Mark Haney: And now I am here with Monique Brown.
Mark Haney: She is co-founder of GFX.
Mark Haney: She is also the person that is doing the heavy lifting, the oversight, the leadership, the coordination of our annual event, gfx.
Mark Haney: Welcome to the show, monique.
Mark Haney: You've been on the show before.
Monique Brown: Yeah, no.
Monique Brown: Thanks for having me Excited to talk about this event to this way.
Mark Haney: We're going to talk about our favorite stuff, which is us and what we are working on or at least that's for me.
Mark Haney: And you know I was at.
Mark Haney: I was speaking to a group of high school kids the other day and they were like Mark, what were you like in high school?
Mark Haney: You don't want to know, but what did you want to be?
Mark Haney: What did you want to do?
Mark Haney: And you know, I don't know if I'd ever really had anybody ask me that specifically.
Mark Haney: I don't even think my kids have asked me that, but I think what I wanted to do when I was a kid and I think it's true still today is like when I grow up, I want to be a contributing member of a great team.
Mark Haney: Right, I want to be on a championship team and I just want to sort of play my my spot, play my role.
Mark Haney: And so that's why I think in many cases I've been kind of a reluctant leader, like hey, I don't, can you guys leave?
Mark Haney: But today I am fortunate because of you and Rick and Nikki and our leadership team it's I'm on a championship team and I feel that I guess for probably for the first time since we started our show is I am really part of this championship effort, and at the heart of it is really what we're working on to drive entrepreneurship outside of these four walls, and, you know, a big part of that is GFX, and so thank you for leading.
Mark Haney: Thank you for as the reluctant leader, thank you for leading, but today I want to maybe.
Mark Haney: I guess one of the things I want to do is talk about why we do what we do.
Mark Haney: Maybe start, though, with what is GFX, just so people have an idea, in case they're like what is GFX, buddy?
Monique Brown: Right, yeah, no good, good starting points.
Monique Brown: So I think what we're what we're doing with GFX is it's a we're calling it a cross sector innovation conference and it's really about setting the table for all of the stakeholders in the entrepreneurial ecosystem in the greater Sacramento region to come together to learn, to connect, to have some fun and hopefully, to build really our backyard advantage.
Monique Brown: And so it's our second year doing it.
Monique Brown: Last year, your number one was our little beta test and it was a good event.
Monique Brown: Last year we had about 600 people join us and a lot of startups presenting from stage and some really fantastic breakout sessions.
Monique Brown: This year, we're taking it up a notch, so it's full day.
Monique Brown: This year.
Monique Brown: We have multiple events within the event.
Monique Brown: We have two stages of content, breakout sessions, all sorts of great stuff and really, at the end of the day, the why behind it is to really get everybody together to showcase the work that is being done and to talk about the work yet to be done and figure out how we can work together.
Mark Haney: Yeah, from my standpoint.
Mark Haney: We'll talk about why in a second.
Mark Haney: But you think about this conference.
Mark Haney: So I was obviously at the last conference.
Mark Haney: You know we all did a little bit of lifting to put the last conference on that.
Mark Haney: You oversaw and really drove, but it was different and I think it was your idea or our collective team's idea to make it more.
Mark Haney: I'll call hands on and like let's help each other.
Mark Haney: It's always been that our attitudes is to show some love to our fellow Sacramento, our fellow entrepreneur, but to do it at a conference, oh that's interesting.
Mark Haney: I thought you just go to a conference and you attend and you watch and you listen and maybe you meet some people and maybe you're inspired, but to actually feel like you have a specific role other than solo.
Mark Haney: You're right, you're the slow, solo person that's coming to an event, or you and your team is coming to an event to get what you can out of it.
Mark Haney: This is a little bit more of come with you and your team to see what you can give to it, which is, I think, really a switch that is really unique and last year was really special I think of.
Mark Haney: When we talk about show and love to our fellow entrepreneur.
Mark Haney: I mean, it begins with getting to know them, and so there's a big component of getting to know one another.
Mark Haney: What are you working on?
Mark Haney: How can I help?
Mark Haney: And we begin to figure out ways to actually help one another right there during the conference.
Mark Haney: And of course, we'll get into the details on what's going into the conference in a minute.
Mark Haney: But, like, of course, there's, you know, a lot of the traditional things that are at a conference, but I, for me, the big difference is the approach to the conference.
Mark Haney: The approach is what can I give, not just what can I get.
Monique Brown: I 1000% agree with that and when we collected feedback from last year, it was the intangibles that made the difference.
Monique Brown: It was that feeling.
Monique Brown: It's a culture right At the end of the day, building a culture and providing great experiences.
Monique Brown: And it's hard to put your finger on what exactly ignites that, but I think certainly your leadership and vision and around what kind of culture we can build here in Sacramento and what makes us special, what makes us region special, and it's really setting the tone.
Monique Brown: For don't be a bystander, don't be a spectator, come, get involved, pull your sleeves up, and everybody can do that.
Monique Brown: Even if you're just celebrating somebody else, that's an act of participating, right.
