The Startup Junkies Podcast

In this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast, host Caleb Talley sits down with Permjot Valia, founder of Mentor Camp, and Ross Webb, a longtime AI product manager and returning Mentor Camp mentor, to unpack the philosophy behind one of the most unusual mentorship models in the startup world.

This is a masterclass for founders on how to actually get value out of mentorship, and for mentors on how to build relationships that last well beyond a single conversation.

In this episode:

✅ The origin story of Mentor Camp

✅ How to build genuine trust and social capital as a mentor or founder

✅ The question that ruins a mentoring session 

✅ Advice Permjot and Ross would give their younger selves

⏱️ CHAPTERS

0:24 – Welcome & Meet the Guests

1:09 – Permjot Valia's Sales Background 

2:24 – Ross Webb: From Cape Town to AI Product Management 

3:06 – Building an AI Product That Hit $50M in Revenue 

4:18 – The Origin Story of Mentor Camp 

5:19 – Why the Mentor Is the Client, Not the Startup 

6:35 – Creating a White-Glove Mentor Experience (and Why Top Mentors Keep Coming Back)

10:25 – Real Relationships vs. One-Way Mentoring 

13:29 – Fixing Transactional Mentorship in the Fuel Accelerator 

13:52 – Social Capital: Why Mentors Shouldn't Hand Over Contacts Right Away 

15:55 – Ross Webb's Charity "Gating System" for Mentoring Requests 

19:19 – Spotting an Uncoachable Mentee (and the #1 Advice for Every Mentee) 

22:10 – Asking for Insights, Not Opinions, in a Mentoring Session 

24:29 – Advice to Their Younger Selves & the Shoelace Story That Changed Lives

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Connect with Permjot Valia & Ross Webb

🔗 https://mentorcampnwa.com/

🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/permjotvalia/

🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosswebb/

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🎧 Follow the Startup Junkies Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. 👍 If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and share it with a friend.

The Startup Junkies Podcast is brought to you in part by RISE, helping Arkansas tech and tech-enabled startups grow with no-cost coaching, capital navigation, and expert connections. Learn more at RiseArkansas.org.

Most founders think you need a $250,000 VC check to get funded, but angel investors will write you a check for $5,000, actually get to know you, and stick around as a mentor long after the money lands.

In this episode, Chris, the new director of 412 Angels, explains the real difference between angel investors and VCs, why founders should start building investor relationships long before they need the money, the most overrated (and underrated) traits he sees in early-stage founders, and what's next for 412 Angels — including plans to launch a fund and lead their own deals.

In this episode:
✅ The real difference between angel investors and venture capital
✅ When founders should start reaching out to investors (hint: earlier than you think)
✅ Where to actually meet investors in Northwest Arkansas
✅ The most overrated trait in early-stage founders
✅ Chris's advice to his younger, first-time-founder self

⏱️ CHAPTERS
00:00 – Why 90% of a founder's job is networking 
00:21 – Meet Chris Ehrhardt, back after 10 years
01:24 – From Germany to Arkansas: Chris's origin story 
02:23 – Building a startup and moving to Canada on a startup visa 
05:22 – What is 412 Angels? 
06:28 – Why keeping funding local matters for founders 
08:20 – Angel investors vs. venture capitalists 
10:24 – When founders should start talking to investors 
11:51 – Where to actually meet investors in NWA 
14:21 – The most overrated trait in early-stage founders 
15:36 – The most underrated trait: coachability 
18:09 – How 412 Angels pays it forward 
19:50 – What's next for 412 Angels 
22:53 – Advice to his younger self 
25:26 – Where to find Chris and 412 Angels

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Connect with Chris & 412 Angels
🔗 https://412angels.com/
🔗https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriserhardt/

—
🎧 Follow the Startup Junkies Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. 👍 If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and share it with a friend.

The Startup Junkies Podcast is brought to you in part by RISE, helping Arkansas tech and tech-enabled startups grow with no-cost coaching, capital navigation, and expert connections. Learn more at RiseArkansas.org.

He slept on the floor of a radio station he couldn't afford to staff, got told by the local coffee shop crowd he'd be out of business in six months, and ran that station for 45 years.

Before he was a U.S. Congressman, Steve Womack was a Startup Junkie: a broadcaster's son who talked his way into a shoestring AM station in Rogers, Arkansas, and built it into an institution. In this episode, he sits down with Daniel Koontz, Jeff Amerine, and Caleb Talley to trace the throughline from that station to the Rogers mayor's office to Congress, and the entrepreneurial instincts that never really left him along the way.

