Middle Tech

We spend a lot of time thinking about and discussing trends in business and tech, so we're recording those thoughts. This weekend: Formula 1 racing is killing it so much in content marketing that they're about to reach 1 BILLION fans worldwide. Let us know what you think by emailing us at middletechpodcast@gmail.com or shooting us a DM on social! Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com 

Welcome to the Developer Deep Dive series! Sponsored by the Awesome Inc Developer Bootcamp and brought to you by Middle Tech. This Deep Dive series was created to shed light on the essential role developers play in the startup ecosystem. In this episode, we sat down with Chris Gleim, Co-Founder and Chief Development Officer of GoWild. We discussed how Chris and the founding team went about building the first iteration of GoWild, their experience building a niche social media platform, and how Chris views the Kentucky developer ecosystem. Learn more about GoWild at TimeToGoWild.com Learn more about the Awesome Inc Developer Bootcamp at middletechpod.com/bootcamp Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn

Stacy Griggs is the CEO of El Toro, a highly successful startup building cookie-less IP targeting technology. As Google phases out tracking consumers with cookies, El Toro's solution has significant grown in popularity. We discuss Stacy’s path to becoming the CEO of El Toro, the capabilities of their technology, his vision for the Louisville startup ecosystem, and even a bit about bitcoin. Learn more about El Toro at ElToro.com Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com  Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Evan's Twitter Logan's Twitter

We spend a lot of time thinking about and discussing trends in business and tech. It's time we started recording those thoughts. This weekend: why local news sucks and how we start fixing it. Let us know what you think by emailing us at middletechpodcast@gmail.com or shooting us a DM on social! Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com 

Evan Knowles is the co-founder and CEO of Symba, the real estate industry's only mobile-first CRM. Evan and his experienced co-founders are bringing a fresh perspective and modern software to the real estate industry which is notorious for being slow to adopt new technology. We discussed Evan's journey to becoming a startup founder, how he got his early start in real estate, his approach to building a rockstar team, and Symba's unique marketing approach. Learn more about Symba at getsymba.com Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com  Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Evan's Twitter Logan's Twitter

We spend a lot of time thinking over and discussing trends in the business and tech industries. It's time we started recording those thoughts. Let us know what you think by emailing us at middletechpodcast@gmail.com or shooting us a DM on social! Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com 

We sat down with Emily Wehrle, Director of Operations for Awesome Inc, to recap the pitches from Awesome Inc's May 5 Across event. 5 Across is a pitch competition hosted by Awesome Inc, in which 5 companies pitch to a panel of judges for 5 minutes each for a $500 prize. The July 5 Across event will be this Wednesday (7/7/21) at Lexington Legends Stadium. Click here to attend 5 Across Visit Awesome Inc at AwesomeInc.org Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com  Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Evan's Twitter Logan's Twitter

Logan Burchett is the Co-Founder and COO of Forecastr, a software that assists startups in financial modeling as they build their business and go through fundraising. Logan and his Co-Founder Steven Plappert both came from a background of startup finance and have great fundraising experience through the capital they've raised for Forecastr and other startups. We discuss Logan's journey to becoming a startup founder, his experience raising funds for Forecastr, and his advice for others that are planning on raising capital themselves. Learn more about Forecastr at Forecastr.co Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com  Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Evan's Twitter Logan's Twitter

Heath Price is the Associate CIO in ITS at the University of Kentucky and has played a huge role in bringing an Esports program to UK's newest facility, "The Cornerstone". Heath has grown up at the intersection of relationships and technology, having spent over 10-years at two flagship research universities - LSU and the University of Kentucky (UK). Additionally, he had the opportunity to work in the private sector as a partner and ally to many higher education institutions across the United States. He currently leads a cross-functional campus team at UK that is charged with building a comprehensive and thoughtful approach to the development of a future-minded approach to engaging gaming and Esports through the University environment. We discuss how the Esports program came about, the role the university will play in having Esports on campus, and the future of the Esports industry as a whole. Learn more about the program at Esports.uky.edu Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com  Twitter Instagram Facebook Li