Monique Brown: If you're elevating, if you're sharing hey, I just met this cool new company.
Monique Brown: They're doing XYZ Just, you know, they're seen, they're supported, they're celebrated in that way.
Monique Brown: It's not, it doesn't always have to be the big things.
Monique Brown: Even the little things matter.
Mark Haney: I think we're gonna have we're estimating about 1200 people double last year hopefully maybe more.
Mark Haney: It's at the grounds in Roseville.
Mark Haney: The venue is plenty big enough to hold more than that, but just in terms of where we're at today, that's kind of we're projecting out over 1000, maybe up to 1500.
Mark Haney: But I was thinking about the different events, the different conferences I've been to in my life.
Mark Haney: I've.
Mark Haney: You know, I used to own video stores, so there was something called the Video Software Dealers Association.
Mark Haney: We had a big event.
Mark Haney: It was a broadcast national association, a broadcasters, a big event.
Mark Haney: Right, these big Vegas events, security there's you know, ISC, international Security Conference and NASS and all these things, and they're all have a similar feel to them and you are just a small piece attending and this is, I agree.
Mark Haney: I think this is something that's not like any of those conferences, right?
Mark Haney: It's not that right.
Mark Haney: So if for for anybody who's listening, whatever conference you have been to, it's not that okay, it's different, and I think part of the reason is because it's in Sacramento.
Mark Haney: It's in Sacramento, so we all tend to know one another, like it's a community that has gone from three or four of us to 30 or 40 of us to, you know, 100 to now over a thousand, and people that get it.
Mark Haney: They understand the power of entrepreneurship, they understand the love of our hometown and that they know that many hands make light work.
Mark Haney: If we come together, we can.
Mark Haney: We can work together to help each other.
Mark Haney: It's very easy to do, especially in this.
Mark Haney: We'll call this a smaller conference kind of environment, but also with the way it's been built, kind of like from the inside out, starting with love and then so the people that love each other and get it.
Mark Haney: Now that group has expanded.
Mark Haney: So if you're listening, you might, and this kind of thing sounds interesting.
Mark Haney: You might want to be part of this group, right?
Mark Haney: If you think this group might be for you, oh wow, I can relate to that group you might want to think about going to growthfactoryus and get yourself a ticket.
Mark Haney: So, monique, I don't know if you want to comment on that.
Monique Brown: Yeah, no, I think you're right and I think that, again, throughout the day, we'll have people certainly coming and going, and so it doesn't feel like you're one in a crowd, right, there's a lot of kind of curated experiences that are very approachable and that are very personal.
Monique Brown: So it definitely, while we'll have a lot of people engaging, it won't I don't I anticipate that it will still feel like you're in your backyard, in your neighborhood, right, and a lot of different ways that you can engage throughout the day, just depending on who you're looking to connect with and what you're looking to learn.
Mark Haney: Interesting.
Mark Haney: So when I was growing up in my early 20s, and even as a kid growing up here in the Sacramento area, you used to be able to go to the video store or the grocery store and you run into somebody you know and you know I enjoyed that run.
Mark Haney: Was it really necessarily hiding out to you know?
Mark Haney: I don't want to run into anybody in the grocery store.
Mark Haney: To me there was something special about the smallness of going to the grocery store and seeing somebody that lives across town, but you knew them.
Mark Haney: This is going to be like that.
Mark Haney: If you are in the Sacramento business community and you come to this.
Mark Haney: It's going to be a little bit like back in the day when you go to the grocery store and you run into somebody you know, you will know somebody or some people here.
Mark Haney: Many of what you might call the who's, who of Sacramento will be there.
Mark Haney: The people that oversee some of these larger entities, the Greater Sacramento Economic Council, the different venture capitalists in town, the different banks in town.
Mark Haney: The entrepreneurs organization will be there the law firms but the entrepreneurs right, the people that own the stores you go into that are independently owned.
Monique Brown: Yeah, what I really like about this event actually speaking about that is, you know, we certainly at the growth factory, our fund is focused on venture backable companies, so high growth, scalable technology enabled our tech companies, right, and there is a heavy presence of those companies.
Monique Brown: But this event, you know, I'm so excited to engage our buildup Rockland companies, our Roosevelt Rising companies and many of these are bricks and mortar businesses in our communities that are doing really cool stuff and, you know, engage in our community and receiving mentorship and support in one way or another and they'll be there.
Monique Brown: You know, we just wrapped up the King's Capitalized Food Competition, which was a new program that they have launched this year, expanding the capitalized platform, and we have the great honor to work with them on that.
Monique Brown: A couple of those finalists will be there and these are amazing innovative food companies in our backyard, right, and so this is, you know, certainly there is a lot of venture and venture backable startups, you know that are there and connecting throughout the day and there's a lot of content for them.
Monique Brown: But it's not just for them, right, it's for the entrepreneurs in the region, it is for the Main Street businesses and the food and beverage entrepreneurs and the people who think like maybe I want to be an entrepreneur.
