Found In The Rockies

In today’s episode, we have Amelia Wilcox, CEO and founder of Nivati. She is a founder who created a high growth mental health platform that provides the easiest way for employers to understand and manage employee mental well being. The app provides HIPAA compliant real time employee data to companies and on-demand holistic mental health solutions for employees. Amelia is here today to tell us all about her journey as a lifelong entrepreneur, the ups and downs that it entails and the exciting path she is on as a b2b SaaS founder based in Utah.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• Early entrepreneurship in Kansas City
• Moving to Salt Lake City
• Lightbulb moment - the freedom in entrepreneurship
• Selling sporting goods out of her garage
• Massage business not in a traditional spa
• Learning to hire virtually before it was common
• The COVID effect
• Hitting the bottom
• The pivot and fighting back by offering new services
• Current offerings and business model
• The first official VC fundraise
• The importance of vulnerability and consistency
• Networking
• Family first

Resources:

Nivati’s Website: https://nivati.com/
Amelia’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ameliamwilcox/
Nivati’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/Nivati_Co
Nivati’s Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/NivatiCo
Nivati’s Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/nivati_co/
Nivati’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/nivati-co/

In today’s episode, I talk with Jared Stack, the founder of Breakthrough 307, and the founder and CEO of Casper-based FlowState Solutions. We talk about Jerad’s deep family history in Wyoming, his early years as an entrepreneur, and moving to Silicon Valley when his company was acquired. We talk about what brought him back to WY, how he created Breakthrough 307 and what his unique perspective is being both a founder and an angel investor. 

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• Jerad’s family history in Wyoming.
• First tech startup - Firehold Technologies
• Wyoming kids in San Francisco
• Early days of sourcing capital in Wyoming
• The growth of tech and venture in Wyoming
• The summer of Jerad
• Steamboat the bronco
• Breakthrough 307 and angel investing in Wyoming
• What do Wyoming founders need
• The struggle of follow-on funding
• Founding FlowState
• FlowState plans for 2022
• Why Wyoming is great for entrepreneurs
• Jared’s advice for Wyoming founders

Resources:

Jerad Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeradstack/

Breakthrough 307: https://www.breakthrough307.com/

Flowstate Solutions: https://flowstatesolutions.ai/

Flowstate Solutions LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/flowstate-solutions/

In today’s episode, I talk with Dan DeCloss. He is the Founder and CEO of PlexTrac - PlexTrac is a revolutionary, yet simple, Cybersecurity platform that centralizes all security assessments, penetration test reports, bug bounty submissions, audit findings and vulnerabilities into a single location. He is going to share with us how he got started in cybersecurity, and his journey as the founder of PlexTrac. He’s going to tell us what Purple Teaming is and what his advice is for founders going after their dream.

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• Dan’s dream of entrepreneurship
• Naval Postgraduate School
• Department of Defense cybersecurity
• How report automating sparked the idea for PlexTrac
• The Red Team vs. the Blue Team in cybersecurity
• The importance of validation
• Deciding to commit full-time
• Why timing was right
• Unanticipated challenges as PlexTrac has grown
• The COVID impact and lessons learned
• How things changed after fundraising
• The relationship with Insight Partners
• Importance of leadership development
• What’s coming up for PlexTrac
• Dan’s advice for other founders

Resources:

Website: https://plextrac.com/ 

Dan’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/ddecloss/ 

Dan’s Twitter: https://twitter.com/wh33lhouse 

PlexTrac Twitter: https://twitter.com/PlexTrac

PlexTrac LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/plextrac/ 

PlexTrac Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/plextrac 

In today’s episode, I am talking with Clay Gordon about a VC fund who is going outside their own firm, and hosting conferences and job fairs to help startups and job seekers in underrepresented regions of the country. Clay talks about how he got started in Venture Investing, what he sees in not only Colorado, but all areas of the country, and even in Canada. We get into what is going on with venture in Arizona. Clay highlights the UNMET Conferences and all the great connections they facilitate for founders and investors. 

Here’s a closer look at the episode:

• Clay’s background and time on the East Coast
• How their approach to investing is unique
• How not being a previous founder influenced Stout Street’s early days
• Going outside Colorado to make investments
• The history behind the Stout Street name
• Clay highlights 65 investments spanning 25 states and two countries
• The importance of reputation
• The growth of VC in Arizona
• The beginnings of the UNMET Conferences
• The goals of UNMET to expedite fundraising for founders
• What Clay thinks lies in the future in the Rockies

Resources:

Website: https://www.stoutstreetcapital.com/

Clay’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clay-gordon-1380ab54/

Clay’s Email: [email protected]

Stout Street LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/stout-street-capital/about/

Stout Street Twitter: https://twitter.com/StoutStreetVC

UNMET Conferences: https://unmetconference.com/

UNMET Twitter: https://twitter.com/UNMETConference