Charlotte Angel Connection

Today, we welcome Chris Langford, a Partner at IDEA Fund Partners, to the podcast.  Chris has been active in the Charlotte startup scene since at least 2015 when I joined the Charlotte Angel Fund.  His education events, support of local founders, and availability to the ecosystem at large has been helpful getting the Charlotte startup community to where it is today. In this podcast, we wanted to learn more about Chris and how he ended up being in Venture Capital.  Chris has a great story of the journey he has taken and what he has learned along the way. He shares that information readily with local founders and investors too. Chris now leads the Charlotte office for IDEA Fund partners.  IDEA Fund Partners is one of the oldest and most active early-stage investment firms in the Southeast, their investment philosophy has been honed from years of experience.  They invest in entrepreneurs who are applying technology and business model innovations to industries in the earliest stages of digital disruption with a

    Today we welcome Daniel Gouldman, CEO and Co-Founder of Ternio, to the podcast. Daniel is a big picture CEO who has the skillset to get down into details and who very much understands where his business is and where they are going to take it. Ternio is a global fintech platform built on blockchain. Their global banking platform, BlockCard, is fundamentally changing the way people interact with their money. The BlockCard, currently live in the United States, allows customers frictionless use of their cryptocurrencies in their account - connected to a Visa card. Ternio is a Visa Fast Track Partner and Daniel explains what that means. In the discussion we hit on a couple different area of interest. A natural place for us to land is diving into raising money. Daniel shares the importance of Ternio going to the marketplace to raise money. Not since Will McGuire’s podcast have we gotten a dose of the different types of private offerings but Daniel explains Regulation CF verses Regulation A offering. Dani

Happy 2021! On today's podcast, we have John Dillard, founder and CEO of Threatswitch, joining us.  In addition to John, we brought Paul Clark from VentureSouth as they have been an investor in Threatswitch for the last couple of years. As you'll hear John discuss, they just closed a $1.7 million capital raise in late 2020 and VentureSouth - in the middle of the global pandemic. "Threatswitch is transforming the way security and compliance teams work on security. They make it easier to comply with strict regulations by radically simplifying and automating high volume, data intensive and administrative tasks." We kick of this podcast talking with John about the 'art of raising capital.'  There isn't a right way to raise capital - one could certainly argue there are some wrong ways - and John talks about how he views it.  It's this early in the podcast you get a sense of who John is and how he has been able to grow Threatswitch. Throughout the podcast, we 'check in' with Paul to get his thoughts on the pro

On today's podcast, we are fortunate to have Bianca L. Padilla and Jonathan Magolnick, co-founders of Carewell.  Carewell is a Charlotte-based, family-led ecommerce company with a mission to improve the lives of caregivers and their loved ones. Their story began with one goal: to find a way to provide better care for loved ones through easy, personalized service. Carewell’s story began in 2015, when its founders were among the 20% of Americans who act as informal caregivers. They were unable to find the guidance and selection they needed in one place.  Knowing the impact it could have, they formed Carewell to be a source of support for independent caregivers.  Their goal is to provide proactive service, compelling content, and expert-vetted products - you'll hear this in their voice and stories throughout the podcast. Bianca and Jonathan share their story about the learning curves of starting a company, the importance of customer care, and training.  We also speak about the variety of products, and working

  Trent Hawthorne, COO at Rabbu, joins us on the podcast today. Trent is a Charlotte native, and he thinks of himself as a builder, who always wanted to be an entrepreneur.  Early in his career he worked for Kyck because he knew he wanted to start his own startup one day and was looking to learn while doing it with another company.  Kyck's founder, Mac Lackey, has mentored many local entrepreneurs over the years and several startups have since spun out of Kyck (including the Rabbu who was on the podcast several years ago - click here to listen). While with Kyck, Trent relocated to London in 2013 and eventually met his wife while over there.  They moved back to the US in 2015 and Trent shared his stories of successes and struggles while at Kyck.  After Kyck, he worked for Palmetto Solar out of Charleston. Here he started working on his own business idea that he had originally started doing at Kyck - StandupPro was born during this time.  Standup Pro is a software product that empowers you to run a 15-minute

