Speaking of Startups

Today we welcome Ben Boyer, co-founder and Executive Chairman of R-Zero Systems, to the podcast.  Prior to March 2020, Ben had worked in Venture Capital – getting his feet wet with Lehman Brothers as he came out of college. After the Lehman bankruptcy, he went to work for Tenaya Capital which was spun out of Lehman Brothers.  At Tenaya, Ben focused on global consumer and related investments, with an emphasis on vertical applications and network effect businesses. He led investments in companies based in four countries and on three continents.  In 2020, he remained a Partner at Tenaya Capital but he stepped away from raising new funds to focus on R-Zero Systems.  Ben now lives in Park City UT. Ben speaks about his early days at Lehman and the fall of the financial business.  He shares in-depth stories of investing in venture capital including some of the success stories. Ultimately, though , as Covid begins to develop in the US it brought back emotions of 9/11 – and what he could do to help.  This led to him to research pathogens, how they are treated and ultimately R-Zero was launched in April 2020. Ben started it with Grant Morgan and Eli Harris to help combat all known pathogens: COVID-19, seasonal flu, Norovirus, E.coli, MRSA, C.diff and whatever COVID-25 might be.  R-Zero designs hospital-grade disinfection solutions for the day-to-day realities of modern businesses. Ben explains UV-C disinfection and their goal to make it better and cheaper.  We discuss the roles and strengths of each of their founders and he shares his story of entrepreneurship. Great podcast and it’s good to see that R-Zero is keeping to their goal to create safer communal spaces, today and forever.   William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.   Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.  Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.

Today we welcome Noam Mani, Co-Founder of Quartix.  Quartix is a company combining technology with institutional cash to transform vendor early payments into a true win-win for both the buyer and the vendors.  I met Noam several years ago when he was participating in the QC Fintech Accelerator program (run by RevTech Labs). The company has come a long way since those early days and they are now growing quickly – which is a great testament to Noam, his co-founder (Dror) and the rest of team including his stable of advisors they picked up along the way (some of which he picked up as a result of his participation in in the accelerator program). Noam is originally from Israel but he and Quartix now call Charlotte home.  It’s great to see founders like Noam and Dror come through the QC Fintech program and ultimately decide to call Charlotte home.  It’s a testament to the types of mentors in the program as well as the quality of program Dan Roselli and the rest of the team over there have built. Noam served as an Engineer in the Israel Military and after fulfilling his military duties in Israel he became a consultant.  This is where the idea of Quartix started to brew.  His co-founder Dror was seeing the vendor payments as a real pain point and the two of them teamed up to deliver a powerful solution.  It’s a complex problem for many of us who don’t sit in this space to understand but Noam does a wonderful job walking us through the problem and the solution in today’s podcast. At the end of the day, Quartix is a data and technology driven alternative lender operating in the US and Canada. Their mission is to improve the financial performance of supply chains on the buyer side and reduce the borrowing costs of SME suppliers by offering effective supply chain finance. Noam shares their takeaway from QC Fintech and how and why he Dror Polak, started Quartix what it took to start and how they keep up with the demand.  Noam also explains that working with both sellers and buyers will expand the business. We discuss working with funding partners, and how they add value. At the end of the podcast we discuss the different type of markets that utilize their service and the opportunities that scale the business and what’s on the horizon for them in the future.   William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.   Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.  Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.

Today, we welcome Jim Roberts to the podcast.  Jim is a familiar name in the Charlotte area startup and investor ecosystem.  Today, Jim runs the Wilmington Angels for Local Entrepreneurs (WALE), Network for Entrepreneurs in Wilmington (NEW), and his own consulting firm, Rojo Octo Ecosystem Consulting. Yet, in 2000, he started a non-profit ecosystem in Charlotte before moving to Ashville to start their startup ecosystem and angel network.  From there Jim was recruited to work for the Department of Commerce’s International Trade Division in Raleigh.  In 2013 he moved to Wilmington to start UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship (CIE).  The CIE offers programs, services, and activities to promote and support entrepreneurship and the creation of innovative new ventures in Southeastern North Carolina. Jim has been around the entrepreneur ecosystem since it’s infancy and has helped get several cities off the ground.  It was a great opportunity for him to talk about how Wilmington has – and continues to develop/support the startup ecosystem. Jim talks through the difference of what WALE does verses NEW.  NEW holds free monthly events for a wide variety of entrepreneurs, investors, professional service providers, and community supporters considering entrepreneurship. The mission of NEW is to make the Wilmington region a more nurturing community for local startup entrepreneurs to improve and diversify the regional economy. WALE on the other hand is a platform for local angels to invest in Wilmington area startups.  Jim also dives into the reason why he started WALE, why it is important is to local entrepreneurs and how people (even Charlotte area people) can become members. I also wanted to talk with Jim a little about the differences of working in Raleigh and Wilmington. We also dive into how UNCW’s Center for Innovation and Entrepreneurship built an innovation organization in 8 years that has been globally ranked.  He explains how they started the ecosystem in the Coastal corridor and their success stories of their first conference. Jim discussed his excitement about the PBS Start-Up Series being filmed in Wilmington.  At the end of the podcast, we discuss the future of Wilmington’s ecosystem. Anyone who has talked with Jim knows he has worked tirelessly across NC to build startup communities.  It is great to see the Wilmington area getting more than its fair share of press thanks to Jim’s hard work in putting the city on the map.   William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.   Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.  Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.

