Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall Of Fame

Episode 49: This episode is for founders. Keith McMunn, Director of the Awesome Fellowship program talks about the importance of knowing your roots, the direction Awesome Inc's startup programming is heading, and shares some behind-the-scenes goals most people don't know we're working towards. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Episode 48:  Jamie shares why she’s so passionate about changing the narrative around performance management (aka make metrics meetings not suck) and dispels some of the myths around Google's culture (is there free food? free dry cleaning? free massages??) Performance Management articles:  On the folly of rewarding A while hoping for B Transforming Performance Management in Drive Performance: An Evidence-based roadmap --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Episode 47: This episode is for innovators.  We have Jamie Rosenstein Wittman, who is a boomerang (which is a term we’re desperately trying to normalize at Awesome Inc). She grew up In Lexington, KY, and left to spread her wings at Cornell and Google. For now, she's back to take advantage of remote learning and further her career. She leads the conversation on how to hire and encourage a culture of curiosity. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Episode 46: This episode is for innovators... Garrett and Liz wrap up their time with Andy as he shares how he pivoted the Lexington Legends business model (yes, professional baseball teams do have those) and sought out baseball talent of all ages.  Check out our conversation with the founders of Zone Traxx! Co-founder, Tommy Warner, is a pitcher for this organization.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Episode 45: This episode is for innovators. Garrett and Liz start another Venture Labs series and interview Andy Shea, President and CEO of the Lexington Legends to talk about how he organically created a baseball brand that’s now known for innovation. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Episode 44: Blake Reichenbach of Hubspot, a light-hearted Boomerang tech enthusiast and entrepreneur, shares insights into how Internet users' ignorance is in fact exploited and capitalized for "The Algorithms."  He discusses tech ethics - no, not quite "ethics" from Billy Madison - and why there is a lack of clarity around this topic, how to properly say L.A., and how to confidently wear fruit patterns on your clothes.   Resources: Blake's website Blake's book - Big Picture Living: A Guide to Finding Fulfillment (Even When Everything Sucks) *Parental advisory material at 23:45-24:00* --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Episode 43:  This episode is for innovators. In the final episode, Ben Atkinson from Toyota talks about how to manage the diverse skill sets of teams to find the balance between developing and maintaining ideas. Companies need both innovators and adaptors to feel the freedom to pitch and develop ideas for the machine of innovation to work. And bringing it full circle, they talk about how the corporate world and the startup world are “a marriage waiting to happen.” Ben ends by sharing his strongest emotional muscle and his greatest piece of advice for innovators that he would share with his younger self. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Season 3 | Episode 42: In this episode, Ben Atkinson from Toyota explains the S curve of innovation and the difference between attainers, maintainers, and sustainers (we like to think of it as the Enneagram, but for corporate employees). They talk about the risk of growing a team that can both dream and build and sustain ideas, which often means hiring the right people *before* the right time. They cover Scottie Pippin, teenage driving, and bourbon. You won’t want to miss it. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Season 3 | Episode 41:  This episode is for innovators. We invited one of Venture Lab’s closest friends, Ben Atkinson from Toyota, to talk about what innovation actually means (and about beat-up Toyota Camrys). Ben explains that Luiz Pere-Breva’s definition, from his book, Innovating: A Doer’s Manifesto..., “Bringing parts and people together, to solve a problem in a novel way.” gets us partway to a clear understanding of what innovation is...it’s solving problems in new ways. But, if we apply some systems thinking to this definition, we arrive at a much more useful definition. If you care about innovation and are looking for a more effective way to talk about it, this episode is for you. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Season 3 | Episode 40:  Silver Fern Group is a technology company providing software, mobile apps, IoT Devices, data analytics, and custom solutions for the horticulture industry. The team at Silver Fern is helping Individuals simplify their businesses with technology for growers.  Adam VanWingerden sits down and shares his recent experiences and talks about the mindset needed to succeed. Taking action yields fruit, it's just a matter of time.  --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Season 3 | Episode 39: Stuccco provides virtual staging services for real estate agents; online interior design services for homeowners.  Real estate agents place virtual staging orders on Stuccco.com (est. time: three minutes). Stuccco renders the photos and completes the order within 24 hours. Agents add the virtually staged photos to their online listings, share them on social media, include them in flyers, brochures, and/or posters.  Homeowners hire online interior designers on Stuccco.com (est. time: five minutes). The homeowner collaborates with an online interior designer through Stuccco and over the phone. In 14 days or less, the homeowner gets their room designed including visualizations of their newly designed room, a floor plan, a clickable shopping list, and design instructions. And in 2021, Stuccco will begin integrating with big-box retailers, making items visualized in virtually staged photos purchasable. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Season 3 | Episode 38: Coaches and players want every edge possible to stay competitive. Having accurate analytics for pitching and hitting is now an essential part of the game. Zone Traxx is a baseball and softball analytics tool designed to improve players and teams before, during, and after games. The Zone Traxx app allows you to easily track important information in real-time during practice and games and automatically compiles, analyzes, and reports the results. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Season 3 | Episode 37: Charley Miller of Louisville, Kentucky is an entrepreneur, product manager and game designer with a focus on systems and product experience. He's founder of Unitonomy, one of the companies in Awesome Inc's 2020 class of the Fellowship. Unitonomy is making culture management software for knowledge workers and their teams. They primarily focus on helping remote teams augment communication. Charley dives into his past experiences with startups, living all over the nation, and why creating and maintaining a culture is vitally important for health and success. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Season 3 | Episode 36 Charley Miller of Louisville, Kentucky is an entrepreneur, product manager and game designer with a focus on systems and product experience. He's founder of Unitonomy, one of the companies in Awesome Inc's 2020 class of the Fellowship. Unitonomy is making culture management software for knowledge workers and their teams. They primarily focus on helping remote teams augment communication. Charley dives into his past experiences with startups, living all over the nation, and why creating and maintaining a culture is vitally important for health and success. --- Send in a voice message: https://anchor.fm/awesomeinc/message

