Mecca Tartt
Hello, and welcome to the Atlanta Startup Podcast. My name is Mecca Tartt and I am your co-host. I’m so excited for this segment today because I’m welcoming four different startups right here in the Atlanta area and the exciting thing about them, is they are all recent finalists for the Atlanta Startup Runway Showcase. The Startup Runway showcase is the leading organization that connects underrepresented founders to their first check rider. Super excited to have them on board today, we’re gonna get right into it. I want to take the opportunity to have each of them introduce themselves and their company and share a little bit about what they do. So first, let’s start off with Patricia.
Dr. Patricia Kelly Marsh
Hi, I’m Dr. Patricia Kelly Marsh CEO and co-founder of Ask Me Your MD, Inc., a chat platform that we’re utilizing to innovate in the inpatient technology space.
Mecca Tartt
Thank you, Dr. Patricia. Alright, let’s see Smitha would you like to go next?
Smitha Kommareddi
Yes. Hi, Mecca. Thank you for this opportunity and also the Atlanta Startup podcast. I am Smitha Kommareddi. I am the CTO and Technology Co-Founder of eStreamly. We power live and video shopping on your website and also simulcast to social media.
Mecca Tartt
Thank you, Smitha. Monica, would you like to go next?
Monica Isgut
Hi, my name is Monica Isgut. I am the CEO and Founder of TotemID Biosciences. We are a rapid diagnostics company. We’re developing tests for COVID and flu that can be done at home.
Mecca Tartt
Wonderful. Keith?
Keith Wilson
Sure. My name is Keith Wilson. I am the founder of Helix. Helix is the world’s first metaverse, automotive manufacturer. We essentially design and sell automotive NFTs that our customers will be able to use to be immersed in a world of automotive experiences in this new Web3 metaverse world that we’re starting to.
Mecca Tartt
Awesome. As you all can see, we have some exciting startups that are right here in Atlanta and are joining us today on the podcast. I know we have some startups that are listening and there’s a different point where I know it can become frustrating when you’re not getting the support that you need, or you’re just not able to really communicate maybe your value to the organization that you feel should really hear what you have to say in order to sell your organization. What I want to ask each of you is how do you maintain the momentum to sell your organization to get in front of your customer base? If you can share your experience, possibly through a story?
Dr. Patricia Kelly Marsh
Absolutely, I’ll go first. Being in the medical space and having experiences where my father was hospitalized, it was basically a nightmare of having to coordinate his care and find the doctor. When we called and asked the doctor to come to the bedside when I saw my father was having an emergency, it never happened. The doctor never came. It was in that space that I found my problem and I created the solution by advocating on his behalf. When those difficult times come when I’m trying to convey the services that we have, Ask Me Your MD, I just remember what I did for my father and what I’ve done for my family, and I let that passion fuel my active drive into making this nightmare that started out into the dream business that I have envisioned. I know and believe that my faith has a lot to do with the seed of that passion and the drive that I have. Whenever you get those 24 “nos”, don’t worry, because it just takes one “yes” and you are well on your way.
Mecca Tartt
I love that, Dr. Patricia. Absolutely. Only takes one yes. Do any others want to share?
Monica Isgut
Yes. I think I can kind of talk about kind of the story of what happened with me and what’s sort of my view way back at the beginning. I started this actually right out of undergrad and I had a patent pending, things were going really excitingly, but we hit a point where a lot of things logistically weren’t working out. We applied for a grant, but we didn’t get it. Their concern was is a patent gonna get issued or not? There was a lot going on, and at that point, I don’t know if I should keep going or not. Actually what happened is, that I decided, “Okay, I’m gonna take this break.” And then I applied to grad school and did other things. I got the patent issued in the end and my thought was, I don’t want to just leave this hanging. There’s gotta be something here, there’s got to be some value. That’s the principle, don’t say it’s failed until there’s really no way that it can keep going. If there’s a way to keep going and to get this to grow, then go for it. I just picked it up. We got a lot of funding from there, we built a whole team, and we basically revived the whole thing. That’s my story of keeping going, keeping the momentum, and building it back up.
Mecca Tartt
Absolutely. Thank you for sharing that, Monica. What I hear you saying to those startups that are listening is it’s important to exhaust all options. What about you, Smitha?