Monique Brown: You know, we have a lot of students who are coming from our partners at Sierra College in Sac State and William Jessup, uc Davis, right, because they're asking the questions what do I want to be when I grow up?
Monique Brown: How do I get involved?
Monique Brown: We have a couple of our Roosevelt Rising for High School students that will be supporting and running our startup showcase this year, and so we have students involved in the programming as well.
Mark Haney: So yeah, so much potential.
Mark Haney: I mean, that's kind of the interesting piece of this whole thing is how do we tap into the potential of the people of our region?
Mark Haney: And I like how you mentioned Main Street companies and companies that maybe view themselves as maybe not tech companies, but there'll be people that want to grow their company.
Mark Haney: I think all of us.
Mark Haney: When you get into business, if you're not growing, you're dying.
Mark Haney: So one way or the other, we need to have a growth mindset, which means a certain amount of innovation needs to happen.
Mark Haney: Even if you're not technically a tech company, you need to have an innovative mindset and by being around other people that are doing it a little bit different, doing it a little bit more innovatively, these light bulbs tend to click on and that it inspires us and maybe even you.
Mark Haney: Take one good idea and it can be game changing for a company.
Mark Haney: You think about quick quack car wash.
Mark Haney: Interesting example of it's a car wash.
Mark Haney: Okay, what's the big deal about a car wash?
Mark Haney: Brick and mortar sounds like a main street company, but yet those guys are figured out Johnson Johnson's a rock star.
Monique Brown: Yeah, are you?
Mark Haney: kidding me?
Mark Haney: Quick quacks everywhere.
Mark Haney: Now They've got them around the country and they're based out of here.
Mark Haney: It's a car wash, but they have an innovative business model.
Mark Haney: So you don't have to think I, you know, I had the technology, technology to cure disease or, to you know, do something in artificial intelligence.
Mark Haney: You could innovate your business model and scale it.
Mark Haney: How do you do that?
Mark Haney: Come to come to GFX.
Monique Brown: Well, I think that's a great point and it's really.
Monique Brown: I want to make sure we mention that we do have two stages this year.
Monique Brown: One of the stages is called the growth stage, powered by the entrepreneurs organization, who have been fantastic partners in this effort.
Monique Brown: They're leading a panel of EO members Again, a lot of different kinds of businesses.
Monique Brown: You know that will be talking about.
Monique Brown: You know their growth journeys and Jason will be on that stage with Kurt Rocha talking about quick quack and you know how innovation and a focus on customers helped him to succeed.
Monique Brown: We also have another company, a new front, which is an insurance company.
Monique Brown: Right, that has gone from a Y Combinator.
Monique Brown: They're tech enabled insurance, you know so they have a technology component, went through Y Combinator, which is a global name brand accelerator, and I believe their last race, series B, has them valued at 2.5 billion I think was the valuation, and you know insurance company and insurance companies.
Monique Brown: So so you know, I mean to your point.
Monique Brown: It's like, and I want to also point out, we have a great panel led by Nikki Sims, our team member, on AI and how, how should businesses, all businesses, be thinking about AI and AI empowered growth and efficiencies for their businesses, and it's something that applies really to everyone.
Mark Haney: So yeah, if you are not exposing your team or yourself to what's going on in the realm of driving efficiency for your business through artificial intelligence, we your, your competitors are, so you might want to rethink your strategy.
Mark Haney: You need to be exposing yourself to those concepts so that you can get a step ahead.
Mark Haney: It will.
Mark Haney: It's going to drive a competitiveness for your company, it's going to drive competitiveness for Sacramento and I think it's going to drive competitiveness for America because America is well positioned to.
Mark Haney: You know, with our tech, you know expertise and prowess and the way that venture is investing into these.
Mark Haney: You know this, this area.
Mark Haney: It is happening in Sacramento.
Mark Haney: I think it's really well positioned within the, within America.
Mark Haney: You know, right next to the, you know the Bay Area to really take advantage of some of those opportunities.
Monique Brown: Yeah, I agree, I, you know we have multiple talks on that, taisa McDell also, ted Ted, talker on the on AI, will be there talking from main stage as well.
Monique Brown: But I think the other piece I want to point out as you were thinking about competitiveness, both regionally, you know, statewide, and then nationally is is that we also collectively need to be partnering with our public sector leaders, and so that is why we look at this as a cross sector innovation conference and we have joining us, both as a part of the content, but also as attendees, many of our regional public sector leaders who have already taken, you know, big steps in investing in the future through the work that they're doing, you know, focused on innovation.
Monique Brown: So we're fortunate to be joined by the person who leads innovation for the governor's office of business and innovation statewide, coming up from LA to join us and talk about how the state's thinking about that.
Monique Brown: But we also have local leaders like Gloria Stearns and Hong Se from the city of Roosevelt, who will be joining us on the panel to talk about that as well, as we think about, like, again, together, how do we build a strong and healthy economy, as strong and vibrant and entrepreneurial ecosystem, and like really think about.
Monique Brown: How is innovation, you know, going to ensure a better future for all of us?
