In the last MetroStart podcast, we talked to Cornbread Hemp's Jim Higdon about their ongoing equity crowdfunding round. This week, we talk to Jim again about how they knocked it out of the park - nailing an oversubscribed $107,000 round in just 17 days! Listen to the podcast to learn how they were so successful, even in the middle of the Coronavirus shutdown.   Podcast Transcript (This is machine transcribed, so please forgive the typos.) Alan (00:03): Welcome everyone to the MetroStart podcast. This is Alan Grosheider and I'm here today again with Jim Higdon. Jim is the co founder of Cornbread Hemp ,and it's a first for Metrostart because I'm interviewing Jim for the second time in a row. So it's the first time I've ever interviewed the same person twice right in a row. And there's a good reason for that. In the last podcast we talked about a capital raise that a cornbread hemp was going through and what was the first, because they received $20,000 from Render Capital and they were the first to be accepted into we funders special program with render capital for a discounted rate with we funder and they were doing a capital raise and I won't spoil the surprise but uh, about what happened cause we'll talk about it but Hey Jim. Okay, great to have you back again. And I guess we'll go ahead and say what it is and congratulations because Jim and Cornbread Hemp, they just finished a fund raise on Wefunder and raised the full amount in, what was it, two weeks? Jim (01:20): It was 17 days. Alan (01:24): Wow and in the middle of the coronavirus thing, Jim (01:29): Right in April of 2020. Alan (01:33): Crazy. But it's a, it's a great sign of what's going on with crowdfunding. Crowdfunding. Equity crowd funding is a really good way to raise capital for your company. Even in tough times. Probably an easier way during tough times if it's a product that people like and people can identify with. Um, so quickly, just, just so in case somebody is listening to this podcast and didn't listen to the other one, tell a little bit about what corn bread hemp is. Jim (02:03): Sure. So cornbread hip is a CBD brand based here, Louisville, Kentucky, where the first Kentucky based CBD brand to offer USPA certified organic CBD oils, which is how we kind of got out of the, uh, out of the norm brands and really elevated ourselves to a national level. Um, we've been, uh, we've been offering certified organic CBD products since, uh, the end of last year. Uh, and, um, we had been plotting several different fundraising strategies last year and nothing really clicked. A Louisville is a particular sort of, uh, you know, ecosystem, uh, for capital and fundraising. Um, and so at the beginning of the year we decided to shift gears and pursue a crowd funding strategy. Equity crowd funding was new to me, a learn. Most of my beginning, uh, understanding of crowd was through talking to you and some of these other folks in the Louisville startup community. Um, I was familiar with a Kickstarter and go fund me and Patrion, but none of those are pro, uh, platforms that, that sell equity, uh, in a, in a crowdfunding capacity. Jim (03:16): So understanding the mechanics of what equity crowd funding would look like is something that I had to learn on the fly and we put these pieces together and we were ready to go. Um, in March, uh, we were going to go on another platform and someone in the Louisville startup community, actually, Larry Horn at leap said, told us, Hey, did you know about this matching fund between render and we funder. Um, and we didn't. So we switch gears and replatform I'm really in the Nick of time. Um, and um, it just really set us up for success. Uh, we got that Mmm relationship between render and we funder, um, that we got a discount on the percentage that we funder's going to take on the res. And a render matched our first 20 K. so on our first day out in the, in the raise,

Metro Startup Launcher

Cornbread Hemp’s Big Win with Equity Crowdfunding

Louisville's Cornbread Hemp just scored a local fundraising first. They're the first company to receive Render Capital's $20,000 investment in their WeFunder Match Fund. They're also the first local company to raise funds using Regulation CF equity crowdfunding through WeFunder, one of the nation's top equity crowdfunding portals. Equity crowdfunding is the way of the future for startup companies, and Cornbread Hemp is blazing the trail in the Louisville area. In this episode of the MetroStart podcast, learn: --- how Cornbread hemp got started; --- what they learned about equity crowdfunding; --- the pros and cons of equity crowdfunding; --- pitfalls to avoid; and --- how to make equity crowdfunding successful.  

