upside

Interview begins: 6:23Debrief: 50:32This week we’re hosting an upside feed takeover from When Pigs Fly! When Pigs Fly is a podcast covering the Cincinnati business ecosystem on the upside podcast network. And in this episode, they talk to Scott Shane, the Managing Director of Comeback Capital, to learn precisely what venture capital is, what investment looks like for the investor and the entrepreneur, and why the midwest is underserved in the investment world.They discuss: Who does Venture Capital? 7:14 Exit Event 9:50 Industry and Trends in VC 12:36 Venture Capital for Startups 19:33 Comeback Capital 24:35 Effective Storytelling in Entrepreneurship 29:41 Demographic for Venture Capital 32:20 Pain points 38:19 Cincinnati's Market 40:28 Rolling Fund 46:44 Tips for Startup Entrepreneurs 49:09 Learn more about Comeback Capital: https://www.comeback.vc/Subscribe to When Pigs Fly: https://pod.link/1549482801--This episode is sponsored by SavvyCal. SavvyCal is the most intuitive and powerful scheduling tool on the market. In fact, we just started SavvyCal to book interviews with our guests! You can create personalized links in seconds and even allow recipients to overlay their calendar on top of yours. You really gotta see how this works, and you’ll wonder why it wasn’t always this easy.Sign up to create a free account at savvycal.com/upside and when you're ready to test out a paid plan, use the code UPSIDE to get your first month free.Follow upside on TwitterAdvertise with an upside classified--This episode of upside is sponsored by Ethos Wealth Management. Managing wealth with an eye toward the future demands vigilance and skill in today’s global economy. Over the years, Ethos Wealth Management has worked with clients and their other professional advisors – including attorneys and accountants – to create comprehensive wealth management plans designed to make the best use of their wealth today and help ensure its endurance for future generations.They can do the same for you. Visit upside.fm/ethos to learn more.

Michael Cohn and Sean O’Brien are the Managing Directors of Overline. Overline is an Atlanta-based, founder-operator led venture capital firm focused on investing in seed-stage businesses, primarily in Atlanta and the Southeast region of the United States. We partner with founders throughout their seed stage and lead investments ranging from $250K to $1.5 million. Prior to Overline, Michael served as both a managing director for Techstars Atlanta and the co-founder of Cloud Sherpas, which was acquired by Accenture. And Sean served as Chief Strategy Officer at PGi. Overline was founded in 2019 and based in Atlanta, Georgia. Learn more about Overline This episode is sponsored by SavvyCal. SavvyCal is the most intuitive and powerful scheduling tool on the market. In fact, we just started SavvyCal to book interviews with our guests! You can create personalized links in seconds and even allow recipients to overlay their calendar on top of yours. You really gotta see how this works, and you’ll wonder why it wasn’t always this easy. Sign up to create a free account at savvycal.com/upside and when you're ready to test out a paid plan, use the code UPSIDE to get your first month free. - Follow upside on Twitter https://twitter.com/upsidefm Advertise with an upside classified https://upside.fm/classifieds

Best Shot is a patient’s companion in fertility treatments, providing medication management & education, streamlining the pharmaceutical ordering experience and enabling safe, supportive micro-communities led by experts.

Interview begins: 7:15 Debrief: 55:14 Jackie DiMonte is a partner at Chicago Ventures. Prior to joining Chicago Ventures, Jackie was a principal at Hyde Park Venture Partners, working with portfolio companies such as RoadSync, Podchaser, Fixer, FactoryFix, and PartySlate. Before that, she worked at Silver Spring Networks (now Itron), an IoT company for critical infrastructure, driving development and pilot projects for emerging smart city technology. She is also a member of the Board of Directors for Starting Block Madison and Chicago:Blend and a Venture Partner at Republic. We discuss: - Feedback Loop 13:54 - Evolution in a Venture Firm 17:14 - What Level is a Deal Flow Done? 21:46 - Get a Deal Through 24:17 - Programmatic Venture 26:35 - Working Virtually from Austin 31:13 - Partner at Chicago Ventures 35:27 - Inbound Pitches 42:43 - Fragmenting Markets 48:53 - Personal Goals for the role 50:26 Chicago Ventures was founded in 2012. Learn more about Chicago Ventures: http://chicagoventures.com/ Follow Jackie on Twitter: https://upside.fm/classifieds

