The Startup Junkies Podcast

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505

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Aug 2026

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The Startup Junkies podcast is hosted by Jeff Amerine and his team at Startup Junkie Consulting. We’ll cover topics ranging from getting started, planning, growing your business, proving your concept, leadership, marketing, exit strategies and so much more. We’ll interview business owners, entrepreneurs, experts and people we think will bring value to our audience. Subscribe and together we will move your business to the next level.

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August 25, 2026Episode 50132 min

How to Be a Great Startup Mentor with Permjot Valia & Ross Webb

In this episode of the Startup Junkies Podcast, host Caleb Talley sits down with Permjot Valia, founder of Mentor Camp, and Ross Webb, a longtime AI product manager and returning Mentor Camp mentor, to unpack the philosophy behind one of the most unusual mentorship models in the startup world. This is a masterclass for founders on how to actually get value out of mentorship, and for mentors on how to build relationships that last well beyond a single conversation. In this episode: ✅ The origin story of Mentor Camp ✅ How to build genuine trust and social capital as a mentor or founder ✅ The question that ruins a mentoring session ✅ Advice Permjot and Ross would give their younger selves ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:24 – Welcome & Meet the Guests 1:09 – Permjot Valia's Sales Background 2:24 – Ross Webb: From Cape Town to AI Product Management 3:06 – Building an AI Product That Hit $50M in Revenue 4:18 – The Origin Story of Mentor Camp 5:19 – Why the Mentor Is the Client, Not the Startup 6:35 – Creating a White-Glove Mentor Experience (and Why Top Mentors Keep Coming Back) 10:25 – Real Relationships vs. One-Way Mentoring 13:29 – Fixing Transactional Mentorship in the Fuel Accelerator 13:52 – Social Capital: Why Mentors Shouldn't Hand Over Contacts Right Away 15:55 – Ross Webb's Charity "Gating System" for Mentoring Requests 19:19 – Spotting an Uncoachable Mentee (and the #1 Advice for Every Mentee) 22:10 – Asking for Insights, Not Opinions, in a Mentoring Session 24:29 – Advice to Their Younger Selves & the Shoelace Story That Changed Lives — Connect with Permjot Valia & Ross Webb 🔗 https://mentorcampnwa.com/ 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/permjotvalia/ 🔗 https://www.linkedin.com/in/rosswebb/ — 🎧 Follow the Startup Junkies Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. 👍 If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and share it with a friend. The Startup Junkies Podcast is brought to you in part by RISE, helping Arkansas tech and tech-enabled startups grow with no-cost coaching, capital navigation, and expert connections. Learn more at RiseArkansas.org.

August 18, 2026Episode 50026 min

How Northwest Arkansas Funds Its Startups with Chris Ehrhardt

Most founders think you need a $250,000 VC check to get funded, but angel investors will write you a check for $5,000, actually get to know you, and stick around as a mentor long after the money lands. In this episode, Chris, the new director of 412 Angels, explains the real difference between angel investors and VCs, why founders should start building investor relationships long before they need the money, the most overrated (and underrated) traits he sees in early-stage founders, and what's next for 412 Angels — including plans to launch a fund and lead their own deals. In this episode: ✅ The real difference between angel investors and venture capital ✅ When founders should start reaching out to investors (hint: earlier than you think) ✅ Where to actually meet investors in Northwest Arkansas ✅ The most overrated trait in early-stage founders ✅ Chris's advice to his younger, first-time-founder self ⏱️ CHAPTERS 00:00 – Why 90% of a founder's job is networking 00:21 – Meet Chris Ehrhardt, back after 10 years 01:24 – From Germany to Arkansas: Chris's origin story 02:23 – Building a startup and moving to Canada on a startup visa 05:22 – What is 412 Angels? 06:28 – Why keeping funding local matters for founders 08:20 – Angel investors vs. venture capitalists 10:24 – When founders should start talking to investors 11:51 – Where to actually meet investors in NWA 14:21 – The most overrated trait in early-stage founders 15:36 – The most underrated trait: coachability 18:09 – How 412 Angels pays it forward 19:50 – What's next for 412 Angels 22:53 – Advice to his younger self 25:26 – Where to find Chris and 412 Angels — Connect with Chris & 412 Angels 🔗 https://412angels.com/ 🔗https://www.linkedin.com/in/chriserhardt/ — 🎧 Follow the Startup Junkies Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. 👍 If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and share it with a friend. The Startup Junkies Podcast is brought to you in part by RISE, helping Arkansas tech and tech-enabled startups grow with no-cost coaching, capital navigation, and expert connections. Learn more at RiseArkansas.org.

