On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, our host, entrepreneur, and investor, Frank Gruber (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber) is joined by Sherman Williams, Co-Founder and Managing Partner at AIN Ventures, a pre-seed and seed-stage focused venture fund that invests in dual-use technology and veteran-led startups. Frank and Sherwin discuss all things investing - from the importance of non-dilutive funding to the accelerating energy transition occurring around the globe.    Watch the podcast on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7tw2CSBxSEI    We invite you all to join our Startup of the Year community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join   Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: https://podcast.startupofyear.com/   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: https://soty.link/ESTYouTube …… Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their companies to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Check out Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   The program includes in-person and virtual events, including our annual SXSW startup pitch and competition. All of this culminates at our Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced and has an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us Connect with us on X - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, our host, entrepreneur, and investor, Frank Gruber (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber), is joined by Dan Berger.   Dan Berger is an entrepreneur with a strong track record in the event planning industry. He is the Founder of Assemble, a boutique chain of corporate retreat centers designed to enhance team collaboration and productivity.   Previously, Dan founded Social Tables, an event-planning software company that made waves in the industry and was acquired by Cvent for $100 million in 2018. He is also the author of the upcoming book, “The Quest — The Definitive Guide to Finding Belonging.”    Watch the podcast on our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9mvb3nJzq7U    We invite you all to join our Startup of the Year community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join   Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: https://podcast.startupofyear.com/   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: https://soty.link/ESTYouTube …… Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their companies to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Check out Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   The program includes in-person and virtual events, including our annual SXSW startup pitch and competition. All of this culminates at our Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced and has an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us Connect with us on X - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us 

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, our host, entrepreneur, and investor, Frank Gruber (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber) is joined by Adriana Carrig, Founder & CEO at Little Words Project, a bracelet sharing company that invites female entrepreneurs into a collaborative and uplifting digital community. Frank and Adriana discuss sisterhood, inclusive and compassionate business environments, and the value of community when creating a career.   Watch the podcast on our YouTube channel: https://soty.link/PodVid128   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: www.soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminates at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us    Connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us   

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, our host, entrepreneur, and investor, Frank Gruber (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber), is joined by Allyson Kapin.   Allyson Kapin, the Founder of Women Who Tech, Co-Founder of Rad Campaign, and a General Partner and Co-Founder at W Fund, leads grassroots movements to bolster diversity in the tech and startup sectors; she is an active investor in tech startups, especially women-led and BIPOC startups.   Her work draws global attention to significant gender bias in tech and venture capital by shaking up the culture and economy, making it exceedingly difficult for women to launch and scale startups. Her fund W Fund and nonprofit Women Who Tech provides capital and advises startups building the most innovative tech companies, ultimately closing the funding gap for good.    We invite you all to join our Startup of the Year community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join   Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: https://podcast.startupofyear.com/   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: https://soty.link/ESTYouTube …… Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their companies to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Check out Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   The program includes in-person and virtual events, including our annual SXSW startup pitch and competition. All of this culminates at our Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced and has an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us Connect with us on X - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, our host, entrepreneur, and investor, Frank Gruber (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber), is joined by Aubrie Pagano. Aubrie Pagano is a General Partner at Alpaca VC, a venture capital firm investing in the people, products, and platforms reimagining the real world. Before joining Alpaca VC, Aubrie co-founded Bow & Drape, a fashion-tech startup that was acquired by Winn Brands in 2019. She is passionate about supporting founders and shares her journey from being a startup founder to becoming a venture capitalist. This interview covers what it takes to transition from entrepreneurship to venture capital, the challenges and opportunities in choosing where to invest, and how to maintain a balance between personal and professional life. We invite you all to join our Startup of the Year community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: https://podcast.startupofyear.com/ Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: https://soty.link/ESTYouTube …… Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their companies to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Check out Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com The program includes in-person and virtual events, including our annual SXSW startup pitch and competition. All of this culminates at our Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced and has an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us Connect with us on X - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, our host, entrepreneur, and investor, Frank Gruber (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber) is joined by Natalia Talkowska and Rohit Bhargava.    Natalia Talkowska is the Founder of Natalka Design, a high-stake visual consultancy that provides communication tools to enable leaders to communicate and engage with their audiences so that they can take action. Rohit Bhargava is the Founder and Chief Trend Curator of the Non-Obvious Company, a network of experts that aims to help leaders, organizations, and individuals develop habits to see what others miss.   This interview covers what it takes to think outside of the box and to see conventional practices and techniques in a new light. The group discusses marketing, identity, networking, and more.   We invite you all to join our Startup of the Year community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: https://podcast.startupofyear.com/    Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: https://soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their companies to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes in-person and virtual events, including our annual SXSW startup pitch and competition. All of this culminates at our Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced and has an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us    Connect with us on X - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, our host, entrepreneur, and investor, Frank Gruber (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber) is joined by Ali Sabti, CEO of automated lawn servicing company OtO (https://otolawn.com).    We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: www.soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminates at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us    Connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us 

