MO - Business Interviews with Entrepreneurs, CEO's, Founders, Funding Sources, and Policy Makers

May24

“The value of social media dashboards has already been firmly established, but an online review monitoring and management tool like Review Trackers can actually make as great an impact, if not greater, on business performance.”

Chris Campbell

Review Trackers

Chief Tracking Officer

http://www.ReviewTrackers.com/

An experienced entrepreneur with more than six years in digital marketing, Chris Campbell is the Founder and Chief Tracking Officer of Review Trackers.

Founded in early 2012, Review Trackers is the online review monitoring platform for local businesses. Built on proprietary data collection technology that’s designed to track, analyze, and centralize online customer reviews from sites like Yelp, Google+ Local, TripAdvisor, Foursquare, and more—helping multi-location business owners listen closely and respond promptly to what their customers are saying.

MO: How did you come up with the concept of Review Trackers?

May24

“I’m always raising the bar for myself. I’ll probably never view myself this way. But I think self-financing my business and keeping full control is a good measure of my success.”

Stefan Saakyan

ByPact

Founder

http://www.ByPact.com

ByPact is a free service launched to allow anybody to create an agreement (a “pact”) with a friend, co-worker, family member or anybody else and to have a virtual platform that keeps the record of this agreement and make it easier for both sides to maintain their side of the bargain.

It also offers the ability for pacts to be created and shared on social media so that others can join if you wish. We offer a variety of features to make it easier for all parties to keep their agreement, such as automatic reminders, deadline notifications, and breach of agreement notifications.

MO: What inspired you to launch your business?

May23

“People don’t care how much you know until they know how much you care.”

Trevion Blanding

Small Business Owners of America

COO & Partner

http://www.SBOOA.com

Small Business Owners of America is a full scale business development organization that specializes in assisting individuals with starting companies as well as helping them obtain funding.

Mr. Blanding has 10 years of experience directly working with entrepreneurs and business professionals in the networking and financial industries as well as the faith-based community. Mr. Blanding has assisted in funding close to $2 million in loans for small business owners across the U.S. in his role as Chief Operating Officer/Partner at Small Business Owners of America. His current role as COO at SBOOA allows him to lead this organization with his innovative leadership and high level of enthusiasm. He currently advises clients across the U.S. in the areas of lending options for business owners, providing small business development help, customer acquisition strategies, and sales strategies. He is also a public speaker in the areas of entrepreneurship, goal setting, and relationship building.

For those that don’t qualify for traditional bank financing, they have options available with faster approvals, less restrictions, and without risking personal assets. They can offer a variety of consulting services that are geared to create funding options. They can also provide a variety of products for entrepreneurs seeking investment capital as well as full scale nonprofit business development.

MO: What inspired you to launch Small Business Owners of America?

May23

I think I have beaten the odds because I didn’t go into it thinking, “Hey, I’m going to open up a restaurant.” I went into it thinking, “Here is an opportunity in the market. It involves feeding people. I’m going to take it. And I’m going to execute well.”

Sarah Haselkorn

Green Bean

CEO

http://www.GreenBeanSalads.com

Green Bean is a fast-casual, sustainable, salad and wrap restaurant located in the Central West End neighborhood of St. Louis, MO. Our mission at Green Bean is to provide tasty, convenient, and nutritious salad fare to our Midwestern community in an eco-friendly manner.

Sarah Haselkorn is an undergraduate senior studying systems engineering and entrepreneurship at Washington University in St. Louis. During her junior year, she opened Green Bean, a fast-casual, sustainable salad and wrap restaurant located a few miles from campus. Haselkorn competed in the Global Student Entrepreneur Awards and was a finalist in 2012. She is currently working on expanding Green Bean, and starting an e-commerce business sock company.

MO: You impressively launched a restaurant at just 19 years old. The restaurant business is notoriously hard, what made you think that you could beat the odds?

May23

“We’re in the business of growing a person’s influence naturally and organically, not by cheating the system.”

Ryan O'Connell

Influence & Co.

Vice President

http://www.InfluenceandCo.com/

Ryan O’Connell is the Vice President at Influence & Co., a company that helps experts build their businesses through thought leadership and content marketing by producing high-quality content for reputable publications. You can reach out to Ryan on Twitter @Oconnellryan or on Google+.

May22

“Visibility came from having very supportive friends and family who have helped me spread the word of my business.”

Betsy Johnson

SwimZip

Founder

http://www.SwimZip.com

Betsy Johnson is the Founder and President of SwimZip. Growing up Betsy always loved fashion and could spend hours shopping and getting dressed. She was diagnosed with skin cancer at the age of 26 and has combined her passion for designing clothes and her personal battle with skin cancer to create SwimZip

SwimZip is stylish UV 50+ swimwear for babies, toddlers, and children. Our full-length zipper swimwear is uniquely designed allowing for easy-on, easy-off UV protection for children. The no-pinch zipper flap, tagless neck, zipper garage around the neck, and flat-lock stitching make wearing the swimwear comfy! SwimZip’s material is chlorine resistant too! Our swimwear protects young children from harmful UV rays and makes stylish UPF protection you can wear anywhere!