August 11, 2026Episode 49957 min

You're Not Thinking Big Enough with Congressman Steve Womack

He slept on the floor of a radio station he couldn't afford to staff, got told by the local coffee shop crowd he'd be out of business in six months, and ran that station for 45 years. Before he was a U.S. Congressman, Steve Womack was a Startup Junkie: a broadcaster's son who talked his way into a shoestring AM station in Rogers, Arkansas, and built it into an institution. In this episode, he sits down with Daniel Koontz, Jeff Amerine, and Caleb Talley to trace the throughline from that station to the Rogers mayor's office to Congress, and the entrepreneurial instincts that never really left him along the way. ⏱️CHAPTERS 0:27 – Welcome, Congressman Steve Womack 1:06 – His "Marvel Origin Story" 4:13 – Building a Radio Station From Scratch 8:37 – Proving the Skeptics Wrong 11:07 – Lessons From Football, the Army & "Make Your Bed" 17:18 – Underwriting "Errors of Enthusiasm" as a Leader 23:09 – The Vision Behind Rogers' West Side 25:04 – "You're Not Thinking Big Enough": The Pinnacle Promenade Story 27:16 – Northwest Arkansas' Growth Challenges 32:06 – The Walmart Origin Story (and What Comes After It) 38:21 – The Case for a Skilled Trades Campus 41:27 – Government, Debt & a Coming Social Security Reckoning 47:40 – Advice for Entrepreneurs and His Younger Self 54:17 – A Tribute to Lt. Jason Hunt --- 🎧 Follow the Startup Junkies Podcast on YouTube, Spotify, and Apple Podcasts. 👍 If you enjoyed this episode, like, subscribe, and share it with a friend. Learn more about Congressman Womack: womack.house.gov The Startup Junkies Podcast is brought to you in part by ARISE, helping Arkansas tech and tech-enabled startups grow with no-cost coaching, capital navigation, and expert connections. Learn more at ARiseArkansas.org

August 4, 2026Episode 49831 min

This Restaurant Won 5 Awards in Its First Year with Maria Smith

Most restaurants don't survive their first year. This one won five awards in it. Including back-to-back People's Choice titles and a top finish for Best Asian Business in the entire state of Arkansas. Maria Smith left a long corporate career (including years at Sam's Club) to open Lasang Pinoy with her brother, bringing Filipino cuisine, and Filipino karaoke culture, to Northwest Arkansas. In this episode, she breaks down the history behind the cuisine, the real financial and emotional challenges of opening a restaurant, why one specific karaoke song is banned from the building, and her dream of franchising the concept nationwide. ⏱️ Chapters 00:20 Welcome & Meet Maria Smith 01:46 Maria's Origin Story: From the Philippines to Arkansas 03:06 One Year In: Awards & Milestones 04:58 The Rich History Behind Filipino Cuisine 07:06 Why Northwest Arkansas Connects with Filipino Food 07:36 Karaoke Nights: Go Bananas & Go Coconuts 09:23 The Golden Mic Karaoke Championship 10:00 The One Song Banned From Filipino Karaoke 11:55 Running a Restaurant with Family 14:50 Building the Right Team 16:07 The Power of Small Details 18:11 Biggest Challenges: Cash Flow & Emotional Endurance 21:21 Giving Back to the Community 24:14 The Future: Franchising Filipino Food Nationwide --- Learn more about Lasang Pinoy: https://lasangpinoynwa.com/ 🎙️ New founder stories every week — subscribe so you don't miss one. 🔗 https://startupjunkie.org/

