Middle Tech Podcast Season 2 Recap

Dec 29, 2019

What a year! We’re 81 episodes in and we still feel like we are just getting started.


Almost two years ago, Evan and Nate started Middle Tech to help solve a major problem in our region - the lack of conversation about the startup and technology space. There was not a single person (that we could find) talking about startups and technology regularly in any form of media.


We first realized this was a huge problem when the Evan, Middle Tech co-founder, would tell people about Fooji and very few people had a clue what he was talking about. He would say Fooji and they would ask if he was talking about the bottled water…. which doesn’t even make sense…… These were people in the middle of the startup ecosystem that didn’t know Lexington’s fastest-growing and most exciting startup in recent history existed!


It bothered Evan and he couldn’t just let that happen. If we want to grow a healthy ecosystem, there has to be media supporting it. Without companies like ours spreading the word and inspiring people, the ecosystem can’t grow at the pace we all want it to.


So here we are two years later and we’ve helped 50+ entrepreneurs and thought leaders in Lexington, Louisville, and Cincinnati share their stories and wisdom for listeners to learn from and get inspired. As a result of helping solve this problem, we have seen tremendous growth in our audience (it doubled!) and we expect the same to happen in Season 3.


Beyond growing our audience, we also grew our team. This year we brought Logan Jones on as a producer and Nico Ferreyra on as a business development associate in Louisville. With their help, we have built better internal processes, improved our audio quality, created better social content, and made more relationships within the community. We expect the team to keep growing in Season 3! 


As we plan for Season 3 and take a short break, check out these 5 episodes from Season 2 you can’t miss as well as three challenges we have for the ecosystem!


37. Chase Minnifield, Forbes 30 Under 30 Entrepreneur and NFL Player, on EZ Turn and Lexington

Chase Minnifield knew he always wanted to do his own thing, and the lessons he learned playing in the NFL translated perfectly to entrepreneurship. We sit down with the Forbes 30 Under 30 entrepreneur to talk about his ventures and perspectives on Lexington's tech scene.


52. Truman's Alex Reed on Starting the Coolest Cleaning Company on the Internet in Lexington

Alex Reed, Co-Founder, and CMO of Truman's, joins the show to talk about his journey from the University of Kentucky to Big Ass Fans and then to Truman’s which was started in 2018. So far Alex and his team have raised $5 million and made cleaning much more convenient and exciting.


55. Demetrius Gray: WeatherCheck is Kentucky's First-Ever Y Combinator Company

WeatherCheck is Kentucky's first-ever YC company, and they're changing how consumers and insurance providers alike check for property damage and handle claims. We talk to Co-Founder and CEO Demetrius Gray in this episode to learn about his career journey and starting the Louisville-based company.


64. AppHarvest CEO, Jonathan Webb, is Making Kentucky the AgTech Capital of the World

AppHarvest just broke ground on what will be one of the world's largest greenhouse in Morehead, KY. With several environmental and political threats to our food supply, AppHarvest is hoping to make Kentucky the AgTech Capital of the World by creating fresh, quality produce that can be grown efficiently and safely within a day's drive of 75% of the US.


68. Drura Parrish on Entrepreneurship and How Xometry Can Change Everything

Drura Parrish is a staple in the Lexington entrepreneurship space. After founding MakeTime and getting acquired by Xometry, he has a ton of controversial thoughts on entrepreneurship in this region and a whole.


Three challenges for the region’s startup ecosystem:


  1. More people need to get involved in spreading news, inspiration, and wisdom. This means more blogs, podcasts, and instagram accounts. Whatever helps the ecosystem get more exposure. If you’d like to help but don't know where to start, please reach out to us!
  2. We need to do a better job connecting the ecosystems to our universities. Schools have to build more programs that get students out of the classroom and into the real world within the businesses growing our cities while startups and supporting organizations need to reach out to universities and offer to speak as guests in classes, clubs, and events.
  3. Bring someone new to a startup event. Think about it… If there is someone that hasn’t had exposure to the ecosystem and there isn’t media spreading the word about it (until now 😉) how do you expect them to find out and help the ecosystem to grow? We need to challenge our friends to get out of their comfort zones and attend more events. Their alternative is usually watching TV….   


Thank You!

We wouldn’t be growing without your support. We do this for you and it means the world to us to see the response we’ve gotten thus far. Thank you so much for every DM, like, subscribe, rating, and share you have given us. You’re not just helping us grow, but your helping the ecosystem as a whole grow!


AI Edge #3

By Evan Knowles • 15 Feb, 2023
Today’s tip is about how to use ChatGPT to summarize an article, book, legal document, and other long-form text. It's a great way to save time and learn.

AI Edge #2

By Evan Knowles • 08 Feb, 2023
Today’s AI Edge is about how to use ChatGPT for tips on how to start and plan a project or task.

Why the 2020s Might Be The Most Significant Decade in Human History

By Logan Jones • 16 Dec, 2022
Sustainable Nuclear Fusion, Artificial Intelligence, and Quantum Computing

What is going on with AppHarvest?

