Summary:
Welcome to another great episode of Startup Junkies!
On this episode, hosts Caleb Talley, Jeff Amerine, and Davis McEntire sit down with Greg Shepard, founder and CEO of BOSS Capital Partners, a boutique investment firm focused on Series Seed through Series B technology businesses. Greg also founded BOSS Startup Science, a school for entrepreneurs. Greg is a twenty-year startup veteran and serial entrepreneur, a Forbes author, a TEDX speaker, and the host of Meet The BOSS Forbes Radio show. Throughout the episode, Caleb, Jeff, Davis, and Greg discuss the curriculum of BOSS Startup Science and the methodology behind startup accelerators.
Show Notes:
(1:06) Introduction to Greg
(1:45) Greg’s Background in the Venture Capital Arena
(3:39) About BOSS Capital Partners
(8:32) Insights from Greg’s Five-Year Study
(17:28) Thoughts on Raising Money vs. Selling a Product or Service
(20:55) Success of the BOSS Startup Science Methodology
(24:52) Concept Centric vs. Entrepreneur Centric
(34:42) Curriculum of BOSS Startup Science
(44:04) Advice To Younger Self
(50:32) Closing Thoughts
Links:
Quotes:
“I did this study and was trying to figure out why they were failing, but what I really needed to learn was when they were failing because the why was coordinated with the when. They always collided at the same time.” – Greg Shepard, (4:55)
“I thought that the first thing I should focus on was helping them not fail, but the first thing I needed to focus on was helping them get into an accelerator in the first place.” – Greg Shepard, (6:18)
“It enables the people that are running the venture studio to put together funds and start making money on the loads. I don’t feel that is helping the entrepreneur. I think a lot of these things developed are helping the middle man but not really helping the entrepreneurs.” – Greg Shepard, (25:40)
Educating Entrepreneurs with BOSS Startup Science
On this episode, hosts Caleb Talley, Jeff Amerine, and Davis McEntire sit down with Greg Shepard, founder and CEO of BOSS Capital Partners, a boutique investment firm focused on Series Seed through Series B technology businesses. Greg also founded BOSS Startup Science, a school for entrepreneurs. Greg is a twenty-year startup veteran and serial entrepreneur, a Forbes author, a TEDX speaker, and the host of Meet The BOSS Forbes Radio show. Throughout the episode, Caleb, Jeff, Davis, and Greg discuss the curriculum of BOSS Startup Science and the methodology behind startup accelerators.
The Rationale behind BOSS Startup Science
The first thing Greg did when he ascertained that he wanted to help entrepreneurs directly was launch a study to determine why entrepreneurs were failing. However, as the study progressed, Greg realized he didn’t need to learn why they were failing as much as he needed to know when they were failing. This study launched Greg into lecturing at universities, which in turn, allowed him to start BOSS Capital Partners.
“I did this study and was trying to figure out why they were failing, but what I really needed to learn was when they were failing because the why was coordinated with the when. They always collided at the same time.” – Greg Shepard, (4:55)
While coming into contact with aspiring entrepreneurs at BOSS Capital Partners, Greg realized they need a considerable amount of guidance. Therefore, Greg started BOSS Startup Science and hired a multitude of qualified people to make a curriculum that would benefit would-be entrepreneurs.
The BOSS Startup Science curriculum is now used by a substantial number of accelerators. However, Greg learned entrepreneurs were struggling to get into accelerator programs to be exposed to the curriculum. The reason entrepreneurs were struggling was that they didn’t know the best practices for filling out the accelerator applications. Therefore, Greg created a pre-accelerator product that assists entrepreneurs in getting accepted to accelerators.
“I thought that the first thing I should focus on was helping them not fail, but the first thing I needed to focus on was helping them get into an accelerator in the first place.” – Greg Shepard, (6:18)
Startup Assistance Programs
When it comes to incubators, accelerators, and venture studios, all three operate by raising funds separately for a startup or obtaining equity in a startup. They then turn around and teach the founders of that startup how to successfully raise their own funds. However, once the founder has earned some funding on their own, they have to turn back around and pay the startup assistance programs a return on their initial investment.
If startup assistance programs charge too much for their services, this model ends up benefiting the investors more than the entrepreneurs because the entrepreneurs aren’t able to focus funding back into their business because they are paying back investors while still in the growing stage.
“It enables the people that are running the venture studio to put together funds and start making money on the loads. I don’t feel that is helping the entrepreneur. I think a lot of these things developed are helping the middle man but not really helping the entrepreneurs.” – Greg Shepard, (25:40)
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