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, our host, entrepreneur, and investor, Frank Gruber (www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber) is joined by Aron Kansal of SimpleTix (www.simpletix.com/) and Vikram Bodas from Occom Ventures (www.occomventures.com/).    Aron Kansal is the founder of SimpleTix, an online ticketing product for attractions, festivals, concerts, museums, and more. They have all the functionality of Eventbrite with a no-contract policy, instant payouts, and a very intuitive user experience.    Aron is a Startup of the Year Alumni from our days as Tech Cocktail / Tech.Co, as SimpleTix showcased at our winter mixer in Washington, D.C. in February of 2012.   SimpleTix was recently acquired by Occom Ventures, a private equity fund led by Vikram Bodas, Ian Whitney and Bo Gibson. The firm purchased a majority stake in the company.   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: https://podcast.startupofyear.com/    Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: https://soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminates at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us    Connect with us on X - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, our host, entrepreneur, and investor, Frank Gruber (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber) is joined by Ann Shoket, Founder of New Power Media and CEO of TheLi.st, a private community of innovators and entrepreneurs devoted to helping each other network, succeed, and thrive in a competitive environment.    In this interview, Ann discusses loneliness, the role networking holds in today's competitive environment, and the importance of creating a highly curated, highly valuable community for female entrepreneurs.   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: www.soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminates at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us    Connect with us on X - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us   

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, our host, entrepreneur, and investor, Frank Gruber (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber) is joined by Becky Center, CEO of crowdfunding behemoth Indiegogo. In this interview, we discuss the growth and development of Indiegogo, the expansion of crowdfunding, and how to handle partnerships, success, and failure in an ever-changing economy.    We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: www.soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminates at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us    Connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us 

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, our host, entrepreneur, and investor, Frank Gruber (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber) is joined by Gary Kusin, Co-Founder of GameStop and Laura Mercier Cosmetics, former President and CEO of Kinkos, and author of his new book “Always Learning: Lessons on Leveling up from Gamestop to Laura Mercier.”     Be sure to check out Kusin’s new book, “Always Learning: Lessons on Leveling up from Gamestop to Laura Mercier.” You can order it here: www.GaryKusin.com.   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: www.soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminates at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.established.us    Connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us 

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, Frank Gruber (https://www.linkedin.com/in/frankgruber) introduces a panel of entrepreneurial experts as they discuss the emergence of AI and how to utilize this new tool in support of entrepreneurial endeavors. This panel, which took place at the Established House at SXSW 2024, and features insight from:   Sherrod Davis, Co-Founder and CEO of Ecomap Technologies Nicola Corzine, Founding CEO and Executive Director of the Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center Ryan Groves, CEO and Founder of Slyngshot, a platform that helps new and aspiring entrepreneurs launch their big ideas Brittany Sickler, Director of Ecosystem Development / Office of Investment and Innovation at the US Small Business Administration   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: https://podcast.startupofyear.com/    Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: https://soty.link/ESTYouTube      ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.est.us    Connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us 

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, Frank Gruber (http://linkedin.com/in/frankgruber) interviews serial entrepreneur and unicorn investor, speaker, and author, Paulo Andrez as we’ll talk about his new book, Zero Risk Startup which comes out in May 2024. Get your copy of the book here: https://amzn.to/4aoRJgZ   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: www.soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.est.us    Connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us 

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear an interview with Arlan Hamilton that took place at the Established house at SXSW in Austin, Texas.  Arlan is the Founder and Managing Partner at Backstage Capital and the author of her new book “Your First Million.” What’s amazing is she launched a $20M+ fund from scratch while she was homeless. She has invested in 200+ companies led by underrepresented, underestimated founders. She is the author of the bestselling book, It’s About Damn Time, and the host of the popular visual podcast, Your First Million. Check this all out at Arlan’s website: https://arlansfirstmillion.com    Arlan is also hosting a large event April 9th to 12th in Los Angeles. Aspiring or current entrepreneurs, investors, job seekers, and hiring managers are encouraged to check out Your First Million LIVE in LA, which is an event designed to amplify underestimated voices and talent. During the event, you’ll receive the tools, resources, and connections to empower you to thrive as you work towards Your First Million! https://www.yourfirstmillion.live   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: www.soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.est.us    Connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear an interview with Corten Singer from Augmental, the winner of the CTA Foundation Pitch competition at CES 2024.   Corten is the cofounder of Augmental, which just recently launched the MouthPad, a bluetooth-enabled intraoral interface for hands-free control of your computer, smartphone, and tablet. Learn more at: www.augmental.tech    We also chat about the excitement around our upcoming event at SXSW. Join us as we host a day of events for innovators and startups at the Established House on March 10th, 2024. More details here.   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: www.soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.est.us    Connect with us on X (formerly Twitter) - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear an interview from Rich Belsky, who recently founded Crevo - www.crevo.com.   Crevo is an entrepreneurial wellness consultancy focused primarily on early-stage startup founders and CEOs, solopreneurs, and corporate leaders. Crevo combines tactical, strategic guidance with mindset and energy management training to help leaders identify, avoid, and manage breakdowns and challenging environments.    We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: www.soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.est.us    Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us   

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear an investor discussion was led by our own Established Co-CEO Jen Consalvo at a pitch event we hosted online a few months ago.    The panel included Dahna Goldstein, who is the Chief Investment Officer of Halcyon and Co-Managing Director of the Halcyon Fund. Phoebe Van Duinen was also on the panel, and she is the Principal and Investment Manager at Halcyon and is responsible for the end-to-end process of social impact investing through their three capital vehicles, VC Fund, Angel Network, and Microloan Fund.    Lastly, Olivia Goldstein also participated in the chat. Olivia is the Vice President at StartFast Ventures.    We also again shine a light on an amazing company in our ecosystem. Today, that company is Keepers, which is an all-in-one app providing full housekeeping management. They are saving short-term rental hosts time by integrating directly with their Airbnb and VRBO calendars so that as soon as a reservation is created, a job notification is sent to all housekeeper users. Learn more about them at: www.uskeepers.com    We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: www.soty.link/ESTYouTube         ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Check out Established at: www.est.us    Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear an interview with Dr. Richard Munassi that took place at SXSW.    Dr. Munassi is a serial entrepreneur, the co-founder of Blackfin Technology Partners, and co-founder of Medzoomer. Discussing his latest venture as the Director of the Tampa Bay Wave Accelerator program, Munassi highlights his four-year journey towards creating this non-profit incubator, its top notch program and various communities and cohorts.    We also again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is Boon, which is disrupting the recruiting industry by democratizing it through referrals. To learn more, visit: https://goboon.co    We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us      Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com    Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: www.soty.link/ESTYouTube         ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.    Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us  

