Ep. #963 - Midwest Startup Funding

Matt DeCoursey 00:01
And we’re back! Back for another episode of Startup Hustle. Matt DeCoursey here to have another conversation I’m hoping helps your business grow. Speaking of growing, when I have discussions with either people that have been on the podcast or people that I need in and around my hometown of Kansas City or wherever we may be in the world at the time, so many people ask about funding. They want to know how to get started on how to find it. They’re really frustrated with the process in many cases. So the question is, what can I do to get my rapidly growing business in front of the right people that want to write checks for the right reasons? And that’s exactly why we’re doing today’s episode. With that, before introducing who I’m having a conversation with, I want to remind you that today’s episode of Startup Hustle is powered by FullScale.io. Hiring software developers is difficult, and Full Scale can help you build a software team quickly and affordably. We have the platform to help you manage that team. Go to FullScale.io to learn more. With me, we’ve got what we would say not the first-time caller, not the first-time guests are returned down. You’ve been on the show a couple of times, right?

Dan Kerr 01:11
Yep. I’ve been on it before, Matt. Good to see you.

Matt DeCoursey 01:15
Good to hear. And I should probably introduce you. That’s Dan Kerr, partner at Flyover Capital and a specialist in investing in companies that are in the Midwest. It’s part of why we’re laying out this special edition. I was so excited to learn about what Dan and Flyover Capital have got going here in the Midwest that I wanted to do a special episode. Because I know this is near and dear to so many listeners’ hearts. We’re going to talk about all the new Mid X Midwest funding events. And, you know, Dan, so first off, once again, welcome back. Always a pleasure, my friend. And let’s just jump in. Oh, man, what’s MIT? What’s meant by Midwest?

Dan Kerr 01:54
Yeah. So thanks again for having me. Great to be here. Excited to talk about this event that we and some others in the Kansas City venture ecosystem are pulling together. So, basically, we’ve created a local and regional ecosystem event that is focused on creating the most productive interactions between the region’s early-stage tech founders and capital providers. And really continuing Kansas City’s role as a hub for that venture activity. So we’ve got basically an action-packed half-day. And an evening where we’ll have a small handful of panels. But we’re largely focused on one-on-one meetings and just interactions, networking between investors and founders. And really keeping our region active in building relationships and kind of sharing information about where capital markets are as well.

Matt DeCoursey 02:56
I want to talk a little bit about why. And as Dan, you’re aware, you know, my company Full Scale and Startup Hustle, I’ve joined the sponsor lineup for this, and I am really excited about doing it. And you and I just talked recently. There was a really strong reason for why we created this event. And I’d like you to restate that, because it was I thanked you after you told me about this event. So what’s the reason here?

Dan Kerr 03:24
Well, thanks, thanks for your support on this too. And we’ve had some great, you know, really a local sponsor base that has helped pull this together, including Full Scale and Startup Hustle. So that just speaks to what was going on here in our region. But you know, our reason for having this is we have a fantastic foundation here in our region, some great early-stage companies. We also have folks like myself, who are our capital providers, and we have a huge network around the country. And you know, there’s sort of two sides to this equation. One is we’ve got a community that’s got some great things going on but hasn’t really connected entirely during post-pandemic. There hasn’t been a level of in-person interaction. So we wanted to have a gathering point for conversations about high-growth companies and ensuring people are getting lots of shots on goal when they’re going out to raise capital and have all the relationships they need. And on the flip side of that, I’ve got tons of people in my network that are co-investors who are early-stage investors or later-stage investors that want to come to Kansas City and have heard about the region but don’t have a good focal point of when and how to get there and how to get plugged in. So this is that event where we’re trying to bring a really high-powered group together, have it just have really high-quality interaction. So that’s our reason for doing this. And, you know, I couldn’t be more excited by the momentum. We’ve been here.