Season 3 | Episode 35 Natasha Sams dives into what it took to make a Kentucky teacher became an innovation leader for the Commonwealth's future entrepreneurs. The Governor's School for Entrepreneurs (GSE) identifies and enables Kentucky high school students to become our Commonwealth's next generation of entrepreneurs. Through our three-week residential experience, GSE participants from throughout the Commonwealth are: 1) introduced to KY's most successful entrepreneurs and fastest-growing businesses, 2) equipped with the tools and skills to create and build their own businesses, and 3) matched with complementary skilled peers to develop business plans and product or service prototypes. The annual GSE intensive program culminates in a pitch competition attended by a large audience representing Kentucky's entrepreneurial ecosystem. In addition, as a direct result of their participation in GSE, participants qualify for some $3 million of scholarships from Kentucky's universities and colleges. Over 500 young Ke

Season 3 | Episode 34: Natasha Sams dives into what it took to make a Kentucky teacher became an innovation leader for the Commonwealth's future entrepreneurs.  The Governor's School for Entrepreneurs (GSE) identifies and enables Kentucky high school students to become our Commonwealth's next generation of entrepreneurs. Through our three-week residential experience, GSE participants from throughout the Commonwealth are: 1) introduced to KY's most successful entrepreneurs and fastest-growing businesses, 2) equipped with the tools and skills to create and build their own businesses, and 3) matched with complementary skilled peers to develop business plans and product or service prototypes. The annual GSE intensive program culminates in a pitch competition attended by a large audience representing Kentucky's entrepreneurial ecosystem. In addition, as a direct result of their participation in GSE, participants qualify for some $3 million of scholarships from Kentucky's universities and colleges. Over 500 y

Season 3 | Episode 33:  Here's the conclusion to our live Lunch & Learn podcast with Logan Burchett and Steven Plappert Forecastr reflecting on their journey through Techstars and how they are moving forward during a global pandemic.  This podcast episode was recorded live to catch up with our friends from Louisville, KY Steven Plappert and Logan Burchett of Forecastr to hear of their journey through Techstars and future of the company. Over a year ago in July 2019 we sat down with Logan adn Steven and caught the background story of Forecastr (episode linked here). Forecastr is online software that helps founders build great financial models so they can understand their numbers, make better decisions, and get funded. The Forecastr founding team is a diverse group of serial entrepreneurs with well-balanced skillsets, and a mission to help startup founders everywhere better understand their numbers so they can fulfill their own missions to make an impact. --- Send in a voice message: https://an

Season 3 | Episode 32: This podcast episode was recorded live to catch up with our friends from Louisville, KY Steven Plappert and Logan Burchett of Forecastr to hear of their journey through Techstars and future of the company. Over a year ago in July 2019 we sat down with Logan adn Steven and caught the background story of Forecastr (episode linked here). Forecastr is online software that helps founders build great financial models so they can understand their numbers, make better decisions, and get funded. The Forecastr founding team is a diverse group of serial entrepreneurs with well-balanced skillsets, and a mission to help startup founders everywhere better understand their numbers so they can fulfill their own missions to make an impact. In addition to the founding team, Forecastr is backed by a world-class tribe of 25+ angel investors who understand just how big of a problem financial forecasting and 'good financial hygiene' really are within the startup world today. The idea of Forecastr was born wh

Season 3 | Episode 31: With 34 years of background in education, Scott Stuckey has been improving teaching systems for almost two decades.  Founded for the unique challenges of rural communities, Inquiry Technologies, LLC (InqTech) is a research and development firm with a mission to create new instructional technology that has a positive impact in education, healthcare, and workforce development sectors. Founded in 2012, InqTech has been awarded more than one million dollars from the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the National Science Foundation (NSF), and the Commonwealth of Kentucky’s Cabinet for Economic Development. InqTech’s senior research and design team draws on decades of experience in classroom instruction, technology facilitation, software development, and commercialization. An innate understanding regarding various learner types, computer platforms, data management solutions, and security policies has positioned InqTech as an emerging leader for products and services designe

Season 3 | Episode 30: Adam Brown is the creative director and founder of Marrow: a brand design agency for challenger brands and startups that give a damn. Call him a design zealot, a provocateur, or—if you’re his mother-in-law—a BS artist. With Adam, brands embrace empathy as strategy, value audacity over relevance, and commit unequivocally to the remarkable.  Clients include a craft distillery, a brewery, a coffee roaster, a couple of private colleges, a killer video game publisher, an investigative research company (not spies), contractors, an international design-build firm, a public school system, a fine dining and event caterer, a national flower grower, social causes, non-profit organizations, his mother-in-law, and the very smart people who helped Apple build Siri.  He’s good at lots of things, but he’s most at home in front of clients guiding strategy or behind his computer making something amazing for people who aren’t so easily satisfied. Like his mother-in-law.