upside

Last Friday, March 1, we released issue one of the update. In this week's episode, we explain why and go behind the scenes of how it came together. At upside, we focus on startups, startup communities, and startup investing outside of Silicon Valley. We have our ears to the ground, arms wide open, and platform ready to tell the stories of amazing founders, venture capitalists, and community builders from across the country who are tackling problems in their own unique way. From the outside, it seems that our communities aren’t being understood. So we launched the update, a publication featuring editorials, trends, and stories happening outside of Silicon Valley. Our contributors live in the world outside of Silicon Valley and we think you’re going to love their genuine perspective. Articles: ScriptDrop marches towards 1b patients served, turning down an acquisition offer in the process why don’t you just meet me in the middle? by Eric Hornung why we need platform in startup communities by Jay Clouse building relationships with investors — before you need their money by Allie Felix I grew up in flyover country by Erik Berg founders: don’t force a friends & family round by Monique Villa first quarter podcast recommendations by Jay Clouse and Eric Hornung Read issue one of the update: https://upside.fm/update/issue-one/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm

Interview begins: 06:52 Debrief begins: 53:28 John Galbraith (CEO) and Michael Joyce (COO) are the co-founders of Exaeris Water Innovations. Exaeris developed a patent-pending atmospheric water generator based on technology developed at the University of Tulsa that provides a consistent and reliable source of water. The AcquaTap™ from Exaeris captures and collects pure water from the atmosphere. A single unit is about the size of a shoebox and is capable of producing up to five gallons of clean water per day. Exaeris was founded in 2015 and based in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Learn more about Exaeris: http://www.exaeris.com/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Interview begins: 06:26 Debrief begins: 51:58 Bernie Moreno is the President of the Bernie Moreno Companies. He has 20+ years in the retail automotive business. In 2005, he purchased what has become the largest volume Mercedes-Benz dealership in the Central US. At one point, he owned 21 dealerships. He is on the board of Dryver, a personal driver company and owns Hotcards, an online print broker. He also founded Ownum, which is an incubator for blockchain and other technology companies. One of those first companies is Champ, which digitizes car titles. His was the first Mercedes-Benz and Porsche dealership in the US to accept virtually all kinds of crypto currency. Bernie helped start the Blockland Cleveland Blockchain Solutions Conference, an effort to make Cleveland the epicenter of blockchain technology for business and government applications. The Blockland initiative exists to educate and promote real-world blockchain applications, while establishing and leading a blockchain ecosystem with support from private, public and philanthropic individuals and organizations. The Solutions Conference took place in Cleveland December 1-4, 2018, with over 2000 attendees, 149 speakers, and more. Learn more about Blockland Cleveland: https://www.blocklandcleveland.com Join the Blockland Cleveland Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/932341216950947 Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Interview begins: 07:09 Debrief begins: 49:20 Luke Heron is the co-founder and CEO of Testcard. TestCard is a medical diagnostic test contained within a traditional postcard. The unique, patent-pending ‘flat-pack’ product is embedded with three fold-out urine dipsticks. The accompanying easy-to-use mobile application turns a mobile phone’s camera into a clinical grade scanner, providing the user with an immediate and accurate result from the TestCard, communicated in easy-to-understand wording on the phone screen. This episode was recorded at CES 2019, where Testcard was named a Top Emerging technology by Digital Trends. Testcard was founded in 2017 and based in London, UK. Learn more about Testcard: https://testcard.com/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Interview begins: 07:03 Debrief begins: 48:43 Bryan serves as Capital Factory’s Vice President of Accelerator and Investment Fund. Bryan is a business development and investment professional experienced in portfolio management and venture capital transactions. Prior to joining Capital Factory, Bryan established the Blackstone Launchpad and UT Dallas Seed Fund at the University of Texas at Dallas where he actively advises students, entrepreneurs, and early-stage ventures and serves as a member of the entrepreneurship faculty. Bryan is a founding team member and at Fixd Repair, an insurance technology and home services business where he led the business corporate development strategy. Bryan has spent his career working with and investing in venture-backed startups including ReachLocal, LevelUp, and Fran POS. ​ // Capital Factory’s mission is to be the center of gravity for entrepreneurs in Texas. Last year more than 100,000 entrepreneurs, programmers, and designers gathered day and night, in-person and online for meetups, classes, and coworking. They meet the best entrepreneurs in Texas and introduce them to their first investors, employees, mentors, and customers. According to Pitchbook, Capital Factory has been the most active investor in Texas since 2013. Founded in 2009, Capital Factory is based in Austin, Texas. Learn more about Capital Factory: https://www.capitalfactory.com Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Insight begins: 08:27 Interview begins: 15:00 Debrief begins: 1:14:32 Esra Roan is the co-founder of SOMAVAC® Medical Solutions. Prior to her role with