Charlotte Angel Connection

  Today we welcome Paul Clark, Managing Director at VentureSouth, to the podcast.  Prior to co-founding VentureSouth, Paul was Senior Vice President of M&A at a multi-billion-dollar bank in South Carolina. Paul has extensive private equity investment and fund experience in New York and London.  In 2013 Paul, along with Matt Dunbar and Charlie Banks formulated the Venture South Plan. We’ve had Paul on the podcast before with portfolio company, Threatswitch, but this time we wanted to purely focus on the VentureSouth story and what they are doing.  As such, we turned to how Paul ended up in Greenville, South Carolina as the Managing Director of VentureSouth – ultimately this meant the transition from investing in large companies to startup stage companies.  From there, we dive into the early days of just being in a single city and how they’ve expanded from there to multiple cities across the Carolinas to where they are today. We also discuss how the VentureSouth model is different from other cities and what

  Today we welcome Dmitry Norenko, CEO and founder of upSWOT, to the podcast.  Dmitry and the team at upSWOT have been hard at work building a platform to help small and medium sized businesses (SMBs) make better decisions based on insight, personalized advice, and cashflow insights from within their banking portal. Dmitry and his team moved to Charlotte back in the summer of 2020.  Originally from Ukraine, they had moved out to California to take their business through an accelerator program on the west coast.  But upon completing those and being thrown full force into a pandemic, they relocated to Charlotte to continue what they started. Dmitry originally reached out to me in August 2020 - I remember asking him how he was holding up in the humidity!  Needless to say it was a little bit of a shock to his system.  But he and his team haven't let that stop them.  He immediately jumped into a demo of the software to show what they had been building and how impactful it can be for SMBs - and by extension the

Today, we welcome BJ McAndrews, co-founder of Flyp, to the podcast. BJ was introduced to me by Todd Buelow from Dualboot Partners (who was on Episode 95).  I always enjoy meeting startup founders in our introductory calls.  BJ and I hit it off right out of the gate.  Like so many founders, he has an infectious happiness about him.  After all he spends every day building his company - a company he wants to see change the way banking is delivered to millions of people. BJ is the kind of entrepreneur I've often thought Charlotte was creating but didn't know about.  He was a successful banker working in a coveted role.  He could have put it on cruise control and used his knowledge, experience, and connections to drive value to the bank all the way until he was ready to 'retire'.  But in early 2020, BJ decided to step away from the bank to start his own - Flyp. "Flyp was founded with one primary goal in mind: to help you get where you want to go in life."  BJ had read about the lack of mobility in Charlotte in

Today, we welcome Blake Wood, co-founder of APAY, to the podcast. Blake reached out to me back in 2018 to discuss the beginnings of what would become APAY and asking for advice.  At that point, Blake and his co-founder, Owen Brady, were still working in the bank and trying to figure out how to build their company.  They had a little bit of seed money but were trying to map their path forward to helping people better understand and manage their student loans. Fast forward to now and APAY was acquired this fall by Ramsey Solutions – Dave Ramsey’s company.  It’s a great match for them as Dave has long taught debt management as a solution to wealth creation.  It’s an exciting step for them as they move to Tennessee to help bring their APAY app to the entire Ramsey Solutions audience. In our podcast today we learn about the beginnings of APAY and how they tackled various aspects of getting the company off the ground.  APAY became a way for people to better understand their student loans and tackle paying them o

  Today we welcome Justin Adams and Pat Morrell, co-founders of Anduin.  Many of you know this is their second startup together as they sold Digitize.ai back in 2019 – which is now part of Waystar.  So, this is our first podcast dealing with co-founders in Charlotte who have built and sold and are now building again, together. For that reason, we get to dive into some great topics with them.  We didn’t ask them, “what would you do differently”, we asked, “what ARE you doing differently?”  This dynamic allows us to cover some great aspects of their entrepreneurial journey.  We dove into the concept of Digitize.ai and how they jumped into it as co-founders.  We learn how they built the product and sold it customers.  Along the way, we hear about their travels to Atlanta as well as the sacrifices – personally and professionally – they both made along the way. As we run through their trials and tribulations with Digitize.ai, we naturally break straight into the discussion of how Anduin has been developed diffe