Smitha Kommareddi
80% of the internet is video, but most of the e-commerce is pictures and descriptions. If you have a traditional website and you are trying to sell things, you are excluding yourself from 80% of internet traffic. Traditionally, selling and buying have been personal. We used to talk to people, ask questions, and buy, that used to be a process a long time back. But a lot of online buying and selling has been very impersonal. My co-founder, Nicolas, is a true and true salesperson. I am a very passionate technologist and we strongly believe in bringing people to the center of E-commerce. We met like four years ago, it has been a process. It doesn’t happen overnight. It’s a very rigorous process. We have completely utilized our local resources, we went through a lot of customer discovery, and we went through a lot of crazy ideas before we ended up here. At no point was it frustrating but it’s a bit of a challenge. It’s a bit of a discovery process. We have completely utilized a lot of our local resources which I’m very thankful for. Atlanta is a great place. You have to really put yourself out there. You can’t be in your comfort zone. Every time you’re solving a problem on any given day, you have to put yourself out there, meet a lot of people, and seek out resources, and I have to say the entrepreneurial community is a very giving community. I’m very thankful for everything. We’ve been able to do every opportunity we’ve had so far.
Mecca Tartt
Thank you so much for sharing that Smith. It sounds to me that what you’re sharing is to be your best sales rep. If you are an entrepreneur, you have to be able to sell yourself, you have to be able to get out there, and you have to be able to position yourself, connect, and network with those companies with like-minded entrepreneurs. You’d have to put yourself out there absolutely. Keith, did you want to share as well?
Keith Wilson
Definitely. For me, my path was a little different. I have the great fortune of working in the automotive industry for decades now. I’ve had a chance to really take on a lot of different roles, and a lot of different experiences, both domestically and globally. Throughout the time, I’ve really let ins and outs of the industry, what the industry is capable of, what the industry is kind of no, and kind of getting to where they are. For me, the reason I started Helix is that I saw that gap in the marketplace, the whitespace opportunity that I knew automobile companies would be slow to go to. Given the fact that I’m working in Web3, I know firsthand that we haven’t been there and done that. These companies are going to be really slow to transition into that space and given that if I wanted to kind of traditionally get into the automotive industry as it is today, the barriers to entry are extremely too high, way too costly, way too rigid, just way too high for most people to get into. But with the introduction of Web3 and the metaverse and everything that we’re seeing that blockchain is kind of enabling, is really opening up so many new opportunities and so many new low-cost entry points into industries that we’d never would have thought we would be able to get into. And so for me, that’s really provided kind of light at the end of the tunnel for me to say, hey, here’s an opportunity for me to really ingratiate myself in this industry with my very own company in a much more unique way that no traditional automotive companies won’t really be able to go into because they’re so focused on other things right now, or they’re so focused on supply chain issues. They’re so focused on electric vehicles, they’re so focused on electric vehicle infrastructure, and all of that stuff. They’re not even thinking about the areas of the market that we’re trying to attack. And so for me, that’s really what keeps me going, just knowing that I’m playing in a space that not many people are playing in and that many traditional automotive companies are looking to play you. But I’m able to leverage my experience in the industry to really bring value and really try to help really push the company forward much faster than most people will do.
Mecca Tartt
I love that, because you’re talking about a Purple Cow, right? Creating something that’s so different, that’s unique, and specifically within your industry because as you mentioned, they’re thinking about supply chain issues, they’re thinking about not having enough cars, and the fact of the matter is, we are definitely moving towards the metaverse. I will just share with you, that I have been riding the Peloton for the past four months because I just got on the bike and I didn’t go through the onboarding process of learning everything about it. I just found out that you can go through this segment of it, where you’re riding and you’re playing a game at the same time. And I will tell you one thing, that was one of the hardest workouts but it just reminded me that that’s something that’s so very unique that they’ve made it so that you can ride and play a game to inspire at the same time. So, Keith, I love the fact that you have thought of something that is so very unique within your industry, within your area of expertise because that in itself is a Purple Cow. I have another question for you all. We’ll just roll on to the next question and that’s about what do you all believe? I hope those startups that are listening in and those that are thinking about what type of company they can create, I hope that you feel inspired by the stories that are being shared with us today. What do you find are the most important? You can say two to three most important factors that are important for every startup to have in their toolkit. What is the go-to thing that helps support you every single day? This is a must that every entrepreneur and every startup must-have when it comes to just their business, their day-to-day, and it might be a CRM system that you use, it might be the fact that you have a mentor that you check in with once a month, it might be whatever that looks like, what would you all like to share what’s in your toolkit or your necessities that you use day in and day out?
