Cornbread Hemp’s Big Win with Equity Crowdfunding
Cornbread Hemp's Website In the last MetroStart podcast, we talked to Cornbread Hemp's Jim Higdon about their ongoing equity crowdfunding round. This week, we talk to Jim again about how they knocked it out of the park - nailing an oversubscribed $107,000 round in...
Louisville’s Cornbread Hemp Scores a Startup Fundraising First
Cornbread Hemp's Website Louisville's Cornbread Hemp just scored a local fundraising first. They're the first company to receive Render Capital's $20,000 investment in their WeFunder Match Fund. They're also the first local company to raise funds using Regulation CF...
5 New Ways for Louisville to Invest and/or Raise Startup Capital
Did you know that almost all investment returns are now private? If you don't invest early, you don't make any money. If you're going to invest in a tech company like Uber, you MUST invest while the company is still private or long before the company is sold. A...
Louisville Entrepreneur Steven Plappert Back in the Startup Game
Steven Plappert and two co-founders, Andrew Busa and Chris Pierce, started an online fantasy sports company in 2013 called FantasyHub. The company saw early promise and growth, moved to Austin, TX to join the TechStars accelerator program, and even attracted $1.1...
Louisville Startup is an Implantable Healthcare Pioneer
People often cite healthcare as an area of expertise that may help propel Louisville, KY to greater startup and business prominence in the United States, and Dr. Angelique Johnson is helping us make that happen. She holds undergraduate degrees in mathematics and in...
How This Louisville Company Makes Online Food Ordering Better
After years of working in the corporate world, Mo Sloan saw a need. Online ordering systems that were available to restaurants had a glaring problem. They do not integrate with the restaurant's current point-of-sale systems. This causes many restaurants to forego...
How Has Y-Combinator Boosted Louisville’s WeatherCheck
What single Louisville company is part of the same fraternity as Airbnb and Dropbox? It's a company called WeatherCheck, and they now are an alumnus of the prestigious Silicon Valley accelerator Y-Combinator. They're the first and only Y-Combinator company to date...
How to Make Raising Capital Easier
Since the very beginning, MetroStart (formerly Metro Startup Launcher) has worked to make it easier for startup companies in our area to raise capital and get started. With a lot of trial and error, we believe we have figured out a much easier way for startups...
Want to Know More About Patrick Henshaw, LEAP CEO?
Patrick Henshaw came to Louisville about 4 months ago to lead the Louisville Entrepreneurship Acceleration Partnership (LEAP) as CEO. If you're part of our entrepreneurial community, you've probably seen him speak at an event or two. You've probably heard some of his...
How to Help Save Lives and Build A Successful Startup
Rebah Wheeling was a successful insurance claims adjuster. One emotional day while meeting with a hurricane victim lead to the founding of her fast growing local company - Schedule It. In this podcast, Rebah talks about the emotional moment that lead her to start her...
How to be Successful with Equity Crowdfunding
Three of the nations experts in equity crowdfunding discuss what's working and what's not working. This is one of the best summaries I've heard. Learn what kind of companies are best for equity crowdfunding, how to prepare for an equity crowdfund, and how to be...
How to Get Capital for Your Startup
What's the most effective way to raise capital for your startup? How do most companies actually raise capital for their startup in our area? What changes in SEC law have made it easier to reach a lot more investors? What's the best way for YOUR startup to raise...
Can Louisville be a Leader in the Sharing Economy?
The "Sharing Economy" has been an amazing driver of wealth and convenience for the world. Companies like Uber, Lyft, and, Airbnb have dramatically changed the way we get from one place to another, stay in one place or another, and get things done. They also...
How to Find Success with Louisville Angel Investing?
Increasing the number of local angel investors has been the goal of Metro Startup Launcher from the very beginning. We've done a lot of blogs, emails, and podcasts, and now we've participated in two different types of crowdfunding campaigns. How's it going? Well, one...
How to be a Superman (or woman)
(This is an email from Steven Kotler, author of The Rise of Superman. I highly recommend this book!) What's Up Good People! Bringing you your monthly dose of high-performance counsel as we leave summer behind and lean in to fall. This one’s on risk-taking—a...