Aaron Gani is the founder and CEO of BehaVR, a software company creating VR experiences that activate cognitive, emotional and physiological responses with the goal of improving health. Aaron has incredible experience in the healthcare space from the time he spent as the CTO of Humana, where he developed a passion for helping others live healthier lives. We discuss Aaron's journey from Humana to starting BehaVR, how VR is used to treat mental health disorders, and where the VR industry is heading into the future. Learn more about BehaVR at BehaVR.com Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com  Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Evan's Twitter Logan's Twitter

Apple's Worldwide Developers Conference was last week, so we're reading “Why all the Fury at Apple” by Shira Ovide from the New York Times. Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn

Mitch Stutler is the Co-Founder and CEO of VividCharts, a data visualization software provider built on top of the ServiceNow platform. We originally had Mitch on Middle Tech for episode 48 and since then, VividCharts has grown significantly and recently raised a $2mil seed round. We discuss how VividCharts has grown since we last interviewed him, his experience raising capital as an enterprise SaaS company in Lexington, and where he sees the company going into the future. Learn more about VividCharts at VividCharts.com Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com  Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Evan's Twitter Logan's Twitter

Jake Budler is the manager of Endeavor’s Scale Up Program. Endeavor is a global organization that supports high impact entrepreneurship and works to connect regional, national, and international startup ecosystems by providing mentorship, a robust network, and access to their fund, the Catalyst fund. We discuss Jake's journey from South Africa to Indianapolis, the mission of Endeavor, and the perspective that Jake has on this region's startup ecosystems.  Learn more about Endeavor at endeavor.org Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com  Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Evan's Twitter Logan's Twitter

The Middle Tech Weekend Reading: our content, read aloud. This weekend, we're reading a blog in a podcast about how to be a good podcast written by the producer of a podcast? Make sense? Logan Jones' How to Be a Great Podcast Guest. Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn

Taylor Dahelm is the Director of Growth at Pickle, a software company that allows companies to record their sales calls and use augmented intelligence to analyze the calls, allowing you to see conversation summaries, search for key words, track trends, and more. We discuss how Taylor got into tech sales after graduating from UK, what its been like to work remotely from Kentucky for a Salt Lake City-based tech company, and how Pickle is helping drive sales through conversation intelligence. Learn more about Pickle at Pickleai.com Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com  Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Evan's Twitter Logan's Twitter

The Middle Tech Weekend Reading: our content, read aloud. This weekend, we're breaking the rules on these readings a bit and overviewing why we started the KY Tech Map. Version 2 of the Map is now LIVE, bringing more data and more value to the community through this open-sourced project. Check it out at kytechmap.com! Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn

Welcome to the Developer Deep Dive series! Sponsored by the Awesome Inc Developer Bootcamp and brought to you by Middle Tech. This Deep Dive series was created to shed light on the essential role developers play in the startup ecosystem. In this episode, we sat down with Jamie Adams, a senior developer at Bit Source that made the transition from Coal Miner to Coder. We discussed what it was like to go from working in coal mines to writing code, developing software in Central Appalachia, and Jamie's advice to new developers. Learn more about the Awesome Inc Developer Bootcamp at middletechpod.com/bootcamp Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn

Buddy Bockweg is the founder and CEO of Vsimple, a B2B SaaS solution for the supply chain management industry that gives supply chain management companies and their customers a platform that can serve as a single "source of truth" as they manage payments, logistics, and communication. We discuss how Vsimple came from pivoting a growing supply chain management company, the opportunities & challenges that come with building a software solution for a legacy industry, and Buddy's experience building a company with 4 other co-founders. Learn more about Vsimple at Vsimple.com Apply for the Render Competition at render.capital/competition Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com  Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Evan's Twitter Logan's Twitter

Shane Howard is the founder of Custom College Recruiting and has recently launched a talent management and branding agency, Vision 154. We discuss Shane's experience of navigating "grind culture", the importance of self awareness, and his experience fund raising in Kentucky.  Apply for the Render Competition at render.capital/competition Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com  Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn Evan's Twitter Logan's Twitter

The Middle Tech Weekend Reading: our blogs, read aloud. This weekend, we’re reading a piece by Jacqueline Benson from the Awesome Inc blog about spotting some common factors that cause bad design, and steps you can take to prevent them. Visit us at MiddleTechPod.com Twitter Instagram Facebook LinkedIn