By Evan Knowles • 05 Dec, 2022
What happens when you have zero percent interest rates, ESG, stimulus money, COVID, and SPACs colliding all at once? AppHarvest. AppHarvest’s SPAC and rocket ship success now appear to be a malicious cash grab by investment bankers and global elites enabled by the highly controversial ESG (Environmental, Social, and Governance) movement. Whether the founding team was aware of what would eventually happen, I cannot be sure; however, I do know there has been poor execution from the leadership team and bad actors like Jeffrey Ubben, who infiltrated the company early to use it as a financial vehicle to quickly cash out millions dollars while the state of Kentucky and everyday retail investors were left holding a falling knife. Like everyone, I was initially bought in. The state was bought in. The media was bought in. We all bought into AppHarvest. It's amazing how far saying all the right things will get you. Entrepreneurs and politicians have this gift. They communicate their visions to rally people behind them, and Jonathan Webb is a master of the craft. He masterfully leveraged his experience in DC, free capital, SPACs, the ESG movement, and the narrative of a struggling state (Kentucky) to raise $1.5 Billion dollars in less than 5 years for a dream manifested on a whiteboard years before. Props to him for making his dream a reality… seriously. I want to have empathy for a fellow entrepreneur and don’t want anything to come across as an attack. Give the man props, BUT the problem with dreams is that you have to wake up to face reality. Facts are the facts and reality is setting in… Middle Tech had Jonathan on the podcast in the early days before any construction started and they had a small team that had just finished raising a $100 million Series A. I left that interview having mixed feelings. I was super excited for the state and for Jonathan’s team, and I walked out of the interview saying “He felt extremely scripted like a politician.” I don’t like politicians very much by nature, but I quickly looked past it because I’m not one to judge based on a first encounter and founders tend to develop scripts when they raise capital. I know I have with my own company.

Funding & Building Agtech Startups in the Region

By Lincoln Day • 19 Apr, 2022
How existing entities can get involved in the development of Agtech startups

There are two sides of a coin. DOGE/SHIB

By S.A. Barker • 24 Feb, 2022
There are two sides of a coin. At least that was my rationalization as to why I failed to transition from SHIB to DOGE in the previous article before edits. I conflated the two because, well, I conflate them. They are linked in my mind and as they are in the memes. Just as a dog pack has the alpha and omega, dog coins have DOGE and SHIB. Crypto heralds a new age of currency, and it behooves us to attempt to get a grip on what currents are moving just under the surface. In the moment-to-moment flotsam and jetsam of Twitter, there is an ever-present struggle to separate the wheat from the chaff, artistry from con-artistry. This grappling with what constitutes real currency eerily mirrors the 20 th Century’s grappling with what constitutes real art. My attention went from a casual observer of crypto on the periphery to a keener interest, when SHIB made a billionaire of a mysterious whale. The victory was short-lived with one tweet from Musk answering the question of how much SHIB he held: None. The subsequent crash led to discourse about the value of crypto as a whole, and much trashing of SHIB INU. Interesting that SHIB took all the heat for being a shit coin and was an obvious “bad boy” in the crypto space with the audacity to claim value where none was “deserved”, while DOGE was spared the infamy. Just as SHIB was devalued by the influence of Musk, DOGE has been lifted to the point of tender to acquire merch from Tesla. As of the time of writing, Mcdonald's is now the point of focus of pressure from the DOGE community to accept DOGE coin. To accept the inevitable. And in the process, become part of the discourse. Obviously, we are adrift in a time of great uncertainty. Just as thick fog surrounds a ship, multitudes of articles and conjectures obscure the ability to chart a course with any confidence. If you do find yourself in a state of analysis paralysis for too long, consider flipping a coin.

5. Dudley Webb on Developing City Center, Lexington Financial Center, and Over 60 Locations Across the Country

17 Feb, 2022
When you look at the Lexington skyline... you should think of Dudley Webb. Born in a small coal mining community, Dudley Webb brought his talents to Lexington through the University of Kentucky school of Law where after practicing for several years, he and his brother morphed into Massive Real Estate Developers - creating what is now "The Webb Companies". Under the Webb Brother's leadership, The Webb Companies grew into one of the largest real estate development organizations in the country, with projects across the U.S. from New York to San Francisco and Boston to Miami. Our conversation covered his personal and professional background, growth constraints in a booming city, and the Future of Lexington from Dudley's perspective. Welcome to Season 2 of DevelopLex - a new series from Middle Tech diving into the ins & outs of real estate development and investing here in Lexington, Kentucky. This series will feature interviews with some of Lexington's most prominent real estate developers that have played a major role in building Lexington into what it is today. Hosted by Weston Lockhart & Evan Knowles DevelopLex is proud to be supported by: SVN Stone Commercial Real Estate Community Trust Bank Lexington Pavement Sweep Intro music by SmithTheMister

182. Insignum AgTech: Kyle Mohler on Leveraging Biotech to Allow Plants to Communicate

14 Feb, 2022
Kyle Mohler is the Founder and CEO of Insignum AgTech, a biotechnology company working in the AgTech space to engineer plants that can change their pigment whenever they contract a disease, alerting the farmer so that they can take early action. Our conversation with Kyle focuses on how Insignum’s technology was developed, the benefits that it gives to farmers, the ethics & implications of bio-engineering in general, and Kyle’s experience growing a business in Indiana. Learn more about Insignum at InsignumAgTech.com

Weekend Thoughts: Entrepreneurship is Sales

12 Feb, 2022
Evan overviews how everything about being an entrepreneur boils down to one key skill: sales.

Friday Update - 2/11/22

11 Feb, 2022
Logan, Nate, and Evan discuss Cash App adding the Lightning Network, Disney’s victories in the streaming wars, and Peloton’s recent struggles. Watch Middle Tech's Friday Updates LIVE at 8:30am EST on Instagram every week! @MiddleTechPod Today's Friday Update is sponsored by KY Innovation, Bolt Marketing, and Render Capital.
More Posts
Share by: