Awesome Inc

Addie Reinhard pitched at and won February 2021 5 Across with MentorVet. 

Her company improves the well-being of life as a veterinarian. 

The MentorVet mentorship and professional development program support young veterinarians through a combination of peer mentorship and online training in non-clinical professional skills to provide tools to help veterinarians cope with some of the most common stressors of practice.

Connect with Addie via email: [email protected] or on LinkedIn. 

Harut Vardanyan is the CEO of HeXalayer with 11 years of experience in the nanotechnology & energy industry. He went through the 2017 Vogt Award accelerator based in Louisville, KY & the 2019 Ameren Accelerator.

So you know, current Li-ion batteries offer an insufficient amount of energy for their weight. Small & Medium UAVs can only fly 30-40 minutes without a payload and 15 minutes with a payload. A HeXalayer battery-powered vehicle will provide 3-4 times more energy for the same-weight battery (aka will be able to operate & travel longer without increasing the battery weight).

In part 2, Tom shares his perspective on cultural differences between big cos versus startups, what he's learned about creativity and innovation working at some of the most highly-perceived “innovative” companies in the world, and how training can be a strategic weapon for a company, and why it's important to show people the wall rather than the door.

This is a good one, folks.

In part 1, Tom Stern is a Technical Curriculum Developer at Amazon Web Services with an extensive background in teaching, publishing courses, and aiding people in understanding machine learning, data structure, and cloud architecture. He has worked with highly popular tech companies like Cisco, Google, and Amazon yet has a humble persona that is not often found in the tech industry.

Brandon Young, the founder of Pascal Tags, started a company after his girlfriend kept misplacing her keys... After learning inventory displacement has been an issue since the 1950s (when Barcode and RFID were originally conceived), he created a product to combat inventory problems.

This episode is for Innovators.

In part 2, Curt talks about good risk versus bad risk for corporate companies and updated us on what he’s been up to post-Dippin’ Dots with his newest venture, 40 Below Joe. 

This episode is for innovators. 

In part 1, Curt Jones, the founder of Dippin' Dots Ice Cream and 40 Below Joe, walks through his journey on what it was like to go from corporate innovator to entrepreneur and why it was so important to build a company that encouraged innovation from within. In 1988, microbiologist Curt Jones used his knowledge of cryogenic technology to invent Dippin’ Dots and changed the way we consume ice cream.

The winner of the 2020 5 Across Finals was Natalia Bishop. Her company, Level Up, is on a mission to connect, educate, and inspire women, and future entrepreneurs within holistic learning environments. Participants learn with burst-style learning - imagine if Masterclass collided with Instagram's reel video feature. 

Natalia's main focus is helping pour back into the community and develop the people who are looking for alternative means to earn a living given the COVID-19 pandemic. 

This episode is for founders.

In part 3, Keith wraps up our conversation and shares why assisting startups is crucial for Kentucky, and how our entrepreneurial culture is changing the state.

This episode is for founders.

In part 2, Keith McMunn, unsuccessful with replacing Garrett as the new host, is back and dives into the structure and programming of how the Fellowship helps startup companies and everyone's favorite word, accountability.