Louisville’s Cornbread Hemp Scores a Startup Fundraising First

Steven Plappert and two co-founders, Andrew Busa and Chris Pierce, started an online fantasy sports company in 2013 called FantasyHub. The company saw early promise and growth, moved to Austin, TX to join the TechStars accelerator program, and even attracted $1.1 million in investments. However, due to issues in the industry as a whole, FantasyHub eventually shut down and sold parts of their operations to another fantasy sports company called DraftKings. In the world of startup companies, you learn more from being in the game than you ever could from reading any books or even earning an MBA. So, the experience was a fantastic learning opportunity. Steven is now back in Louisville, sharing his experience with our local startup community. He's also back in the game with a new startup called Forecastr. In this episode of the MetroStart podcast, learn how Steven got started as an entrepreneur, how he funded his previous company, and what he has learned from his entrepreneurial journey. Also learn what's happening with his new startup and where they're going.   Transcript (Machine transcribed, so please forgive the typos.) Alan: 00:02 Hey everybody. Welcome to the MetroStart podcast. This is Alan Grosheider. On this podcast I talk to local entrepreneurs about how they got started, about their ups and downs, and about anything else that might help other entrepreneurs. Today I'm talking to Steven Plappert. He started a company a while back called FantasyHub, and he's currently the CFO and in business development for a company called VentureFirst, and is building another startup called forecaster. Hey, Steven. Steven: 00:28 Hey Alan. How's it going? Alan: 00:30 Good. Does that, did I say everything right there? I said, is that accurate? Steven: 00:34 Sorry, I'm, I'm not the CFO of venture first. I'm in the finance department, so I do operate as an outsourced, uh, head of finance or CFO for a lot of our client companies, but not a venture first proper. Alan: 00:46 I got you. Steven: 00:46 Other than that, you've got it perfect. Alan: 00:48 I understand. Did I say Plappert right? You did. You did. All right. Everybody butchers, my last name is pronounced "Gross - Hider", not "Gro - Shider" you know, so I'm used to, so anyway, let's talk about kind of how you got started. I love finding out what people, you know, when people kind of got the entrepreneurial bug. And I'm always interested in finding out what, what got you started at a young age. Were you entrepreneurial as a kid? Steven: 01:19 Yeah, I'd say so. I was definitely entrepreneurial is that give, but I don't think I used that term or knew that I was, if that was, you know, I mean I, I was very curious. Uh, I was always very independent. I was kind of uh, do my own thing kind of guy. And I always asked a lot of questions. So I think at a basic level that's kind of the entrepreneurial mindset, you know, you want to asking questions, solving problems, being kind of a self starter. Um, and actually my father was an entrepreneur and still today as he's owned his own business for the last 20 years, uh, somewhat paradoxical. I didn't really view him as an entrepreneur because again, I would, didn't really have a lot of exposure to that world. So I didn't really see him as a, as a founder, if you will. Steven: 01:59 I just saw him as I just said, hey, you know, I Know Dad dad's got his own thing. Uh, but that's all I really, really thought about. And, uh, when I went into, when I went into college, actually wasn't planning on starting my own business at all. I wasn't even on my radar. Uh, I was always kind of a math nerd growing up and that was always my forte. So when I went into college I was like, well, you know, I'm good at math and I want to make a good money so you know, what's the profession where I could do that? And I looked at, I was actually considering being an actuary as funny as that is to me now,

Louisville Entrepreneur Steven Plappert Back in the Startup Game

People often cite healthcare as an area of expertise that may help propel Louisville, KY to greater startup and business prominence in the United States, and Dr. Angelique Johnson is helping us make that happen. She holds undergraduate degrees in mathematics and in computer engineering, a masters in electrical engineering, and a PhD in electrical engineering. Her doctoral work lead her to the development of technologies that she now applies in her own company called MEMStim. To quote directly from their website: "At MEMStim we produce implantable electrode leads capable of providing targeted electrical stimulation to highly dense and small nerve fiber groups. Using automated Micro Electro Mechanical Systems (MEMS) manufacturing similar to that of the micro-computer chip industry, we create biocompatible electrode leads, which, just like computers, can be made smaller, and do much more than their hand-assembled counterparts." The website also notes that, "We are an early stage startup dedicated to enhancing the full lives of individuals with Parkinson’s tremors, chronic pain, or hearing loss." So, Elon Musk is not the only guy out there creating implants! Learn how Dr. Johnson got started and how she is helping to put Louisville on the high tech healthcare map.  

Louisville Startup is an Implantable Healthcare Pioneer

After years of working in the corporate world, Mo Sloan saw a need. Online ordering systems that were available to restaurants had a glaring problem. They do not integrate with the restaurant's current point-of-sale systems. This causes many restaurants to forego offering any sort of online ordering, even though the demand is very high. Mo set out to create a solution: EZ-Chow. The company found early traction and is growing fast. Entrepreneurs like Mo are a great example of how the "Third Wave" of growth of the Internet is happening. Specifically, people like Mo with industry experience are spotting problems and creating solutions with current technology. Learn how Mo saw the opportunity, how he got started, and where EZ-Chow is headed in this MetroStart podcast interview.  