Anya Johnson and Will McGuire with CrowdfundNC join us for the podcast today. Will joined us a few years ago to talk about crowdfunding and his own company, CrowdfundNC. I wanted to circle back around and talk with Will and Anya about the crowdfunding initiatives in North Carolina as well as what the industry in general looks like.  I have long been a believer that local entrepreneurs are good investment opportunities as potentially investment opportunities for people willing AND able to take the risk. Companies like CrowdfundNC make it easier for local people to invest in local businesses.  As Charlotte in particular – and North Carolina/South Carolina – continue to grow more entrepreneurs will start businesses looking to capitalize on that growth.  There are some new regulations coming out which impacts accredited and non-accredited investors too. We discuss the opportunities in Raleigh and with Crowdfunding.  Anya encourages people to utilize the  website, NC Grind (https://ncgrind.com/) where people ca

  This week we welcome Desmond Wiggan, a co-founder and CEO BatteryXchange to the podcast.  Like many entrepreneurs Desmond’s business model was disrupted as a result of Covid19.  As an African American entrepreneur, he also engaged in the community promoting equality for minority founders and changing the narrative for minorities in technology.  He’s also a new father. You’ll quickly learn that tackling all these things is just what Desmond does – he’s a fantastic person with great drive and self-awareness. Desmond was kind enough to talk through his journey with us.  In many regards, it started out with him running track in college.  Through his track team, he was able to learn how to be a leader.  He took that leadership and the know-how of doing what has to be done to win to the corporate world.  After spending time with Pepsi, Desmond took the opportunity to travel to China for his MBA. In the Spring of 2018 – just before leaving China - Aubrey Yeboah and Desmond developed the concept for BatteryXcha

  Lee Farabaugh and Joe Maxwell join me on the Charlotte Angel Connection today to discuss Core10. Lee Farabaugh is the Co-Founder and President of Core10.  She is a technology design, operations and innovation expert with over a decade of experience in fintech and health care IT – and she’s been fortunate to call Charlotte home before! Joe Maxwell is the Managing Partner with FINTOP Capital.  FINTOP Capital, is a venture capital firm managed by a team of seasoned operators, based in Nashville, TN. In addition, to being an investor in Core10 FINTOP capital was an earlier investor in DealCloud – a Charlotte startup that was sold several years ago (here founders Rob Cummings and Ben Harrison talk about their exit on Episode 78). Core10, founded in 2016 and backed by FINTOP Capital, is a leading US-based provider of API Integration and SaaS implementation services to the fintech and financial services industry. Their 100% US-based development team is located in smaller US Hereshore® communities, including H

Chris Wright, founder of Whystle, joins us today on the podcast. Chris is an entrepreneur obsessed with learning and relentless personal improvement. Chris is from Indiana, grew up in upstate New York and attended University of South Carolina.  After college he had a job with Deloitte and was fortunate to have a few months prior to his official start date.  During his time off, Chris started two businesses which was where he knew he wanted to come back to.  One of the businesses, which he still co-owns, sells private label men’s accessories thru an Amazon FBA (fulfillment by Amazon).  You’ll hear a few of the lessons he learned through this business as we dive through his journey. Chris spent two years as a consultant with Deloitte before he finally nailed down his next company - Whystle. Whystle is an on-demand cleaning service you schedule via an app.  Whystle’s goal is to provide simple to book, transparent cleaning services so people know what they were getting, how much they are paying and can get the

We are exploring the world of video podcasting so please feel free to watch today's podcast here - https://youtu.be/Fn4NpldmZhQ Scott Pope and Eric Kirsch join the podcast today to discuss Mito Station and the health care startup space in Charlotte.  Mito Station is a co-working space built specifically to meet the needs of innovative healthcare start-up companies.  In addition to getting this unique concept off the ground both Eric and Scott hold down other jobs in the health care space in Charlotte.  They’ve been dedicated to building a network in the medical community over the last several years to help cultivate the growing need for more innovative medical startups in Charlotte. As such, the concept of Mito Station came out of necessity and something Eric and Scott have seen become important as the healthcare startup community has grown up.  Eric has been leading the Society of Physician Entrepreneurs (SOPE) and their Charlotte Chapter since we last did a podcast with him and Scott has continued to gro

