Show notes
Ish and Jon talk with Jeff Sloan, Founder & CEO, StartupNation. Whether you believe entrepreneurship is in your DNA or not, they talk about everyone's ability to start, grow, and manage a successful business. Jeff Sloan is a visionary and entrepreneurial expert with proficiency in creating and developing early-stage companies. With over 30 years of experience, Jeff has truly lived the entrepreneurial journey and is dedicated to helping others realize their potential by bringing their ideas to life. Entrepreneurs are Jeff's people. Like him, they become stronger when faced with a challenge, and see it as their obligation to courageously pursue a better way, no matter the odds. They understand, like Jeff, that successful people take command of their reality and transform it into something great. Jeff serves as founder and CEO of StartupNation LLC., a multi-media company that provides education and inspiration to aspiring entrepreneurs and existing small business owners. StartupNation.com, founded and led by Jeff, is one of the leading brands in the world of entrepreneurship, with over 2,000,000 people using the StartupNation "10 Steps to Open for Business" startup process. In his leading role with StartupNation, Jeff hosts the award-winning StartupNation Radio show on WJR AM 760 in Detroit, which has aired since 2004 in over 85 markets nationally. Jeff also hosts the daily WJR "Business Beat" segment live on air during the morning drive prime-time programming, in which he spotlights subject matter of interest to the entrepreneurial, startup, and tech community. Jeff is also founder and CEO of Aria Ventures, LLC., a company that partners with founders to develop their business concepts into viable startup businesses. For select ventures, Jeff and his team actively guide the business planning process, invest directly and/or raise seed funding in the startup and provide ongoing strategic guidance through the entire development, launch, and growth lifecycle. Jeff's firm has raised over $60 million in venture and angel funding for a portfolio of startup ventures and has successfully led five portfolio companies from startup to exit, totaling over $200 million in exit value. Jeff's current portfolio of ventures can be viewed here. In addition to Jeff's leadership roles at StartupNation and Aria Ventures, Jeff founded and leads the app known as FanLabel, a music gamification platform that has been embraced by both the biggest companies in the music business as well as by an active user-base. In this role, Jeff works alongside top record labels and today's hottest artists to understand the preferences and opinions of listeners to be more effective in supporting artist promotion and monetization. Jeff is a true evangelist for the virtues of entrepreneurship. He was recognized as a "Small Business Journalist of the Year" awardee in 2005 by the U.S. Small Business Administration and has been interviewed on numerous national and local media networks, including Fox Business News, The New York Times, and The Wall Street Journal. A published author, Jeff shares his entrepreneurial expertise in an acclaimed how-to book, "StartupNation: Open for Business," published by Doubleday. Jeff has been named one of the 500 most powerful business leaders in metro Detroit by DBusiness magazine's "Detroit 500," as well as Small Business Journalist of the Year, Midwest Region; and among Detroit's top 20 "Dynamic Duos" in Business. Jeff has keynoted numerous entrepreneurial and business conferences, including the Microsoft Small Business Conference and the Small Business Administration of America annual conference. Connect with Jon Dwoskin: Twitter: @jdwoskin Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/jonathan.dwoskin Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/thejondwoskinexperience/ Website: https://jondwoskin.com/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jondwoskin/ Email: [email protected] Get Jon's Book: The Think Big Movement: Grow your business big. Very Big! Connect with Jeff Sloan: Website: https://startupnation.com/ LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jeffsloandetroit/