1 0:00:00,903 --> 0:00:08,405 Mark Haney: And now I'm here with Eva Shepard and she goes by Eva or Eva, which I'm kind of like I don't know which to call her.

2 0:00:08,425 --> 0:00:19,248 Mark Haney: I'll call her Eva just for for the sake of the show, but she is doing a lot of the same work that the growth factory is doing at a different scale.

3 0:00:19,288 --> 0:00:21,395 Mark Haney: She covers a really big area.

4 0:00:21,455 --> 0:00:30,889 Mark Haney: She is the executive director of Chico Start, among other things, but you are helping entrepreneurs right, which is what I love, so I want to hear about that.

5 0:00:30,909 --> 0:00:32,502 Mark Haney: But maybe just start with your background.

6 0:00:32,823 --> 0:00:35,168 Mark Haney: What led you to this line of work?

7 0:00:35,549 --> 0:00:35,789 Eva Shepherd: okay.

8 0:00:36,792 --> 0:00:53,179 Eva Shepherd: So I was in the Bay Area doing any number of startups venture capital being on both sides of the table and venture capital and once I got a taste of startups first while I was doing VC, I went oh, there's my tribe, right, there's my people why?

9 0:00:53,259 --> 0:00:54,222 Mark Haney: why are they your people?

10 0:00:54,543 --> 0:01:21,928 Eva Shepherd: I'm utilitarian, you know you get to roll up your sleeves, do whatever, take your more of a less risk averse and their enthusiasm and passion was very attractive and actually in that back in the day when I was doing that you know, 80s and 90s that's also when I learned that the intellectual property really, really resided with the people.

11 0:01:23,033 --> 0:01:24,078 Eva Shepherd: I'm not saying that we don't.

12 0:01:24,239 --> 0:01:31,304 Eva Shepherd: You know there's a lot of value that's added by your intellectual property, that's a patent or things that.

13 0:01:31,365 --> 0:01:40,375 Eva Shepherd: But I really kind of felt that that's what and learned firsthand that that was what it really was the people.

14 0:01:40,856 --> 0:01:41,699 Mark Haney: I know the people.

15 0:01:41,760 --> 0:01:45,843 Mark Haney: That's interesting because anybody listening or watching this it hasn't been around startups.

16 0:01:47,550 --> 0:01:48,393 Mark Haney: Maybe you don't get it.

17 0:01:48,474 --> 0:01:49,558 Mark Haney: They're a different breed.

18 0:01:49,618 --> 0:01:54,056 Mark Haney: They are awesome, the hardest working people in the world they get.

19 0:01:54,077 --> 0:02:00,223 Mark Haney: They make no money at the beginning and you know the chances of hitting it big or slim, but when they do it is.

20 0:02:00,504 --> 0:02:15,484 Mark Haney: It is beautiful to watch and it's fun to live vicariously through their desire and their you know blood, sweat and tears yes, and you learn a lot about yourself when you're in, exposed to those teams and groups and in those situations.

21 0:02:16,066 --> 0:02:25,943 Eva Shepherd: And you know it's kind of like if you're someone who's naturally curious, you're gonna stay curious when you're around those folks and you're gonna be on that.

22 0:02:28,689 --> 0:02:32,168 Eva Shepherd: The visual that's coming to my mind right now is like being on a really fast treadmill.

23 0:02:32,852 --> 0:03:17,845 Mark Haney: Yes, you know, I'm sure there's something more eloquent I could have said there, but that was a visual that came okay, so your Bay Area you're on both sides of the table and venture capital, so you must have been part of startups and then also your venture capitalist as well so I did corporate venture capital for a company that used to exist a long time code called 3com, and in that space we did licensing's, mergers, joint ventures, acquisitions etc okay, so yeah, yeah before that, the way before that I were also was an interspersed with startups and things, but before that I worked for a company called technology funding real straightforward name, right, and they were on 92 and I'll meet at us Pogos in Sumitail and I worked for the partners there and that's that was my first taste.

24 0:03:19,288 --> 0:03:27,628 Eva Shepherd: And then I got to take my experience and startups and business development and other acumen when I was doing corporate venture capital for 3com oh, gotcha, okay.

25 0:03:27,669 --> 0:03:29,335 Mark Haney: So then that led you.

26 0:03:29,395 --> 0:03:36,078 Mark Haney: All that experience and understanding of the industry and the sector led you to Chico.

27 0:03:36,419 --> 0:03:56,869 Eva Shepherd: I mean that's interesting, yeah there's a few jumps in between, so all the kids were out of the house and in college about five, six, seven years ago now and we already owned property up in county and we're like, hey, we're paying a lot of money for college, let's, let's regroup where our market, just, you know, cheaper.

28 0:03:57,631 --> 0:04:02,871 Eva Shepherd: When I first bought property up in butte County, I could see the potential.

29 0:04:03,051 --> 0:04:04,863 Eva Shepherd: I mean, it's a university town, you know.

30 0:04:04,883 --> 0:04:05,925 Eva Shepherd: You're surrounded by ag.

31 0:04:06,186 --> 0:04:07,810 Eva Shepherd: You have this really diverse population.