Mark Haney: Yeah, I.
Mark Haney: There may be a listener or two out there that can think of the old Ronald Reagan, joe Kaye, the government knocks on your door and says hi, I'm here from the government, I'm here to help and you know so.
Mark Haney: There is a group of entrepreneurs that may be thinking you know what do I?
Mark Haney: Why do I need the government?
Mark Haney: But you know they're in the way.
Mark Haney: Well, I want to reframe that because I think that there are a lot of people within government that get it right.
Mark Haney: They understand how public private partnerships can work together to drive outcomes for the private sector right For us, and it's us in the private sector that create the new jobs and, you know, figure out the way to change the world and all this economic growth.
Mark Haney: I mean we built America through entrepreneurship and innovation.
Mark Haney: And the government, many people within the government, realize that and they want to help create the playing field so that we can be successful here in Sacramento, so we can be here, successful here in California and in America.
Mark Haney: And those people will be here, the ones that get it.
Monique Brown: The ones that get it and I think increasingly and I see this nationally just got back from a conference in Indiana, as you know, and working and talking with you, know leaders from different states and working in different geographies and I think entrepreneurship is no longer a cute side hustle right, like I think you know, across the board, corporate, civic leaders are recognizing how critical it is to to sustainability, growth, competitiveness and it's got to be factored in to long term strategic plans.
Mark Haney: It has to be invested in, yeah, so you mentioned civic leaders, including government and people that are in economic development.
Mark Haney: Gsec, Greater Sacramento Economic Council, is obviously at the lead.
Mark Haney: They're a partner in this.
Mark Haney: Monet of Ventures is also a partner in this, and so there's an investor community.
Mark Haney: That that is going to be very well.
Mark Haney: You know they're going to be involved, and Monetta specifically, Five Star Bank, some of the other financial institutions in town, but you have Bay Area investors coming into our town too and it begins with a private accredited investor network that is open to accredited investors.
Mark Haney: Obviously, you got to sign up and all that kind of stuff, but maybe just kind of walk us through the day, beginning with the accredited investor breakfast sponsored by Five Star Bank.
Monique Brown: Yeah, no, five Star Bank has been doing their funders and founders kind of gatherings for a couple years and as this event took shape and we've partnered with them on that event multiple times historically as this event started take shape, I said to John you know what, if you know what, if we, what if we did a founders and funders you know at GFX and they were, you know, as they are great partners and game for some fun.
Monique Brown: And so we decided to kick off the day with that, so starting at 30 doors open with breakfast by Mario's early toast.
Mark Haney: So again show guest.
Monique Brown: Yeah, some of our favorite local restaurants and you know we have a couple of.
Monique Brown: We have.
Monique Brown: Tyson is coming up from LA great scale ventures.
Monique Brown: He'll be keynoting.
Monique Brown: Rick's leading a panel that includes some of our local venture leaders Kwame Onku from Black Star Fund, sarah Letterman, three plus ventures and Marcus Fernandez from Fiat Ventures.
Monique Brown: We'll be talking about emerging fund management and the opportunity that is exists with this group of fund managers.
Monique Brown: And then we have an exciting new addition to the morning content, which is really around sports in Sacramento and you know, another investment opportunity, but one that really drives, you know, tremendous kind of again similar to our tech, like culture, engagement, vibrancy and economic opportunities.
Mark Haney: So what I love about.
Mark Haney: I mean, I love winning and one of the things that the Sacramento Kings have been successful in doing.
Mark Haney: I think the Republic's been great at this too, and you know we've talked more recently in our previous podcast about having professional football here and I know some of those people will be speaking.
Mark Haney: And one thing about professional sports it it's a little bit like entrepreneurship.
Mark Haney: We tend to rally around the home team, so as we rally around our Kings and our Republic and our Sac State basketball team and football team and stuff, we rally, we like to pull for the locals and for whatever reason, we haven't done that around venture investing over the last you know, several decades.
Mark Haney: It's more, like you know, we'll invest wherever the money goes, wherever my wealth management tells me to put the money, but there really is a way to own a piece of Sacramento, and this will expose that opportunity to a certain extent, because it'll we'll be talking about kind of a put your money with where your town is, philosophy that the growth factory certainly has, but that also other people have that same sort of mentality, and so so who should attend?
Mark Haney: That Is that you said it's founders and funders.
Monique Brown: So founders could come to that too, Invited founders.
Mark Haney: So okay, so immediately you're interested, get yourself an invite, don't just show up.
Monique Brown: Correct Immediately after the content.
Monique Brown: Actually, we do have a curated, embedded group of founders that will be doing investor presentations.
Monique Brown: So all of our funders attending the breakfast will have the opportunity, in very efficient fashion, to get an overview of some really high potential deal flow in the region.
Monique Brown: So I think we have about 15 companies, a couple breakout rooms I think it's more than that actually but a couple breakout rooms of companies that will be doing kind of some rapid fire investment pitches and then we'll just, you know, leave them to network and connect with the founders that they are interested in.
Monique Brown: So who should attend?
