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April 24, 2025
Building Zenwork: A Founder’s Journey
By Dealmakers Staff
Sanjeev Singh, founder and CEO of Zenwork, shares the entrepreneurial journey that led to a nine-figure private equity minority investment, and the challenges, pivotal moments and strategies that fueled Zenwork’s growth.
January 5, 2024
NVNG's Carrie Thome On Becoming The Investee
Carrie Thome left the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation, where, as the Chief Investment Officer, she oversaw a $3 billion investment portfolio, to co-found NVNG Investment Advisors.
September 8, 2023
COVID Turbulence Drew Project Admission's Focus Inward
Stephen Glicken is working to disrupt ticket sales as we know it with his company, Project Admission. It's a unique model that managed to survive the collapse of live events during COVID and continue
May 19, 2023
Biju Kulathakal On Launching Halo, Fundraising
Halo Investing is a platform for structured notes or, as the company's Co-Founder and CEO Biju Kulathakal puts it, defined outcome investing. "It's a financial product that's a $3 trillion market
May 12, 2023
Porter Road's Path To Changing The World
"Originally, when (co-founder) Chris (Carter) and I went out, we had $50 suits that we got at Goodwill and we had a crazy idea, which was opening a high-end butcher shop in East Nashville. At the time, and traditionally, East Nashville wasn't a very wealthy neighborhood. It was a very working class, rougher area. Most banks and financing people didn't see the opportunity that was going to happen." - Porter Road Co-Founder James Peisker on why banks hesitated to fund the company and how capital and ideas from VC and PE led to its remarkable growth.
May 12, 2023
Demystifying Alternative Capital Sources
It's very hard to get into a PE fund, says Datassential Inc. CEO Jim Emling. In order to do the kind of work he does within private equity, typically a person would have to have sold to their business
May 5, 2023
Facing Economic Headwinds, Deal Math Changes
Several area dealmakers chimed in on how they see the current market; how buyers, sellers and entrepreneurs are faring; and their expectations for how the remainder of the deal year plays out. Check out what they have to say.
April 21, 2023
Finding Opportunity In Disruption
Defiant Capital Group Founder Jonathan Dane on launching the firm, his perspective on how the investor mindset has changed over the years since, and offers tips on post-business investment life.
April 14, 2023
Identifying Gaps In Charlotte’s Startup Scene
Innovate Charlotte Managing Director Juan Garzón on his perspective on the Charlotte startup scene — its strengths, its gaps, and the progress it's made ... and still needs to make.
January 27, 2023
Serial Entrepreneur Gabriela Isturiz Turns Investor with The Fund XX
Serial entrepreneur and early-stage investor Gabriela Isturiz, who founded two high-growth technology companies that she sold to Fortune 500 companies, recently co-founded The Fund XX, which makes
November 11, 2022
Young People See Startups As A Way To Make An Impact
Ohio Innovation Fund Principal Faith Voinovich on changes she's seen in early-stage investing and shares her view of the broader startup picture.
November 4, 2022
Pitch perfect: The need for newbie entrepreneurs to improve their talk track
Project Olympus' Kit Needham on the areas where fist-time entrepreneurs stumble when seeking their earliest funding rounds.
October 14, 2022
Michael Sirpilla On Society Brands’ $204M Raise
Society Brands CEO Michael Sirpilla spoke on Dealmaker TV's DealTalk program about the company’s $204M raise and its growth since its launch in 2020.
October 7, 2022
From funder to fundraiser
MOBILion's Dr. Melissa Sherman on growing the company and how she's adapted to the fundraising process.
September 15, 2022
CreativeCo Capital finds early success through data-driven outreach
CreativeCo Capital's Ashley Gautreaux on the progress her firm has been able to make in a short time and why.
September 15, 2022
ESG’s increasing impact on investment decisions
Black Brain Trust's Angel St. Jean on the rise of ESG, her company’s growth, and the challenges of fundraising.
August 26, 2022
Building a culture of support for startups
Wisconsin Startup Coalition Co-founders Matt Cordio and Peter Welch on the progress the organization has made since its launch in 2020, and how creating a network of support could lead to putting Wisconsin on investors' maps.
August 26, 2022
Pushing through the noes
Immaculate Cleaning Founder and President James Barnes on his entrepreneurial journey and the importance of pushing through the noes to get to the all-important yeses.
August 12, 2022
Engineered From Personal Need, Nollapelli Is Ready To Grow
Nollapelli founder Allison Howard talks with the Smart Business Dealmakers Podcast about how she created Nollapelli and prepared the company for early-stage investing.
August 11, 2022
Archetype Solutions Pursues A Unique Approach To Investing
Archetype Solutions Group CEO Chetan Bagga on launching Archetype Solutions and its unique approach to investing.
July 29, 2022
Dan German on lessons learned launching Orthobrain
Orthobrain's Dan German on launching Orthobrain, fundraising, and how the lessons he learned growing and selling German Orthodontics are informing his new venture.
July 22, 2022
When Three Little Pigs Went To Market
Village Gourmet's David Kemp and Gemini Investors' James Goodman on buying Three Little Pigs, growing it into Village Gourmet and taking that company to market.
July 14, 2022
Ascender Lifts Early-Stage Entrepreneurs
Nadyli Nuñez, executive director, Ascender, has guided hundreds of early-stage entrepreneurs through her incubator, co-working programs, and numerous early-stage investments to position them for add-on capital as part of their growth journey from scale-up to the middle market. She has a detailed, hands-on approach to ensure the success of her clients.
July 6, 2022
Reasons to be excited, cautious, when launching a business with family
Geneoscopy's Andrew Barnell on launching Geneoscopy, structuring the business and working with family.
July 6, 2022
Family must earn their way into Archangel's CEO seat
Archangel Protective Services' Ken Thomas on how the company got its start, the importance of getting help along the way, succession planning and the ways he's helping others get their entrepreneurial start.
June 17, 2022
Founders helping founders
Ilana Diamond on launching 412 Ventures, its investment thesis, and how their collective experience as founders might give them an advantage.
June 2, 2022
It’s All About Partnerships and Pitch Decks for Rambus
Mykolas Rambus is a serial entrepreneur who founded and sold two previous companies, including Wealth-X, where he served as CEO until its 2016 sale for more than $20 million. Most recently, Mykolas raised early-stage rounds of capital in 2021 to build out Hush, a company that offers cybersecurity services. Though the capital raise process went well, Mykolas talks about how better pitch materials would have made for a smoother raise.
April 28, 2022
Capital alignment and speaking investors' languages
Amicus.io CEO and Co-Founder Cor Hoekstra, talks prior to the company's acquisition by TIFIN about attracting investors, differentiation, and what he sees as the future for the company.
March 24, 2022
When PE goes downstream
North Coast Ventures Managing Director Todd Federman on the deal year for early-stage companies, as well as the trends he's seeing on that end of the M&A spectrum.
March 11, 2022
Raising capital as a startup is about more than money
Rabbu CEO Emir Dukic talks about the process of raising capital and how he went about doing diligence on potential investors.
