As usual, 2015’s first Entrepreneur Night took a fresh turn, choosing a flavorful and, in this case, tropical new venue in Flagler Beach’s Beach Front Grille. The restaurant, with its beautiful view of the coastline and sandy boardwalk, admirably played host to Entrepreneurs and business owners from all over the state, with more than 150 attendees at the event.
“This event in a small community like this is such good support,” says Ashley Klebusch, Creative Director of Inbound UX. “It really benefits me down the line, and gives me the opportunity to give back to other businesses.”
While she’s not the founder, Klebusch plays a vital role in her business. She’s in charge of marketing, testing the products, and UX design and design development – the quintessential project manager. Jon Armstrong, founder and sales manager of Inbound UX, says their goal is to “empower entrepreneurs to turn their app ideas into reality.” They have successfully developed several different applications, from mobile games like Super Flying Mario, to social media such as SoshaLife – a Ticketmaster for Africa – and so much more.
A new face at this event, Dan Priotti, President of Agua Construction Company, brings more to the table than your run-of-the-mill construction company. After his accident, which confined him to a wheelchair, his business life has done nothing but prosper. He says:
“There was nothing but land here [in Palm Coast], and we were this close to the beach. I knew that this place needed to grow.”
Returning from the military in 1998, Priotti rose through the ranks by starting out at Pinch A Penny and working with pool supplies, before moving on to assist with pool construction. He eventually started building the pools himself. Using his father’s contracting license, he was able to construct on his own terms, but that privilege was revoked with the hit to the economy; his father took his license back and told his son to get a “real job.”
Priotti, however, is no quitter. He got his own license and started his own business, Agua Construction Company. He has aspirations and dreams of building his own model home, retiring at age 45, and helping to modify and build spaces for the disabled. “I’m pretty much there, and I’m on the right track to see my dreams come to life.”
And Ray Peter, attended February’s Entrepreneur Night as the new Area Manager for the Palm Coast Business Assistance Center (BAC). Joe Roy, previous UCF SBDC Area Manager, has stepped down from his position after dedicating four years to the BAC. “Joe has gotten to a point where he wants to drop-back the hours that he is working, and not necessarily work full-time,” Peter said. “He wanted to do a bit more strategy, and work with his existing clients. So, he asked if I could step in as the Area Manager, and I agreed.”
Ray Peter hopes to make the most of the opportunity, with his new administrative role. He’s eager to help the BAC do its best work in assisting small business owners, and in turn serving the community. “We help businesses start up,” Peter says.
The BAC gives businesses information on Startups, business entity description, they go through a business plan assessment with their clients, plan their finances, look into the possibility of getting a business loan through one of the financial institutions, and do market and data research for them. “We accomplish all of this for them,” Peter says. More developed businesses, however, still use the BAC’s services.
“Sometimes businesses come in for a health check to see how they might compare to similar businesses.”
This enables those businesses to come to the realization that they are either doing well, or need to step up their game in terms of sales or marketing. The Business Assistance Center has harvested several businesses through their program such as Del’s Garage and Gus’s Auto, just to name a couple.
Talk It was another Startup on hand. Curtis Ceballos is TalkIt’s CEO, and conceiver of this new form of social media set. Talk It was launched on the Memorial Day of 2014. What it does is allow users to upload 7-10 second audio messages from their iOS enabled device. This message is then posted on the user’s Talk It feed, private group, Facebook, or Twitter. Similar to Apple’s iOS 8 audio message feature, the message expires after a certain amount of time has passed once it has been accessed.
With a diverse range of uses, Talk It is in demand as an education tool. McDougall Douglas and other large textbook brands are interested, and have already requested a licensing right with special clearance to internally use Talk It to communicate amongst themselves. It has been used for news as well. For example, at a MMA competition, 17 ringside fights took place and play-by-play announcements were posted on a Talk It news feed while thousands of people who were not able to attend the event were able to listen in.
“It came up in a dream one night,” Ceballos explained. “I saw myself using this [application], and my wife woke me up in the middle of it – and she never wakes me up.” He kept telling his wife “no, no, no,” as he tried his best to close his eyes and re-enter this dream of his. Rolling over, he grabbed the journal he keeps on his bedside table. He realized he wouldn’t be able to return, so he got to drawing. “I’ve had a creative thing going on lately, and I’ve had similar dreams, but this is the first one that I’ve actually gone and done something with.” From this day forward, Ceballos pushed through the process of leaving behind his three restaurants in order to pursue a career in owning and creating the “best projected new app [of] 2015.”
Talk It has already 24,000 users within its first six months, and has offices all over the world. While Ceballos has an interview scheduled with ABC TV Network, there’s still much work to be done in order to obtain the large user base that he desires. Maybe one day soon the whole world will soon be able to use this simple five-word phrase:
“Don’t text it. Talk It.”
With all of the interesting people and businesses that are found at this monthly social event, each and every person is bound to meet someone new, learn new things, and have new experiences that have the potential to change any Startup into a long-lasting business.
Here’s a quick video recap from this event:
January 2015 event in the News
January 2015 Entrepreneur Night has been featured in Palm Coast Observer and Daytona Beach News Journal:
- Entrepreneur Night celebrates 40 under 40 (January 21, 2015)
Entrepreneur Night is a grassroots event for and by Entrepreneurs, which takes place the last Tuesday of each month – except July, August, and December at a different location and venue. It is free to attend. Complimentary appetizers are provided by the venue hosting the event as well as a cash bar. In each event you can expect to meet many new entrepreneurs, investors and service providers; and have meaningful conversations. You can check out the previous Entrepreneur Night events | or RSVP to the Next Entrepreneur Night Event