Venture Capital, Entrepreneurship, and Success Stories in Wyoming with Gener8tor

00:00:07
             

Welcome to winds of change. I’m your host, Emy DiGrappa. Winds of change is brought to you by Wyoming Humanities Council. Wyoming Humanities Council is committed to sharing the stories of the people, places and history of Wyoming. In this special series, we are talking to Wyoming entrepreneurs and innovators and the people and companies that support them.         

 

00:00:28
             

I’d like to introduce you to Baylie Evans, managing director, and Stephanie Reese, program manager at generator. And gener8toris a nationally ranked venture capital firm and accelerator that unites startup founders, investors, corporations, job seekers, universities, musicians and artists, and. Wow. I especially love the musicians and artists part, but, okay, that’s another story. This is how innovation drives success and survival in Wyoming, and it’s the people who get behind these startup companies and help them become a success.         

00:01:09
             

So I just want to welcome you, Bailey and Stephanie. Thanks, Emmy. Thanks for having us. Thank you. Absolutely.         

00:01:16
             

So I’ll just start with Bailey. Where did you grow up? How did you start down this road and how did this become, you know, something you love and have a passion for? Yeah. Thank you for asking.         

00:01:27
             

If you’d asked me maybe 1015 years ago where I saw myself, it wouldn’t have been here. But I am really, really happy and proud to be here and proud that my path, my journey, has me where I am now. So it’s been a bit of a winding journey, I guess you could say. I grew up in the Denver area. I went to Colorado State.         

00:01:45
             

Don’t be too mad at me. I was young and stupid. I should have gone to UW. Okay, okay.         

00:01:50
             

I have to interrupt right there, because I grew up in Fort Collins, Colorado, and I. Wyoming to death. I get it. I get it. But you can’t apologize.         

00:01:59
             

I never. Okay, fair enough. I can honestly say I’ve never been to a CSU or a UW football game, so I don’t have much allegiance to either team. But I did spend some time at Colorado State. That’s where I got my journalism degree.         

00:02:11
             

So I actually went to school, thought I would be a reporter. A journalist. I ended up getting a job as a reporter for the Wyoming Humanities Council Eagle just across the border in Cheyenne and commuted from Fort Collins for about a year before I realized, first of all, that commute’s no fun. And second of all, Cheyenne’s great. Like, I wanted to move here and started, you know, started to put down roots in Cheyenne.         

00:02:33
             

So did that, moved here. Let’s see. I guess that was about 2008, 2009, somewhere in there, and I’ve been here ever since. So I started out, like I said, as a reporter. At the Tribune Eagle, I wrote articles there.         

00:02:49
             

I was called, we called it the puppies and pageants beat. So it was like assignment, but I got to write about a lot of new businesses opening, which was really fun. And I always just found a lot of, I guess, connection to what a new business can do for our state here. So wrote about those for a while, ended up realizing that I really wanted to get a little deeper into the Wyoming world and the Cheyenne world. As a reporter, you definitely get ingrained in the community, but it’s very surface level.         

00:03:19
             

It’s kind of like whatever people want to tell you or whatever you can dig into a little bit and get deeper into. And I wanted to be part of the people who were making the stories, you know? So I. I actually kind of jumped ship out of journalism and went into non profits. I worked for a couple of nonprofits, the boys and girls Club being kind of the main where I spent most of my time in that phase, in that era at the boys and girls club, doing marketing and.         

00:03:46
             

And fundraising, doing a lot of their development efforts. So did that for a little while and ended up realizing that I missed some writing. I missed storytelling, got back into copywriting and telling stories. I wrote copy for the Sierra trading post website for a while and described products. And that was fun.         

00:04:07
             

Surprisingly creative, actually. I got to get pretty creative with it until I didn’t, until it was acquired, Sierra was acquired, and it became a little bit more of just, you know, bullet point stats about different products. And so I missed the creativity of that. So I ended up working at Wyoming Humanities Council for a little bit, doing some storytelling for them, press releases, articles, things like that. I told you this was a winding path.         

