*This episode is a shared episode directly from the host, Natalie Benamou.

In this episode…

Are you looking for investors in your business and unsure where to start? Let’s take a walk with Stephanie Sims, founder of Finance-Ability®, former investment banker and finance expert. Stephanie gives her advice and strategies on moving from “shiny object syndrome” to prioritizing your growth strategies. This conversation with host Natalie Benamou and Stephanie Sims shows you how you can start leveraging your value today. 

Evaluate Your Business:

1. Take a step...

In this episode…

This is a shared episode by Matt Wolach.  Matt starts the episode introducing Stephanie, asking where she is today and how she got there.  

They kick off the show agreeing that raising capital is truly all about sales.  People looking for funding need to look at what is right in front of them - creating something of value that clients and future clients will pay them for.  

One of the mindsets that is super important is that of an investor.  And then you ask yourself, “What is the best use of the resources I already...

In this episode…

Andrea begins the episode introducing Stephanie, and asks her exactly what it was that drove her into owning her own business. More specifically, what drove her to Finance-Ability.

What gave Stephanie the heart for business? It stemmed from watching her parents who owned their own business. When her parents were ready to retire, they reached out to Stephanie who helped them place value on their business so they could talk about it like the asset it was.

Stephanie shares how she helps businesses plan an exit strategy that doesn’t just include hanging their hat...

In this episode…

Robbie gets this episode started by asking Stephanie about her leadership journey and when she realized she had a knack for leading.  To Stephanie, being a leader is equal parts inspiration and risk/action taking.  One must have a bold vision to share with people that will get them excited about doing something.  In the same sense, one must also be willing to roll up their own sleeves, dig in and do some work as well.

Mentors were important to Stephanie, and among the top of that list are her parents.  They encouraged and supported her in multiple...

In this episode…

Stephanie shares that her parents owned a business while she was in high school, but when time came to sell their business and retire, they struggled to find buyers.  She realized then that the business was sellable, but they didn’t know how to talk about their business as an investment.

For Stephanie, it is fun to see people get excited, but she tries to help when they are frustrated because they see a way to grow but don’t know how to find the money to do it.  Most entrepreneurs are not finance people, so don’t always understand...

Today, I’m excited to talk to Natalie Benamou, the Founder & CEO of Herpower2 Lead.

Natalie is a strategic thought leader with 30 years of experience creating ‘Blue Ocean’ strategies that help differentiate businesses from the competition and leading organizations. 

She has served as President of HBA Chicago (Healthcare Business Women's Association) as well as A Heart For Animals, an all volunteer animal rescue that has saved over 3,000 pets.

Natalie founded HerCsuite™, an advisory & networking platform for executive women leaders, to empower female...

Today, I’m excited to talk to Tara Spalding, the Managing Director of BoomStartup Accelerator. 

BoomStartup is an accelerator and mentorship-driven angel-stage investment program for startups, which operates as an online technology-driven accelerator, providing entrepreneurs a custom business plan including business maturity guidance, investment preparation, and capital structuring relevant to growth, and investment strategies as well as a curated marketplace for services. 

Tara is also the founder of Hen House Ventures, an early stage incubator that helps tech companies...

Today, I’m excited to talk to Ari Palmer Salafia, who’s the Co-Founder & CEO of TaxTaker, a female-founded tax and technology savings company focused on helping put money back into growing companies pockets. 

Over the course of her career, Ari has helped hundreds of companies save tens of millions of dollars on taxes through R&D tax credits and other specialty government programs. 

Originally from California, Ari graduated and holds a bachelor degree in Political Science from Loyola Marymount University in Los Angeles.  

Ari moved to Austin,...

Today, I’m excited to talk to Zachary Eikenberry, a CoFounder, Director and CEO of Hook Security, which uses Psychological Security, or PsySec™, to teach employees how to spot and avoid phishing attacks and create a healthy security-aware culture company wide.

Before Hook, Zach was a Founder and the CEO of The NEXT Schools in Greenville, SC. These schools provided entrepreneurial experiences for over 900 students between 2 high schools and a middle school. 

Zach has over 14 years of startup experience since graduating from Purdue University with degrees in Philosophy and...

Today, I’m excited to talk to Amy & Adam Fazackerley, Co-Founders of Lay-n-Go, a company that designs and manufactures innovative organizational solutions for life, play, and travel. 

I’ve interviewed them both individually, so if you haven’t listened to those episodes, add them to your playlist!

But today we’re doing something different - and talking to them about what it’s like to work with your spouse day in, day out.

Welcome, Adam & Amy!

In this episode…

Instead of the speed round, they start out with a few either /...