Today, we welcome Haley Sutton, Founder of Box Babe Gift Co., to the podcast.  I first met Haley when she was an intern for Packard Place a few years ago.  She was regularly at Packard Place as we recorded podcasts and showed up for startup/investing events.  So it was awesome to have her on the podcast to talk about her own startup and the path she has taken to get here. The one thing Haley continued to say in our podcast I loved was how it was worth swinging for the fences.  That’s the mentality that has allowed her to flourish and grow as a person and as an entrepreneur.  While she has been selling goods online through Etsy and other platforms since she was 14 years old, her journey as an entrepreneur wouldn’t prepare her for the twists and turns as she launched Box Babe Gift Co.  It took guts and grit to leave Element Brands, a position with health insurance benefits, in the spring of 2020 – right during the early days of the Covid19 pandemic. Yet, her bet on herself paid off.  She started working out o

Today we welcome Ben Boyer, co-founder and Executive Chairman of R-Zero Systems, to the podcast.  Prior to March 2020, Ben had worked in Venture Capital – getting his feet wet with Lehman Brothers as he came out of college. After the Lehman bankruptcy, he went to work for Tenaya Capital which was spun out of Lehman Brothers.  At Tenaya, Ben focused on global consumer and related investments, with an emphasis on vertical applications and network effect businesses. He led investments in companies based in four countries and on three continents.  In 2020, he remained a Partner at Tenaya Capital but he stepped away from raising new funds to focus on R-Zero Systems.  Ben now lives in Park City UT. Ben speaks about his early days at Lehman and the fall of the financial business.  He shares in-depth stories of investing in venture capital including some of the success stories. Ultimately, though , as Covid begins to develop in the US it brought back emotions of 9/11 – and what he could do to help.  This led to hi

Today we welcome Noam Mani, Co-Founder of Quartix.  Quartix is a company combining technology with institutional cash to transform vendor early payments into a true win-win for both the buyer and the vendors.  I met Noam several years ago when he was participating in the QC Fintech Accelerator program (run by RevTech Labs). The company has come a long way since those early days and they are now growing quickly – which is a great testament to Noam, his co-founder (Dror) and the rest of team including his stable of advisors they picked up along the way (some of which he picked up as a result of his participation in in the accelerator program). Noam is originally from Israel but he and Quartix now call Charlotte home.  It’s great to see founders like Noam and Dror come through the QC Fintech program and ultimately decide to call Charlotte home.  It’s a testament to the types of mentors in the program as well as the quality of program Dan Roselli and the rest of the team over there have built. Noam served as a

Today, we welcome Jim Roberts to the podcast.  Jim is a familiar name in the Charlotte area startup and investor ecosystem.  Today, Jim runs the Wilmington Angels for Local Entrepreneurs (WALE), Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW), and his own consulting firm, Rojo Octo Ecosystem Consulting. Yet, in 2000, he started a non-profit ecosystem in Charlotte before moving to Ashville to start their startup ecosystem and angel network.  From there Jim was recruited to work for the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Division in Raleigh.  In 2013 he moved to Wilmington to start UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE).  The CIE offers programs, services, and activities to promote and support entrepreneurship and the creation of innovative new ventures in Southeastern North Carolina. Jim has been around the entrepreneur ecosystem since it’s infancy and has helped get several cities off the ground.  It was a great opportunity for him to talk about how Wilmington has – and continues to