How This Louisville Company Makes Online Food Ordering Better

What single Louisville company is part of the same fraternity as Airbnb and Dropbox? It's a company called WeatherCheck, and they now are an alumnus of the prestigious Silicon Valley accelerator Y-Combinator. They're the first and only Y-Combinator company to date from Kentucky! Demetrius Gray, Founder of WeatherCheck, and Co-Founder Jermaine Watkins recently returned from their 4-month stint with the accelerator, and it has proven to be an amazing accelerator for their company. In this podcast, I have an in-depth conversation with Demetrius and learned: ◊ more about his background and how he became and entrepreneur, ◊ how WeatherCheck got started and raised early seed capital, ◊ how they got into Y-Combinator, ◊ what they learned from Y-Combinator that can apply to our startup community, and ◊ where they're headed. This is a must-listen podcast for our startup community and aspiring entrepreneurs.   Transcript (This was machine transcribed. Please forgive the typos.) Alan: 00:00:01 Hi everybody. Welcome to the MetroStart podcast. This is Alan Grosheider, and today I'm interviewing Demetrius Gray. He's a founder of WeatherCheck and the first Louisville area company to, I think. right Demetrius, ever get into Y-Combinator? Demetrius: 00:00:18 Yeah, man. The first actually in the state of Kentucky. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. That's, wow. Alan: 00:00:25 That's pretty amazing because that's one of those, if you're an entrepreneur, you've heard of y Combinator and you've heard of Airbnb and I guess Dropbox and some of the big companies that have gone through y Combinator. So congratulations man. That's amazing. Demetrius: 00:00:39 Man. It was, it was a heck of an experience. I mean we, uh, we were out there for like three months and I'm like, I'm just telling you, you know, I'm out there still once a month for about a week at a time and um, it's been really cool to kind of, um, build a little bit of a bridge to the bay area, um, with a heck of a lot of access. Alan: 00:01:02 Yeah. And I think I'm excited because it seems like that access is going to be good for other companies in our area, since you guys are pretty tied into the startup community. And in fact, you know, you and I have, have, have some combined founders and, and you know, I, hopefully it's going to be good for the whole startup community. It's those connections kind of take off. Okay. All right, well why don't we start, let's kind of get an idea about, I like to find out what got somebody started being an entrepreneur and it seems like there's a lot of common common denominators that, you know, got somebody that made somebody want to be an entrepreneur. So I'm just curious, you know, about growing up and what got, what made you want to be an entrepreneur? Would you do, what was your, your childhood like were you an entrepreneur as a kid? Those sorts of things. Demetrius: 00:01:54 Yeah. So, um, so you've heard of the Book Rich Dad, Poor Dad? Yeah, I probably will eventually write a book called Black Dad White Dad. Alan: 00:02:06 Okay. Demetrius: 00:02:08 Um, my mother actually married a, um, petroleum engineer, white guy from, um, uh, central California, um, Stanford educated, um, petroleum engineer. Um, his, his, his father actually had invented the horizontal drill, um, for the oil and gas industry, which really kind of, um, opened my world. And then, um, my, uh, grandmother on that side, um, her father had invented a form of die casting, um, called Granger's. Dot Casting and southern California. And so, um, it was really my first sort of foray into entrepreneurship, having watched to them I'm running oil and gas proliferation company, um, that was eventually sold to Halliburton. Um, then, uh, before that, um, then watching my, my great grandfather Harlow's, um, die casting company, um, pass success simply through generations and eventually be sold. Um, and so, you know, every meal was about sort of like what's going on in the busin...

How Has Y-Combinator Boosted Louisville’s WeatherCheck

  Since the very beginning, MetroStart (formerly Metro Startup Launcher) has worked to make it easier for startup companies in our area to raise capital and get started. With a lot of trial and error, we believe we have figured out a much easier way for startups to raise capital. The same method allows investors to invest smaller amounts and spread their risk, which statistically produces huge returns compared to typical stock market returns. As we have worked to build the audience for MetroStart over the last couple years, we've heard a lot of common themes: ◾ It's REALLY difficult to raise the first $25,000 to $50,000 for startups that need a small amount of cash to get started. ◾ NO ONE wants to be the first investor to help me get my concept off the ground. ◾ After raising my initial chunk of capital (sometimes even hundreds of thousands of dollars), we just can't seem to find any additional investors. ◾ All the serious angel investors say they are tapped out.   And, from the investor side, we've heard similar things: ◾ I don't want to be the first investor on someone's idea. ◾ Come back after you have proven your concept. ◾ Come back after you have traction in the marketplace. ◾ Come back after you're profitable. ◾ I invested $25,000 in a startup one time, and I lost all my money. I'm not doing that again.   Not only does this lack of very early stage capital lead to less startups, this means that the MAJORITY of ideas for companies never get started at all. I'm not saying that ALL ideas deserve to be funded or should even get started. However, there are many great ideas and great companies that never get started and/or eventually fold because they can't raise the capital they need to maintain momentum. From the investor side, it makes sense for us to launch a lot more startups and for investors to invest in a lot more startups. If you download MetroStart's ebook, Little Angels, Big Profits, and look at the information contained in multiple studies of angel investors, there's an important statistic. Angel investors MUST invest in multiple startups in order to be profitable. Here's the stats: ◾ If you invest in one startup company, you're likely to lose all your money. ◾ Invest in 6 or more startups, and you'll probably reach break-even. ◾ Invest in 12 or more startups in a 5 year period, and you'll start to approach a 27% annual return on your investments.   I think this leads to a pretty obvious plan for our area: ◾ Teach startups how to set up their company, file with the SEC, and raise capital in small chunks (as small as $1,000 per investor). ◾ Make it easy for investors to invest small amounts ($1,000 or so) in multiple startups. ◾ Help the best startups get the funding they need to get started and grow. ◾ Help angel investors actually make money over time through DIVERSIFICATION.   What have we learned: After assisting with several local capital raises, we believe we found a formula that works: 1 - Create your company as an LLC so that you can write off all early losses. 2 - Write a short business plan that is polished enough to get investors to write you a check. 3 - Create a SAFE agreement, which investors will sign to invest as little as $1,000 in your company. 4 - Submit a Regulation D 506(b) SEC filing, which allows you to take investments (privately) from any number of accredited investors and up to 35 non-accredited investors per year. 5 - Raise capital from family and friends (including non-accredited). 6 - Switch to a Regulation D 506(c) SEC filing, which allows you to ADVERTISE as much as you want and take investments from accredited investors only. 7 - Advertise on LinkedIn, Facebook, and social media to find investors that have interests in your product or service. So what are we doing to help: 1 - We're in the process of creating an online course that will provide complete step-by-step details on how to perform all the steps above.