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear an interview with Mike Evans that took place at SXSW.    Mike is the Co-Founder of GrubHub, as well as the founder of Fixer, a Chicago-based company building the "right now" handyman service. Mike’s latest book venture, "Hangry: A Startup Journey", is an exciting memoir about his co-founding of GrubHub and his journey as an entrepreneur. You can grab yourself a copy today at mikeevans.com   We also want to mention that for the first time since 2019, SBA’s America’s Seed Fund Road Tour will take to the road for an in-person experience. From July 17-21, the bus will stop in five Midwest states, connecting innovators with the largest source of seed funding in the country.    Each Road Tour stop facilitates programming and One-on-One in-person meetings between innovators and federal agency representatives to help attendees navigate over $4 billion in early-stage funding opportunities through America’s Seed Fund. Established will be there, and if you are in the region, we hope you are, too! We encourage you to register to attend and to share this special in-person opportunity with your connections, networks, and ecosystem.     America’s Seed Fund Road Tour | Midwest Tour Stops:  Monday, July 17 | Oklahoma City, OK  Tuesday, July 18 | Wichita, KS  Wednesday, July 19 | Kansas City, MO  Thursday, July 20 | Lincoln, NE  Friday, July 21 | Des Moines, IA    For more information, visit https://www.americasseedfund.us/road-tour   We also again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is Atlantic Sea Farms, which is revolutionizing the US seaweed industry while making our customers, our planet, and our coastal economies healthier by creating craveable and innovative products from sustainably farmed sea greens. To learn more, visit  https://atlanticseafarms.com   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join       Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us     Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com    Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube       ***  Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.       The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.      Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.    Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us  

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear an interview with Rohit Bhargava that took place at SXSW. Rohit is the Founder and Chief trend curator of the Non-Obvious Company, where he is a forward thinking storyteller, author and keynote speaker.    Most recently, Rohit Co-authored "The Future Normal: How We Will Live, Work and Thrive in the Next Decade" alongside colleague Henry Coutinho-Mason. Focusing on the stories of up-and-coming entrepreneurs, Rohit’s book brings attention to monumental changes that are on the horizon, how it impacts us today and the opportunities that lie within this future normal.   You can find “The Future Normal” and all 9 of Rohit’s best selling books at https://rohitbhargava.com in addition to his top speaking topics, blog and newsletter!   We again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is HID SIPS, which is on a mission to make sure no one wakes up without water again. Designing products with accessibility in mind, HID SIPS is making the lives of those who struggle to get out of bed easier, including those with health conditions, snoring, taking medicine or simply having a dry mouth. To learn more, visit https://www.hidsips.com   Lastly, we hear about adding mushrooms like Reishi, Lion's Mane, and a few others to morning drinks. Recently, we were contacted by Restorative Botanicals and offered a sample of their product, My BrainShroom. We’ve been trying out their gummies, which contain Lion's Mane and other substances that are supposed to help stimulate the brain and are supposed to aid in the growth of new brain cells, improve depression and anxiety, and support gut, heart, and immune health. Learn more here:  https://bit.ly/brainshrooms    We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear an interview with Hope Shimabuku that took place at SXSW. Hope is the Regional Director of the Texas Regional United States Patent and Trademark Office (USPTO), where she carries out the strategic direction of the Under Secretary of Commerce for Intellectual Property and Director of the USPTO, and is responsible for leading the Texas regional office. Focusing on the region and actively engaging with the community, Hope ensures the USPTO’s initiatives and programs are tailored to the region’s unique ecosystem of industries and stakeholders.   We also again mention an event that we have coming up on May 15 - 18, 2023. The SBA will host the second America’s Seed Fund Week. This series of virtual events connects startups and small businesses working on advanced technologies to the country’s largest source of early-stage funding. America’s Seed Fund serves as a springboard by providing over $4 billion in funding to early-stage startups and small businesses each year as innovators take their technology from R&D through to commercialization. Check out more about the event and register today at: https://www.americasseedfund.us    Lastly, we again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is Stack Homes, which builds luxury modular dwellings designed for the imaginative and conscious home buyer while responding to the environmental and housing crises. They are sustainable, uniquely stackable, timely and built-to-order. Offering industry-leading designs and customer-centric white glove service throughout the process, Stack Homes is revolutionizing the residential construction industry. To learn more visit https://www.stackhomes.com    We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us  

