Stories

Mark Beylin is the Founder of The Bounties Network, which allows anyone to put up a crypto bounty to incentivize people to complete a task assigned by the creator of that bounty. In the interview, Mark shares his story, discusses early startup projects he created, working with Etherium Co-Founder Joe Lubin at ConsenSys, the important of cryptocurrencies and blockchain technology, and more. You can find the show notes and photo I took of Leah on the Stories website (thestoriespodcast.com).

Leah La Salla is the Technical Founder & CEO of Astral AR, which builds drones that stop bullets. In the interview, Leah talks about growing up in Illinois, her dad's influence on her as an engineer and his Hell's Angels affiliation, why she pivoted to drones that stop bullets, and much more. You can find the show notes and photo I took of Leah on the Stories website (thestoriespodcast.com).

Mike Maples, Jr. is a founding partner at Floodgate, a venture capital firm that focuses on early-stage investments in tech companies. A few of Mike and Floodgate's notable investments include being the first investor in Twitter, as well as early investors in Lyft, Digg, Taskrabbit, and Twitch, just to name a few. In addition to being an investor, Mike is a serial entrepreneur. And in the interview, Mike tells us about his first business, how he got into investing, some of his best investments, as well as a couple he regretfully missed out on. You can find the show notes and photo I took of Mike on the Stories website (thestoriespodcast.com).

Matt Loper is the Co-Founder and CEO of Wellth, which uses behavioral economics to drastically improve care plan adherence in patients with chronic conditions. Said more simply, Wellth has a mobile app that helps people to remember to take their medicine. And they have a very high success rate at doing so. In the interview, we discuss a lot of things including Matt's experience sleeping three hours a night while working at an investment banking firm prior to founding Wellth, why Matt chose to start this company in particular, how he got his first investor and adviser to the company, and many many more things. This is definitely not an episode you want to miss. You can find the show notes and photo I took of Matt on the Stories website (thestoriespodcast.com).

Ashlee Ammons, who is the co-founder of Mixtroz, along with her mother Kerry Schrader, who is also a co-founder of the company, each became one of 40 black female founders ever to raise $1M or more in investor capital. According to Forbes, less than 6% of venture capital goes to women founders. And if you haven't listened to my interview with Ashlee, I would highly recommend you check it out. It's Episode 2 of Season 1. Ashlee has a very interesting story, including being the first intern...

David Mendlewicz is a serial entrepreneur who is the co-founder and CEO of Butterfly, which uses chat bots to offer real-time leadership training to managers based on their team's feedback. In the interview, we discuss a lot of things including how David had a challenging time with the school system early on, but how he eventually found his footing in entrepreneurship working on passion projects of his, starting and selling multiple businesses, and eventually moving to the US and co-founding Butterfly in 2014. You can find the show notes and photo I took of David on the Stories website (thestoriespodcast.com).

Marcus Cobb is the co-founder and CEO of Jammber, whose software helps record labels streamline their payment processes. In the interview, Marcus details his entrepreneurial journey including what he learned from his first exit and how he landed in Nashville. You can find the show notes and photo I took of Marcus on the Stories website (thestoriespodcast.com).

Mark Montgomery is a serial entrepreneur and investor, known for his imprint in the music tech space. Mark is also the founder of Flo Co, which was birthed as a consulting firm and evolved into a startup factory of sorts. Mark has had multiple exits and has worked with the likes of Google, Under Armor, Nissan, General Motors, as well as others. You can find the show notes and photo I took of Mark on the Stories website (thestoriespodcast.com).

Meredith Edmondson is one of Nashville's leading glass artists. Whether she's creating a fused glass vase for an interior designer or putting glass macaroons in the oven, Meredith is known for incorporating vibrant colors into many of the pieces she creates. In the interview, we learn about Meredith's story, how she became passionate about glass, and what the glass creation process entails. You can find the show notes and photo I took of Meredith on the Stories website (thestoriespodcast.com).

Kevin Grosch is the co-founder and CEO of Made In Network, a video-first media company that develops, grows, and monetizes YouTube channels. In the interview, we learn about how tragedy changed Kevin's path that eventually led him to becoming an entrepreneur. You can find the show notes and photo I took of Ryan on the Stories website (thestoriespodcast.com).

Ryan Schemmel is the co-founder of Fort Houston, a makerspace which he founded with a handful of friends in 2011. In the interview, Ryan details the full Fort Houston story, while incorporating multiple noteworthy digressions along the way. You can find the show notes and photo I took of Ryan on the Stories website (thestoriespodcast.com).