July 28, 2026Episode 49729 min

Why We Don't Let AI Predict Your Orders - with Foreko

Everyone's racing to bolt AI onto everything, but Foreko co-founders Homero Ruiz and Alexis Rodas found the biggest opportunity in something almost boring: 76% of procurement teams are still running on spreadsheets. In this episode, they break down why they deliberately avoided fully automating decisions with AI, how a food truck's stock-out problem turned into a company, and why they think the real Silicon Valley advantage is knowing which advice to ignore. ⏱️ CHAPTERS 0:59 – Welcome & Meet the Founders 1:32 – What Is Foreko? The AI Operating System for Procurement 2:11 – The Founders' Journeys: From Red Bull and Pepsi to Foreko 4:11 – Turning Experience Into Expertise 5:49 – Starting With Restaurants: Seeing the Problem First 6:52 – The Pivot to CPG and Why It Made Sense 8:29 – The Food Truck Story Behind It All 9:12 – Why They Said No to Full AI Automation 10:49 – Built at the University of Arkansas 13:59 – Growing Up in the Northwest Arkansas Startup Scene 16:05 – The Silicon Valley Reality Check 18:15 – From Idea to Paying Customers 19:58 – The AI Bubble, Patience, and the Tortoise-and-Hare Mindset 21:58 – The Five-Year Vision and Where to Find Foreko — Foreko’s Website: https://www.foreko.app/en Connect with Homero: https://www.linkedin.com/in/homero-ruiz/ Connect with Alexis: https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexisrodas/ 🎙️ New founder stories every week — subscribe so you don't miss one. 🔗 https://startupjunkie.org/

July 21, 2026Episode 49630 min

The Fundraising Mistakes That Kill Startups Before They Start with Jeff Amerine

Less than 1% of U.S. businesses that ever raise outside money end up raising venture capital, and most founders chasing it don't actually need it. In this entrepreneur interview, Jeff Amerine — a venture capital investor and longtime advisor in the startup ecosystem — breaks down the real landscape of startup funding: when to bootstrap, when to raise, and why most companies burn time chasing the wrong kind of capital. He and co-hosts Daniel Koonce and Grace Gill also dig into what VCs actually look for, the most common fundraising mistakes founders make, and the difference between convertible notes and SAFEs. Whether you're bootstrapping your first idea or getting ready to pitch investors, this conversation will change how you think about who to raise from and when. What you'll learn: The three main ways founders fund a business and how to know which one fits Why raising venture capital has only gotten harder, and what VCs are really evaluating The most common fundraising mistakes founders make (and how to avoid them) Convertible notes vs. SAFEs, explained in plain English What a strategic investor actually offers and when it's worth taking their money ⏱️Chapters 1:26 Welcome to the Startup Junkies Podcast 2:03 The Three Ways to Fund a Small Business 3:43 What Is Bootstrapping? 5:33 Does Venture Capital Only Fund Tech Companies? 6:46 The Truth: Less Than 1% of Businesses Raise VC 7:33 When Is a Founder Ready to Raise Money? 9:59 Why Raising Venture Capital Has Gotten Harder 11:15 Inside a VC Firm: From 1,000 Deals to 3 or 4 12:43 How to Actually Find Investors 14:19 Common Fundraising Mistakes Founders Make 16:43 Convertible Notes vs. SAFEs, Explained 21:27 Why Startups Actually Need Money 23:35 What Are Strategic Investors — And Are They Worth It? 27:16 The Deal Jeff Wishes He'd Invested In 🎙️ New founder stories every week — subscribe so you don't miss one. 🔗 startupjunkie.org