00:04:33
             

I’m getting to the end of it here. The business council is what led me to this job at generator, and I’ve been here now for about four years and loving it, realizing that this is really where my path has been leading me all this time, I feel like. And this is kind of where I have discovered the most ability to affect positive change for our state as that generator, and being able to help new businesses, help entrepreneurs find their own journeys and discover what some venture capital funding can do for them and help them take advantage of that and, you know, helping Wyoming diversify its economy, things like that. So that was a long answer, but that’s the story. No, that’s exactly what we want to hear.         

00:05:17
             

And it’s so interesting how you started out in journalism and writing about startups and how that, that becomes its own passion. Yeah. And I think, you know, you start learning about, and I guess that’s why I love podcasting so much, because I love people’s stories. And the more you learn about someone’s story, you’re kind of like, wow, you know, I really want to learn more. I want to know more.         

 

00:05:44
             

I want to support that. And I think that’s why I love people who get behind entrepreneurs to help them succeed. That is so important. I love storytelling, too, and. Yeah.         

 

00:05:57
             

Happy to be here. Your turn. Step or go back? Your turn, Stephanie. Yeah.         

 

00:06:01
             

Well, I’m actually proud to say I am a Wyoming cowgirl, so I support uw full, but I, again, won’t hold it against you guys because I’m, you know, you’re lovely people. But no, I was born and raised here in Cheyenne, so I’m a Wyoming native and then spent a lot of time in Laramie. Got my, my bachelor’s and my master’s of science degrees at the University of Wyoming, but it was similar to Bailey’s. I’ve lived what feels like four lives at this point for my professional career, and I actually started in higher education, and education as a whole with kinesiology and health. Yeah, went straight to my master’s.         

 

00:06:40
             

Thought that was, that was it, about eight years. Did higher education for a lot of those years, did k twelve. So I really tried to get every level of education just to kind of see where I fit best. And without going into a whole can of worms there with education and teachers and sort of the issues that they face and lack of support, I could go on for a while, but got a little burnt out, wanted something different there. I’ve been in customer service.         

 

00:07:11
             

Gosh, I’ve been working since I was 14. 1st job was Burger King. And I’ve worked in a variety of, you know, I worked at the country club here, served in a lot of different places. I’ve worked at the Wyoming State bar. I’ve worked at, you know, anything and everything.         

 

00:07:27
             

Bartended through college, so I had a lot of that background in working with people and so socially and sort of understanding what. How people behave and what they want and what they want out of you in terms of a service. And so I feel like I have a solid grasp on that. And so I felt like teaching was maybe not the direction for me and wanted to. I’ve always felt like an entrepreneur at heart, but I didn’t have a lot of business background, which, ironically, I think a lot of entrepreneurs in the state don’t necessarily have that background.         

 

00:08:01
             

And so they feel like maybe I have to get an MBA or something. You know, it is, entrepreneurship is for creatives at the same time. So I would say I kind of went out on a limb and quit my job and applied and got the general manager position at Black Tooth company here in Cheyenne. And I opened up our Cheyenne location and then subsequently our Casper location. Had an amazing boss who told me, don’t go to business school, you’ll learn a lot just on the job.         

 

00:08:28
             

And so was able to work there for four years and learned everything I possibly could. Ended up being director of taproom operations for all three of our locations and really got a good sense of business management, operations, logistics, inventory management, I mean, responsible for everything at that point. But I felt maybe that was a blessing and a curse. And it’s a really tough thing to be in charge of everything, and especially staff that works part time and may not love it 100% like you love it. So it got a little war on me a little bit.         

 

00:09:04
             

And so I’m still in this exploratory journey professionally and see kind of where I fit and what I want my purpose to be, and so wanted to switch, and that’s what brought me to generator. I was able to apply and was interviewed by Bailey, and luckily she had my position prior to her promotion. And so I felt like working with people individually made more of an impact for me. I could serve people beer, great, I can teach kids, but I’m not sure it was making that much of an impact. So this position allows me to not only organize things and be good at the program management aspect, um, which is just fits my personality in general, but to meet new people and meet people all around Wyoming and offer such amazing services for free for them.         

