HER MILLION DOLLAR MY$TERY: EPISODE 011 – CASEY & MEG HILMER, POWER RYDE CYCLE STUDIO

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What fun to interview a mother/daughter duo! Balancing skill sets with starting and growing a business into a full-blown community has worked well for Casey & Meg Hilmer.

Seven years ago, they opened their first Power Ryde Studio space in Loveland, OH. Since then, they have built a solid community of cycle enthusiasts on their state-of-the-art RealRyder bikes. And, they have contributed $85,000 back to local charitable causes by offering sponsored “rides” that support a particular community concern.

Casey, who has overcome some significant hurdles in life, believes in the theory of businesses that Sleep (at the beginning), Creep (as they begin to grow) and the LEAP as they really take off. Power Ryde’s “leap” came fairly quickly, in large part to Casey’s youthful fearlessness and her refusal to see the barriers. She had to overcome what a lot of women trip over, that unwillingness to promote herself.

Join us for this fun and energetic episode that will leave you deciding if you want to go do a power ride or start a business of your own, or both!

Listen to the podcast here.

LAUNCH® 2020 Cohort Spotlight: Keri Kilroy

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What is your business?

Donna’s Gourmet Cookies

How did you come up with your business idea?

Donna is the name of the original owner and the creative genius behind the majority of the recipes that we use today. Donna retired and I didn’t want her cookies to go away. Her name is known and associated with our cookies in Cincinnati, so I felt it was vital to keep the name.

How did you find out about Aviatra?

Internet search for women and business support

What is your inspiration?

Great culinary experiences that can be shared and celebrated amongst friends, family and strangers!

What has been your biggest accomplishment with your business so far?

I purchased the business from another person who was very successful. Learning to replicate the recipes so they were consistent was super challenging.

What was the most valuable thing you gained from your experience with Aviatra?

The network of other business women that are willing to help answer questions.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?

Although I have big dreams and aspirations for this cookie shop, my focus right now is to just make it through another day with a team that is healthy. So with that being said, still being in business 5 years from now would be a huge win given the COVID-19 world we are living in.

Any advice for future Aviatras?

You will get a lot of valuable information from this class. Make a big list of all the things you learn and tackle them one at a time instead of doing everything all at once. Take the time to do it right one thing at a time!

LAUNCH® 2020 Cohort Spotlight: Celeste Maksim

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Get to know LAUNCH® participant, Celeste Maksim!

What exactly is your business?

Software to automate content mapping and updates. The platform facilitates the flow of information in the manufacturing process chain. It streamlines data from supply chain through manufacturing to regulatory review at government agencies and then to improving post-market reporting. The platform offers distinct advantages for currently available products- it provides administrative efficiency, reduces errors, is scalable, and is transferable to any regulated industry.

How did you come up with your business idea?

This idea organically developed from encountering pain points in multiple industries. I started my career in teaching and science research and then moved to regulatory affairs. In regulated industries, I learned that so much content is repetitive; machine learning could be applied to drive efficiency, reduce errors, and allow experts to put more focus on content and much less on pulling in correct information or formatting.

How did you find out about Aviatra?

I met Nancy through LinkedIn by searching local people that could help me develop a business plan. We’ve been friends since!

What is your inspiration?

I am inspired by a lot of things, and have been blessed with many supportive mentors and friends. I try to read/listen to a book a week which keeps me motivated and helps me continue thinking of new ideas. More specifically, I am inspired by creating products that will have lasting impact and improve people’s lives!

What has been your biggest accomplishment with your business so far?

Honestly, sticking with it! It would be easy to develop this idea but be satisfied with the status quo. The pursuit of creating a useful product is exciting!

What was the biggest challenge you faced when starting your business?

Refining the idea, it took 2 years to formulate how the software should and could work and we are still learning. Every conversation with a potential user has given me insight. Learning that the product has to serve the customer needs (and identifying who that is) has been essential. For example, I started developing a database that worked very differently than the current software, but through talking to potential customers, database designers, and through working with software developers, the idea was refined to the current platform. And it continues to be refined as we recognize need to adjust to account for unique aspects of each industry sector! Developing that mind-set was not natural for me at the beginning. Learning to think with the “Build-Measure-Learn” feedback loop has been transformative and is an area where I continue to grow!

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?

Versions of the software used in across many industry sectors, valued at multi-billion.

Any advice for future Aviatras?

Join when the time is right. I considered joining in 2019 but the time was not right. Then I got caught up on feeling like I was too late or should be “further along” in my business. Now, being a member of the class in 2020, I can see that waiting a year provided many advantages such as having a valuable perspective from refining the idea for another year and being in a better financial situation to fund the software development.

HER MILLION DOLLAR MY$TERY: EPISODE 010 – ALISHA GRIFFEY, DAINTREE CAPITAL

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On this podcast, we have been digging into the possible reasons that we just aren’t seeing the revenue results in women-owned businesses like we are for male-founded entities. Much of what we are learning is that Venture Capital is just not being invested into businesses founded by women and/or minorities. In fact, for women, it is only 3%!