July 13, 2026Episode 49529 min

I Trust My Gut 70% of the Time - Here's Why with Dr. Joshua Upshaw

Insurance paperwork is delaying treatment for patients who don't have time to wait. One founder built a company to fix it. In this entrepreneur interview, Dr. Joshua Upshaw — founder and CEO of Hidalgo Technologies and a PhD in cognitive neuroscience — shares how a family health crisis pushed him from academic research into healthcare entrepreneurship, why he trusts his gut more than any spreadsheet, and how he built his team around mission alignment instead of resumes. Whether you're still validating your first idea or figuring out who belongs on your founding team, this conversation will change how you think about intuition, feedback, and timing. Chapters: 0:00 Cold Open: Trust Your Gut 0:22 Welcome to the Startup Junkies Podcast 1:02 What Is Hidalgo Technologies? Fixing Insurance Prior Authorization 1:54 From Neuroscience to Health Tech: Josh's Origin Story 2:59 The Family Story That Sparked Hidalgo Tech 5:35 Why Josh Calls Himself a Problem Solver, Not a Scientist 8:57 Validating the Problem Through Customer Discovery 11:36 Building the Team: Finding the Right Technical Lead 14:55 Why Mission Alignment Matters More Than Skill 16:10 Handling Feedback, Ego, and Doubt as a Founder 19:00 Following Your Gut: Sifting Signal From Noise 21:09 Who Hidalgo Tech's Ideal Customer Is 21:56 Funding the Company: NSF Grants & Raising Capital 25:32 The Next Five Years for Hidalgo Tech 26:23 Advice to His Younger Self About Joshua Upshaw: Founder and CEO of Hidalgo Technologies, reducing administrative overhead in insurance prior authorization so patients get treatment sooner. PhD in cognitive neuroscience and an alum of the University of Arkansas's New Venture Development program and Health Tech Arkansas. Connect with Joshua: https://www.linkedin.com/in/joshua-upshaw-ph-d/ Website: https://hidalgatech.com/ 🎙️ New founder stories every week — subscribe so you don't miss one. 🔗 https://startupjunkie.org/

July 7, 2026Episode 49421 min

This Founder Can Read Your Vitals From a Phone Call with Nyamitse-Calvin Mihanda

Most founders obsess over their product. The real skill is knowing which problem to fall in love with instead. In this entrepreneur interview, Nyamitse-Calvin Mihanda — founder of Vital Audio and a Techstars and Fuel Accelerator alum — shares how his company extracts heart rate, respiratory rate, and blood pressure from ordinary conversation, why he walked away from a "perfect" product mindset, and how his path from hospital billing collector to healthcare founder shaped the way he builds teams today. Whether you're building your first startup or trying to close the access-to-care gap in your own community, this conversation will change how you think about resilience, timing, and what it actually takes to launch. What you'll learn: How signal processing and machine learning pull vital signs straight from a voice recording Why clinical partnerships with NYU Langone and Mayo Clinic came before scale, not after The "fall in love with the problem, not the product" principle that keeps founders from chasing dead ends Why soft skills — not technical skills — are the hardest thing to teach a team How rural and underserved communities stand to benefit most from voice-based vital tracking ⏱️ Chapters: 0:53 Welcome to the Startup Junkies Podcast 1:16 How Vital Audio Reads Vitals From Your Voice 2:21 The Science Behind Extracting Vitals From Speech 3:09 Landing Clinical Partners: NYU Langone, Mayo Clinic & More 4:16 From Hospital Billing to Healthcare Entrepreneur 6:13 Techstars vs. The Fuel Accelerator: What's Different 8:55 An Immigrant's Resilience: Lessons From Tanzania to NYC 11:03 Why Soft Skills Matter More Than Technical Skills 12:25 The Best Advice: Fall In Love With The Problem 14:18 Overcoming Fear When You Start a Company 14:47 What Nyamitse-Calvin Mihanda Loves About the Arkansas Ecosystem 17:06 Closing the Rural Healthcare Access Gap 19:47 Where to Find Nyamitse-Calvin & Vital Audio 🎙️ New founder stories every week — subscribe so you don't miss one. 🔗 https://startupjunkie.org/

