Author - Kendel Rogers

September 16By Comments OffRead more...

10 Ways Sparkyard Can Help Your Business

Sparkyard, you have heard of it, but do you know the man behind it? Meet Marco Johnson, the “Entrepreneurial Cat Herder” and main Spark Plan builder at Sparkyard. What you may not know is Marco has vast experience in entrepreneurship and economics. I sat down with Marco and wanted to share our conversation so you can learn more about the Spark-Man himself. My first career was in international development where I lived in 8 countries over 15 years and worked in a variety of sectors, including humanitarian work with refugees, microfinance, private equity investment, agricultural development, and impact investing. While I lived overseas, I was a...

September 13By Comments OffRead more...

Startup Capital Series: Angel Investors vs. Venture Capital

All startup companies require capital of some kind. In the initial stages of a company, funding can be hard to find. Most founders get started by using personal funds, bootstrapping money from personal savings, loans and credit cards, or using revenue from the company's profit to reinvest back into the company (known as sales-led growth strategy). When businesses need to scale at a faster pace than these methods provide, they will often turn to outside investors to fuel the growth of their company.  It is important to note that less than 1% of all companies raise angel or venture capital. The companies that do are typically launching a hot new technology and they need a...

August 12By Comments OffRead more...

Dallas Startup Week – Here’s What Happened!

Dallas Startup Week, hosted by The DEC Network, is a vibrant conference focused on innovation and entrepreneurship in Dallas. Sessions include educational classes, workshops, networking opportunities, and much more. I was able to join The DEC Network on Monday to attend sessions in person at Cox Business School at SMU, as well as follow throughout the week – virtually! Overall, I love that Dallas Startup Week’s setup was designed to be accessible online or in person. This gave more opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn, connect, and find new opportunities. Disrupt Dallas This event was a full day dedicated to diversity and inclusion during Dallas Startup Week. Its reputation precedes itself as a pillar of what makes Dallas Startup Week great. I love that the event happens on Sunday, so people with full time jobs can attend...

July 1By Comments OffRead more...

Innovator Spotlight: Dr. Vanessa Bouche of Savhera

Let’s start with the basics...What are essential oils?   " Essential oils are the essence of a plant. You grow a plant, fruit, or vegetable, and you can extract various things from it. You can extract the water or oil from it. It is the very highly concentrated essences of some fruit or herbs or plant that you receive. " Savhera has had a fascinating history from its inception. What started as a question challenging Dr. Bouche became a personal mission to make a difference. “I am a professor of political science at TCU, and I have been doing research on the issue of human trafficking for over a decade. I was leading a study abroad trip in India on transnational human trafficking. We were sitting in the red-light district at a medical clinic one year when a woman that happened to be...

April 27By Comments OffRead more...

Making the Most of Your Clubhouse Experience

In our Clubhouse 101 post we shared some of the terminology used in Clubhouse, how to set up your profile and begin getting connected and how to join a room. If you are new to Clubhouse and you didn’t see our previous blog, please check that one out first. Now that you have listened in on a few rooms...let’s get you talking!    Getting started Let’s start with just being in a room. In the hallway, you can see rooms that are actively happening when you open the map. You can jump into any room instantly. Be sure to join a topic that interests you. You are in the audience (I suggest sitting in on a few rooms before you start moderating any rooms...

April 22By Comments OffRead more...

Clubhouse 101

So... what is Clubhouse?   If you have heard of it but are not sure exactly what it is, we are here to help. Through trial and error, we compiled the “need to know” tips for you. Essentially, Clubhouse is a free audio social media application where you can converse in rooms based on interests, while other people can tune into the room and listen. In a COVID world, the app that lets you hear another person’s voice and network with people you typically would not have the opportunity to. No wonder it took off in the Silicon Valley entrepreneurial communities, and eventually, piquing the interest of big-name celebrities, like Oprah, Elon Musk, and Chris Rock. But first, a warning. Currently, the app is still in beta stages,...

April 16By Comments OffRead more...

Social Entrepreneurs are Taking Over Fort Worth!

Social Enterprises are taking over Fort Worth. As more consumers decide to make conscientious purchases, entrepreneurs are creating companies with their values in mind. So what is social enterprise? Well, it is kind of hard to define. According to www.socialenterprise.us, a social enterprise is “Organizations that address a basic unmet need or solve a social or environmental problem through a market-driven approach.” Fort Worth has many  local social entrepreneurs who are building companies to solve our most pressing issues. Whether it is striving to reduce waste, providing meaningful employment, or leading a  wave of innovators and changemakers, read how local entrepreneurs...

March 18By Comments OffRead more...

Innovator Spotlight: Kevin Henry of Accountable

Meet Kevin Henry, the CEO and founder of Accountable, the “TurboTax” of  HIPAA compliance training, and possibly the only TechStars accelerator alum in Fort Worth. Innovate Fort Worth podcast interviewed Kevin Henry and here is what you need to know! But what is HIPAA, why is it important and how can you build a company around it? “Basically it's the law that governs protected health information. Anyone dealing in the healthcare space that might be touching protected health information has to comply with what is known as HIPAA. HIPAA stands for health insurance portability and accountability act and it's really made up...

September 24By Comments OffRead more...

Innovator Spotlight: Hunter Ferrell of Linux Academy

Hunter Ferrell is the former CFO of Linux Academy (now known as A Cloud Guru), an online platform for training and educating the future of cloud creators. “Clouds” are referred to as a web-based data center that an individual or a business can access, without dealing with physical servers, or work on software on their devices. Think of it as a digital filing cabinet....in the “clouds.” The skills required for working with cloud applications were in high demand for businesses before the pandemic hit and now as more people begin to work remotely, more companies require a virtual space to “store”...