Venture In The South

HealthyCell launched with a stem cell product that failed to gain traction which led CEO Doug Giampapa to a dietary supplement innovation that solved three big problems with supplements: pill swallowing concerns, absorption, and taste. The HealthyCell's Gel supplement formulation has found impressive consumer acceptance in the Direct to Consumer channel as well as in a subscription model. Dou...

Startup investors try to focus on great business ideas with market traction, great teams, and a scalable business model. The ultimate goal of an investor is an EXIT! This is when the investor gets their investment back with a profit (hopefully). This might be an acquisition, an outright sale or rarely an IPO. This show is all about the Exit waterfall, that is how Exit proceeds are distributed amon...

Kwipped started in 2014 as a B2B ecommerce marketplace for equipment renting/leasing/buying with great success. They then discovered 2 major friction points in the sales process, matching financing to the customer risk profile and seeking financing approval at the end of the purchasing journey frequently made the journey pointless if financing was not approved. Kwipped solved these problems by cre...

In this interview, David talks with John Sterling, a cofounder of Datasteam. Founded in 1986, Datastream provides asset management software, integrated procurement, and supporting services to organizations and facilities worldwide. John was VP of sales there for 20 years until Data Stream ultimately exited at a valuation of about $230MM. He has now written a book about getting started in sales, ti...

The ultimate goal for both founders and investors is to EXIT an early stage investment at some point. However, this requires planning and preparation to create an optimal exit. In this show, we talk about strategies for founders and investors to prepare for and optimize EXIT planning. CHeck out Basil Peters' "Early Exits" ( available here ). Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRoll...

In this interview, David talks with Michael Stevens, CEO of Joi, an ecommerce platform that enables easy live purchasing via Video Chat platforms. Michael started his journey in politics with modest pre-revenue funding for an idea (Crowdr), a video fundraising platform for political candidates. Learning from that experience he pivoted Crowdr to Booster to focus more on ecommerce and spent 12 month...

In today's show, David interviews Preet Singh about LifeFurnish and their journey into 3D prototyping that is disrupting the design industry. Starting with synthetic image generation of home furnishings and eliminating the need for photo shoots, LiveFurnish has progressed to digital prototyping. They enable non-professional designers to create exquisite high resolution photo renderings that a...

This show is all about how startup valuations are determined, what the critical metrics are to consider, and the 'Art of Valuation'. Paul talks about his experience negotiating valuations and the strategies he has employed to reach an equitable deal that balances founder and investors interests while maximizing the opportunity for success. We discuss both the math and the art of valuatio...

Legal Tech is a new frontier with entrench legacy systems handicapping lawyer efficiency. Client communication is the top complaint among legal clients and one of the highest demand solutions by lawyers. In today's show, CaseStatus CEO Andy Seavers explains how he identified the communication problem and solved it with the CaseStatus platform for legal case management/communication. Primarily...

NFTs are popular investments but are they opportunities for infrastructure investment to play the 'Picks & Shovels' strategy? Part 1 of 3 of our Crypto/NFT/WEB3.0 series with Chris Cummings, CEO of PassItDown/IconicMoments.  Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on X at https: / /x.com...

All about Deal Flow: Why Angels need it, how you get it, and what you do with it.  Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on X at https: / /x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/ We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.venturein...

In this interview, we talk with Matt Dunbar, Founding Director of VentureSouth. He was intimately involved with the initial funding for Proterra, an early commercial EV company. Matt reviews the early back story of Proterra's founding and early growth and success in the market. Proterra was the first Unicorn for VentureSouth and one of the few EV companies with significant revenue. Early inve...

In this interview, we talk with Matt Dunbar, Founding Director of VentureSouth. He was intimately involved with the initial funding for Proterra, an early commercial EV company. Matt reviews the early back story of Proterra's founding and early growth and success in the market. Proterra was the first Unicorn for VentureSouth and one of the few EV companies with significant revenue. Early inve...

The Power Law of asymmetric distribution of events is the foundation of early stage investing success. In this show, we review the early history of venture that has defined the framework for angel investing today, and we discuss how angel investors can harness the Power Law to increase the probability of success. Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at h...

What is the ideal early stage startup investment? Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on X at https: / /x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/ We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthesouth.com or email david@ventu...

6AM City is disrupting local news with hyper local digital media. Learn about their exponential growth to a national footprint. Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on X at https: / /x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/ We invite y...

How David started out in angel investing, and how it became his full time job. Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on X at https: / /x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/ We invite your feedback and suggestions at www.ventureinthes...

This show is about all the ins and outs of angel funds and why you might want to consider a fund. An angel fund has several advantages for angel investors such as effective diversification of startup investments, disciplined diligence, low hassle, and access to deal flow that can be hard to achieve on one's own. Some angel funds offer the advantage of QSBS tax benefits which can be a substant...

In this interview, we talk with the CEO of PunchList Min Alexander about taking over the CEO role from the original founder and creating a growth plan and executing it. She explains what makes PunchListUSA successful and what comes next. Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on X at https: / /x.com/...

In this educational episode, we review the surprisingly robust tax benefits of Startup Investing and how you can harness these benefits. Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on X at https: / /x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/ We...

In this interview, Joseph McMillin tells the story of founding, growing ,and selling Atlas Organics. Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on X at https: / /x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/ We invite your feedback and suggestion...

In this interview, Scott Pancoast tells his story of founding Zylo Therapeutics, how he raised money, how he built Zylo, and how he made it a success. Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on X at https: / /x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkpri...

Paul and David discuss the most popular financing vehicles for startup companies, the pros and cons of each, and some of the reasons to consider one or the other as an Angel and as a Founder. Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on X at https: / /x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at...

Tim Griffin, an experienced entrepreneur, tells his story of getting started in angel investing and why he loves it. Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on X at https: / /x.com/PalmettoAngel Connect On LinkedIn with Paul at https://www.linkedin.com/in/paulclarkprivateequity/ We invite your feedbac...

An interview with a Steve Lanzl, an active angel investor about how he got started in angel investing.  Steve describes what works and what doesn't work for him, and how he embodies VentureSouth's mission by making money, having fun and doing good. Follow David on X at https://x.com/DGRollingSouth Connect On LinkedIn with David at https://www.linkedin.com/in/davidgrisell/ Follow Paul on...