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear an interview with Kathryn Finney that took place at SXSW. Kathryn is a longtime community contributor and she is the Founder and Managing General Partner of Genius Guild, a Chicago-based venture fund that invests in scalable businesses led by Black founders using innovation to build and promote healthy communities. She had a new book published last summer titled, “Build The Damn Thing: How to Start a Successful Business if You're Not a Rich White Guy,” that made the Wall Street Journal bestsellers list in its first week of release. Check out the book today at: https://a.co/d/6usDLzd  We also again mention an event that we have coming up on May 15 - 18, the SBA will host the second America’s Seed Fund Week. This series of virtual events connects startups and small businesses working on advanced technologies to the country’s largest source of early-stage funding. America’s Seed Fund serves as a springboard by providing over $4 billion in funding to early-stage startups and small businesses each year as innovators take their technology from R&D through to commercialization. Check out more about the event and register today at: https://www.americasseedfund.us  Lastly, we again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is PayBee, which  is an all-in-one fundraising events platform built for nonprofits hosting events in any format. Paybee’s event features provide you the ability to streamline your fundraising event planning, executing and follow-up using cutting edge technology tools. Go to https://www.paybee.io to learn more! We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join   Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.   Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.  The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear a panel discussion that took place at the Established Lounge during SXSW with members from our partner for the event, Launch Tennessee.    Specifically, the panel included Charles Layne, who currently serves as the Innovation Manager at Launch Tennessee where he works to facilitate the development of Tennessee technologies through the organization's commercialization programs. Monique Villa was also on the panel and she is the Chief Investment Officer at Launch Tennessee leading capital programs and investments in early-stage companies. Last but not least, Khrys Hatch also participated on the panel. He is a Senior Associate at Launch Tennessee.   We also again mention an event that we have coming up on May 15 - 18, the SBA will host the second America’s Seed Fund Week. This series of virtual events connects startups and small businesses working on advanced technologies to the country’s largest source of early-stage funding. America’s Seed Fund serves as a springboard by providing over $4 billion in funding to early-stage startups and small businesses each year as innovators take their technology from R&D through to commercialization. Check out more about the event and register today at: https://www.americasseedfund.us    Lastly, we again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is Storybook App, which combines guided infant massages, narrated bedtime stories, and relaxing music to help parents get their children to relax and fall asleep. Storybook App has been ranked as the #1 app in parenting in 90 countries with 1.7 million downloads. The app is reducing the average falling asleep time from an average of 50 minutes to an average of 13 minutes, which sounds pretty amazing! Go to https://storybook-app.com to learn more!   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear a panel discussion from SXSW with Jennifer Shieh and Michele Schimpp both from the U.S. Small Business Administration.   Jennifer Shieh is the Director of Ecosystem Development at the SBA, and Michele Schimpp is the Deputy Associate Administrator at the SBA. During the conversation, we discussed America's Seed Fund and SBIR and STTR programs.    We also had some of the leadership from various programs jump up to talk about their programs. The leaders included Jennifer Thabet, the Program Director for Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)’s Small Business Programs Office, Bob Smith from the Navy, and Mary Alice McMorrow representing the Air Force and Space Force.    We also mention an event that we have coming up on May 15 - 18, the SBA will host the second America’s Seed Fund Week. This series of virtual events connects startups and small businesses working on advanced technologies to the country’s largest source of early-stage funding. America’s Seed Fund serves as a springboard by providing over $4 billion in funding to early-stage startups and small businesses each year as innovators take their technology from R&D through to commercialization. Check out more about the event and register today at: https://www.americasseedfund.us    We also have another event happening on April 25th, and we invite the entire Startup of the Year community and extended Established network to attend this event in order to help support a vibrant startup ecosystem and get these great startups the attention they deserve! It's also a great way for other startups to be inspired by different customer acquisition strategies and learn about the types of questions investors will ask you. RSVP today at: est.us/april25   Lastly, we also again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is CROOW, a workflow collaboration platform built to enable clients and creative production teams to streamline processes, centralize assets, and improve communication. Through its priority process and network of studios, CROOW empowers businesses to rapidly concept ideas and then schedule time for filming and postproduction. Go to http://croow.com to learn more!   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us  

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear an interview from SXSW with Josh Williams, the Founder and CEO of Gowalla.   In 2009, Josh and a small team of designers and technologists introduced Gowalla to the world at SXSW, helping inspire millions to “check in” on social media. Gowalla was then purchased by Facebook (now Meta) in 2011 and was shuttered a year later. They are now returning with a renewed vision to make it fun and easy to keep up with friends in the real world.   We also again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is E-liza Dolls, which is a patent-pending doll that teaches young girls how to code. Their mission is to increase diversity and decrease the gender gap in STEM by raising a new generation of women in STEM by introducing young girls to coding and hardware from a young age through toys they want to play with! Go to elizadolls.com to learn more.   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us  

