Paving Paths

Eric Engelmann builds stuff. Let’s cheers to this leader’s early entrepreneurial experiences and the origins of so many projects (see bonus materials) that have paved different paths for fellow founders. We also discuss when teams need to raise financial capital and how to manage a board of advisors, then explore leveraging large clients, finding co-founders in a startup community, and being honest with the end game in mind.

After the break, we hear how Eric wants to be remembered and riff on if everyone has an entrepreneurial spirit. We celebrate co-founders in life, articulate venture studios, deal flow as an investor, the importance of computer science in education, and avoiding burnout within the long-term realm of evolving entrepreneurial ecosystems.

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BONUS MATERIALS

https://x.com/ericengelmann

https://geonetric.com

https://newbo.co

https://isaventures.com

https://novyventures.com

http://Paving-Paths.YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com

Roasted Reflections Break: Pain Relievers vs. Vitamins

https://entrefest.com

EP9 – Future of Work 🎙️ Nancy Mwirotsi

EP17 – Schoolhouse Rock 🎙️🎞️ Anika Yadav

EP30 – Exit Ramps 🎙️ Brian Crotty

EP77 – Problem Solving – Gerald Beranek

http://YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com

http://BENBOT.ai

By Ben McDougal, ago

Push Through

Alongside a career in finance, Steve Walsh is an investor and wrote Make the 10X Leap to help founders scale. We talk about choosing to push through the storm, raising strategic financial capital, collaborating with investors, signals for when it might be time to scale, and all that goes into writing your first book.

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BONUS MATERIALS

https://BisonEquityGroup.com

http://Push-Through.YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com

Roasted Reflections Break: Winds of Outrage

https://BenMcDougal.com/How-I-Wrote-YDNTB

EP59 – Agents of Change 🎙️ Amner Martinez

EP73 – Care Directly 🎙️ Jon Van De Veer

EP84 – Base Camp 🎙️ Jon Kallen

http://YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com

By Ben McDougal, ago

Rubik’s Cube

Curt Nelson and Beth Meyer help entrepreneurs spin the Rubik’s cube that is starting (and scaling) a business. The Entrepreneurial Development Center is celebrating 20 years of really getting involved to make an impact. Curt also leads the Iowa Venture Capital Association.

Together, we chat through the origin story of the EDC, then shift gears to chat about tracking milestones with mentors, giving advice, raising financial capital, managing startup boards, and the investor landscape throughout Iowa.

Enjoy this Episode
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By Ben McDougal, ago

Monster Trucks

Danny O’Halloran defines founder-market-fit and Jake Miyazaki is a data scientist. These high school friends, turned roommates, and now co-founders are building MetaFuel. This team worked through the Techstars Iowa Accelerator in 2022. Today, they deliver a turnkey smart fleet platform that plugs into vehicle telematic systems. The MetaFuel Card is their latest innovation, which helps small trucking companies automate IFTA compliance, identify operational inefficiencies, and drive uptime.

Meet Me Half Way as we crush this episode in our monster truck, with a thoughtful discussion around technology in trucking, web3 ideas for a web2 industry, automated transportation, and much more.

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By Ben McDougal, ago