Keith Wilson
I think number one, you got to have thick skin. Not everybody’s going to understand your idea, not everybody’s going to understand you so you’re going to have to be able to take criticism, whether it’s warranted or not warranted. I think for me, one of the biggest things that I found to really have to continue to try to make it through is a thick skin and just kind of letting the bullets bounce off as they come. Because like I mentioned, not everybody’s going to understand your idea of your business, but that’s fine. That’s okay, that is totally fine. They just weren’t meant to understand and they just may not be the right person to bring onto the team or may not be the right investor for you, and that’s totally fine. I will say the other thing is a support system. A solid support system of people that care about you have your best interests at heart, can always give you really good feedback, and can always be there when you have those ups and those downs. As a founder, you’re going to have lots of those so having a solid support system in place is really pushing the boundaries, especially during these times right now.
Mecca Tartt
Absolutely. I love that, Keith. Smitha, did you want to share?
Smitha Kommareddi
I am. I’m in my mid-life and I’ve only recently founded my company. My advice would obviously be a little different than a very young co-founder would give. I’m always in admiration of those very young folks who start so early. For me, I think, it took a long time and a lot of preparation to get up to where I am right now. There are things that I felt I had known that I would be an entrepreneur for a very long time, had to build one skill at a time. I had to improve my communication skills, I had to have some financial planning because I have a family also. There’s a lot of preparation that goes into the point where you actually start a company. The journey is different for different people but for me, I would say build communication skills and financial planning. Since I started the company, the most important thing have been working with the right co-founder. Again, I met Nicholas almost four years ago and we worked on a lot of different projects. We went through a lot of experimentation before we actually found eStreamly. The next thing I would say is very important is having good advisors or mentors. You have to seek them, you have to look out for them, you have to really put yourself out there, and meet a lot of people give or take a lot of advice, maybe you will go through a few bad conversations also. But ultimately, you are in pursuit of a good co-founder, and a good advisor, those I would say are most necessary and priceless. And then all the other smaller things will fall in place if you do those two.
Mecca Tartt
Thank you so much for that, Smitha. I think that’s so very important. I will never forget a story that I heard about an entrepreneur in the city. She was very open and frank about it. She said that she was so focused on running her business day-to-day that when it came to the financial side of it, it wasn’t until four years later when she owed almost $100,000 to the IRS that she had that moment and said I didn’t do the financial part, right? She was completely open and honest about it because she did not want other startups or other founders to endure what she went through when she was in a position where she had to take care of the financial side of it. We all have those learning lessons. Obviously, financial planning is very big, and obviously being able to work through communication, because it’s important that you’re able to convey your value proposition. For some people it’s not even that there’s necessarily a barrier in communication is the fact that they’re just nervous about standing up in front of a crowd or nervous about getting in a room with two to three people to pitch their company. There are many different programs out there that actually help. Let me ask you, Smitha, what organization did you go through to really just help with like presenting improving communication, and being able to convey your value proposition?
Smitha Kommareddi
I really appreciate the follow-up question. I have been attending Bobcat Toastmasters for almost six years now. At the time, when I started, I knew I had to improve my communication skills. I did not go there with an agenda of I’m going to start a startup and I just knew that I had to build that skill. I’d like to quote Steve Jobs on this, in his autobiography, he mentioned that when he started college, he was just building one skill at a time. He went and took a calligraphy class because he just wanted to and then he did another and another. All of those skills came together when he started and when he built the Macintosh operating system. You build one skill at a time. When the time is right, the dots will all connect together. That’s one thing I took to heart. Back to the communication skills I took, I have been attending Toastmasters and it has been very helpful. It’s a great community. I’m very thankful I could not be happier for having gone there.
Mecca Tartt
Absolutely. Thank you so much for sharing that, Smitha. I love when people lean into sharing the information because someone may not know exactly where to go or where to start. But it also speaks to your preparation, because you didn’t say that you went there for six months, you didn’t say that you went there for a year, you said that you’re still actively going and you went to the Toastmasters for six years and that speaks to you being prepared for that moment, right? You prepare before you get on the stage, you prepare for your biggest opportunity before you’re presented with the opportunity, and that’s so important. I think that really speaks to what you just shared.
