About the Show:

“You don't need an idea to start a company. You need the scrappiness and grit and durability, and then the recognition of someone with a good idea... that makes it more possible for more people to start businesses together.”

– Michael Basch

This episode is part of a special series supported by the Walton Family Foundation. Through their Home Region program, the foundation is investing in the people and ideas shaping Northwest Arkansas—across housing, entrepreneurship, transportation, and leadership.

In this episode of I Am Northwest Arkansas®, host Randy Wilburn sits down with Michael Basch of Renaissance Philanthropy to dig into the next chapter for entrepreneurship in Northwest Arkansas. The conversation looks at how the region is growing when it comes to startups, access to capital, and why the newest path to business success may be smaller, focused, and driven by artificial intelligence.

Michael shares stories from his coast-to-coast career, insider tips on what makes NWA special, and why the old rulebook for startups is being rewritten right here. The episode highlights the brand new Northwest Arkansas Innovation Fund and discusses how it's set up to support both high-growth tech companies and Main Street businesses. The conversation also explains how AI is shrinking teams and startup costs, unlocking new possibilities, and why success in NWA looks different than chasing Silicon Valley's unicorns. This episode will inspire anyone who thinks about starting a business or wants to better understand the local startup scene.

Key Takeaways:

• You Don't Have to Leave Home to Win: Northwest Arkansas has everything needed to launch strong businesses—capital, mentors, resources, and community spirit.

• Rethinking Success: Small, profitable companies (not just billion-dollar unicorns) can be a big win for founders and the region.

• Filling the Capital Gap: The new Northwest Arkansas Innovation Fund is targeting early-stage businesses that often fall between accelerator support and traditional venture capital.

• AI Powers Small Teams: A team of 2-3 people with AI tools can now build and scale a company—no need for huge headcounts or sky-high funding.

• Main Street Matters: Restaurants, camps, and local businesses can also find help from this fund, not just tech startups.

• Paying It Forward: The region is getting close to a self-sustaining ecosystem, where local success stories help launch and fund the next wave of entrepreneurs.

• Collaboration Is Key: Partnerships between NWA and Tulsa organizations have helped build momentum and connect founders with capital and ideas.

• Focus on Problems: The best founders are deeply invested in solving problems they know inside and out.

All this and more on this episode of the I Am Northwest Arkansas® podcast.

Important Links and Mentions on the Show*

• Renaissance Philanthropy Website (Northwest Arkansas Innovation Fund info): renphil.org — find Launch 479 and Catalyze 479 details under “Funds”
• Michael Basch LinkedIn (contact): Michael Basch on LinkedIn
• Email for info: [email protected]
• Compound Foundry
• AcreTrader
• Ox (Pushkin, Simporter also referenced)
• Launch 479 (entrepreneurial fellowship, aiming to launch new companies in NWA)
• Catalyze 479 (early-stage investment fund)
• 412 Angels Network
• Startup Junkie
• UpVentures
• Main Street coffee shops: Onyx Coffee Lab, Airship

This episode is sponsored by*

The Walton Family Foundation

The Walton Family Foundation is, at its core, a family-led foundation. Three generations of the descendants of founders Sam and Helen Walton, and their spouses, work together to lead the foundation and create access to opportunity for people and communities. The foundation works in three areas: improving education, protecting rivers and oceans and the communities they support, and investing in the home region of Northwest Arkansas and the Arkansas–Mississippi Delta.

Learn more at waltonfamilyfoundation.org

*Note: some of the resources mentioned may be affiliate links. This means we get paid a commission (at no extra cost to you) if you use that link to make a purchase.

Connect more with I am Northwest Arkansas:

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• Join The Facebook Group 
• Connect with our Fearless Host, Randy Wilburn on LinkedIn

Thank you for listening to this I Am Northwest Arkansas podcast episode. We showcase businesses, culture, entrepreneurship, and life in the Ozarks.

Mentioned in this episode:

Winetopia 2026

Winetopia 2026 Date: Friday, October 16th Time: 7-10pm Place: Stonebreaker Hotel on Markham hill Winetopia is Restore Humanity’s biggest annual fundraiser and brings together the very best of Northwest Arkansas (restaurants, artisans, small businesses, and (community members) to support our work. While the event raises essential funds for children in Kenya, its heartbeat is entirely local. There are over 100 local businesses who contribute auction items, regional chefs and beverage makers who showcase their craft, and the hundreds of residents gathering to celebrate community generosity. Winetopia strengthens local partnerships, elevates homegrown talent, and reinforces Northwest Arkansas's identity as a place where global compassion is fueled by local collaboration. Winetopia is a beautiful demonstration of how a united local community can create life-changing impact for children and families worldwide.

Winetopia 2026

Northwest Arkansas is growing, and with that growth come important

questions about opportunity, quality of life, and who gets

to help shape the region's future. Building What Comes Next,

a special series from I Am Northwest Arkansas,

introduces the local leaders and organizations responding

to those questions. We'll explore the ideas,

partnerships, and investments shaping housing,

education, entrepreneurship, and stronger communities across the region.

Support for Building What Comes Next is provided by the Walton

Family Foundation. We thank the foundation for making these

conversations possible.

It's time for another episode of I Am Northwest Arkansas, the podcast

Covering the intersection of business, culture,

entrepreneurship, and life in general here in the Ozarks.

Whether you are considering a move to this area or trying to learn more about

the place you call home, we've got something special for you.

Here's our host, Randy Wilbur.

What if I told you that the next great company to come out of Northwest

Arkansas might not need hundreds of employees, Or

hundreds of millions of dollars in venture capital. What if 3

people, the right idea, and $500,000 could

build a company generating $5 million in revenue

with strong margins and a sustainable business model? That's the

possibility my guest today, Michael Bosch, sees

taking shape, and Northwest Arkansas may be

uniquely positioned to take advantage of it. Over the past several

years, this region has built many of the pieces entrepreneurs

need to succeed. There are accelerators, mentors,

universities, startup organizations, corporate partners,

philanthropic support, and a growing network of founders

and investors. But as Michael sees it, there's still an important

gap. What happens after a promising company leaves

an accelerator, but before traditional venture capital is

ready to invest? Add in artificial intelligence

to the equation, and the rules of entrepreneurship may be changing

altogether. Smaller teams can move faster, accomplish

more, and build companies that would've required far more

people and capital just a few years ago. So

today we're talking about what comes next for the Northwest

Arkansas startup ecosystem, the role capital will

play in that future, And why we may need to rethink

what a successful startup looks like in the age of AI.

Michael Bosch, welcome to I Am Northwest Arkansas. Thank you for

having me, Randy. Yeah, it's great to have you here, man. So listen, I

really— I'm glad that we got introduced, and I was really

intrigued when I saw a posting on LinkedIn about the work that you guys are

doing, that your organization is doing, and I really wanted to kind of

talk with you about this program, but I, I

first want our audience to learn a little bit more about Michael Bosch. And

before we kind of get into everything else that's going on, give our listeners some

context. What has your journey through entrepreneurship,

investing, and ecosystem building looked like? So

I was, um, I was born in San Francisco, California, and raised in Los Angeles.

And, uh, I currently am based in Cambridge, but by way of

New York, London, Tel Aviv, New York, Madison, Wisconsin,

New York, Tulsa, Oklahoma, Córdoba, Argentina, and now Cambridge.