Interview Begins: 7:12 Debrief Begins: 55:03 Jessica Peltz-Zatulove is a Founding Partner at Hannah Grey, a first check venture capital firm investing in customer-centric founders reimagining everyday experiences to improve work and life. She is also the co-founder of Global Women in VC, the world's largest and most active community for women investors, empowering women VCs around the world to better find each other to connect, collaborate, and create a sense of community. We discuss: - Disconnect in large and a small companies 11:29 - Find the right stakeholder 13:23 - Working with Startup Founders 18:33 - Coming out of Corporate VC 23:19 - Women in VC 30:04 - Hannah Grey 36:33 - What does Hannah Grey Support? 35:51 - Economic Trends 44:13 - Pre Seed Fund 48:39 Haannah Grey was founded in 2020 and based in New York City. Learn more about Hannah Grey This episode is sponsored by SavvyCal. SavvyCal is the most intuitive and powerful scheduling tool on the market. In fact, we just started SavvyCal to book interviews with our guests! You can create personalized links in seconds and even allow recipients to overlay their calendar on top of yours. You really gotta see how this works, and you’ll wonder why it wasn’t always this easy. Sign up to create a free account at savvycal.com/upside and when you're ready to test out a paid plan, use the code UPSIDE to get your first month free. Follow upside on Twitter Advertise with an upside classified

Interview Begins: 8:19 Debrief 46:25 Zachary Spradlin is a co-creator of Protoball, a futuristic first-person sports game merging basketball, soccer, and high tech style. Players athletically jump, slide, run, and dash around the arena trying to pass the Protoball through the opponents goal. We discuss: - Failed Kickstarter Campaign 10:22 - Protoball and the concept behind it. 12:42 - Unreal Engine 16:26 - Needing a Hit Game 19:15 - Creating Protoball 20:49 - Game Jam 22:25 - What makes a good game 23:52 - Scenes from Protoball 26:02 - Scoring 30:37 - Protoball as eSports 32:15 - Unserved Audience 33:31 - Free to Play 35:12 - Funding the game 38:05 - Game Development vs. Business Development 41:16 - Protoball open to public 43:50 Protoball was started in 2018 and based in Cincinnati, Ohio. Learn more about Protoball This episode is sponsored by Fundboard. You can build a tailor-fit list of startup investors in minutes with FundBoard. Learn more at https://upside.fm/fundboard Follow upside on Twitter Advertise with an upside classified

Interview begins: 7:58 Debrief: 47:33 Chris Bergman is the founder and CEO of Gylee Games and a General Partner at The Fund Midwest. Gylee Games believes in building big worlds. They believe in games that can be enjoyed in smaller chunks, not requiring hundreds of hours, but a delightful experience in short bursts. Gylee Games creates games for PC, Console and VR. The Midwest Fund was born from The Fund, an NYC-based venture capital group. Founded in 2018 by an all-star cast of Jenny Fielding, Scott Hartley, Katie Hunt, Adam Carver and Matthew Brimer, The Fund has since expanded with micro-funds in Los Angeles, London and the Boulder/Denver region. And with each expansion, local founders and investors are tapped to lead each region. We discuss: - ChoreMonster 9:26 - Gylee Games and The Fund Midwest 10:19 - Chris Bergman as a game developer and creator 11:56 - Surrounding yourself with people that are really good 13:35 - Funding a gaming studio 16:59 - Game Studio Aspects 18:41 - Gaming and Venture Capital 19:51 - Pre-release marketing 23:27 - Pressure on the first game 29:03 - Strategy on acquisition model 30:46 - Twitch to become stakeholders 32:04 - Entering The Fund Midwest 32:56 - Investment Thesis 38:31 - Funded by founders, run by founders 39:50 - Raising as an operator vs as a VC 44:50 -- Learn more about The Fund Midwest: https://thefund.vc/community/midwest/ Learn more about Gylee Games: https://gyleegames.com/ Follow Chris Bergman on Twitter: https://twitter.com/chrisbergman This episode is sponsored by Fundboard. You can build a tailor-fit list of startup investors in minutes with FundBoard. Learn more at https://upside.fm/fundboard Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Advertise with an upside classified: https://upside.fm/classifieds

