The Savvy Entrepreneur

Jason Weaver, founder & CEO of AirDeck, knows how to zero in on game-changers.  He also knows how to take a concept and build a successful business around it.  AirDeck is Jason's third startup.  He previously built and successfully exited Shoutlet and Spendship.  He's also a high-profile consultant, an angel investor, and a prominent author.

This time, he's focused on presentation software.  AirDeck is a fast and easy way to add voice or video to any document or presentation.  It allows the user to easily edit each page or slide separately without needing to use a separate video editing tool.  Its users are trainers, educators, marketers, lawyers, and frankly, anyone who wants to narrate a presentation or document so that the recipients can understand the context, on-demand.

Jason joins The Savvy Entrepreneur to tell the story of how he decided to start AirDeck.  He shares how he found funding, and tips for staying sane while building a fast-growing startup. His candor and humor make him relatable.  His formidable track record of startup success, along with his numerous other accomplishments, make him a force to be reckoned with.

What follows is a transcript of that interview.  But if you prefer to listen, you can access the podcast here.

Doris Nagel  0:42

Hello everybody and welcome to The Savvy Entrepreneur show. We're broadcasting from the Greater Chicago Milwaukee area.

If you're an entrepreneur or small business person, this show is for you.

I'm Doris Nagel, your host for the next hour. I'm a serial entrepreneur, and I’ve also counseled lots of startups and small businesses over the past 30 years.  I’ve seen a lot of mistakes, and I’ve made plenty myself.  I’m driven to help others avoid some of these pitfalls and be more successful.

The show has two goals:  to share helpful information resources, and to inspire -- to make your journey as an entrepreneur faster and easier, and maybe just a bit more fun!

To help with that. I have guests every week on the show who are willing to share their stories and their advice.

This week's guest is Jason Weaver, the CEO and founder of AirDeck.  AirDeck is a company that allows you to create distributed and track narrated presentations. Its users are recording things like on demand webinars, personalized a sales presentations, creating employee onboarding guide, sending investor pitch decks. Frankly, almost anything that you can think of that is used for PowerPoint presentations or precede eggs or other kinds of presentations to communicate with other people. AirDeck, Jason says, is much easier to use than creating videos and everybody knows how important video is for today social media. And he says it has better tracking capabilities.

Before I share Jason's biography, I have to warn you that he is one seriously accomplished human being. He's a prominent author and thought leader in product innovation, digital marketing and entrepreneurship. Prior to launching AirDeck, he founded and successfully exited from two other technology companies, including Shoutlet, a social media management platform, and Spendship, a mobile loyalty platform.

He's authored numerous articles for publications, including Forbes, Mashable, and Bloomberg.

Jason Weaver, founder & CEO of AirDeck, knows how to zero in on game-changers.  He also knows how to take a concept and build a successful business around it.  AirDeck is Jason's third startup.  He previously built and successfully exited Shoutlet and Spendship.  He's also a high-profile consultant, an angel investor, and a prominent author.

This time, he's focused on presentation software.  AirDeck is a fast and easy way to add voice or video to any document or presentation.  It allows the user to easily edit each page or slide separately without needing to use a separate video editing tool.  Its users are trainers, educators, marketers, lawyers, and frankly, anyone who wants to narrate a presentation or document so that the recipients can understand the context, on-demand.

Jason joins The Savvy Entrepreneur to tell the story of how he decided to start AirDeck.  He shares how he found funding, and tips for staying sane while building a fast-growing startup. His candor and humor make him relatable.  His formidable track record of startup success, along with his numerous other accomplishments, make him a force to be reckoned with.

Click on the arrow to hear the interview -- it's a great listen!  Or, if you prefer, you can read a transcript of the interview here.  And you can check out his book, "The Manager's Guide to Online Marketing," here.

RealityBLU provides marketers with 3D interactive, media rich content to deliver their ideas into the crowded social media world.  Co-founders MJ Anderson and Stefan Agustsson joined forces to develop enhanced reality tools made especially for marketers.

Stefan Agustsson & MJ Anderson

They join The Savvy Entrepreneur Show to share the story of how they met and started the company.  They relate some of the challenges of finding funding, and scaling the company.  They also share a peek or two at where and how the company will be expanding.

Their story is compelling.  But just as riveting is their predictions for the future of media and marketing.  RealityBLU's founders are also visionaries, envisioning a future that is truly inspiring and a little terrifying.

For example, they are convinced the smartphone will be completely obsolete in less than 5 years, and we will all soon be using wearable devices to receive and interact with media.  They see it as inevitable that we will move closer and closer to immersive experiences.  The result will increasingly blur the lines between reality and enhanced or even altered reality.  The possibilities for improving our lives are many, and also create potential scenarios that we as a society will soon need to grapple with.  RealityBLU and companies like them will definitely be ones to watch!