  Today we are pleased to welcome Luke Wilcox, CEO and founder of Ethos, to the podcast.  Luke was part of the most recent RevTech Labs program and we got the chance to sit down with him and a few of his classmates to talk about their experience with the world class program as well as learn more about their businesses. Ethos is a first-of-its-kind FinTech platform to align your money with the causes you care about, including racial justice, climate change, LGBTQ equality, and more.  Essentially, it is a tool allowing investors and their advisors identify the causes most important to them and then screen the investment world for opportunities best fitting for them.  Luke started this as he was trying to identify investments whose causes aligned with his own and it has grown rapidly since then.  At first Luke was targeting individual investors only but he has allowed the platform to grow and is working with financial advisors and others to broaden it's reach. Luke started his career with McKinsey and clearly

Today we are pleased to welcome Nish Krishna, CEO of Lend-Grow, to the podcast.  Nish was part of the most recent RevTech Labs program and we got the chance to sit down with him and a few of his classmates to talk about their experience with the world class program as well as learn more about their businesses. Lend-Grow is an online lending marketplace connecting borrowers with community banks to offer the best deals on loans.  Borrowers can check their rates in less than two minutes and get matched with the lender that has the best deal for their needs.  Nish and his team are having success building out a marketplace which is a tough thing to do.  But they are creating that success by partnering with local community banks who are looking to expand their reach.  It's a great concept to serve a very large niche. Nish started his career with Capital One which is a very data intensive company and he is bringing that skillset to Lend-Grow as it scales up the number of loans it can and will provide through its m

  Today we are pleased to welcome Lennox McNeary, CEO of ArchiveCore, to the podcast.  Lennox was part of the most recent RevTech Labs program and we got the chance to sit down with her and a few of her classmates to talk about their experience with the world class program as well as learn more about their businesses. ArchiveCore is a creating a simplified credentialing process for complex industries.  Lennox understands this well as she is a physician as well as a co-founder and grew frustrated with the process of hiring in her profession.  The typical delays of 90 days or more are costing hospitals money and reducing access to care for patients. ArchiveCore is building a software - utilizing blockchain technology - and a process to help the process become much more efficient.  Listen in to today's shorter podcast to learn more about the business model and how Charlotte has and continue to help ArchiveCore grow.   William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth

  Today, we are fortunate to have Nat Clarkson and Dan Roselli  join us on the podcast to talk with us about CFV Ventures. We all know Dan and Nat from their work at RevTech Labs/QC Fintech. We wanted the opportunity to sit down and explore what CFV Ventures has been up to since closing their first fund.  Since this is our first time talking with Nat on the podcast we spend a good bit of time learning more about his background before we shift the discussion over to the fund.  Once we dive into the fund discussion we get into what types of companies they are investing in and where they are investing. It's great to hear the relationships they are creating and the awareness this fund is having on the world's perception of Charlotte.  Listening to Nat and Dan talk I realized how far Charlotte's ecosystem has come and yet how much further it can continue to go.  Fortunately, Charlotte continues to recruit good companies and talent - in large part to the work of Dan, Nat and many others have had in supporting th

Today, we are fortunate to have Jonathan Kite join us on the podcast to talk with us about Rent Ready. Jonathan and the Rent Ready team (including co-founders Ryan McMillan and Will Brugh) completed a $10 million Series A in March 2021 - another great raise for a Charlotte based company. Jonathan grew up in Charlotte and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Jonathan started out leading the IT and marketing functions for Rent Ready to ensure their technology platform is constantly adapting to meet customer and Service Pro’s needs. He co-founded Rent Ready after a 6-year tenure at Microsoft working as a technical account manager, operations consultant, and program manager. Jonathan has a passion for technology and how it unlocks new potentials. Rent Ready is a rapidly growing services platform that uses technology to help coordinate the process of getting vacant apartment homes ready to rent (“turn”). Built to eliminate the frustration of typical apartment turns, Rent Ready utilizes a pr

