By Katie Aldridge
Katie Hall wants to change the world one bar of soap at a time.
Her company, Fox in Socks Soapery, works to source ingredients locally for its artisan bar soaps, sugar scrubs, bath bombs, shampoo bars, and other self-care essentials. She is currently up to 10 local partners.
Katie was a member of the first cohort of the Downtown Dayton Retail Lab, powered by Launch Dayton partner Downtown Dayton Partnership. We caught up with her to learn more about her experience and her entrepreneurial journey.
Katie: I went to school for biotechnology. I got into working in the industry at the blood and tissue center in Kettering. After a few years on that career track, I realized that maybe I made a mistake in my career choice, and it wasn’t what I wanted to do. It wasn’t feeding my creative side. I didn’t want to waste the years of college and not use any chemistry. So, I thought, “what can I do that is both artistic and science driven?” And here I am, making soap.
There are so many great local products from farmers that aren’t being utilized. I feel like it’s my job to take those ingredients and make some awesome products. There is also a mission behind each product – not only am I sourcing these wonderful ingredients that are going unnoticed, but I’m also supporting other small businesses while also giving back to the community. It’s not just a bar of soap, it’s a community within a bar of soap.
No. When I was in high school and college, I was very driven. I was going to be a scientist and I was going to do research and I was going to be in the lab doing all of that stuff. It wasn’t until I was much older that I realized I could do something that could feed my soul a little bit more and feed my creative side that I completely neglected.
Being an entrepreneur is a huge learning curve. I feel like a lot of people go into entrepreneurship with rose-colored glasses on. I think I was one of those people, and I very quickly learned that there are a lot of things that go behind the scenes of owning a small business that I didn’t take into account. The main thing I’ve taken is that you can’t let the little things stress you out, you have to roll with it. If you make a mistake, there is always tomorrow, and everything is fixable.
The biggest barrier, being a small business, is breaking through. Your first 2-3 years is all obstacles; getting your name out there, building your brand, and getting people to notice who you are and what you’re doing. That was my biggest, personal obstacle. The footwork it took to be someone that is recognized. I take for granted sometimes how much work it took to build my brand to this point.
The quick and easy answer is I love the community of people I do it with. While I say I’m a solo-preneur, there are a lot of other businesses that I work with and that feeds my soul. I love my products; I stand by them one hundred percent. I love what I do and what I’m able to do through my business. I love my local partners. I love being able to reach out to hospitals and homeless shelters and all the charitable things I’m able to do because of my business.
I took a lot of great things from the Retail Lab. I was in that cohort in the midst of COVID, I didn’t know where my business was going, and I didn’t know if I was going to survive. It gave me a weekly check-in to check myself and check my business. I always left reinvigorated. There is so much potential with the Retail Lab.
The main thing that would help my small business is spreading the mission. Come to me with ideas of how to give back to the community, spread the word of my mission and my business. My biggest obstacle was getting my name out there; word of mouth is so great. The main way I like to be supported is for people to tell everyone!
Connect with Fox in Socks Soapery online, on Facebook, and on Instagram.
By Katie Aldridge
After the loss of her son, Eron Johnson realized she should grab life while she had it — but when she asked friends to go try new things with her, they weren’t interested. So she launched Hey, Girl, a social activities app for women with the goal of connecting new friends over common interests.
Eron was a member of the spring 2021 cohort of Early Risers Academy, a 10-week business-building bootcamp powered by Launch Dayton partner Parallax Advanced Research. We recently caught up with Eron to learn more about her budding startup and her experience with the Early Risers Academy program.
Eron: It started as an idea. I have friends, and I would go to them and say, “Let’s go to this concert, let’s go to this cooking class, let’s travel here.” They would say, “No, we’re not interested in that.” I realized I was missing out on so many things in life. Then it just clicked. I came up with this idea to connect women with like-minded interests.
It wasn’t just me that had this need. I would occasionally see on Facebook friends posting things like, “Does anyone want to go do this?” or “Anybody want to go do that?” and there would be no comments. I would wonder if they were really going to do it. I’d never see them post anything pertaining to that, so I assume they didn’t do it.
