Venture in the South is about the Startup Ecosystem in the Southern US. We interview founders and thought leaders, sponsor a few panels discussing significant events and share our own experiences with over 100 startup investments. Released every Monday and usually 30-45 minutes long, ~50% of shows are Founder interviews, ~25% interviews with thought leaders and ~25% educational. We invite feedback and suggestions via ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventureinthesouth.com. If you like our ...
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E144: Scalable Systems Solves A Weighty Problem
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E144: David updates on Venture for the week, then Paul interviews Thomas Spencer, Co-founder and Chief R&D Office at Scalable Systems Group, formerly known as WasteWizer. Scalable saw an opportunity to solve a weighty problem in the industrial waste and recycling industry: When is the bin full and ready to empty? Think about 10,000 bins distributed…
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E143: David updates listeners on Venture for the week, then interviews Josh Miller of Gradient Health about his take on AI from the perspective of data. We discuss his data experience in the context of AI model training and validation, and address some timely questions relevant to the current Era of AI: 1) Is Data where the money is (in addition to…
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E142: Convertible Notes and Responding to Criticism
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E142: In this three-part episode: - David updates listeners on venture for the week. (Angel investing is not what it used to be!) - David & Paul have a detailed review about Convertible Notes: what they are, why they are used, the benefits and risks for founders and investors, and when they work the best. - then to wrap up Paul outlines and rebuts …
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E141: David updates listeners on the Southern Ecosystem and follows with an interview with Gina Sloan, Founder and CEO of AGRITX. ConvergeSouth attendees voted AGRITX the top startup at the event. AGRITX is all about the Chicken and Egg problem in terms of industrial hatcheries. Newly laid eggs are typically contaminated with microbial pathogens su…
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E140: Babylon Micro-Farms Grows
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E140: David provides the Southern Venture Update and Paul follows with an interview with Alexander Olesen, Co-founder of Babylon Micro-Farms. Babylon® began with the idea of growing food where it was never thought possible. Founders Alexander Olesen and Graham Smith met at the University of Virginia where they first designed a low-cost Micro-Farm™ …
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E139: Profiles of Three Upstate Upstarts - Boyd Cycling, Ducklinks and Fearless Grad
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E139: David leads with an update on the Southern Venture Ecosystem and introduces co-host Paul who briefly profiles three companies on The Upstate Upstarts List. Paul explains what the Upstate Upstarts are and why we're interested in these very early stage companies. First is Boyd Cycling with Nicole and Boyd Johnson, a Craft Wheel manufacturing bu…
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E138: Redbud Labs Innovates Advanced Microfluidic Technology For The Next Generation Of Automated Sample Preparation Products
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E138: David leads with an update on the Southern Venture Ecosystem and introduces Matt Dunbar to interview Richard Spero, co-founder and CEO of Redbud Labs (RBL). RBL is using breakthrough microfluidics technology to power the next generation of sample preparation products. Founded by experienced scientists and inventors, they are solving and bring…
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E137: ConvergeSouth Educates, Networks and Fundraises in Winston-Salem, NC
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E137: David starts off with notable weekly trends in the Southern Startup Ecosystem and then Paul interviews Peter Marsh, Founding partner at Flywheel Coworking and and Lead Orgainzer of ConvergeSouth, an event focused on Startup Education, Networking and Fundraising on October 3-4, 2024. Peter previews the offering of two full days of entrepreneur…
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E136: Electronic Lab Logs Innovates Lab Maintenance
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E136: David kicks off with a few updates trending in the Southern Venture Ecosystem and Paul interviews Daniel Summers, Co-founder and CEO of Electronic Lab Logs. The Electronic Lab Logs solution was birthed out of the need to replace the Paper Logs and Binders used to track Maintenance and QC across the lab and even in Point of Care settings. Co-f…
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E135: RevOps Is Where It's At For Growing Startups
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E135: To start the show, David reviews new legislation before the US Senate that would expand the capital market for startups, HB 2799, The Expanding Access to Capital Act. Then he launches into Revenue Operations (RevOps), the core business function of any successful business and critically important for startups. As a new startup transitions from…
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E134: COWORKS is solving today's flex and coworking space management problem
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E134: Record vacancies in commercial real estate has become an opportunity for flexible space, but managing a flexible space is a challenge. DeShawn Brown, Co-Founder and CEO of COWORKS, explains how COWORKS software is designed to make life easier for the day-to-day management of flexible space. From traditional hot desk spaces to university entre…
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E133: Lonestar Data Holdings Shoots for the Moon, Literally