June 29, 2026Episode 49310 min

Why Bentonville's Startup Ecosystem Is More Powerful Than You Think | Zak Morris

What happens when a mentor gets more out of an accelerator than the founders do? Zak Morris joined the Fuel accelerator as a subject matter expert in AI — but quickly realized he was learning just as much as the companies he was advising. In this episode, Zak breaks down how working with startups across cybersecurity, AML, and healthcare sharpened his own thinking, why Bentonville's density of world-class talent is an underrated advantage, and how one early conversation with a founder led to a permanent board seat. Whether you're a founder, a seasoned professional sitting on the sidelines, or someone who's never thought of themselves as a mentor — this one's for you. 🎙️ Startup Junkies is a podcast celebrating the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Northwest Arkansas and beyond. Subscribe for more! --- 🔗 Connect with Zak Morris: https://www.linkedin.com/in/zakmorris/ 🔗 Connect with Startup Junkie https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-koonce-3a446a21b/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/caleb-talley-25189211b/ https://startupjunkie.org/ --- ⏱️ Chapters 00:00 Introduction – AI in Healthcare Documentation 00:18 What Brought Zak to the Fuel Accelerator 01:10 Learning the Language of Startups 01:55 The Two-Way Value of Mentorship 02:33 Standout Moment: The Cybersecurity Cohort 03:18 From Mentor to Board Member 04:28 Why Bentonville Is a Rare Ecosystem 05:20 Connecting Talent, Interns & Local Networks 06:31 The Flywheel Effect: Keeping Talent in Arkansas 07:40 A Call to Action for Potential Mentors 08:45 What Mentors Get Out of It 09:10 How to Get Involved with Fuel

June 15, 2026Episode 49239 min

How Stefanie Hammett Is Rewriting Consent Laws One State at a Time

What does affirmative consent law reform, university sex education, and AI-powered law enforcement tools have in common? They're all part of Stefanie Hammett's ambitious startup, HMS. HMS (Have More Safety · Have More Sex · Have More Space) is a consent education company with a bold 2036 goal: insert affirmative consent into all 50 state criminal codes. But getting there means building a real business — with a direct-to-consumer product line, a university B2B pilot program, and a law enforcement tech partnership with Clipper AI. Stefanie breaks down: The "drip effect" strategy for getting consent education into university campuses Why selling to law enforcement requires showing up 17 times before they trust you How she balances a world-changing mission with the mechanics of actually building a startup Her advice to founders: presence, biohacking, and trusting your own clarity And more! 🎙️ Startup Junkies is a podcast celebrating the entrepreneurial ecosystem of Northwest Arkansas and beyond. Subscribe for more! 🔗 CONNECT WITH STEFANIE HAMMETT & HMS: Website: https://www.havemore.space/ Book ( Consent Codes ): Available on Amazon https://www.instagram.com/havemore.sex/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/stefaniehammett/ 🔗 CONNECT WITH Startup Junkie https://www.linkedin.com/in/daniel-koonce-3a446a21b/ https://www.linkedin.com/in/caleb-talley-25189211b/ https://startupjunkie.org/ ⏱️Chapters 00:00 — Intro: Selling to Law Enforcement Is a Relationship Game 00:21 — Welcome & Introducing Stefanie Hammett of HMS 01:06 — Steph's Origin Story 02:45 — A Decade in Fortune 500: Kellogg's & Smithfield Foods 04:30 — Moving to Bentonville & the Amazon Startup World 05:10 — Exiting Charge Card to Carbon Six 06:08 — What Is HMS? 07:11 — The Mission: Affirmative Consent in All 50 State Criminal Codes by 2036 07:47 — Why NJ & Colorado's Consent Laws Actually Worked 10:33 — Go-To-Market Strategy: DTC, Universities & Law Enforcement 14:21 — Prevention Over Reaction 17:25 — Lessons from Corporate to Startup 19:32 — Selling to Universities: Long Cycles, Warm Intros & Meeting Users Where They Are 26:33 — The Law Enforcement Arm: Partnering with Clipper AI 33:29 — "Asking Is Hot": What People Misunderstand About HMS 35:32 — Presence, Biohacking & Trusting Your Clarity