Smitha Kommareddi
It’s like you learn to drive when you’re old enough, not when you actually need to go somewhere. That’s kind of it. Another thing I’d like to add is like having gone to Bobcat Toastmasters, I didn’t just improve on my communication skills. There are a whole bunch of other benefits that came with it. I became a better listener and I also expanded my social circle. It was also networking but that came as an unexpected result.
Mecca Tartt
Absolutely. And Dr. Patricia, I know you’ve been shaking your head over there did you want to share something as well?
Dr. Patricia Kelly Marsh
I am going to echo my colleagues here in the entrepreneurial space. The toolkit must be stacked with courage, that thick skin that Keith talked about, and the belief in oneself that Smitha touched upon, these are vital to you navigating those “nos”, because there will always be denial on your way to success. You have to not only navigate that but take the time, like Smitha said, to hone in on those skills, one set at a time. Another part of the toolkit that I bring is for anyone, and this isn’t just a startup, but for anyone who is trying to become something within their life, you always want to have that strategic planning session with your village. That’s the support. That’s your mentor, that’s your guide, that’s your team, whoever is going to be cultivating your passion and building you up and carry you across that journey of entrepreneurship. It is such a toiling journey. If you don’t have that strategic planning with your village or in your toolkit, you’re going to find yourself in situations like the entrepreneur you mentioned who didn’t quite get that financial piece or didn’t quite get other sectors within business. I’m a physician, I did not grow up learning technology specifically or learning anything about business specifically, but those in my village around me, my stepmother was a serial entrepreneur, my father was a computer geek, a computer engineer. You kind of learn by way of being immersed in those worlds. In your toolkit, you got to have the village and that strategic planning. Even before all of this, you got to have a clear vision. Your vision has to be so clear that your knowledge of where you are dreaming big to is already real to you. I am now in this place where I’m seeing the manifestations of conceived thoughts from years and years ago. It is such an amazing place to be. When you’re a kid and you’re in kindergarten and they asked you what you want to be when you grow up. I said I want to be a teacher. Realized that dream as an associate professor at Morehouse School of Medicine. I am like, “Dude, you said that and you made the way in the past and you put in the work.” You worked out with your strategic planning. You navigated those “nos” because you get a lot of non-acceptance. That’s in business, that’s in pitching, that’s in any kind of incubator you’re applying to. You get a lot of “nos” so all three of those things I have coordinated together to make up my essential toolkit of being an entrepreneur.
Mecca Tartt
Let me ask you this because you mentioned the village, who represents your village?
Dr. Patricia Kelly Marsh
My village is first and foremost, my family, they’ve been with me my entire life. I have a greater appreciation of all of the things that they’ve put inside of me and cultivated that seed of wanting to be an entrepreneur, wanting to be in technology, and wanting to be in the medical space even though none of them are doctors. But having that ability to have your odd or somebody come to you with like a medical question to spark that interest, and for our startups, for your families looking into what you’re doing and trying to find those ways and supporting you, that’s the village. That’s where the village begins with me. It just expanded to Startup Runway, bringing me in, honing me, and giving me a platform to announce the startup initiatives. My personal mentors, Steve Brett, ATDC, and Corbett, like, there were so many people. When I arrived in the technology space, I was just included in that village and kept building that village from there. Basically, your village is made up of anyone that helps you along this entrepreneurial journey.
Mecca Tartt
That’s why it’s so important to cultivate relationships because one thing that I’ve heard from startups from founders all the time is that there are times in which you can feel that you’re by yourself, you can get into your own thoughts, especially if you don’t have another founder that you’re working with, like a co-founder, where it’s just you by yourself. That’s where that village becomes so very important because our thoughts sometimes can take us off on a journey that we do not belong in that place and to stay in a place of positivity and pushing forward but in order to do that, that’s where the village is crucial and critical in order to make sure that you’re focused on your path of what you’re called to do. Any other thoughts, if anyone else wants to share anything additional before I move on to the next question?