Yeah. I spent professionally 16 years building companies across

coffee shops, product manufacturing, and mobile user

acquisition. Built companies to $37 million revenue, $60 million

revenue in a year, had a couple exits along the way, and then left the

private sector to work on Hillary Clinton's presidential effort in Wisconsin in

2016, which we did not deliver. Wow. Okay. A lot of lessons there. And

that really opened my eyes to what's happening in the middle of the country and

how different it is from LA, New York, London, and Tel Aviv where I lived.

And then I spent— well, I briefly ran for mayor of New York. I was

Mamdani's age at the time. A good story for another day. But I then visited

Tulsa, spent 7 years there, was running the venture capital

and talent strategy in partnership with the George Kaiser Family Foundation, built a

firm, Attento Capital. We invested in 31 venture

funds, 4 venture studios, 66 companies. We also designed and launched

9 talent-related organizations, helped more than 5,000 people move to Tulsa. Wow.

Over that time, I spent some time in Northwest Arkansas, built the 412 Angels Network

here, and did a couple of investments. One of our investments

is a company called Compound Foundry that should do almost $100 million

in revenue this year, and it's like 3 years old, has 170 employees in

Fayetteville. Wow. I love that. And so really proud of that. And yeah, I've

seen firsthand what's possible here. And they've done that by only raising $12

million. And so— That's it. That's it. They've only raised $12 million. They're

profitable, and they should do $100 million in revenue this year. And I, I,

I'm very close to it. And so it really goes to show what's possible here

in Northwest Arkansas. Oh my gosh, that's insane. I love that. Well, I don't know

if that doesn't raise the hairs on the back of your head, I don't know

what will, if you're interested in this kind of thing, right? Which I know

it's funny to say that. I think everybody— I always feel like everybody here

in Northwest Arkansas has a desire to obviously be

successful in life, but there's a lot of people starting businesses here.

And I think that I think that people need to understand that you don't have

to leave Northwest Arkansas to start something good.

You don't have to go to LA. You don't have to go to the Bay

Area where I used to live. And I'm kind of like you, I've, I've lived

all over, so I've had the privilege of seeing what it's like in other

areas. And I keep going back to what I say to people over and over

again on this podcast is don't sleep on Northwest Arkansas. That's right.

There's a lot of potential here. That's right. Yeah. So I love that. What

originally attracted you to working with founders? So

I was the 5th co-founder of 2 companies. I was not the person with the

idea, but the person that figured out how to take a good idea and grow

it very quickly across multiple countries fast. And so I've

always been attracted to friends of mine who have founded companies. And then I started

investing my own money in startups, and some of them were doing well,

and working with the founders in that capacity. And when I

moved to Tulsa, we really believed that this part of the country

had a kind of dearth of capital, but not a dearth of talent.

And so helping to facilitate that capital to the talent that's here and working with

them and being the connective tissue between them and the coast. And

it really felt, and it has proven across multiple companies,

that given the right capital and know-how,

that people can be hyper-successful in this part of the country. Yeah. And so I

just love being that connective tissue

and resource. Yeah. Well, and I mean, I think as I was

reading a little bit about your background and experience, I think you had

referred to Tulsa as the Paris of the heartland. That's for sure. I mean, I

was like, man, that's a good one. I was like, and I go to Tulsa

all the time because my son plays soccer over there and it's literally like an

hour and a half from here. Perfect. And they've got a Trader Joe's and a

Costco. So there are some reasons to go there beyond that.

But You know, Tulsa's a very interesting place. It's got a lot of

history, of course, Black Wall Street, and then also just the oil

money that's in and throughout Tulsa, you know. And I don't think a lot of

people understand that Tulsa was Dallas before Dallas was

Dallas. Yep. It had the second or third airport in the country. Yeah.

Um, the Tulsa maintenance has American Airlines as maintenance base. I mean, Tulsa

was the oil capital of the US in the 1920s. Yeah.

Our office was in Greenwood. the epicenter of Black Wall Street. It has a

lot of history. Yeah, sure. And a lot of concentrated capital. And what's interesting

about Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas is, as opposed to kind of Tulsa and

Oklahoma City, is it's complementary. It's like Tulsa is more of a

city. This is definitely more decentralized and more of a region.

You have different strengths in industries, complementary. Someone from here

might go to Tulsa for Trader Joe's or Costco or for more of a city

experience. From Tulsa, you'd come here for a weekend or uh, concert

at the University Stadium or Crystal Bridges. And so it really is—

or mountain biking. And so it really is a nice complementary. So that's when we

built 412 Angels originally. That's like, let's make a region. You know, and I've thought

about that. It's like the connective tissue between the 2 areas is,

is just literally one road, 412, which I, I know intimately.

I like— I literally know every mile on 412. And, you know, incidentally,

there's a section of it that's like, uh, you can ride at like 80 miles

an hour, which is really nice, which When you come from the Northeast, the New

York area, you're like, man, 80 miles an hour. I, I can't imagine what that's

like, but it is a thing without getting a ticket. Yeah. So, so you

mentioned spending several years working with people connected

to the Walton ecosystem, right? And I kind of wanna bridge this gap here

between Tulsa and Northwest Arkansas. How did, for you,

Northwest Arkansas first get on your radar? So I remember getting a call

from the folks at the George Kaiser Family Foundation. They're like, hey, we want you

to come take a trip to Bentonville with us. And we came down and we

sat in the Walton Family Foundation conference room and had an

8-hour working session of what are the projects that are in Northwest Arkansas, what are

the projects that are in Tulsa, and where might there be

synergies? Where might there be cross-pollination opportunities? And

so we brought Endeavor to Tulsa. Yeah. And we brought Tento,

which was my firm at the time, to Northwest Arkansas in the form of 412

Angels and some local investing. And for 2 years. We built

the angel network, did just under a dozen deals, I

think. We invested in 4 different

companies here, one of which I mentioned, Compound Foundry, is doing very well. Aux,

Pushkin, Simporter. And I think there might be one more that I'm not

remembering. And it really was and is

an opportunity, I think a symbiotic opportunity for 1 1

3, or for the 2 regions just to be additive to one another. Sure. Yeah,

I agree. And it's funny that you mentioned Ox. We've had Charu

on and, uh, yeah, I mean, Tanner and, uh,

you know, they are, they're doing some cool things. And, you know, I

was, I remember when I first sat down with her when they were in their

location in Fayetteville before they moved up to Bentonville. And,

uh, I was just so blown away by this young lady and her skillset and

ability. And at this point she was a Forbes 30 Under 30. She was

just, just the kindest person that I met, but she's a shark.

And she's— She's a firecracker. She is. She really is, in a way

that you get around her and you're like, man, okay, this is— so I'm

just excited to hear that because, um, as you kind of rattle off some of

those names, you know, there's some really good companies that

can lay the foundation and be an example for what is

possible, right? That's why we're having this conversation in the first place, that

idea that you you shared with me when we had our initial conversation about,

you know, what would it take with 3 people and half a million dollars in

cash, and, and the possibilities are endless, right? And so

I think there's, there's some real unique things that, that are happening there. When you

look at Northwest Arkansas today, what do you see

that outsiders may not recognize yet? So

even in the last 5 years, we first started doing work down here in

2021. The foundation has been laid. I think there's

8 to 10 different accelerators from GORP to

Fuel to Plug and Play. There's

so much to Highway Ventures. I mean, there's so many different things

that have been built here that create

energy and possibility where founders are going to go through programming,

have access to capital, have access to mentorship, have ideas. Many of those ideas

won't work. Some will, But then, then maybe they fail and start a second company.

