Awesome Inc

After obtaining his bachelor’s degree in marketing and finance from the University of Kentucky, Ace McGill began his finance career in corporate America. During his tenure in corporate finance, Ace led Procter & Gamble’s valuation projects for billion-dollar brands like Bounty, Charmin, Gain, and Tide. To strengthen his business knowledge, Ace attended an entrepreneurship-focused MBA program a...

Ben Roberson ⁠⁠⁠ and Stuart Jordan ⁠ are cofounders of ⁠⁠ Guide Book ⁠⁠, a platform built to empower outdoor guides by getting them in front of new clients and providing them the tools they need to manage their business all in one place. Ben is a fly fishing guide and has used that experience to inform Guide Book's growth so far, Stuart brings a lifetime of outdoor experiences and business pro...

Alli Truttmann ⁠⁠ is the Founder and CEO of ⁠⁠ Wicked Technologies ⁠⁠ , which specializes in smart bedding and sleep products. Their newest product, the Wicked Smart Pad is a washable, sensorized bed pad that detects moisture and alerts caregivers in real-time for smart incontinence care. Alli is a graduate of Bellarmine University and The University of Louisville. She is passionate about educatio...

Amanda (“Mandy”) Ralston is a queer, neurodivergent serial Founder. She is a 25-year veteran practitioner and has been certified as a behavior analyst since 2002. During her career she has founded two clinics that provided applied behavior analysis services to hundreds of families, schools, and individuals with autism or other developmental or intellectual disabilities. She successfully exited to...

Recap of Wicked Technologies winning the 2023 5 Across Finals on December 6th, 2023: ⁠ Alli Truttmann ⁠ is the Founder and CEO of ⁠ Wicked Technologies ⁠ , which specializes in smart bedding and sleep products. Their newest product, the Wicked Smart Pad is a washable, sensorized bed pad that detects moisture and alerts caregivers in real-time for smart incontinence care. Alli is a graduate of Bell...

The Awesome Fund is the next step in the cultivation of the Kentucky Startup ecosystem. The first investments were made on 8/1/2023! Founded after more than a decade of helping promote and incubate Kentucky startups, Awesome Inc has launched a venture capital fund to help provide funding for companies in this overlooked region. Focused on early stage software companies, the Awesome Fund is uniquel...

Donna's speech from the 2023 Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame ceremony in Lexington, KY on November 2, 2023. Donna Salyers President and Founder, Fabulous Furs Beginning with a faux fur sewing kit she designed and assembled in their basement, Donna Salyers Fabulous-Furs has grown into a majority asset of Salyers Group, a diversified investment company. Her products are sold through catalog,...

Tony's speech from the 2023 Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame ceremony in Lexington, KY on November 2, 2023. Tony Lamb Founder & CEO, Kona Ice Founder & CEO, Travelin' Tom's Coffee Tony Lamb is the founder and CEO of Kona Ice and Travelin' Tom's Coffee Truck. When Tony launched Kona Ice in 2007, he wanted to give families a better ice cream truck experience after his 3...

Jimmy's speech from the 2023 Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame ceremony in Lexington, KY on November 2, 2023. Jimmy Kirchdorfer Chairman & CEO, ISCO Industries, Inc. James Kirchdorfer, Jr. (or Jimmy as he’s known) is the chairman and CEO of ISCO Industries. A proud alum of the Catholic school system in Louisville, Kentucky, Jimmy then went on to graduate with a degree in business from Mia...

Here's an insight to our fourth bi-annual showcase of the Awesome Inc Fellowship Program's startup portfolio. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: Graduating Portfolio Companies • Party Horses ⁠ || Founder, ⁠ Chris Wiedmar ⁠ on Linkedin • ⁠ MiniGrip ⁠ || Founders, ⁠ Kirk Selenberg ⁠ and ⁠ Bill Meehan ⁠ on Linkedin • ⁠ UJOIN ⁠ || Founder, ⁠ Kory Payne ⁠ on Linkedin • ⁠ PrepSharp ⁠ || Founder...

Recap of Wicked Technologies winning the October 2023 5 Across on October 25th, 2023: Alli Truttmann is the Founder and CEO of Wicked Technologies , which specializes in smart bedding and sleep products. Their newest product, the Wicked Smart Pad is a washable, sensorized bed pad that detects moisture and alerts caregivers in real-time for smart incontinence care. Alli is a graduate of Bellarmine...

Lee Webb is the CEO/Owner of Alton Webb Commerical Real Estate which recently celebrated their 25th anniversary in the real estate brokerage business. He is a graduate from the University of Kentucky with an emphasis in Business Marketing. Specializing in all facets of commercial real estate, Lee is holds the distinguished CCIM designation. He is very active throughout Kentucky and has served on v...

