Invest Local

Italian cooking heritage, the reason behind their local investing campaign, a new location at The Silos, and food as an expression of art. Joey Leccese, The Italian Culinary Master behind Belladina’s joins the Invest Local podcast to dish out all things Belladina’s. Listen to this tasteful podcast with the owner of Belladina’s!

This week we sit down with a full-time freelancer running a local photography business in the upstate. Savannah Bockus started The Vannah Company to combine her artistic side with her entrepreneurial mindset. Savannah does product and fashion photography for local businesses, weddings, and for the public. Savannah is big on developing relationships with her clients to empower people and their stories. Her work has been featured in media outlets like the Peoples Magazine. Tune in to hear more!

Designli is shaking up the app development industry, and we had a chance to sit down with its Co-Founder and CEO, Keith Shields. Keith and his team are working to bring certainty and transparency to app development by taking clients from “Vision to V1” as quickly and effectively as possible. They help startups, entrepreneurs, and even enterprise-level companies turn their ideas into reality.

Website: https://designli.co/

Portfolio: https://designli.co/portfolio

Keith’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/keithdshields/

This week we did a little 23andWe. The episode is a compilation of some of our favorite clips from our first 23 episodes. We explore a few central ideas such as how proximity matters, the relationship between investors and local businesses, how investing local can benefit communities, and much more. We’ve had lots of MVP guests on the Invest Local podcast and hope you enjoy this highlight reel episode.

The crew is back to talk about how crowdfunding is leveling out the playing field for investors and making it possible to directly impact your local economy. They also dive into how conventional wisdom shifts with innovation - think Uber or Air BnB - what would have been strange or abnormal can become normal, even preferred. There's a lot that's unpacked in this episode, so be sure to tune in!

Laurin Humphries is the founder of Humphries Screen Printing & Design. It’s a family-owned business that began in Alabama in 2010 with some dusty ole’ printing equipment. Now, with over 200 customers across the country and a premium product lineup, HSPD is crushing it. Laurin says, “What makes HSP unique are the personal relationships developed with our customers. Professional service and consulting comes directly from the very people who run the business.”

This week’s episode is with 20-year Greenvillian with 15 years of real estate and private equity experience - the man, the myth, the legend - Matt McPheely. He has sold and raised more than $200M in real estate and operating business transactions. Matt is passionate about community-building and impact investing. Tune in to hear about his latest (and if you ask us - coolest) project to date.

Isaac is the Founder and CEO of Crash, a platform that lets job searchers create and send video pitches to recruiters to showcase real skills and real value. Besides revolutionizing the application process for job seekers, companies can use it to peruse qualified candidates and outline what they want to see in an applicant. Isaac is also the Founder and former CEO of Praxis, whose current CEO Cameron Soresby we interviewed earlier this year. Isaac lives in Charleston, SC with his family.

Caption: Brad Mallett is the owner and founder of Coastal Coffee Roasters as well as a partner with Oak Bridge Brewery. Brad is what Vicinity likes to call a “Local Hero” because he is all about community, facilitating conversations, and bolstering local pride. Brad walks us through his approach to not just roasting delicious coffee, but also leadership and business.

The Crew is back to talk about some Reg CF stats and updates. Josh, John, and Malcolm drop some mind-boggling stats in this episode - including the total amount raised by businesses using Reg CF in August 2020 (teaser - it’s double-digit millions). The Crew also talks about the growing Reg CF sphere and how it's impacting our local economies.