Today we are pleased to welcome Luke Wilcox, CEO and founder of Ethos, to the podcast.  Luke was part of the most recent RevTech Labs program and we got the chance to sit down with him and a few of his classmates to talk about their experience with the world class program as well as learn more about their businesses. Ethos is a first-of-its-kind FinTech platform to align your money with the causes you care about, including racial justice, climate change, LGBTQ equality, and more.  Essentially, it is a tool allowing investors and their advisors identify the causes most important to them and then screen the investment world for opportunities best fitting for them.  Luke started this as he was trying to identify investments whose causes aligned with his own and it has grown rapidly since then.  At first Luke was targeting individual investors only but he has allowed the platform to grow and is working with financial advisors and others to broaden it's reach. Luke started his career with McKinsey and clearly learned a lot about business and growing them.  Luke is bringing that skillset to Ethos as it expands its screening capabilities and continues to grow the number of advisors and investor on the platform.   Listen in to today’s shorter podcast to learn more about the business model and how Charlotte has and continue to help Ethos grow. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.   Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.  Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.

Today we are pleased to welcome Nish Krishna, CEO of Lend-Grow, to the podcast.  Nish was part of the most recent RevTech Labs program and we got the chance to sit down with him and a few of his classmates to talk about their experience with the world class program as well as learn more about their businesses. Lend-Grow is an online lending marketplace connecting borrowers with community banks to offer the best deals on loans.  Borrowers can check their rates in less than two minutes and get matched with the lender that has the best deal for their needs.  Nish and his team are having success building out a marketplace which is a tough thing to do.  But they are creating that success by partnering with local community banks who are looking to expand their reach.  It's a great concept to serve a very large niche. Nish started his career with Capital One which is a very data intensive company and he is bringing that skillset to Lend-Grow as it scales up the number of loans it can and will provide through its marketplace.   Listen in to today’s shorter podcast to learn more about the business model and how Charlotte has and continue to help ArchiveCore grow. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.   Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.  Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.

Today we are pleased to welcome Lennox McNeary, CEO of ArchiveCore, to the podcast.  Lennox was part of the most recent RevTech Labs program and we got the chance to sit down with her and a few of her classmates to talk about their experience with the world class program as well as learn more about their businesses. ArchiveCore is a creating a simplified credentialing process for complex industries.  Lennox understands this well as she is a physician as well as a co-founder and grew frustrated with the process of hiring in her profession.  The typical delays of 90 days or more are costing hospitals money and reducing access to care for patients. ArchiveCore is building a software - utilizing blockchain technology - and a process to help the process become much more efficient.  Listen in to today's shorter podcast to learn more about the business model and how Charlotte has and continue to help ArchiveCore grow.   William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.   Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.  Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.

Today, we are fortunate to have Nat Clarkson and Dan Roselli  join us on the podcast to talk with us about CFV Ventures. We all know Dan and Nat from their work at RevTech Labs/QC Fintech. We wanted the opportunity to sit down and explore what CFV Ventures has been up to since closing their first fund.  Since this is our first time talking with Nat on the podcast we spend a good bit of time learning more about his background before we shift the discussion over to the fund.  Once we dive into the fund discussion we get into what types of companies they are investing in and where they are investing. It's great to hear the relationships they are creating and the awareness this fund is having on the world's perception of Charlotte.  Listening to Nat and Dan talk I realized how far Charlotte's ecosystem has come and yet how much further it can continue to go.  Fortunately, Charlotte continues to recruit good companies and talent - in large part to the work of Dan, Nat and many others have had in supporting the ecosystem. Next week, I'll publish interviews with several of the companies from the recently graduated class of RevTech Labs.  These podcasts are short 20 minute versions meant to get a quick understanding of young startups and their founders.  I really enjoyed the opportunity to talk with each of the founders - I think you'll find them interesting and full of opportunity too. William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.   Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.  Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.

Today, we are fortunate to have Jonathan Kite join us on the podcast to talk with us about Rent Ready. Jonathan and the Rent Ready team (including co-founders Ryan McMillan and Will Brugh) completed a $10 million Series A in March 2021 - another great raise for a Charlotte based company. Jonathan grew up in Charlotte and attended the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill.  Jonathan started out leading the IT and marketing functions for Rent Ready to ensure their technology platform is constantly adapting to meet customer and Service Pro’s needs. He co-founded Rent Ready after a 6-year tenure at Microsoft working as a technical account manager, operations consultant, and program manager. Jonathan has a passion for technology and how it unlocks new potentials. Rent Ready is a rapidly growing services platform that uses technology to help coordinate the process of getting vacant apartment homes ready to rent (“turn”). Built to eliminate the frustration of typical apartment turns, Rent Ready utilizes a proprietary logistics platform to connect communities to skilled professionals. Rent Ready is transforming the apartment turn process. They are a B-to-B model and Jonathan explains their processes of what communities need to do to get a unit ready.  They are in the process of releasing a mobile app. Rent Ready currently is in Charlotte, Raleigh and Atlanta and they have 35 employees. They just recently completed the Series A round and Jonathan discusses raising the capital and the importance of staying in touch with people who can add value and the network affect of building connections. We talk about the importance of keeping communication open with vendors and investment group.  Jonathan also shares their success of a new service line they launched because of the pandemic which has scaled to a national level and how they capitalized on it. At the end of the podcast, we discuss the roles of the three Co-Founders at Rent Ready, the diverse mind set it brings to lead the team, and the vision and importance of future product development.   William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.   Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.  Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.

