The Startup Junkies Podcast

In this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast, Jeff Amerine and Michael Iseman sit down with David Baker, current Vice President of Product Strategy at RevUnit. RevUnit builds digital solutions and strategies that unlock productivity and drive employee engagement by leveraging human-centric design, strategic vision, and emerging tech. David discusses how collaborative design processes and opportu...

In this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast, Jeff Amerine and Haley Allgood head to the first ever Shark Tank casting call in Arkansas. Presented by Startup Junkie, the casting call gave local entrepreneurs in the heartland the opportunity to give a one-minute pitch of their business, product or idea. If chosen, local contestants may be featured on “Shark Tank” for a chance to make their dreams...

In this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast, Jeff Amerine and Michael Iseman sit down with the creators of the Purlu App, Brad Cardwell and Caitlin Trickett. Purlu showcases food and drink specials for Northwest Arkansas in an app interface that is easy to use. Brad and Caitlin discuss the challenges of communicating with a development team on the other side of the world while sharing the excit...

In this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast, Jeff Amerine and Michael Melfi reflect on investing in America’s heartland. This episode was recorded as a live simulcast for Michael Melfi’s Be Investable podcast. In Fayetteville and Detroit, Jeff and Michael are improving the odds of entrepreneurs by building sustainable startup ecosystems. As entrepreneurs turned investors, Jeff and Michael discu...

This episode of the Startup Junkies Podcasts contains four mini episodes featuring mentors and participants of the 2019 Northwest Arkansas Startup Weekend. Hosts Jeff Amerine, Haley Allgood, and Chandler Abbott sit down with mentors Kent Watson of Metova, Jordan Carlisle of the Greater Bentonville Area Chamber of Commerce, and Aricka Lewis of RevUnit. Kent and Aricka talk about advising the Startu...

In this special edition of the Startup Junkies Podcast, Jeff Amerine and Chandler Abbott sit down with mentors and participants of the 2019 Northwest Arkansas Startup Weekend. Startup Weekend gives aspiring entrepreneurs and innovators a chance to develop a working concept in a weekend and get feedback from experienced mentors. Ryan Frazier and Chuong Nguyen, former co-founders of DataRank, return...

In this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast, the co-founders of MORE Technologies, Canon Reeves, Kaushik Ramini, and Peyton Smith, join Jeff Amerine and Michael Iseman to reflect on the first year of MORE Technologies and share their excitement from their recent launch on Kickstarter. MORE Technologies, an Edtech company that provides affordable robotics education, went from an idea to a full b...

In this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast, Carter Malloy, Founder and CEO of AcreTrader, joins hosts Jeff Amerine and Michael Iseman to detail the recent launch of their farmland investment platform. AcreTrader pairs the high performing investment of farm land with a transparent and approachable platform which makes it easy for investors to add farmland to their portfolio without buying a who...

In this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast, Will Gilbrech joins Jeff Amerine and Michael Iseman to reflect on his entrepreneurial journey that began when Will and Michael were taking Jeff’s New Venture Development course at the University of Arkansas. Since then, Will has led sales development for Arkansas’s first Y Combinator startup, DataRank, and now co-owns a fast growing HVAC company, Fra...

February 18th, 2019 Michael Brown, CEO of Insight Leadership Group and Lead Minister of Thrive Christian Church, joins this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast to detail how an early morning epiphany began an entrepreneurial journey to become a business and spiritual counselor. Insight Leadership Group uses data driven strategies to work with CEOs and leadership teams to diagnose goals and then...

152: Celebration and Restoration at Markham & Fitz Chocolate In this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast, Lauren Blanco, CEO of Markham & Fitz Chocolate joins the team to discuss her passion behind creating a company and her spirit for bringing people together through chocolate. Lauren believes that businesses can be a driver towards making the earth a better place. In doing so, she ens...

151: Ecosystem Building with the AEDC In this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast, Michael Iseman and Jeff Standridge sit down with Clark Cogbill and Jeff Moore of the Arkansas Economic Development Commission to discuss business retention and expansion in the State of Arkansas. This episode is actually a simulcast airing here on the Startup Junkies Podcast, and also on the Arkansas Inc. Podcast...