It hit me a few years ago, with the loss of my son, how short life is and how important it is to do the things you want to do – on every level. This idea came to me after that.
I want to say yes and no. When I was a child, I didn’t know what entrepreneurial was, but I knew I wanted to do something creative. When I had children, I put that on the back burner and decided to do corporate America. The longer I was in that industry, the more it started to get on my nerves. Then, the desire to be an entrepreneur came back to me as my children got older. It was like ding! you are meant to be an entrepreneur in some way, shape, or form.
Being out of the box. I became so comfortable with being the “weirdo” and just being authentically me. I am comfortable with speaking about things that no one in my circle understands, I’ve done that from a young age. I am able to think outside of the box when it comes to resolving issues. I feel like that definitely let me know that this is what is meant for me.
I would say money. You have a set budget, so you think, “this is the way it’s going to go,” and you look up and realize that you’re out of money. Things happen or you may want to purchase a new program to do your entrepreneurial goals better, which is digging into a different budget.
I love people and helping people. I’ve been through so much, to where I just feel a need to help people. Whether that be through having fun or helping them get out of a bad situation, I’ll be there.
I was signed up for their newsletters for about two years. I was reading them for the fashion and stuff. One day, it popped in my head to open an email from them, and it was talking about the cohort. I was like, “let me do this, I’m going to do this.”
I enjoyed it. It got me out of my comfort zone and is still getting me out of my comfort zone. I get so anxious about things being perfect, and the people running it are like, “calm down, not everything has to be perfect.” The community around it, the different ideas, and the people you meet really made it something I knew I needed to do. I loved it.
Connections, whether it be through coding bootcamps, schools, or things of that nature. I need connections to help me build the app. I’m at what I call the “crawling” stage, and I want to be at the “running” stage. I would appreciate assistance through the tech community who knows the ins-and-outs of mobile apps, and also a mentor.
Have an idea to help Eron? Connect with her [email protected].
Pitches will start promptly at 8a. You’ll meet:
Early Risers is a morning pitch series that connects entrepreneurs to the things they need most, like first customers, key employees, mentors, funding, and more. Each startup gets 10 minutes to pitch, then the audience gets 5 minutes for Q&A.
In the last three years, 90% of startups have gotten their ask granted through a connection made at Early Risers. So pop online and find a place you can plug into Dayton’s startup community!
Let us know you’re coming! Register here.
Want to pitch Early Risers? Click here.
Want to sponsor Early Risers (and get two minutes in front of the audience)? Click here.
Hope to “see” you Friday!
Inphlu, a minority-owned, southwest Ohio-based social media automation startup, recently closed its oversubscribed $500K pre-seed funding raise.
The Launch Dayton community first met Inphlu founder Josh Reid in January 2020, when he pitched Early Risers the same morning his first child was born.
At that point, Inphlu was about 60 percent automated, 40 percent manual, Josh recalled — today, Inphlu is fully automated, backed by a powerful combination of AI and machine learning.
“I always had a vision as to what I wanted Inphlu to be,” Josh said. “It’s an advanced content engine powered by AI.”
The platform monitors global sources to find, curate and publish relevant third-party content to match the user’s needs. A user types in their interests — currently the platform is servicing over 65 industries — and within minutes, they receive 44 hours of professionally-crafted content. The user has the option to tweak copy or images as they see fit, the date and time is automatically scheduled, then the user simply approves or rejects the content and walks away.
Josh and his team blew past their user milestone — they wanted to have 1,000 users by March 2022, but instead they’ll cross the 2,700-user threshold this month.
In June 2020, Josh stopped selling Inphlu’s services because the work had surpassed Inphlu’s intern team’s ability to keep up. The following day, Josh received an email from Main Street Ventures — Inphlu had been selected to receive a $30K grant, much of which was also matched by the Entrepreneurs’ Center’s ESP portfolio program.
“We went from empty to full,” Josh recalled.
The team ramped up development for Inphlu 2.0, and by the end of the year, the company had attracted the attention of Cleveland-based JumpStart, who significantly invested in Inphlu to lead its funding round.