Monica Isgut
I just have one other thing that I think was really important as it is really important for me, and it’s basically being able to deal, manage, and prioritize in the face of a lot of moving parts. I think there are saying entrepreneurs need to put on many hats at the same time and I feel like that is so true. In my experience, at least in the tech space, we have to work on product development, and obviously, the business aspects like financials, pitching, and all those things together, there’s a lot of change that happens. Say we have to make a small pivot, we need to plan ahead. I think that what really helps me is having a planner, like Asana, for example, just one of those that helps me organize my thoughts and make plans as things very rapidly evolves.
Mecca Tartt
You brought up something that’s actually very important, that’s the planning and really prioritizing what’s most important, right? Specific to you, Monica, with the product that you’ve created and right now we’re seeing COVID spiking back up, we have flu coming right back around, and you providing the home testing kits for people to be able to do testing at home. How do you make sure that you are prioritizing what you have to do every day without saying, “Okay, this is going on right now? What’s in the news? We need to push more of this out, we need more product, we need this, etc.” What does that look like for you? I know you mentioned that you have a planner but is there anything else that keeps you focused on what needs to happen for that day? What does that look like for you?
Monica Isgut
When we talk to investors there’s gonna be some points in time where like, they’re really excited about COVID because the cases are high and other times they’re like, well, COVID doesn’t matter. Platform technology is focused on something else. I think that the important thing is just staying with the focus, staying with the purpose, we’re not going to be pivoting at every opportunity just because investors say, oh this is not the front page in the news. I think that it’s just talking with my team, making sure that we are clear on what our priorities are, and double-checking and saying, “Okay, is there a pivot that we want to make or a slight change that we want to make to the pitch deck or anything else?” We make that decision with a clear head. We’re not going to just do it on the spot just because someone tells us, “I’m not interested in this area anymore”, or something like that. I think it’s a matter of carefully thinking through, talking with a team, and making decisions that logically make sense rather than quickly on the spot.
Mecca Tartt
Absolutely. Let me ask you all this, what has been your greatest lesson or challenge that you’ve come across? How have you been able to turn that around for an opportunity?
Dr. Patricia Kelly Marsh
I would certainly say the greatest challenge is navigating those lows of being a startup and entrepreneur, learning how to navigate “failure”, learning how to navigate the denials, and navigating the naysayers of people in influential places that say, “This will never work.” I think the biggest thing that helped me to navigate those is hearing about somebody else’s triumph after failure is the biggest encouragement. Kind of lamenting, even after Startup Runway, I got to a place where if I hadn’t gone through that process of feeling extremely confident and then having my confidence checked, I wouldn’t have pushed that extra mile and found this government funding that was perfect for our company. It was there the whole time but if I hadn’t navigated through that no and through that process of changing your perspective about what actually no means, for some startups, that’s the best thing for you. Because it’s not the best fit or it’s going to push you towards another opportunity another space where you can become like the most successful you’ve ever been. Definitely has been quite a prospective change for me as an entrepreneur.
Mecca Tartt
Absolutely, because I feel sometimes that we can all get to a place of being comfortable. I think that’s a great way to put that opportunity with Startup Runway and also set you up for another opportunity, right? Because my background is purely sales, I spent over the past 20 years in sales, I do realize that you have to endure the no because through the no, there’s going to be a yes. I’m like okay, well, I didn’t get this but it’s definitely going to prepare me for this next opportunity because there is a yes somewhere. There might have been a couple of “nos” but I know a yes is coming. It’s really keeping that into perspective and congrats on the opportunity that you’ve just gotten with the grant. That’s absolutely amazing. But you were positioned for it, right? You were absolutely positioned for it and you were prepared for it. Do any others want to share?
Smitha Kommareddi
I absolutely loved your response, Patricia, I could not agree more. To add to that, I would say you have a strong belief system, you have an objective in your mind, and you’re going in with laser focus to your true north. Along the way, there will be a lot of naysayers in which case you have to like kind of stick to your true north. But at the same time, some of the negative feedback, I wouldn’t say negative but some of the feedback that you hear and that you don’t like is actually helping you learn or improve. I cannot describe it, but you have to distinguish between the beliefs you have to stick to and the ones that you have to change. There is a lot of change that has to happen also. Discerning what is a very challenging thing. Early on, some things work, some things don’t work, but how you process that information is very crucial. There are some things you have to change based on the feedback. I’m a big believer in The Alchemist. I feel like when you really want something the universe will conspire to help you. The universe is always talking to you, it’s giving you a message. You have to be listening to the universe, whatever messages you’re getting, and you have to change along the way. That’s that. That’s the challenge but there are some things you have to stick to your true north. It’s a very ambiguous answer.