Today, we welcome Hall T. Martin to the podcast.  Hall is the Founder and CEO of TEN Capital Networks, formerly known as the Texas Entrepreneurial Network.  He has been involved in the Texas angel investors community since at least 2006 when he became the director of the Central Texas Angel Network.  Since then, Hall has gone on to start or run the Wilco Angel Network, the Austin Entrepreneur Network, the Baylor Angel Network and several others. Hall was kind enough to have me on his podcast to talk about what's happening in the Charlotte startup/angel community a few weeks ago. In those discussions, I learned some things about Hall and his approach to angel investing I thought would be valuable to share with our listeners. One of the more interesting things we dive into his view of a 3X in 3 years approach to the companies they invest in. It's a essentially a redemption right which protects the investor from having the startup turn into more of a lifestyle business than a fast growing startup to be acquired

  Today Don Rainey, Partner with Grotech Ventures, joins us on the Charlotte Angel Connection.  Don is an experienced venture capitalist with a track record of successful enterprises. He has been involved with internet-based companies building large audiences and businesses for over 20 years. Over that time, he has made investments in ecommerce, fintech, networking technology and social media-related startups. Don moved to the Lake Norman area in 2013.  He is part of a growing number of Lake Norman area residents who have experience in the venture/startup space. They are increasingly utilizing Davidson’s Hurt Hub as a place to meet, network and share opportunities. In our podcast today, Don speaks about the role of a venture capitalist.   We talked some about Don’s decision to move into the VC space “way back” in 2000 – including the story of his first pitch.  Given Don’s experience, we had some fun talking about the his most and least successful investments.  He goes into nice detail talking about what cr

  Today, Tana Greene shares her story as a successful entrepreneur and mentor. At the age of 17, she wrote a goal on a piece of paper: “own my own business by the age 30.”  It was a far cry from where she was but you’ll hear why it wasn’t a long shot at all. With each passing year, her purpose beat louder and grew stronger.  Along the way, the business became clear – she wanted to help others by finding them employment. Owning her own business became a reality in 1988, when she co-founded a national staffing company that grew to operate in more than 20 states. In 2017, she guided the company’s transformation into MyWorkChoice. With over 30 years of experience in the industry she saw first-hand the changing needs of the contingent workforce and understood the vital role flexibility and technology must play moving forward. MyWorkChoice is the first workforce solution for warehousing, logistics, call center, and light industrial companies that allows employees to make decisions about how often and when they

Dalton Shaull is the Founder and CEO of OmniLife.  He is originally from Iowa and was born in an intense football family.  He played football for the University of Iowa, but his football career ended due to a motorcycle accident. After the accident he lost feeling in his arm and ended up having to have a nerve transplant to regain feeling in his arm.  Throughout his recovery, Dalton tried several ventures and ultimately decided he really liked to create things (artistic prospective).  As a result of his injury, he knew he wanted to get involved in the Medtech business.  It was during a pitch he made at an Entrepreneurial class he met Eric Pahl, his Co-Founder at OmniLife. “OmniLife was founded in 2016 based on the need to make the organ procurement process more efficient.”  They launched their first product, known as TXP Chat™, as a secure mobile messaging system for transplant teams.  TXP Chat™ facilitates seamless and comprehensive care delivery for organ failure patients by optimizing clinical communicat

  On today’s podcast, we have Haley Bohon, Founder and CEO of SkillPop.  I’ve known about SkillPop since nearly its inception but have never had the opportunity to sit down with Haley and talk about the business.  For those of you who don’t know, SkillPop is a company facilitating ‘pop-up classes in your community’.  They advertise that it’s for ‘creators, dreamers and lifelong learners’. I think you can make the case it’s for anyone who wants to continue to grow. And speaking of growth, SkillPop has grown tremendously since its first class.  They now offer classes in Atlanta, Charlotte, Greenville, Lake Norman, Nashville and Raleigh. Today, we wanted to learn more about this great company, hear Haley’s story and the potential paths forward straight from Haley.  The best thing about doing these podcasts with entrepreneurs – at least from my perspective – is you get a good sense of the quality of the entrepreneur in Charlotte.  Haley is one of many entrepreneurs who makes you feel proud to be part of the e

