The Multiplier Effect

Ashley Wardlow is the Executive Director of the NWA Technology Summit hosted by the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce. This annual event has something for everyone – from "adventurepreneurs" to C-suite executives – anyone interested in how technology can help businesses and communities collaborate to solve common challenges are welcome to join as they explore answers to the question, "What's next…after next?". In this episode, Ashley gives us a sneak peek into what we can anticipate for 2021's NWA Tech Summit.

WeWork launched its first Arkansas location in October 2020 on the second floor of the historic Massey Building in downtown Bentonville. WeWork Labs is WeWork's global digital platform connecting and supporting early-stage startups and small businesses. And this week, we're joined by Carlos Estrada, Senior Manager of WeWork based out of Houston Texas, and Chandler Abbott, team lead of the local coworking space in Bentonville to discuss some of the exciting programs they have in store for small businesses in 2021. 

To wrap our three-part mini-series discussing 'the power of corporate partnerships' in our entrepreneurial support community, this week, we're joined by Greg Kessman, Managing Director of Plug and Play. Plug and Play connects the largest corporations to the world's best startups through industry-focused accelerator programs in Bentonville, Silicon Valley, and beyond. They run over 50 industry themed accelerator programs in cities worldwide each year and partner with over 400 leading corporate partners to make it happen. In this episode, Greg shares trends he anticipates for the supply chain industry and discusses how Plug and Play programs support entrepreneurs in Bentonville and beyond. 

To continue our three-part mini-series discussing 'the power of corporate partnerships' in our entrepreneurial support community, this week we’re joined by Wayne Miller, the Executive Director of The Venture Center. The Venture Center’s award-winning Fintech accelerator programs speed the growth of early-stage companies and help validate their solutions for real-world problems, fueling innovation in the financial services industry alongside their corporate partners FIS And the independent community bankers of America.

As part of Season 2, we are launching a three-part series focusing on the impact of corporate partnership programs in our region and how they play a critical role in building a thriving entrepreneurial ecosystem. To kick things off, we were joined by Becca Shaddox, Partner at i2iLabs and Founder of Anchor. She shares insights on where she sees the future of retail shifting amidst the Covid-19 crisis, what opportunities founders have in engaging with new funding opportunities coming to NWA. Becca and her team help companies across the retail, food, pharma, and brand industries by designing strategic programs that enhance and grow companies at scale by connecting them with the enterprise partnerships they need to thrive. 

In this episode, Yee-Lin Lai, Program Officer of the Home Region Program at the Walton Family Foundation, shares her inspiring journey to Northwest Arkansas from Singapore and speaks to us about how the Walton Family Foundation is helping to shape and empower economic development initiatives in the Heartland to support our regions scaling entrepreneurs.  

Emma Willis serves as the Director of the Heartland Region at Venture Noire. She supports the tech development for Spectra, a group of black-owned venture studios with the collective mission to advance innovation for a better and more equitable world. And today, she shares with us how we can all work to close the racial wealth gap in the Heartland and elevate opportunities for empowering diverse founders in our region. 

Experiential learning has risen to the forefront of entrepreneurship education. It plays a critical role at the University of Arkansas in building a culture of innovation through programs at the McMillion Innovation Studio and Brewer Family Entrepreneurship Hub. In this episode, Sarah Goforth, Executive Director of the Office of Entrepreneurship and Innovation, shares her entrepreneurial journey with us and how she discovered her passion for empowering students to become innovators and entrepreneurs. Students don’t just become ready to create their own futures — they become ready to change the world.

Last week, our Northwest Arkansas community lost a dear friend and entrepreneur, Francis Hwang, to suicide. Words can not adequately describe this tragic loss.

Entrepreneurs create new jobs, combat recessions, introduce useful products and services, and create prosperity. Through the ups and downs of innovating, they experience joyful celebrations but also suffer loss.  As entrepreneur ecosystem builders, it is vital that we understand the causes of founder's strengths and vulnerabilities and share this knowledge to empower future entrepreneurs to prevail. A few months ago, our team at Endeavor hosted a ScaleUp Summit session featuring Brad Feld. He openly discusses his personal battle with anxiety and depression as a founder and shares insights on what we can all do to support entrepreneurs in vulnerable times. As we honor the memories of our brilliant, brave, and beloved friend, Francis, we share a clip of Brad Feld’s session with you today.

In today’s episode, Jeff Amerine, Founder of Startup Junkie, and Jeff Standridge, Managing Director of the Conductor, share how their method of ecosystem-building has proven to be successful, helping Northwest Arkansas become a destination of choice for startups in the retail, software, and supply chain sectors, as medical, data analytics, FinTech, and manufacturing companies migrate toward central Arkansas. Startup Junkie and the Conductor have championed a proven method for building entrepreneurial ecosystems by establishing a four pillar approach to programming and support and are now ready to share these insights they’ve learned over the years with regions worldwide.