Mecca Tartt
I absolutely love that, Smitha. I think it also speaks to what Monica said before. Oh, we want you to do this, but investors say, okay, we want you to do that. It’s that you have to stay true to your product but there are different changes that may say, if you just tweak this a little bit, this might be better and that one thought may take your company to become one of the top-selling companies doing this or that. It is important that you’re able to differentiate that but in order to do that, you have to be in alignment with yourself, your product, and your company. Do any others want to share?
Keith Wilson
I think for me, the toughest thing for me has been this two-sided monster to where I’m working in a space that’s extremely early to some. When you think in terms of widespread market adoption, it’s extremely early. But we think about the flip side of that, in regards to opportunities for development, entrepreneurship, and building, it’s almost too late. I’m kind of stuck in the middle of these two behemoths on both sides of me to where I have to find ways to find more unique ways to find customers that actually are integrated into the space that can be my customers. And then on the other side, I’m having to do even the hardest piece of work which is explaining the space and explaining what I’m doing to investors. “Oh, well, it’s too early.” For me, it’s been difficult trying to ride both of those lines especially from the space of investors, trying to educate them about the industry, and then come around to educating them about the company, our value proposition, how we’re going to make money, and how this will be a great investment for them for the next 20 to 30 years given that this is the future. But for me, what I’ve been able to do to try to curtail that, at least on this side of it, is just hit them with the facts, hit them with the data, talk about all of the other major companies that are investing in the space, talk about all of the major automotive companies that are not investing in the space, talk about the industry trends that are going on within the space, talk about the fact that the space is going to be a trillion-dollar space. Talk about right now, the barrier to entry in the space is extremely, extremely low but it’s almost too late to get into it. If you want to get into it, now’s the time to start investing in utility right now while things are still up in the air and space hasn’t still quite been defined yet. This is the opportunity right now to build essentially kind of the next Internet, and how you don’t want to necessarily miss out on that. For me, when I’m able to explain the facts and the data as it is and how it stands today, that helps me to really get the point out there that this isn’t something to look over. This isn’t something to just shy away from because it’s not something that you can touch and feel like you’re used to having most of the investments that you probably have invested in. But also, these are companies that are doing the somewhat similar thing that I’m doing, this is the revenue that they’re generating, and these are the excess that we’re seeing even right now, so try to meet them where they are with the information and the data that you have based on what you know because you’re in a sense a subject matter expert, they’re not necessarily are. For me, it’s helped me to overcome some of those hurdles or those objections that I’ve gotten, just because I’m truly building in a space that’s considered by most to be pretty early.
Mecca Tartt
Absolutely. Monica, did you want to share as well?
Monica Isgut
For me, one of my challenges was having the confidence that I knew what I was doing, that I could really pitch it, I could really run a company because I was just out of college when I started this, and so I didn’t really have any real-world experience. How I overcame that was by just learning as much as I could. I would just learn about business and just everything I could think of that was pertaining to this startup. Beyond that, just being confident, talking to potential investors, and things like that. One of the biggest things that helped me is fake it ’till you make it. I told myself I can do this, I can talk to these investors, and I know what I’m doing because I have learned a lot in the process. Ultimately, that really helped me and I think that from there, I just gained that confidence that helped me overcome that challenge, I guess.
Mecca Tartt
I love that, Monica. This has been a great time and a great opportunity that I’ve had to connect with each of you. These are again all of these startups located right here in Atlanta, Georgia. They are all recent finalists of the Startup Runway showcase. I would like for each of you to leave just a message of support, affirmation, a positive note, and something that you would like to share with the finalists just in as we conclude this segment. If you’ll also share how they can get in contact with you.
Monica Isgut
I would say that the biggest thing or just one last thing to leave everyone with is to persevere through the challenges to have that intrinsic motivation. Now all of this has been said already but I think that’s a really important thing to leave everyone with. My contact information, you could find our website at https://www.totemidbio.com/. I think that’d be good.
Mecca Tartt
Thank you so much, Monica, for joining us. All right, Keith, did you want to go next?