How to Make Raising Capital Easier

Patrick Henshaw came to Louisville about 4 months ago to lead the Louisville Entrepreneurship Acceleration Partnership (LEAP) as CEO. If you're part of our entrepreneurial community, you've probably seen him speak at an event or two. You've probably heard some of his vision for the local startup world. However, he probably hasn't had time to talk too much about his background. It's become more and more clear with successful entrepreneurial communities around the country that startup communities are more successful when they are lead by entrepreneurs. Well, when you hear his story, you'll see that Patrick has real, in-the-trenches, entrepreneurial experience, including pitching many, many, many angels before getting his first investment. In this podcast, you'll learn about his entrepreneurial journey and more, including his real life combat experience, which earned him a Bronze Star. You'll also find out what Patrick has learned from 4 months on the job and his thoughts about the growth and success of our startup community. So enjoy the latest MetroStart podcast with Patrick Henshaw. Transcript (machine transcribed, so please forgive the typos) Alan: 00:02 Hey everybody, welcome to the MetroStart podcast. This is Alan Grosheider. And today I'm talking to Patrick Henshaw . He's the CEO that was just brought in about four months ago to run the label entrepreneurship acceleration, partnership or leap. And uh, we've met a number of times that I've seen him speak a number of times at events. And, uh, with this podcast we're going to kind of dig a little deeper into who Patrick is and how he's qualified to help us bring our startup community together and accelerate this startup community. So, Hey Patrick. Patrick: 00:37 Hey Alan. How are you? Alan: 00:39 I'm doing all right. We've, we've already had our discussion about the weather so we can, Patrick: 00:44 right. I'm more impressed not only at the weather but the fact that you knew the entirety of leaping its acronym of Louisville Entrepreneurship acceleration partnership. That's good. Alan: 00:54 Well that's the benefit of being able to sit on my computer while we're having the interview. Cause I'm looking at here at your linkedin profile right now. I love it. I can like bending. You're one of those guys like me that has your whole resume on there. And so now I can really just roll through it and pick, you know, try to find things to ask you about some Patrick: 01:14 that's right. Well, it's been quite the journey with, uh, I think we're up to 20 addresses in 20 years now. So literally and physically been all over the place. Alan: 01:23 I, you know, I was rolling through your resume out here and just thinking, man, um, you know, you're, for one thing, you're younger than me and you've in so many places and done so many different things on there. I don't even know how you were able to keep your head on straight while you're doing awesome. Patrick: 01:40 Supporting spouse Alan: 01:41 Yeah, and married to the same person the whole time. Patrick: 01:45 Yeah, exactly. Alan: 01:46 Yeah, that's, that's amazing itself. So once you kind of start with, um, where you grew up and I always like to try to figure out what things in your childhood made you more entrepreneurial than somebody else now what, where, where'd you grow up? What was your childhood like? And you know, we don't have to get into like anything really traumatic rating. Patrick: 02:10 We can, we can go there too. I'm a, I'm a transfer kind of guy. So I grew up in Houston, Texas, uh, born and raised, uh, moved once my entire life. Uh, one, one of the reasons was because of, uh, our neighbors. Uh, their backyard. Well, I'll fast forward the story because it was full of grass. Uh, I, he marijuana, uh, and that was not as kosher as it was as it is moving into today. So it was, it was not a great neighborhood shop of the day, old bread store, you know, uh,

Want to Know More About Patrick Henshaw, LEAP CEO?