Monique Brown: Any investors in the region you know, angel, micro, vc, vc, whatever that are interested in getting their finger on the pulse of deal flow in the region should be there.
Monique Brown: And you know we have our founders that we've prepared for those presentations and they're invited as well.
Monique Brown: So that's the morning.
Mark Haney: Could somebody who hasn't really spent a lot of time doing angel investing but is curious about this asset class?
Mark Haney: But they're accredited, they've got a high enough network, they make the amount of money you need to make their network's high enough.
Monique Brown: If they want to get invited.
Mark Haney: They can get invited.
Monique Brown: They can come.
Monique Brown: Yes, absolutely.
Monique Brown: It's a great opportunity to learn.
Monique Brown: Okay, yes, and so 100%.
Mark Haney: Okay, all right, so that's the investor breakfast and that, and then that transitions into the backyard awards.
Mark Haney: Yes, we're actually going to be recognizing the heroes of the American economy, of the Sacramento economy, right here at R&D.
Monique Brown: Yes, yes, another exciting opportunity.
Monique Brown: So partnering with Stolrieves, who, as you know, brought the Sac Region Innovation Awards to Sacramento back in 2016.
Monique Brown: They launched that kind of program in multiple markets and ran it here over the years, and you know this.
Monique Brown: Last year, we had an opportunity to talk with them about really embedding that in an event like GFX, where the ecosystem is already gathering.
Monique Brown: We're already working hard to elevate the work that's being done in the region.
Monique Brown: And how might we incorporate, you know, an awards section to the day?
Monique Brown: And so we do have this backyard awards lunch phenomenal group of finalists across nine awards, nine award categories, and so everyone is invited to this lunch, and so we'll be announcing the winners.
Monique Brown: So we have.
Monique Brown: We have all the finalists already identified, but announcing the winners during the lunch, I'm really taking a moment just to again back when we started the growth factory.
Monique Brown: What do we hear all the time?
Monique Brown: There's not enough good companies in Sacramento, and you know what?
Monique Brown: To this day, there's still some doubters, and so I think this is my favorite part of the day where I feel like we can say actually, you're wrong.
Monique Brown: This is where we want to invite the doubters If you're a doubter, please come.
Mark Haney: So, yeah, this is, I mean, I think it's really differentiated from the Innovation Awards.
Mark Haney: I've been a judge on the Innovation Awards for the last several years.
Mark Haney: I think you may have done that too.
Mark Haney: It's great and we're recognizing recognizing innovative products for the most part, and the way you've adjusted to make it different and I think I think really special is we're recognizing people that are making a difference, that have companies in many cases, but it's these people that are doing more than a.
Mark Haney: You know, this big invention right, it's not necessarily the specific invention, it's really you and the way you've brought it to our region.
Monique Brown: Is that a first statement?
Monique Brown: Yeah, I think it's really people centric.
Monique Brown: There are a couple categories that are for organizations, but, truthfully, behind those organizations are the leaders that are making things happen and are you know.
Monique Brown: So it'll be interesting to see who wins.
Monique Brown: But we do have awards, like our Golden Gear Award, which is really recognizing founders who stand out, not just because they know how to build a company, but because they do it here, with always giving back, like just involved in so many other ways in the region, helping other founders, and we see this all the time in our growth factory community.
Monique Brown: You know, the people who've had the most success quite often are the first ones to raise their hand when the next in line needs help, and you know.
Monique Brown: So that's the kind of person we're looking for, yeah.
Mark Haney: And it's that'll be a special.
Mark Haney: Is this an invite only as well, or no?
Monique Brown: No, everybody can come you can buy GFX plus lunch tickets on the website.
Mark Haney: Oh, just buy plus lunch.
Monique Brown: We would love, love, love, to have you there and get a sense for, for and the lunch is brought.
Mark Haney: Rayleigh's right, rayleigh's is, but this is not the ham sandwich you buy at the deli counter?
Monique Brown: No, it is not.
Mark Haney: This is like this is Rayleigh's bringing on their catering division to railies Rayleigh's is fueling a good portion of this event.
Monique Brown: Randy Peters is also going to be there.
Monique Brown: So it is not a sit down served meal.
Monique Brown: You will get your own food.
Monique Brown: It is a buffet, but but lots of really great.
Mark Haney: By the way, I didn't mean to interrupt.
Mark Haney: Sorry to interrupt you.
Mark Haney: Rayleigh's ham sandwich is good.
Mark Haney: I was not trying to put that down, yeah, no, for sure there's.
Monique Brown: it should be a good and one of my, one of our favorite new additions.
Monique Brown: Again, speaking about Kings capitalize the winner, sugar coated cupcakes will be on hand with and I can tell you this because they've tasted them.
Monique Brown: We had to taste them for the competition Best cupcakes I've ever in my life had.
Monique Brown: Um, so she will be there at their low calorie no car.
Monique Brown: No, I mean, they're so healthy.
Monique Brown: I tell you no.
Monique Brown: But you know what?
Monique Brown: This is a great story because you know she has a vending machine cupcake vending machine in the Roosevelt Galleria.
Mark Haney: Get out of here, no vending machine.
Monique Brown: Vending machine which she fills daily with fresh baked cupcakes.
Mark Haney: Where's it at I go in the mall, I get my wife's birthday too.
Mark Haney: I got to get her, so you've got to get over by the Creighton barrel, okay, great.
Monique Brown: And she's done some.
Monique Brown: She's done some pretty fantastic volume through that vending machine this last year.
Monique Brown: Really innovative business model with multiple channels, but the best cupcakes.
Mark Haney: So would it be wrong of me to go buy my wife's birthday present from a vending machine?
Mark Haney: Would that be no?
Monique Brown: This is like you could tell her it's unique.
Mark Haney: How many?
Monique Brown: cupcake vending machine.
Monique Brown: Cupcakes, have you had?
Mark Haney: I think I could get away with that Lavender lemon.
Mark Haney: You've had that one, the winning cupcake.
Monique Brown: OK.
Mark Haney: I love it.
Mark Haney: Ok, so backyard awards is the launch, and then the kickoff is at one, and this is where probably even a larger group of people will roll in and begin to understand more about what this conference can really mean.
Mark Haney: We put it on steroids.
Mark Haney: We start helping one another.
Mark Haney: Is that a fair statement?
Monique Brown: I think that's right.
Monique Brown: I think this is where the fun begins, or actually the whole day's fun.
Monique Brown: But yeah, the chaos maybe, but no, we have kickoff on main stage at one.
Monique Brown: We're excited for our team to share a little bit about what's been going on.
Monique Brown: We have a wonderful keynote Ira Aaron Price, double bottom line partners, DBL partners.
Monique Brown: Coming up from the Bay Area he's on the board of Tesla for 16 years and just tremendous experience in the venture space, but really looking at investing with that double bottom line and so how are we investing in innovations that can really change our world and do good in our world while making money?
Monique Brown: So he'll be speaking.
Mark Haney: OK, that's what double bottom line is Make money, but do good yeah.
Monique Brown: Yeah, yeah, so he'll be speaking on that.
Monique Brown: And then we have our ecosystem panel, led by Cameron Law.
Monique Brown: That will really give a snapshot of some of the really great work that's being done across the region.
Monique Brown: You see, davis, and we have Rashawn Davis joining us from Culture, wayne Wiley from City of Roosevelt, so representatives from across the region, cross sectors, who will talk a little bit about the ecosystem building work that's happening.
Mark Haney: Yeah, so the day is filled.
Mark Haney: The morning is filled with investors and awards, the afternoon is a series of inspirational educational speakers.
Mark Haney: I understand that we have the two stages.
Mark Haney: We have the main stage and the growth stage, so those sort of speak for themselves Maybe some of the key notes.
Mark Haney: People that you is John Bissell speaking.
Mark Haney: John Bissell from Origin Anybody else that we need to mention in terms of like a draw, that might be a speaker.
Monique Brown: Yeah, I believe Azra Games, Michael Chang and Marco Taro will be joining us.
Monique Brown: Yeah, so that'll be exciting.
Monique Brown: I mean, just go to growthfactoryus.
Monique Brown: Look at the agenda.
Monique Brown: The lineup is really good across both stages.
Monique Brown: I will say put your seatbelts on.
Monique Brown: We have 30-minute sessions, so we don't want people sitting and snoozing.
Monique Brown: These are content bites, so we're going to be snacking all day.
Monique Brown: So go grab bites of content from different areas.
Monique Brown: Just ignite your brain and make sure you meet people.
Monique Brown: But it'll be rapid fire, but a great exposure to a lot in a short period of time.
Mark Haney: And we have breakout rooms and I know one of the I want you to describe the breakout rooms, but one of the breakout rooms that I did not get to go to last year because I was I think I was working the main stage all day and but there was something called speed mentoring.
Monique Brown: Mentor sprint.
Mark Haney: And that got, as we did all our survey afterwards, hey, what do you think?
Mark Haney: And people loved the event, but that was one that got mentioned a lot.
Monique Brown: Yeah, well, this is the participate part.
Mark Haney: OK.
Monique Brown: Right, and so this year that will actually be right on the Expo floor this year, again led by Cameron Law, Carlson Center for Innovation, Entrepreneurship and Startup Sacks Laura Good the two of them are partners in crime on this and do a phenomenal job really connecting our startup founders with mentors in rapid fashion.
Monique Brown: If you're interested as a startup or a mentor to get involved, there is information on the website for how you can sign up for that, and if you don't get the sign up done before the event, you show up at the event, just go tap Cameron on the shoulder.
Monique Brown: He'll love me for saying this and I'm sure he can fit you in there somewhere.
Monique Brown: But yeah, get involved.
Mark Haney: All right.
Mark Haney: What are the breakout rooms?
Mark Haney: What happens there?
Mark Haney: If you've never been to the grounds in the Roblin Roblin Center, it's the largest hardwood palace.
Mark Haney: My granddaughter plays volleyball there, I think, in California.
Mark Haney: So it's big, open building that can be broken up.
Mark Haney: But then there's also these I'll call it offices that are smaller in size that we use as breakout rooms.
Mark Haney: What happens in those?
Monique Brown: Yeah, in one of those for most of the afternoon we have startup presentations, our startup showcase, and so we have, across the board, I think, just under 20 companies that will be presenting throughout the day.
Monique Brown: So, again, a great place to go and meet founders who are building their businesses here.
Monique Brown: Get a sense for what's happening.
Monique Brown: You don't have to sit through all of them, go stop in, watch a couple and just see how you can help, because in that room, because it's a public.
Monique Brown: So the morning pitches are investor pitches.
Monique Brown: They're targeted towards fundraising.
Monique Brown: The afternoon pitches, everybody's welcome to attend.
Monique Brown: We will have venture investors in there providing feedback to our founders.
Monique Brown: So there will be investors in the room, but the asks are really community asks, so they're not fundraising asks.
Monique Brown: So there is something that you can do to help one of those companies.
Monique Brown: So definitely stop in there.
Monique Brown: The other two breakouts are opportunities for more specific content and conversations.
Monique Brown: So we have topics like Food and Ag Innovation.
Monique Brown: John Selleb, agstart, it's doing incredible work in Woodland, incredible work with UC Davis.
Monique Brown: He's just such a leader in the Food and Ag space.
Monique Brown: He's going to be leading a conversation on Food and Ag Innovation.
Monique Brown: We have a panel on the government's role in innovation with some of the people I'd mentioned before.
Mark Haney: I'm trying to think what else?
Monique Brown: Oh, david Bland, our friend David Bland, who's the author of Testing Business Ideas a phenomenal resource, really great guy is leading a live workshop, so walking through testing business assumptions and assumptions mapping, which I'll tell you what is a super powerful tool for any business and go in and have a free live workshop with someone.
Monique Brown: And we have some books for those that attend, a little giveaway.
Monique Brown: And then, finally, I'll mention our workforce panel Lisa Thie, who Ted Talker, ai expert, entrepreneur.
Monique Brown: She'll be keynoting on Main Stage in the afternoon, but she's also on a panel around workforce alongside some other amazing leaders Louis Stewart from NVIDIA, carmen Marsh, donna and our Donna will be on that panel also talking about eSports.
Monique Brown: But Lisa just published her book Go Reboot your Career in 90 Days and it's really looking at workforce and AI and stuff, and so she'll also be giving her books away and signing books in that breakout.
Monique Brown: So those are some of the kinds of things that are happening there and there'll be.
Mark Haney: There's a trade show area in the middle, kind of in the open space between the two stages, where people will set up.
Mark Haney: These are people that are helpful to the founders.
Mark Haney: There may be some founders set up in there.
Mark Haney: There'll be kind of an area that's let's call it people won't be talking at you.
Mark Haney: You can kind of walk down the aisles and meet people and shake hands.
Mark Haney: Entrepreneurs' organization will have a table there.
Mark Haney: People like that within this community will have a table, and to me that's kind of an interesting place to meet people when you're doing that.
Mark Haney: It's a place outside of somebody speaking where you can actually socialize.
Mark Haney: And the other one that we're going to have like that is there's a lounge and I believe there's a meet and greet with politicians, which is kind of an interesting.
Mark Haney: Plaster County Association of Realtors has helped us bring together not just politicians from Plaster County but to kind of help drive this.
Mark Haney: Bring in some of the politicians that really want our feedback on how to drive business.
Mark Haney: They want the real, the boots on the ground.
Mark Haney: Let's call this the boots on the ground.
Mark Haney: They want to interact with us.
Mark Haney: That's a value to them and so they're going to be here to listen and then answer questions.
Mark Haney: That should be really helpful.
Mark Haney: There's not that many places where you can go meet a bunch of people that are, and again, when you're thinking about a lot of us turn on the news and it's like all this national divisiveness around politics.
Mark Haney: That's not what you have at the local level.
Mark Haney: At the local level, for the most part, the Democrat, republican thing kind of goes away.
Mark Haney: It's like wait, how do we roll up our sleeves and help make good decisions so that we have a nice community, good school stuff like that.
Monique Brown: Yeah, no, I think that's true.
Monique Brown: The Expo floor is going to be great.
Monique Brown: There are so many entrepreneurial support organizations that will be there.
Monique Brown: We're super excited to be hosting them.
Monique Brown: These are, these are the workhorses of this effort.
Monique Brown: Right A day in and day out, they're out there trying to help our entrepreneurs.
Monique Brown: So, again, organizations like Startup Sack and the Carlson Center, ag Start, clean Start, alchemist Kitchen, alchemist Incubator, sbdc, medro Chamber, hispanic Chamber, all the organizations and we have a lot of our business resource partners that will be there, like Montpac, who will have, you know, and they're great partners that help so many of our founders with their financials and stuff like that.