Matt DeCoursey 05:00
Yeah, that’s what I’m excited about. And I think it’s fair to say that the biggest frustration of our firm is the term flyover. We often refer to the Midwest or the middle of the United States as the flyover country because people often kind of just blindly fly over us and don’t think about it. Now, here’s the thing, there’s a hell of a lot of flyover country. You know, that’s a big, big area, big space, and there’s so much stuff going on. Over the last few years, we’ve seen a lot of the bigger cities. You’ve got San Francisco, Seattle, you get it, you guys know, you know what the big cities are. And there are a lot of the funds and places that are there as well are trying to get out of this mold of only writing checks in San Francisco. There are a lot of talented people doing innovative and interesting things. But the problem with that is you look at this geographic footprint that is the United States, and the investors, the firms that you know, the accelerators and organizations are like how do we find these people are because Boise has a long way away from Kansas City, which is a long way away from Huntsville, Alabama.

Dan Kerr 06:08
Yeah, yeah, I think I mean, I think that’s, it’s part of why I mean, the, I think flyover country is something we, I mean, we were proud of it at this point, we call it our fun that because we saw, we know that there are great things here. You know, the practical aspect is you do have investors on the coast that are a long way away from the middle of the country. I think the pandemic accelerated a change in mentality, which is that there, there are interesting things being built all over the country, especially in b2b, where it helps to be close to and surrounded by your early customers in your potential advisors and the people you’re looking to hire that no one industry. So we are seeing more interest from the coasts and from other areas around flyover country in investing in the region. And so, that is still somewhat challenged by purely virtual interaction. So in order to form the kind of relationships you need to raise capital and build this high trust relationship, you still need some person in real life, high bandwidth dialogue, and it will set you apart when you have that, so yeah, I mean, we’ve got great things going on here. And we hope that events like this give the opportunity for people to really connect on a deeper basis.

Matt DeCoursey 07:47
Now, I don’t want to get too far into this episode before I remind everyone that there is a link in the show notes for the event website, as well as another link where you can directly go to apply and just scroll down to the show notes. If you want to go right to the website, it’s Midwest. That’s no spaces, hyphens, or anything from midwest.com. You can also find a link to apply there. Now when the goal here of what this event is trying to do as you look at so is this is, unfortunately for those of you that have a day one startup, this isn’t the right thing. It is for you down the road, looking for founders and companies that have traction and have things moving forward. Some kind of funding, some kind of product, something that is in motion now look, that might feel like a little bit of a letdown for those of you in the day one phase, keep fighting it, keep moving. I think it’s exciting to know that this kind of stuff is out there. So with that, you know, really looking at. You’re bringing in 50 different funds and investors, right?

Dan Kerr 08:52
That’s right. Yeah. That’s a lot. Yeah, that’s a lot of people. And you know, it’s amazing. We’ve got very high-quality funds. We got people coming from New York, Chicago, Texas, and all around the region that is coming in for this and ranging from pre-seed to Series B, as you said, Matt, not people that are sketching an idea on the back of the napkin, but like you said a step down the road when those people have a product that’s getting into the market. It has shown some milestones that they’ve hit and are ready for funding. There is an opportunity for some people that are kind of emerging to venture funding to take part.

Matt DeCoursey 09:36
So if you’re not sure where your company stands on the list, go down to the link in the show notes and apply anyway because I think this is not going to this even isn’t going away. It’s not going to hurt to take a shot. People take a shot once again mid x midwest.com. Now, you know I want to take a second, and I want to throw out a little love to the people that are helping make this happen. Because there is not enough appreciation there. So the Events are presented by Flyover Capital, Iron Prairie Pulse, and Elliott’s Law Firm. UF UVF Crossroads, you got united Missouri bank. For those of you that aren’t in Kansas City or maybe unaware of the Kauffman Foundation, that’s kind of a big deal. Big supportive entrepreneurs. The private equity center of excellence Full Scale. That’s my company. RSM Biagio. There you go. That’s my competitor. Tactically, they’re helping. We’re gonna give a shout-out. Yeah, no one can really compete with a Stan. So I lost.

Dan Kerr 10:31
I use that very unique, completely different offerings there.