 

00:09:55
             

Oftentimes maybe they think it’s maybe too good to be true or there’s a catch or something, but. But I think that’s the best part, is they’re getting really quality time with us. And so being able to, to work with them individually and like Bailey said, just maybe help them in some sort of way or provide my experience or expertise in some way, shape or form, I think it’s really cool. So that’s where I’m at now. And my husband and I are both entrepreneurs, so we’re all busy, but I think it’s great.         

 

00:10:27
             

So here I am. Excellent. Oh, my gosh, you both have so much great lived experience. Actually, that’s the thing I always think about, especially when you’re an entrepreneur. And I have two daughters who are entrepreneurs.         

00:10:44
             

And a lot of times it’s not your education, it’s your lived experience. And it is your passion about what you’re doing. It’s much deeper than getting a degree. Nothing against college education. I think that’s important.         

 

00:11:00
             

But when you’re an entrepreneur, you got to go deeper and farther and in a way that the obstacles you might face aren’t the ones you’re going to ever learn in college. It’s like what you were saying about running a brewery, you know, or even just like you have this passion, but maybe not everyone around you has that same passion. And like you said, it just wore you out because you’re trying to be all things all the time. Yeah, I mean, there’s a reason why those positions are. There’s a lot of turnover, especially in the food, food and beverage industry, in the service industry.         

 

00:11:36
             

So four years was an eternity. But the amount of stuff I learned is incredible. So I got to give my, my bosses props for that, for sure. That’s right. Tell me more deeply about generator.         

00:11:48
             

Like, how did you learn about it? How does it help people? What it does? What, what does gener8tordo? That is really significant?         

00:11:57
             

I’ll give that one to Bailey. Okay. Maybe I’ll start with the kind of overall generator, look at things, and then Stephanie can go into more detail about g beta, Wyoming, since that’s what she focuses on. So gener8toris a. As you alluded to in the beginning, it is a national venture capital and accelerator company.         

 

00:12:13
             

So we operate in something like 40 communities around the country. And if you go on our website and look at the map, it’s all middle America, right? We don’t really work in Silicon Valley, California. We don’t work in Boston, in New York, where venture capital tends to be very concentrated. That’s where most venture capital activity happens, is on the coasts.         

 

00:12:33
             

We operate in places like Wyoming and Illinois and Nebraska and Alaska and Oklahoma. So these communities, these states that are often underfunded, underestimated. But there’s a lot of talent here and a lot of innovation and a lot of great minds. So gener8torhas found our niche in serving those communities, those founders, those companies that, you know, don’t. Don’t live in Silicon Valley or aren’t located there.         

00:13:01
             

So the original gener8torprogram is an investment accelerator. So it’s a similar model to other investment accelerators where, you know, like I said, the original one. Stephanie will clarify. G Beta is separate, but the original program, gener8torprogram, was and is a twelve week accelerator program. We take founders in early stages of building a company, and the original program was to invest money into those companies and then run them through this like twelve week boot camp style course where they kind of learn about the math of venture capital, they learn about what it means to sell equity.         

 

00:13:36
             

Do you actually want to sell equity? Are you on an exit path for your company? Because if you want to hold on to it forever, that’s a different journey. Equally valuable, but different. And we want to help founders understand the differences between those and you know, what milestones and metrics they need to be looking to make along that journey in order to impress investors and then get investors to invest in their company and then grow it big and then exit.         

 

00:13:59
             

And that’s when everybody kind of gets their investments, their returns on those investments. So that was the original program. Started running that in 2010, right? I think 2010 was the original programming. And in doing that work, the original gener8torleaders realized that there was a need for an even earlier stage program.         