Rebah Wheeling was a successful insurance claims adjuster. One emotional day while meeting with a hurricane victim lead to the founding of her fast growing local company - Schedule It. In this podcast, Rebah talks about the emotional moment that lead her to start her company. Her description of the process of building her company is a MUST-LISTEN for any aspiring entrepreneur in our area and anyone else who would like to see our area prosper with technology startups in the "Third Wave" of the global economy. Learn how she got started, how she got funded, and how she is building a very successful software as a service company right here in the Louisville area.   Transcript (machine transcribed - please forgive the typos) Alan: 00:01 Hey everybody, welcome to the Metro Startup Launcher podcast. This is Alan Grosheider and today I'm talking to Reba wheeling with schedule it and we've known each other for a while, but I think we were introduced originally about Greg Langdon. Right. Rebah: 00:17 I think that everybody gets introduced to somebody else by greg, master connector in the city Alan: 00:24 every time you ever talked to anybody to make a connection Xyz and that's almost, they're always first responses. Have you talked to Greg Langdon and is he. Rebah: 00:36 No, I mean as a volunteer in our city, I don't think he's paid by anybody. I mean what an incredible asset that we have in our community with Greg Langdon. Alan: 00:44 Yeah. He really works tirelessly for without anybody around him and I don't know how he does it, but it is nice to have somebody working that hard for the community and I think our startup community. Yeah, there's been. I think there's been some of the early things with metro startup launch era. I said, what's wrong with our startup community? It wasn't really intended to say there that we have a bad startup community. It, it was just saying what could we do better? And I kind of put it in a way that was a little maybe abrasive to some people, but that got attention. But our startup community is really great, you know, it's so supportive and you know, people like Greg and enterprise court for the size of our city, we really do have a lot going on and start a community now. We just need a few more billion dollar companies that put money back into it. So I just wanted to kind of what I normally do, I don't know if you've listened to any of the metro startup launch your podcast, but a lot of times I just talk to people about their journey getting started as an entrepreneur. Maybe things that you did early in life that led you to become an entrepreneur. Were you somebody that did a lot of entrepreneurial things as a kid? Rebah: 02:04 Um, I grew up in an entrepreneurial family for sure construction businesses, um, you know, and my family's in medical. They're in construction there in restoration on the insurance side, so our dinner conversations were always about profit loss, employee issues, benefits, um, you know, rfps, all those types of things. So I didn't know really that there was another way to be able to live even though I did go to corporate and corporate environment. Alan: 02:43 So when, when you were growing up, were you thinking, I don't ever want to get into all that because I know my daughter, uh, I have always been an entrepreneur and her mom has always been an entrepreneur and a lot of times these days she'll say, that seems too stressful for me. I don't want to get into all to being an entrepreneur. Was that, did you think you would eventually become an entrepreneur? Rebah: 03:07 No, I mean my goal is a little girl was never to grow up and own a technology company for sure. Um, you know, um, when I started out then I really focused on just doing the best at whatever I was doing at that time. I owned my own business at night. Um, I burnt myself out at 23. Then, um, I went to the medical field, uh, took the logical, um, you know, and the more you work,

How to Help Save Lives and Build A Successful Startup

What's the most effective way to raise capital for your startup? How do most companies actually raise capital for their startup in our area? What changes in SEC law have made it easier to reach a lot more investors? What's the best way for YOUR startup to raise capital? In this video and podcast, Alan Grosheider, Director of Metro Startup Launcher, recaps his recent speech at Venture Connectors to discuss all of the above and more. Transcript Below (Machine transcribed, so please forgive the typos.) Hey everybody, it's Alan Grosheider with Metro Startup Launcher in this video and we'll also put it out as a podcast on how to get capital for your startup. I'm recapping a speech that I gave recently to venture connectors and in the speech I talked about what seems to be working and not working for raising capital for your startup in our area and some of the law changes that allow you to be more public about raising capital for your startup and what I would recommend that you do. So first let me ask you if you think it's a good idea to raise capital from lots of small investors to get your company started. Well, let me give you a couple examples of companies that have done that and had been very successful with it. The first I witnessed myself when I was going to college, I would come home in the summertimes and workout at a gym in Southern Indiana and at that gym there was a guy who would walk around asking people to invest in his company and he was asking for five or $10,000 and talked to a guy, another guy one time who was pointing in mountain talking about it and said, this guy's crazy. He walks around the gym every time he's here and he's trying to get people to invest in his company and he thinks he's going to build this big national company and it's going to compete with pizza hut and little caesars and dominoes. So I think you can probably guess who I'm talking about: Papa John. Everybody's heard the story about him selling his Camaro so he could buy an oven and put the oven in his dad's bar and get his company started. But what they haven't heard is he also raised capital from fairly small investors in a number of fairly small investors in the area to get the company started. And of course now he is the first Forbes 400 billionaire in the Louisville area. So the point is small investors can definitely lead to big success. I'll give you another example. My company, it was called ESA1 in 1994. I was 25 years old and I found for investors to put $6,000 each into my company and I started this company that was going to be a nationwide environmental inspection company. We then ended up, I ended up putting an $85,000 on credit cards and I definitely would not recommend that to anybody. But from there we raised $350,000 from 52 to individual investors. And then finally $3,000,000 from a venture capital firm. From there we built the company to include operations in all 50 states with employees in 30 different cities around the country. So again, small investors can definitely lead to big success. So how do you do it? If you want to raise capital for your startup, the classic way I'll call it this, is the way that most companies still raise capital around here and probably the most common way that's raised around the United States. You start with an idea and then you form your corporation and you create a business plan. Then you get your friends and family to invest in. Hopefully you've got some friends and family who are willing to put some money in that. If you're lucky, you find a lead investor and the lead investor knows how to set up all of these things. They set up your help. You set up your Cap Table and your valuation and shareholder agreement. All of the different pieces that you need in order to successfully raise more capital and then the lead investor helps you go out and get more investors. But this can. There's a lot of places this can go wrong,