Matt DeCoursey 10:35
So yeah, but some people like they’re your competitor. I don’t think so. All right, KC Rise fund. And then I can never say this quickly, Enterprise Center of Johnson County, that’s one of those seashells. She sells seashells. If you can say that five times in a row really fast, you might get funded.

Dan Kerr 10:55
When people say ECG, ECG, ECG, it’s hard to say that five times in a row, we’ve gone through this even with them on the air recording.

Matt DeCoursey 10:58
LaunchKC, that’s a go-to launchkc.org. That’s another great thing you do. What’s amazing, Dan, as I go down this list, Keystone innovation district. Startup Hustle is on the list: abstraction, capital, the technology, venture studio, entrepreneurial growth ventures, these are all things here, pretty much right around our hometown. That’s going on in Kansas, dude, we got it.

Dan Kerr 11:30
That’s why I say we’ve got a great foundation here. I mean, it’s amazing the resources we have here locally, it’s time to go build great things, and many people are so and if people are not on that list, and want to be, they ought to reach out to us because this is gonna be the event to be at this year.

Matt DeCoursey 11:50
I agree. And you know, the thing is, I’m sitting here thinking, I’m like, where else am I gonna get? Where could I get focused? Attention, or even just a handshake with 50 different funds and that compressed amount of time? So I’ve talked to so many people that, Okay, a couple things that are like, Hey, I got funded and often ask how many pitches or how much outreach you have to do. And for a lot of people that get funded, they’ll tell me between 50 and 100, it’s a pretty good number. And that can be a really arduous, long process to be able to get in there. And then there’s the hidden element of how about the other companies you might meet?

Dan Kerr 12:30
Yep. So we’re planning a specific peer to peer section of this, you know, just for founders to meet other founders, because I’m with you, I think, you know, everybody’s oftentimes head down with their heads down with their business. They’re not always, especially these days, getting out and having peer to peer relationships. And that is where you can learn a ton in here, what other doing partnerships, partnership potential that can come out of that? Best practices? So? Yep, absolutely. We’re looking forward to that part as well.

Matt DeCoursey 13:05
I want to give you a little more info and comments for I want to remind you that finding expert software developers does not have to be difficult, especially when you visit FullScale.io, where you can build a software team quickly and affordably. Use the Full Scale platform to define your technical needs, and then see what available developers, testers, and leaders are ready to join your team FullScale.io to learn more, you know, Full Scale has made a lot of investments locally as well. And you know, it’s the that I really do have a strong appreciation for the condensed nature of this, Stan, I think that it fits well with my attention deficit disorder, I can, you know, not have to talk to someone so long that I lose focus, but there’s enough shiny things in the room to keep going. So when it comes to the ideal companies to apply to be at this event, we mentioned Midwest luck. Before we hit record, Dan and I were debating what is Midwest? Look, if you think you’re close to the Midwest, just fill out the application. Yeah. How long does it take to fill it out?

Dan Kerr 14:10
We try to make it as short as possible and shouldn’t take no more than two or three minutes to fill out.

Matt DeCoursey 14:15
So two or three minutes people take a shot med X midwest.com There’s a link directly to the application as well. But when you think about the companies that are there, there is still room now we’re capping this around 50, right.

Dan Kerr 14:28
Yeah. So the goal is basically you know a good alignment of 5050 investors and 50 founders. There is by intention, a segment that is open application. And we are going to try to have the full spread of pre-seed to Series B. I expect the early stage will be the most competitive piece of that, but we are really wanting to give found under some some opportunities here, that’s a big goal of this is simply to give more exposure and build relationships. So we want people to apply. And you know, really, for those that are able to attend, I think it’s gonna be a very high quality experience. And you mentioned keeping this compact, this is our first time doing it. So that’s part of the reason it’s as compact as it is. But you know, our hope is that in the future, we can probably expand on this a little bit and invite in a little more of that community as well. So, but for those that are attending, it’s going to be basically, you know, 11 o’clock, to, you know, whenever people get tired of networking late in the evening, so, so, a packed half day.