 

00:14:19
             

So for companies that aren’t really ready to take investment into their company from generator, they created the G Beta program, which is a free program, meaning founders don’t pay anything to participate and they don’t sell any equity to participate in the G beta program. And I think that’s the spot where I’ll let Stephanie take over and tell you about G beta Wyoming and its history, if you’d like. Yeah. Yeah. First, I mean, first, I’ll address just being attracted to gener8toras a company.         

 

00:14:44
             

They do focus on those niche areas, like you mentioned, Emmy. Like they focus on artists and musicians. They have one accelerator for that. We have upskilling. The product line is so diverse.         

 

00:14:55
             

And at least from what I’ve saw, what I’ve seen over the last almost year, their commitment to diversity and helping these underserved founders is incredible. I don’t see a lot of other accelerator programs or venture capital firms doing those things. So it’s commendable for sure. So I love that aspect. But I think in terms of our focus here in Wyoming, it is.         

00:15:16
             

These very early stage programs are so important, at least from what we’ve seen. We just implemented an even earlier stage, or G Alpha program that really helps entrepreneurs at the idea stage. And so it’s a free, statewide virtual program, which makes things even more accessible for these folks, especially in the smaller towns. But it’s a workshop, so we can ideate, we can talk about your idea, your concept. What does it look like?         

 

00:15:41
             

Do you have a minimum viable product? Who’s your market? Who’s your competition? We go into the very early stages of what do they need to know? Is it something innovative and marketable.         

 

00:15:52
             

And then what Bailey mentioned a little bit ago, what is venture capital in general and what’s, what does that strategy look like? And is that strategy something you’d be willing to pursue? And so that education piece I think is really important because we’re seeing some folks who are a little scared or hesitant to go that direction or don’t know a lot about it or it’s super intimidating, especially for females who maybe you don’t see very often in that, especially in Wyoming. So we kind of help them through that. And so that’s g alpha free.         

 

00:16:24
             

And then the next sub then is g beta, also free statewide and virtual. Thank you to our awesome program sponsor Microsoft. They allow us to offer these programs for free. And g beta is a little bit more early stage companies. They can be pre revenue, post revenue in this spot where they’re ready to grow, they’re open to scalability, they have venture backable characteristics.         

00:16:47
             

Maybe it’s tech, maybe it’s a patent, maybe it’s something that we know can grow and scale quickly, which investors are looking for. So we’ve worked with all walks of life in terms of ideas. It’s industry agnostic. But throughout the seven weeks they have coaching sessions with me, they meet 30 plus mentors, they meet 25 or more investors. And so we facilitate those meetings to really expand their network and then give them a celebration showcase at the end of the program.         

 

00:17:18
             

But it seems to really help them understand what it takes to really focus on growth because it’s a kick in the butt for some people, I would say, in terms of what they need to do to get their idea out there, get their product, be able to sell, be able to sell reliably and then, you know, from there. So, so I do think sometimes it takes a little push and Bailey and I are the ones to do that. Oh my God, you get to kick them in the butt. Well, it’s a virtual kick. I loved that.         

 

00:17:52
             

That was so good. We like to light the fire, right? We have a little fuel and. Yeah, light the fire because we coach 20% month over month growth is kind of the gold star standard for invested investors to be looking for. And when you break that down, 20% month over month growth is a lot of growth.         

 

00:18:10
             

That is fast growth. And so we help them understand, okay, if you wanted to grow 20% month over month, what does that mean this week? How many sales do you need to make this week? And then what’s 20% more than that next week and 20% more than that and then month over month, and you see, that’s where you start to see that hockey stick curve of growth. And we just.         

 

00:18:29
             

We help them understand that. We help them understand, like I said, the math of venture capital. What does it mean to sell 10% equity? When you’re selling, you know, 10% of a small pie, and then ten years later, it’s a much bigger pie, you still have a payday. At the end of the day, that’s the goal.         