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear a VC panel discussion from the Established Lounge at SXSW 2023 in Austin, which took place just after the announcement of the Silicon Valley Bank collapse.    The panelists included Erica Duignan Minnihan, who is the Founder and General Partner at Reign Ventures, Maria Pope, who is the Head of Venture Growth and Partnerships at Republic, and Aziz Gilani, who is the Managing Director at Mercury Fund.   Please keep in mind that the conversation took place immediately after the announcement of the end of SVB and since then things have changed significantly as the FDIC stepped in and insured the deposits to help ensure all the startup customers would make payroll, amongst other things.   We also here about our pitch contest that was during SXSW, where ten startups pitched in front of a really amazing group of judges that included: Anita Roberts, who is the Founding Partner at mvmt ventures & Managing Partner @ Silicon Hills Capital Brian Brackeen, who is the General Partner at Lightship Capital  Bryson Hearne, who is the Manager in the Economic Opportunity Practice at Village Capital Candice Matthews Brackeen, who is the CEO at Lightship Foundation Conrad Hollomon, who is the Director of Government Programs at The Engine Darrell Etherington, who is the Managing Editor at TechCrunch Kathleen Hale, who is the Partner at Builders + Backers Capital Khrys Hatch, who is the Senior Associate at Launch Tennessee Martin Ringlein, who is the General Partner at Adventure Fund Michele (Kopp) Konetski, who is the Business Growth Consulting at Konetski Group and The Nour Group Monique Idlett-Mosley, who is the Managing Partner at Reign Venture Capital Trey Bowles, who is the Managing Director at Techstars Wilson Neyland, who is the Credit Card Program Director at Hello Alice   The startups that pitched at the event included:  Accelerate3D Applied Bioplastics BachPlace Chptr  heat it  Included  Legalpreneur  Spontivly  TestedWeb  Veba Baby Corp.    We are proud to announce that the judge voted and the winner  was Included (https://included.ai/)!! Congrats to their co-founder, Laura Close, who gave the winning pitch that focused on customer results and outcomes, which won them a fast-track spot at the Startup of the Year Annual Summit!   We also want to give a quick shout out to some of our sponsors. We couldn’t have done it without Launch Tennessee, and BoothEasy! Also, we want to give a special thank you to event partner America’s Seed Fund.   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Jen Batchelor, the Co-Founder & CEO at Kin Euphorics (https://www.kineuphorics.com/). For those unfamiliar, Kin introduced a new category of adult beverage to the world with their collection of non-alcoholic, nootropic, botanic, and adaptogenic formulas that offer uplifting effects and social benefits.    We also again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is Algen Air, which is a living technology company that develops natural air filtration technologies. Their first product is a consumer natural air purifier developed by scientists that packs the power of 25 house plants in a compact, convenient, easy to care for package that no other air purifier can do. Go to https://www.algenair.com to learn more!   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us  

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Deepen Parikh, who is one of the founding partners at Courtside Ventures (www.courtsidevc.com). Courtside Ventures is an early-stage VC fund, investing across sports, collectibles, wellness/fitness and gaming, and they just announced their new $100M Fund.    We also again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is Wherewithal, who was a Top 5” Startup at the SOTY Summit in Memphis in 2019. They are now selling their bras at Nordstroms. Which is kind of a big deal. I believe they also got a patent for their innovations in undergarments. Learn more about them at: shopwherewithal.com.   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us  

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Robbie Cabral, who is the CEO and Founder at BenjiLock (www.benjilock.com), which has redefined the personal security experience through fingerprint hybrid technology with the consumer in mind. BenjiLock is a Startup of the Year alumni and they were also featured on Shark Tank.   We also hear from Evelyn Tichenor, VP of Sales and Partnerships at GoodMaps, live from CES 2023. GoodMaps was the winner of the CTA Foundation’s annual pitch competition at Eureka Park. GoodMaps is exciting because its positioning technology comes within a few feet, which is very helpful for people who are blind or a first responder. Check them out at: www.goodmaps.com.   We also again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is Plain Sight, which is “networking reimagined.” Plain Sight ensures that everyone who visits their digital or physical spaces will make a relevant connection. To learn more visit: www.plainsight.app   We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at: www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at: www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we’ve got an investor conversation that my Co-Founder, Jen Consalvo, and I had a discussion during our “Grow your startup” pitch competition.    During the event, five companies had a chance to showcase their companies in front of our esteemed investor panel, which included our long-time friend and former colleague, Rich Maloy, who is currently the managing partner at Springtime Ventures and has had careers in finance and sales and of course working with Established. He is now on a mission to rebuild the American Dream through entrepreneurship and he is focused on working with and investing in early-stage startups.   Rich was grouped with fellow investor, Monique Idlett-Mosley, who is the founder and general partner of Reign Venture Capital, which is an early-stage investment firm that focuses on women and minority-led startups. She has served as the CEO of Mosley Music Brands and Mosley Music Group, which is home to a multi-platinum roster of artists such as Timbaland, Nelly Furtado, One Republic, and more.    Last but not least, Rich and Monique were joined by Peter Alemis, who is the founder and general partner at Alemis Ventures.  Prior to founding his firm, Peter was the Chief Development Officer for Family Dental Care, where he helped scale and operate the business to become the largest private dental group in Chicago. He also started his career as an investment banking analyst in New York at RBC Capital Markets. You can watch the full pitch event over on our Established YouTube channel. https://soty.link/Panel    We also again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is Hallo Helper, which is a peer-to-peer marketplace increasing Accessibility, Inclusivity, and Cost Efficiency for On-demand Services or Work. The Hallo Helper platform provides access to all types of local workers. You don’t have to be forced to drive cabs or pick-up food to make money in the on-demand economy. Go to https://www.joinhallo.com to learn more!   Lastly, we hear about our upcoming trip to Las Vegas for the 2023 Consumer Electronics Show, where we'll be on the floor again at Eureka Park, where we'll be hosting the Consumer Technology Association Foundation Pitch Competition. Come join us at the Startup Stage on Friday, January 6th from 2 - 4 PM PT, for an electrifying pitch competition featuring startups with technologies that help people of all ages and abilities get out into the world, whether for work or play! The winner will take home a bunch of different prizes…who we will then be featuring on the podcast in January, so we can all get excited for that to come in the new year!   While in Las Vegas, we will also be hosting the Startup of the Year Coffee Meetup on Friday, January 6th from 8:00 AM – 10:00 AM Pacific Time at Off the Strip coffee joint. Please join us by registering at: https://soty.link/CES-Coffee    We invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Roy Schwartz, the co-founder and CEO of Axios HQ. Roy led Axios through multiple fundraising rounds, oversaw all company strategy and business operations and launched Axios HQ, an internal communications software platform to help teams communicate more effectively.  Schwartz also served as executive producer of the Emmy Award-winning docu-news series “Axios on HBO” and co-author of Smart Brevity: The Power of Saying More with Less. Schwartz is also the former chief revenue officer for Politico.    We also again talk about our virtual event we are hosting on December 13th, which concludes our “Grow Your Startup” series. This virtual event will feature five companies from our community, who will be pitching their ideas to investor judges and a global audience. The event timeline, the application, and the event registration can be found at: soty.link/growpitch2022   We also again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is “The Beans,” which believes everyone deserves a plan for their money. They build personalized, visual financial Plans and help you stick with them through positive, proactive messages. The Beans is a simple, effective way to manage your money and follow your passion. Go to join-thebeans.io to learn more!    Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this very special 100th episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Mike Evans, the Co-Founder of GrubHub and the Founder of his new company, Fixer, which is a Chicago company building the "right now" handyman service.    Mike talks about his journey as an entrepreneur and his new book “"Hangry: A Startup Journey" which is his memoir about co-founding GrubHub that was just published on November 1st. You can grab yourself a copy today at www.mikeevans.com    We also take a minute to reflect and celebrate the 100th episode of the podcast. We want to send a sincere “thank you” to everyone who has made the podcast what it is today! Look for more great episodes coming out in the near future.    We also again talk about our virtual event we are hosting on December 13th, which concludes our “Grow Your Startup” series. This virtual event will feature five companies from our community, who will be pitching their ideas to investor judges and a global audience. The event timeline, the application, and the event registration can be found at: soty.link/growpitch2022   We also again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is Cinevva Games, which is an ecosystem that aims to simplify game developers' lives through automations, live preview and publishing capabilities, and peer- to-peer real-time collaboration. Learn more about them today by visiting cinevva.com    Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us  

