Venture In The South

In part 1 of this 2 part series, we showcase 5 of the top 10 finalists from 90 startup companies competing to present at the NEXT Venture Summit held here in Greenville, SC. Our host David interviews each CEO using a '6 Questions in 6 Minutes' format to understand the problem, solution, market, traction, timing, and funding dynamics of each. A Part 2 show will  include the remaining top 5 startups. These companies will give listeners a taste of the robust startup deal flow we see here in the South.

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Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth

Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/

Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel

Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at

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

We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email [email protected].

Malay Shah has been angel investing in early-stage companies in the southeast for nearly 25 years. In this episode, we explore how the "capital markets" have changed - and how angel investing has not changed - over those years. 

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Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth

Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/

Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel

Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at

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

We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email [email protected].

In this interview, we talk with co-founder and CEO Andrew Elliott about how RoundlyX enables users to purchase digital assets with spare change roundups to create a dollar cost averaging approach to acquiring digital assets. He reviews their relationship with crypto platforms, consumers, and the impact of the current crypto winter on their business. RoundlyX is on track for >1.5x YoY revenue growth in 2022 and just completed a multimillion dollar raise in the Summer of 2022 to fund their growth. 

Support the show

Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth

Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/

Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel

Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at

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

We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email [email protected].

In this episode, Paul and David review some of their experiences with bullying, opportunistic actions, duplicity and rarely outright fraud. While these things are not common in our experience, they do happen. We try to provide useful guidance for both Angels and Founders on how to avoid and minimize these risks. This underscores our general emphasis on good diligence in investing since it's much easier to make money if you don't lose it. 

Support the show

Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth

Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/

Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel

Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at

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

We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email [email protected].

Matt Bailey, VentureSouth's market leader in Greensboro NC, provides some of his greatest contributions to angel investing from serving on the boards of early-stage companies. In today's episode, he shares some of his experiences mentoring CEOs, serving as a sounding board, providing ideas and connections, and keeping a board operating cohesively even during challenging times.

Support the show

Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth

Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/

Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel

Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at

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

We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email [email protected].

HealthyCell launched with a stem cell product that failed to gain traction which led CEO Doug Giampapa to a dietary supplement innovation that solved three big problems with supplements: pill swallowing concerns, absorption, and taste. The HealthyCell's Gel supplement formulation has found impressive consumer acceptance in the Direct to Consumer channel as well as in a subscription model. Doug is now breaking into retail on the back of dramatic sales growth coming out of the pandemic and looks to 2 or 3 x sales again this year.

Support the show

Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth

Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/

Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel

Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at

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

We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email [email protected].

Startup investors try to focus on great business ideas with market traction, great teams, and a scalable business model. The ultimate goal of an investor is an EXIT! This is when the investor gets their investment back with a profit (hopefully). This might be an acquisition, an outright sale or rarely an IPO. This show is all about the Exit waterfall, that is how Exit proceeds are distributed among investors. We'll cover some of the tricky aspects of calculating individual investor's share of exit proceeds and problems to avoid. 

Support the show

Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth

Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/

Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel

Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at

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

We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email [email protected].

Kwipped started in 2014 as a B2B ecommerce marketplace for equipment renting/leasing/buying with great success. They then discovered 2 major friction points in the sales process, matching financing to the customer risk profile and seeking financing approval at the end of the purchasing journey frequently made the journey pointless if financing was not approved. Kwipped solved these problems by creating a new platform for Point of Sale (PoS) rapid online financing approval (Approve) from multiple providers and moved it to the beginning of the purchasing journey. Now the Approve platform is growing ~200% YoY with hundreds of vendor customers and near zero churn. As Approve has become 50% of revenue and the lion's share of revenue growth, Kwipped has changed their name to Approve and is looking to continue their rapid growth.

Support the show

Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth

Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/

Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel

Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at

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

We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email [email protected].

In this interview, David talks with John Sterling, a cofounder of Datasteam. Founded in 1986, Datastream provides asset management software, integrated procurement, and supporting services to organizations and facilities worldwide. John was VP of sales there for 20 years until Data Stream ultimately exited at a valuation of about $230MM. He has now written a book about getting started in sales, titled Sales for Noobs and hosts a non-profit online resource for those new to sales, Noob School. He offers insights for founders getting started in sales, what to look for in sales talent and when and how to start a sales team when one is no longer enough. 

Support the show

Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth

Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/

Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel

Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at

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

We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email [email protected].

The ultimate goal for both founders and investors is to EXIT an early stage investment at some point. However, this requires planning and preparation to create an optimal exit. In this show, we talk about strategies for founders and investors to prepare for and optimize EXIT planning.

CHeck out Basil Peters' "Early Exits" (available here).

Support the show

Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth

Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/

Follow Paul on X at https://x.com/PalmettoAngel

Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at

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

We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email [email protected].