Coming up with a startup idea isn’t enough. You have to be able to execute on that idea.

The ideas with the best chance of success are startups that have spent a significant amount of energy and time validating their ideas.

But, before you can validate a startup idea you have to know what assumptions you are working under.

This startup brings the tailgating party to you at your favorite sporting events or corporate outings through a turnkey entertainment solution.

Started in 2017, Charles and his co-founder Colby Dugger have watched their idea gain traction quickly. In fact, they have already hosted events at major sporting events, such as the SEC football championship and others. 

In this interview, Charles shares how the TailgateHouse sprang forth and the realities of being a startup founder.

Choosing startup names has become pretty ridiculous.

I get it, your business is your baby and you want to have a name that you feel proud of and one that you think the market can get behind.

But, sometimes people take their startup names way, way too far. One trend from the past has been to intentionally misspell a word or just spell it differently.

However, trying to get too fancy with startup names often times backfires and leaves potential customers confused.

Launching a new startup can be one of the most exciting times in your professional life. It can be so exciting that you might be tempted to rush things along. But making sure that you take the right approach can often times save you energy, money, and time. One of the most important activities before launching is developing a startup marketing plan.

Well thought out market research helps ensure that you understand the industry you are entering, its growth rate, the competition, and more.

One of the best ways to improve your chances of landing funding for your business is to learn directly from startup investors how they go about making investment decisions.

Today I wanted to share with you two different startup investors and how they answer various questions about the startup industry.

Those two startup investors fielded separate Q&A sessions on Quora. On top of their input, I’ve added additional thoughts about their instincts.

Today I had the pleasure of interview Jordan Peace. I met Jordan when he was still a college student and am thrilled to share the exciting things he has been involved with in the mergers and acquisition industry.

Recently, CB Insights released a report detailing the top venture capital firms in each of the 50 states in the U.S.

I took that list, parsed out the states that are in the South and then took it a step further. That extra step involved using that list to find the top venture capital LinkedIn profiles. Mentioned in the video are some of the managing directors of the venture capital firms on the report.

For links to the actual LinkedIn profiles head to the blog post.

Welcome to the Southern Startup podcast where we feature advice, interviews, and tips from the Southern startup ecosystem.

On today's episode, I share the easiest way to turn-off and loss an investor. It really boils down to one thing. R-E-S-P-E-C-T.

To join our Southern entrepreneur community, head over to https://SouthernStartups.com/Slackand register for our private forum where entrepreneurs and startups from across the Southern United States gather to share best practices.

Welcome to the Southern Startup podcast where we feature advice, interviews, and tips from the Southern startup ecosystem.

On today's episode, I share how you should think about splitting equity with co-founders. Including the challenge of working bringing on family and friends as co-founders, how to value each person's contribution, and more.

Today I had the pleasure of interviewing Chris Reade and Lindsay Fox of Lookfar Ventures (an investor in startups) and Lookfar Labs (a startup consultancy firm).

They shared their personal entrepreneurial journeys with me, as well as how they found the Southern United States, specifically New Orleans, to be a great place to launch their own business from.