This spring, Josh introduced a new market segment to Inphlu — the Collegiate Division — to service colleges and universities on behalf on their students to help them build professional online profiles to set them up for success in their post-graduate job searches. The Inphlu software currently has content that aligns with 130 majors.
“We’re helping students align content with their careers goals and objectives for opportunities in the marketplace,” Josh said. “It’s the same way we help companies with employees who want to brand themselves within a space. You can become a thought leader in less than 10 minutes per month.”
Inphlu is currently up to version 2.7 — and the company still owns every line of code, Josh said.
With the raise complete, Josh will be able to bring two key team members to salaried positions and be even more aggressive with Inphlu’s software development, including building out additional features to integrate Inphlu with other tech like Slack, Hubspot or Salesforce. He expects to add a few new hires over the next 6 to 8 months, including a chief technology officer and head of sales., and he anticipates launching a seed funding round in Q2 of 2022.
“We truly have the potential to be one of the fastest-growing tech companies,” he said. “This is just our rookie season.”
Josh’s advice to aspiring entrepreneurs? Get uncomfortable.
“When you’re avoiding being uncomfortable, you’re avoiding getting better,” he said. “If you like playing it safe, if you like to avoid chaos, then this life is not for you.”
Learn more about how Inphlu can serve your business at https://inphlu.com/.
By Katie Aldridge
Plant Bay ReMedi is an herbal remedy company that offers both herbs and food as medicine. Founder Adrian Bailey is heavily dedicated to educating the community on herbal medicines, along with how to live a plant-based lifestyle.
Adrian recently completed the second cohort of the Downtown Dayton Retail Lab, powered by Launch Dayton partner Downtown Dayton Partnership. We caught up with her to learn more about her experience and her entrepreneurial journey.
Adrian: It started as a need to heal and support myself through a chronic disease. I started researching herbs and foods for medical uses, as a result of trying to support my own chronic disease. Once I started utilizing those herbs, I experienced a significant improvement in my condition, so much so that I was able to go into remission as well as avoid surgeries and other procedures.
I continued to stay monitored by my doctor, who told me that things were rapidly changing; I was getting better, and I didn’t need other medicines. I thought, this is something I can’t hold to myself, I should be sharing this.
This industry, for me, is what life is. Wellness is life. To live an abundant and prosperous life, you need wellness. I would not be able to enjoy my life without my wellness. This idea is to support my family, friends and local community. I want to support any wellness needs that they have.
I did. I had the thought of becoming an entrepreneur when I was about 19, in the middle of college. Before, I just thought I’d go get a job. After my first year of college, I thought about being an entrepreneur – I never knew what I would do, but I just waited for an idea. It is something I’ve thought about since I was a teenager.
My career prepared me for this. I work in health care – I’ve been in health care my entire life. I’ve been in the clinical and I’m on the business side now. I work with all of the pharmaceutical manufacturers here in the U.S. I support them and comply with regulations to help them get their drugs on the market.
I can see the alignment between my career and my next phase of life, which is entrepreneurship. My career has prepared me in a way where I understand the industry I am entering into from an entrepreneurial perspective, as well as providing me the strategic knowledge in running a business.
I would say the pandemic in a sense of the restrictions as I was entering into business. Understanding those restrictions has been the most challenging. To be more specific, the shipping aspect. Since I run an online herbal remedy company, where I don’t have a brick-and-mortar store, I rely heavily on shipping my products through the mail. I had a horrible experience with the shipping delays, broken packages, missing items. That has been the biggest headache.
I love what I do because it is a form of giving back to the community who supported me. Before I even started my business, I felt very supported by the community. I feel like this is a means of giving back. Also, a sense of providing the gift of life to a lot of folks, which is a lot of the response I get back. Health is wealth, and that is the most precious thing we have. So, that is the biggest driver.
It was the best thing I ever did. I said no at first because my business was very new. I was trying to stay focused on the launch. My business strategist asked me to reconsider because she felt it was something I should do. So, I did it. Being a part of it has raised my business IQ. It has helped me take my mind from being an employee to more of a decision maker. The instructors for the program, Theresa and AJ, are valuable assets to the entrepreneurial community. They provided practical guidance for entrepreneurs and helped ground us.