Mark Cleveland is a serial entrepreneur who was recognized as entrepreneur of the year at the 2014 NEXT Awards. Mark was also recognized by the Nashville Area Metropolitan Planning Organization with the 2016 Innovation Award, was recognized as "Most Admired CEO" in both 2014 and 2015 by the Nashville Business Journal for two different companies (Swiftwick and Hobby Express, respectively), and has many more recognitions that you can find on Mark's website (markacleveland.com). Mark is currently the CEO of Hytch, an innovative transportation app, which he co-founded, that rewards people for taking shared transit. You can find the show notes and photo I took of Mark on the Stories website (thestoriespodcast.com).

In Season 1, we're exploring entrepreneurship in Nashville. In each episode, I speak with a different founder to uncover their story and how that led to them starting their company. Mike Harder, is the co-founder and lead pastor of Green Hills Church, which he started in Nashville with his friend Brad in 2007. Since starting Green Hills, the church has grown to more than 200 regular attendees. In the interview, Mike talks about his childhood growing up in Columbia, why he decided to move to Nashville to start a church, what he's learned about leadership over the past decade, and more. You can find both the show notes and photo I took of Mike on the Stories website, which is thestoriespodcast.com.

Vic Gatto is the co-founder and CEO of Briovation, which launches and supports stratups that address flaws in the health ecosystem. Brio operates a number of brands and businesses, one of which is Jumpstart Foundry, a seed-stage healthcare innovation fund which has invested in many dozens of early stage startups to date. In the interview, Vic discusses the first company he co-founded in the 90s (and later sold), why he transitioned to venture capital, and more. You can find both the show notes and photo I took of Vic on the Stories website, which is thestoriespodcast.com.

Bob Bernstein is the founder & CEO of Bongo Productions, which is both a collection of cafes and restaurants in Nashville as well as a wholesale business for both organic coffee and gourmet baked goods. Bongo is the company behind locally famous coffeehouses Fido and Bongo Java. The latter of the two was Nashville's first coffeehouse and was founded in 1993. As always, you can find both the show notes and photo I took of Bob at thestoriespodcast.com.

Travis Gravette is the Vice President of Business Development at Nisolo, which makes handcrafted leather shoes and other leather goods. However, Travis is probably best known for being the founder of Know Think Act, a non-profit he started to serve the needs of impoverished communities in Africa. In the interview, we learn about Travis's journey, why he decided to started a non-profit right out of college, and why he ended up leaving the non-profit world to work in fashion. If you've been listening to the podcast but have not yet been to the website, you should really check it out. On the website you'll find original photos I took of all the guests I've interviewed, as well as show notes, and links to social media. The show notes include quotes and links to things mentioned in the podcast such as books, organizations, people, music, etc. So please check it out. I personally prefer the desktop version of the website, but it is mobile friendly. The web address is thestoriespodcast.com

Mollie Decktor is the co-founder and CEO of mbody, which creates custom fit bras. And when I say custom fit, I mean that the bra is made specifically for your body. Mollie was having a difficult time finding bras that fit well and after hearing similar stories from friends, decided to start mbody to solve this problem. In the episode, we dig into Mollie's story, how she got into entrepreneurship, and learn about the technology she uses to make her custom bras, which is fascinating. If you'd like to view the notes on this episode or check out the photo I took of Mollie, you can do both on the Stories website, which is thestoriespodcast.com.

Emily Mahoney is the co-founder of BRANDED Collective, which hand crafts pieces of jewelry, all of which are made by survivors of human trafficking. In today's show, Emily tells the story behind BRANDED and also goes into detail about her career as an actress. If you'd like to view the notes on this episode or check out the photo I took of Emily, you can do both on the Stories website, which is thestoriespodcast.com.

Ben Stewart is the co-founder of Louder Agency, a digital marketing and web agency which he started in 2010 along with his co-founder Kurt Aschliman. Ben discusses how he went from doing freelance web design projects to running one of the hottest digital agencies in Nashville. And as always, if you want to view the notes on this episode or see how nice Ben's smile is in the photo I took of him, you can do both on the Stories website, which is thestoriespodcast.com.

In this season, we explore entrepreneurship in Nashville. In each episode, I speak in depth with someone who founded a company there. My goal is to learn about their story and how that led them to starting their company. And today’s episode is with Rhonda Pinkerman. Rhonda is the Founder and CEO of Poo Doo Leash, an innovative patent-pending pet product company. Rhonda really enjoys going on runs with her dogs but got tired of carrying dog waste during their runs. And in 2011, she got the idea to create a custom leash product to solve this problem, which resulted in the formation of the Poo Doo Leash. And just a heads up, we reference an iFundWomen crowdfunding campaign during the interview. And unfortunately, that campaign is no longer active. But don’t worry, if Rhonda’s leashes are a must-have item for you, you’re still able to purchase them through her website, which is poodooleash.com. You can view notes for this episode at thestoriespodcast.com.