The Bentonville Beacon

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Martha Londagin, the inaugural Capital Access Manager for the Northwest Arkansas Kiva Hub, a non-profit that increases access to capital for entrepreneurs. Additionally, Martha is a Business Consultant at Startup Junkie, an organization that offers consulting services to entrepreneurs at no cost, and she is the creator...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Sam Dean, the Founding Executive Director of the Scott Family Amazeum, a hands-on museum for children and families. The Amazeum features approximately fifty thousand square feet of exhibits meant to enhance family involvement while bringing learning to life and evoking a sense of curiosity. Sam is passionate about crea...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Madia Willis, Jasmine Hudson and J’Aaron Merchant, the Co-founders of Black Paper Party, where Madia fulfills the role of CEO, Jasmine serves as the Chief Merchant and J’Aaron completes the trio as the Chief Creative Officer. With a combined fifteen years of retail experience, this dream team started Black Paper Party...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Jackie Roach, Executive Director of Best Friends Animal Society - Northwest Arkansas, a leading animal welfare organization pioneering the no-kill movement. Best Friends is working to end the killing of dogs and cats in America’s shelters by 2025, and has helped reduce the number of animals killed from an estimated sev...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Squires and Scott Smith, Founders of Altangle Cycling, where Squires serves as President and Scott is the CEO.  Altangle Cycling makes high-quality, innovative products that help solve common problems associated with owning and maintaining a bicycle. After growing up in an entrepreneurial family and in the outdoors, bo...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Toby Teeter, Director of the University of Arkansas Bentonville Collaborative. The Collaborative is an impetus for innovation in Bentonville, where the University of Arkansas’ presence focuses on outdoor recreation, bio-design, whole health, advanced mobility, and technologies for retail, supply chain, logistics, and c...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Josh Stanley, CEO and Managing Partner of Cartwheel, a startup studio that creates B2B SaaS companies. Cartwheel ideates, validates, co-founds and funds B2B SaaS and Web3 businesses that accelerate capabilities. In addition to Cartwheel, Josh is also the Co-Founder of PushKin and Hashku. PushKin is a B2B SaaS communica...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Vance Reavie, Founder and CEO of Junction AI, a SaaS platform offering scalable "no code" artificial intelligence. Junction AI is driving big change with its “AI-as-a-service” solutions that power affordable, accessible and impactful data-driven insights for brands, agencies and marketing organizations. In addition to...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Jon Cadieux, President of NWA Workplaces, a company that offers private spaces, meeting rooms and virtual offices to businesses and organizations. NWA Workplaces’ mission is to make their client’s office lives comfortable, easy and fun in an effort to encourage increased productivity. In addition to NWA Workplaces, Jon...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Chris Thompson, Founder and CEO of Sober Sidekick, a free sobriety app that helps users maintain their sobriety by connecting with a community of people who can empathize with where they are. Sober Sidekick allows users to become the hero of their own recovery and helps them reach unimaginable new heights. Following hi...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Derrick Reives and Venki Mandapati, Co-Founders of UpSquad, an on-demand engagement platform that helps organizations connect, communicate and collaborate. With over twenty-four years of experience working for Fortune 100 companies, Derrick serves as the CEO of UpSquad, and Venki is UpSquad’s CTO with over a decade of...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Edwin Ortiz, Co-Founder and CEO of Rejoicy, a platform designed to help local shoppers support small businesses through digital storefronts. Rejoicy makes local goods available everywhere and to everyone by facilitating sellers and shoppers through an easy-to-use online marketplace. With over fourteen years of experien...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Andy Martin, Owner and CEO of Moonlight Games, a video game company dedicated to developing mobile apps. Moonlight Games’ extensive list of applications includes Wishfluence, the first branded wishlist app to provide luxury jewelry stores with the means to connect every customer with their dream product. Andy founded W...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Stan Zylowski, CEO and Co-founder of Movista, a software development company that provides an all-in-one platform for retail execution and workforce management. Movista integrates a multitude of disparate systems into a single user-friendly interface where everyone can manage, review, and approve work. With more than f...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Mike Steely, Commercialization Officer at Veriphix. Veriphix is a behavioral dynamics platform that leverages behavioral science and machine intelligence to empower individuals to turn chaos into creativity. Along with his role at Veriphix, Mike is an Arkansas startup champion and angel investor focused on identifying...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Rodrigo Salas, Executive Director at Entrepreneurship for All Northwest Arkansas. EforAll is a non-profit organization that works to accelerate economic and social impact in NWA through inclusive entrepreneurship. With over twenty years of experience, Rodrigo is also the founder of Kualli Foods, a business that sells H...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Jared Smith, President and CEO of Kitestring Technical Services, a leading technology services firm. Kitestring brings together talented people, influential ideas and a mission-driven culture to turn business visions into tangible value. Jared has led Kitestring for nearly ten years, scaling it from fourteen employees...

