Jack Hatcher Entrepreneurship Podcast

"Some of the AI technologies we are using today, were already being used in the government and military," says Dr. Nashlie Sephus. "But what is the difference? Someone came up with an interface to make it where anybody can access the technology, and not just people who know about technology. And that was the difference." Tune in as the MSU computer engineering alum traces her inspiring path from launching her Atlanta-based startup, Partpic, to playing a pivotal role at Amazon post-acquisition, where she now spearheads a team at Amazon AI dedicated to ensuring fairness and rooting out biases

"Today between 20-25% of the hospitals in the nation use technologies that Potentia Analytics offers," says Dr. Shahram Rahimi, co-founder of the company. Join us as the Head of MSU's Department of Computer Science and Engineering shares insights learned from the entrepreneurial side of his career!

"Do you have what it takes to make it real?" asks Jon Schemmel, co-founder of SBL Ventures. In this episode, listen as the MSU industrial engineering alum shares his story of leaving a lucrative corporate management career handling over a billion dollars of P&L to launching a fast-growing laundromat empire.

"If rejection doesn't phase you, you're unstoppable," says Bo Bounds, founder and host of the Out of Bounds Show. Listen in as the MSU alum shares how early career advice, a little luck and timing, and perseverance helped him build an empire with millions of dollars of sports marketing sponsorship and a podcast with over 3 million downloads a year. The Out of Bounds show is a fast-paced, irreverent sports talk radio show that is driven by SEC and NFL football. You can find the morning drive-time show, Out of Bounds, on ESPN 105.9 The Zone in Jackson, MS, and Whiskey61.com, and on Apple Podcast & Spotify.

"I invested $25,000 in 1995, and today I've got a $75M company. How did that happen?" asks RJ Reed, Founder of Mississippi-based Reed Food Technology and TasteMaker. Listen in as he shares the story of his insights from difficulties early in college to a titan in the food industry.

"I knew I wasn't going up crystal stairs, but I was ready to climb a mountain."  Listen as Jabari Edwards, CEO of J5 GBL, talks about his "why" and tells his story from rising out of the projects in Columbus, Mississippi to build a company with more than 350 employees across seven states.

The path from A to B is made up of lily pads, not "following your passion", asserts Dr. Henry Jones, Co-Founder of military hardware and software provider Kopis Mobile. Listen as Dr. Jones shares his career advice, details about Kopis Mobile's story, and how to become rich.

The world is changing for MSU industrial engineering alumni Todd Gandy, who leads a team at Cisco Systems responsible for more than $200M in annual sales. Listen as he shares how the digital landscape is presenting more entrepreneurial opportunities than ever before and how Cisco is thinking about the future of technology.

For MSU-alum Kimberly Brown, simply designing structures wasn’t enough. Listen as she shares how she cofounded Strata Architects, which focuses on making a healthier and happier productive workforce within the buildings they design.

MSU-alumni Michael Bloesch joins the Fall 2016 Hatcher Entrepreneurship Seminar to tell his story of once working for famed-MSU alum David Swalm and how he continued on to raise $500M to launch Next Wave Energy.

Ever wondered how you heat and cool giant, unique buildings such as the giant pyramid in Memphis, TN? Join us as Chris Ewing, co-founder and CEO of Ewing Kessler shares his story with the Fall 2016 Jack Hatcher Entrepreneurship Seminar of building one of the country's largest HVAC engineering firms.

Great restaurant flavors don't just create themselves, they're carefully designed by companies like Reed Food Technologies, based in Pearl, MS. Listen as MSU-alumni founder RJ Reed shares the story of how he built a multimillion-dollar food empire.

Danny Windham, CEO of Digium, Inc didn't originally plan on becoming an engineer or an entrepreneur. Listen as he shares his story of leading one of today's most disruptive telcom companies.

In the heart of Mississippi, one company is creating technology to make tomorrow's military work smarter. Hear CEO Dr. Henry Jones share with the Fall 2016 Hatcher Entrepreneurship Seminar his advice to students on growing wealth, as well as the story of Kopis Mobile.

After building a successful career in space systems, it took a layoff to push three founders to start a highly successful aerospace training company. Listen as MSU-alum, co-founder and CEO Shawn Linam tells her story of how she launched Arizona-based Qwaltec.

What started as a simple idea, led to an acquisition by one of the largest financial companies in the world. Listen as MSU-alum Tal Clark kicks off our Fall 2016 Hatcher Entrepreneurship Seminar.

Retired CEO of Knology, Inc, Rodger Johnson joins to share his story of taking a company from losing $20M/yr to a $1.5B exit with the Spring 2016 Jack Hatcher Entrepreneurship Seminar.

CEO of Nations Energy Solutions, Sean Roberts joins to talk about how he's built a company holding a portfolio of 1800MW of wind energy and natural gas to opening new renewable energy markets. Listen in with the Spring 2016 Jack Hatcher Entrepreneurship Seminar students. 

Principal of HCS Consulting, Lloyd Solomon shares his career experience from the classroom to success as an entrepreneur growing sales for expanding multinational companies. Listen in with the Spring 2016 Jack Hatcher Entrepreneurship Seminar students. 

Retired Vice President at ADTRAN, Inc., join us as Everette Ramage shares his story from early days founding Atlanta-based Tech 21, who developed automated fuel control systems, to his experience helping to growing ADTRAN from 20 employees to more than 150. Listen in with the Spring 2016 Jack Hatcher Entrepreneurship Seminar students.