Recap of CleanSpace winning the August 2023 5 Across on August 30th, 2023: Eric Griffin and Aram Street are a dynamic duo combining over 15 years of expertise in technology and cleaning. They have teamed up to disrupt the cleaning industry with CleanSpace Corporation. Eric, a seasoned tech entrepreneur, and Aram, the founder of LexClean, identified a gap in software solutions for cleaning services...

Garrett Fahrbach is the Director of Outreach and Student Engagement for the Awesome Inc team. He works closely with startup founders, entrepreneurs, investors, students and community across Kentucky. In this episode, he covers three lessons after reading “The Entrepreneur Roller Coaster” by Darren Hardy. They are sure to recharge your passions in work and life. Read the blog:  https://www.awesomei...

Hannah Eberts is Project Manager and Photographer at Awesome Inc. A jack of all trades, she helps event planning, community involvement, photography, and graphic design. Hannah also has a freelance photography business that shoots weddings, events, and portraits. In this episode, tune in for 3 quick and essential tips for capturing events like a professional. Read the blog:  https://www.awesomeinc...

Stephen Ruh is the Director of Marketing for Awesome Inc U. He works closely with the Web Developer Bootcamp Program, which trains people with no prior coding experience to be Web Developers in 16 weeks. In this episode, learn the answers to 7 common questions that people have about bootcamps. If you want to discover more specifics about our course and apply, head to our website:  awesomeinc.org/b...

Recap of Kyndly Benefits winning the June 2023 5 Across on June 21st, 2023: Waleed Bahouth has spent the last 17 years in healthcare trying to fix broken things. His co-founder, Erik, and he founded Kyndly in 2022 to help everyone access affordable health benefits. Kyndly Benefits simplifies the process of finding and enrolling in an ACA Marketplace (aka Obamacare) health plan. Their Kynd Choice a...

Here's an insight to our second bi-annual showcase of the Awesome Inc Fellowship Program's startup portfolio. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: • ⁠⁠ Inphlu || Founder, Joshua Reid on Linkedin • 13 Layers || Founder, Justin Perron on Linkedin • VRTogether || Founder, Richie Hoagland on Linkedin • Active Therapy Systems || Founder, Bennett Gatto on Linkedin • Party Horses || Founder, Chris...

Recap of TitleWise winning at the April 2023 5 Across on April 26th, 2023: TitleWise is a title abstraction software developed by industry veterans. From typed reports with quick turnarounds to smart legal descriptions, custom language according to your underwriter’s requirements and easy updates, TitleWise is ready to serve your needs. Links Mentioned in Today’s Episode: • ⁠ Jennifer Mason ⁠ on L...

Bennett Gatto is the founder and CEO of Active Therapy Systems (ATS), DBA their brand Total HealthWorks Online, which is a digital health and remote monitoring platform for People with Parkinson's Disease. Their mission is to help clients regain control of their health through personalized exercise and wellness programs while monitoring disease progression to help improve clinical decision mak...

Kory Payne is the co-founder and CEO of Ujoin Advocacy. Ujoin helps people communicate easily and effectively with policy makers, giving nonprofits, business, and citizens all of the tools they need to be effective policy advocates. Kory is from a small town in Ohio and eventually found himself running a small nonprofit in Hawaii. He needed an advocacy platform and all he found was clunky and very...

Justin Perron is co-founder and CEO of 13 Layers , which is a Managed Cybersecurity Services company on the frontlines protecting companies globally from hackers. 13 Layers empowers Executives and IT professionals with the education, strategy and tools required to defeat the most sophisticated cyber-criminal groups in the world. Justin's daily goals include teaching IT professionals how to bui...

Bill Meehan⁠ and ⁠Kirk Selenberg⁠ are the Co-Founders of ⁠ MiniGrip ⁠ , which is the World’s First Portable Gripper – A high-quality accessory that people carry with them and use to open twist-top bottles, jars, and other items!   Kirk and Bill met in Business school at Carnegie Mellon in 2010 and have been friends since.  Kirk (Chief Product Officer) is a Mechanical Engineer by education with 7 Y...

Chris Wiedmar is co-founder and COO of Party Horses , which is an experiential company that plays in the web3 and spirits space.  Chris and his team started Party Horses back in January 2022 and have generated close to 2M in revenue over the past year. They are looking to expand more into the spirits business in 2023. Chris enjoys spending time with his family, mentoring other start...

Matt is co-founder and CEO at Canopy . Previously, he was a Captain in the U.S. Air Force and spent an 8 year career as a B-52H Weapons Officer. In this role, he flew, managed, and operated weapon systems ranging from conventional munitions to nuclear armed cruise missiles. As a supervisor and operator of Air Force weapon systems, Matt developed expertise on the technical capabilities and limitati...