Today we welcome Dan Ariely to the Charlotte Angel Connection.  Dan is the Principal for Advanced Hindsight and Founder of Startup Lab at Duke University.  He is also Professor of Behavioral Economics at Duke University (Fuqua School of Business, Center for Cognitive Neuroscience, Department of Economics, School of Medicine).  Dan is also a Co-Founder, advisor and investor in numerous startups over the last decade.  Many of you have probably seen one of Dan’s TED Talks which are based on Predictably Irrational and some of his more recent books. I read Predictably Irrational in 2010 and became an instant fan of Dan’s works and continued to follow him over the year.  Having him on the podcast to talk about how his work is helping startups come through Startup Labs was a fantastic experience. As you’ll learn today, Dan studies how people act in the marketplace, as opposed to how they should or would if they were rational beings. The Center for Advanced Hindsight’s work is aimed at using behavioral insights to

Today, we welcome Derek Wang, founder and CEO of Stratifyd, to the Charlotte Angel Connection. Derek was raised in Beijing and moved to the United States to obtain his Ph.D. from UNC Charlotte.  While attending UNC he spent time on the West coast working with Microsoft Research and PARC.  Derek became a Professor at UNC Charlotte and realized AI was being controlled by large companies.  He wanted to deliver the same benefits the large companies were exploring to companies of all sizes. Stratifyd is a startup headquartered in Charlotte, NC. The company has been designed to equip business leaders worldwide with deep intellectual business insights in minutes instead of months. Since its founding, Stratifyd has evolved into an Augmented Intelligence platform that leverages machine learning technology with human intellect to empower businesses to make data-driven decisions.  The platform is built on their patented algorithms that leverage Machine Learning (ML) and Natural Language Processing (NLP) for any busine

Today we welcome the Principals of Dualboot Partners to the Charlotte Angel Connection. Dualboots mission is to partner with seasoned business leaders and entrepreneurs to build and transform businesses.  If you’ve been to any startup event over the last 12 months you’ve seen someone from the dualboot team there.  seasoned technology veterans with a long and proven track record of building new products and re-platforming legacy systems. There is no question they have a goal to be an important fabric, in not just Charlotte but, the southeast startup community. They are building a nice team and have already worked with several successful Charlotte area startups – like Petscreening.com (remember David Stunja from Episode 090) – and many more.  Given the impact they are having on the startup scene here locally I wanted to have them on to talk about who they are and how they are doing. As a little background, prior to Dualboot they all worked together in the past and have expertise in different areas. Todd Bue

  Today we have Brett Danforth, Managing Director of the Wolfpack Investor Network (WIN), and Ghazale Johnston, WIN member/investor, joining us to discuss angel investing. “The Wolfpack Investor Network (WIN) brings together the NC State entrepreneurial community, NC State alumni network, and innovative private companies to empower the businesses that drive our future.” It is operated as a subscription service with direct ties to the University.  The annual membership is $1,500 with no requirement to invest (think of it as a fee to see deal flow with the potential to invest in each company).  As of our interview in September 2019, they have 150 members and 115 members have made at least one investment through the network.  WIN currently has nineteen companies in the portfolio - 15 of those include NCSU graduates in Management and four involved in licensing in technology. Brett Danforth is the Managing Director at Wolfpack Investor Network.  Brett is a graduate of NC State.  Prior to WIN, he worked in fina

  Today, we have Richard Maclean joining us on the podcast.  Richard is a co-founder of Frontier Capital – a Charlotte area growth equity firm he co-founded in 1999 with Andrew Lindner. Richard has seen Frontier Capital grow quickly over the years.  Their second fund raised $115 million in 2007 and Fund V raised $700 million in 2017.  They have started the process of raising capital for Fund VI and it will be exciting to see where they finish given their strong team and track record. So where do you start with a co-founder of a growth equity firm whose seen success for many portfolio companies as well as his own firm?  We obviously start with the first check they ever wrote to a portfolio company.   From there we dive into a number of great discussions. Richard discusses Frontier’s original business plan in 1999 and how it has changed.  He speaks about the lessons learned from their first two investment funds and what it has been like seeing their subsequent funds grow into the company it is today. We di