Haley Allgood & Michael Iseman from the Startup Junkie team share their lessons learned and takeaways from visiting South by Southwest in Austin and we discuss launching IdeaFame, an idea sharing platform for innvoators and entrepreneurs to gather customer feedback and win $10,000+ to jump start their idea! We’d also filmed the promo video for IdeaFame staring Michael, and we get an insight into the four alteregos he portraied throughout the week. Big shout out to the professional crew at Elemen...
Mar 27, 2017•41 min
Jeff Charlson, former Walmart VP, and current Bike Rack Brewing Co. CEO joins the Startup Junkie Consulting team as the Senior Entrepreneur in Residence! In this episode we welcome him to the team, talk about his learnings from a career in Fortune 500 companies, get an update on the brewery, and down a couple of delicious beers. Jeff is a rockstar. You can find him at: [email protected] Hosts: [email protected] [email protected]...
Mar 14, 2017•37 min
This episode we welcome Jeff back to the microphone after a brief hiatus, and the conversation couldn’t be confined to one episode, so it’s broken into two. We’re also happy to have Lance Stokes, founder of Lauren James with us for a conversation that covers many topics, including: Lessons learned and planning for the next B2F Square2Square Run, Walk, & (pub)Crawl (30+ miles of running, walking and drinking local beer). What is special about Northwest Arkansas, and building the density and gravi...
Mar 06, 2017•37 min
This episode we welcome Jeff back to the microphone after a brief hiatus, and the conversation couldn’t be confined to one episode, so it’s broken into two. We’re also happy to have Lance Stokes, founder of Lauren James with us for a conversation that covers many topics, including: Lessons learned and planning for the next B2F Square2Square Run, Walk, & (pub)Crawl (30+ miles of running, walking and drinking local beer). What is special about Northwest Arkansas, and building the density and gravi...
Feb 27, 2017•36 min
Our guest this episode is Caroline Gschwend who is the most recent victor of the Congressional App Challenge for District AR 03 with her app "defendUS". She shares her story of a growing interest in computer science, building the winning app, and the tools that she used to win. Check out her App: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YjBe90OEInA Her Tools: http://stackoverflow.com/ http://www.fotor.com/ Caroline is also an active volunteer with the Community Venture Foundation, whose Executive Directo...
Feb 14, 2017•32 min
Rolf Wilkin, founder of Eureka Pizza, Local Trade Partners, and the original RazorBucks joins the podcast to share stories and lessons learned from growing multiple businesses by being opportunistic and sticking to his core values. Rolf see’s opportunity where other’s see risk or potential failure. He is a genius promoter, and remains a student. Some of his book recommendations include: Guerilla Marketing – Jay Levinson The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing – Al Ries & Jack Trout Four Agreements – ...
Feb 07, 2017•49 min
Lifetime entrepreneur, Bill Beyer is our guest this episode. He and his family are building a world-class tea company. Savoy Tea is the third venture that Bill has started, and he’s on his way to creating one of the first billion dollar brands without raising a dollar of capital. Savoy Tea has 3 (soon to be 5), locations where they create a customer-centric atmosphere and serve their house-blended teas. They source tea from tea gardens and family farms all over the world: China, Japan, India, Sr...
Jan 30, 2017•35 min
Eric Hinson, CEO and Founder of Explainify joins us to share his story of building a great culture in a great company. Explainify is a company that can “find the diamond in the haystack” in helping brands clearly understand the value that they deliver to customers – and how to communicate it effectively. Eric is currently publishing his first book from his lessons and experience at Explainify: “Diamond in a Haystack: How to uncover your brand story, rise above the noise, and give your customers ...
Jan 24, 2017•29 min
We are joined by the professionals from SCORE, the Arkansas Small Business and Technology Center, and the regional SBA office to discuss the services available to small businesses around the nation, and particularly in Northwest Arkansas. If you’re interested in reaching out to utilize any of these services, you can reach out to our guests below: Arkansas Small Business and Technology Development Center – Bill Fox [email protected] SCORE NW Arkansas – David Bernstein [email protected] Regio...