Matt DeCoursey 15:47
Plus, we should let everyone know, this is November 15, of 2022. I just realized, hopefully, you already clicked the link and went to the site and figured that out on your own. But November 15, Dan and I are smiling. I consider myself a pretty smart person in general. And that was not smart. We probably should have told people that, but you clicked the link and went to the site. I read it, I’m sure.

Dan Kerr 16:07
So I thought before I did. So everyone, you know, I’m glad I did.

Matt DeCoursey 16:11
Because these moments are often figured out like the 32nd Minute, which hopefully you would have clicked the link a couple of times by then. Now all of this said, I love the kind of loose format of, you know, there will be some drinking and carousing and networking until that is over. And that’s what I do my best to work down. So, yeah.

Dan Kerr 16:39
Pardon? Some of us just shine late at night. You know this?

Matt DeCoursey 16:43
Yeah. Yeah, I usually make my best decisions and comments after a few drinks. So said no one. Well said several people that were probably pretty uninformed. So let’s get back to the schedule. And like what we’re talking about here. So the key is, is, this is where I fell in love with this event, because Dan had to listen to my five minutes soapbox session about how I often hate local events. Because as a founder, I don’t like feeling like I’m a show pony, for sponsors. And I also don’t want to sit through your panel discussion for people that aren’t entrepreneurs telling me how to be an entrepreneur. If you don’t like that opinion, then you’re not an entrepreneur. You’re not because the only people that don’t like that comment are people that aren’t entrepreneurs, because you don’t have my attention. I’m sorry, you don’t. And here’s the thing. I want to come to meet people that are going to do stuff with me. I want to talk to other founders, I want to talk to investors. And that’s it. And like, so we’re talking about lunch, and there’s a little presentation to start the day curated networking at one curated networking at three, cocktail hour at 530. And after the party at eight. Thank you for not making breakout session 19. And everything else in there. And I think there is a little there. Or not. Maybe he’s probably afraid to master now.

Dan Kerr 18:06
Well, no, there’s going to be a little bit of upfront, like over lunch, we’re going to have some highly entertaining and relevant discussions. There’ll be real entrepreneurs on the stage during lunch, and some real investors. So if you don’t like it, eat your lunch, see your lunch, right, right. And then no, we go right into one on one stuff. I mean, everybody in our network always says the same thing as you as they don’t want to sit, sit and watch, they want to interact. We do want to set the tone a little bit because a lot of these folks on the investor side are coming into Kansas City, we want to show them a good time and give them a sense of the community. So we’re going to focus on that.

Matt DeCoursey 18:53
But in the afternoon, I’m gonna take the lead on that starting around 8:05pm.

Dan Kerr 18:56
You got it?

Matt DeCoursey 19:00
Yeah, okay. This event, once again, is in Kansas City where it’s at Hotel Kansas City, right downtown.

Dan Kerr 19:04
It should say, I don’t know what you call it, like a vertical event. And there’ll be some on the rooftop, some in the middle, some in the basement. You will descend throughout the day or something like that. But it’s all in one spot. Really cool event, one of the best hotels in the country. It’ll be fun.

Matt DeCoursey 19:30
The Kansas City Hotel in Kansas City if you can’t remember that, don’t apply. That’s about as easy and straightforward as it gets. Okay, so, you know, alright, so looking for companies in the Midwest. Hey, look, that’s broad. Where are ya? Do people normally fly a plane over where you’re at? On the way to somewhere bigger because if the answer is yes, then apply. And then we talked about like, Okay, if you’re still ideating a little early for this but traction is defined in a number of different ways I think a lot of people have. So here in Kansas City, we have this thing called Digital Sandbox. It’s a $20,000 grant. That’s validation and subtraction moving forward. You have accelerators, you have Y Combinator, you have all these different things that so many people have participated in, they’ve got things moving, and now they need a follow on investment. That’s what this event is about. And that’s what the people coming to it want to know. And like, once again, man, we’re compressing this massive geographic space into 5050. Investors and funds. And man, I really can’t, I’m still struggling, what’s I don’t know, if I’ve actually been to an event that had that kind of compression without all the, I mean, TechCrunch. But that wasn’t set up like this. That was just people were there.