How to invest in these hot Louisville startups?
Two Louisville crowdfunding projects are rolling right along, and here's the latest on how you can invest: Cuddle Clones The Cuddle Clones® story began when Founder Jennifer Williams was lying down with her best pal in the world, her Great Dane Rufus. Jennifer thought...
Cuddle Clones just made Louisville startup history!
Jennifer Williams of Cuddle Clones is making Louisville startup history! Cuddle Clones already made world history by creating the only scalable company that allows you to order online and create a lifelike replica of your pet (https://cuddleclones.com/). Now, they...
Cuddle Clones launches Louisville’s first Reg. CF crowdfund!
This is a big deal! I'm one of those entrepreneurs who is always overly optimistic and excited about new things. But, in this case, there's no hype. THIS TRULY IS A BIG, BIG DEAL! Why? Because, this is the turning point of making it easier for local...
How to Boost Louisville’s Rise of the Rest Momentum
What a week we had recently for local entrepreneurs! I hope you had a chance to attend some of the Kentucky Startup events. With Endeavor's International Selection Panel and Steve Case's Rise of the Rest Tour making Louisville its only return city to date, we have a...
Metro Startup Launcher and 1804’s Onward
Check out the latest edition of 1804's Onward with Raechelle Gray and Alan Grosheider. Learn how Metro Startup Launcher is working to make "micro-angel" investing a reality in the Louisville area. How will this accelerate startups in our area? How will this help angel...
How to get startups started with Alli from Wicked Sheets
Alli Truttmann just celebrated a HUGE milestone for any business: the 10-year anniversary of her company, Wicked Sheets. According to data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics, about 20% of businesses fail in their 1st year, about 50% of small businesses fail by their...
Ben Reno-Weber, MobileServe, and Louisville’s Rise of the Rest!
MobileServe is a fast-growing mobile app company that helps organizations track and encourage participation in volunteer activities: tracking, managing, and reporting their social impact. They're a great example of how you can see a problem in your own workplace and...
How can angel investors make more money?
I've been starting and building companies for 24 years. During that time, I've also participated in and studied angel and venture capital investments. For the past year and a half, I've been writing Metro Startup Launcher articles and taking a deep dive into...
How micro-investing can make you money?
Did you know that the average angel investor in the United States makes a return on their investment of 27%, including losses? How could that be? Everyone says that people who invest in startup companies lose all their money. Tell that to the first guys to invest in...
How is John Williamson advancing healthcare artificial intelligence in Louisville?
Artificial intelligence is quickly affecting more and more of our lives, like it or not. I personally look forward to the day that lots of "bots" do all my busy work and leave me free to be much more creative. Could AI take over the world? Elon Musk thinks so. ...
How are Ted Smith and Revon Systems trailblazing healthcare?
In the latest edition of the Metro Startup Launcher podcast, I interview Ted Smith, CEO of Revon Systems, Inc. Ted has been a major influencer of our startup community in many ways for quite a while. He's been a researcher, an entrepreneur, and even the Louisville...
Louisville’s first equity crowdfunding projects are underway!
We've been slowly gearing up for equity crowdfunding projects for quite a while in order to build our audience, and we're finally getting the party started! To access our crowdfunding projects: [button link="https://metrostart.org/invest/" type="big"...
How to take advantage of the 40% Angel Tax Credit?
One thing that makes a startup investment in Kentucky extremely attractive is the Kentucky Angel Investment Tax Credit. If you're an accredited investor and a Kentucky resident, you can get an amazing tax credit (40 to 50%) on startup company investments. This is a...
Why should Louisville embrace this type of crowdfunding?
Anyone who is interested in accelerating our startup community should listen to Episode #157 of Kevin Bupp's podcast. (Hopefully, Kevin Bupp won't mind us using his picture and promoting his podcast.) CLICK HERE FOR THE PODCAST This episode is titled "Ep #157:...
How to boost Louisville’s startup ecosystem?
An opinion post by Bill Huston, CEO of Our Crowd Rocks (https://ourcrowdrocks.com): An Entrepreneurial Ecosystem in Louisville Steve Case pointed out that the playing field is not level regarding investing. In 2016, 70 percent of venture capital funding went to...