⏱️CHAPTERS

0:27 – Welcome, Congressman Steve Womack

1:06 – His "Marvel Origin Story"

4:13 – Building a Radio Station From Scratch

8:37 – Proving the Skeptics Wrong

11:07 – Lessons From Football, the Army & "Make Your Bed"

17:18 – Underwriting "Errors of Enthusiasm" as a Leader

23:09 – The Vision Behind Rogers' West Side

25:04 – "You're Not Thinking Big Enough": The Pinnacle Promenade Story

27:16 – Northwest Arkansas' Growth Challenges

32:06 – The Walmart Origin Story (and What Comes After It)

38:21 – The Case for a Skilled Trades Campus

41:27 – Government, Debt & a Coming Social Security Reckoning

47:40 – Advice for Entrepreneurs and His Younger Self

54:17 – A Tribute to Lt. Jason Hunt

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🎧 Follow the Startup Junkies Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. 👍 If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and share it with a friend.

Learn more about Congressman Womack: womack.house.gov

The Startup Junkies Podcast is brought to you in part by ARISE, helping Arkansas tech and tech-enabled startups grow with no-cost coaching, capital navigation, and expert connections. Learn more at ARiseArkansas.org

Most restaurants don't survive their first year. This one won five awards in it. Including back-to-back People's Choice titles and a top finish for Best Asian Business in the entire state of Arkansas.

Maria Smith left a long corporate career (including years at Sam's Club) to open Lasang Pinoy with her brother, bringing Filipino cuisine, and Filipino karaoke culture, to Northwest Arkansas. 

In this episode, she breaks down the history behind the cuisine, the real financial and emotional challenges of opening a restaurant, why one specific karaoke song is banned from the building, and her dream of franchising the concept nationwide.

⏱️ Chapters
00:20 Welcome & Meet Maria Smith 
01:46 Maria's Origin Story: From the Philippines to Arkansas 
03:06 One Year In: Awards & Milestones 
04:58 The Rich History Behind Filipino Cuisine 
07:06 Why Northwest Arkansas Connects with Filipino Food 
07:36 Karaoke Nights: Go Bananas & Go Coconuts 
09:23 The Golden Mic Karaoke Championship 
10:00 The One Song Banned From Filipino Karaoke 
11:55 Running a Restaurant with Family 
14:50 Building the Right Team 
16:07 The Power of Small Details 
18:11 Biggest Challenges: Cash Flow & Emotional Endurance 
21:21 Giving Back to the Community 
24:14 The Future: Franchising Filipino Food Nationwide

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Learn more about Lasang Pinoy: https://lasangpinoynwa.com/

🎙️ New founder stories every week — subscribe so you don't miss one.
🔗 https://startupjunkie.org/

Everyone's racing to bolt AI onto everything, but Foreko co-founders Homero Ruiz and Alexis Rodas found the biggest opportunity in something almost boring: 76% of procurement teams are still running on spreadsheets. 

In this episode, they break down why they deliberately avoided fully automating decisions with AI, how a food truck's stock-out problem turned into a company, and why they think the real Silicon Valley advantage is knowing which advice to ignore.

⏱️ CHAPTERS
0:59 – Welcome & Meet the Founders
1:32 – What Is Foreko? The AI Operating System for Procurement
2:11 – The Founders' Journeys: From Red Bull and Pepsi to Foreko
4:11 – Turning Experience Into Expertise
5:49 – Starting With Restaurants: Seeing the Problem First
6:52 – The Pivot to CPG  and Why It Made Sense
8:29 – The Food Truck Story Behind It All
9:12 – Why They Said No to Full AI Automation
10:49 – Built at the University of Arkansas
13:59 – Growing Up in the Northwest Arkansas Startup Scene
16:05 – The Silicon Valley Reality Check
18:15 – From Idea to Paying Customers
19:58 – The AI Bubble, Patience, and the Tortoise-and-Hare Mindset
21:58 – The Five-Year Vision  and Where to Find Foreko

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Foreko’s Website: https://www.foreko.app/en
Connect with Homero: https://www.linkedin.com/in/homero-ruiz/
Connect with Alexis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexisrodas/

🎙️ New founder stories every week — subscribe so you don't miss one.

🔗 https://startupjunkie.org/

Less than 1% of U.S. businesses that ever raise outside money end up raising venture capital, and most founders chasing it don't actually need it.

In this entrepreneur interview, Jeff Amerine — a venture capital investor and longtime advisor in the startup ecosystem — breaks down the real landscape of startup funding: when to bootstrap, when to raise, and why most companies burn time chasing the wrong kind of capital. He and co-hosts Daniel Koonce and Grace Gill also dig into what VCs actually look for, the most common fundraising mistakes founders make, and the difference between convertible notes and SAFEs.

