Paparelli Podcast

A Conversation with One of My Favorite Startup Authors Brian Livingston just published his second book, now available on Amazon! You start one company and you're an entrepreneur. You start a second, and you're a serial entrepreneur. With this second book, Livingston is officially an author of novels. He is the real deal! Join me and learn about becoming a writer, the business of writing,...

Sig has been angel investing for thirty-two years. He is called the Godfather of Atlanta angel investing. In this interview, he shares the X Factor he looks for in entrepreneurs and outlines his 10 criteria for a fundable entrepreneur. If you are an entrepreneur, listen to this interview to see if you are an X Factor entrepreneur. If you are an angel investor, you'll want to listen to reduce...

In the closeness is the bonding for baby, mom, and dad.  Simple philosophy.  Simple products.  Successful outcome.  Brian Fosse founded Lalabu with his wife, Kerrie. At the time, she was his only encouragement in starting this specialty clothing business. And as they neared bankruptcy a few years later, even Kerrie began having doubts.  But Brian pressed on. While sitting on a plane headed to an i...

I’ve met hundreds of entrepreneurs during my forty-year career in startups. Many of them were wildly successful. The successful knew their industry, solved a real problem, and timed the market just right. And they also knew how to make money.  But after cashing out, they didn’t move on to the next stage in life…philanthropy.  I was connected to Greg Thompson, the founder of ThomCo. ThomCo was a sp...

Twelve years after Greg Thompson started his company, it took off. Fifteen years after that, his insurance brokerage grew fivefold in premiums. His profits exploded.  “Did you ever think of shutting down your business and doing something else during those twelve years?” I asked Greg.  “Yes.”  But Greg persevered. It is so important to learn from Greg about being a successful entrepreneur. The pers...

Greg Thompson is an entrepreneur who built a specialty commercial insurance brokerage. In this interview, Greg shares his experiences moving from an insurance agent to entrepreneur to general manager to CEO. For topics: How to set yourself up for board positions while building your company. How to develop your company even faster through acquisitions. How to become a better business owner by joini...

When I asked Authur Washington, the Principal of KIPP collegiate, how many students in his school, he said, “Eight hundred and forty scholars. Eight hundred and forty beautiful souls!” His answer set the tone for our conversation. This conversation describes the building of a great leader—a man who is sacrificing to accomplish the mission God gave him.  His objectives: - To change the lives of the...

Alan Taetle is one of the most respected VCs in the Southeast and Noro-Moseley Partners ’ co-managing partner. They are the oldest VC firm in Atlanta., now investing in their eighth fund. I asked Alan to join me for a short conversation about this contraction in values. Both in the public markets and in the private markets. During his twenty-three-year career as a VC, Alan has been through at leas...

Brian Livingston was the state wrestling champion. He hiked the entire Appalachian Trail. Then took the well-marked path of law school and a career as a litigator. And then he realized, “This is not me.”  He knew from fourth grade he was destined to be a writer. It took twenty-two years to face this truth, but he did.  On the evening of January 20, 2018, he began to write his first novel. He commi...

At age 21, Cheryl Bachelder’s father took her on business appointments in China, Japan, and Korea after threatening to quit college. Her college education no longer served her interests, and she saw no purpose. Her father’s investment changed her life. As CEO, Bachelder led a historic turnaround of AFC Enterprises, the parent of Popeye’s Louisiana Restaurants.  In ten years, Bachelder increased th...

He achieved the sales club at New Relic in his first year as an Account Executive. That’s my son I’m talking about, Nick. My questions are: How did he do it? What did he learn after being a Business Development Rep for three years? Did his sales manager help him, and if so, how? As an entrepreneur trying to get your salespeople motivated and on plan , this interview will help.  New Relic is a publ...

He sold $60mm in software in one year. Russ is clearly the most successful major account seller I know. Russ West is a Senior Account Executive with a red-hot Silicon Valley startup named Yugabyte . In their last funding round, they were valued at $1.2b. I am sure Russ contributed to their valuation by helping grow their SaaS sales in the F50 right here in Atlanta.  In this conversation, Russ tell...