And like when you start doing that with many different bets compounding

over many different years, you know, you start to build momentum to, to some of

these getting lucky and getting further. And that's how you create a groundswell. And

I think like the foundation has now been laid and I think there's

an opportunity for that next level of capital to come here and be active

and kind of catalyze some of these early bets that have been made. And we

think that the time is now. Yeah. What— is there anything still missing

in your estimation? So look, I mean, there's

things missing everywhere. I mean, there's no place, even San Francisco— I say that all

the time. Even San Francisco is like, it might be the venture capital place of

the world where they're missing affordable housing. Yes. Um, and they're missing a homeless solution.

I mean, everywhere's got their pros and their cons. I think, look, it's not a

secret that Arkansas is something like 48th in venture capital

per capita. There aren't seed funds walking

around everywhere here. I think Startup Junkie

and Brett Amrine and what he's done, him and Jeff, his

father, have done here is incredible in terms of they were the first people here

and really built this thing. And I have a huge admiration for them. And we

need more of that. Yeah. And there's just not enough different options. There's a

few games in town. And so this fund won't be all of it,

which we'll talk about, but this will be another solution. to hopefully bridge

the gap until private markets really take over. Yeah. Talk a little bit

about the importance of early-stage capital and

why that— the picture that we're painting here of what we're trying to do, why

that's so important. So people,

founders, will graduate the university or come

go through an accelerator or be someone who's sitting at Walmart

with a dream, and most of those founders will fail

But some could succeed and someone to have that

risk capital to take a chance on them and ideally patient risk

capital that if you're making 20 bets over 3,

4, 5 years and 15 of them fail and

2 or 3 of them do all right and 2 or 3 of them do

better than all right. Well, hey, out of those 15 failures, maybe 3, 4, 5,

10 of those people might try again and have learned a thing or two. And

the ones that have done all right might build healthy businesses and 1 or 2

succeed. And next thing you know, you have an AcreTrader or Compound Foundry that are

employing dozens and dozens or hundreds of people. Then they have an exit and a

liquidity event, and that creates angel investors and new founders. And that's how it kind

of goes. Yeah. And so having that early risk capital that's

comfortable with those failures, that's patient enough to let it work its way

through the system, is key. Yeah. You know, and I was thinking

about that just a little bit, and as you mentioned that, and one of the

things that I was thinking about was how, you know, other things have spun

off of these initial Ventures, right? Like AcreTrader,

you know, and I don't know what will spin out of Compound Foundry, but I'm

sure something will happen, right? Same. Yeah. So I mean, that's, I think that's the

interesting piece. So one of the things I, I wanted to ask

you is let's talk a little bit about the capital gap that

exists. Walk us through the gap that you're seeing

between accelerator programs and

traditional venture capital. 'Cause there is, and that's a wide

chasm, right? When you think of, 'cause I, I always think of the accelerator

programs that are here and the amount of money that is typically

doled out through some of those programs and competitions that you

see. And then of course you've got venture capital, and I'm

curious to know about that gap and how you're

hoping to maybe fill in some of the need

and address some of the need that exists in that gap. So

I think venture capital has really changed. As someone that's been an LP

in venture funds and angel investor for 15 years and an

LP for 12 years, and in the post-generative AI

world, you're going to have your unicorns and decacorns, and you're going to

have— you have 80% of the LP capital going to under

30 funds now, and these mega funds and these

cross-stage funds. multistage funds.

I think the world of venture capital works even in the

unicorns that we're in, and we're in 6 of them. The question then becomes liquidity.

I think there's a new world, and there's a fund that we're in called Third

Sphere Ventures, Sean Abramson and

Stoneleigh Blue. And I think

that they have a concept called speed strapping, which means how

fast can you get to profitability? Can you get to profitability from a seed round?

Yeah. And then grow from there. And if you raise capital, you raise

capital. But you don't have to. And I think that that model in

this new world is where things are going. And so for

half a million, a million, maybe $2 million tops,

you can now in this new world get to profitability and control your own

destiny in a different kind of way. Now there's different businesses that might be deep

tech, hardware tech, deep AI foundational

model businesses that need tens of billions of dollars. Fair enough. Or billions of dollars

or hundreds of millions of dollars or all the things. But there's this other subset

of businesses that might be able to get to profitability pretty quickly and then have

control of their own destiny with either growing slowly or raising capital by choice.

And I'm interested in that market at that moment, at this moment. Okay.

Growing slowly or raising capital by choice. I like that.

Okay. When you think of that, what in your mind, based on what you just

said, what kinds of companies are ideal

clients or ideal candidates for this type of capital?

So I think let's say that you know

everything about a specific

video game or a specific—

yeah, specific video game. You can create a very niche

video game that could be— what if it was like Savannah Banana Baseball?

Yeah. They're huge. They're huge. And it's a video game exactly about Savannah

Banana Baseball. And you license it with them and co-build it

with them. And updates based on the team

and everything else. And it might just take a product person and an engineer

to build and a really good growth person. And maybe it gets to

$3, $4, $5, $10 million in revenue. And maybe Savannah Bananas is the distribution and

it's a rev share, but that product and engineer can maintain that

baseball game. And this growth person can continue to grow customers and you share the

revenue with Savannah Bananas. That business might not take more than half a million dollars.

That business model I just said could be done with $500,000, and that could

actually get tens of millions of dollars in revenue potentially if you have the right

distribution and arrangement with Savannah Bananas. So these niche businesses,

they're not going to be unicorns, but that business could be super healthy. It could

be a revenue source for Savannah Bananas. It could be a revenue source for these

founders. And that's just a super niche business. There's a guy in

town— Also, we have a Main Street strategy, which can be

coffee shops or restaurants. There's a longtime friend of

mine, Shane Mattson, here in town. He has a place on the Kings River. He

has a couple properties in the Kings River and he's thinking about, I mean, he

hosts groups of teenagers every year and he's thinking maybe he makes a camp, a

sleepover camp, or not sleepover camp, but just a general outdoor

camp that would have a camping component to it. And that's

targeting teenagers. And with our Main Street strategy, like that's something that we could

look at. Yeah. And like these businesses could exist. Now, will that business ever be

a unicorn? No. But could— would $300,000, $400,000, $500,000

plus an SBA loan possibly be enough to make that work with the right structure

to pay back and also be catalytic for the teenagers, which by the way,

the data shows now more than ever need outdoor component

and it can be a business model that's sustainable? I think that's interesting.

Yeah. And so like, I think that it's a— opportunity

is, is vast in terms of what we could do here. Yeah. Now you actually

have me thinking because as you talked about Savannah Bananas, I mean, and, and yeah,

I mean, I know that for some people listening to this, you might be saying,

well, those guys have a huge following, and that's true. But, you know,

every entity out there that has built a large

ecosystem around them, there are opportunities to

siphon off opportunities to address the audience

that they focus on, right? Because like when they came here and played at the

Natural Stadium, I mean, the place was packed. It's like, like crazily packed. It's

electric in there. It is electric and it's non-traditional. It brings

people that would never go to a baseball game into the stadium.

