Nebraska Tech Collaborative - Scaling Startups with John Bunting
John Bunting has over 20 years of experience in technology and has worked for several Fortune 500 companies. He founded several startups and is the founder and CEO of Beeso Studio a startup studio focused on scaling technology startups. John has done work for; Siemens AG, Hyundai, Honda, Suzuki, Mazda, Kia, Electronic Arts, University of Phoenix, Kiewit, Creighton University, Northern Natural Gas, Graybar and First National Bank.
(0:00) Welcome to 10, the Tech Entrepreneurs Nebraska podcast (0:06) brought to you by the Nebraska Tech Collaborative. (0:08) I'm Shana Dorsey. (0:11) I messed that intro up, but anyway, it's okay.
(0:14) Shana Dorsey, Executive Director (0:15) of the Nebraska Tech Collaborative, (0:17) powered by Xarbon. (0:18) There we go. (0:18) You got all that.
(0:19) Got there. (0:20) All right. (0:20) All right, and I'm with my co-hosts.
(0:21) Yeah, I'm Brian Poppe. (0:23) I work at Mutual Omaha. (0:24) I lead one of the business units there.
(0:26) This is 10, as Shana said, (0:28) a 10-minute podcast designed to fit into your day. (0:31) There is 10 minutes, that's it. (0:33) No editing, so you get the live conversation.
(0:36) We're joined today by John Bunting. (0:38) John, how are you? (0:39) I'm good, I'm good. (0:40) Thanks for having me.
(0:41) Yeah, we are very excited that you're here today. (0:45) One of the few, at least that I'm aware of, (0:47) one of the few startup studios in Nebraska with BESO. (0:50) So you wanna tell us about BESO, what it does, (0:53) and then maybe how you got into that.
(0:55) Absolutely, and I'm gonna go a little backwards. (0:57) So I used to live in Las Vegas, (1:00) co-founded a startup studio there, (1:02) and then by happenstance, (1:04) I actually relocated to Omaha, Nebraska. (1:07) And it was interesting (1:08) because I looked at the landscape of Omaha, (1:10) and there really wasn't a startup studio in Omaha (1:13) or even in the Midwest, per se, (1:15) and so that is why I started BESO Studio here.
(1:18) And so, and what we do is we basically partner (1:21) with entrepreneurs. (1:23) We really look for venture-scalable tech startups, (1:26) and we look for, you know, (1:28) those entrepreneurs can be in Omaha, the Midwest, (1:30) and also across the United States. (1:33) Yeah, that's great.
(1:34) Boy, I've got a whole bunch of questions about like, (1:36) they moved from Las Vegas to Omaha, and like. (1:39) Wait, wait, wait, wait. (1:40) Before you jump into that.
(1:41) Yeah, okay, here we go. (1:42) Because I know, it's all good. (1:44) My question is, what is a startup studio (1:45) for people who don't know what that is? (1:47) There we go, this is perfect, good job.
(1:48) Absolutely, there's a few different models. (1:50) There's certainly a spectrum like accelerators, (1:53) but essentially, what a startup studio does (1:57) is it really provides the team that does the work. (2:01) Accelerators are very programmatic, educational, (2:05) experience, you know, in networking and such.
(2:07) A startup studio is more about doing, (2:09) more about actually doing the necessity of, you know, (2:12) the work needed to build a tech company. (2:15) That's really what makes them different. (2:16) So I'm just a person out there.
(2:20) I'm not even an entrepreneur yet. (2:21) I'm a person out there, (2:22) and I feel like I've got a great idea. (2:24) What happens from there? (2:26) What happens from there? (2:27) We have a process.
(2:28) I mean, we certainly do take our entrepreneurs (2:30) through a process to vet them (2:32) and understand the opportunity. (2:34) But ultimately, what will happen is we'll partner (2:36) with that tech startup, (2:38) and we will help them build their software. (2:40) We will help them with sales.