Alisha Griffey, Founder, Daintree Capital, says “enough of this!” Let’s stop beating our heads against a glass ceiling and walls that might not even be the right room we are trying to enter! Bring on Daintree Capital and reinvent the industry of capital for women owned businesses. Leave it to a bright young woman to figure this out. Many women owned businesses need a capital infusion, but not the traditional VC funds that create a loss of control and/or revenue over time. Alisha has reinvented “debt funding” by offering non-collateralized loans to women owned businesses with a solid track record and at least $100,000 in revenue.

I love how Alisha Griffey calls the VC world the “Death Valley of Funding” for women. I couldn’t agree more. VC is sometimes exactly the answer, and I don’t discourage the right type of business at the right time to seek out Angel and VC funding, but many businesses founded by women just don’t fit the mold. And that is just fine but we need more options like Daintree Capital to provide fertile money ground for women and minorities in ALL industries. Listen in to this episode to hear how Alisha developed this concept and attacks the “3% issue” head on!

Listen to the podcast here.

LAUNCH® 2020 Cohort Spotlight: Margo Moskin

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Get to know LAUNCH® participant, Margo Moskin of SoMi!

What exactly is your business?

SoMi is an adventurous product development company revolutionizing solutions for active and working parents.

How did you come up with your business idea?

With the birth of my second child, I noticed that being a full-time parent and a full-time employee/business owner/active member of the community required a lot of juggling. Tools available on the market are limiting to satisfy today’s modern parent needs. Because I could not find the solutions I needed, I decided to create them!

How did you find out about Aviatra?

Through Cincinnati’s amazing entrepreneurship network.

What is your inspiration?

Every active mom and/or dad obsessed with the well-being of their children and pursuing their passions at the same time; my children.

What has been your biggest accomplishment with your business so far?

Successful Kickstarter that raised 30k and having our amazing early adopters actually using the second version of our first product MOX.

What was the most valuable thing you gained from your experience with Aviatra?

Framework for long-term planning and many wonderful connections in general–and specifically with amazing female entrepreneurs.

What was the biggest challenge you faced when starting your business?

Finding the right people with the correct set of skills to fill in the gaps between your own abilities and successful execution of company’s goals.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?

Selling online and in stores everywhere!

Any advice for future Aviatras?

Take advantage and spend some time with every task the program suggests. Stay connected with the individuals you’ve met on your entrepreneurship journey by sending out regular company update emails (business update, product update, highlights/lowlights, help wanted, thank yous) – you never know who may have another connection, valuable information, or advice for something you are going through.

 

2020 LAUNCH® Cohort

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We’re so excited to announce our 2020 LAUNCH cohort!

1. Keri Kilroy – Donna’s Gourmet Cookies

Keri Kilroy is the Chief Cookie Officer at Donna’s Gourmet Cookies based in Cincinnati, OH. She’s the leader of an amazing team of women who get to create a great culinary experience by making the best cookies, brownies, and bars. I guess you could say she’s living the dream!

2. Margo Moskin – SoMi

Margo Moksin has over a decade of experience in business, finance, law, and a keen understanding of a modern parent’s needs. She gained her business and finance experience while working in the investment banking field and with the PwC’s international tax planning group, assisting large corporations with their domestic and overseas tax strategies. Margo is an attorney licensed in the State of Ohio, a fierce inventor, an author and a mother of two.

3. Megan McClendon – One Sweet Box

At One Sweet Box, we adore celebrations.  And yeah, we’re complete freaks about the details. But all that crazy makes for some badass happy. So we wrap it up and share it. One Sweet Box at a time.

4. Bailey Bryant – Health Match 360

Bailey Bryant is a licensed clinical psychologist a serial entrepreneur. I love creating new ways to help people become the best versions of themselves.

5. Heather Couch – Couch Family BBQ, Catering, and Desserts

Heather Couch is a School Counselor in Cincinnati, Ohio. She received her MA in counseling from Xavier University and BA in music education from Mount St. Joseph University. She completed her teaching assignments in schools across the city in diverse settings. Heather has published a book through Routledge Publishing for first year school counselors.

6. Celeste Maskim – Software Developer

Celeste Maksim has over a decade of experience in regulated industries including pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and in vitro diagnostics. Her broad spectrum of experience enables her to identify key processes then design and implement strategies to improve workflows and address compliance issues. She is a true innovator and committed to creating useful products that improve people’s lives and transform regulated industries.

 

 

LAUNCH® 2020 Cohort Spotlight: Heather Couch

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Get to know LAUNCH® participant, Heather Couch of Couch Family Cuisine!

What exactly is your business?

Couch Family Cuisine is a Cincinnati-based, family-owned catering and mobile food business operated out of Findlay Kitchen. Founded in 2018, this father-daughter duo provides timeless recipes that have been passed down for generations.

How did you come up with your business idea?