Dan Kerr 20:47
Yeah, there. I mean, I’ve, I’ve had the opportunity to kind of survey these different events around the country, se and you know, up in Chicago, and you, I’ve seen a few elements that I felt like really got it right, that we’re trying to replicate here. What a fund that we know, well called M 25. out of Chicago puts on a They’re a company that invests in on the show, we’ve had them on, yeah, lots of small checks in companies. So they have a big network. And so there are elements of that we’re trying to utilize here for the event that they put on where, you know, it’s this highly interactive event. It’ll be really fun to have in Kansas City. I think a lot of people are excited about coming down.

Matt DeCoursey 21:29
So now as far as investors go, these are primarily funds. Correct? Yeah. So is that all funds? Like any of those? Or do we have family offices, anything like that, like, we talked about a variety of people.

Dan Kerr 21:47
It’s primarily funds and funds that we know that are actively investing funds, I should say that are oriented around primarily b2b software, not entirely exclusive to that. But most of these funds have that general area of interest. There are a handful of kinds of family offices or kinds of hybrid groups that will be coming in potentially a few others that are more just active angels. We’re trying to, but we want people that are there to be actively investing, not just kicking tires.

Matt DeCoursey 22:23
That’s why I love that too. Because there’s, you know, that’s a feedback that I get from a lot of people when they’re out trying to sit, you know, that’s the, hey, well, we’re in between funds, or we’re not, or we’re at the end of it, or like I don’t know, and the thing is, is like, I don’t know, don’t make me take laps if I don’t need to man, right, I’m busy doing everything else, I don’t have the energy for it. But that’s that condense focus. And that is pretty common. Now with this, Dan, you know, here we are riding this wave of economic bullshit that is out there. And what I am considering to be a self fulfilling recession on some levels, and this everything was poppin. And then all of a sudden, they’re late, we start talking about inflation and recession and everything. And it’s like, okay, so we’re creating it by freaking everyone out, there’s been some well documented stuff about VC slowing down. To me, that means there’s a lot of dry powder and a lot of money that can and will be invested. Like, no matter what you go through these Darwinistic type cycles, where these kinds of economic times they kind of wash out the week in many ways. And with that, and maybe put earmuffs on, I just don’t think VCs have enough self discipline and collectively, to hold back on writing checks for too long. Because, you know, there’s, am I right?

Dan Kerr 23:54
I mean, I think that the nature of the industry, how it’s become, you know, maybe you could say 15 years ago, you know, there, you would have had a bigger pullback, but right now, to your point, there are a lot of felons with a lot of dry powder that still need to put it to work. Now, everybody’s got a different point of the cycle. There are some funds that are kind of tapped out. And there are those that are over deployed in 2021. So there’s a lot of different stories out there that are driving where we are right now. But I talked to a lot of people and I think, you know, many funds are in the position of having at least some dry powder, at least selectively writing checks, they’re by no means not investing. They might just be more deliberate and a little slower paced. Not to just tie it back to our event, but I think that will make this an interesting time to have this because you were seeing a lot of predictions of recession coming ahead. Definitely the capital markets have slowed down some, it’s kind of working its way from late. Stage, you know, public markets, later stage private capital Series B Series A and intercede and you’re seeing kind of the front of the train, stop or slow down and it kind of hits the cars on the way back. And, and so it’s kind of a, everybody’s kind of trying to figure out where we are right now, having real in person interactions helps everybody kind of sort that out. Where should I be raising right now? Should I be trying to push faster and go raise more capital? Or should I be kind of battening down the hatches and just focusing on, you know, keeping the doors open and trying to hit some KPIs so that that’ll be fun about this, having those conversations and making a lot of interaction happen. And helping people understand stand the market better,