Keith Wilson
I think my advice to entrepreneurs is to never let anybody tell you that your idea or your business is too ambitious. Never let anybody tell you that your idea in business is too bold or it’s too early because if they’re telling you that, they might not be the right person to be in your support system. We talked about it. You also have to be realistic about the expectations for your business, but also the expectations that may come with people considering your business to be too bold, too ambitious, or too early. But with that also comes to sweet satisfaction that success is going to come with it, that when it does come, you will know that, hey, I overcame those eyes, even when they said it was too bold, even When they said we’re too early, there’s going to be a sweet satisfaction that comes with it. It’s going to make the effort and the journey even more worthwhile. Use that as motivation to push for work. Use that as motivation to find within you that fuel that you need to push forward and move forward. If you keep pushing on even when things may seem like they’re not going the way that you thought they were gonna go because it’s certainly going to happen. That’s kind of my advice for other entrepreneurs out there. I will say for those who want to contact me or stay in contact with what we’re doing, we’re on Instagram and also on Twitter, @helix_auto on Instagram and also on Twitter. Check out our website, https://www.helix-auto.com/ and you can always look me up on LinkedIn, Keith Wilson.
Mecca Tartt
Thank you, Keith. Smitha, would you like to go next?
Smitha Kommareddi
I would say be in the habit of giving? You will need a lot of help but there is a lot of giving you can do. You just keep giving and at some point, it’ll all keep coming back to you. That’s something you don’t like very much but it works very effectively. Use your time well and have a plan, have a long-term plan and a short-term plan that includes finances. You can only go as long as you can plan for pretty much. Another way to use your time well is, for example, listening to podcasts while you walk or do laundry. We all have 24 hours, the difference is how we use our time. Learn constantly. Always be learning. Lastly, if you’re listening to this and if you’re trying to sell online, eStreamly is the place to go. We can talk more and I can be reached at smitha@eastreamly.com.
Mecca Tartt
Thank you so much, Smitha. All right, we have Dr. Patricia next.
Dr. Patricia Kelly Marsh
I would absolutely echo all of my fellow entrepreneurs that you have to keep going and you have to keep pushing forward. It’s literally the only thing that separates the greats from the not-so-greats, is that that ambition, that drive, that passion, they kept going because you have to know they have met the same amount of denials, the same amount of “nos”, the same amount of challenges, if not more because of the vastness and the place that they’ve gone. I have this unlimited, relentless determination to get to the end of my vision and even expand from there. With like Smiths said, learn new things and always assess where you are in your life, in the time, in the space, and understand where your business and your startup fit in that realm. No one can do what you can do. It is upon you and you only to continue in the way that you’re going. Don’t let anything stop you. You can reach us at https://askmeyourmd.com/. Our email contact@askmeyourmd.com, is very simple. We’re the doctors that are there for you on call. Ask us any of your questions and we will help you educate. We will advocate and we will expand and empower you with that knowledge.
Mecca Tartt
Thank you so much, Dr. Patricia. You all have just tuned in to another episode of the Atlanta Startup podcast. It has been a pleasure being your co-host today and we look forward to seeing you on another segment. Make sure that you remember that your product is needed, that you are needed, and confidence is key. Until next time, we’ll see you soon.
Lisa
We’re thrilled to have you as an Atlanta Startup Podcast listener to help you get the most out of the experience. Let me invite you to three insider opportunities from our host Valor Ventures. First, want to be a guest on this amazing show. Reach out to our booking team at atlantastartuppodcast.com. Click on booking, It’s a no-brainer from there. Are you raising a seed round? Valor definitely wants to hear from you. Share your startup story at valor.vc/pitch. Are you a woman or minority-led startup valor sister program? The Startup Runway Foundation gives away grants to promising startups led by underrepresented founders. The mission of the Startup Runway Foundation is connecting underrepresented founders to their first investors. Startup runway finalists have raised over $40 million. See if you qualify for one of these amazing grants at startuprunway.org. You can also sign up for our next showcase for free there. Let me let you go today with a shout-out to Startup Runway presenting sponsor Cox Enterprises and to our founding partners, American Family Institute, Truist, Georgia Power, Avanta Ventures, and Innovators Legal. These great organizations make Startup Runway possible. Thanks for listening today and see you back next week.
