American Dream Factory - An Aesop Industries Podcast American Dream Factory - An Innovation Collective Podcast

Did you know Nick has been in the middle of gun fire, met with senators, and built and sold tech companies? This chapter dives into more of his background and how he approaches social and economic impact.

Did you know that 77% of youth do not qualify for military service due to mental and physical health issues? Did you know that 85% of employees are not engaged at work. Nick reads chapter 1 of his book, “Better” and talks about how to leverage a cities economic needs and systems to address these societal issues.

In this episode of the American Dream Factory:

Ross Devol of Heartland Forward: https://heartlandforward.org/

Nick Smoot of Aesop Industries: https://www.aesopindustries.com/

Ross Devol is the president and CEO of Heartland Forward, a “think and do” tank based in Bentonville, Ark. Heartland Forward’s goal is to promote regional innovation and entrepreneurial ecosystems that foster job creation, wage gains and economic growth for the American Heartland. Its mission through independent, data-driven research, action-oriented convenings, such as the Heartland Summit, and impactful policy recommendations. It works with universities, colleges, the business community, public policy leaders and philanthropy to analyze resources supporting the startup community and identify workforce and talent gaps.DeVol is former chief research officer for the Milken Institute where he spent nearly 20 years, an economic think tank headquartered in California. He oversaw research on international, national and comparative regional growth performance; access to capital and its role in economic growth and job creation; and health-related topics.He has been ranked among the “Superstars of Think Tank Scholars” by International Economy magazine.

Nick Smoot is a seasoned leader with 20+ years of experience driving community and economic transformation across 15 states and 7 countries. Specializing in solving complex issues in social sciences and economics, Nick has guided the development and adaptive reuse of 8 real estate campuses. Notably, he transformed a challenging campus into the highest-priced per square foot for commercial use.

His passion is turning human flourishing into a core amenity in every city, company, and real estate campus. This passion has fueled the creation of award-winning systems and programs recognized by Bloomberg, the Milken Institute, SXSW, and others. Nick's unique economic model and custom programs prioritize people while delivering exceptional returns.

In one city, Nick's work resulted in 350+ patents, 5 new schools, 740+ jobs, and over $360 million in funding for new companies. His initiatives led to a 160.77% increase in rent prices, a 19.1% reduction in poverty rates, and a significant rise in the city's ranking for best-performing cities.

If you have questions about the American Dream Factory and Aesop Industries, please email us at info@AesopIndustries.com.

We are on a mission to reignite the American Dream and get culture back on track!

In this episode we hear from Scotti Schecter who leads a corporation that provides friendship and accountability to royalty, celebrities, and executives who are seeking a sober life. Scotti grew up as a child pop star, found himself on drugs, full of shame and homeless. After a long road to recovery, he is now leading a powerful platform that is helping the world get real with themselves and find a path to living the life they really seek. For more information head over to InnovationCollective.co to learn more.

In this episode I speak with Daniel about his journey through depression and how he is using Innovation Collective to help him find community and joy again. In this episode we do discuss suicide. If you need help, text or call 988. Head to InnovationCollective.co for more info

In this episode of The American Dream Factory, Nick Smoot interviews Steve Case. He is the visionary behind  and the world changing company, America Online. Steve kindly joined some off the  community from across the United States for an online live Q and A. In this conversation we discuss how to be a visionary, building companies, mentorship, self talk, and life purpose.

For more information about Rise of the Rest visit https://revolution.com/entity/rotr/ .

For more information about Aesop Industries and our other companies visit InnovationCollective.co 

About Steve: 

Steve Case is one of America’s best-known and most accomplished entrepreneurs and a pioneer in making the Internet part of everyday life.

He currently serves as Chairman and CEO of Revolution LLC, a Washington, D.C.- based investment firm he co-founded in 2005, where he partners with visionary entrepreneurs to build significant “built to last” new businesses. The mission is to establish Revolution as the premier firm outside of Silicon Valley.

Steve’s entrepreneurial career began in 1985 when he co-founded America Online (AOL). Under Steve’s leadership, AOL became the world’s largest and most valuable Internet company, driving the worldwide adoption of a medium that has transformed business and society. AOL was the first Internet company to go public and among the best performing stocks of the 1990s, delivering an 11,616% return to shareholders. Steve also ensured that AOL led the industry on issues such as making the Internet a safe place for children, bridging the “digital divide” and investing in online philanthropy.

At its peak, nearly half of Internet users in the United States used AOL. In 2000, Steve negotiated the largest merger in business history, bringing together AOL and Time Warner in a transaction that gave AOL shareholders a majority stake in the combined company. To facilitate the merger, Steve agreed to step down as CEO when the merger closed.

Steve’s passion for helping entrepreneurs remains his driving force. He was the founding chair of the Startup America Partnership—an effort launched at the White House to accelerate high-growth entrepreneurship throughout the nation. He is also a Presidential Ambassador for Global Entrepreneurship, was the founding co-chair of the National Advisory Council on Innovation & Entrepreneurship and a member of President Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness where he chaired the subcommittee on entrepreneurship. Steve is a leading voice in shaping government policy on issues related to entrepreneurship, working across the aisle to advance public policies that expand access to capital and talent.

In 2010, Steve and his wife, Jean Case, joined The Giving Pledge and publicly reaffirmed their commitment to give away the majority of their wealth to philanthropic causes.

Steve was born and raised in Hawaii and retains active ties to his home state, but has lived in the Washington, D.C. area for more than 25 years.



About Nick: 

Nick Smoot is the founder of Aesop Industries; a family of 4 companies focused on human flourishing by developing entrepreneurial and startup communities. Smoot developed a method for growing the startup tech scene in overlooked America while connecting large venture capitalists, national labs, and publicly traded corporations to the small market innovations. This led him to develop a multiple programs and tools for surfacing high value innovation in small town markets. Most important it built a stronger and healthier community alongside the stronger economy.