Jan 17, 2017•43 min
We are joined by Will Hurst from AT&T as well as the team from Little Bird Systems - Bryon Western, Edgar Cilio, and Jim Lewis. The conversation leads us through an entertaining deep dive on the Internet of Things - both what it is and how it will have an increasing effect on our lives going forward. http://www.littlebirdsystems.com/ Hosts: [email protected] [email protected] Disclosure: We do not own the rights to Skynet :)...
Jan 09, 2017•40 min
James Smith joins us from James + James Furniture, a business that he started in his garage and grew to a nation-wide furniture and logistics company that's currently hiring if you like what you hear: Check out their showroom in Fayetteville or their online show room here: https://carpenterjames.com/ Hosts: [email protected] [email protected]
Jan 02, 2017•28 min
Elise Mitchell is the founder of Mitchell Communications and most recently the author of Leading Through the Turn, which details her story of how a journey mindset can help leaders find success. In this episode, we learn how Elise took her interest and skill set and built it into an international strategic communications firm. We also discuss her brand-new book: Leading Through the Turn, which is available for pre-order and will officially launch January, 2017. Learn more and buy the book here: ...
Dec 19, 2016•46 min
Jeff and Michael dive into the intricacies of Kickstarter, and the recent successful campaign that Michael and his business partner Jay Clark had for FML! The Game. You can find out more about their project by viewing the updates to their campaign, and look for games to be available early 2017. Kickstarter: http://kck.st/2fdIBAL [email protected] Host: [email protected]
Dec 12, 2016•38 min
Jeff is joined by Bob Pelley with Innovacorp, and Darren MacDonald from Cape Breton University. During Global Entrepreneurship Week they set up shop at the Navigate Startup House in Cape Breton - all the way in North Atlantic Canada. In this episode discuss the incredible work that is going on there to build the entrepreneurial ecosystem and share perspective on what it takes to lift up a region. Learn more about their organizations below. Enjoy! www.innovacorp.ca http://navigatestartup.com/...
Dec 07, 2016•32 min
Ashton McCombs and Jeff are both Naval Academy graduates who took a successful plunge into entrepreneurship. In this episode, Ashton shares stories about the path that led he and two colleagues to leave corporate careers and start Phigenics, a smart water management company in 2004. It has been over a decade, and Ashton shares stories, lessons learned and advice to future entrepreneurs. www.phigenics.com Hosts: [email protected] [email protected]...
Nov 14, 2016•33 min
We sit down with Jason and Justin to discuss retail technology and everything that the Skosay team has to offer. These entrepreneurs have been working and innovating in the CPG space for their entire adult lives, and have created a new product that is beginning to gain traction. Find out more at: www.skosay.com Hosts: [email protected] [email protected]
Nov 07, 2016•27 min
In our final episode from the Tinkerfest at the Amazeum with co-host Jon Cadieux we speak with Adam Tobin and Sam Bell from the Chabot Space & Science Center. This conversation covers Adam's two previous toy companies, the museum they run in the bay area, cycling, education, hiring, and even dumpster diving! This is a fun one! Chabot Space & Science Center @ChabotSpace Hosts: [email protected] [email protected]
Oct 31, 2016•22 min
In this episode Jeff is joined by Jon Cadieux and two fantastic guests. First is Carrie Beach, who is a veteran teacher at Washington Junior High in Bentonville. She runs the cardboard construction at the Tinkerfest, and created a Fab Lab in her classroom to help mold the creative minds of the students that she works with every day. At 11:50 we shift to speak with London Kaye who hails from New York City. She got her start making elaborate street art out of yarn, and turned her passion into a pr...