It does wonders for attendance. But I mean, as I'm sitting here

thinking, and that idea you just threw out is, that's a really good idea. I

just came up with that on the spot. Yeah, literally. So, and that team could

be here. But that's, to me, you coming up with that, that's the

example of how people could be thinking about the next new

opportunity, right? 'Cause again, we're not, you're not gonna sit in your dorm room at

Harvard or fill in the blank school that you go to and create the next

Facebook. Now you might, but you don't need to. You don't need to. I

want to say there's— think, I'll give you 2 stories. You're in San Francisco

working with what now they're doing, the China model, 996, where you work 9 AM,

9 PM, 6 days a week. You're raising venture capital, you're working, working,

working, you're raising capital to raise more capital, you have no revenue. Or

you're sitting here in Arkansas, you're raising half a million dollars with 2 of your

friends, you're getting $300,000, $400,000, $500,000 in revenue, you're

breaking even, you have going to the lake or the river on the weekend. And

you're slowly growing from there and you're controlling your own destiny and you can get

to a $2, $3, $4, $5, $10 million business and live a

wonderful, fulfilling life. And I think that model is how

we win here. Yeah. And I think that model is leave the

headlines and the attention-getters from San Francisco of these mega rounds alone.

It doesn't talk about the mental health crisis and all the other things that are

coming with that and the pressure and everything else. And the fact that many of

those companies don't end up making it. And I think that you could have many

winners here. Yeah. And not few, but many. And defining winning is

making a great living, employing 5, 10, 15 people, making the

businesses doing $3 to $10 million and cash flowing. Yeah.

Okay. So what I hear you saying is that in terms of the kinds of

companies that are ideal candidates for this type of capital, it could be a

wide variety of things. It's not just any one type of company,

but specifically How much traction should a founder

have before approaching you? I'll tell you, the

Compound Foundry guys, they were pre-idea when

we spoke to them. Really? John James was playing golf. It was COVID. He

was mentoring a couple founders in my portfolio. Terry Turpin was at Hunt

as the head of innovation. And these guys had a track record and they had

something in the back of their mind and a chip on their shoulder from some

of their past stuff. And we kind of

co-ideated together and built this thing. And we were the first $4

million at the time. My previous firm. And I think we want

people, we want dreamers, we want people with that have big idea stage or

I want to do something big stage but have the potential. And we would maybe

find them a co-founder that has the idea. Sure. Because these pod founding

teams is the key. A technical person, product person, and revenue person

sometimes is different. But those, that 3 I think can go, do go very

far today. So not everyone even needs the dream. We will help create

the team, but I think someone with an idea or someone that wants to do

something entrepreneurial, come talk to us. Like, not— we can't fund everyone, but

we want to meet everyone. Yeah, like, we want to meet everyone. We have a

2-person team full-time. We've already hired Mark McCoy to lead it. We have a

second person, um, that we think will be onboarding here pretty soon as well. And

we have a team on the ground, and we want to meet everyone. Yeah, I

like that. And so clearly you're not primarily looking just for

technology companies. I mean, it— there's— And, and Main Street ideas. And Main

Street ideas, which are important. What mistakes do founders make when

they start thinking about raising capital? People think raising capital is

success. Raising capital is the means, not the ends. So

people get so excited they've raised this money. Actually, raising capital is a very personal

experience. Remember, you're either taking money from your friends and family that they could be

putting towards their kids' college education or something else, or you're taking money from a

fund that in some cases could be put towards philanthropy otherwise, like in our case,

or could be going towards another company that's doing well. But either way, once you

raise that capital, it's a very personal experience and you want to do right by

the people who are betting on you. And that puts a different level of pressure

on the founders. Sure. And it's just a means to hopefully be successful

and to raise capital for that, to then raise more capital

as success could be necessary. And for some businesses it is, but also

for raising capital to get to profitability early and controlling your own

destiny. I really think, and, and maybe it's not half a million dollars, maybe you

need a million or $2 million, but you might not need to raise $20 million

or $50 million ever. And in doing so, your outcome has to be so

big. Yeah. And I think That getting to profitability early, in my

opinion, and not unicorn chasing is the key to a

better likelihood of success, in my opinion. Okay. If an entrepreneur

here in Fayetteville or in Bentonville or Rogers or

Springdale is listening right now, what would make you

sit up and pay attention to what they're building? I think if they

know a problem really well or a space really well or been thinking about something

for a really long time, And they have just deep understanding of a problem

and some ideas on the solution. I think mastery of the

problem is everything. I think the solution might change, but

understanding the problem, that's the key. Okay. Understanding the

problem. All right. I got that. And I hope there's some people that I know

that I hope are listening to this episode because there are a lot of problems

to be solved out there. And I know that sometimes people think, oh, they've got

it all figured out. And if they do, there are opportunities for them. You

don't need as much money as you think you need in order to get this

thing off the ground. So I really want to encourage them to take this to

heart. So let's talk a little bit, because this is the reason why you're here

in the first place, this Northwest Arkansas Innovation Fund. Can you tell

us a little bit about that fund and why create

this initiative now? Yes, so I'm with Renaissance

Philanthropy. Uh, we're just under 3 years old. We have 2 mandates. of 20%

of what we do is work with US allies, pan-Germany, UK on

innovation as a service for government. 80% of what we do is unlock

philanthropic capital for the sciences at scale. And we're very interested in

the furthering of opportunities set here in America and across the world

from the science and innovation lens. We believe, and I

believe as well from my work in Tulsa, that there is a huge

untapped potential or unfully realized potential in these often

overlooked markets of the Tulsas and Northwest Arkansas of the world,

that with the right ecosystem and kind of

fully aligned strategy, that some of these markets might

be able to outperform the mean. And I think what's interesting

about this moment in time in Northwest Arkansas and the Walton Family

Foundation who's building their 2030 entrepreneurship plan is they have a

deep, long-term commitment to entrepreneurship across a

variety of strategies. obviously Walmart, Hunt, Tyson has

proved that you can build a great company here. Yeah. Okay, fact. Can we

diversify that? I don't know what percentage those 3 companies are of the GDP, but

probably pretty high. And so it can be done here. How do we diversify

that? How do we take the second-order advantages that this

market has from the talent and know-how here in supply chain, retail,

manufacturing, ag from the university, and how do we

turn those into commercial businesses and create more prosperity and make this a

destination for entrepreneurship, not the same kind of entrepreneurship as the Bay.

And so we think this is an opportunity

to take the foundation that's been laid, add a new layer of

capital that's traditionally been under-resourced here. Missing.

