What's Your Ask? with Stephanie Sims

Jeff Erickson is an Entrepreneur, Founder, CEO, and Director of Business Development at Carta, a leading software company that helps companies, investors, and employees manage their equity.

Jeff founded a successful consumer goods company that was ranked number 138 on the Inc. 500 List of Fastest-Growing Companies. Prior to that, Jeff was a partner at Beanstalk Partners where he led the sales and business development activities, and also served as the Business Development Director for a venture-backed tech startup, where he developed a company's channel partner program.

Jeff has a degree in Accounting and graduated magna cum laude from the University of Utah. After receiving his MBA in Finance from the University of Utah, he served as the Vice President of Investments for Century Financial Corporation.

Business asks are unavoidable, but your ask will have a higher success rate if you look out for your partner's interests and not focus solely on asking for favors. The question now is, how do you decide which partners are ideal partners for mutually beneficial asks?

Jeff Erickson, Director of Business of Carta, says that it's about figuring out what is in it for the partner and how you can build a mutually beneficial relationship that will last. It's a challenging time for relationship building but it can be done, thanks to technology.

Join Stephanie Sims as she interviews Jeff Erickson on this episode of What's Your Ask where they talk about mutually beneficial asks, building relationships over the internet, and the long term and future effects of the COVID-19 pandemic not just in work but in relationships as well. Stay tuned.

Courtney Williams is the Co-Founder and CEO of Emagine Solutions Technology. She leads the company's business development, customer care, and operations. Courtney has over 12 years of experience leading customer metrics and analysis in Fortune 500 companies. She has extensive international marketing experience in Africa and Latin America, and has served on the board of Open Windows Foundation in Guatemala, and has volunteered for Mobile Meals of Southern Arizona.

Courtney is a Marketing graduate from the University of Arizona, Eller College of Management and received her MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management.

Chris Ronzio is the Founder and CEO of Trainual, a leading SaaS company that helps fast-growing businesses automate their onboarding and training by documenting every process policy and procedure in one simple, searchable, teachable system.

Chris helped hundreds of entrepreneurs create scalable systems and processes with his consulting firm that he started in 2013, called Organized Chaos. Chris developed a passion for helping business leaders find the time to do more of what they love by providing a way to document and delegate what they do.

As a serial entrepreneur and startup leader, he built and sold a nationwide video production company before the age of 25. He's invested in building six businesses to over $30 million in annual revenue. Now with Trainual, Chris is on a mission to make small business easier by automating training manuals for busy companies around the world.

There will always be ongoing discussions about how to ask effectively and increase your chances of getting a yes. What if you could understand how to create something that people want to buy so they are asking you for it, as opposed to trying to sell them on it? This week's guest, Chris Ronzio talks about flipping the script by starting your asks right from your product idea.

Chris is the host of the Process Makes Perfect podcast. He's the author of 100 Hacks to Improve Your Business and Inc magazine's contributor with a column called the Process Playbook.

In this week's episode of What's Your Ask?, Chris talks with Stephanie about the importance of having a structured ask and to be clear about what it is that you're trying to achieve, as well as focusing on providing high value. Chris also talks about the product launch process, how to make the asks to bring targeted influencers on board, and how to create exclusivity for your product to attract more asks. Stay tuned.

Geri Stengel is the President of Ventureneer, a company that does brand research, training, and educational content on and for entrepreneurs. The company is best known for producing the American Express' State of Women-Owned Business Report.They have also worked with renowned clients such as CNBC, Del, NYC SBS, the National Women's Business Council, QuickBooks, and the Tory Burch Foundation.

Geri has a column in Forbes about women entrepreneurship, and she believes that the entrepreneurial world is at a moment of meaningful change with women and minorities leading that change.

Have you ever gotten a response to your ask that caught you off guard? How did you respond? What did you do afterward? Geri Stengel of Ventureneer has been in that tough position and she knows all too well how hard it can knock you off of your pedestal. She was single, hardworking, and was denied her request to get higher pay in the most shocking way. It was a learning experience that molded her to become the successful woman that she is today.

In this episode of What's Your Ask?, Geri also talks to Stephanie about how you can best handle harsh rejections, how to effectively use data and personal connections into your ask, how entrepreneurs can tell better stories using data, and why she believes that women and non-traditional entrepreneurs are the game-changers in the world of entrepreneurship. Stay tuned.

Ethan Austin is a two-time founder, Angel Investor and currently the Chief Strategy Officer at Gig Wage.

Prior to joining Gig Wage, Ethan pioneered the medical crowdfunding space as a co-founder of GiveForward, the world's first medical crowdfunding platform. After going through the TechStars program himself in 2010, GiveForward raised $7 million in funding.

The GiveForward platform went on to help families raise 200 million for their loved ones out of pocket medical expenses, and help change the way people care for each other during life's most difficult times. The company was acquired in 2017 and is now part of GoFundMe private acquisition.

Founders often want to know what investors want and how they determine which companies are viable to receive funding. With investors choosing less than 3% of the thousands of pitches they receive yearly, getting a yes is increasingly more difficult. Nonetheless, this week's guest, Ethan Austin says for you to stand a chance you have to have a blend of the right idea and the perfect team.

And if you don't get the yes, what next? On this episode of What's Your Ask?, you'll hear from Ethan Austin, the Managing Director of the Western Union Accelerator Powered by TechStars about how you can get better at asking. He also talks about the things you should never do when asking, and how he makes his decision to say yes to an ask.

If you are a payment or fintech startup, applications for the Western Union Accelerator, Powered by Techstars are now open until April 5. Click on the link below to learn more and apply.

Ji Mi Choi is the Associate Vice President leading entrepreneurship and innovation at Arizona State University.