Greg Tehven is an entrepreneurial ecosystem builder in Fargo, North Dakota, and Executive Director for Emerging Prairie. Emerging Prairie works as a similar concept to Startup Junkie, connecting and building their entrepreneurial community - and they do it in some big ways, like organizing the world's largest 1 Million Cups chapter, hosting a TEDx event with over 2,000 attendees, and bringing peop...

David Tominsky is the Chief Relationship Officer at The New Bohemian Innovation Collaborative in Cedar Rapids, Iowa. He's also an active Facilitator and Organizer at Startup Weekends across the country, and he joins Michael & Jeff on the Startup Junkies Podcast while he was in Northwest Arkansas facilitating the firs Maker Edition of Startup Weekend. David and the team discuss how the catalyti...

Dr. Mary Lacity and Dr. Zach Steelman, join this episode of The Startup Junkies Podcast to discuss practical business applications of blockchain, and the different paths that led them to work together. Mary shares her story of missing out early on Microsoft, a near miss on the boom of the world wide web - and her internal declaration that she would not let this third major opportunity pass her by...

In this episode Michael sits down with Jeff & Phyl Amerine to discuss the early beginnings of what grew to become Startup Junkie, and the journey that led to today. Jeff takes us back, almost 10 years to the day, to when Tom Dalton and Jeff began Innovate Arkansas in NWA. This is what began the non-traditional business model that Startup Junkie still operates under - High-quality consulting at...

Chief Strategy Officer of RevUnit, Seth Waite, joins this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast where we dive into the details of Fuel, the future of supply chain management, and the values that Seth has formed to guide his career. He is a futurist, philanthropist, and one of the facilitators for Fuel, a program led by RevUnit and Startup Junkie to help supply chain startups become enterprise-rea...

Daniel Schroeder and Matthew Young of Listing Village, a real-estate marketing solutions company based out of Little Rock, Arkansas, join this episode of The Startup Junkies Podcast. Listing Village is focused on connecting suburban realtors with clients by removing the middleman, and creating a personalized real estate experience for all homebuyers that lead them back to the real estate agent. Re...

Marilyn Miles, owner of Electronic Manufacturing Solutions (EMS, Inc.), along with Clayton Hornsby VP of Manufacturing join this episode of The Startup Junkies Podcast to discuss their entrepreneurial journey. What began as a side hustle while balancing a full-time job, EMS, has now grown to 77 employees located in rural Lincoln, Arkansas. EMS is an electronic contract manufacturer company, specia...

Karen Ahuja, a local freelance artist, joins this episode of The Startup Junkies Podcasts to discuss her upbringing as a graphic designer turned painter in the Northwest Arkansas region. Karen shares her story, explaining how she went from a hobbyist to a business woman who now has prints of her paintings sold in stores such as; HomeGoods, TJ Maxx, and many more! As an artist, she describes the cu...

Tom Chapman, Founder of Chapman and Company, joins this episode of The Startup Junkies Podcast recorded in Denver in the middle of the Startup Champions Network Fall Summit. Startup Champions Network is a group of Entrepreneurial Ecosystem Builders similar to the Startup Junkies that meets twice a year to share best practices and stories. Tom, one of the original members of the network, gives us h...

Andrew Gibbs-Dabney, Founder and CEO of LIVSN Designs, joins the The Startup Junkies Podcast to discuss his entrepreneurial journey. Andrew got his start in apparel working for Fayettechill as a warehouse employee, but the success of the company would lead him to play the role of CEO in 2 short years. His passion for outdoor recreational activities and apparel led him to create his own clothing li...

Beau & Kourtney Barrett, Founders of JUNK Brands, join the Startup Junkies Podcast for episode 140. Beau and Kourtney detail the start of JUNK Brands, and how it grew to become the nationally recognized headband company that it is today. They discuss the importance of listening to the market and providing customers with authentic products that leave them coming back for more. Beau and Kourtney...

Blake Puryear, Head of Product at Engine, is an e-commerce expert who has his eyes set on the future of the marketplace. Engine is a Fayetteville based e-commerce platform built for the digitally native, vertically integrated brands that are building and selling their own products directly to the consumer. In this episode, Blake and the team discuss their perspective on the Northwest Arkansas star...

How does a startup, small firm, or entrepreneur with an innovative technology idea get the required facetime with a tech giant/mega retail corporation to pitch their next big idea and impact the world? Bryce Paden, co-founder of i2i Labs, has the solution in the unique form of a tech broker of sorts. Hardly a full year into business, he has proved, with an uncommon business model no less, that the...