Take some time and do some additional research for their own knowledge to increase their education around herbal remedies and a plant-based lifestyle. The biggest thing I would like readers to take away from this is to be open a plant-based lifestyle and what comes along with that. Also, to do research on how herbal medicine has supported our communities for centuries and how it’s still around to support us today.
Connect with Adrian and Plant Bay ReMedi here.
Curious if the Downtown Dayton Retail Lab is a good fit for you? Learn more here.
Apply to pitch your startup at Launch Dayton Startup Week for your shot at up to $5K in cash to infuse into your business.
All industries welcome! One tech-based startup and one main street business will take home cash prizes up to $5K.
To qualify, your company should be:
Curafied founder Arielle Jordan worked first with Miami University business students, then with Soft Cards co-founder Carlos Portis, this summer to re-imagine Curafied as a “‘Morning Brew’-esque, enjoyable yet informative 5-minute, meme-filled recap of local news headlines texted to your smartphone weekly,” she said.
The sign-up page is live, and Arielle is looking to hit at least 1,000 subscribers by October 2021, when the first weekly edition will hit screens. Down the road, she’ll use this audience to begin courting local sponsors.
Near-term, she is looking to launch these five-minute texted local news recaps in other Ohio cities before expanding to launch in other states, she shared.
“Overall, we’re hoping to get Gen X, millennials and Gen Z re-engaged with the awesome things that are happening in their community around local business, entertainment, and food,” Arielle said.
The stats:
Many successful e-newsletters like The Skimm and Morning Brew, which was recently acquired for $75 million by Business Insider, have resonated well with this audience and this model on a national level, Arielle said.
“Because we’re linking our recapped stories back to their original source online, we’re hoping to boost traffic to these local news outlets that may not normally be visited as frequently by a younger demographic,” she said. “We’re excited to see how targeting local, as well ditching email for text messages, performs.”
Interested? Sign up for Curafied here!
By Katie Aldridge
Every Christmas morning of his childhood, Kevin Watt’s mother, Audrey, would whip up a batch eggnog to share with friends and family.
Today, after taking over the holiday tradition and shipping eggnog across the country every year, Kevin and his wife, Jamie, are launching their new business, Audrey’s Eggnog, to share the special treat with the community.
Kevin & Jamie recently won the culminating pitch competition of their Early Risers Academy cohort, a 10-week business-building bootcamp powered by Launch Dayton partner Parallax. We caught up with them briefly to learn more about their experience and their budding enterprise.
Kevin: The list of people requesting this stuff gets longer and longer. I’m shipping it from Ohio to Los Angeles, to Maryland, to Georgia. Last Christmas, one of my buddies from L.A. said, “Hey, you should bottle this stuff and sell it.” We’d always thought about it a little bit — Jamie has been saying that for a while. My daughter has been involved in entrepreneurship, so we saw an opportunity, and we’re working it.
Kevin: There is nothing out there like this right now. There may be one or two products out there like it, but this has to be refrigerated, it’s fresh, there are no preservatives in it. We think that people who like eggnog, at Christmas time, will be able to have this and reminisce about years past and traditions that they would have had in their homes. It’s just so much better than the store-bought eggnog.
Jamie: With tradition, my mother used to have eggnog for us as kids – it was non-alcoholic, of course – between Christmas and New Year’s. We think about the young kids now and wonder if they even know about the tradition. It’s really about bringing the family back together and doing traditional things that got lost down the road.
Kevin: I don’t know that I always wanted to be. I’ve always done a little bit of this and a little bit of that, and I have ever since high school. I lived in Chicago and summer jobs are slim to none. Chicago is a big Italian ice town. My friend and I put together an ice cream cart and sold Italian ice downtown. That may be the beginning of it.
Jamie: My grandfather owned a gas station here in Dayton. I felt the entrepreneur spirit was always embedded in me, it was just a matter of finding a niche. I did childcare out of my home for about 15 years. With the eggnog, I thought it would be something we could just entertain.
Kevin: My father used to tell me, “My name is Kevin Jerome Watt, I can be and do anything I want.” He told me that since I was a little kid. I always thought I could do whatever I wanted to do. You may have to start over several times, but you can’t let anyone kill your spirit.