Oct 24, 2016•21 min
With guest host, Jon Cadieux, Jeff talks with Joel Gordon of the Arkansas Innovation Hub, one of the founders of Tinkerfest. He shares stores of makers, maker faires, making, and education. Find out more at: www.arhub.org Hosts: [email protected] [email protected]
Oct 17, 2016•29 min
Our original co-host, Jon Cadieux rejoined the set this week with our guest, Sam Dean of the Scott Family Amazeum. We discuss the incredible children's museum in Northwest Arkansas and some other great initiatives like the Tinkerfest, and the local maker movement in Northwest Arkansas. Discover more here: www.amazeum.org Hosts: [email protected] [email protected]
Oct 11, 2016•23 min
Shannon Bedore joins us this week. We learn about her 20 year career in the retail world, a successful birthing center that she started and sold to a private equity group, and her most recent venture, Sightline Retail. Sightline optimizes the process of selling into major retailers for early stage product companies. Learn more at www.sightlineretail.com Hosts: [email protected] [email protected]
Oct 03, 2016•32 min
We had an on-site visit to Power Technology, Inc. in Little Rock, AR and learned about the new advancements coming in the theater world with the transition from bulbs to lasers. Power Technology has been providing innovative laser solutions for over 40 years - they create military lasers, bioanalytical lasers, and other industrial applications. Find out more: http://www.powertechnology.com/ Host: [email protected]
Sep 19, 2016•25 min
Jeston George has been growing Apptegy for the past three years - what started in his living room is now occupying an entire floor of the Simmons building in Downtown Little Rock with nearly 50 employees. Apptegy is a constant contract tool for any schools and their communities, and their user base is growing rapidly with over 200 districts signed up. To learn more find them at www.apptegy.com or on linkedin: http://tinyurl.com/zkjvhmc Hosts: [email protected] Michael@startupjunki...
Sep 12, 2016•39 min
Arlton has been growing the Made by Few conference over the last five years, and will be holding the event in Northwest Arkansas for the first time on October 26-29. You can find more information about the conference, or register here:https://madebyfew.com/ The Made by Few vimeo account with recaps of former conferences: https://vimeo.com/workwithfew Arlton referenced another podcast that he has found helpful, Burning Questions: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/burning-questions-podcast/id112...
Aug 29, 2016•37 min
This episode was recorded in Cape Breton, Canada at Breton Brewing just before the kickoff of Mentor Camp. www.mentorcamp.ca The first group was the founding team from TrapTap, the world’s simplest traffic indicator, and they were incredibly successful on Kickstarter, raising $370K on Kickstarter and even more on Indiegogo. Find out more: http://traptap.com/ [email protected] April Dunford and Patrick Hankinson who were in town for the Mentor Camp joined to share their experiences. April has bee...
Aug 22, 2016•45 min
Omar Kasim graduated Magna Cum Laude from the Sam M. Walton College of Business in three years. He balanced the decision of starting a restaurant that he had been contemplating launching, or going to Law School. The entrepreneurial track seemed more intriguing, and now one year later he has a successful fusion taco fast-casual restaurant in Fayetteville, AR and plans to expand the brand. The Motivational Speech that Omar mentioned at the end: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GLcJHC9J7l4 http://co...
Aug 15, 2016•50 min
Songcat makes top-notch music production feasible for musicians to access from their home studio. The service matches artists with other talented musicians online, and then produces a radio-ready song for $500. Described as the "Uber for Music Production," Songcat has been experience 2x user and revenue growth each of the last three months. The opportunistic founder team has made four moves across international borders since the inception of this idea in late 2014 living in Ireland. They walk us...
Aug 08, 2016•24 min
Mike Abb, Dr. BowtieTodd Jenkins, and Keaton Smith joined the show to discuss the upcoming Young Professional Summit in Northwest Arkansas - Ignite Your Passion. Conversation started with the background of these young community leaders. It flowed into some details about the upcoming summit, and why it is important to have a strong group of young people engaged in the community, and we discussed how while generational differences can be useful at a macro level, it's unfair to apply them to any in...
Aug 01, 2016•1 hr 4 min
52nd Episode! Released weekly, this means we've lasted an entire year on the air! Pop the champagne? Nah. We went with hard cider from our friends at Black Apple Crossing. This week we were joined by Spencer Jones with LineGard Med, and exciting company that was founded by Spencer under two years ago when he was working as a registered nurse. He saw problems with the status quo in the hospitals he worked in, and started down a road of creating medical devices. It's been over 400 days since he la...
Jul 25, 2016•41 min
Joe Ehrhardt began his banking career in high school, and it has been his area of focus ever since. He combined that passion with his interest and skill in computer science to begin 3E Software, Inc. which has grown into a national software solution company for banks, headquartered in Northwest, AR. Joe Ehrhardt [email protected] http://www.3esoftware.com/ Hosts: [email protected] [email protected]
Jul 18, 2016•34 min