Rick Couch, my dad and co-owner, has always dreamed of having a restaurant and loves to cook. He initially started out with the idea as a food truck and I helped with getting the getting the business set. The food truck idea evolved into catering and we hope to provide carry out. My dad wanted to be in a small business that he could share with the family. Cooking has always been a family initiative. He used to cook with my great grandma growing up and I used to sit on her lap to knead dough as a toddler. My grandma, aunts, and dad always let me help in the kitchen and I loved to bake.

How did you find out about Aviatra?

I found out about Aviatra through Nancy Aichholz when I was running for Cincinnati School Board in 2019.

What is your inspiration?

My great grandma and grandma. Their recipes have been loved by all in the family and we like to put our own twist on them.

What has been your biggest accomplishment with your business so far?

I believe our biggest accomplishment has been to get accepted into Aviatra. We have been able survive the past two years by doing small events and being at Findlay Market. We’ve been able to get our product to people and the positive responses we’ve received.

What was the biggest challenge you faced when starting your business?

The biggest challenge has been understanding how to run a business and getting it off the ground.

Where do you hope to be in 5 years?

We hope to have our own brick and mortar to work out of.

 

Her Million Dollar My$tery: Episode 009 – Allison Chaney, Bootcamp Digital & Bare Knuckle Marketing

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Allison Chaney all but invented “SEO.” She was perfecting SEO for businesses before SEO was even a “thing!”  She spent 12 years doing marketing, digital, and SEO for a company she worked for when she decided to go out on her own and freelance. As a single mom, this was a huge leap of faith, but she took her own advice and ‘Stood Up, Stood Out, and Stood her Ground.” That moxie paid off as she left to do her own thing. Social media was emerging, and she knew how to create fully-integrated strategies long before businesses knew how to use social media to market their brand and sell their products.

Talking to Allison, on the podcast or in everyday life, is a full-energy experience! Positivity and “I can do this” emanates from her every pore! This energy drove her to build her business, with the help of Aviatra (when we were Bad Girl Ventures), take the advice of trusted mentors, and eventually exit her Bare Knuckle Marketing business for a tidy sum and freedom do what she really loves.

Listen in on how this “Bad Girl” created an industry around her skill set and teaches others to do the same!

Listen to the podcast here.

 

 

Her Million Dollar My$tery: Episode 008 – Carla Dearing, FlexWage/Sum180

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From Wall Street to non-profit CEO to a FinTech founder! Carla Dearing and I could have gone on for hours.

FinTech is not a place for the faint of heart, but Carla Dearing was a woman on a mission. Her education and Wall Street experience with Morgan Stanley’s consulting department set her up with the knowledge and connections–but it was her grit, determination, and smarts that assured her success in the FinTech space. Carla shared that her secrets (many!) to success were creating a disruptive FinTech product, maneuvering a strategic acquisition at the same time she acquired capital (very rare, and not easy!), and making her product “mission-critical”. FlexWage/Sum180 grew out of this richly cultivated field of know-how and determination.

Carla also warned that the FinTech space requires significant capital to be successful–upwards of $500,000,000 in some cases. Given the challenges that women can face in accessing capital, that benchmark seems daunting when looking up at it from the ground floor of a FinTech startup. That’s where the brilliant move of acquisition meets capital really paid off well for Sum180. She also shares that in the FinTech environment, as a founder, you literally have to do everything right. No mistakes allowed. But the pressure didn’t stop Carla Dearing and her team from positioning themselves as an institutional startup, incubating inside an innovative partner’s organization, and shooting for the stars.

Join Carla and me while we dig into this perfect equation for success on Her Million Dollar My$tery!

Listen to the podcast here!

Starting a Business During a Pandemic

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Are you considering starting a business? Are you concerned about starting one in the middle of the pandemic?

How about changing the narrative to, “I’m going to start a business despite the pandemic!”

This is the mindset of a lot of entrepreneurs during this time. Let’s face it, entrepreneurs are innovative and risk takers. They go against the odds all of the time. If they didn’t, we wouldn’t have some great companies like Facebook, Google, and Starbucks to name a few.

According to the Census Bureau, there have been over 500,000 applications requesting an employer identification number over the last quarter. Obviously, this is down from 2019, but still an indication of the tenacity of these new founders.

I believe entrepreneurship and small businesses ownership is having a resurgence. People are looking to create their own, impact their community, and leave a great legacy.

I have found that investors are still seeking investment opportunities and organizations who support small businesses are ready to step up and help entrepreneurs meet the challenges they may face.

Like many new business owners, Aviatra – Dayton took the risk and launched at the onset of the global pandemic. We made a commitment to support women in business throughout this region!

Aviatra – Dayton is looking for women business owners and aspiring business owners to assist. We believe as the women entrepreneurs throughout the Dayton region thrive, their families will as well, and ultimately their communities will be positively impacted.

So, do you have an idea for a business or need help with your existing business? Contact me at pamela@aviatra.org or 937.231.8730.

EXPLORE® Cohort begins this September! For more information and to sign up, please click here.

Supporting Women on the Rise,

Pamela Cone

Market Director

Aviatra Accelerators Dayton

937-231-8730

PAMELA@AVIATRA.ORG