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E133: Lonestar Data Holdings (LDH) is DropBox on the Moon, for the ultimate in extraterrestrial data security. By initially placing data storage on Cis Lunar satellites LDH has achieved the ultimate in data security, backup and sovereignty in a way not previously possible. The follow-on is lunar based data storage physically on the Moon's surface i…
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E132: Donor Advised Funds for Startup Investments
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E132: Donor Advised Funds (DAFs) are not new, but using them for Venture Philanthropy is an innovative way to pursue impact investing. Abundance Capital extends the ability of new and seasoned philanthropists to unlock community potential, generate inclusive prosperity, and create sustainable local economies across the South. Recommending investmen…
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E131: x-lumin Innovates Terrestrial and Space Wireless Communications
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E131: Space may be the final frontier but we'll never move at the speed of light unless we first communicate at the speed of light. That's what x-lumin does, accelerate the technological capabilities of every industry through optical wireless communications (LASER) from ground to air & space and terrestrial point to point. x-lumin's innovation is a…
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E130: ATDC, The Largest Startup Incubator in the South
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E130: Startup Incubators are everywhere but none quite like the Advanced Technology Development Center (ATDC) at Georgia Tech. E85 reviewed ATDC in detail and today ATDC director John Avery updates listeners on what's happening now at ATDC. They offer three active tracts: 1) ATDC Educate, a foundational curriculum and mentorship for early entrepren…
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E129: Urban SDK Solves Traffic and Safety Issues for Cities of all sizes with big data
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E129: Urban SDK is solving the Traffic and Safety Problems of Cities of all sizes using big data. Their Smart City SaaS solution provides traffic engineers with vehicle data from multiple sources to monitor local roads and analyze traffic patterns related to speeding, safety, and congestion at a very low cost. They provide a system of record for al…
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E128: The Rise and Fall of Ozy Media
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E128: The story of Ozy Media is one of greed, betrayal, grift and astonishing hubris. But not the first nor the last such occurrence. While not on the scale of Theranos or FTX, it was not for lack of trying. David details the 10 year saga of Ozy Media's rise and spectacular fall, culminating with criminal convictions on federal charges of fraud, co…
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E127: Introducing the Upstate Upstarts Fund
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E127: South Carolina is surging with founders and startups seeking capital investment. In today's episode, Paul Clark and Dawson Racek of VentureSouth and Venture Carolina recap the Upstate Upstarts List of South Carolina, and discuss how they plan to use list to select the 15-20 most promising Startups for their Upstate Upstarts Fund. They review …
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E126: HealthyCell Growth Update
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E126: HealthyCell is a DTC supplements business with the competitive advantage of a proprietary oral gel delivery system that makes their suppliments better absorbed, easier to swallow and taste great. HC was first interviewed for E93 when they were launching their growth plan and reaching for profitability. Today David interviews Doug Giampappa, F…
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E125: Kiyatec Cracks the Code for Predicting Response to Chemotherapy
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E125: Kiyatec is a Cancer Diagnostics Startup focused on solving the problem of selecting the best chemotherapy for each individual cancer patient's specific cancer. The standard of care today is essentially trial and error following a menu of consensus empiric chemotherapy choices, then trying the most likely effective drug first and measuring res…
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E124: 757 Angels are based in Hampton Rhodes, VA and host a truely robust startup ecosystem. They offer a progressive support program for founders with a Startup Studio supporting pre-seed startups, progressing to the 757 Accelerate Program supporting growing startups and the 757 Angels who have raised over $100M of Angel Investment over the last 1…
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E123: The Southern US Investment Thesis
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E123: The Southern US is a distinct geographic market for Startups and Startup Investors with specific strengths and weaknesses. David and Paul discuss the general thesis of startup investing and then dig into the specific thesis for investing in Southern Startups. We review the southern startup ecosystem, capital formation, valuations, and exit po…
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E122: The Florida Opportunity Fund Identifies and invests in early growth stage companies
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E122: Economic Development is at full throttle with the Florida Opportunity Fund (FOF). They are focused on Seed and Series A tech startups with ~$150M+ deployed to date. FOF is currently pursuing four specific efforts: The FLORIDA VENTURE CAPITAL PROGRAM (FLVCP), founded in 2011, invests in emerging Florida companies in sectors with strategic impo…
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E121: Liquidation Preferences and Vesting are your Ticket to Ride
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E121: Fundraising terms are critical to successful startup growth and to successful exits for Founders and Investors. Arguably the most important term for Founders may be the Vesting terms that determine their take at exit. For Investors, it's the Liquidation Preference that determines their position in the line to get money after a liquidity event…
