Found In The Rockies

In today’s episode, we have Rebecca Clyde who is the founder and CEO of Botco.ai. Rebecca is going to share with us her journey to creating the fully-automated, AI-powered marketing chat solution that is a HIPAA-compliant platform enabling meaningful and intelligent conversations between providers and consumers.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• Growing up in Central and South America.
• Landing a job at Intel right out of college.
• Growing up in an Intel environment.
• Getting her MBA while working at Intel.
• How she got started as a consultant.
• Meeting Anu Shukla and Chris Maeda.
• Landing their first customer.
• From consumer engagement to healthcare.
• How is this different from platforms like ChatGPT.
• Where does Rebecca think AI is going.
• What’s the downside to open AI
• What is next for the Botco team?
• Rebecca’s thoughts on the future of healthcare. 
• Advice for other women/founders in the region.
• The welcoming culture in the Arizona startup community.

Resources:

Website: https://botco.ai/ 

Rebecca Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rebeccaclyde/

Rebecca Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ceorebeccaclyde/?hl=en

Botco LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/botco.ai/

Botco Twitter: https://twitter.com/botcoai

In today’s episode, I am very excited to welcome a fellow investor and friend here in the Intermountain West, Serene Papenfus, who is a Principal at Kickstart Fund in Salt Lake City, Utah. Kickstart is a venture capital firm on a mission to help build great companies in the Wild West.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• Growing up in Tokyo, Japan. And comparing the skiing in each. 
• Transitioning from management consulting to Venture Capital.
• What brought Serene back to Utah.
• Kickstart Fund NOT Kickstarter
• The Kickstart mission and 6th Fund
• What does Serene think about the macro environment in the Rocky Mountains?
• Why VC is the wrong product for most founders? - Bryce Roberts article
• The difference between growth equity and VC.
• What impact the current banking environment may have on startups.
• What’s in store for the future of Kickstart and Fund 6.
• What has Serene learned from being a VC.

Resources:

Website: https://kickstartfund.com/ 

Serene LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/serenepapenfuss/

Kickstart LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/kickstartfund/ 

Serene Twitter: https://twitter.com/serenepapenfuss 

Kickstart Twitter: https://twitter.com/KickstartFund 

In today’s episode, we explore a critical and relevant topic for all founders, optimizing personal and professional performance through coaching. We have Scott Walgren who is the founder and CEO of Credo Performance Coaching. He coaches founders and entrepreneurs through goal setting and through the startup process. And we also have Matt Maasdam, who is going to help us provide a founder perspective on coaching and on this subject. And Matt is an entrepreneur, who is the co-founder at PECOS Outdoor.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• Matt’s background and introduction.
• What is coaching and what does it mean?
• How is a coach different from a mentor?
• The importance of self awareness as a startup founder.
• How and when to find a coach?
• What to expect from a coach.
• How to break down the sticker shock.
• What to expect in a coaching session.
• How Matt has benefited from coaching.
• Coaching and mental health. 
• A call to action for finding a coach.

Resources:

Scott LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottwalgren/

Matt LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/matt-maasdam-b994ab6/

Credo Performance Coaching LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/credo-performance-coaching/

PECOS Outdoor LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/pecosoutdoor/

PECOS Outdoor website: https://pecosoutdoor.com/ 

On today's episode, we are excited to share a powerful story of two founders who are on a bold mission to dent the universe by pioneering housing as an employment benefit. Jerryck Murrey and Aly Hollewijn, who are the co-founders of Annum. 

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• Aly’s early experience watching her parents as entrepreneurs.
• Jerryck’s early entrepreneurial aspirations growing up.
• Learning the world of real estate and development.
• How Jerryck and Aly met.
• Identifying the connection between affordable housing and employee retention - especially during COVID. 
• The value of having a partner that loves the process of building a company.
• From friends to partners. 
• What is Annum?
• How does this work in practice.
• The difference between housing and other industries.
• Friction around new benefits.
• How the feelings of different generations have an impact on housing needs.
• What does the Annum universe look like?
• Leveling up society by meeting basic needs.
• How Aly and Jerryck would describe each other.

Resources:

Annum website: https://www.annumhousing.com/

Aly LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alyh-shrmcp/

Jerryck LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jerryck-owens-murrey/

Annum LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/annumhousing/

In today’s episode, have one of Next Frontier Capital's portfolio company founders on the podcast - Jeff Gibson, who is the CTO of MonetizeNow. Jeff and his co-founder Sandeep are revolutionizing billing systems and streamlining the process.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• Jeff’s early days in Missoula, MT.
• Jeff’s start in tech with Advanced Technology Group.
• The transition from Montana to San Francisco.
• Learning data engineering on the fly at Atlassian.
• The challenges of building a product-lead growth platform.
• The problem with tech debt and tech debt.
• Deciding to team up with Sandeep to solve this problem.
• Definition of Quote to Cash.
• Deciding to leave Atlassian and start MonetizeNow.
• Raising capital
• The hiring process for the first hires - finding engineers who will do well in a startup
• Exploring use cases for larger companies.
• Keeping ties to Montana.
• How Jeff met the team at Next Frontier.
• Jeff’s advice for a young software engineer from a small town.

Resources:

MonetizeNow Website: https://www.monetizenow.io/

Jeff LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffgibsonsf/

Jeff Twitter: https://twitter.com/gibbymt

MonetizeNow Twitter: https://twitter.com/MonetizeNowIo