Missing. I mean, I mean, I, you know, you would know more than me, but

missing. I mean, we were investing from Tulsa as a capital source, right? There's not—

there wasn't a Northwest Arkansas investor Compound Foundry, and we had to do it from

Tulsa at the time. And now there is though. And we

feel that the hope is we can prove a model here in Northwest

Arkansas that other regions, the Detroits of the world, the

Kansas Cities of the world, some similar looking markets can do

the same thing. And we think this is a ripe place with the deep commitment

of the, of local philanthropy and local partners to do so. Yeah. What

are, can you maybe highlight or just from a high level, give us some of

the programs you're launching? Yes, there's 2 to begin with. First

is, I'll say, Launch 479. Launch 479 is

an entrepreneurial fellowship, which we're going to try and build

3 companies in a venture studio model in partnership with our

friends at Gitwit, who are based out of Tulsa but have set up an office

here. And we are— the first company is already

going, it's called Yask, Y-A-S-K. We have one of the fellows

already hired, we're looking for a second. It's in the retail tech world. And

we're trying to look at what are the companies that have an unfair right to

win in Northwest Arkansas and staff them and build them and

raise money and, and sales for them and build teams here. And

in addition to that, we have Catalyze 479, which is a

fund, a philanthropic fund that is investing in companies here. Check size will

be from $150K to $500K. We'll do technology

companies. We'll also do Main Street companies. And we're looking

to fill that investment, this pre-seed and seed

check gap, catalyze other capital around us, create healthy

companies, profitable companies, job-hiring companies, and also return.

And that eventually this is hoping to be an evergreen philanthropic fund that

pays for itself out of the returns it creates. Yeah. Yeah. So, okay. So we

have Launch 479 and Catalyze 479. If you

take the— we're still at the early stages of this. What does

success look like 3 to 5 years from now if these are

able to really take hold? So on Launch

479, let's say 4 years from now, we'll have built and

launched 5, 6 companies. Those companies might employ 50, 60, 70 people

between them doing, you know, 8 figures in revenue across them or

more. Hopefully we catch a compound founder that's doing like $100 million. That'd be

the dream. But even if not, it's doing in the tens of millions of dollars

in revenue. And then Catalyze 479, I'm

hoping, I mean, we want to be investing in a perfect world in a company

a month. That's the pace we want to get to. Most of those will be

based here. Some of them will be those that are really interesting companies that we

relocate here, be it a domestic company that this would give them a

competitive advantage. We did that with Simporter a few years back, or an international

company. There's a home-sharing business in Canada that needs a US office that we're talking

to. There's a variety of deep technology companies from Latin America that I've

done some work with previously. And so which ones might make sense

in this market to either set up a US office here or relocate here fully?

And then the Main Street side, I think, can we help a local business open

a second location? Can we help a local business come up with a national franchise

plan? Can we bring a business nationally or from somewhere else here?

Is there a concept with a proven operator that wants to build a second different

kind of concept that we think might make sense? I've actually ran 22

coffee shops way back when, and at one point had a restaurant and bar in

Los Angeles. And so I really enjoy Main Street businesses. There's no better feeling

than pouring someone a coffee in the morning and being the first person they speak

to and trying to make their day. And so, so I'm excited, actually, that

strategy is under-talked about, but I think actually the most fun in a way. And

so I also think in addition to these 2 strategies,

the Northwest Arkansas Innovation Fund is going to launch more strategies. Is that

1 or 2 a year or 3 or 4 a year? I'm not sure, but

I would say I wouldn't be surprised if we're launching 1 or 2 a year.

These are the first 2, but not the only 2. Yeah. Well, and of course,

you know, you can't mention coffee shops in Northwest Arkansas and

not mention my buddy John Allen, who has been on this podcast. And

Onyx is a great example. As I think about it, he's a great example of

that because he's taken something that is a time-honored

tradition of just a simple cup of coffee and elevated it to a

whole different level. Like, literally, we literally mentioned Onyx as the

example. Okay. Not to downplay Airship. We also think— no, no, no, no,

no, no. It's a quiet coffee culture out here. Yeah, the coffee culture is huge.

I mean, I've— there was a time when, you know, when like, I think Stumptown

out in Portland and some others were like the top of the heap. And now,

you know, John and Andrea and Onyx are, are the— and that

wonderful team they have are the top of the heap. And they're B Corp. I

mean, there's some, some really interesting aspects about it, and they're doing

well. They're doing really, really well. And shout out to Onyx for— Onyx, if you're

thinking about national franchise models, we would be the folks to talk to about

thinking that through. Well, I'll be sure to pass this, this particular episode on

to John because, because I think he would love to hear that. So how would

you like to see local founders engage with this

program? So Mark McCoy would be the—

he is here, he's our director. He comes from American Heart Association. He was the

one of the head investors there. Wonderful man. He's actually investor in Sober Sidekick here

in town. We co-invested in Pear Suite previously. I couldn't

have better things to say. him, and there'll be a second person as well. I

am pretty accessible. I'm at [email protected].

And we'll put, we'll put all of that. Great. So get my contact info. But

Mark and the, and the second team member, which we're finalizing now, will, will be

here. And, you know, our job is to meet with everybody. Yeah. Yeah. So we'll

be around. Okay. That's good. And I, I think those, the

entrepreneurs that are listening to this episode, that if you say, I need to learn

more about this, their next steps is just to connect with you

through the website, or— So on renfyl.org, hit funds

and catalyze, and you'll see the Northwest Arkansas Innovation Fund, and all the information is

there, as well as reaching out to us, and you can fill out a form

and we will get back to you quickly. But all the information you need to

know is there. Yeah, and I, I, and there's some people in my orbit that

I'm going to be encouraging to fill out these documents and get your

information in to Michael and his team just to make sure

that you guys can be considered. They're There's some really good ideas here, and I'm

actually thinking about, I mean, we've done over 400 episodes of this podcast

in the last 7 years, and, you know, I've even recently talked to some companies

that are rep— have been represented on this podcast that would be, I think would

be great. They kind of fall in line from a founder

perspective of the type of people that you're looking for. So we'll be sure to

make those connections and get some people filled out. Awesome. Thank you. So listen, I,

I wanna talk about one of the elephants in the room, but because it's

one that I'm sure you get a lot of questions about and, you know, I'm

curious to kind of maybe focus about how AI has changed

the startup equation. And you made a fascinating

observation, which I kind of teased right at the beginning. You said that

roughly 3 people and half a million dollars could potentially

build a company that reaches $5 million in revenue. Can you just

explain this thesis? And would this

thesis have existed just 5 years ago? Definitely

not. Okay. So I think it was Lovable at one point in

time was doing 9 figures in revenue with 40 people or something crazy like that.

And there was a couple of these big headlines. Look, I think AI has

changed everything. There's definitely your companies that will still need to do

the big mega rounds and mega raises and grow super

fast. And those companies will probably be in the Bay because the speed they'll need

to grow will need the level of talent that's in the Bay. I don't think

Northwest Arkansas or anywhere like it can compete

on the speed and scale you need to grow for those businesses right now. No,

I just read How to Rule the World by Theo Baker, and he talks

about the pipeline from Stanford to Silicon Valley, and

it's like literally down the street, right? So it's like nobody's coming from Palo

Alto to Northwest Arkansas. I mean, they could be theoretically. It's

just not at scale. We're like— and what's crazy, if you— and

again, shout out to Theo Baker in this book. I don't want to give away

the premise of it, but it's just an— it's a really good book that's really

eye-opening, and it helped me to understand why companies stay

so successful out there. Because they are literally picking kids

off of the tree at freshman year, first

semester freshman year at Stanford, and they're grooming them

at that point to be the successes that many of them become.