Whether you're bootstrapping your first idea or getting ready to pitch investors, this conversation will change how you think about who to raise from and when.

What you'll learn:

• The three main ways founders fund a business and how to know which one fits
• Why raising venture capital has only gotten harder, and what VCs are really evaluating
• The most common fundraising mistakes founders make (and how to avoid them)
• Convertible notes vs. SAFEs, explained in plain English
• What a strategic investor actually offers and when it's worth taking their money

⏱️Chapters
1:26 Welcome to the Startup Junkies Podcast
2:03 The Three Ways to Fund a Small Business
3:43 What Is Bootstrapping?
5:33 Does Venture Capital Only Fund Tech Companies?
6:46 The Truth: Less Than 1% of Businesses Raise VC
7:33 When Is a Founder Ready to Raise Money?
9:59 Why Raising Venture Capital Has Gotten Harder
11:15 Inside a VC Firm: From 1,000 Deals to 3 or 4
12:43 How to Actually Find Investors
14:19 Common Fundraising Mistakes Founders Make
16:43 Convertible Notes vs. SAFEs, Explained
21:27 Why Startups Actually Need Money
23:35 What Are Strategic Investors — And Are They Worth It?
27:16 The Deal Jeff Wishes He'd Invested In

🎙️ New founder stories every week — subscribe so you don't miss one. 
🔗 startupjunkie.org

Insurance paperwork is delaying treatment for patients who don't have time to wait. One founder built a company to fix it.

In this entrepreneur interview, Dr. Joshua Upshaw — founder and CEO of Hidalgo Technologies and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience — shares how a family health crisis pushed him from academic research into healthcare entrepreneurship, why he trusts his gut more than any spreadsheet, and how he built his team around mission alignment instead of resumes.

Whether you're still validating your first idea or figuring out who belongs on your founding team, this conversation will change how you think about intuition, feedback, and timing.

Chapters:
 0:00 Cold Open: Trust Your Gut
 0:22 Welcome to the Startup Junkies Podcast
 1:02 What Is Hidalgo Technologies? Fixing Insurance Prior Authorization
 1:54 From Neuroscience to Health Tech: Josh's Origin Story
 2:59 The Family Story That Sparked Hidalgo Tech
 5:35 Why Josh Calls Himself a Problem Solver, Not a Scientist
 8:57 Validating the Problem Through Customer Discovery
 11:36 Building the Team: Finding the Right Technical Lead
 14:55 Why Mission Alignment Matters More Than Skill
 16:10 Handling Feedback, Ego, and Doubt as a Founder
 19:00 Following Your Gut: Sifting Signal From Noise
 21:09 Who Hidalgo Tech's Ideal Customer Is
 21:56 Funding the Company: NSF Grants & Raising Capital
 25:32 The Next Five Years for Hidalgo Tech
 26:23 Advice to His Younger Self

About Joshua Upshaw: Founder and CEO of Hidalgo Technologies, reducing administrative overhead in insurance prior authorization so patients get treatment sooner. PhD in cognitive neuroscience and an alum of the University of Arkansas's New Venture Development program and Health Tech Arkansas. 

Connect with Joshua: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-upshaw-ph-d/
Website: https://hidalgatech.com/

🎙️ New founder stories every week — subscribe so you don't miss one.

🔗 https://startupjunkie.org/

Most founders obsess over their product. The real skill is knowing which problem to fall in love with instead.

In this entrepreneur interview, Nyamitse-Calvin Mihanda — founder of Vital Audio and a Techstars and Fuel Accelerator alum — shares how his company extracts heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure from ordinary conversation, why he walked away from a "perfect" product mindset, and how his path from hospital billing collector to healthcare founder shaped the way he builds teams today.

Whether you're building your first startup or trying to close the access-to-care gap in your own community, this conversation will change how you think about resilience, timing, and what it actually takes to launch.

What you'll learn:

• How signal processing and machine learning pull vital signs straight from a voice recording
• Why clinical partnerships with NYU Langone and Mayo Clinic came before scale, not after
• The "fall in love with the problem, not the product" principle that keeps founders from chasing dead ends
• Why soft skills — not technical skills — are the hardest thing to teach a team
• How rural and underserved communities stand to benefit most from voice-based vital tracking

⏱️ Chapters:

0:53 Welcome to the Startup Junkies Podcast
1:16 How Vital Audio Reads Vitals From Your Voice
2:21 The Science Behind Extracting Vitals From Speech
3:09 Landing Clinical Partners: NYU Langone, Mayo Clinic & More
4:16 From Hospital Billing to Healthcare Entrepreneur
6:13 Techstars vs. The Fuel Accelerator: What's Different
8:55 An Immigrant's Resilience: Lessons From Tanzania to NYC
11:03 Why Soft Skills Matter More Than Technical Skills
12:25 The Best Advice: Fall In Love With The Problem
14:18 Overcoming Fear When You Start a Company
14:47 What Nyamitse-Calvin Mihanda Loves About the Arkansas Ecosystem
17:06 Closing the Rural Healthcare Access Gap
19:47 Where to Find Nyamitse-Calvin & Vital Audio

🎙️ New founder stories every week — subscribe so you don't miss one.