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Kurt Wilkin, who is the CEO at HireBetter (HireBetter.com), which is a national recruiting firm working directly with leaders of high-growth companies to build game-changing teams. He is also the Founder and a Partner at Bee Cave Capital, a Texas-based early-stage venture group that invests in Texas companies who are making a difference in a variety of industries.   Kurt is also the author of “Who's Your Mike?: A No-Bullshit Guide to the People You'll Meet on Your Entrepreneurial Journey.” Grab yourself a copy today at: whosyourmike.com   We also again talk about our virtual event we are hosting on December 13th, which concludes our “Grow Your Startup” series. This virtual event will feature five companies from our community, who will be pitching their ideas to investor judges and a global audience. The event timeline, the application, and the event registration can be found at: soty.link/growpitch2022   We also again shine a spotlight on one of the startups from our community and that company is ClearCOGS, which builds a proprietary “crystal ball” to empower restaurant operators with specific tools and information, including demand predictions, that they need to make proactive decisions and reduce management stress, labor inefficiencies, and food waste. Learn more about them by visiting: clearcogs.com   Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Nate Andorsky, who is the founder of Effectual Ventures, a company that helps startups find and accelerate product market fit. Prior to that, he spent the last decade building an Inc. 5000 company and he was working with everyone from early stage startups to Fortune 500 companies such as Johnson and Johnson, CVS Health, Quicken Loans, while ideating and bringing new products to market.   Nate is also the author of “Decoding the Why" which dives into how Behavioral Science is Driving the Next Generation of Product Design. We have a special offer for our listeners, who can grab their own free e-book version of the book today at: soty.link/Decoding by entering the code: SOTY   We also share an event we’re hosting for the Startup of the Year community coming up on December 13th, which concludes our “Grow Your Startup” series. This virtual event will feature five companies from our community, and we will be putting them on a virtual stage in front of investor judges and a global audience. It should be a lot of fun and pretty interesting to see some of these early startups. The event timeline, the application, and the event registration can be found at: soty.link/growpitch2022   We also again highlight one of the startups from our community and that company is Spontivly, which is a Community Management System that connects an organization’s suite of community tools. They handle the full lifecycle of community management…from workflow management to community insights. Learn more about them at spontivly.com   Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from a very special guest, Steve Case, who is currently the Chairman and CEO of Revolution and the Chairman of The Case Foundation. Most notably, he was also the Co-Founder of America Online or AOL.   In 2014, Steve also launched Revolution’s Rise of the Rest, an initiative to accelerate the growth of tech startups across the country. Steve is also the author of the book The Third Wave: An Entrepreneur's Vision of the Future which came out in 2017.   Steve is also the author of a new book “The Rise of the Rest: How Entrepreneurs in Surprising Places are Building the New American Dream.” In the book he dives into the startup communities that are transforming cities nationwide that he learned about while on the Rise of the Rest’s signature road trips.   The book will be available on September 27, 2022, and you can pick up your own copy at the following link: https://soty.link/SteveCase    On another note, we share a new event we’re hosting for the startup community coming up on October 4th at 3:30 PM ET as part of our new “Grow Your Startup” Series, titled “What’s In A Pitch Deck?” hosted by Frank Gruber. Details on this free event can be found at the following link: https://soty.link/PitchDeckWebinar    We also again highlight one of the startups from our community and that company is AlohaBoomBoxes, which finally allows you to play your favorite songs without having to connect to your smartphone. Now you can take your music with you anywhere with 4G/5G LTE and Solar charging capabilities. Learn more about them at: alohaboomboxes.com   Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Touraj Parang, the President and COO at Serve Robotics and an Operating Advisor at Pear VC. Previously, he built and sold his own company Jaxtr, and helped with the acquisition of webs.com to Vistaprint. He also spent time as an acquirer at GoDaddy where he acquired dozens of businesses.    Touraj is also the author of the book “Exit Path: How to Win the Startup End Game,” which provides a lot of lessons that he has learned about startup acquisitions from his experience working in Silicon Valley since the late 90's. The book was just released this August and you can pick up your copy today at: exitpath.net    We also have a quick request…please vote for panels on the SXSW PanelPicker! This year, we’ve introduced a panel that we believe attendees will find valuable and informative during their entrepreneurial journeys at SXSW 2023. Voting is currently open and ends on Aug 21st! You can find more info about that panel and vote today at: bit.ly/estsx23    We also again highlight one of the startups from our community and that company is RootLo, which is a mobile application helping companies and employees to successfully navigate the structural shift in where work is done.  Today, RootLo App is a virtual water cooler for 15 companies across 30 cities - creating a space for remote employees to collaborate and build culture. Learn more about them at https://rootlo.com/   Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Mike Asem, who is the founding partner at M25 (https://m25vc.com), which is a venture capital investment firm targeting early-stage, tech-enabled startups in the Midwest. Mike also created a new board game called, “Unicorns To The Moon” and you can find out more about that game at: www.unicornstothemoon.com. Our listeners can get a 20% discount by using the code: SOTY20   We also again highlight one of the startups from our community and that company is ecoSPEARS, which is an environmental technology company ushering in the carbonless future of environmental cleanup. ecoSPEARS eliminates toxins like PCBs, dioxins, and other persistent organic pollutants from the environment utilizing non-thermal and non-combusting remediation technology developed by NASA. Learn more about them at www.ecospears.com   Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Susan McPherson, who is a serial connector, angel investor, and corporate responsibility expert.    Susan is also the founder and CEO of McPherson Strategies, and the author of “The Lost Art of Connecting: The Gather, Ask, Do Method for Building Meaningful Relationships.” Find more about the book at: https://www.thelostartofconnecting.com/   Lastly, Susan invests in and advises women-led technology start-ups and she is a member of the MIT Solve Women and Technology Leadership Group and serves as an adviser to several nonprofits.   