And it's astounding what's being passed around out there

for young people that show promise. And that's one model, but not the only model,

meaning you can there build

these decacorns and that's completely possible, or you might get very close and it turns

to zero and then try again. All good. But if you're a VC

in San Francisco, a billion-dollar outcome is kind of

the floor and you're hoping for a $10 billion-plus outcome. So if there's

a company that has a pathway to $50 million in revenue and be valued at

$300 or $400 million or something like that, you don't even look at that.

That's not interesting out there. Well, that's super interesting here. Or

smaller. There's just a huge market underneath what the

folks out there are going to build and the funds are going to fund that

still could be very healthy, profitable businesses that could have exits or not,

but that just would be neglected out there that why not build it here? Yeah,

absolutely. And obviously in your mind, this

should, or it does change what investors

should be looking for. I'll just say

I used to be hunting, chasing unicorns. I'm in 6 of

them. Biggest one is probably Ro Health. On paper, it looks really good.

Yeah. I think there could be liquidity there in a year or 2, but I'm

also in Alloy. I'm in

Oyster. I mean, these are all billion-dollar-plus companies. Fabric

Health, all doing healthy, different levels of healthy. GumGum in LA.

I'm not sure a business that's doing $100, $200, $300 million in revenue

at $10, $20 million in EBITDA that raised in 2021,

how that business ever gets liquidity. I'm just not sure. I'm not convinced we'll ever

get liquidity or we finally end up being forced to sell to private equity at

some not exciting outcome. Yeah. And so I think if

I'm an investor and I can get to a business with a path to

profitability with relatively low amount of cash, and instead of trying to

get 100x of my investment, but maybe I'm getting

an 8% dividend for 3 or 20% dividend

for 2, 3, 4, 5, 6 years to get to 6 or 7x on

exit, you know, in sub-5, 6 years, that's actually a

great IRR perspective. That's great. And on a

likelihood where it's like 70% fail and 20% do okay and hopefully 10%

do great, but maybe, maybe only 25% fail

and 70% do all right and do all right being a 6 or

7x all said and done in sub-10 years and 7 or 8 years and like,

and they're dividending along the way. Like, I think that needs to be celebrated more.

Yeah. And that structure I think is available here. Yeah. Well, and you've

kind of painted a really nice framework of what could be. I

do want to— I jumped ahead of myself, but I want— there was one other

additional question I wanted to ask you about AI

specifically in terms of what you have witnessed. But what

functions can a tiny team now handle that previously

required 20 to 30 employees? Man, a good

product person can really build a front end now.

fully by themselves, all with them, them plus AI, and

one really good engineer could create all the agents they need to

fully build the backend. And like, you are talking about a 2-person

team that could probably replace 20. I really believe. Easily. Now, now

there's a world where you grow or you want to do faster and you do

need some more people. So it's not like it doesn't necessarily need to stop there,

but you can get far and get fast and get to a pro— an MVP

in a weekend. is the key thing. You can get to A/B testing so

fast and so fast and de-risk so much

that I think the game has completely changed into getting to market fast. Without

raising capital, you can build and test a prototype. That did not exist. You could

never— you'd have to raise a family and friends round to get to a

product, and then you raise the pre-seed round to get to revenue.

Now you can just do an MVP in a weekend. It's not perfect, or it's

buggy and whatever, but it's built. No money. Yeah, that's a whole new world. Yeah.

So what I hear you saying is that a region like Northwest Arkansas can

absolutely benefit from this shift with AI

being involved in the startup equation. Yes, just don't chase unicorns.

Right, right. Like, don't chase unicorns. We could do that to the

tune of Don't Go Chasing Waterfalls. Exactly. TLC. Yeah, I got that.

Does AI make geography less important, or does it actually

make communities like Northwest Arkansas more important

because of quality of life, networks, and

access to talent? Does that matter more here? It's completely

bifurcated. In the beginning of COVID San Francisco

was less relevant than ever as everyone was leaving, and it was like a—

felt like an apocalypse, post-apocalypse on the streets of San Francisco. And there was like

crime and homeless and all the things, and there's still versions of that, but it's

better. But In a way, if you're gonna go do heavy AI frontier

work, you got, you must be in San Francisco. Must, must. But so much

so that actually LA and Boston and many of these other places matter less in

the AI world. Therefore, every region needs to figure out what they're, how

they're gonna matter. And LA, for example, has media.

New York has a variety of consumer tech and fintech and is, is finding their

niche. But in a way, I think

here you can really, here and other places like here,

Especially around the industries that we have rights to win in, like supply

chain, like retail tech and beyond, you know, you

can create a bunch of these niche companies and create real network effects around

it. And I think it's just, you just don't want to be going after what

they're going after in the Bay. Like you just have to just accept that at

face value. So, you know, go for these niche things that can still be big.

Remember, anything under a billion is not interesting to the Bay. That is a huge

market. Right. And so like being disciplined about that, I think

Compound Foundry is an example. I think we could have a huge outcome there. I

don't think we're underwriting it to a billion-dollar outcome and it could still be amazing

outcome for everyone involved. Yeah. Okay. So with that said,

and the previous comment to that, in your mind, is

success $20 billion companies

or 200 strong profitable

businesses? 200 strong profitable businesses. They could be $5 million businesses all day long.

All day long. That would be the dream. By the way, I think it'd be

a better world, a better, better America, but more prosperity for

more people, highly paid employees, more millionaires, fewer billionaires, I

think is a winning model in my opinion. Yeah. When does

an entrepreneurial ecosystem become self-sustaining in this

vision that you have? You know, I think the

data would show it takes one big exit or 3

or 4 good doubles where we get some founders that have tasted

success, some early employees that have tasted success, that have some

liquidity. They're building second companies, they're investing in other companies.

And I think there's a couple of companies around town, you know, Dan Zanker's got

a pretty good business, Courtney over at AcreTrader. I mean, there's a— we're

getting close. Yeah. And so it's like, you know, I'm friends

with the founders of Tinder and Uber, and I've seen, you know, the problem is

they're in just such big markets that it doesn't matter. But the angel investing and

the things that they've done afterwards are actually like— the things they've

touched afterwards are absurd. Yeah. And so like, you get that muscle

memory, it's transformative. And I think like, once that

starts, that it'll be the domino effects of that. Yeah. And I feel like that,

you know, and I, I know who Dan is and so many others that you

had mentioned already, that these guys, I think they

understand the point of kind of paying it forward and

making sure that others are successful. We've kind of seen it with the

Waltons and Some of the programs that they've put on and, you know, of course

the Northwest Arkansas Council and, you know, all of these

programs have really been important in growing

this ecosystem. I mean, Serafina works with the venture

capital group there with the Northwest Arkansas Council. And so

there's a lot of, I hate using this word, synergy as far as that's

concerned, but all of that synergy came out of the success

that Sam Walton found with that little 5-and-10 store. Right

here in Bentonville. So totally. Yeah. Couldn't agree more.

Yeah. So, all right. Now here's what I, I wanna land this

plane, cuz you've been really kind with your time. I wanna talk just a

little bit about what's possible in Northwest Arkansas in terms of

you've looked at what industries in Northwest Arkansas

seem particularly ripe for innovation. So

look, I've said it a couple times, but I definitely think retail, tech, and supply

chain are top of list. I think there's a mobility play here. UpVentures is very

active here. I think there's an ag play here, especially with the university.