Click on the arrow to the left to listen to the absolutely fascinating story of RealityBLU and a look into the future of technology in our world! Or, click here if you prefer to read the interview.

Rock River Capital is an early stage venture firm looking to invest in companies -- particularly those based in the Midwest and Wisconsin -- that are industry disruptors with a viable product and sales.

Co-founders and partners Andy Walker and Chris Eckstrom share the story of how they came together to create the fund.  They share some of the challenges of raising money for a new fund.

Rock River Capital has also formally reviewed more than 800 companies as potential investments.  So they know what they're talking about when they share tips about what works and what doesn't when it comes to pitching for funding.

They share very candid advice for startups seeking funding, especially seed funding.  It's a great listen, and one that every startup looking for seed money should listen to!

Click on the arrow to the left to listen!

Kyle LaFond joins The Savvy Entrepreneur radio show to share the story of a Midwestern success, American Provenance.

Started on his family's 4th generation farm in Wisconsin, American Provenance makes all-natural grooming products. Kyle shares how he started and grew the company in detail.  Along the way, he offers lots of tips and insights for other startups.

Kyle's enthusiasm and "can do" attitude are positively infectious, and he is a gifted storyteller!  Click on the arrow to the left to listen to his story -- you'll be glad you did!

Matt Cordio has spent a lot of his career focused on how to grow Wisconsin's startup ecosystem.  He's studied other successful startup ecosystems, most notably Silicon Valley, Boston, and Research Triangle.  And he's devoted a lot of time and energy to helping Wisconsin take the steps needed to build the state's startup ecosystem.

Matt joins The Savvy Entrepreneur Show to share his insights on what makes for a thriving startup ecosystem.  We talk about everything from supporting student entrepreneurs, to attracting venture capital, the role of larger companies, and the impact of successful exits.  He talks about why he co-founded the Wisconsin Startup Coalition.  He also talks about his own business, Skills Pipeline, which helps startups find and retain talent.

It's a great listen, and may spark ideas among entrepreneurs and organizations alike on how to improve startup ecosystems everywhere.

You need a conversation-starting elevator pitch for your business.  You need a way to catch the attention of busy people, whether potential investors, customers, employees, and partners.  Without it, you'll lose the chance to engage them further.  Equally bad, you'll spend a lot of time chatting with people who really aren't a good fit. 

Lots of people focus on the pitch deck, and that's important (take a listen to our podcast with Chris Banakis on pitch decks).  But if you don't have a "hook" -- a memorable, conversation-producing elevator pitch, you'll never need a pitch deck.

John Fisher, founder & CEO of Rethinking IT and SCORE Mentor, joins The Savvy Entrepreneur radio show to talk about why you need a good elevator pitch.  He also walks through the elements of building your business elevator pitch and tips for making it memorable.

Click on the arrow to the left to listen!  You can also view a transcript of the interview here.

VizyPay's Austin Mac Nab is passionate about giving small businesses better credit card processing options.  He joins The Savvy Entrepreneur to share the story of how he founded West Des Moines-based VizyPay.  He talks about how he's rapidly grown the company.  He also talks about some of the challenges he's faced along the journey, and offers advice for other entrepreneurs.

Click on the arrow to take a listen to his story!

Dr. Laura Gallaher's fascination with changing company culture began with her work at NASA.  After the tragic explosion of the Space Shuttle Columbia during re-entry, she joined a team there to change the culture to encourage more open dialogue about issues.  An expert in industrial organization, she joined The Savvy Entrepreneur to talk about changing company culture. 

The CEO & Co-Founder of Gallaher Edge explains why culture is everything to a business.  She shares why some organizations can't really see their culture, and why it takes a lot of careful work to change and maintain the culture you want.  She has a number of tips for companies and culture, whether trying to establish the right culture, changing the culture, or maintaining the great culture you have.

She shares with The Savvy Entrepreneur show why it's so essential to have difficult conversations to create a healthy business culture, even though most of us don't know how to have them. She then shares tips on how to approach these conversations.

Click on the arrow to the left to listen -- you'll be glad you did, because some of the tips will help in your personal life as well! Or, you can read a transcript of the show here.

Chris Banakis is a frequent speaker and presenter how to create a winning pitch deck.  He's the founder of Acuity Advisory Partners and a SCORE workshop presenter on the topic. 

He joins The Savvy Entrepreneur to walk listeners through the elements of putting together a great pitch deck.  A persuasive pitch deck helps persuading investors.  It also is useful to pitch to customers, potential employees, and partners.

Click on the arrow to take a listen -- it's chockful of great, actionable advice!