Author Archives: venturecenter

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From a Flame to a Blaze

From a Flame to a Blaze

Arkansas is home to a number of incredible museums, Fortune 500 companies, as well as an abundance of natural resources. But some may not know that Arkansas is also widely known as the birthplace of fintech, or financial technology. Read More

Posted on: June 18, 2019
#FounderFeature w/ ChangEd — Solving Financial Crises For Millennials

#FounderFeature w/ ChangEd — Solving Financial Crises For Millennials

My brother Nick and I were born two years apart, and were raised in Chicago. Our mom was a hardworking single mom who had her own cleaning business. We grew up understanding what it was like to work, to really work. At ten years old, we learned to shovel lots of snowy Chicago driveways to earn money. Later we started a landscape business, and Nick even started an e-commerce business. We’ve always built businesses together, and have relied on each other as all around trusted partners. Read More

Posted on: June 14, 2019
#FounderFeature w/ Thomas Beattie, Founder + CEO of Voleo

#FounderFeature w/ Thomas Beattie, Founder + CEO of Voleo

Motivating people and finding ways for them to start investing earlier makes a huge difference, which is where Voleo comes in. I used to be an investment banker and after consulting to startups for several years, I saw a prototype of Voleo. It was exactly what I needed when I was younger, with a fun twist we call DROID (definitive return on investment decisions), so we took the concept and developed a social trading platform that makes it easy for anyone to start investing by pooling their money and building teams with friends and family. Read More

Posted on: June 14, 2019
Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Mentor.

Top 10 Questions to Ask Your Mentor.

The Venture Center is dedicated to helping professionals in all stages of their careers grow. As we have already kicked off the 2019 program, and are hearing great feedback from those who were accepted this year, we thought we’d share the top questions that have been most helpful. Although you might not be participating in our program this year, we highly encourage finding mentors for your professional and personal growth. Here are a few questions we’ve borrowed from Forbes that our mentees have found helpful when meeting with theirs. Read More

Posted on: June 4, 2019
ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator Alumni Invest Sou Sou Wins Best of Show at Finovate

ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator Alumni Invest Sou Sou Wins Best of Show at Finovate

Little Rock, Ark.  (May 30, 2019)—The Independent Community Bankers of America® (ICBA) and The Venture Center celebrate this year’s Finovate Best of Show winner, Invest Sou Sou. Finovate is a demo-focused conference series focused exclusively on showcasing the best and most innovative new financial and banking technologies, attracting large, high-impact audiences of senior financial and banking executives, fintech leaders and investors. Invest Sou Sou was a member of the inaugural ICBA ThinkTECH Accelerator cohort and won the program’s MVP award. Read More

Posted on: May 30, 2019
#FounderFeature w/ Jeff LoCastro: On Building Fintech and Never Quitting

#FounderFeature w/ Jeff LoCastro: On Building Fintech and Never Quitting

Would you believe I’ve never had a “real” job? The emphasis on “real” is because as soon as I could, I started my own company. Part of what’s influenced me to work this way is the mentorship I received from a number of people in my life, namely my father. The dinner table was my nightly mentor session. My father, his friends, business associates and family ate together and I listened. I was always a good listener, and I’m glad I was because I have relied upon their advice, especially while starting FinTech companies like Neener Analytics. The biggest piece of advice I got from my mentors was, “Never quit.” Who knows who really said it first, but when you quit you just don’t know how close you were to success, so I just never quit. Read More

Posted on: May 29, 2019