Outdoors has proven— I mean, I think the outdoor space is fascinating and I give

Tom and Stuart Walton a lot of credit for laying such a foundation here. And

so many outdoor living people are attracted to coming here and just

tripling down on that. That's why I think Shane's idea of a camp for

teenagers, and it's a generally— you think about businesses

hunting around hunting and fishing and biking and outdoor living

and camping, maybe it's a— campsite, a business that's helping people

prep their campsites or glamping, like a, like a national glamping

franchise. Like, I just think doubling down on the, on the first-order

competitive advantages that turn into second-order businesses. And I

think those to me makes extra sense. And then beyond

that, I really believe that we are at a moment in time that anyone with

a deep expertise in a thing that just so happens to be here

or wants to be here because they love the lifestyle here, because it is a

great lifestyle. Like for very little, they can build that thing here and they

can do it at a much lower cost basis with a much higher quality of

life. And so in some way we've democratized the access to building a company and

like, like then it boils down to where do you want to build that company?

And there's a huge subset of people that value outdoor living and quality of life.

And like, I think the value prop here is about as high as, high as

anywhere in the United States. Yeah. And we're still kind of affordable. I

mean, I know interest rates are up. Downtown Bentonville is not so affordable. No, not

anymore, man. Yeah. Fayetteville's still there.

largely there. As they say, Fayetteville is my favorite ville. So, you

know, but no, I, I love each city, uh, equally.

Totally. Uh, but I live in Fayetteville, so it is, it is, it is what

it is. And Rogers and Springdale are wonderful and still pretty affordable. Yeah, absolutely. And,

and again, I think each of those places, when we look back in 15 or

20 years, we're gonna be like, man, I wish I had had the presence of

mind to be in any one of those cities. I sat down, I was at

Canopy just before this, um, with Joanna. Yeah. And she was telling me, you know,

she bought her home in, on this, basically on the square in Bentonville 10 years

ago. And, She's running a nonprofit and her husband's running— is

in public education. And they have a wonderful life right near downtown

Bentonville, but they bought at the right time. But that today, this today would be

very expensive. But if you bought a place 15 minutes or 12 minutes from

downtown Bentonville, you could still buy something very affordable. And let me tell you about

12 minutes in Cambridge where I am, you can't even get across the bridge

like a mile from my house because there's traffic. And so it's

still quite affordable 12 minutes from the center. And so it is,

you just can't live on Main and Main in downtown Bentonville, but it's otherwise

pretty affordable. Listen, I was brought back to reality when I went

out and visited my cousin this past February in

Hayward. He pastors a church out there, so I mean,

but he, he had, he just bought a piece of property and paid, and he,

he won't mind because it's a public record, but he paid like $1.5 million for

it, something that we could buy here for Under

$500,000 easily. And he was like, he had got a

great deal, right? That was like a great deal. 'Cause then I guess the prop,

the, the comps on the place were, were a little bit much, or were actually

much higher than that. But the bottom line was it's expensive on

the coast. I'm from New Jersey, from Teaneck, right outside of New York

City. I'm, I'm a stone's throw from Midtown Manhattan, but a

small ranch-style home in Teaneck is $700,000.

without batting an eye. Plus about $20,000 to $25,000 or

$30,000 in property taxes every year. Jersey kills

you. Jersey, yeah. Because people don't understand. They're like, yeah. I'm like, yeah, the house

might be great, but that property taxes are insane. For real. It's a private

school tuition. For real. It's a private school tuition. So yeah. But I mean, I

think people just need that perspective. So that's why I still feel like, and

I'm looking at it through the lens as being a person from the

Northeast, but I still feel like there's some level of affordability here. And you're

absolutely right, you can go out a little bit and get

something really nice, get some land, and then when you look at what this

area is going to be in the next 10 years, you'll be right in the

thick of it. Exactly. You'll be right in the thick of it. Yeah, I think,

I think Benton County was one of the fastest growing counties a couple years in

a row. And so, I mean, I think— Well, Northwest Arkansas is one of the

fastest growing MSAs in the country. So, I mean, it's, it's gonna happen. So

it's just the way that it is. If you were 25 years old and

starting a company in Northwest Arkansas tomorrow, what would you

be paying attention to? So I would be looking

for the best. I'll tell you very honestly, this is about me, me personally, Michael

Bosch. This isn't everyone. I'm probably not the person with the idea. I'm probably

the person that would be looking for a genius with a really good

idea that's technical, that I could figure out how to grow, grow it. Like, I'm

looking for the right co-founder, right? I'm that person. Yeah, yeah. Um, I found those

people twice in my life. God bless them. Um, and I— and we built

one company at $37 million in revenue, one company at $16 million in revenue, sold

both of them. And I didn't have the original idea. I had the idea how

to pivot it into something big. Yeah. And, and I'd be looking for that person

with a really good idea that, that's technical. Yeah. Okay.

That's it. Yeah. And that's, and that's kind of, that's what I'm saying entrepreneurship

can be for many people. You don't need an idea to start a company. You

need the scrappiness and grit and durability, and then the

recognition of someone with a good idea. and having the right partners.

And I think that makes it more possible for more people to start businesses

together. Um, not everyone needs the idea. Yeah. And I

have the self-awareness now. I'm 42. I have the self-awareness. Maybe I wouldn't when I

was 25. Yeah. But at 42, I have the self-awareness that I might not have

the idea, but I might— I can recognize a good idea. Sure, sure. Well,

and that speaks to kind of like the importance of also considering

whether you want to be a solo founder or you want to, you want to

join with somebody else. Like, I've always felt like I've always, I've always been a

good storyteller. That's always been my thing. Yeah. people do the X's and O's

a lot better than I do, but I can tell a story. I can help

people understand why this widget is the best widget in the

world and why you need to— why it needs to be part of your

repertoire. But, you know, it's like sometimes you get those individuals

that each person brings something unique to the table, and when you put those

2 things together, it can create something special. And for a

solo founder, especially as we're thinking about this fund, I

think if I was a solo founder, I would try and work on the nights

and weekends while I had my day job until I could I would not raise

capital. I'd work while I'm building on the nights and weekends until it's profitable.

Like, I think that's what I would do as a solo. Okay. All right, we

have a lightning round. I created this specifically for you. I wanted to ask you

a couple of quick questions as we wind this up. One thing Northwest

Arkansas founders underestimate— One thing Northwest Arkansas founders

underestimate is the ability to get a meeting.

This is a much easier place to get a meeting with someone. Most people will

take a coffee here. Right. And I think making that ask, either

even if it's a cold LinkedIn or figuring out how you know someone and making

someone— asking for the introduction. If you ask 10 people on LinkedIn for a

coffee with a good reason why, a couple of them will meet with you. Yeah,

absolutely. Absolutely. It's not that way in New York. It's not that way in San

Francisco. No, absolutely not. And I've lived in both places. One thing

investors underestimate about Northwest Arkansas.

Especially coastal investors. I think they just dismiss it. And I think they just think

if it's not from San Francisco or New York, or it's not within their direct

network, it can't be like they would know about it. Or like, and I think

that's just wrong. Yeah. Yeah. Bootstrapping or venture capital?