Monique Brown: And then, most definitely, our founders and this is a great place to go again learn about what people are working on, and I just challenge everybody to come into the event, you know, with maybe a couple asks in mind and to come into the event with the intention to walk away from the event with like five ways you can help somebody else you know, and so these are the places where those conversations can happen, and you know we can set the table, but you know we can't make the relationships.
Monique Brown: That's everybody else's job right.
Monique Brown: And so I see like so many people come up to me from last year and said, hey, we met at GFX last year and this is what we've done since, and that makes me so happy, you know.
Monique Brown: So I'm hoping we can have that happen again this year.
Mark Haney: Yes, and at the end of the day there is happy hour.
Mark Haney: So for anybody who's wondering, you don't have to leave early.
Mark Haney: It's a great place to get some of those deeper conversations going.
Mark Haney: Sometimes is during happy hour where people are.
Mark Haney: You know, at the end of the day you relax a little bit more typically.
Mark Haney: But one of the things that I'm reminded of in the way that you described the mood and the atmosphere is you, Rick, and myself.
Mark Haney: We were in my office up here, kind of over there near where Scott is right now, and we're getting ready to start the growth factory, and we knew we were gonna do it.
Mark Haney: We had made the decision, but we wanted some feedback and so we decided who are the three people that we should call first.
Mark Haney: Right, well, who should the first three calls be to?
Mark Haney: To kind of get that initial, you know, put our foot in the water, as we, you know, come out of the four walls of these offices.
Mark Haney: And the first call we made was to Dale Carlson, carlson Center sleep train.
Mark Haney: A lot of people know Dale, very philanthropic, wise man, and he said what are you working on, Mark?
Mark Haney: How can I help?
Mark Haney: And I was like, oh man, that, what a great attitude, right.
Mark Haney: Next call we made was to Barry Broom.
Mark Haney: He runs the Greater Sacramento Economic Council and he said the same thing what are you working on?
Mark Haney: How can I help?
Mark Haney: And then we decided to call the third person and financial guy that we all respect for, moneta Ventures, loca, chikaria.
Mark Haney: What are you working on?
Mark Haney: Again, the same thing gets the call what are you working on?
Mark Haney: How can I help?
Mark Haney: And I think it's that spirit that I know is going to exude itself in GFX and it's cause a lot of us are a little bit shy about how do I help somebody?
Mark Haney: I don't know what to do.
Mark Haney: I'm coming to this conference, mark, you're telling me to show some love.
Mark Haney: You're telling me to help people.
Mark Haney: How do I do that?
Mark Haney: You just have to ask one little thing, same as those three what are you working on?
Mark Haney: How can I help?
Mark Haney: And if you stop and listen, the idea is your imagination will go through the roof and the collective imagination of Sacramento's entrepreneurial ecosystem, the leaders, the people that get it.
Mark Haney: We start tapping into the collective imagination instead of just Mark and Rick and Monique's imagination and Locash and Dale and Barry Now we've got all the rest and all of you.
Mark Haney: It's like the collective imagination is so powerful on how we grow our businesses.
Monique Brown: Yeah, I can't agree more, and I think the one kind of sentence that goes through my mind as you're talking is that you belong here.
Monique Brown: I think the other question sometimes people think is this for me, do I belong?
Monique Brown: And the answer is yes, if you can come with that mindset and that heart, then you belong here.
Mark Haney: All right, so it is GFX.
Mark Haney: It's all about love, it's all about helping each other, all that touchy-feely stuff.
Mark Haney: You're going, mark, are you sure?
Mark Haney: Yes, it's gonna be okay.
Mark Haney: It's October 5th.
Mark Haney: At the grounds, great place, plenty of parking.
Monique Brown: You don't have to pay to park, free parking Goodness.
Mark Haney: You get your tickets on growthfactoryus.
Mark Haney: That's fine.
Mark Haney: Anything else they need to know.
Mark Haney: Tele-friend.
Monique Brown: Tele-friend, come join us.
Monique Brown: The only last thing I'll say is that this day for happy hour comment you have to.
Monique Brown: You have to because the food and beverage once again I'm just super excited about our food and beverage entrepreneurs is gonna be so good yeah so stay Is the taco guy gonna be there.
Mark Haney: The taco guy is coming.
Monique Brown: We have our bow buns from the capitalized finalists for bow buns.
Mark Haney: I don't even know what those are, so good they're coming to the golf tournament too.
Mark Haney: Oh okay, hated this golf tournament coming up in a week.
Mark Haney: You can do plenty of time to say that that might be over, who knows.
Mark Haney: But anyway, thanks for joining me on the show.
Mark Haney: Thanks for putting on GFX.
Mark Haney: It's where the.
Mark Haney: You know we're talking about branding Sacramento.
Mark Haney: You know there's a whole discussion around how do you brand Sacramento.
Mark Haney: I think we should brand it around the love that the backyard advantage represents and the way Sacramento is uniquely positioned to sort of bring that love to me.
Mark Haney: We're on the forefront of how to change the brand image of Sacramento Absolutely.
Mark Haney: Thank you.