Today, we welcome back Matt Potere, CEO of Sunlight Financial, to the podcast.  Matt joined us early in the days of the podcast with Episode 20 and Episode 21. Back in these days, Sunlight Financial was growing rapidly and in the process of moving into their new office space as they 'graduated' from the halls of Packard Place.  Fortunately, Matt and the rest of his team have continued to see growth over the last couple of years - so much growth they will be going public through a merger with a SPAC (Special Purpose Acquisition Company) later this year. Given this is our first podcast guest to take his company public, we wanted to sit down with Matt to get an update of what the company has been doing and what it sees ahead. As a quick reminder, Sunlight Financial is co-headquartered in NY and Charlotte.  They have recently expanded into home improvement financing and they continue to offer consumer loans for residential solar.  They are also expanding to new products, including energy storage and energy efficiency. Sunlight partners with leading solar installers nationwide to help homeowners save money and protect our environment. The company’s front-end tools and back-end credit expertise simplify and streamline home energy lending, enabling Sunlight’s channel partners to provide homeowners with the benefits of system ownership. At the beginning of the podcast we discuss the saturation of the solar market, or lack thereof.  In 2020, 3% of homes in the US have solar power. So while Sunlight has surpassed $4 billion in funded loans it translates to about 125,000 homes - meaning they have lots of opportunity ahead of them as a company if they just stayed in the solar installation market.  Naturally, we discuss a lot of what it has taken to get the company ready for the next stage, how Matt and his team have worked with their investors to position the company, and the culture they have worked hard to create for a 100 year company. Matt and I discuss some of their challenges during the 2020/2021 Covid pandemic. As we near the end of the podcast, we discuss the Charlotte energy and financial eco-system and what’s happening. It will be great to see what the future holds for Sun Light Financial.   William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.   Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.  Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.

Today we welcome Mike Murphy, CEO and Co-Founder of ProctorFree and Kevin Eckert, Partner with TFX Capital to the podcast. Mike served in the Army and later worked as a defense contractor. Prior to starting ProctorFree, Mike worked as marketing director for Everblue Training Institute, a startup focused on marketing environmental sustainability and green building (Jon Boggiano – Founder of Everblue was on guest #3 on the podcast – listen to it here). ProctorFree is an on-demand, convenient, and cost-effective online proctoring solution for education and corporate environments. The ProctorFree platform allows organizations to elevate their credibility and reputation while providing convenient learning opportunities for a global audience. Kevin is originally from Update New York and joined marines before ultimately ending up in Charlotte. He worked for a private equity firm where he got the start-up bug.  In 2018, he joined TFX Capital.  TFX Capital is a founder focused venture capital firm led by former military leaders, investing in seed and early-stage Veteran-led businesses and startups. ProctorFree has been through successes and challenges over its years as a business and TFX Capital has been right there with them for almost the entire time.  As such, we dive into what those successes have been and how they’ve had to tackle the challenges.  This means the tough discussions and decisions Mike has had to have with his investors, the hard decisions he had to make to keep the business afloat at its low point and how they have been able to grow through the pandemic.  All this brings us back through the core vision of TFX Capital investing in former military leaders and why they see those founders as great CEOs. This is a great podcast with founder and investor.  It shows the strength of good relationships between the two and how making tough decisions can lead to results over time. Mike shares the stories how they recognized problems in testing, staffing and their milestones, as well as the actions they took during the pandemic.  Kevin shared what the focus for TFX Capital and their portfolios companies was in 2020 and how they executed it throughout the year. We also here from Kevin on the importance of the start-ups knowing when it is time to raise the next round of capital. At the end of the podcast, Mike describes the four customer segments of ProctorFree (1) higher education institutions (2) on-line courses and training (3) professional certifications and (4) brand name dedicated companies.     William Bissett is the owner of and an Investment Advisor Representative of Portus Wealth Advisors, a Registered Investment Adviser. Registration does not imply a certain level of skill or training. Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Portus Wealth Advisors. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.   Portus Wealth Advisors does not offer legal or tax advice, listeners are encouraged to discuss their financial needs with the appropriate professional regarding your individual circumstance.  Investments described herein may be speculative and may involve a substantial risk of loss. Interests may be offered only to persons who qualify as accredited investors under applicable state and federal regulation or an eligible employee of the management company. There generally is no public market for the Interests. Prospective investors should particularly note that many factors affect performance, including changes in market conditions and interest rates, and other economic, political or financial developments. Past performance is not, and should not be construed as, indicative of future results.