Eight years ago, I made my first angel investment in a company called Tradesy via Tim Ferris’s AngelList syndicate. Within a matter of months, I made several more investments in startup companies via AngelList. I also made a couple of angel investments directly in local companies. I didn’t know what I was doing at the …
MarketBrew Documentary
Four Opportunities to Make Community Philanthropy More Effective
Giving back is a major responsibility that businesspeople have to the communities that helped make them successful. I owe a lot of my success to my parents for the opportunities and access to technology they provided me as a child, to Dakota State University which provided me with a world-class computer science education and the …
Introducing MarketBrew, a Craft Beer from MarketBeat and Remedy Brewing Company
Two things that matter a lot to MarketBeat are giving back to the community and having fun. Sioux Falls saw these values on full display when we launched the MarketBeat Burger at Chef Lance’s on Phillips for the DTSF Burger Battle and donated more than $31,000 to Call to Freedom for their work in helping …
Leadership Sioux Falls is Fundraising for New Playground Equipment at Hayward Park. Here’s How You Can Help.
Leadership Sioux Falls is a leadership development class put on by the Greater Sioux Falls Chamber of Commerce that provides emerging leaders with personal development skills, education about local and state governments and professional networking opportunities. I’ve been meaning to apply to Leadership Sioux Falls for the last several years, but the dates always conflicted …
Five Lessons Learned from the MarketBeat Burger Project
January has come and gone. The Downtown Sioux Falls Burger Battle has officially come to an end. The final MarketBeat Burger has been grilled and served, and Chef Lance finally has a welcome reprieve from making pork belly and brisket patties. Approximately 25,000 burgers were sold as part of the 2021 DTSF Burger Battle. Nearly …
Introducing the MarketBeat Burger (Yes, we made a cheeseburger!)
It was the morning of November 2nd. Some of MarketBeat’s team members were working at our downtown office, getting ready for that week’s staff meeting. Just as our meeting was about to start, a curious email came in from Downtown Sioux Falls, Inc. (DTSF). Here’s what the email said: The time has come to start …
Announcing the Paulson Center at Dakota State University
When I was a student at Dakota State University, I paid close attention to the emails that were sent to all students. A lot of the emails were noise from student activities I was not interested in, but every now and then great opportunities were presented that any ambitious student could take advantage of. It …
How I Plan to Evaluate Charitable Giving Requests Moving Forward.
There are more than 500 registered non-profits that have 501(c)3 status in the greater Sioux Falls area, each with their own mission, vision, values, staff, and board of directors. Some non-profits operate on state or federal contracts or through grant programs, but most small non-profits rely primarily on charitable contributions from individual donors. One consequence …
How We Created Custom Manhole Covers for the MarketBeat Office
Our new office space partially sits on an old loading dock, which includes manholes for drainage. The manhole covers that were in the space previously were cracked, beaten up and likely as old as the building itself. I asked the question, “What would it take to make some new manhole covers that have the MarketBeat …