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January 5, 2024

NVNG's Carrie Thome On Becoming The Investee

By Adam Burroughs

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.

March 11, 2022

Even for the best entrepreneurs, raising capital is always harder than it looks

Bloomscape Founder and CEO Justin Mast spoke with Dickinson Wright's Zan Nicolli about his venture and the process of raising capital from investors.