Awesome Inc

Kory Payne is the co-founder and CEO of Ujoin Advocacy. Ujoin helps people communicate easily and effectively with policy makers, giving nonprofits, business, and citizens all of the tools they need to be effective policy advocates.

Kory is from a small town in Ohio and eventually found himself running a small nonprofit in Hawaii. He needed an advocacy platform and all he found was clunky and very expensive solutions, so he set out to create Ujoin. 

He met his wife in Hawaii and she brought him back to the Paducah area where she's from. They're raising two kids in Paducah and Kory plans to grow the Ujoin business there.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: 

• Kory Payne on Linkedin

• Ujoin's website

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Justin Perron is co-founder and CEO of 13 Layers, which is a Managed Cybersecurity Services company on the frontlines protecting companies globally from hackers. 13 Layers empowers Executives and IT professionals with the education, strategy and tools required to defeat the most sophisticated cyber-criminal groups in the world.

Justin's daily goals include teaching IT professionals how to build zero trust networks with proactive security as the first layer of defense and teaching Executives how to analyze and reduce risk from cyber-attacks. When he's not fully connected, you can find him purposely disconnected and hiking, kayaking, playing soccer, traveling, or cooking and being a foodie with family.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• ⁠⁠Justin Perron on Linkedin

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Bill Meehan⁠ and ⁠Kirk Selenberg⁠ are the Co-Founders of ⁠MiniGrip⁠, which is the World’s First Portable Gripper – A high-quality accessory that people carry with them and use to open twist-top bottles, jars, and other items!  

Kirk and Bill met in Business school at Carnegie Mellon in 2010 and have been friends since.  Kirk (Chief Product Officer) is a Mechanical Engineer by education with 7 Years in R&D and 15 Years in IT. Bill (CEO) has and Finance and Operations background with 20+ years of experience leading businesses in both High-tech and Retail. Bill and Kirk launched MiniGrip in 2020 and have both always wanted to start a new business.  

Bill and Kirk both live in Lexington with their families.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• ⁠Kirk Selenberg⁠ on Linkedin

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Chris Wiedmar is co-founder and COO of Party Horses, which is an experiential company that plays in the web3 and spirits space. 

Chris and his team started Party Horses back in January 2022 and have generated close to 2M in revenue over the past year. They are looking to expand more into the spirits business in 2023. Chris enjoys spending time with his family, mentoring other startups and collecting rare Nike sneakers in his spare time.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Chris Wiedmar on Linkedin

• Party Horses website

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Matt is co-founder and CEO at Canopy. Previously, he was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force and spent an 8 year career as a B-52H Weapons Officer. In this role, he flew, managed, and operated weapon systems ranging from conventional munitions to nuclear armed cruise missiles. As a supervisor and operator of Air Force weapon systems, Matt developed expertise on the technical capabilities and limitations of all weapons in the Air Force’s inventory and adjacent military branches. 

During this time, he also served as a mission commander on dozens of missions during two combat deployments overseas. Matt then took his expertise to Europe as an Air Liaison Officer, advising NATO partners and U.S. military forces on how to utilize U.S. Air Force capabilities. He developed strategy and planned operations at the highest levels, while managing and integrating the Air Force’s special operations tactical air controllers, known as Joint Terminal Attack Controllers (JTACs). 

Matt has an MBA from the University of Chicago and is married with a son.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Matt Shieh on Linkedin

• Caopy Aerospace website

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Recap of Feedcoyote winning at the February 2023 5 Across on February 22nd, 2023.

Stevens is the Founder & CEO at Feedcoyote, an AI-powered collaboration network platform with built-in productivity tools that empowers freelance business. 

Stevens is an Economist with a Doctorate in Business, and has gained his tech experience at Microsoft for many years. Now he aims to help take loneliness out of freelance work and improve productivity so that freelancers can make more money together. Join the Feedcoyote community today on the Web, or download the App on iOS & Android.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Stevens Bonhomme on Linkedin

• Steven's February 2023 5 Across pitch (41:33)

• Feedcoyote website

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Recap of XENA Intelligence winning at the 2022 5 Across FINALS on December 7th, 2022.

XENA is an AI-powered growth platform that helps e-commerce brands automate and optimize ad campaigns on marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart through data intelligence, proprietary algorithms, and predictive analytics.

In 2022, we grew revenue 12X, managed over $14.5M in ad spend, with 40+ brand clients (including Nestle), and grew the team to 25 FTEs.

Founded by Akhil Nair, an experienced strategic consultant and marketer out of Louisville, XENA is a Techstars NYC Accelerator alum, and gearing up for a Seed Round in Q2, 2023.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Akhil Nair on Linkedin

• Akhil's October 2022 5 Across pitch

• XENA website

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XENA is an AI-powered growth platform that helps e-commerce brands automate and optimize ad campaigns on marketplaces like Amazon and Walmart through data intelligence, proprietary algorithms, and predictive analytics. 

In 2022, we grew revenue 12X, managed over $14.5M in ad spend, with 40+ brand clients (including Nestle), and grew the team to 25 FTEs.

Founded by Akhil Nair, an experienced strategic consultant and marketer out of Louisville, XENA is a Techstars NYC Accelerator alum, and gearing up for a Seed Round in Q2, 2023.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Akhil Nair on Linkedin

• Akhil's October 2022 5 Across pitch 

• XENA website

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Steve Chamberland is the Co-Founder and Chief Revenue Officer at Water Warriors, a scientifically driven company providing innovative products and technologies to protect our waterways from nutrient pollution.  At Water Warriors we believe that water is the world's most valuable resource, we treat water how water should be treated.

Steve competed in and won the August 2022 5 Across and earned a spot in the 2022 5 Across FINALS.

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Steve Chamberland on Linkedin

• Water Warriors website

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Hussein Al-Baiaty from Scribe Media interviewed Garrett Fahrbach of the Awesome Inc team who led the charge on publishing the next book in the series from the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame. 

Unbridled Spirit Volume 2: Lessons in Life and Business tells 19 stories of 2015-2019 inductees from the Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame classes.

Pick up your copy today on Amazon or at the Awesome Inc space!

Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode:

• Unbridled Spirit Volume 2: Lessons in Life and Business from Kentucky's Most Successful Entrepreneurs on Amazon

• Hussein Al-Baiaty on Linkedin

• Garrett Fahrbach on Linkedin

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