How to Get Capital for Your Startup

  The "Sharing Economy" has been an amazing driver of wealth and convenience for the world. Companies like Uber, Lyft, and, Airbnb have dramatically changed the way we get from one place to another, stay in one place or another, and get things done. They also have created HUGE company valuations and wealth for investors. Where does Louisville fit into this? Can we get a piece of the pie? Are we actually poised to be a leader in some areas of the sharing economy? Most people these days are familiar with Uber and Airbnb. If you like to travel, they can make your life a whole lot easier, more convenient, and more cost-effective. They have attained recent valuations of $60+ billion and $30+ billion, respectively, and they continue to grow rapidly. But, there's only so many markets and services that will work with these kinds of software-based peer-to-peer plays, right? Actually, I believe the sharing economy will continue to dominate the landscape of great scalable companies for quite a while. I also believe that Louisville can and will make an impact in that arena. I was triggered to write this article by the recent announcement of a $185 million investment in a trucking startup called Convoy. CapitalG, the investment arm of Google's parent company, Alphabet, just led the round. Trucking is a $740 billion per year industry in the U.S. More individuals in the U.S. are employed as truckers than any other occupation, and, the industry is often very inefficient. Many truckers are independent contractors. They rely on various brokers to send them business. Attempting to maximize their profits by efficiently planning trips is a critical function that is sorely in need of automation, artificial intelligence, and overall disruption. That's where companies like Convoy come in. They're "Uberizing" the business of trucking, and CapitalG saw enough potential to bet $185 million on the company. Convey is not even a Silicon Valley company! Imagine that. It's in Seattle, which, granted, is a much more tech advanced community than Louisville, but it does show that companies outside of Silicon Valley are creating major disruptions in the sharing economy. This is where Steve Case's Rise of the Rest philosophy will really kick in. More and more companies in the central parts of the United States will begin to develop these technologies. Why? Because, experience in an industry is where the ideas come from, and a lot of industries besides software tech are located in pockets around the country besides Silicon Valley. I recently posted an article that shows the MOST successful age for an entrepreneur to start a company is 50! It's not 22. It's 50. (By the way, I am exactly 50 years old...just saying...?.) So why is that age successful? It's because the entrepreneur has experience in their industry. They've seen a need for a long time, and they came up with a solution to solve that need. That's a BIG part of the Rise of the Rest Philosophy. Need + Experience + New Technologies = Huge Opportunity! So, how can Louisville be a leader in the sharing economy? For one thing, we need to maximize our strengths. We're a nationwide leader in logistics and healthcare. We're centrally located. We have lots of great universities and industries. Let's look for the entrepreneurs who are coming out of these industries and SUPPORT THEM by investing in their companies and helping them grow in any way possible. So, how are we doing? Are we building any sharing economy companies? Yes we are! Some examples include: Meta Construction Technologies, LLC (http://www.meta-ct.com/) is "transforming the heavy highway industry with innovative software solutions." The company originated in the University of Louisville Entrepreneurship MBA program in 2016, and their first product, BlackTop, is a mobile tracking and dispatch platform that lets asphalt contractors request and track dump trucks. ScheduleIt (https://www.scheduleit.

Can Louisville be a Leader in the Sharing Economy?

Increasing the number of local angel investors has been the goal of Metro Startup Launcher from the very beginning. We've done a lot of blogs, emails, and podcasts, and now we've participated in two different types of crowdfunding campaigns. How's it going? Well, one of the companies just landed an investor/partner that has agreed to invest up to $10 million and is launching one final $300,000 local investor round. Learn more about this final $300,000 angel round!   So what's working and what's not working? If you look at angel investing in our area, here's what's happening: 1. Companies like Edj Analytics, MobileServe, and SentryHealth (formerly Edumedics) are raising millions of dollars in capital. They're raising capital the "classic" way, using a Regulation D 506(b) SEC exemption. Under this type of exemption, you can raise an unlimited amount of capital from accredited investors, up to 35 non-accredited investors per year, and you must only raise capital from people with whom you have an existing relationship. Generally, an accredited investor is defined as a person with an income of $200,000+ or $1,000,000 net worth (excluding the value of their home). You cannot use any form of public advertising. This method of capital raise is still very successful, IF you know the right people. You must find a lead investor to help you set up your capital raise, get all the right paperwork in place, and encourage all of their friends to invest. Typically, they shoot for $25,000+ investments from each investor. 2. One local company, Cuddle Clones (https://cuddleclones.com/), has utilized the Regulation CF exemption for equity crowdfunding. This is a newer method of crowdfunding that allows anyone, accredited investors or non-accredited investors, to invest. It is very similar to Kickstarter in that you can publicly advertise as much as you like; however, you can actually sell equity investments in your company. Investments can be very small, as little as $100 per investor, so just about anyone can afford it. You can raise a maximum of $1,070,000 per year using this exemption. To use this method, you must utilize one of the licensed online equity crowdfunding portals (such as WeFunder, StartEngine, or SeedInvest). They provide great online resources for walking you through the process and for collecting your funds. But, they're not so great at marketing the capital raise for you. You must be prepared to execute a significant marketing effort (and dollars) in order to make this work. Your capital raise also is limited to a set period of time. If you haven't completed your full raise, you're out of luck. Finally, with most of the portals, you cannot access any of your raised funds until the full capital raise has been completed. However, if you perform an amazing marketing campaign for your capital raise, this process can be very effective. Over $100 million has been raised using Regulation CF since it became legal in May 2016. 3. Finally, another local company, Blue222 (https://blue222.com/), has been successful in utilizing the Regulation D 506(c) SEC exemption. The 506(c) exemption allows a company to raise an unlimited amount of capital from an unlimited number of accredited investors only. You can publicly advertise as much as you like. The one caveat is you must prove that each investor in an accredited investor. The great thing about this exemption is that it is easy to set up, and you don't need to go through a licensed portal to collect funds. You can deposit the funds directly into your account and utilize the money immediately. In the first trial run of this method, Blue222 raised $214,000. Blue222 has intentionally chosen to raise capital in small chunks using the 506(c) exemption. Each small chunk of $200,000 to $300,000 is being sold at higher valuations. This allows earlier investors to get more bang for the buck and encourages people to move quickly to get involved.