(2:41) We'll help them with marketing. (2:42) Also, we help them raise capital (2:44) through a network of investors that we have. (2:46) And also, there are some great opportunities (2:48) in Nebraska to actually get access to grants (2:51) and such, so we support that activity as well.
(2:54) Oh, that's super cool. (2:55) So, like, come up with the idea, (2:58) say, here's the mock-up, (3:00) and then they can come to you (3:00) to actually help turn it into a reality? (3:02) Is that kind of how that works? (3:03) Yeah, I mean, literally, (3:04) and we work with startups at all stages. (3:05) Could be, I have an idea, (3:07) or it could be something that's more seed or pre-seed (3:10) where they have a product with customers, (3:12) but they're trying to figure out the next level of growth (3:14) and try to capture additional revenue.
(3:17) Yeah, that's cool. (3:18) That is, and I know Brian has a lot of questions (3:20) about background and all of that, (3:21) and I definitely wanna get to that. (3:23) What do we have? (3:23) We have so much time.
Tons of time. (3:24) Okay, so what's one of your favorite stories (3:27) out of Viso Studio? (3:30) Probably the one that we're still engaged with (3:32) and working on. (3:33) We had a startup call us, (3:36) founder called us about three years ago, (3:38) and he says, hey, I got this idea.
(3:40) I've talked to many people. (3:41) They said it wasn't possible, (3:43) and we formulated a way to take their idea, (3:46) and basically, first off, (3:47) we had to do a technology proof of concept. (3:49) It was very technically challenging.
(3:52) Did that actually during COVID, (3:54) so it was a wild time, as you know, (3:57) COVID and everything shut down, (3:59) and we're in the middle of trying to prove some technology (4:01) that even with this feasible, (4:04) and then we literally took that, (4:06) helped them raise investment money (4:08) from saying angel investors and conversations there, (4:11) and it was fascinating to me talking to angel investors (4:15) because they really got our value. (4:17) They said basically, so you guys are vested. (4:19) You care about the quality, what it is, (4:23) and you're the team to build this (4:24) and carry this company forward, (4:25) and I'm like, yeah, we mitigate a lot of the normal risks (4:29) a startup would be exposed to, (4:32) and today, that startup is thriving.
(4:35) They're certainly on a great growth trajectory. (4:39) They'll probably double in revenue by the end of this year, (4:41) and they've raised a seed round. (4:44) I mean, they're really essentially the template (4:48) for a venture-scalable tech startup (4:51) in terms of their growth trajectory, (4:52) and they've done that within three years.
(4:55) Can you name them or no? (4:56) Yeah, I can. (4:57) It's Abstract. (4:57) Oh, right on.
(4:58) Yeah, so you can go Google it, Abstract AI, (5:01) so they do real-time call coaching, (5:04) and they have a very unique product (5:05) that really nobody on the market has, (5:09) and we've built it for a fraction (5:11) of what other unique or similar companies have spent, (5:16) so because of our expertise. (5:18) Yeah, that's super cool. (5:19) I mean, if there's anything I've learned, (5:21) like don't tell a Midwesterner they can't do something, (5:25) let alone a Midwesterner in technology (5:26) that it's impossible to do.
(5:28) I'll show you. (5:30) We're gonna make that. (5:31) The Midwest is a great opportunity.
(5:32) I mean, there's so much. (5:34) You think about the Midwest, specifically Omaha. (5:36) You have large Fortune 500 companies here.
(5:38) You have great educational institutions (5:41) with Creighton, UNO, and such, (5:44) and you just also have the can-do spirit of the Midwest, (5:48) and I say coupling those together (5:50) create a great ecosystem in terms of for tech startups (5:53) and for doing new things and really making a difference. (5:57) Yeah, that's cool, and maybe contrast that (5:59) with the Las Vegas Startup Studio. (6:01) Is there some difference in, I don't know, (6:03) maybe entrepreneurs that come through (6:05) or how companies get built (6:07) as compared to the two? (6:09) Yeah, there is a little bit of difference.
