Huntsville Founders

05/10/2016

Clayton Hinchman, from the early Huntsville Founders interviews, talks about taking the next step after losing his leg.

May 10 is an extremely emotional day for me. It is a day of great celebration in my life. Eight years ago today I stepped on a 122mm mortar round which was part of a pressure-wire IED (improvised

04/05/2016

Here are some quick tips about entrepreneurship and about tech opportunities in Huntsville from General Digital Industries founder and former BizTech CEO, Dick Reeves:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=juo63qYH0T4

Dick Reeves shares some tips for success from his long and successful career.

03/07/2016

This week's founder story comes from Dick Reeves, former BizTech CEO and founder of General Digital Industries.

Dick tells his story of growing GDI through the late 70s and early 80s to a pinnacle of 55 employees. In the following years, he went on to mentor and grow startup companies, both independently and through BizTech. Dick has spent the past 10 years leading the Huntsville Angel Network to invest in local business opportunities. These days he is working on a new project to help launch and grow commercial tech startups in Huntsville.

Dick remains a well-known figurehead in the Huntsville entrepreneur community. We're grateful for his leadership over the years. Please help us celebrate Dick by sharing his video far and wide:

https://youtu.be/VXy-uu20tzA

Dick talks about co-founding General Digital Industries in Huntsville in 1978 and landing Fed-Ex as a first client. At the height of GDI's growth, it had 55 ...

02/08/2016

This week's founder story comes from Tia Wheeler, founder of Rocket City Launch: http://www.rocketcitylaunch.org

Tia tells of her passion for making Huntsville the southeast's hub for advanced manufacturing. After getting her business degree, Tia worked in a variety of roles, including an international security company where she rose from the role of an analyst to a VP. Following this, she founded Rocket City Launch, where she is now Executive Director.

Tia talks of building Rocket City Launch as a non-profit, applying for and winning an SBA grant from the government, and mentions Huntsville's ample resources for entrepreneurs to develop their soft skills. We hope you enjoy this interview and appreciate the work that Tia and team have put in for the advanced manufacturing community in the southeast!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vYsa9z34388

Tia's company, Rocket Hatch: http://www.rockethatch.org

01/07/2016

As an addendum to our founders' story posted the other day, here is a "deleted scene" from Brandon's interview. We had so much great content from Brandon that we had to divide it into two videos!

Arguably the best part of Brandon's interview, here he tells us about Googling his way through his business negotiations with Verizon. During the interview, we all had to keep from laughing. Hilarious!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eXjL7fXxsXM

Brandon's company: http://www.huntsvillewest.com/ A deleted scene from Brandon's interview in which he tells his story of founding his company, DialMaxx, rig...

01/05/2016

This week's founder story comes from Brandon Kruse, founder of DialMaxx, and later, HuntsvilleWest: http://www.huntsvillewest.com

Brandon tells his story of founding DialMaxx shortly after graduating high school. At the time, he had been working as a software engineer for Digium and had discovered an opportunity in the long-distance phone market. He started and grew his company out of his parents' basement, ultimately selling DialMaxx to magicJack in 2010.

Since his acquisition, Brandon has launched several other entrepreneurial ventures including, most recently, a coworking space called HuntsvilleWest. Brandon remains one of Huntsville's most passionate supporters of entrepreneurship and a hero in our young entrepreneurs community.

https://youtu.be/SHBwNTIPN94

Brandon's company: http://www.huntsvillewest.com/ Brandon tells his story of founding his company, DialMaxx, right after finishing high school. At the time, ...

12/17/2015

This week's founder story comes from Rob Adams, founder of MindGear Labs: http://www.mindgearlabs.com

Rob talks us through his story of going to Washington DC on a work rotation and being inspired by the fab labs there, only to return to Huntsville and start his own. He tells of some of the challenges he faced and the pivots he made in the throes of starting his business.

What started as a resource for inventors to prototype products is now primarily an educational resource for children. Still, Rob remains optimistic that he will tap a market of inventors soon enough.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0ZnVvRIgtic

Rob’s company, MindGear Labs: http://mindgearlabs.com Rob Adams tells of founding his company, MindGear Labs, after doing a rotation in Washington DC and see...

12/04/2015

This week's founder story comes from Leah Hess, founder of Paperclip47.com: http://www.paperclip47.com

Leah talks us through her story of starting small and selling to friends, to growing her business and selling to local customers online. She tells of the sacrifice involved with running her business, but also the passion that goes into it and the sense of fulfillment she receives from doing it.

"My business is not difficult, my business is not complicated, it's not technical --- anybody could do it, you just have to have a passion and a desire to do it."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-X9H1MqWtGk

Leah's company: http://www.paperclip47.com Leah tells her story of founding Paperclip47. It all started with her being good at finding deals on all sorts of ...

11/16/2015

This week's founder story comes from Valentin Korman, founder of K-Sciences. http://k-sciences.com/

K-Sciences operates as businesses' outsourced R&D department and provides prototyping and invention services.

Val founded K-Sciences 10 years ago as he was working at Marshall Space Flight Center. He had just finished his PhD and was looking to start a business. After some initial success, he tried bootstrapping his own inventions, leading to a lukewarm response. This led him to go back into the workforce and take a day job. Later, luck struck and a client came to him requesting his services, which paved the way for a future of providing R&D services to others.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XBU_NXdD5W8

Valentin Korman tells of founding his company, K-Sciences, which provides high-tech R&D services to businesses who are looking to invent or prototype a new product. 10 years ago, he was contracting at Marshall Space Flight Center when he decided to l

11/02/2015

This week's founder story comes from Anthony Brinkley, founder of FusionMED. With 20 years of experience in the aerospace industry, Anthony walks us through his decision to venture into new territory with his formation of a medical devices company.

FusionMED is currently pursuing two paths: offering design/prototyping/engineering services to inventors, and building non-intrusive devices that prevent infections: http://fusionmedllc.net/

Anthony tells of his excitement about Huntsville's growth in the past year, referencing Rocket Hatch and their mission to provide startup support services to entrepreneurs in Huntsville. He ends the video offering some practical advice for aspiring founders.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Hoxfb4v2eD8

Anthony's company, FusionMED: http://fusionmedllc.net/ Huntsville Founders: http://www.huntsvillefounders.com/ Anthony Brinkley tells of starting FusionMED, ...

10/19/2015

This week's founder story comes from Ashley Ryals, founder of Homegrown Huntsville and creator of events series Dine & Dash, Big Spring Crush, and Beer Hop.

Passionate for bringing people together and passionate for Huntsville, Ashley is helping to lead the charge for creating a more connected community. Check out her events or hire her company to manage your event space: http://www.homegrownhuntsville.com

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9pO8wlhwtL4

Ashley's company, Homegrown Huntsville: http://homegrownhuntsville.com/ Huntsville Founders: http://www.huntsvillefounders.com Ashley Ryals tells her story o...

10/17/2015

Getting ready to film DialMaxx founder, Brandon Kruse.