Dennis Xu is a Stanford graduate, entrepreneur in Silicon Valley, and the co-founder of Mem . They recently raised a $5.6mm seed round on zero revenue. Since Mem’s founding in 2019, they went from writing the first line of code to attracting over 100k users.  Mem.ai is a new entry in notetaking software's hectic market space. Dennis is competing with a host of well-financed competitors, but h...

This is the promise of a morning routine. In this conversation with social entrepreneur Karim Abouelnaga , we talk about the importance of a morning routine. He is thoughtful, diligent, and disciplined about his morning routine. He believes these early morning activities are the foundation for his success. He told me it is the reason for his health, peace of mind, and productivity.  I asked Karim...

He is a former federal judge who insisted I call him Bill and not Judge. In that first meeting, he made a powerful impression on me. Here is a man who is humble, intelligent, and a servant-leader. Digging just a little deeper revealed the values he lives by. Bill Duffey remembers what it was like to practice law before the legal profession changed. The change was from a values-centric profession t...

Mike Gomez told me, “I solve the ‘I didn’t know” problem. “What’s that?” I asked. We think companies buy from us because of the product we sell. We later find out, our product or service was simply a qualifier to get us in the deal. The real buying criteria have to be discovered in the sales process. We are not selling to companies. We are selling to people. Mike Gomez and I discuss this problem t...

I am sharing this conversation with one of our community’s best angel investors. There is a lot to be learned here by first-time entrepreneurs seeking angel funding. Specifically, who can help you succeed faster, and how can they help? Bill Midgette is an active angel. He is the former CEO of a public company. He leads the selection committee for the Atlanta Technology Angels . And he aims to add...

Sid Mookerji built Software Paradigms International Group, LLC, a worldwide information technology company. He started it in 1994 and sold it in 2018. He grew it organically through cash flow. His biggest competitor was IBM Global Services, but they also just happened to be his partner. And it is this last bit that speaks to why Sid is such a wild success in business and life.  Sid started SPI, ha...

Chris Klaus is the founder of Internet Security Systems. Sitting in his dorm room, he put down the sci-fi book that gave him a big idea and started coding. This was the genesis of becoming the first genuinely successful cyber security company of the 1990s.  I loved Chris’ surprise when government labs contacted him looking for his product. They heard about this kid at Georgia Tech who figured out...

Horst Schulze created the Ritz-Carlton Hotel brand single-handedly. After twenty years as an international hotelier, this was his chance to put his mark on his industry by injecting his core values and beliefs. He took one failing and decrepit hotel in Boston called the Ritz-Carlton and grew it into fifty hotels rated #1 or #2 in their respective markets worldwide. He dedicated his life to excelle...

This is the question I pursued in a conversation with Jacob Southerland . Jacob is my son’s best friend. Over dinner with the two of them, Jacob talked about his friendship with my son and his other friends. His views on friendship were so unique I recounted some of them in a blog .  This blog hit a nerve with you, my readers, and my followers. This gave me the idea to invite Jacob to join me in a...

Wendy Salle built the single highest-grossing optical store in the United States of America. I am a client of Salle Opticians . I found it over twenty years ago in Phipps Plaza shopping mall in Atlanta. Salle sells high-end optical to a well-heeled clientele. They have the best eyeglass frames that money can buy. And they fit them with the most carefully crafted lenses. In the end, they provide a...

Entrepreneurs often ask me, “Where can I meet angel investors?” This video answers that question. In this interview, we talk about how angel investors source deals. One of the overlooked success factors for Venture Capitalists and angel investors is early looks at new deals. Getting the first look at a deal that just hits the market gives the angel a huge advantage in achieving extraordinary finan...

Greg Smith is one of those secret successful entrepreneurs. This under-the-radar success usually occurs in vertical market B2B businesses.  Unless you were in the vertical served by the entrepreneur, you would never know they existed. But Greg built Advectis to speed mortgage approvals through the efficient collection, storage, and transmission of the documents required for loans. His business was...