Startups in the Studio

In this episode of Startups in the Studio, host Phil Shmerling interviews Aaron Salow, the Founder and CEO of XOi. Aaron left a well-paying job to start XOi at the age of 30 and went on to raise $17.8 million from several institutional investors from the Southeast and the coasts. Aaron leaves listeners with great advice on how and when to approach investors, launching a technology startup and finding the right investors for your company.

In this episode of Startups in the Studio, host Phil Shmerling interviews the former CEO and Co-Founder of LeanKit, an agile and lean project management software company based in Nashville, TN.  Chris talks about how he raised $10.5 million from 106 local investors and gives advice on how to raise from and manage such a large number of investors.  He also talks about his path to raising $15 million from a coastal institutional VC and gives advice on how other founders can do the same.

In this episode of Startups in the Studio, host Phil Shmerling interviews the former President and Co-Founder of Emma, an email marketing software company based in Nashville, TN.  Clint talks about his background and path to entrepreneurship.  Clint used non-traditional sources of funding - we discuss bank financing and raising capital from large institutional investors with some great takeaways on capital raising strategies outside of the coasts.

Today's interview is with InitialState Technologies Founder, Jamie Bailey, who like many of our guests, raised capital from a large number of local investors.  Jamie was able to sell InitialState without having ever taken on institutional funding.   Jamie grew up in rural Kentucky and ended up studying engineering at the University of Kentucky.  It was not until he was into his 30's, having worked as an engineer for Lexmark, that the entrepreneurial bug bit.  His story is common for entrepreneurs outside of the coasts with little entrepreneurial background and limited access to capital.  Listen to his story and pick up some great tips on how to raise capital for your startup outside of the coasts.

In today's interview, host Phil Shmerling interviews Jim Jamieson, the President and Co-founder of EvidenceCare, based in Nashville, TN.  Jim and his team raised capital from over 100 investors before they took on their first institutional investor.   EvidenceCare's capital raise story is more typical of a raise outside of the coastal funding ecosystems, where entrepreneurs more commonly raise capital from a larger number of local investors to get their companies launched.  Listen in on how Jim was able to raise over $12 million in an ecosystem outside of the coasts and get some tips on how you can think about fundraising for your company.