She uses her 20+ years of expertise in higher education at the intersection of entrepreneurial and public-private partnerships. Prior to ASU, she served in various fast-paced and evolving roles in New York University and she has also served at the world-renowned Earth Institute at Columbia University.

Ji Mi has served in a leadership role for the United Nations Development Programme and in various capacities for numerous start-up organizations, both not-for-profit and for-profit, helping take a company public in the early days of the dot-com boom, and has been involved in political campaigns.

As entrepreneurs, we often find ourselves in situations where we have to ask for something - whether that is capital, partnership, or anything of interest - to move our businesses to the next level. And it always comes down to one question: how do we present our ask to get what we want without feeling like we are begging for a favor? For Ji Mi Choi it's about understanding and leveraging mutual reciprocity.

On this episode of What's Your Ask, you'll hear from Ji Mi Choi, the Associate Vice President leading entrepreneurship and innovation at the Arizona State University (ASU) talks to Stephanie about the other aspects of asking that people think about: the aspect of turning your ask into an offer of help or added value for the other person.

Tune in on their conversation about making asks collaborative, the value of research before presenting your proposal, and how open-mindedness and self-awareness can play key roles in establishing good rapport not just with the person you're talking to but in making the situation you are in or want to be in more fruitful. Stay tuned.

Leib Bolel is the President and CEO of the Arizona Israel Technology Alliance where he oversees the facilitation of growth in bilateral trade between the technology communities of Arizona and Israel across the spectrum of the technology sector. He is also a Venture Partner at Grayhawk Capital with over a decade of experience in the area of new business development, startups, marketing, funding acquisition, and general operations management. He is a recipient of the Phoenix Business Journal's 40 under 40, and one of two Valley leaders selected to the National List of Influential Young Executives.

Leib holds an MBA from Auburn University and a Bachelor's Degree from Tannenbaum College.

Kristin Slice is an ecosystem builder who's the Senior Program Manager of Peoria Forward. It's an ambitious grant-funded project that aims to develop the West Valleys entrepreneurial ecosystem and to integrate Arizona State University's (ASU) robust international resources directly into local communities.

Kristin is also an entrepreneur having run multiple businesses both in marketing and communications consulting. She's an alumnus of ASU and earned her Master's Degree in Organizational Communication from Texas A&M University.

You're in a crowd and you're warming yourself up to strike up a conversation with a potential investor or business partner, but hold on a second and ask yourself, have you done the research you need to make the conversation interesting? Are you capable at that very moment to connect with a person not just for business purposes but really making a connection that will leave a lasting and (hopefully) positive impact? For Kristin Slice, preparing yourself for every ask you make and building rapport with the people you talk to is crucial in paving the way for your success. And this is why your ask needs to start from the very basic: the desire to learn and to ask the right questions.

Kristin Slice is the Senior Program Manager at Peoria Forward, and she has seen and heard all the different kinds of asks you can think of. She has seen people have astounding ideas but fail to make a connection with key people for their businesses, and she has also seen people make the little asks they do work towards the completion of their goal.

In this episode of What's Your Ask, Stephanie discuss with Kristin the value of research and shared community knowledge in order to create a strong and robust ecosystem for entrepreneurs, the risks of conversing just for the sake of conversing, the power of surrounding yourself with the right people and the right information, and the work that Peoria Forward is doing to help the entrepreneurs of West Valley thrive and grow. Stay tuned.

Scott Sorochak is the CEO of SparkLabs Foundry, the corporate venture capital arm of SparkLabs. Scott brings over 30 years of leadership experience in consumer internet, mobile, and enterprise SAS global organizations, and has been a mentor and advisor to SparkLabs Global Ventures as well as a venture partner at Blarney Ventures in Silicon Valley. He focuses on helping early-stage companies go from zero to over 100 million in revenue while building the operational excellence needed to satisfy demand and boards of directors.

Are you a young entrepreneur looking to start your first business venture? Are you gearing up for the very first ask you'll have to make for your business idea? According to Scott Sorochak, CEO of SparkLabs Foundry, you need to make sure you've done your homework before approaching someone especially when you're looking to ask for an investment.

Scott has over 30 years of experience under his belt and has helped countless companies bring their ideas into reality and making them more profitable than they could have ever imagined. The thing is though, building a strong network both for the purposes of business and for support is crucial to realizing your success in business. In an age where everything can be done online, it is crucial to look back on the practice of authentic connections and authentic visions in order to make a business grow and thrive in an ever growing and extremely competitive market.

In this episode of What's Your Ask, Stephanie talks to Scott about his early days as a budding entrepreneur and his path towards being an investor. They talk about what makes Scott say yes to an ask, what he looks for in a pitch, and how authenticity can make you stand out not just in business but in creating a network that will serve as the solid foundation of your empire. Stay tuned.

Dre Thompson is the executive VP at Startup Tucson and the Festival Director of TenWest Impact Festival. Dre has a diverse background with startups, research institutions, and in the public and private spheres. She's passionate about understanding why people do what they do to inform programming design and education.

What are the things that you need to have in order to make a successful ask? Are you even ready to make relatively smaller asks in preparation for that one major ask that you're planning to do for your project or for your business? These are some of the things that Dre Thompson wants you to think about before you go out there and do your pitch. Because for her, doing the little stuff is a major part of the legwork in making in ask which can ultimately lead to your success.

On this episode of What's your ask, Stephanie Sims is joined by Dre Thompson, EVP of Startup Tucson and Festival Director of TenWest Impact Festival, where they talk about the importance of having a checklist when preparing your pitch and why reigning in your emotions and re-evaluating your strengths and weaknesses can help you become more effective in doing your ask. Tune in as they dive deep on the role of pride, empathy, and ultimately, humility when it comes to making business decisions that are bound to make a difference for you and your company. Stay tuned.