00:18:44
             

So if it’s okay, maybe now’s the time to talk a little bit about the success of the program so far. Or are you going to get to that later, Emmy? No, that would be. I really want to know some stories and examples of how you’ve witnessed and helped people succeed. Yeah, sure.         

 

00:19:03
             

So the G-beta Wyoming program was launched in 2020. That’s when I was hired. And so we’ve worked for four years. We have. Is it 35 alumni now?         

00:19:14
             

Staff through the G Beta program? Those 35 alumni have gone on to raise $16.5 million on their own. And we’re really proud of that. That’s 16 million more than maybe the state has had before. So we’re actually at 18 million now.         

 

00:19:30
             

You’re right, you’re right, you’re right. It’s 18 million. We had an update just recently, so. Yeah, I’m sorry to interrupt you, but just in case, because I forgot to say this about G Beta, we only take five companies in our cohort. That’s why it’s only 35 over the last four years.         

00:19:44
             

So, you know, the amount of applications we get. So I would say g beta definitely is competitive, but we only take five because our bandwidth to help them individually, you know, only goes so far. So we want to give them, like, a white glove concierge service style accelerator. Oh, my gosh. That makes it super special.         

00:20:03
             

Yeah, yeah. Thank you for clarifying. Yeah. Okay, now I get. Yeah.         

 

00:20:08
             

So there’s an application process. We choose five. We choose five of the applicants for each cohort. We run two cohorts each year. Yeah.         

 

00:20:15
             

So we choose five based on, you know, our. Our opinion that they could be scalable, that they could be venture backable or investable. Sometimes the founders honestly don’t even see that yet. And we have to sort of help them understand. Like, this is where we could see you going, of course.         

 

00:20:31
             

This is your company. We aren’t forcing anything. This is a free program. It is still completely their choice. But we can help illuminate that path, a little of venture capital, and help them understand what it could do.         

 

00:20:42
             

For them if that’s what they decide they want to do. So, yeah, back to what I was saying. And thank you for clarifying that, Stephanie, because that helps. Yeah. So our 35 alumni have raised 18, over 18 million.         

 

00:20:53
             

And they’ve created, it’s about 100 jobs. I believe across all of those companies have created a bunch of jobs too. So we’re really proud of that. And let’s see, I will share a couple of stories of some of my alumni that I worked with, if that’s okay. And then, Stephanie, maybe you’d like to share some of yours.         

 

00:21:11
             

There’s a few that I would like to highlight. It’s like picking a favorite child.         

 

00:21:18
             

They’ve all done amazing things. I’m really proud of all of them. They are all special. Yeah, they’re all. And not every company that comes through our g beta program decides to go on and raise money.         

00:21:27
             

And that’s okay, too. Our goal is that at least a third of them will make the step into venture and maybe raise a seed round or pre seed round. So I’ll just highlight one that I’ve kept in really close touch with over the last several years. And that’s called campground views. Campgroundviews.com.         

 

00:21:43
             

the founder’s name is Mark and he was a full time RVer with her, with his family for many years and decided to put down some roots in Wyoming. So they live in the Sundance area. And he had, you know, he had built this company that helps. I’m not good at pitching this company anymore, but it’s like virtual tours. Think of it kind of like Google Maps, but for campgrounds specifically.         

 

00:22:11
             

But there’s a lot more to it than that. So I don’t want to under undersell this. It’s a. It’s a very unique video and mappable and, you know, visual way to determine whether your giant rv rig is going to fit in this spot. You know, what your view might be from that spot.         

 

00:22:29
             

You know, are you next to the tent sites? Are you next to other rvs? Things like that. So helps RVers or campers find the perfect campsite and then book that campsite. And so he put down some roots in Wyoming, but didn’t necessarily have the network here to help him raise money and help him figure out how to grow this company.         

 

00:22:47
             

So he did the G beta program a couple of years ago and has since gone on to raise, I think, about $600,000 through different investors, both here in Wyoming as well as elsewhere. So they’re off and running and doing really well. And hoping to raise, I believe, or continue to scale and grow from an rv and Sundance, where I think they actually have a house now, but he spends a lot of time RVng with his family still. So yeah, I’ll pause there. Let Stephanie go.         

