This week on StartupNation Radio, your host, Jeff Sloan, is joined by 2000 Olympian and former world heavyweight contender turned small business CEO, Calvin Brock. Later in the show, Jeff talks to Ryan Frederickson, founder of ArT Wine Preserver, an incredibly innovative product that keeps wine fresh, letting you explore and enjoy wine, without committing to the whole bottle and without waste.
As a professional boxer, Brock compiled a 31 to 2 record and challenged Wladimir Klitschko for the world heavyweight championship. He is a UNC at Charlotte alumni with a BA in Finance.
After spending a few years in commercial banking, Brock created his own real estate business. In 2012, Jack and Landlords was founded to help both landlords and tenants bridge the gap to occupancies through alleviating security deposit requirements. By contracting with Jack and Landlords, landlords receive a full month’s rent guarantee for damages and unpaid rent. And best of all, tenants pay the cost for the landlords’ protection over 12 equal monthly payments along with their rent each month.
During the show, Calvin discusses:
- How he used the skills he learned in boxing to help him in his business
- How and why more landlords are trending away from the practice of security deposits due to the downsides
Learn more about Jack and Landlords
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Later in the show, Jeff is joined by Ryan Frederickson, founder of ArT Wine Preserver. Ryan was one of five winners of StartupNation’s inaugural StartupNation Story Competition of 2017. The company’s argon wine preserver serves wine professionals, restaurants, wine tasting bars and wine enthusiasts by reducing consumer waste.
The product was developed to keep open bottles of wine fresh for 7 to 30 days, and designed in hopes of helping wine consumers and wine professionals prevent waste.
Frederickson says the goal for ArT Wine Preserver is to reduce the amount of wine poured down the drain. By his estimates, $1.5 B of wine is dumped in the United States every year.
During the show, Ryan discusses:
- How the product keeps open bottles of wine from spoiling
- Who ArT Wine Preserver benefits, including restaurants, wineries and home wine drinkers
- How the business coaching guidance Jeff and Rich provided that helped ArT Wine Preserver find the “why” of the business (reducing waste, beginning with wine), led to changes in both current marketing and long term planning
Learn more about ArT Wine Preserver
Tune in to WJR 760 AM Radio next Saturday, March 17 at 2 p.m. for an all-new episode of StartupNation Radio.