Design to Rhyme

Rachel Abel and Melissa Carlson are leaders who show up to build brands that are brewed through storytelling that rhymes. Together, we toast to experiential design, friends within the food & beverage industry, product labeling, and staying in-tune with industry regulations to provide effeciency for customers.

After the break, we discuss how to stay creative by activating the senses and adding digital depth to extend how a target audience experiences your brand. If you’re building with friends, be sure to stick around for an easter egg of insight as well. Cheers!

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BONUS MATERIALS

https://818iowa.com

http://Design-to-Rhyme.YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com

EP65 – Aromatherapy 🎙️ Kourtney Perry

http://YouDontNeedThisPodcast.com

https://member.eonetwork.org/iowa

https://BenMcDougal.com/show-up

Beer Festival App

http://BENBOT.ai

By Ben McDougal, ago

Cheers to That

Navarr Grevious and Aaron Carter were visiting Des Moines from Miami, for the Black & Brown Business Summit. After QuikLiq won the $50K pitch competition, we found a spot to chat in the wild!

In EP46, we pour innovations into beer, wine, and spirits. We talk about how these co-founders met at Clark Atlanta University, then reunited to build together. We also talk about transitioning a small business to a scalable startup, technology that connects local communities, building a team, how to win pitch competitions, and signals to help you raise financial capital. After the break, you’ll learn about the three-tiered system within the spirits industry and tasty trends you’ll be sipping on soon. I’ll cheers to that!

Enjoy this Episode
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By Ben McDougal, ago

Pinball Wizards

Ben Sinclair is a wizard who builds amazing technology just for fun. This episode is hilariously awesome as The Bens chat about their special origin story. We open the gates on the evolution of FliteBrite, building an electronic serving system, and a beer festival app. Laugh with Ben and Sinclair as we have fun connecting jokes with WWDC23, astronomy, web2 vs. web3, OpenOpen, being present as a parent, building as co-founders, and staying professional over pinball.

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By Ben McDougal, ago

Triangulation

Cross-checking helps to determine distance, maneuver around obstacles, and identify rogue objects. Alongside the math, a triangulated team increases dependability.

Diversity of thought, talent, and real skills add synergy to accelerate progress and increase a team’s confidence when a problem is attacked from multiple angles. This nimbleness is leveraged as co-founders create a culture that makes each person feel significant.

Extra Shot

Building alone is easy.

Team up to make it fun.

On the prowl for co-founders? Consider triangulating a hipster (customer experience), hacker (technology), and hustler (business development). When these complimenting archetypes also blend hints of founder-market-fit, a timely curation gives any team exponential capacity.

To find missing links, connectors become connected. So show up and be quick to make interesting introductions. When the first degree of contact lacks obvious opportunity, remember it’s the second and third degree of connectivity that delivers precision. Over time, generosity in an entrepreneurial ecosystem expands and tightens engaged networks. Instead of forcefully recruiting co-founders, the open-ended activity of a serendipitist will have us colliding with friends we simply haven’t met yet.As teamwork begins, bonds that have formed naturally will support lasting collaboration with people you respect. That said, established trust is not an excuse to get complacent.

To nurture the power of triangulation be honest and transparent from start to finish. Every story ends, so don’t avoid difficult discussions. When structuring a business, agree on the terms, leave space for change over time, and maintain an operating agreement to ensure clarity with less tension. A commitment to abundant communication helps each team member remain attentive to details.

Professionals will take it further—inviting responsibility, then keeping the promise. For any idea maze, we take the blame, willingly give credit, and celebrate in style.

Lone wolves move fast but the expanded capacity of a team helps an odyssey go far. When a fun, long-term cast plays long-term games together, the chemical reaction can be an affinity toward work that feels like play. Cheers!

By Ben McDougal, ago