 

00:23:14
             

She’s got some recent alumni too. Yeah. Yeah. I mean, and Bailey’s obviously done a lot more cohorts. I just finished my first one this summer, so I’m a little bit more familiar with the ones who just went through the program.         

 

00:23:26
             

And so it’s interesting. We’ve hit, we represented 20 cities at this point through our G beta program and so we definitely want to keep the spread across Wyoming because there’s a, like Bailey said, there’s so many cool ideas out there and we want to feature these folks and make it accessible. So I’ll give a couple examples. My most recent cohort, we had a founder who participated and their ranchers in Oshoto, Wyoming, which doesn’t have a post office or a bar or anything, but they’re just out kind of in the middle of nowhere. But they’re closest to Sundance or Gillette.         

 

00:24:04
             

So that upper and east area. So they were pre revenue still very early stage, but they have a physical product and so it mitigates ice in the winter for stock tanks for their livestock. So they’ve gotten a lot of press. So I’m hoping I can present them still. But they created and invented this device, patent pending, that does help the water by creating ripples so it doesn’t freeze it also in the summer, helps sort of minimize the amount of mosquito breeding and algae and stuff that forms and just stagnant hot water.         

 

00:24:46
             

And so this is amazing for that community in terms of ag tech because they can use it year round. It’s a good investment. But they’re still on the prototype stage. So they really wanted help understanding how can we grow this. And so we focused a lot of our attention on growing their waitlist.         

 

00:25:04
             

And so small towns word of mouth travels quickly. And so they were, ended up, were able to build their waitlist and build their social media presence in a very short amount of time. Our one press release got them two or three subsequent articles, one in I think AG magazine or I’ve had don’t quote me on this, but I think they got national attention after that. And so the fact that they were willing and able being ranchers, which I think is a really perfect story about Wyoming folks because they’re still willing to be an entrepreneur. They’re entrepreneurs already owning livestock and doing the whole ranching thing, which we know is a lot of hard work, but willing to commit the time every week for this program and then also pursuing this outside of that, it’s just a really cool story.         

 

00:25:55
             

And so they were awesome to work with. And then I had two other companies in Casper. They went on to participate in the Casper Startup challenge, which is another opportunity for entrepreneurs to win some seed money, prize money, I suppose. And so it was a cool group to work with, and they were all young freshmen in college, all the way to working professionals in their fifties. So it’s truly for anyone and just how hard they want to work and how much they want to pursue it.         

 

00:26:26
             

And you really get to know these people, you know, 5 hours a week working with them one on one. It’s really cool to see. I love that you said that ranchers are entrepreneurs. I’ve never thought about it like that, but isn’t that the truth? Like, they work for themselves.         

 

00:26:40
             

They make their own living. They have to make it work. And as an entrepreneur, that that’s what it’s always about. It’s about your grit. Right.         

 

00:26:48
             

You know, sticking with it, finding that the opportunities really. Yeah. I’m glad you said that, because I think a lot of times, especially maybe in Wyoming, there are people out there with amazing ideas that don’t consider themselves entrepreneurs or, you know, people who want to grow a business, and they. They don’t maybe understand what entrepreneur is or they just don’t identify with that particular word. So when we’re, you know, recruiting and reaching out for this program, we often don’t use the word entrepreneur.         

 

00:27:15
             

You know, we’ll use somebody with a cool idea. Or, like, if you have a business that you’d like to grow, let’s talk. And that happens a lot in places, I think, in generators, smaller, underestimated markets where people don’t necessarily set out to be a venture backed entrepreneur. They set out to do a cool thing and make a cool product. So it’s always fun to tell people you’re an entrepreneur, and sometimes they go, oh, I guess I am.         

 

00:27:40
             

It’s kind of cool to see that. The light bulb went on. They’re like, oh, yeah, I guess I’m doing it. I’m doing it. Yeah, I just don’t have the definition.         

