School for Startups Radio Jim Beach

Jonathan Orpin – Founder of New Energy Works and Pioneer Millworks

We have a multimillion backlog in housing requirements. People needhouses. We are behind so, the building industry is in a really good place.

Jonathan Orpin is a lifelong entrepreneur and sustainability advocate and founder of two eco-friendly companies in the design + build and manufacturing industries, New Energy Works & Pioneer Millworks. With over 30 years of experience operating on the triple bottom line—a simple belief that people, planet, and profit work together to ensure a better future, his philosophy on sustainability, business management, and giving back are reflected in everything he and the companies he founded do. Jonathan talks about sustainability in the construction industry, from using the right materials to leading a business model that is sustainable for both our planet and our people. Jonathan also shares business-building and growing tips and strategies that have given him success. In 2022, Jonathan sold both companies to his 160 employees and took on the title of CEO as they continue as an ESOP, or Employee Stock Ownership Plan. Utilizing an ESOP as a means of succession planning ensures that the sustainable and forward-thinking principles the companies were founded on are continued for years to come not by a singleowner or investment group, but by the craftspeople who make up the company themselves.“I’ve long said what makes the ESOP a good fit for us is that our folks have always had an ownership mentality,” says Jonathan. “I’m excited to make this transition in a democratized workplace with my coworkers, which has long been a goal of mine, but especially now as employees are increasingly seeking greater equity in the workforce.”Chris Heard – Co-founder and CEO at Olive Technologies

Brand is so important. I always thought that was for retail, but it is soimportant for tech too. If you can build a good brand, people will come to you.

Chris Heard is the Co-founder and CEO at Olive Technologies. He was running a UK portable cocktails business crushed by the 2008 recession and then built Olive from the ground up. Chris’ journey from a young, scrappy entrepreneur to CEO has been one of resilience and hustle. After closing the doors on his cocktails ventures, with his wife by his side — and a mere $5K CAD — he emigrated to Canada. He bartendeded to make ends meet while relentlessly pursuing business development opportunities. He settled into the B2B SaaS market and began climbing the corporate ladder at companies like Mobify, Yottaa, and Fuze. Finally, in 2018, he took the plunge with his co-founder to build their own SaaS product, Olive. They built Olive from a napkin idea in a basement to an international company that is disrupting the IT sourcing space and the premium RFP solution for sourcing technology. As Gartner holds the current key to unbiased solution sourcing, Chris’s vision is to revolutionize the outdated, traditional perspectives associated with software buying.

Lilly Tench – Director of the Spark Innovation Center at the University of Tennessee Research Park and Author of Good Business: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating a Better World 

My book talks about the intersection of business and socialand environmental impact. So, making societal change usingbusiness rather than using philanthropy or government.

Lilly Tench is author about the many ways that businesses can do good and turn a profit, offering tips and advice on opportunities to integrate social and environmental impact into a business model, how to design and produce a sustainable product, the current industries ripe for social innovation and more. Lilly believes in using innovation and entrepreneurship to address the world’s most pressing problems. Over the past decade she has worked with hundreds of social entrepreneurs in industries from energy to agriculture and gained crucial insight into the opportunities and complexities of mixing mission and money. Early in her career, Lilly worked alongside No Impact Man to design sustainability education and engagement programs around the world and also helped manufacturers to improve their environmental impact through an organization called ITAC.  She later joined the NewLab team, and helped to start an innovation center for entrepreneurs in an abandoned ship building facility that is now home to over 800 entrepreneurs. Lilly went on to support cleantech researchers at Columbia University Technology Ventures, agtech innovators at the non-profit AgLaunch, and currently works as Director of the Spark Innovation Center at the University of Tennessee Research Park.Jason Jones –  Award Winning Film Producer, Activist and Author of The Great Campaign Against the Great Reset – Great EV Car Facts

The sorrowful truth is that most emissions today don’t come from theexhaust. They come from the tires that are toxic, cancer causing. Thetires on electric vehicles are 33% larger and that’s because of themassive heavy battery. Electric vehicles actually emit more whenyou count tire particulates.

Jason Jones is a film producer, author, activist, popular podcast host, and human rights worker. He is president of the Human-Rights Education and Relief Organization (H.E.R.O.) known for its two main programs The Vulnerable People Project and Movie to Movement. In 2006, Jones was an Executive Producer of “Bella,” which won several film industry awards, most notably the People’s Choice Award at the 2006 Toronto International Film Festival. In 2009 Jason was an associate producer of “The Stoning of Soraya M”, winner of the NAACP Image Award and the Los Angeles Film Festival. In 2009 Jones produced the award-winning pro-life short film Crescendo with Eduardo Verastegui and Pattie Mallete (the mother of Justin Bieber). Crescendo raised over 6 million dollars in North America to support pregnancy centers and women’s shelters. Jason launched the Vulnerable People Project’s Hope for Afghanistan program after receiving a request to rescue a friend’s mother trapped in Afghanistan during the US Military withdrawal. VPP’s Hope for Afghanistan has since grown immensely in the last two years. Since the disastrous US withdrawal VPP has evacuated thousands of religious minorities and former Afghan allies, provided for safe houses in neighboring countries, and worked to resettle vulnerable Afghans. VPP has delivered over 3 million meals to families in need across Afghanistan; opened a women’s health clinic; drilled wells that provide potable water to several villages; and provided security for schools so children can study and learn safely. At the heart of everything Jason does is a mission to stand between the violent and the vulnerable: from the child in the womb to Christians in Nigeria, to civilians in Ukraine to our former allies in Afghanistan. His tireless work in the pro-life movement was just recognized in a featured chapter in Legacy of Life, a book hono