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E120: VentureAtlanta is one of the largest and most reputable venture conferences in the US, with over 1,500 annual attendees, 450 funds, and $17B in successful exits. It is a starting point for deal flow for Startup Investors of all stripes: Angels, VCs, private equity and large cap acquirers. David interviews Allyson Eman, the CEO of Venture Atla…
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E119: Startups at various stages struggle with HR. Some use a professional such as a Professional Employer Organization (PEO), an Administrative Services Organization (ASO) or a Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) company. Others do everything "in house". Paul interviews Gia Wiggins, a seasoned HR professional who is Founder and CEO of Auditocity, a…
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E118: The Central Texas Angel Network in Austin
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E118: The Central Texas Angel Network in Austin has been a focus for Angels there since 2006. Gary Forni is the new Chair of CTAN and brings his own perspective and some innovation to the group. We discuss CTAN's deal flow, their approach to diligence, their industry agnostic approach and their impressive investment results. Both Angels and Entrepr…
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E117: Wripple is Marketing’s On-Demand Talent Platform
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E117: David interviews Shannon Denton, Co-founder and CEO of Wripple, which is a two-sided marketplace that helps brands build a modern marketing team, hiring by role or hiring by project. A proven talent supply is screened and curated as individuals and as teams while agencies and enterprise brands can shop the marketplace with cost transparency a…
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E116 Non-Competes, Unrealized Capital Gains Tax & The TiKTok Ban
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E116: Non-competes and TikTok are banned, maybe capital gains too. The FTC flexed its muscle this week by imposing a federal ban on employee non-compete agreements, with some exceptions. Congress flexed its muscle too, with legislation banning TikTok. We discuss those events and how they could affect the Startup Ecosystem. We also talk about the po…
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E115: The uMed Story of Innovation
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E115: uMed was a marketplace platform for self-insured employers to shop for healthcare services that David started with his son Dan in late 2019. When the COVID-19 pandemic brought business to a halt, they pivoted to a COVID-19 testing business to solve the overwhelming demand problem for timely and convenient testing. Competing in a market domina…
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E114: ICONIC is a digital platform at the intersection of Art and the Digital Economy. Founded eight years ago, Iconic is a global pioneer in expanding the reach of cultural institutions and the arts. It partners with museums, digital artists, and brands to produce incredible digital and physical art for cultural collectors around the world. They o…
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E113: Why That Startup Investment Exit Wasn't So Great
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E113: Maybe you had a Startup Investment Exit, or know someone who did, that wasn't as lucrative as you expected. The target return may have been 10X or greater but after the dust settled your proceeds were more like 1.2X. You generally can attribute that outcome to the known risks of Early Stage Startup Investing, but sometimes it's the deal terms…
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E112: Luminelle Update on Their Breakout Revenue Growth
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E112: Luminelle is a surging FemTech startup that was recognized by VentureSouth for >100% YoY revenue growth, albeit from a modest base. 2023 was a breakout year for luminelle because they completed all FDA medical device regulatory requirements, achieved third-party payor acceptance, and gained provider acceptance as the new standard of care for …
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E111: Legislating for Startup Investing
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E111: The Expanding Access to Capital Act of 2023 (HB2799) is a proposed bill tha recently passed the US House of Representative. It would substantially change how startup investing works in the US. It would change the basic definition of an accredited investor, change how both small and large startup funds operate, and lower regulatory burdens. Th…
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E110: Gradient Health has had a blow out year consistent with the AI economy at large. As a data provider for AI training and validation for foundational models in medical imaging, they have enjoyed explosive growth with >100% YoY revenue growth for 2023 and forecasting even greater revenue growth for 2024. David previously interviewed CEO and co-f…
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E109: Sharpen is a digital therapeutic and training tool for the best ideas in mental health. Its a social-ecological model approach to mental health literacy where all tiers of individuals are trained with age-appropriate, de-stigmatized content. They use peer-focused documentary film-based trainings created in collaboration with community members…
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E108: Angel Investors are everywhere but only represent about 7.5% of all accredited investors. Given that diversified early stage startup fund results equal or exceed many other capital investment strategies (Public Equities, Bonds, Private Equity, & Real Estate) with a >20% 10 year average IRR, why aren't more accredited investors including early…
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E107: GaBBY Bows Proves You're Never Too Young To Innovate