 

00:27:49
             

It’s kind of like, I was watching this one. It was like a YouTube on a mom, and a mom is an engineer, and she went through, like, all the ways that she’s an engineer. It’s like, yeah, I get that. That’s totally cool. Yeah, absolutely.         

 

00:28:06
             

Well, and there’s so many resources for entrepreneurs and small businesses in Wyoming that are free. But I think what I’ve seen it just talking to people, they don’t necessarily know where to start or maybe which direction they want to go. And so I think Wyoming is still, still working on and maybe making these things accessible and show them the exact directions of where to go. And so luckily, Bailey and I really fill that gap in terms of our programming and this sort of investor strategy, really, that’s our niche. I’m curious, and I know people will really be curious about this, is that you’re entering into this cohort and you’re learning a lot.         

00:28:49
             

Okay. And you’re developing and kind of homing in your product and how to develop it or just refining your idea. Right. Your creative idea, is it mostly products? How do you describe that to people?         

 

00:29:04
             

Like one’s an online thing? Yeah, it’s a common question. Sorry if I cut you off, Stephanie. But yeah. So we call that SaaS software as a service is usually like a software.         

 

00:29:15
             

Like the campground views program is a software mostly. And those are sort of like the, the common investable type of companies. And that’s because you build a cool thing. You need one or two people to, like, build the cool thing, and then you can just sell it anywhere and everywhere. And it scales.         

 

00:29:33
             

That has tended to be kind of like where venture tends to gravitate because. Because it can scale so quickly and inexpensively. However, there are lots of product based, like CPG is often used. Consumer product goods. Packaged goods.         

 

00:29:50
             

Yeah, packaged goods. We’ve had quite a few come through our g beta program that have done really well. Manufactured type company, manufacturing type products can do really well also. And in fact, there is some indication that the product will be where venture kind of will be focusing over the next, I don’t know, say, decade. SaaS or software companies are great, but I don’t know if you kind of dig in and you start thinking about what might be next, patentable products, things like that, I think could be the next kind of thing that venture is paying attention to.         

 

00:30:25
             

So like I said before, we’re industry agnostic. So anyone, any sort of industry. So, for example, my last cohort, we had one service that was more in the sustainability industry. We had a SaaS company that was AI integration, which again, is going to be huge. Obviously, that’s blowing up now.         

 

00:30:44
             

But we had three other companies who had a physical hardware, physical product where they all had patents on it, or it was patent pending. It was invention of some sort, they could, they have the proprietary processes or, you know, trade secrets, whatever includes to make it something that gives them the upper hand. And so, you know, one was a mouthwash that was geared towards kids under six that could be swallowed but still effective for reducing bacteria and cavities. Another one was the Agtech product. Right.         

 

00:31:18
             

And then the third one was an actual little specific device to dentists. So really focus on dentists. So they could be either very specific or it could be a little bit more general in terms of SAS where anybody necessarily could use it. And yeah, Bailey’s same way. She’s had companies from this point to this point where it’s sort of anything and everything.         

 

00:31:42
             

So how do people find out about you? How do people, you have an idea, you’ve created something. I mean, I think there are a lot of people out there who might be doing something or solving a problem. Like the one you said about the ranch. What do they call it?         

 

00:31:59
             

Generator? Water rippler. And it’s water rippler agricultural innovations is the company. Okay, so, you know, I can see how people who live and work all the time create solutions for different problems, but how do they find out about you? How do they find out, like, like, this is something good and I should go talk to somebody.         

 

00:32:21
             

Great question. I’ll take it, Bailey. And you can add on. So we heavily recruit and our strategy is really, really build a positive rapport and these stronger relationships with our community players or our ecosystem players. And so I’ve reached out to all the chamber of commerce.         

 

00:32:42
             

We’re close with the SBDC here in Wyoming. We’re close with folks at university. I can make presentations to the entrepreneurship classes, business classes, the college there has been really helpful in spreading the word. We have a close relationship with the WBC. We work closely with Wyoming center.         