Ben Kellie is the Founder and CEO of The Launch Company The Launch Company is building the world’s first multi-user, mobile launch site for this planet and beyond. They develop standardized hardware, ground support equipment, and processes. Ben has a B.S. in mechanical engineering from University of Alaska Fairbanks, as well as an M.S. in mechanical engineering from the Ohio State University. Before returning to Alaska, Ben worked in rocketry at SpaceX, designing and operating launch sites, and ran the first missions to return a first stage from orbit. The Launch Company was founded in 2015 and based in Anchorage, Alaska. Learn more about The Launch Company: https://www.launch-company.com/ Follow Ben Kellie on Twitter: https://twitter.com/northroadben This episode is sponsored by Fundboard. You can build a tailor-fit list of startup investors in minutes with FundBoard. Learn more at https://upside.fm/fundboard Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Advertise with an upside classified: https://upside.fm/classifieds

Interview begins: 11:40 Debrief: 58:48 John Crain is the Founder and CEO of SuperRare. SuperRare is a marketplace to collect and trade unique, single-edition digital artworks. Each artwork is authentically created by an artist in the network, and tokenized as a crypto-collectible digital item that you can own and trade. Each artwork on SuperRare is a digital collectible– a digital object secured by cryptography and tracked on the blockchain. That’s just a fancy way of saying they’re probably scarce items that can be collected, and that hold value just like cryptocurrencies like ether and bitcoin. You can think of SuperRare like Instagram meets Robinhood. A new way to interact with art, culture, and collecting on the internet! Key points: - Getting to the world of crypto 10:45 - Difference of Bitcoin and Etherium 13:31 - What’s does SuperRare offer 14:58 - SuperRare 16:28 - Crypto Kitties 20:02 - Art world and Technology 23:00 - What is Digital art? 25:49 - Collecting digital art 26:45 - Value of digital art 30:57 - Audience of SuperRare 34:00 - Certificate of Authenticity 35:37 - SuperRare as a marketplace business 40:36 - Transaction fees and costs 45:52 - The future of art/museums 51:17 Learn more about SuperRare: https://superrare.co/ Follow John Crain: https://www.linkedin.com/in/johnacrain/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Advertise with an upside classified: https://upside.fm/classifieds

This week we’re hosting an upside feed takeover from Lay of The Land! Lay of The Land is a podcast covering the Cleveland business ecosystem on the upside podcast network. And in this episode, Jeff talks with Steve Muszynski, the founder and CEO of Splash Financial. Jeff and Steve discuss the student loan crisis and how Splash, one of Ohio’s fastest growing companies, is helping people save on their student loan debt. We discuss: - Status Quo for Student Loans 6:34 - Coming up with Splash Financial 8:12 - Progress amidst the current situation 13:12 - Loan Forgiveness 15:53 - Think about growth 18:32 - Starting in Cleveland 21:38 - Hiring employees 25:12 - Challenges for Splash 29:26 Splash Financial was founded in 2015 and based in Cleveland, Ohio. Learn more about Splash Financial: https://splashfinancial.com/ Subscribe to Lay of The Land: https://pod.link/1539921799 Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Advertise with an upside classified: https://upside.fm/classifieds