Matt DeCoursey 25:47
you know, changes, economic changes, and just movement through the general timeline of life also change the sexiness of your offer over time, like prior to COVID. People were telling me that like, I hated tech, and then all of a sudden, they loved ad tech, because everyone needed it. Because there’s no one, educating your kids at school is a lot tougher. And you know, so and you know, like you look at also companies like well, like Full Scale is a good example, which is a cash flow, positive non burn rate tech-enabled services thing, which suddenly looks pretty darn good next to a company that needs to spend a billion to earn 100 million. And you know, so the thing is I think it’s good for any founders Listen up, because you know, I’m your voice and your advocate here on this show. So much of why we do and all of this is for you. That’s why we’re pushing. Okay, we never record an episode and push it out a couple days later, because I just say no, it’s too much. We’re doing that right now. Because I think this is amazing for founders, like I’m excited, like I signed up right away, dandy, I was a sucker take my money. You did? Oh, and like, but that’s a key thing. And like, and I also think it’s time to get moving again. You know, I went, I actually went to two different breakfast meetings this week, like, you know, get back out there and talk to people. I gotta say that there is something about some of us that other people like, and you’ll do better in person than you might in zoom. And, you know, and then another thing too, is, it’s not that you might meet someone at this event that ends up being your series, a fund or two years from now. Yeah, yeah, definitely the seeds and building these relationships, it takes time. And a lot of and now why that dry powder exists, there is enough discipline to write checks and observe things and get to know people and you know, the investor you didn’t impress or you weren’t ready for in 2021 might be ready to go for you and 2022. Now that said, if my company has selected to be one of the 50 that comes there, what do I bring with me? Like, am I giving a presentation to 50? People? Do I need to just like, What do I do? How am I prepared for this? Dan?

Dan Kerr 28:08
Yeah, I think that’s a great point. Then I think when we were talking the other day, and you wrote me that check, which was, which was awesome. For the event, it didn’t have a comma in it. Yes, it did. It’s one, just one and maybe next year, yeah. But I said, you know, I would view this as a success if nobody pitched. And what I mean by that is if somebody doesn’t tell you about what their business is, or what their fun is about, but that nobody feels like they’re up there entertaining people with their pitch, or they feel the urgency that they have to go get that check today, to keep their business going. The idea here is to build relationships, get to know people and learn about what they’re looking for both. And that’s mutual, that’s a two sided discussion, what is the investor looking for, and what’s the founder looking for. And I think in this kind of format, you have the opportunity to kind of have the rapid-fire one on one interactions, but then you can also have kind of the social interactions and kind of really get to know people in ways that you’re not going to, on a zoom call, like you can do so much great work on Zoom. People run businesses on Zoom, I’m not against that. But certain kinds of conversations happen better in person. And when you’re trying to ask somebody for your first three or $4 million, or you’ve already raised three or 4 million or asking for 10 spending time with them, getting to know them as people figuring out what really makes them click. That’s why we do these things. And I’m looking forward to doing more of that here locally, and seeing more of it around the region because I feel like we’ve certainly bounced back some from COVID But we’re not all the way back and we need more of this kind of thing to help make that happen.

Matt DeCoursey 29:58
I wouldn’t want to get my pet at an event like this, if there were like 49 other people doing it, like, first off, no one’s gonna pay attention. That’s too much, man. I’m like, you know, like, I mean, for real, it’s too much. But think of that, think of the efficient nature of that. So I talked to a lot of people about this when it comes to a pitch deck or people want to send her a 60 page business plan. No one wants to read that for the first time. It’s like, make a one-pager, make an intro, like make it make a one minute video, in one minute or less tells me why you’re awesome. And why is your solution better? Do something to quickly stand out, show up to an event like this, get someone’s attention and want to set an appointment later appointment where you can have focused attention focus time and give them maybe a little bit of ability to look up who you are, do a little background themselves have a couple of intelligent questions along the way. And yeah, I mean, if you had to give 50 pitches, I couldn’t. I thought I could do it. I would hate myself by the end of it.

Dan Kerr 31:00
You can. You can easily show that I could.