 

00:33:02
             

So I think strategy wise is to really make sure we have the whole state covered in terms of our relationship and knowing what they do, but also them knowing what we do and sort of having this great collaboration that when they come across these folks maybe send them to us and we kind of do that vice versa. But I would say recruitment has been a huge part of that. But also we work closely with Rachel at the Laramie County Library. She runs the library to business and sometimes she’ll work with people and be like, hey, so I think a lot of it maybe is just situation based and they promote us. Other times it’s us holding events or speaking opportunities or podcasts like this or press releases or anything and everything we could do we do it for the whole state.         

 

00:33:54
             

It’s a grind, you know? Yeah. Yeah. I was just gonna say we come on podcasts. Like the Wyoming Humanities Council podcast.         

 

00:34:00
             

No, but I would say one of the bigger challenges that we face in places like Indiana and Wyoming and Alaska and Nebraska is finding people. You know, if we were in Silicon Valley, we’d put up a poster and we’d have a 100. 100 applicants, probably. In Wyoming, we really have to kind of shake the bushes and shake a lot of hands and go to events and, you know, try to get folks that have had this idea lingering in the back of their head for a long time to, like, maybe take the next step. And it’s a really, it’s a challenge, but I think it’s one of the best things of our job is to sit down with folks and meet them.         

 

00:34:32
             

And a lot of times it’s like, where you been? You’ve been doing this cool thing for a long time and like, let’s. Let’s learn more about it. And that’s. That’s really fun.         

 

00:34:41
             

It just always amazes me. I’ll go sit and do coffee or office hours somewhere and get to talk to people about their cool ideas, and it’s really fun, but it can be a challenge. Like I said, people don’t necessarily hold their hands up and say, I’m an entrepreneur and I want investable. Zoom made my hand go up. That was funny.         

 

00:35:00
             

They don’t necessarily show up for a venture capital seminar because they don’t necessarily understand it or they do. They feel intimidated by it. So we’re trying to just sort of like, break down those walls and pop the bubbles and try to help people understand that this is something that they can take advantage of. And if you know enough about it, it won’t take advantage of you. If you understand what venture capital means, it’s just an opportunity.         

 

00:35:22
             

It’s. Nobody’s forcing you down that journey, but if you want to try it, we’re here to help. That is so great. And you’ve just shared just a wealth of information. And I want to tell people, what is your website?         

 

00:35:35
             

Because I want to put it, I want people to know it so they can google it right away and go there. But I’m also going to put it in your description as, as well as any other resources you want to share with Wyoming. I’ll put it in your description that goes along with the podcast. But tell me your website, the best. Way to find us, honestly, because gener8torhas that annoying little eight in the middle of it, is to just Google g beta Wyoming.         

 

00:35:59
             

So G-b e t a Wyoming. And you’ll find us. It’s a gener8tor program. That’s the best way. And then did you want to say anything else, Stephanie, the other resources?         

 

00:36:09
             

Yeah. Yeah. You google us. I mean, you’ll, you’ll see all my LinkedIn posts. I try to, you know, promote it as much as possible there.         

 

00:36:16
             

So there’s several ways it’ll, you know, you’ll see my email or if you want to meet with me and learn more about the programs or, you know, Bailey as well. But yeah, our website could is if you go straight to the website, you go free accelerators that you kind of have a lot more steps to do. But yeah, explore the website if you’d like generator.com. but easiest thing, just google our Wyoming program. Okay, great.         

 

00:36:41
             

Well, thank you both so much. Thank you for taking the time with me today. Thanks so much for having us and for doing this series. This is really cool. Yeah, this is great.         

 

00:36:56
             

Thank you for listening. I’m executive producer Emy DiGrappa. Winds of Change is brought to you by Wyoming Humanities Council, our co hosts and all the people who generously share their stories and their time. For more information, go to thinkwy.org subscribe and never miss a show.