Interview begins: 5:22 Debrief: 41:15 Travis Smith is the founder and CEO of Tribevest. Tribevest makes it easy to launch an investor entity, pool capital, and experience wealth-building with friends, family, and people you trust. Tribevest’s all-in-one-platform helps you assemble your tribe, align on your expectations, file your LLC, author your bylaws, open a business bank account, and easily pool capital from your members. We discuss: - Early interest in finance 6:51 - Investing as brothers 11:44 - Investing in real estate 12:54 - What is Tribevest 14:54 - Onboarding 20:16 - Difference if Tribevest vs. SPV 22:53 - Growth Strategy 26:32 - Tribevest Vision 29:24 - Subscription model 36:45 Tribevest was founded in 2016 and based in Columbus, Ohio. Learn more about Tribevest: https://www.tribevest.com/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Advertise with an upside classified: https://upside.fm/classifieds

Interview begins: 6:33 Debrief: 46:48 Geoff Atkinson is the founder and CEO of Huckabuy. Huckabuy’s Software improves your search results, drives more organic traffic, and makes your website faster. Their software creates Google’s Perfect World on your website to queue up the perfect conversation with Search Bots and grow your organic traffic. Prior to Huckabuy, Geoff was the Senior Vice President of Marketing and Analytics at Overstock. At Overstock, he developed expertise in SEO and managed everything from pricing algorithms to content generation, to buying rain jackets in New York City’s garment district. In 2007, he was named on Advertising Age’s “Top 40 Under 40” list. Huckabuy was founded in 2015 and based in Park City, Utah. Learn more about Huckabuy: https://passiv.com/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Advertise with an upside classified: https://upside.fm/classifieds

Nick McCullum is the Director of Growth for Passiv. Passiv turns your brokerage account into a modern portfolio management tool. Passiv allows you to set a target portfolio and get email notifications when your portfolio drifts from that target. Passiv then lets you rebalance with one click!

This week we’re excited to introduce you to the first new show on the upside podcast network: When Pigs Fly. Hosted by Allie Martin and Patrick Bailey, When Pigs Fly is a podcast that uncovers Cincinnati's rich business history from the 1800s to today. We talk to companies to learn the ups and downs of entrepreneurship, what it takes to grow a successful business and to simply prost to future innovation. When Pigs Fly will air every Tuesday beginning February 2 on the upside podcast network. Subscribe to When Pigs Fly: https://pod.link/1549482801 Learn more: https://whenpigsfly.fm Follow When Pigs Fly on Twitter: https://twitter.com/WhenPigsFlyPod Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Advertise with an upside classified: https://upside.fm/classifieds

Interview begins: 5:01 Debrief: 40:42 Caleb Musser is the founder and CEO of Craftom. Craftom is a B2B gifting and shipping platform that makes it easy to send hyper-designed corporate gifts, products and office equipment to anyone, whether they’re working from home, in the office, or somewhere else entirely. It started with a cigar box and a tough sales job. In 2013, Craftom founder Caleb Musser was searching for a unique way to stand out with business owners while selling printers and copiers door-to-door. So he scrounged up vintage cigar boxes and sent them with personalized notes and gifts to unresponsive business owners. The reaction was eye-opening. Executives who wouldn’t take his calls before started connecting with Musser and giving him time on their busy calendars. The success of this home-spun hack revealed two key insights that are still engrained in Craftom.io’s DNA today: Customization and personalization are everything, and nothing beats quality materials and products. By combining cutting-edge design technology with quality products, Craftom has designed and created gifts that sit on the desks of Fortune 500 CEOs, NFL owners and Presidents of the United States. Craftom was founded in 2019 and based in Charlotte, North Carolina. We discuss: - Caleb Musser as a Salesman 7:54 - Musser & Co. 12:31 - Craftom 17:48 - The difference of the two companies 19:50 - Craftom being the main venture 20:46 - Advantage of adding technical components to your business 22:19 - How pandemic change business relationships 26:06 - Growth during the pandemic 27:26 - The key to cold outbound calls 29:07 - Why do customers choose Craftom 31:02 - Craftom being completely Bootstrapped 37:49 Learn more about Craftom: https://craftom.com/ Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm Advertise with an upside classified: https://upside.fm/classifieds