SOMAVAC®, she was an Associate Professor in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Memphis. Esra's more than 15 years of experience in product development and biomedical research gives her the tools to enhance the lives of patients with products that make a difference. Her education is in Mechanical Engineering (TTU and U of Cincinnati). // SOMAVAC® Medical is a medical device company with a mission to change how patients recover after major surgeries, wherever that may be. Its first FDA cleared product, the SOMAVAC® 100 Sustained Vacuum Device, addresses seroma and hematoma formation with the first continuous suction device. SOMAVAC® Medical was founded in 2016 and based in Memphis, Tennessee. // Dr. Marc Guay practices Otolaryngology with University Hospitals as an ear, nose, and throat doctor serving the community of Sheffield Village, OH. Dr. Guay received his medical degree from Loyola University Chicago and is certified by the American Board of Otolaryngology. He completed his internship in general surgery at Loyola University Medical Center and a residency in otolaryngology at Cleveland Clinic. Learn more about SOMAVAC® Medical: http://www.somavac.com/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Interview begins: 06:10 Debrief begins: 1:00:45 Todd Federman is the Manging Director for the North Coast Angel Fund. Todd has served as the Executive Director of North Coast Angel Fund since its founding in 2006. Prior to joining NCAF, Todd worked as a full-time independent consultant for the brand strategy team at a leading web services company, co-leading efforts in developing word-of-mouth marketing and experiential marketing initiatives. Previously, Todd worked for DiamondCluster, a global management consulting firm subsequently acquired by PWC. At Diamond, his work included managing the development and launch of a consumer software product, assessing the cost/revenue implications of an enterprise architecture strategy for a leading health insurer, and architecting a new continuous improvement organization for a regional Blue Cross Blue Shield provider. ​ Previously, Todd co-founded, and remains active with “One With Nature,” an all-natural line of body care products carried in 4,000 retail locations. Todd currently serves on the Boards of Directors for NCAF portfolio companies StreamLink Software, DecisionDesk (formerly CitizenGroove), and Petbrosia. He also serves on the Board of Directors for Youth Opportunities Unlimited, a Cleveland non-profit that empowers urban teens through job training, placement and entrepreneurship education. Todd holds a bachelor’s degree in Finance from Kent State University and an MBA from the Fuqua School of Business at Duke University. // North Coast Angel Fund (NCAF) includes three contributed capital funds with 220+ angel investor members. Their mission is to accelerate technology startup success and improve the state of early-stage funding in Ohio. The Funds focus on early-stage technology investments, primarily in software and life sciences, and have invested in 51 companies. Founded in 2006, North Coast Angel Fund is based in Cleveland, Ohio. Learn more about North Coast Angel Fund: https://www.northcoastangelfund.com/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Interview begins: 07:40 Debrief begins: 58:25 Leah La Salla is the co-founder and CEO of Astral AR. Leah is a self-taught, polyglot software architect and inventor. She spent much of her free time during high school years working in her dad’s super-precision tool-and-die machine shop – and got started in tech long before there were any initiatives trying to bring women into development. She studied CAD design in college and then spent a decade in software engineering – including five years as a Federal employee – while teaching herself to program in an additional 9 languages, and mentoring around a hundred in women in coding. Leah’s worked on wide range of technically unusual products including fabrication application development, industrial printing, and more conventional app development and app security. She built Astral’s original prototype in between assembling the company team out of the personal and professional network she has built over the course of the last fifteen years. As the inventor of neuromechanical drones with a permanent patent filed on 9 inventions, she hacked NASA with a toaster. // Astral AR builds drones that stop bullets. Their integration of technologies is unbiased by design and exclusively for deployment by uniformed first responders (police, fire, emergency managers) on behalf of lifesaving public safety and search & rescue at scenes of potential or active gun violence. They bring situational awareness, anomaly detection, and an autonomous bullet-stopping flying shield to traffic stops, schools, large public venues, structure fires, and hostage rescues as well as in disaster zones. Astral AR was founded in 2015 and based in Austin, Texas. Learn more about Astral AR: https://www.astralar.com/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Katherine (Katie) Milligan brings the power of public policy to building entrepreneurial communities. She serves as Chief of Staff at Start Co. where she supports the development of corporate, governmental, and investment relationships to support building inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystems. Katie previously served as the Director of Small Business and Entrepreneurship for the Delta Regional Authority (DRA), a federal agency that works to improve regional economic opportunity in the eight-state Delta region. While at the DRA, Katie launched the Delta Entrepreneurship Network, a competitive fellowship program to identify entrepreneurs and entrepreneurship support organizations in the Delta. She is a founding member of the Start Here Initiative, a community-led effort in Little Rock seeking to close the gap