🔗 https://startupjunkie.org/

What happens when a mentor gets more out of an accelerator than the founders do?

Zak Morris joined the Fuel accelerator as a subject matter expert in AI — but quickly realized he was learning just as much as the companies he was advising. In this episode, Zak breaks down how working with startups across cybersecurity, AML, and healthcare sharpened his own thinking, why Bentonville's density of world-class talent is an underrated advantage, and how one early conversation with a founder led to a permanent board seat.

Whether you're a founder, a seasoned professional sitting on the sidelines, or someone who's never thought of themselves as a mentor — this one's for you.

🎙️ Startup Junkies is a podcast celebrating the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Northwest Arkansas and beyond. Subscribe for more! 

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🔗 Connect with Zak Morris:
https://www.linkedin.com/in/zakmorris/

🔗 Connect with Startup Junkie
https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-koonce-3a446a21b/
https://www.linkedin.com/in/caleb-talley-25189211b/
https://startupjunkie.org/

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⏱️ Chapters
00:00 Introduction – AI in Healthcare Documentation
00:18 What Brought Zak to the Fuel Accelerator
01:10 Learning the Language of Startups
01:55 The Two-Way Value of Mentorship
02:33 Standout Moment: The Cybersecurity Cohort
03:18 From Mentor to Board Member
04:28 Why Bentonville Is a Rare Ecosystem
05:20 Connecting Talent, Interns & Local Networks
06:31 The Flywheel Effect: Keeping Talent in Arkansas
07:40 A Call to Action for Potential Mentors
08:45 What Mentors Get Out of It
09:10 How to Get Involved with Fuel

What does affirmative consent law reform, university sex education, and AI-powered law enforcement tools have in common? They're all part of Stefanie Hammett's ambitious startup, HMS.

HMS (Have More Safety · Have More Sex · Have More Space) is a consent education company with a bold 2036 goal: insert affirmative consent into all 50 state criminal codes. But getting there means building a real business — with a direct-to-consumer product line, a university B2B pilot program, and a law enforcement tech partnership with Clipper AI.

Stefanie breaks down:

• The "drip effect" strategy for getting consent education into university campuses
• Why selling to law enforcement requires showing up 17 times before they trust you
• How she balances a world-changing mission with the mechanics of actually building a startup
• Her advice to founders: presence, biohacking, and trusting your own clarity
• And more!

🎙️ Startup Junkies is a podcast celebrating the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Northwest Arkansas and beyond. Subscribe for more! 

🔗 CONNECT WITH STEFANIE HAMMETT & HMS:

Website: https://www.havemore.space/

Book (Consent Codes): Available on Amazon

https://www.instagram.com/havemore.sex/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefaniehammett/

🔗 CONNECT WITH Startup Junkie

https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-koonce-3a446a21b/

https://www.linkedin.com/in/caleb-talley-25189211b/

https://startupjunkie.org/

⏱️Chapters
00:00 — Intro: Selling to Law Enforcement Is a Relationship Game 

00:21 — Welcome & Introducing Stefanie Hammett of HMS 

01:06 — Steph's Origin Story

02:45 — A Decade in Fortune 500: Kellogg's & Smithfield Foods 

04:30 — Moving to Bentonville & the Amazon Startup World 

05:10 — Exiting Charge Card to Carbon Six

06:08 — What Is HMS?

07:11 — The Mission: Affirmative Consent in All 50 State Criminal Codes by 2036 

07:47 — Why NJ & Colorado's Consent Laws Actually Worked 

10:33 — Go-To-Market Strategy: DTC, Universities & Law Enforcement 

14:21 — Prevention Over Reaction

17:25 — Lessons from Corporate to Startup

19:32 — Selling to Universities: Long Cycles, Warm Intros & Meeting Users Where They Are 
26:33 — The Law Enforcement Arm: Partnering with Clipper AI 

33:29 — "Asking Is Hot": What People Misunderstand About HMS 

35:32 — Presence, Biohacking & Trusting Your Clarity