I'm driven to lead, manage, and work on teams solving important problems with innovative solutions. I do this by combining strategic thought with disciplined action.
Work
I am the Associate Director of the Purdue Startup Foundry at Purdue Innovates. in my role I help our portfolio companies go and grow and also participate in investing in new companies . My resume offers a broader view of my professional background.
Basecamp
Basecamp is my RV travel trailer which is a personal and family getaway for play, rest, and recharge. I rent Basecamp for others to enjoy as well April - June in Indiana and Michigan through Outdoorsy for either renter towing or direct delivery to site. Outdoorsy rental link and details for 2024 renting will be updated by late 2023.
As an active participant within Indiana's entrepreneurial ecosystem (and a side hustle entrepreneur myself) I am deeply committed to helping founders who are building companies that are solving problems with innovative solutions. I do this through two organizations that I co-founded and founded respectively as well as pursuing my own side hustle startups in the fly fishing industry.
zWORKSentrepreneurial and coworking center is a nonprofit that I co-founded in 2015 and has become the Zionsville area's leading organization for supporting and catalyzing entrepreneurship. zWORKS has become a truly "notable node" in the Indiana entrepreneurial ecosystem as to date 28 startups have incubated and grown through zWORKS and collectively raised over $25M in angel and venture capital and created 100 jobs.
Stryde Ventures is my personal venture platform through which I focus exclusively on helping first-time founders in the pre-seed stage -- Indiana's next generation.
Catchflo is fly fishing footwear company I founded in 2021 that creates and sells limited edition artist designed fun fly fishing themed footwear. It is a fun and rewarding side hustle that is a quadruple intersection of my passions for fly fishing, business, product design...and yes, the expressive fun of footwear.
Catcha is a first of its kind fly fishing knowledge marketplace company that I co-founded in 2018. It is another fun and rewarding side hustle that is a triple intersection of my passion for fly fishing, recurring revenue digital businesses, and digital products.
In addition to zWORKS, Stryde, Catchflo, and Catcha, I co-founded a SaaS startup in home healthcare CRM space in the mid-2000's and have been a very early employee at a number of startups including 120Water.
I have also helped several founders go from the idea stage to creating and bringing their products to market, and mentor early-stage startups through Gener8tor'sgBeta Indiana pre-accelerator program, The Heritage Group's Hardtech Accelerator, and Techstars.
Investing
Supporting founders and their startups through seed investing in tech and tech-enabled companies is a passion and strategic business pursuit for me. I do this through Stryde Capitalwhich is an investment partnership I co-founded.
Additionally, along with my co-investing partner John Demaree, I am an LP in M25 Ventures'Fund III as part of our diversified strategy to invest throughout the Midwest in promising seed phase companies.
I also work to cultivate relationships with other early-stage investors throughout Indiana and the Midwest and connect founders to these sources of seed capital.