Elizabeth Miller – CEO of Top Health Source
Elizabeth Miller is the CEO of Top Health Source, home of Calotren. She is wife and mother to a spunky 9 year old girl who loves everything pink.  She used to be a teacher but she has always been into health so when an opportunity to joint Calotren came about, she had to jump on it.  It was a big thing when she was in high school, and now the company is America’s #1 choice for healthy weight loss. She has been working at Calotren for 10 years now, but Calotren has been around since 1997. It was created by owners Randy and Lisa Roney. Lisa was a nurse and had created it more as a health supplement and then people noticed it helped tremendously with weight loss.Erron Stark – Vice President and General Manager of Small Business Services at ADP 
Erron Stark leads ADP’s small business service operations for the east region. His team is responsible for the end-to-end service experience for over 200K small business clients. With more than 18 years in the HCM industry, Erron has held many leadership roles at ADP with responsibilities including sales, operations and strategy. A native of Staten Island, New York and currently living in New Jersey, Erron is an avid golfer when not spending time with his wife Marissa and his three young children or traveling the globe. Erron and his wife are active fund raisers for their Foundation that benefits Pediatric Heart Disease research.Dr. Franziska Haydanek – Paging Doctor Fran, Obstetrician-Gynecologist (OB-GYN) on Women’s Health from the Basics and Beyond for May is National Women’s Health Awareness Month – Sponsored by Opill 

Dr. Franziska Haydanek

Dr. Franziska Haydanek provides care in all facets of women’s health, including well-woman exams and screenings, contraception guidance, and both low-risk and high-risk prenatal care. She also has a special interest in PCOS management, menopausal hormone therapy, minimally invasive surgery and lactation/breastfeeding medicine. She is a mother of three children, and an online educator for all things related to obstetrics & gynecology.

Jason Roberts – Peak Performance Coach – How 10 of 11 Startups Made $1 Million in Year 1 

Every business uses marketing and promotions to solve a problem thatsomebody needs help with. In the franchise world, I love the sports spaceand the junk space. The junk space is not sexy at all, but somebody canget into that business for just over $100,000, and the average unitvolume can do $1.2 million.

Jason Roberts is a charismatic National Speaker and Peak Performance Coach who has dedicated his life to studying the formulas for success and implementing these habits to create massive results in a fraction of the time. Despite growing up in a broken household and being a college drop-out, Jason has successfully built 11 of his own companies; 10 of which generated over 1 million dollars in revenue their first year in business. His personal businesses have brought in well over 100 million in revenue and he has helped 10,000’s of people help grow and scale their businesses in industries as diverse as real estate investing, medical practices, insurance, construction companies, medical spas etc. At 21 years old Jason opened his first company, a mortgage company in the spare bedroom of his condo. Within a few years he grew it into the number 1 rural housing lender in the state, close to 100 employees and eventually an 8 figure business. When the real estate bubble collapsed in 2008, Jason lost everything and was forced to declare bankruptcy. Through sheer determination and mindset, Jason was able to reinvent & reestablish himself as a millionaire once again within only 12 short months. He is a world class business and mindset coach whose true expertise lies in scaling any business to 7 and 8 figures within the first year. He has positively impacted & spoken in front of over 20,000 people all over the country. He coaches and consults clients from California to Baltimore on how to grow and scale their businesses through developing the correct mindset and fundamental habits. Jason has successfully hosted 100’s of live & virtual events as well as facilitated masterminds where some of the most brilliant leaders in the industries collaborate to identify market trends and forecast speculations. Jason is passionate about sharing his knowledge of business and the inner workings of the mind with audiences around the world. He believes that extraordinary success can be achieved by anyone who is willing to believe in and invest in themselves.Bryan Farris – Founder of Goldfish Code

Goldfish is trying to revolutionize the software development agencyspace which is become very commoditized with a focus on getting onthe bottom dollar or just pumping out products. What I recognized isthat most development agency shops are not focusing on strategy. Wedeveloped a whole program called 360° Consulting which is reallyfocused on doing strategy consulting for our clients, looking at whatmotivates their users and their social impact. Our entire goal is tosolve business problems.