We are again continuing our segment where we highlight a startup from our community and during this episode, that company is MyndVR, which fights isolation and improves the lives of older adults using virtual reality. MyndVR provides Virtual Reality subscription bundles to senior living communities, veterans homes, other healthcare providers, and directly to older adults aging in their own homes. Visit https://www.myndvr.com/ to learn more!    Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join     Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Chris Deutsch, who is the Founder of Lofty Ventures (loftyventures.com) and the Re-Founder at teaBOT (teabot.com). Chris has spent over 20 years starting up, investing in and working with early-stage, venture-backed startups in ecommerce, web and mobile applications, enterprise software, and consumer products. Chris is the Founder of Lofty Ventures, which builds long-term relationships with Chicago’s next generation of passionate and brilliant founders. He is also currently the Re-founder and Board Director at Y Combinator-backed teaBOT. Organizations around the world such as Google, HubSpot, McKinsey and 1871 leverage teaBOT’s Amenity-as-a-Service model to provide tea-making robots to their employees, as well as a means to recruit and retain top talent. We are again continuing our segment where we highlight one startup from our community. In this episode that company is Rex Academy, which offers a concise, turnkey computer science curriculum and learning platform designed to prepare students with 21st-century skills. Rex Academy’s project-based curriculum prioritizes student success through individualized experiences. Features such as automatically graded assessments and courses designed to be taught by non-experts make it easy to bring world class computer science instruction to any workforce development organization or school. Visit https://rex.academy/ to learn more!  Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join   Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.   Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.   The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, Erica Duignan Minnihan Returns! Erica is a long-time community member and the Founder and General Partner at Reign Ventures. She was at our 9th Annual Summit and talked with Matt Hunckler from Powderkeg about investment strategies and her interest in the new “We-Economy.” We are again continuing our segment where we highlight one startup from our community. In this episode that company is Supliful, which is an all-in-one platform for Creators to launch and operate their own food or food supplement brand effortlessly. Their approach unifies the entire business cycle – from product selection all the way through e-commerce enablement and order fulfillment – into a single digital platform with no upfront costs. Creators can do what they do best and create great content and engage with their audience, while Supliful takes care of the rest. Go to https://supliful.com to learn more! Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, I talk with my long-time friend, Nick O’Neill, the Co-Founder and CEO of The Nifty (www.thenifty.com). The Nifty is a Web3 metaverse company with an audience of aspiring and existing NFT collectors and creators. They host daily shows, provide NFT market monitoring software, and are building an NFT ecosystem. We are again continuing our segment where we highlight one startup from our community. In this episode that company is Maka Social, which is an app that breaks down the cultural and psychological barriers which prevent us from meeting the people who are around us every day and form lasting bonds with those people more quickly. Whether you are trying to meet business contacts, new friends, a romantic partner, or just have a momentary conversation, Maka Social makes it easy. Visit maka.social to learn more! Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear a panel discussion from our last Summit with Courtney Caldwell and Dr. Tye Caldwell from ShearShare, who both talk about navigating a startup during a pandemic, and more. ShearShare (shearshare.com) is an Established Ventures portfolio company and they are the #1 salon and barbershop booth rental app that creates customized, all-inclusive co-working spaces to boost revenue for all industry pros and owners. We are again continuing our segment where we highlight one startup from our community. On this episode, the company is Viva Equity Fund, based out of Austin, Texas. Viva is a housing network that allows tenants the flexibility of renting at market rates, while earning up to 8% cash back, which converts into interest-bearing equity at the end of their lease. Learn more by visiting their website: viva.fund. We live streamed our Summit, so if you were not able to attend in-person, make sure to watch it on our YouTube channel at: soty.link/ESTYouTube Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear a panel discussion from our last Summit called “Startup Lessons from Accelerating Startups” with Travis Holoway and Rodney Williams of the Established Ventures portfolio company, SoLo Funds (solofunds.com), and Lesa Mitchell, formerly of Techstars and now with HighAlpha Innovation. The crew talk about helping people and their “fastest growing fintech” startup and other startup tips and lessons learned. Also, we are continuing our segment where we highlight one startup from our community during every episode. In this episode the company is BlueRecruit, which is a direct-hire marketplace for skilled-trade workers who want to build their career and the companies desperate for their talent. They have removed the inefficiencies of resumes and job posts and focus on the skills and experiences that matter. Go to bluerecruit.us to learn more! We live streamed our Summit, so if you were not able to attend in-person, make sure to watch it on our YouTube channel at: soty.link/ESTYouTube Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear a conversation between our long-time friend Jenn Lim from Delivering Happiness and the author of Beyond Happiness and our Co-CEO, Jen Consalvo, when the two talk about leadership and building a company culture, amongst interesting topics. Also, we are continuing our segment where we highlight one startup from our community during every episode. In this episode the company is Home Lending Pal, which is a unique marketplace that focuses on mortgage equality by using artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technology to de-identify Home Mortgage Decision Act data early in the process. Home Lending Pal’s primary focus is borrower education while protecting them from predatory lending and/or lending discrimination. Go to homelendingpal.com to learn more! We live streamed our Summit, so if you were not able to attend in-person, make sure to watch it on our YouTube channel at: soty.link/ESTYouTube Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