I think bootstrapping or, or speed strapping a little, not venture capital. I think

venture capital. I think capital. Yes. I think the right capital

with the right structure that doesn't need to go get a unicorn outcome. Yes.

But not venture. I mean, ventures for a subset of businesses. Yes. But not,

not every business. Okay. All right. AI opportunity you're

most excited about? And I know there's so

many out there, but— Yeah, I mean, I, I

mean, I saw— I caught up with a friend. I mean, no, I don't want

to say I'm most excited about this. It's not the right answer. But I'll say,

like, I caught up with a friend of mine who sold his edtech company,

Pear Suite, to GoGuardian, then private equity, and had a pretty good outcome. And now

he kind of that advises companies and he kind of

builds little niche companies. He built a little niche AI. He has

a son who's applying to college and he built a niche

AI business that basically pulls from all of the

universities, all the PDFs and everything from the website. So you can find out everything

you need to know from every university in the country in one place. And he

has hundreds a day and some days thousands of people visiting that website. He hasn't

monetized it. He doesn't need to. It's just providing such a service and he could

monetize it. Yeah. And I just love He did that on a weekend. It's on

its own. It has real traffic. Yeah. And like, like, and he's got a few

different versions of things like that. And it's like you can just get something to

market so easily that could be useful and monetized. And like,

that just makes me so happy. Yeah. And I think to me, I like— it's

the speed at which you can bring something out and try it

out. If it doesn't work, bring it back and bring something else out. It's

incredible. I mean, 10 years ago that did not exist. 4 years ago, 4 years

ago it didn't exist. So yeah, it's huge. One trait you

consistently see in exceptional founders? The

business that they're building is aligned with their personal set of purpose. Okay. And

it's like, because it's always going to be tough, and there's

always going to be a moment where you rationally should quit, and there's always gonna

be a moment where you have no money. But if it's your personal set of

purpose, you're just gonna not— you're just gonna keep going until you figure it out.

Sure. Because it's your purpose. Yeah, yeah. And that's it.

Yeah. Best advice for someone raising their first

I think understanding why you

need capital, how you're going to use that capital,

what success looks like from it, where does it take you

very specifically, so that the provider of that

capital understands that this person has thought through exactly the use of it and what

are the key assumptions and what needs to be true and where this will go

until— I think if they have that down, then it

becomes a question of whether or not they believe the problem's important and if you're

the person that can execute. But I think that's the key thing.

Okay. And then finally, what should Northwest Arkansas

stop trying to copy from Silicon Valley?

I mean, I honestly think most simply, and I've said this maybe too many times,

so it's not a fun answer, but I really think stop chasing unicorns. I think

stop chasing unicorns, stop trying to get mega rounds, stop trying to get the big

flashy headlines, build healthy, profitable businesses that cash flow employee a good

number of people well and lean into your strengths. Okay. And then, Michael,

if we have this conversation again 5 years from now, what do you hope

we'll be able to say happened in Northwest Arkansas? You inspired me

today. I don't— I gotta be careful what I say. I don't think it'll just

be from us. I would love to see 200 businesses that are doing $5 million

in revenue, or 200 businesses that are, that are each employing 25 people

well. Like, that would be big. Yeah. And I

think that that would be an inspiring goal, and it won't be just the Northwest

Arkansas Innovation Fund. It will be because the entire place, the

ecosystem had exits and other people started companies and other people

invested in companies. And I think like it would be a collective entrepreneurial

effort. Yeah. And I think from that, the offshoot of some of that will

be, there'll be levels of generational wealth that will be created that

wouldn't have been created had those 200 companies not started. Amen. Well

said. Yeah. All right, Michael, please tell our listeners where they can

learn more about the fund, Renaissance Philanthropy, Catalyze, and the

programs coming to the region? So renphil.org,

under funds, you'll see Northwest Arkansas Innovation Fund. Right now there's 2 funds in there.

There hopefully will be more over time as it makes sense, but we will keep

that updated. I think eventually we'll have social handles too. We're just getting going. Okay,

perfect. And, uh, if people want to reach you directly because they were just

so inspired by what you've had to share today, what do you— what, uh, what's

the best way? Yeah, I'm very active on LinkedIn. Okay. accept all

ads really, and I'll try and respond to most messages, but I gave my email

and, and I'm accessible on the Renfro website as well as my LinkedIn. Yeah, we'll

put all of that in the show notes so that way you guys can get

in touch with Michael Bosch. And Michael, thank you so much for joining us

on this episode. You were in town for a hot minute. You took time to

come down here to the Fayetteville Public Library. Shout out to the library.

It is an amazing place, isn't it? So yeah, well, you know, and it's funny,

I think That— not I think, I know— that this

is an example of what happens when you have a

really strong entrepreneurial ecosystem that's

allowed to grow and mature. Because the benefit of what you

see with this particular library, as well as many of the other libraries in

Northwest Arkansas, is out of the largesse that we've seen

through the businesses that have been successful in this

country. that emanated from this region. Yeah. And so what

you're describing is the next generation of that, right?

Exactly. And that's what we want to see happen. So everybody can't be Walmart.

Exactly. Everybody can't be Tyson. Everybody can't be J.B. Hunt. But

companies can be, you know, Ox and some of these other

firms. Compound Foundry. Compound Foundry. So the possibilities— Acre Trader. Acre

Trader. Yeah. The possibilities are endless. And so, man, I

thank you so much. Michael, I'm rooting for you. Uh, we're gonna stay in connection,

and I'm gonna send as many people— you're gonna get tired of hearing from me

because I'm like, man, I got another good idea for you of somebody that I

think is worthy of a conversation. But thank you so much for joining us today

on the podcast. Thank you for having me. It was a lot of fun. Absolutely,

absolutely. Well, folks, there you have it. Michael Bosch with Renaissance

Philanthropy. We're so excited for the work that they're doing,

and we're excited that they're more— even more excited that they're here in Northwest

Arkansas. And so I really appreciate you guys taking time out of your day

to listen to this podcast. Please check the show notes so you can reach out

to Michael. I also want to give a shout out to the Walton Family Foundation,

who's been an amazing sponsor of this podcast. And this particular

episode is one of those episodes where you're going to look back 10 years from

now and say, man, I remember when they were talking about the growth of the

entrepreneurial ecosystem. And the Walton Family Foundation has been talking about this for

years, about what they're expecting here in the home region. And

so we're really excited to see all of these opportunities come to pass,

and that's why we bring people on like Michael Bosch and the amazing work that

he and his team are doing at Renaissance Philanthropy. So if you run into him,

just tell him thank you for the work that he's doing, and, and let's continue

to make it happen here in Northwest Arkansas. As I've always said on this

podcast, and even in person when I talk to people, that this is one of

the most giving spaces that I've been in, in terms of where I've lived. And

so There's nothing like it here in Northwest Arkansas. So I hope you guys

enjoyed this episode. If you're starting a business or you have a business and this

sparked an idea in you that you're gonna take your business to the next level,

go at it. And please reach out to us at

[email protected] and let us know how things are going, what

you thought about this episode. And we'll see you back here soon with

another new episode of the I Am

Northwest Arkansas podcast. Peace.

We hope you enjoyed this episode of I Am Northwest

Arkansas. Check us out each and every week, available

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