Summary:
The Startup Junkies were joined by an NWA legend on this 279th podcast episode! We are excited to introduce you to Steuart Walton, the co-founder of Runway Group. Not that only, but he is also the founder of Game Composites and serves on many boards, including Walmart, Crystal Bridges, and The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. To say he is a busy man would be an understatement, and we were thrilled to have him on the podcast with us!
Thanks for tuning in!
Shownotes:
(0:58) Introducing Steuart Walton
(4:56) What To Expect From a Post-Covid Arkansas
(7:09) Aspiring to be the Center of Excellence for Outdoor Recreation
(13:13) Arkansas, the Underdog
(21:29) The Future of Aviation and Aerospace in Arkansas
(32:56) The Long-term Horizon
(39:58) Closing Remarks
Links:
Quotes:
“The real economic impact of COVID in my mind was the initial disruption.”
(2:30) – Steuart Walton
“The state of Arkansas is one of the most underappreciated states in terms of natural beauty.” (7:57) – Steuart Walton
“I think when folks underestimate you and then you have almost impossibly high expectations for yourself… Those two ingredients actually set you up to go a long way and to make a lot of progress in a really short [amount of] time.” (17:34) – Steuart Walton
“If you have success, it’s not going to be like, ‘Oh my gosh, I was successful and all my problems went away!’ Your problems are just gonna look a little different, but they’re still going to be there and they are still going to be real. They’re still going to drag you down if you don’t address them.” (38:31) – Steuart Walton
Talking Arkansas with Steuart Walton
The Startup Junkies were thrilled to sit down with the man, the myth, the legend, Steuart Walton, on this exciting episode. Stueart Walton is the co-founder of Runway Group, a holding company that invests in real estate, hospitality, and many more businesses in Northwest Arkansas. Not only that, he also is the founder and chairman of Game Composites, a company that designs and builds small composite aircrafts. He serves on many boards in the free time he has left, including Walmart, Crystal Bridges, and The Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. We would be remiss not to mention his service as the chair of the Arkansas Economic Recovery Task Force the past few years. Somehow we wrangled him into an episode today that left us beyond excited and optimistic about the bright future ahead for Arkansas.
First things first, we needed to know his thoughts on the future of post-Covid Arkansas. The biggest economic impact of COVID, Walton claims, is all from the initial disruption. The confusion and unknown variables created a learning curve worldwide. The economy was hit by the disruption of shutdowns in schools, businesses, and the supply chain. The uncertainty and damage had already bypassed what everyone imagined by the time the governor put together the economic recovery task force, Walton admitted. Although market indexes were off and productivity had plummeted, people mostly wanted answers, and thankfully as time went on, some became apparent. The responses were that to succeed, you would cope, pivot, and move forward.
Walton wanted to add that although there were definite winners and losers, as things normalize, everyone is getting a chance to start over and change directions. By paying attention to how people spend money and live in a pandemic world, you can see the opportunity that creates across the economy. Walton even believes that Arkansas specifically is positioned to come out of this pandemic in an extremely strong way due to the outdoor recreation and entrepreneurial boom within the state.
The outdoor recreation scene of Arkansas is not just limited to the state-of-the-art mountain biking trails in NWA, although that’s a great start. Walton wanted to bring attention to the game and fish, hiking trails, campsites, rivers, lakes, and even mountains, all in our backyard. While many tourists flock to Colorado, they can find the same beauty and lifestyle around every corner of Arkansas.
“I think as entrepreneurs look for opportunities and for ways to innovate, getting out of the thought pattern that it only has to be tech, tech driven, or tech-related is really important because there’s innovation to be had in manufacturing experiences.” (12:05) – Steuart Walton
The biggest threat to the hopes and dreams of Arkansas is complacency, Walton warns. Looking at the overall growth of Bentonville, Arkansas, it could be easy to sit back and relax, but that cannot be the case. Walton says that there are two ingredients needed to continue to expand and optimize the opportunities in Arkansas. The first is accepting the low expectations from everyone around us. If you are from Arkansas, you are no stranger to the surprised looks when you explain the booming economy, recreation, and innovation happening in the state. Rather than trying to convince others of it, Arkansas only needs to keep doing what it has been, and the statistics will not lie. The second ingredient is an unrelenting and almost impossibly high standard set for ourselves here in Arkansas. Those two things created the Bentoville that we know today and will expand to other cities in the near future.
Looking to the future also means looking to the sky for Walton. Aviation is Arkansas’ largest export dollar for dollar, and the pandemic has only accelerated this demand. Whether it’s drones, aerial mobility work, or supply chain assistance, there will be an enormous amount of potential for Northwest Arkansas businesses to benefit from the aviation industry.
“I think sometimes we often don’t spend enough time thinking, ‘How’s this all going to look in 50 years?’ and knowing that we’re going to get 99% of it wrong, but just having like a kind of moonshot idea… of what you might be able to accomplish in a really long horizon and work back from that.” (32:20) – Steuart Walton
What should be the long term goals for Arkansas? Steaurt asserts that it should be the best place to live in the United States. It starts with believing that can be true, Walton adds, and we could not agree more. To be able to provide a balanced and healthy lifestyle, an opportunity for personal and professional growth, and a safe and happy place to raise a family, Walton and many more see Araknas as being all of that and more.
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