Gus: What were you doing before launching SwimZip? How did your background and experience help contribute to the vision and growth of the company?

May22

“New gTLDs will have a huge effect on digital marketing strategy and brands once they’re launched in 2013/2014.”

Adam Grunwerg

ARG Media Ltd

Managing Director

http://www.Searchable.co.uk

Adam Grunwerg runs a digital media agency that manages websites in the finance, education and gaming industry. Searchable.co.uk is a sister site where he provides Internet marketing related services to start-ups as well as his own SEO blog.

Adam started his business during his final year of University in 2009/10. Since graduating, he’s spent almost 3 years working on his business full-time, developing more than twenty websites and owning more than 75 domains.

MO: What inspired you to launch your business during your last year of University? Did you keep from becoming overwhelmed by running a business and having a demanding school schedule?

May21

“One of the best things about Acropolis is that we continue to grow at a nice, steady pace. That creates opportunities for employees and create jobs. When we got started, I was really just thinking about how I could benefit, but now I think about how our whole team can succeed and it’s a great to be a part of that.”

David Ott

Acropolis Investment Management, LLC

Chief Investment Officer

http://www.AcrInv.com

Slightly more than ten years ago, Chris Lissner, David Ott and Dannelle Ward left the banking industry to for Acropolis Investment Management, LLC., a Registered Investment Advisor (RIA) based in St. Louis.

Acropolis manages investment portfolios for high net worth individuals, institutions and corporate retirement plans. They have a well-seasoned and tenured team, a large and stable client base and serve clients in a fiduciary capacity.

MO: What inspired you to launch your own company instead of working for a more established firm?

May21

“Rather than sell off-the-shelf software products or rigidly defined service offerings, Icreon Tech approaches technology solutions as a consultancy in order to formulate specified solutions for each client’s unique circumstances and environment.”

Himanshu Sareen

Icreon Tech

CEO

http://www.Icreon.us

Icreon Tech’s experience, process and attitude have facilitated the growth of a strong and steadfast portfolio of clients, ranging from leading Fortune 500 companies, small to medium sized businesses, public sector organizations, and growing start-ups. They have helped their clients realize the potential of technology, to gain instant, visible and measurable returns from their investments.

At Icreon, they go back to the basics; when technology had a purpose, when technology was a valuable means to an end, when technology was a tool for organizations to achieve their goals – however ambitious they may be.

MO: Can you expand on what it means that “Icreon comes on board as a technology partner as opposed to a technology vendor?”

May21

“I help small businesses improve the customer experience on first time calls, minimize lost opportunities and convert more first time callers into appointments and sales.”

Kirk Gray

10 Fold Consulting

Founder

http://www.10FoldConsulting.com

Founded by Kirk Gray, 10 Fold Consulting helps small business owners increase profitability by leveraging an asset they already have – their staff.

Kirk has helped dozens of small businesses in different market segments increase their new customer generation, sales and profitability by working with their staff to reduce lost telephone and web leads and improve marketing ROI.

MO: What inspired you to launch your own consulting firm? Have you always had an entrepreneurial spirit?

May21

“Entrepreneurs deal with the legal aspects of their businesses on a daily basis, even when they do not realize it.”

Ekaterina Mouratova

The Law Firm of Ekaterina Mouratova, PLLC

Founder

http://www.MouratovaLawFirm.com/

The Law Firm of Ekaterina Mouratova, PLLC, headquartered in New York City, USA, is a national and international law firm.

The Law Firm of Ekaterina Mouratova, PLLC offers efficient and expeditious services to individuals and business entities with a forward looking approach to ensure that long-term goals of the clients align with an ever-changing regulatory landscape. In order to find and implement the most beneficial procedures for its clients and to provide exceptional services, Ekaterina often utilizes the combination of knowledge, experience, creativity and innovation.

MO: Where does your passion for helping entrepreneurs come from?

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“I’m always raising the bar for myself. I’ll probably never view myself this way. But I think self-financing my business and keeping full control is a good measure of my success.”

I think I have beaten the odds because I didn’t go into it thinking, “Hey, I’m going to open up a restaurant.” I went into it thinking, “Here is an opportunity in the market. It involves feeding people. I’m going to take it. And I’m going to execute well.”

“We’re in the business of growing a person’s influence naturally and organically, not by cheating the system.”

“Rather than sell off-the-shelf software products or rigidly defined service offerings, Icreon Tech approaches technology solutions as a consultancy in order to formulate specified solutions for each client’s unique circumstances and environment.”

“I help small businesses improve the customer experience on first time calls, minimize lost opportunities and convert more first time callers into appointments and sales.”

“Entrepreneurs deal with the legal aspects of their businesses on a daily basis, even when they do not realize it.”

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