Matt DeCoursey 31:03
That’s just because I’m verbose. Yeah, I wouldn’t want to, you know, you know, it’s funny, there’s a lot of people who think I’m an extrovert, I’m actually very introverted. And I don’t like that I don’t have the need for the social butterfly stuff. But if you know me, I’m, I’m not afraid to chat with you. But yeah, that would be excruciating. And I don’t think it would affect your pitch or your business’s value add or solution or any that you just blended in, you know, there will be sounds miserable.

Dan Kerr 31:35
The one thing I found is that just as a side note, I’ve gone to a few things around the region. In the last couple months, it’s like, I think I’m actually going to get real business cards again, I got rid of them. You know, I didn’t have any during COVID. But then I realized like, when you go meet people in person, you want to follow up like the best thing is still like that little physical reminder. So if you’re coming to this event, you might bring a real business card too.

Matt DeCoursey 32:03
So do yourself a favor and put a QR code to whatever you want to lead someone on it. Because that’ll make it that much easier for someone to do it. The QR code is on my 2022 Comeback Player of the Year award list. It’s really, and I like to make it easy for people to get to whatever you’re offering and make it easy to help you. I’m also going to throw a tip in there. So you’re gonna go to this event, you’re going to meet a bunch of people, you’re going to be excited about it, and you want their help via their funding, make it easy for people to help you, and you will get more help. Like if you go and you talk to a fan that’s in Chicago, they’re probably not going to want you to go but offer when you go when I can come up? When can I come to visit? Yeah, don’t expect them to come to chase you down. That’s the number one reason these things fall through. This is a sales process. People you need to follow up. There are a bunch. Dan, is it fair to say that there are a lot of people that would like to fly over to the capital to write them a check?

Dan Kerr 33:00
I believe so. Yes, I believe so too.

Matt DeCoursey 33:03
So with that? Are you in the business of chasing people down to take your money?

Dan Kerr 33:09
No, there are occasional deals. Yeah, various little piddly things that we do? Yeah, I will say that. Whether it’s somebody looking for capital for us, or we’re looking to write a check, you know, it’s the first kind of that qualification. Like, is there something there? And then it’s, Hey, do I feel like I’ve got a shot at this? And then, absolutely, if you want a deal to happen, you go do it in real life as much as the follow-up.

Matt DeCoursey 33:33
Okay, as we round out this wonderful special edition. First off, Dan Kerr Flyover Capital, thank you for putting this together, actually said, when we first called, we had talked about doing this at Startup Hustle, and then it’s just not really our thing. So thank you for doing I literally set thank you for doing that. So I don’t have to know or think about it. And that’s awesome. Now, as a quick reminder, if you need to hire software engineers, testers, or leaders, Full Scale can help. We have the people, the platform, and the processes to help you build and manage that team. Go to FullScale.io, that only takes two minutes to fill out. Another thing that takes two minutes to fill out is the application to be one of the founding founders of companies at the mid by Midwest event. That is November 15, 2022. Look, if this isn’t your year, and you’re not going to make it apply anyway, because I got a feeling they’re gonna reach back out to you next year. So get on the radar. There are links for that in the show notes. We’re gonna make it really easy. Remember, you don’t have to have this remarkably refined, World’s Greatest pitch and pitch deck for this event. Come meet people, get their attention, and then do work afterward. And also come and have a drink with us. You know, some of the most fun that I have is just hanging out with entrepreneurs and founders and investors, and just that, man, I just like being around it. You’re gonna get an opportunity to do Out. Dan, anything you’d like to add or throw in on the way out? I feel like we’ve covered a lot of good stuff here.

Dan Kerr 35:05
That’s great. I appreciate the rundown of things I will say. You know, we’re not doing it alone. We’ve got a lot of great sponsors and supporters, Maggie Kenefake. With irons, the iron prairie has done a lot on this too. And the Kansas City venture community as a whole has supported it. So we’re, we took the first step on this one, but we’re excited to turn it into a community event and hope, hopefully, to renew again. We’d love to have folks come out this year and put in your application. And you’re absolutely right. We’ll keep those names for next year, even if you’re not in it. And we’d like to see as many of you out there as possible. It’s gonna be a great time.

Matt DeCoursey 35:45
Links in the show note, people. Go do work.