Jamie: Passion. Kevin has the passion to make eggnog every year. I would say the entrepreneur spirit is more of a passion and purpose, and everything else will follow.
Kevin: It brings back home. This is Christmas for me every single year. The gifts, the tree, for me, all of that is nothing. I associate Christmas with Audrey’s Eggnog.
Jamie: I like it as far as the tradition, like I mentioned earlier. I love bringing family members together and going to different social gatherings and knowing people are excited to ask for the eggnog. It’s fun!
Kevin: It was great. You have people with have like minds and like ideals, to a certain degree, that are working towards a goal. They take you step-by-step on how to bring a business to fruition. The information was there, you just had to follow the recipe they set out and come out with the finished product.
Jamie: I could be vulnerable and have someone hold my hand to walk me through the steps. Instead of being an adult and having kids, a husband, and grandkids who think you should know everything, it was a very humbling experience to say, “this is their arena, they know what they’re doing. Trust the process.”
A big part for us is to get it manufactured, processed, and stored to get it out to the community. We need somewhere that has all the licenses to do it all in one. We need someone to help with the legal part in addition to the distribution. If there is someone who has information on how to do those things, a mentor in this particular arena would be great to have.
Have a connection that could help Kevin & Jamie? Reach them at [email protected].
Curious about whether Early Risers Academy is a good fit for you? Learn more and apply here — we’ll be launching an extra cohort after Launch Dayton Startup Week!
It has come full circle for Kait Brown, a Dayton coffee startup founder who is celebrating her company’s first major retail account — on the shelves of the local grocery store where she got her very first job as a teenage barista.
In the two years since Kait pitched caffeine-conscious coffee company Savorista at Launch Dayton partner Parallax’s monthly Early Risers pitch event, the company has won the University of Dayton’s Flyer Pitch competition, been accepted into the Entrepreneurs’ Center’s ESP portfolio, rebranded, and landed on the shelves of Dorothy Lane Market.
“We couldn’t be more excited, given that Dorothy Lane Market is the specialty, gourmet store in the region,” Kait said. “It was definitely our first choice when we thought about where we wanted to see Savorista.”
Kait’s decaf journey began many years ago. She was living in Chicago, working a corporate gig. Her then-boyfriend had just moved to town to make a go of it when her father was diagnosed with cancer. She realized her caffeinated coffee habit was magnifying her stress and restless nights.
So she set out to find good decaf — a journey that ultimately took her around the world, meeting with coffee farmers and natural decaffeinaters, and Savorista was born. Today, the company offers a variety of decaf and half-caf coffees in whole bean or various grinds, including some limited-edition flavors.
These days you can also find Savorista’s craft decaf and half-caf coffees at Butter Cafe on Brown Street and at Wholly Grounds on Wayne Ave.
“It’s kind of cool — we’ve got girl power over here, and Butter Cafe and Wholly Grounds are also female-owned, so there’s this team of powerful, ambitious women paving the way for caffeine-conscious coffee,” Savorista’s Dayton Sales Rep Kiki Huddleston reflected.
This summer, Savorista hit its next milestone — the launch of its new line of single-serve pour-over coffees, available in both decaf and half-caf flavors.
“There’s this broader interest among coffee lovers to be conscious about their caffeine intake,” Kait said. “Sometimes they want a cup of decaf at night, sometimes they want to be able to drink more coffee throughout the day. Coffee is often seen as an energy drink, a way to do more, push harder, but that often leads to burnout. We’re really trying to help people think about how they can enjoy coffee in a different way, take a moment for themselves, to savor the journey of life while they’re getting things done.”
The launch of the single-serve pour-overs gives Savorista’s customers another way to be caffeine-conscious by offering the option to make, say, a quick cup of half-caf coffee in the afternoon, instead of needing to make a whole pot.
There’s also growth opportunities in grocery and hospitality sectors, Kait said — restaurants are starting to seek strong offerings for customers that don’t drink caffeine at all.
But don’t worry, she adds — Savorista coffee lovers will always be able to order their coffee online, even as the company expands retail locations. The company was founded digital-first, a platform that helped them steadily grow, even amid a global pandemic.