In this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear a conversation between NFL Hall of Famer Derrick Brooks and Lakshmi Shenoy, the CEO of Embarc Collective, the two will chat about grit, passion, leadership, and legacy at the 9th Annual Startup of the Year Summit. Derrick played 14 seasons with the Tampa Bay Buccaneers and was inducted to the Pro Football Hall of Fame in 2014 and the College Football Hall of Fame in 2016. He is also now the EVP of Corporate and Community Business Development for the Vinik Sports Group. Also, we are continuing our new segment where we highlight one startup from our community during every episode, and in this episode the company is interviewIA, a company that is committed to systematically building an Inclusive Future of Work in a world where organizations can be objective and inclusive in hiring to create thriving, diverse, engaged cultures of high-performing employees. interviewIA is redefining the actual practice of interviewing by creating the first solution to bring human calibration, structure, and data-driven interview outcomes into one, fully integrated, easy-to-use cloud application. interviewIA uses deep learning Intelligence Amplification technology and human-centered design to redefine the method of interviewing. Go to: www.interviewia.com to learn more! We live streamed our Summit, so if you were not able to attend in-person, make sure to watch it on our YouTube channel at: soty.link/ESTYouTube  Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

In this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear a conversation between Nick Outman of the law firm Hill Ward Henderson (www.hwhlaw.com) and Lauren Coffey from Tampa Bay Inno and Tampa Bay Business Journal. The two talk about funding and setting up a startup for success from a legal perspective at the 9th Annual Startup of the Year Summit. Also, we are continuing our new segment where we highlight one startup from our community during every episode, and in this episode that company is “Integrate School,” which is a company that allows teachers to reduce the number of platforms needed to run their classrooms and efficiently create and manage lesson plans. Integrate’s platform enables K-12 schools to streamline their classroom workflow by offering a suite of cohesive and automatic learning management tools. Learn more at: www.integrateschool.com We live streamed our Summit, so if you were not able to attend in-person, make sure to watch it on our YouTube channel at: soty.link/ESTYouTube Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

In this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear a conversation between Andrew Nguyen from BARK and Matt Hunckler of Powderkeg, when they talked about product strategy and the “product mindset” at our 9th Annual Startup of the Year Summit. Andrew is a customer obsessed product leader who builds and grows consumer products. He’s a human centered problem solver with over a decade of experience leading digital product teams across BARK, Zappos, Capital One, and AOL (e-commerce, finance, media, and advertising). He has shipped several award winning, highly rated mobile app and web experiences for millions of happy customers. BARK was founded in 2012, and loyally serves dogs nationwide with monthly subscription services, BarkBox and Super Chewer; a curated e-commerce experience on www.BarkShop.com. We are also starting a new segment where we highlight one startup from our community during every episode. Our first company to be featured is PlaneAhead, which is the first organization of its kind that takes full advantage of the termination of airline change fees. The way it works is they track your purchased itinerary from the day you buy until take off. When the price of your ticket goes down, they automatically exchange the ticket and send you the airline credit from the change. Go to www.planeahead.co to learn more! We live streamed our Summit, so if you were not able to attend in-person, make sure to watch it on our Youtube channel at: soty.link/ESTYouTube Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

In this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear a conversation between Jesse Middleton, who is the General Partner at Flybridge and Co-Founder at The Community Fund and Matt Hunckler of Powderkeg, which is a long time partner of Established and Startup of the Year. Flybridge is a seed-stage venture capital firm focused on supporting ambitious founders leveraging the power of community. They have over $700M under management across five funds and five pre-seed funds…so Jesse definitely knows a thing or two about investing and supporting their portfolio companies. The Community Fund is a $5 million early-stage fund that invests in community-driven companies through an investment partner team. They believe that companies with community at the center of all that they do will become unicorns and produce outsized returns. We live streamed our Summit, so if you were not able to attend in-person, make sure to watch it on our Youtube channel at: soty.link/ESTYouTube Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: est.us/join  Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: soty.link/ESTYouTube *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource. Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year. The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year. Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand & accomplish their most important goals. Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us/.