Today, we welcome back Matt Potere, CEO of Sunlight Financial, to the podcast.  Matt joined us early in the days of the podcast with Episode 20 and Episode 21. Back in these days, Sunlight Financial was growing rapidly and in the process of moving into their new office space as they 'graduated' from the halls of Packard Place.  Fortunately, Matt and the rest of his team have continued to see growth over the last couple of years - so much growth they will be going public through a merger with a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) later this year. Given this is our first podcast guest to take his company public, we wanted to sit down with Matt to get an update of what the company has been doing and what it sees ahead. As a quick reminder, Sunlight Financial is co-headquartered in NY and Charlotte.  They have recently expanded into home improvement financing and they continue to offer consumer loans for residential solar.  They are also expanding to new products, including energy storage and energy effi

Today we welcome Mike Murphy, CEO and Co-Founder of ProctorFree and Kevin Eckert, Partner with TFX Capital to the podcast. Mike served in the Army and later worked as a defense contractor. Prior to starting ProctorFree, Mike worked as marketing director for Everblue Training Institute, a startup focused on marketing environmental sustainability and green building (Jon Boggiano – Founder of Everblue was on guest #3 on the podcast – listen to it here). ProctorFree is an on-demand, convenient, and cost-effective online proctoring solution for education and corporate environments. The ProctorFree platform allows organizations to elevate their credibility and reputation while providing convenient learning opportunities for a global audience. Kevin is originally from Update New York and joined marines before ultimately ending up in Charlotte. He worked for a private equity firm where he got the start-up bug.  In 2018, he joined TFX Capital.  TFX Capital is a founder focused venture capital firm led by former mil

Today, Juan Garzon jumps back on the Charlotte Angel Connection – his second time and first since his appearance as the 4th guest (listen to Juan’s first podcast here).  Juan is the Executive Director at Innovate Charlotte. Most of us have known Juan, or known of Juan, for nearly a decade now as he has been an integral part of the startup ecosystem.  Between his work over the years with Pitch Breakfast, launching the Start Charlotte newsletter (now Charlotte Inno), or any number of other things Juan has done to help startups over the years, Juan has been a tireless advocate of all things startup related in Charlotte. We wanted to catch up with Juan to discuss his new role as Executive Director at Innovate Charlotte.  We’ve spoken with Walt Frye and Keith Luedeman as they lead the organization in the past and wanted to hear from Juan how it will expand/grow as the ecosystem continues to build up strength and momentum. As you may know or recall, Innovate Charlotte is a nonprofit organization with a mission t

  Today, Eric Mager and Marco Burgarello, of Bundle join the podcast.  I’ve been a fan of Marco’s since I met him while he was working with Dan Roselli at Packard Place.  And when I saw Eric pitch Bundle at a Charlotte Angel Fund meeting I knew he was a founder and Bundle was a company worth watching.  Bundle sits at the crossroads of privacy, technology, personalization, and a great user experience.  Considering the mortgage industry doesn’t deliver any of that, I figured it had a decent shot at success. But listen to the podcast today and you’ll hear for yourself why they are gearing up for more success.  Their platform provides a simple way for borrowers to compare current mortgage rates while staying anonymous. They provide a place where the borrower controls the process, not the lenders bidding for the business.  As you’ll hear in the interview, Bundle guarantees to never sell or give away client contact information to banks or lenders, ever. The tough thing is Bundle is building a two-way market.  Th

  Today we welcome Gunner Cuevas, CEO and Co-Founder of CARL.  I met Gunnar a few years ago as he was coming through the QC Fintech Accelerator Program. His desire to bring unique quantitative strategies to a broader population caught my attention. CARL is the first to provide easy access to hedge funds through a simple to use mobile app. By taking advantage of new regulations and advances in analytics and computing technologies they offer investment opportunities not previously available to most investors. . Hedge funds have gotten a bad rap over the years as they are reported to continue underperforming the market.  But Gunnar saw how hedge funds can win.  He also saw how he could help investors win. This is CARL – the way to bring hedge funds to individual investors.  It’s clean and simple and has an opportunity to democratize this part of the investment industry. Gunnar is no stranger to startups. His first startup got off the ground when he was back home in Chile. After spending time traveling the wo