How to Find Success with Louisville Angel Investing?

Jennifer Williams of Cuddle Clones is making Louisville startup history! Cuddle Clones already made world history by creating the only scalable company that allows you to order online and create a lifelike replica of your pet (https://cuddleclones.com/). Now, they just made Louisville history by becoming the first Louisville area company to sell equity in their company to the general public under the new Regulation CF crowdfunding laws. These laws allow a company like Cuddle Clones to sell equity in their company to ANYONE for as little as $100 minimum investments. This method of startup fundraising is the way of the future. It will help Louisville get more startups started and let a lot more local people share in the profits! INVEST NOW!   Check out my interview with Jennifer and find out: ◊ Where did the idea come from for Cuddle Clones? ◊ How did they get started? ◊ Where did their early funding come from? ◊ How did they decide to use Regulation CF crowdfunding to raise capital, and what's the process like? ◊ What can we do to continue to improve Louisville's startup scene?   Transcript (machine generated, so please forgive the typos): Alan: 00:02 Hey everybody, welcome to the Metro Startup Launcher podcast. This is Alan Grosheider, and today I'm talking to my friend Jennifer Williams. She's the chief cloning officer of the company. She started called cuddle clones and in my opinion, Jennifer's now blazing a trail that will be the way of the future for startup companies to raise capital in the area and said, Hey Jennifer, how are you? Good. So she just started a regulation cf crowdfunding capital raise that allows anybody, not just rich accredited investors to invest as little as $100 bucks in her company. But first let's kind of talk a little bit about what your company is it called. It's called cuddle clones. Tell us what's the. What do you do at cudell clones Jennifer: 00:53 and our flagship product. The cuddle clone is a stuffed animal that's made to look just like your pet. So customers go onto our website, they upload pictures, they tell us all the special characteristics about their pet and make a few choices and in several weeks they get a plush animal that looks just like their pet and has the markings and every other sort of special thing that represents their pet. Alan: 01:19 How did you get it to look? Right? I had to have some that came back and you're just like, what is that? Jennifer: 01:30 Definitely. Um, it took a while. Uh, this business started out of an idea from the University of Louisville Entrepreneurship Mba program and we kind of did a lot of the academic thing, like a business plan and industry analysis. And at the end of the program we said, okay, well, does anyone actually know how to make a stuffed animal? And we're looking at each other like, no. Alan: 01:53 Okay. Jennifer: 01:55 So a good two years from the program until we launch to get the product. Right. So we went through several consultants. Um, we did, we looked at the US, we looked at Vietnam, we looked at uh, other places, uh, ended up in China where we actually own our own workshop now and that's actually a really good competitive advantage for us just because we have full control over the quality and there are employees, so, so that's super nice Alan: 02:31 entrepreneurs, a lot of opinions as to whether you can start a company where you don't necessarily know how to do exactly what you're going to do. And I'm, I've always been of the opinion that the entrepreneur, the person who makes the company work is the person that just pulls everybody together. There. Tom Sawyer that gets everybody on board and convinces them to keep moving in the right direction. And it's, you know, it'd be nice if you are sometimes if you're an expert in the area that you're starting the company, but if you really have a passion for,

Cuddle Clones just made Louisville startup history!

