Get Deep Podcast

Dan and Angie Bastian are the founders of Angie's Boom Chicka Pop, one of the most successful homegrown snack food stories of the 21st century. Dan and Angie were  Dan and Angie sold the business in the fall of 2017 as a part of a $250 million dollar buyout by Conagra Brands, a company known for such successes as Orville Redenbacher, Vlasic, Birds Eye, and Marie Calendars. 

In this episode, Dan and Angie discuss their individual upbringings, how they first met, where they moved, their professional careers, their inspiration for launching their kettle corn business, what the early days were like, their secrets to growing the business, what it was like in the hyper growth years, how they experimented the new recipes, how private equity investors changed the game, what it was like to finally sell their company, and what life is like for the couple now that they're out of the business.

George and Jess Blais are the former radio cohost team of Mankato's own 103.5 KYSM real country radio station, they are husband and wife, and they're the founders and cohosts of the George and Jess Podcast, which is available on all major audio streaming services.

In this episode, George and Jess discuss their individual upbringings, their journey into the radio industry, their paths to becoming cohosts of the same radio show, how their romance and eventual marriage came to be, their departure from the radio industry, their new found passion for sober living, a little of Jess's love of fashion, and their experience as new podcasters.

Matt Long is a Mankato native, an owner in his family's business J Longs, a lifestyle clothing store located at 1640 Madison Avenue in Mankato, he is business partners with Aaron Jones, and owns several rental properties around greater Mankato.

In this episode Matt discusses the early days at Mankato West with Aaron Jones, how they became best friends, they're lessons from high school athletics, the early days of his family retail business, his short time spent at Orange Julius, the general challenges of being a local retail business, the shop's transformation over the years, and the future of the J Longs empire.

Dan Rasmuson, a former Minnesota State University Alumni, is serial entrepreneur whom has been an equity partner or founder in multiple tech oriented companies. Dan was a co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Lablebox, a collaborative training data platform for rapidly building artificial intelligence applications, based in Silicon Valley. Lablebox has raised a little under $200 million dollars from investors such as Google and Softbank. Dan most recently became a parter at Vana, a data ecosystem for users to reappropriate their data and data scientists to train machine learning models on previously siloed datasets.

In this episode Dan talks about his up bringing in Tanzania Africa as a part of his parent's mission work, his time at Minnesota State University, the short lived startup that Wes and Dan worked on in 2015, his journey out to Silicon Valley, his time in a company focused on Drone software, how he came about founding Lablebox with his fellow partners, his experiences with both meditation and psychedelics, and his most recent work as a parter in Vana.

Jeni Bobholz is a local small business owner, passionate community advocate, and past City Center volunteer of the year. Jeni owns not only the landmark Circle Inn in lower North Mankato, but has also opened the Beast Food Boutique, and the Pelican Food Truck. 

In this episode Jeni speaks about her background in the hospitality industry, her path to ownership of the Circle Inn, her overcoming COVID obstacles as an extremely new business owner, how the Beast Food Boutique came to be, the delicious food served by the Pelican Food Truck, and how Jeni has passed down the entrepreneurial bug to her daughter Ellie. 

Jane and Kent (the Schwickert family) are well known for their regional roofing and mechanical contracting company that bears the Schwickert name. Kent eventually merged his family's business into what is now a nation wide residential and commercial contracting conglomerate known as (Schwickert's) Tecta America, of which he is both a founding and leading stakeholder in. Jane was a local leader during the 1995 outbreak of Meningitis in Mankato Minnesota, as the clinic's local infectious disease expert. Jane eventually went on to work with world renowned epidemiologist, Doctor Michael Osterholm, after developing innovative methods for managing the Mankato outbreak. Last but not least, Jane and Kent Schwickert are the founders, managers, and largest stakeholders in Chankaska Creek Ranch, Winery, and Distillery based in Kasota, Minnesota. 

In this episode we discuss Jane's time as a nurse and infectious disease expert, Kent's leadership in forming Tecta America, the couple's passion for wine and spirits, their eventual path to launching their own winery and distillery, their recent struggles with pandemic related operational constraints, their current and future plans for Chankaska, and a whole lot of personal stories and laughs in between.

Andy Wilke is a Mankato native, with roots in the hospitality industry, public affairs arena, and mall management business. Andy's family started and owned the Toppers Pizza in Mankato, Andy later became a Mall Manager with General Growth Properties (eventually Brookfield properties) in Iowa, Georgia, and eventually taking over his father's role at the River Hills Mall in Mankato. Andy currently serves as the director of business development and public affairs at Greater Manakto Growth (GMG), our regional economic development chamber.

In this episode, Andy discusses coming of age while in the pizza business, his path into the mall industry, his experience working in both southern and northern U.S. cultures, his boomeranging away and back to Mankato, his experiences and favorite stores at the River Hills Mall, his family's difficulties in conceiving their two children, his semi-recent transition into a new role at GMG, and what exactly Andy and the rest of the GMG team are working on these days.

Bob Beadell is the Vice President of Commercial Lending for Community Bank, which has around 450 million dollars in assets under management, and which has locations in Vernon Center, Amboy, Madison Avenue Mankato, St. Andrews Mankato, and Eagle Lake. Bob is a part of the Beadell family, who purchased what became Community Bank in 1973, and he serves on the bank's board of directors. 

In this episode, Bob tells the story of his grandfathers purchasing of the bank, the size and scope of operations under Community Bank, Bob's own path into the banking industry, how he and his team best separate themselves from the competition, why there are so many banks in the Greater Mankato community, and the general state of the business economy in Greater Mankato. 

Bruce Tanhoff is a Mankato native and serial entrepreneur. Bruce spends most of his time as a licensed realtor with Massad Real Estate, additionally Bruce is a real estate investor, a part owner in over 500 storage units across the Mankato area, and is an owner in Pete Hager's Sport Quad influencer marketing brand. 

In this episode, we discuss Bruce's time as a past employee of Angie's Kettle Corn, Boom Chicka Pop, his transition into working in real estate, his investment into the storage unit business, his flip home investment, his involvement with Pete Hager's influence marketing brand, and Bruce's general approach to real estate.

Molly Jones is a licensed independent clinical social worker with a master's degree in social work. She provides a wide range of mental health services including diagnostic assessments, individual and family therapy, and mental health consultations. Molly serves people of all ages, from birth to 100 Molly is also the wife to our extremely good looking podcast co-host, Aaron jones.

In this episode Molly goes in depth on her own childhood trauma, how she found her way to being a social worker, insights on how to be a better parent, and of course her unique take on what it's like being married to the one and only Aaron Jones!