Bryan Farris is an accomplished entrepreneur, full-stack developer, and expert strategist. As the President and CEO of Goldfish he oversees a skilled team that offers a comprehensive array of end-to-end solutions. With a (trademarked) Motivation-Driven Design Process, they are the go-to partner for clients seeking 360 Degree Consulting to launch their products. Bryan is passionate about driving social and environmental impact. He’s a world traveler, having explored 134 countries and territories. When he’s not building products, you’ll find him playing ice hockey, watching the San Jose Sharks or American Football (shoutout to the San Francisco 49ers!), reading or watching the news.

Jason Yarusi – $300 Million in Residential Real Estate

You could buy a 10 unit, a 20 unit, or a 300 unit building. It is basically thesame steps. It comes down to are you mentally ready for the opportunityto do a bigger project?

Jason Yarusi is a private fund manager of over $300 million dollars in commercial real estate. Since 2017 his company, Yarusi Holdings, has amassed over 3000 apartment and commercial real estate units. Jason has built and exited multiple companies: construction, restaurants, a brewery and multiple large apartment communities. Jason is the host of LIVE100 and The Multifamily Live Podcast, runs 7 Figure Multifamily Mastermind and coaches clients on the Live 100 Principles. Jason is an active Real Estate Syndicator and Real Estate Investor. Jason and his wife Pili founded Yarusi Holdings, a multifamily investment firm with over 2300 units acquired since 2017. The firm repositions properties through operational efficiencies, moderate to extensive renovations, and complete rebranding. Jason also hosts The Multifamily Live Podcast a podcast that provides actionable content and tools to build and strengthen your multifamily business. Jason is the founder of the Multifamily Live Club with over 3,100 members that focuses on Multifamily Investing and trains others on the success formula for buying apartment buildings at www.7figuremultifamily.com.Amy Brown – Founder and CEO of Authenticx

I wanted to find a way to bring insight that come from call centerconversations into the rest of the business. Everybody needs tobe listening to the voice of the customer.

Amy Brown is the founder and CEO of Authenticx, a healthcare AI startup. The software platform that analyzes and activates patients’ voices at scale to reveal transformational opportunities in healthcare. Amy built her career as a rising executive in the healthcare industry, during which time she advocated for underserved populations, led and mobilized teams to expand healthcare coverage to thousands of Indiana residents, and learned the nuance of corporate operations. In 2018, Amy decided to leverage her decades of industry experience to tackle healthcare through technology. She founded Authenticx with the mission to bring the authentic voice of the patient into the boardroom and increase positive healthcare outcomes. Her personal experiences, like a profession in social work and observing her physician father’s approach to patient care, drove an inherent desire to crush the overwhelming complexities in healthcare – even without a technology background. Amidst the AI boom, Authenticx was the only female-founded AI startup in the Midwest to secure Series B funding last year. The momentum that followed the capital investment, including improvements to the company’s AI models, fueled 2x revenue growth and doubled Authenticx’s customer base in 12 months. Authenticx was also named one of America’s fastest-growing private companies by the 2023 Inc. 5000, and secured the No. 1 spot in Indiana.

Jeremy Lessaris – Founder and CEO of Payment Brokers – Rang Opening Bell on NASDAQ in 2014 

The number one thing for bootstrappers is micro monetization. If you canfind the shortest, lowest energy position to get to revenue in a profitableway, that’s the best advice I can give you. Identify little, tiny microbusinesses units that you can do.

Jeremy Lessaris is a serial entrepreneur, investor, and former global marketing and communications executive. Over the past two decades Jeremy has founded and led 8 of his companies to successful exit. His current title is Founder and CEO of Payment Brokers, a fintech application that utilizes AI/ML to uncover proprietary pricing data. For 19 years, he was Global VP of MarCom, a $23B US/Chinese Conglomerate. As a seasoned entrepreneurial leader with over two decades of experience in the industrial, energy, transportation, and technology sectors, establishing and investing in numerous ventures across different industries, his mission is to educate and raise awareness for SMBs. Jeremy would be delighted to share advice and tips that entrepreneurs looking to navigate the complexities of financial management in their businesses will benefit from. He would also love to share ideas and strategies on entrepreneurship and business-building tips.

Michael Schank – Digital Transformation Consultant and Author of Digital Transformation Success: Achieving Alignment and Delivering Results with the Process Inventory Framework

Transformations fail at about a 70% rate. Process inventory is a way to create acommon language to coordinate all resources involved in a transformation.

Michael Schank is Founder and Managing Director at Process Inventory Advisors LLC. He has over 25 years of experience as a management consultant in the financial services industry, advising clients on technology, process, risk, and large-scale business and digital transformations. His new book, Digital Transformation Success: Achieving Alignment and Delivering Results with the Process Inventory Framework, shares how to drive a new level of operating efficiency and agility necessary to thrive in this digital era.