What a week we had recently for local entrepreneurs! I hope you had a chance to attend some of the Kentucky Startup events. With Endeavor's International Selection Panel and Steve Case's Rise of the Rest Tour making Louisville its only return city to date, we have a lot to be proud of. So how do we keep up the momentum? We're collectively doing a lot of great things, but let's see if we can crank it up a notch! At Metro Startup Launcher, we're working on a better way to increase the amount of available capital for local startup companies, spread the risk much more effectively, and help all of our local angel investors make more money (statistically, an AVERAGE of 27% annually). How do we do that? Well, to start we've stumbled into some funding that will help make a huge difference in our area: 1. We've partnered with a group that is creating multiple $500,000 mini-funds that we can access for very early startup capital. 2. The same group also is creating two $100 million funds that will be available for follow-up capital. 3. Finally, we're tying in crowdfunding to allow a lot more local investors to get involved in the whole process. The investment strategy we're using is based on what we've learned over the last couple years of researching multiple studies of successful angel investors throughout the United States. (If you sign up below, we'll send you a short eBook that summarizes the studies.) We're calling this the 1000x Club, and the idea is pretty simple: 1. Build a huge list of potential angel investors in the Louisville area, adding lots of people who currently are not angel investors. 2. Use local pitch groups, angel groups, accelerators, and individuals to screen and recommend startups and/or companies that are further along in the process. 3. Work with our partner funds to provide capital for local companies. 4. Allow lots of local angel investors to piggy-back on the fund investments using the new equity crowdfunding mechanisms that were promoted by Steve Case and made legal under the JOBS Act, allowing smaller investments from any investor (accredited or non-accredited). 5. Encourage more local investors to invest small amounts ($100 to $5,000) in 10 to 12 startups every year. 6. Help a higher volume of startups raise their first $25,000 to $100,000 and get started. 7. Get enough people involved that we can quickly raise $1 million (1000 x $1,000) for any local startup that has proven itself. Why is this important? 1. We need to keep companies here. Rubicon Global is a great Louisville startup success story, but they moved to Atlanta for a $1 million investment. Now it's a $1 billion valuation company. Wouldn't it be nice if they had stayed in Louisville? 2. Lots of startups need a small amount of funding to get started. These days, $25,000 can be enough capital for an online business to at least prove an interest in their concept. The more of these we produce, the more we can build the next Rubicon or Airbnb right here in Louisville. 3. Statistically, investors who invest in 12 or more companies in 5 years AVERAGE a 27% annual return! Wouldn't it be nice to invest small amounts in a way that statistically produces great results, spreads the risk out to a lot more people, AND helps produce great companies and jobs in our area? So, I'm asking for your help in one or more of these ways: 1. Become a potential 1000x Club "micro-investor." 2. Help to screen and review startups for the club (in exchange for equity). 3. Help to get the word out to your friends to join the 1000x Club. All you have to do to join is sign up below, and I'll send you more information as we progress. Thank you! Photo Credit: https://www.flickr.com/photos/ges2016/27866935085 #mc_embed_signup{background:#fff; clear:left; font:14px Helvetica,Arial,sans-serif; } /* Add your own MailChimp form style overrides in your site stylesheet or in this style block. We recommend moving this block and the prec...

How to Boost Louisville’s Rise of the Rest Momentum

Alli Truttmann just celebrated a HUGE milestone for any business: the 10-year anniversary of her company, Wicked Sheets. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20% of businesses fail in their 1st year, about 50% of small businesses fail by their 5th year, and only 30% survive over 10. And things are really starting to heat up now with her upcoming appearance in front of an audience of 96 million on QVC! Alli has been interviewed for a lot of Louisville area publications, but as she mentioned during our talk, she's never been interviewed about how she got her funding to get started, what it takes to be an entrepreneur, and what she would have done differently. Since our mission at Metro Startup Launcher is increasing the number of local "micro-angel" investors and helping more startup companies get their early funding, we really enjoy learning how our amazing local entrepreneurs made it happen and getting to know them a little better. So, enjoy our podcast interview with Alli Truttmann. Transcript (machine transcribed, so please forgive the typos!) Alan: 00:03 Hi everybody, welcome to the Metro Startup Launcher podcast. I'm Alan Grosheider, and today I'm talking to my friend Allie Truttman. She's the founder and ceo of Wicked Sheets. Hey Alli. How's it going? Alli: 00:19 Great. Thanks so much for having me on today. Alan: 00:22 Yeah, we finally got on after a month of you blow me off so I know you, but Alli: 00:29 when we delve into what the, the things I've been through the past couple of months, I think you'll understand why it's been hard to get me on the phone. Alan: 00:36 I know you've had a lot of stuff going on. I'm totally kidding and I will. We'll definitely get into talking about all the stuff with in China and it's. I know you've been super busy so I'm totally kidding. So what I would try to accomplish on the podcast, just you, you know, a little bit about metro startup launcher and our primary focus has sort of morphed into really being focused on trying to figure out how to get more angel investors in our area, investing in startups and then helping startups utilize that and hopefully crowd funding to, to get a lot more startups started. So in talking to you and other successful entrepreneurs, I just really want to get a lot more information about how you became an entrepreneur, how you got started, what triggered you to want to be an entrepreneur and uh, you know, advice that you would have for other entrepreneurs and maybe mistakes you made that you could help somebody else avoid. Alli: 01:34 They're absolutely. If you, if you don't mind, I'll go ahead and take that one question and say, how did you become an entrepreneur and getting into the business world? I actually, if you ask my parents, I actually was designing what I didn't realize were small businesses when I was really young. So, um, I, I fashioned myself and inventor of sorts, not in the very technical science realm, but, you know, there were always things that when I was younger I would notice and I would say it would be so much better if, you know, for instance, OK, before the radio would tell you what the song was or who sang it, I, I, my mom said I was like six or seven years old. And I was like, if only your radio would tell me who sings a song or what the words are that I'd be a better singer. Alli: 02:20 And then everybody laughed and then we sold painted rocks in our neighborhood. And um, my favorite was like a double toasted tostito that we took chips and we, um, we basically flame broil them over scented candles and sold them to people as flavored to Tostito. And I mean, I know it was a great idea really. And uh, you know, and thankfully my first co-founder was my next door neighbor and he and I, he was, he actually grew up to be an actuary and he was always the numbers guy. And I was always a salesperson, so I didn't realize from even that early on that I was becoming,

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