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E107: Hey parents, it turns out you're never too young to innovate! Mother and daughter team Rozalynn and Gabby Goodwin set a new standard for innovation when Gabby pushed her mom to help her solve a common hair care problem with GaBBY Bows when she was just 7 years old. Over the last 10 years, the team has developed multiple patented hair care pro…
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E106: Queen City Angels, the Angel Capital Association, and the Angel Ecosystem
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E106: The Angel Investor Ecosystem has grown from modest beginnings to a robust national ecosystem thanks to Angel Groups such as Queen City Angels in Cincinnati and the Angel Capital Association. David and Matt Dunbar interview Tony Shipley, the Chairman and Co-founder of Queen City Angels (QCA) in Cincinnati and the Chair Emeritus of the Angel Ca…
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E105: Laying Brick at Brick Yard
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Startups and Venture investing seems to have come to a crossroads in 2024, with many venture funds and founders that have much in common but maybe not so much when it comes to innovation. The Brick Yard is innovating Southern Venture with an In-Residence Seed Stage Fund focused on a select group of founders, supporting them to a Series A. David int…
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E104b Bonus: Special Opportunity #1 for 2024
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In this bonus segment we discuss an special opportunity for investing in a company into which we have previously invested in their Seed round. Now we are investing in their just announced Series A. We can't name the company on the pod due to SEC 506c rules which limit public promotion to Accredited Investors, but we can discuss the impressive metri…
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E104: How Startup Ecosystems Think About Exits
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Entrepreneurship Ecosystems are critical to the success of startups. As the startup ethos has spread beyond Silicon Valley, more communities are seeing the economic and social value of supporting and promoting local entrepreneurship ecosystems. Paul interviews Eric Weissmann, director of NEXT, and Bryan Davis, director of The Hill Institute for Inn…
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E103: Portfolio Results for 2023
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In 2023, Early Stage Venture Portfolios experienced a downturn following the robust years of '21 and '22. Media outlets suggest an average decline of around 15% for startup funds in 2023 (though the methodology behind this calculation remains unclear). David and Paul delve into the nuances of reporting results, focusing on Exit Portfolio outcomes m…
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E102b Bonus: The Upstate Upstarts List is a new effort to promote innovation and business creation in the seven-county Upstate region of South Carolina. The list aims to highlight the early stage companies doing great things in the region. Paul discusses the effort with Charlie Banks (in his role as Executive Director of VentureCarolina, a non-prof…
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Carta faced a challenging week as it grappled with customer backlash over utilizing private customer data for a secondary market in private company equity. David interviews Paul Clark to discuss Carta's impact, while our Cap Tables expert, Matt Dunbar, shares insights on how the recent controversy could influence founders, investors, and Carta's se…
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E101: The 100th Pod Anniversary review
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In this episode, David and Paul explore some highlights of the first 100 podcasts, covering various topics: VitS podcast statistics Key listener locations Standout shows Insights gained from 100 podcasts Reflections on podcasting Understanding our audience Guest experiences Anticipated developments in 2024 Enhancing the investor dashboard Exciting …
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E100: The 2024 Florida Venture Capital Conference
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Venture Events unite founders, operators, and investors, fostering networking opportunities, service connections, and facilitating fundraising efforts. The 40th annual Florida Venture Capital Conference (FVCC) is scheduled to take place from January 31 to February 1, 2024, in Miami. The event will showcase 60 growth-phase companies, drawing an esti…
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E99: Startup Boards of Directors
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David presents upcoming pods, followed by a discussion with Paul on Startup Boards of Directors. The conversation delves into recent Board of Directors drama at OpenAI, exploring the OAI structure and potential improvements. They cover: What is a startup board? Why do startups have boards? Typical board structure and roles. Board chairs. Independen…
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E98: The State of Southern Venture in 2023
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2023 has proven to be more challenging than rewarding for Venture, marked by a series of disappointments amidst its noteworthy events. This show critically examines and discusses the implications of key occurrences in 2023 that will shape Venture's trajectory into 2024. I am joined by three distinguished experts in the field: Paul Clark, my co-host…
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Host David Grisell conducted his initial interview with Robert Preville, CEO of APPROVE, in August 2022 (E28), during which Preville introduced his groundbreaking equipment financing marketplace, then known as Kwipped. In the past year, the company underwent a rebranding, adopting the name APPROVE, reflective of their leading revenue-generating off…
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