Charlotte Angel Connection Episode 081: Sam Smith, Founder of Vishion and Collective Hustle

Today we share Sam Smith’s story.  Sam came to our first Charlotte Angel Connection event last February (where we first met) and has been back to each one since. She has a thirst to be part of and leading the Charlotte entrepreneurial scene.  It’s led her to start Vishion, Collective Hustle and put on the 1st Seed the South event in January 2019.  All three are great getting great traction and we're excited to see them grow and the impact they will have on Charlotte! Vishion is her startup. It’s the only mobile app that uses a product’s true color data, fashion trend and user preferences to help shoppers find the ideal color. The concept came to her after her own frustrating experience after falling in love with the blackspash in the bar at Kindred on a date night with her husband. Sam’s the type of person who once she latched onto her idea, she just never let go. Collective Hustle is a Charlotte investor and startup coalition looking to improve the Queen City’s entrepreneurial ecosystem.  She started it last year with Aru from botSplash.  They host invitation only events with a focus on inclusion and ways to assist female and minority entrepreneurs in Charlotte. Seed the South was last month. It took a huge effort from Sam and her team to get it off the ground and served as Charlotte’s first non-Fintech Demo Day. Check out our podcast with Sam today to hear more about how the last couple of years have shaped who she is.  It’s a great podcast as we sat down and had a couple of Triple C beers one Friday afternoon. Local Note and Thoughts: Stay tuned for Emir and James – co-founders of Rabbu – on the podcast next week.  Rabbu recently wrapped up a $1.5 million funding round and they are ready for the next stage of growth.  Listen in next week to learn how they got here and where they plan to go. Finsiders had their annual awards earlier this week.  Sam Smith won the Dan Roselli Community Organizer award.  Derek Wang, CEO and Founder of Stratifyd won for Best Innovation. Tim Griffin, CEO and Founder of Cloosiv, won for Risk Taker/Fail Fast.  Mark Mahoney, CEO and Founder of Jack Rabbit Technologies won the 2019 Change Champion.  Congrats to all the winners. The Charlotte Angel Connection next quarterly event is in the works – though the date may be changing to accommodate the company. John Cambier and Lister Delgado from IDEA Fund Partners will be in Charlotte to do an on-stage Partner Pitch (the pitch will be from 6:30 to 7:30pm) – which means they are going to go into detail with an entrepreneur about their company as though they are interested in investing – and they may even be.  I hope to have the company named by the podcast for next week.  Stay tune and come see a professional team in due diligence. Also SeedSpark – a technology and digital solutions company – is going to sponsor our first ever Entrepreneur Date Night Award.  We will have the startups in attendance (demo tables) vote on the entrepreneur they think is most worthy of a $100 gift certificate to a Charlotte area restaurant. It’s a small token to the countless spousal/significant dinners founders must give up as they bring their projects to life. QC Fintech is also in the process of interviewing for their spring class and after speaking with Dan recently they are seeing some really good companies.  Be on the lookout for announcements for the spring class and the opportunities you will have to meet them and ultimately support them as they come to Charlotte for 12 weeks to incubate their ideas and companies.       William Bissett is an Investment Advisor Representative with Secrest Blakey & Associates, a Registered Investment Adviser.  Opinions expressed on this program do not necessarily reflect those of Secrest Blakey & Associates. The topics discussed and opinions given are not intended to address the specific needs of any listener.  Secrest Blakey & Associates does not offer legal or tax advice,