that exists for women and minorities in access to capital in entrepreneurship. Katie has a B.A. in political science from the University of Mississippi and a M.P.S. from the University of Arkansas Clinton School of Public Service. // Start Co. is a non-profit venture development organization founded in 2008 and located in Downtown Memphis, Tennessee. Start Co. supports the development of corporate, governmental, and investment relationships to build and grow an inclusive entrepreneurial ecosystem. Learn more about Start Co.: http://neverstop.co/ Start Co. startup toolkit: http://neverstop.co/startco-toolkit/ Follow Katie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/kmilligan24 Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Feng Tan is the co-founder and CEO of Woobo. Feng is a graduate of Tsinghua University with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and Robotics. He also received a Ph.D. in Robotics from MIT. Woobo was founded with one goal in mind: to bring children's imaginary friends to life. By using cutting-edge robotics and AI technology, Woobo provides all children with a smart companion who can talk, amuse, inspire, and grow alongside them. Founded in 2015, Woobo is based in Cambridge, Massachusetts. This episode was recorded at CES 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Learn more about Woobo: https://www.woobo.io/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Bob Tetiva is the founder and CEO for Sense Arena. Sense Arena is a unique, powerful, and innovative tool for developing hockey players, improving their cognitive skills and hockey sense. Using virtual reality, they bring the ice to players' homes, gyms, and centers so they can execute drills just as on the ice but with 1000 times more repetitions. Founded in 2017, Sense Arena is based in Prague (Czech Republic) and Boston, Massachusetts. This episode was recorded at CES 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. // Shane Darrow is the host of Forecheck, Backcheck, Paycheck. Listen to Forecheck, Backcheck, Paycheck on iTunes: https://itunes.apple.com/us/podcast/forecheck-backcheck-paycheck/id1389666153? // Learn more about Sense Arena: https://www.sensearena.com/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Rob Walling is a General Partner of TinySeed. He has bootstrapped multiple startups to exit, most recently Drip. He runs MicroConf, co-hosts Startups for the Rest of Us, and has been advising, mentoring and investing in startups for more than a decade. // TinySeed is a year-long, remote accelerator designed for early-stage SaaS founders. It's built by Rob and Einar, two serial entrepreneurs who saw a gap in the ability for non-unicorn startups to raise early-stage funding. It was founded in 2018, and is taking applications for its first cohort until February 15, 2019. Learn more and apply to TinySeed: https://tinyseed.com Follow Rob on Twitter: https://twitter.com/robwalling Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Anand Krishnan is the co-founder and head of platform engineering for CareAlert. Anand is an entrepreneur and technologist with over 20 years of experience building and leading high-performing technology teams in North America, Europe, and Asia. He has founded a technology services company, a renewable energy company and a AI talent platform company. Anand holds a bachelor’s degree in engineering from Bangalore University and an MBA from Emory University’s Goizueta Business School. // CareAlert is a device that looks after the wellbeing of seniors living independently. It allows caregivers to contact seniors via voice using an app, and is independent of any cell phone or landline. CareAlert contains no camera to maintain the dignity and privacy of seniors. Installation is as simple as plugging them into an outlet. Founded in 2016, CareAlert is based in Atlanta, Georgia. This episode was recorded at CES 2019 in Las Vegas, Nevada. Learn more about CareAlert: http://carealert.io Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Stephanie Manning is the Director of Platform for Lerer Hippeau. Lerer Hipeau is an early-stage venture capital fund based in New York City. As founders and operators themselves, Lerer Hippeau see returns in relationships. They seek entrepreneurs with product vision, consumer insight, focused execution, and unwavering ambition. Their portfolio companies include Allbirds, Axios, Bark Box, Bench, BuzzFeed, Casper, Giphy, Glossier, Splash, and more. Learn more about Lerer Hippeau: https://www.lererhippeau.com Follow Stephanie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/steph_manning07 Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update

Lori Coulter is the Founder, CEO and President of Summersalt. Prior to Summersalt, Lori owned and operated Lori Coulter Swimwear for 11 years. Summersalt is a direct-to-consumer, travelwear brand. Their flagship product is designer swimwear without the designer price tag. With a patent on recommending garments based on body type and consumer preference, Summersalt uses more than 10,000 scans of real women’s bodies and some 1.5 million measurements to create what it says are designer-quality garments. Summersalt was founded in 2017 and is based in St. Louis, Missouri. // Karen Howland is a Managing Director at CircleUp. CircleUp is an investment platform providing capital and resources to innovative, early-stage consumer brands. CircleUp is comprised of internally-managed funds, an investment marketplace and credit division, which are all powered by Helio, a proprietary machine learning platform that evaluates more than 1.2 million consumer and retail businesses to predict future business success. Learn more about Summersalt: https://www.summersalt.com Learn more about CircleUp: https://circleup.com/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Subscribe to the update: https://upside.fm/update