“Launching digital-first allowed us to reach caffeine-conscious coffee lovers where they were,” Kait said. “People are thoughtful about coffee everywhere, but they’re not the majority. We knew we needed to be able to reach people wherever they were.”
And as the company grows this summer, so, too, will Kait’s family. She and her now-husband, Daniel Fernandes— that same boyfriend who moved to Chicago, and then traveled the world with her in search of great decaf — are welcoming their first little one.
“The nice thing is that, I’m already running a coffee company that’s thoughtful about caffeine, so I’ve had great decaf and half-caf at an arms’ length,” she said with a laugh. “But yes, I’ll be figuring out how to be a mom and an entrepreneur, and I’m not sure how to do that yet.”
Want to try Savorista coffee for yourself? Order online at savorista.com, or snag a bag at your local Dorothy Lane Market.
Ever wanted to work with the Launch Dayton partner organizations on behalf of our region’s growing entrepreneur and small business community? You’re in luck! Several partner organizations currently have open positions or contracts available. Click on the job titles for full details.
Greater West Dayton Incubator Director, University of Dayton
The GWDI director will engage with UD students and faculty to help support small businesses and entrepreneurs in Greater West Dayton. This includes connecting businesses and entrepreneurs to resources at UD and in the broader community, as well promoting the GWDI initiative to UD students and faculty to build engagement. The director will also support the Crotty Center/SBA’a DE&I initiatives in alignment with the university’s anti-racism policy. Apply here.
Commercialization Proposal Manager, Entrepreneurs’ Center
The Commercialization Proposal Manager will support the EC’s missions and programs by providing direct services to companies in the EC’s portfolio. Services may include technical writing (particularly with regard to commercialization plans), grant proposal review, and training and/or facilitation of proposal submission processes. The position will also assist EC in finding and applying for relevant funding opportunities. Apply here.
Economic Development Manager, Downtown Dayton Partnership
This position requires a minimum of a bachelor’s degree and related experience in the areas of project management, sales, business / entrepreneurship, commercial real estate, community development, or marketing. The successful candidate for this position must be creative, entrepreneurial-minded, have a high-level of attention to detail, and display strong written and verbal communication skills. Apply here.
Early Risers Academy General Cohort Facilitator, Parallax
Early Risers Academy is a 10-week business-building bootcamp that helps first time entrepreneurs build strong and solid business foundations. Parallax is seeking a facilitator to lead a general cohort to begin the week of Sept. 27 and wrap up before Dec. 31. Submit your proposal to be this facilitator by Aug. 20. Early Risers Academy – General Facilitator Statement of Work
Early Risers Academy Tech Cohort Facilitator, Parallax
Early Risers Academy is a 10-week business-building bootcamp that helps first time entrepreneurs build strong and solid business foundations. Parallax is seeking a facilitator to lead a tech-based business cohort to begin the week of Sept. 27 and wrap up before Dec. 31. Submit your proposal to be this facilitator by Aug. 20. Early Risers Academy-Tech Facilitator Statement of Work
Freelance Marketing Consultant, Parallax
Parallax is looking for a Freelance Marketing Consultant that will assist Parallax’s Launch Dayton Marketing Manager tell the community’s entrepreneurial story through video. This will come in the form of short video profiles and interviews. Submit your proposal to be this marketing consultant by Aug. 20. Freelance Marketing Consultant Statement of Work
Launch Dayton Digital Toolkit Video Producer, Parallax
This contract is to develop a series of Digital Toolkit training and informational videos that can be used by entrepreneurs and prospective in the Launch Dayton community for entrepreneurial education. The videos will range from 5-10 minutes (an average of 7) and will highlight foundational business elements like market research, customer analysis, pitch decks, and financial projections, as well as industry specific content in the Defense, MedTech, and eCommerce industries. Submit your proposal by Aug. 20. Launch Dayton Digital Toolkit Video Producer Statement of Work
Entrepreneur-in-Residence, Entrepreneurs’ Center
The Entrepreneur-In-Residence will support the EC’s missions and programs by providing direct services to companies in the EC’s portfolio. The EIR will assist companies in the commercialization of their technology, product, and/or service. Apply here.
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