Summary The NWA Tech Summit is the Heartland’s premier technology conference and serves to enhance, prepare, and diversify the local Northwest Arkansas economy. In its ninth year, the NWA Tech Summit came back with 1,700 registered attendees when it returned in-person to downtown Bentonville. The NWA Tech Summit is an event hosted by the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce, and it is supp...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Meagan Bowman, Founder and CEO of STOPWATCH, a cloud-based commerce software. STOPWATCH allows businesses to thrive in the blinding speed and complexity of commerce by optimizing profit across retailers in real time. In addition to leading STOPWATCH, Meagan is also a member of Fast Company’s Executive Board and a full-...

Summary The NWA Tech Summit is the Heartland’s premier technology conference and serves to enhance, prepare, and diversify the local Northwest Arkansas economy. In its ninth year, the NWA Tech Summit came back with 1,700 registered attendees when it returned in-person to downtown Bentonville. The NWA Tech Summit is an event hosted by the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce, and it is supp...

Summary On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Mark Marsiglio, Co-founder of TrailPilot, and his business advisor, Charles Greathouse. TrailPilot is an iOS and Android audio guide app designed to help mountain bikers navigate off-road adventures. The app gives riders expert advice on trail features and provides turn-by-turn directions based on their GPS location. T...

Summary The NWA Tech Summit is the Heartland’s premier technology conference and serves to enhance, prepare, and diversify the local Northwest Arkansas economy. In its ninth year, the NWA Tech Summit came back with 1,700 registered attendees when it returned in-person to downtown Bentonville. The NWA Tech Summit is an event hosted by the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce, and it is supp...

Show Notes: (0:53) Introduction to Kourtney (1:58) Kourtney’s Role at Walmart (6:07) A Mobility-Centered Walmart Campus (8:43) Getting People on Bikes (10:38) Shared Mobility Options (12:37) Making People Comfortable on Bikes (14:44) A Company that Cares (17:32) The Future of Bentonville (20:43) Ten Quick Favorites (24:04) Mountain Bike Capital of the World (26:58) Closing Questions ‍ Links James...

Show Notes (0:51) Introduction to Connor Pocta (11:29) Introduction to Mike Steely (26:37) Introduction to Phil Shellhammer (34:53) Closing Thoughts Links James Bell Bentonville Economic Development   2022 Northwest Arkansas Technology Summit Connor Pocta Tyson Foods Mike Steely Veriphix Fuel Artificial Intelligence Accelerator Phil Shellhammer Greenhouse Outdoor Recreation Program University of A...

Show Notes: (1:10) Introduction to Tammy (2:34) The Frequency and Struggles of Infertility (4:27) About Carrot Fertility (5:37) The History and Growth of Carrot Fertility (7:38) The Scale of Carrot Fertility (8:31) Tammy’s Journey to Bentonville (10:18) Lack of Fertility Benefits (14:28) Funding for Female Founders (17:05) Navigating Rejection (19:40) Advice to Other Female Founders (21:58) Benton...