  Sam came to our first Charlotte Angel Connection event last February (where we first met) and has been back to each one since. She has a thirst to be part of and leading the Charlotte entrepreneurial scene.  It’s led her to start Vishion, Collective Hustle and put on the 1st Seed the South event in January 2019.  All three are great getting great traction and we're excited to see them grow and the impact they will have on Charlotte! Vishion is her startup. It’s the only mobile app that uses a product’s true color data, fashion trend and user preferences to help shoppers find the ideal color. The concept came to her after her own frustrating experience after falling in love with the blackspash in the bar at Kindred on a date night with her husband. Sam’s the type of person who once she latched onto her idea, she just never let go. Collective Hustle is a Charlotte investor and startup coalition looking to improve the Queen City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.  She started it la

Today on the Charlotte Angel Connection, we are fortunate to have Bill D'Alessandro join us. Bill is the founder and CEO of Elements Brands which is a consumer products company he started while he was in Colorado and brought back to Charlotte to grow and evolve. Bill wants to make Elements Brands the home for consumer products companies. By 2025, Elements Brands wants to be in a place where they are doing 12 acquisitions per year. By 2050, they want to be the Proctor and Gamble of consumer product businesses. Those aren't small goals. And Bill isn't going to back down from them. Bill raised money in 2016 when he made the decision to go for it and really work to growing to a large company.  He used a great quote from a friend of his when talking about his decision - "you can only coast downhill."  He raised money from a small group of 5 investors who also serve on his board.  He didn't want to raise institutional capital because of the typical demands that comes with that type of money.  Instead Bill - not

While working together at Falfurrias Capital, Rob Cummings and Ben Harrison experienced a need for vertically-focused software for the deal making industry.  What ensued was an 8-year growth story that achieved a significant milestone when DealCloud was sold to Intapp, Inc. in August 2018.  Make no mistake, DealCloud is still growing at a rapid pace and is a critical component to the Intapp growth story.  But for Rob and Ben, getting to an exit event capped an incredible run together from when they started as a 2-man operation inside of a “closet” at Packard Place. Now that the company has been sold – making legends out of Ben and Rob in Charlotte’s still young startup scene – I wanted to sit down and talk with Ben and Rob about their experience.  Sure AvidXchange and Red Ventures and even Lending Tree have made it big but DealCloud signals new times for Charlotte’s entrepreneurs. This feels different.  It was a homegrown team who raised money through multiple rounds and sold the business at life changing t

Ride the Scooter in the Rain - it's a a core value of Skipper. It also serves to remind CEO/Founder Meggie Williams of where the business started. Early on in the business she took a scooter to walk the dogs. Inevitably some days it rained. It's a way for her to remember who she and who the company is. Skipper is after the trust of the Trust of the clients. It's something you won't question or doubt after listening to Meggie's interview today. Sebastian Williams - or as she refers to her husband, Seb - and Meggie have been on a wild ride since they first met in college. Back then they were working as a team for Senior Class President at UNC Chapel Hill and really haven't stopped working together since then. Their skills complement each other well and they have an ability to put work at the door step before going home every night. Their partnership has taken them from Chapel Hill to NYC, backpacking around the world on a shoe string budget, to Charlotte, down to Austin for the Techstars incubator program (w

Mac Lackey is a Charlotte kid.  He grew up here, returned after playing soccer in college and professionally to start his career.  He started his first businesses and began raising his family here. Ultimately, he decided to return here after spending several years overseas. He’s returned to a startup ecosystem vastly different than the one he left.  And he is in the middle of it through his work mentoring companies, leading the VentureSouth efforts here in Charlotte and being an active speaker at startup and investor focused events. Listen to our podcast with Mac today as we explore his first startup in the late 90s and expand all the way through his latest venture with Kyck.  We dive deep into Internet Soccer (Mac’s 3rd) startup to explore how he was able to sell an internet company with little money left in the bank to a European company. Listen to which company Mac would like to have back and why.  And found out what some of Mac’s key guidance is to founders as they look to build their own startups here

QC Fintech Class 9 is getting ready for its demo day which coincides with the Southeast Fintech Venture Conference on November 14.  In preparation, we had the opportunity to talk with three different founders companies who are part of Class 9: iTrust – (www.itrustinc.com) -  Trevor Horwitz Mimble (www.mimble.co) – Chad Huber AMUS (www.askmyunclesam.com) – Busayo Ogunsanya After getting to know each of the companies and their founders on the podcast, we dive into the topic of what allows them to come back to Charlotte in 5 years and celebrate their success as entrepreneurs.  After all, every startup city is littered with great ideas which never gained traction, found investors or made it through the difficult path of success. We also dive into the discussion of investors.  What’s it like to talk with investors as young companies and how soon is too soon to start the discussion. One interesting topic we discuss is what success means for each founder. Is an IPO the only way to go for these founders or is t

SignUp Genius was born out of the frustrations of a couple, Dan and Angel Rutledge, who were struggling with the same tasks we labor through every week as parents and volunteers – coordinating who does what and when.  It was born in 2008 – the worst economic period we’ve had in at least 30 years – in a growing southern city not known for its entrepreneurial grit, Charlotte. Dan had been recruited to Charlotte to work with an entrepreneur (Michael Vadini) to build an entertainment company and a website design/implementation company.  Angel is a former middle school English teacher and a mother of four who stepped in to help Dan in 2011. At that time, Dan just needed help with hiring and extra help on marketing.  A little more than a year later, SignUp Genius was growing by over 40% per week during October 2012. Coming out of that period of strong growth, they realized they had something important to the world and valuable as a company.  It wasn’t until 2016, however, when Dan and Angel, and Michael Vadini (

"Start with Why". Something Michelle Buelow clearly had done helped propel Bella Tunno to the next stage several years ago. But reading the book and using it to define the following year of the business (she chooses a book every year to help frame the next 12 months) was just another step in Michelle's evolution from passion, to entrepreneur, to CEO. Michelle has a clear vision of who she is and what Bella Tunno has become and is still becoming.  She's learned to manage and measure the business.  She speaks of margins and expenses in a product based world with extreme confidence.  She delegates out things she's willing to accept aren't her strengths. In what other ways has Michelle grown to become who she is today and what resources have allowed her to do that?  We discuss it in today's podcast? Does it need capital to grow? Of course she is aware of that. But what is the cost and the opportunity? I thought the exit would be the hardest part for her - knowing capital would all but guarantee she'd eventual

Today we welcome Michelle Buelow, Founder and CEO of Bella Tunno. Over the last decade, Michelle's success and the success of Bella Tunno has helped deliver nearly 1.6 million meals to the hungry as part of their buy one product, give one meal program. She's also raked in numerous personal accolades including EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women in 2009.  The path she carved wasn't one she chose yet she's embraced it and created a legacy in the process. Today, we learn Michelle: Moved to Charlotte (with her boyfriend, Todd Buelow - way out of his league but that's another podcast). Found a job she loved and traveled the world. Got married (yes, to Todd) and got pregnant. Lost her brother to addiction. Quit her job and started sewing cute baby gear to raise money to finish her brother’s doctorate research project. Started her business - Bella Tunno - making children's accessories with a core focus on philanthropy. Pitched her products to 11 Charlotte area stores in a day with her baby in tow and had 10 say