(6:11) I think here it's very focused on B2B SaaS. (6:15) I mean, you look at all the startups (6:16) that have had some success, it's B2B SaaS. (6:20) Investors here like B2B SaaS.
(6:22) In Las Vegas, it was a little bit heading towards, (6:26) we'll say, more social aspect of things, (6:29) more networking component (6:32) was always part of the startups there, (6:34) so I think you get different types of startups, (6:36) plus it's Las Vegas, so a lot of them have a gravity (6:39) towards the casino gaming industry as well, (6:42) so that's sort of the space. (6:44) I mean, but I think Midwest is, you know, (6:47) like I said, there's, and to be clear, (6:49) B2B SaaS is a major industry, (6:52) so there's lots of things there, (6:54) plus going back to the large corporations that are here, (6:57) it's a great incubator space to work with a large company (7:02) to take your B2B SaaS product (7:03) and introduce it to a brand marquee, a Fortune 500 company. (7:08) Right, that's amazing, and through the NTC, (7:10) we offer this, and it's an initiative or project, (7:14) I'm not sure what you want to call it, (7:15) but it's called Pitch Days, (7:16) so we do help connect startups to large companies, (7:20) and to your point, just the access is amazing here, (7:23) like people are more than willing to make introductions (7:25) and help people connect to who they need to speak with (7:28) to take things to the next level, amazing.
(7:30) So can you tell us how you decided (7:33) to move from Vegas to Nebraska, what was that all about? (7:36) I will say it this way, is that we, (7:39) when I co-founded a startup studio in Las Vegas, (7:42) we made some mistakes, and with our model, (7:44) with our approach, and ultimately, I was the CTO, (7:48) and it kind of just fizzled out, we'll say, (7:50) it just, you know, we ran out of funding, (7:52) it really didn't work out, (7:54) didn't work out between me and my partners, (7:56) and I called someone I knew actually here in Omaha, (8:00) and I said, hey, I'm looking for a job, (8:01) and he's like, well, if you want a job, move to Omaha. (8:04) I'm like, okay, so within about three days, (8:07) I packed up and I moved out here, (8:09) and then dragged my family with me a couple months later, (8:12) and I've been here for six years now, (8:15) and it was interesting, too, (8:17) is because that experience I had (8:18) with a previous startup studio, (8:20) I kind of formulated how to do it better, (8:23) the mistakes we made, and then how to improve upon them, (8:26) and how to make it more of an attractive model (8:28) for the investors, as well as the founders, (8:31) and really help them in the way I thought was best, (8:34) and so far, it's proving to be beneficial. (8:37) I mean, right now, we have 18 startups in our portfolio (8:40) spread across the United States.
(8:42) That's a pretty good portfolio of 18 companies. (8:46) So tell me, (8:48) if you could change one thing (8:52) about maybe the Nebraska entrepreneurial ecosystem, (8:55) what would that be? (8:57) I think it's going back to the mindset of, (9:02) there's really two different cultures here. (9:04) There's a lot of people working IT here.
(9:06) They all work for large-scale corporations, (9:09) and I think they're not familiar (9:11) or they're not comfortable with the risk (9:13) associated with doing a tech startup, (9:16) so I think that's one of the things (9:18) where as they see other people succeed (9:21) with some of the well-known startups here, (9:24) Workshop is one of the newest ones. (9:26) I think that's definitely having some success. (9:28) As they see that, I hope that they're gonna say, (9:31) hey, I could do that.
(9:32) I can take that risk, and it's a comfortable risk I have. (9:36) I would say that being in the Midwest, (9:38) people are a little bit more sensitive to that risk, (9:40) but I kind of foresee that happening. (9:43) That's awesome.
(9:44) Love that. (9:45) Yeah, well, good. (9:47) All right, we made it.
(9:48) We've got 10 seconds left. (9:49) John, thanks for joining us today. (9:50) Excellent, well, thank you for having me.
(9:52) Yeah, this has been 10, (9:53) your 10-minute Tech Entrepreneurs Nebraska podcast. (9:57) Thanks for joining us, everyone. (9:57) Thanks.