32 0:04:07,830 --> 0:04:16,329 Eva Shepherd: I hadn't done any studying about the North States population, I just went oh, I'm near a lake, yay, you know, I just.

33 0:04:16,630 --> 0:04:33,847 Eva Shepherd: But when we decided to regroup, I quickly applied all my due diligence, you know acumen, to that and I was started looking at who's doing venture capital, who's doing networking events, who's doing tech, you know, and started, you know, introducing myself to people and doing outreach, and that's how I met Monique at one point to and you know.

34 0:04:34,288 --> 0:04:49,183 Eva Shepherd: So I could see that there were some huge gaps in the system right up there, the huge gaps in an quote-unquote ecosystem up there, whereas, being in the barrier for 30 years, you know you could throw a rock and hit a venture capitalister, go to a tech event, right anyway.

35 0:04:49,664 --> 0:05:00,422 Eva Shepherd: So we just ended up there, after also managing a ranch for a year, and because we're both my husband and I are both the ag backgrounds and and then we regrouped there.

36 0:05:00,523 --> 0:05:04,299 Mark Haney: Yeah, it was fun and so tell me about the work that you do.

37 0:05:04,319 --> 0:05:12,052 Mark Haney: Maybe more specifically, you said you covered like 23 counties or something like that, out of, but based out of, the Chico area, correct?

38 0:05:12,313 --> 0:05:12,634 Eva Shepherd: correct.

39 0:05:12,654 --> 0:05:27,465 Eva Shepherd: So as a governor's office of business, go biz Cal, osba, california, office of small business advocate, we are an innovation hub and which was just recently rebranded to accelerate California innovation hubs.

40 0:05:28,769 --> 0:05:33,522 Eva Shepherd: In that designation, my role is to cover the whole North State.

41 0:05:34,044 --> 0:05:35,067 Eva Shepherd: So what is the?

42 0:05:35,128 --> 0:05:42,712 Mark Haney: North State yeah right, it's this big space I've heard a nor north of California, but it's, it's not distinct.

43 0:05:42,772 --> 0:05:50,740 Eva Shepherd: So I've learned it's distinct when it comes to allocations and congressional coverage and things like that.

44 0:05:50,761 --> 0:06:07,646 Eva Shepherd: So basically the north, far north, is kind of around Yuba, but you know, if it's kind of you can't do a straight line across on the bottom but you can go all the way to the coast, all the way to Nevada border and all the way to the Oregon border, so it's pretty large.

45 0:06:07,987 --> 0:06:17,234 Eva Shepherd: I also overlap, strangely, with one county, one or two counties south of that with their i-hubs.

46 0:06:17,314 --> 0:06:19,603 Eva Shepherd: Based on previous work we've done, okay.

47 0:06:19,623 --> 0:06:35,094 Mark Haney: So when I think of the North State and again, my geography is probably not the best, but big are there any bigger cities in that, in that, or it's because everything's kind of spread out, it's like yeah, so Chico is the largest population center in the North State.

48 0:06:35,232 --> 0:06:35,949 Eva Shepherd: How many people?

49 0:06:36,088 --> 0:06:39,766 Eva Shepherd: Are in Chico, about a hundred 11,000 is that call?

50 0:06:39,807 --> 0:06:40,849 Eva Shepherd: Is that include college students?

51 0:06:41,090 --> 0:06:44,648 Eva Shepherd: That does not include college okay so that varies right every year.

52 0:06:44,668 --> 0:06:45,781 Mark Haney: Okay, I didn't realize it was that big.

53 0:06:45,841 --> 0:06:49,860 Eva Shepherd: 110,000, is that 111, I think I saw on the green sign when I left town today.

54 0:06:49,960 --> 0:06:55,963 Mark Haney: Yeah, okay okay, you knew interesting, I didn't realize it was that big okay yeah, but we are the last stop.

55 0:06:56,003 --> 0:07:02,287 Eva Shepherd: Before you know, you hit a large town in Oregon, so we are the largest area, but it I saw.

56 0:07:02,327 --> 0:07:08,670 Eva Shepherd: I cover approximately 50,000 square miles, but that's only about a million people okay so what you were.

57 0:07:08,750 --> 0:07:09,312 Mark Haney: Where's your favorite?

58 0:07:09,380 --> 0:07:13,022 Mark Haney: Like Shasta would be, like I'm thinking, the favorite place I would like to go if I.

59 0:07:13,163 --> 0:07:16,601 Mark Haney: I mean Chico is cool, it's a party town for if you're a college student that's what they say.

60 0:07:16,662 --> 0:07:31,526 Mark Haney: Yeah, okay yes, I have friends that went there and I'm I can validate well known for that yes, but so you got Chico, and then obviously you beside is include Marysville to, or no, I'm correct.

61 0:07:31,807 --> 0:07:35,117 Mark Haney: Okay, and so what would be the next biggest town?

62 0:07:35,317 --> 0:07:46,894 Eva Shepherd: Oh Reading, oh Reading, okay, so Reading, and then beyond that, you know you have your smattering of towns like Wairika, and you know Wairika and Eureka and right.

63 0:07:46,914 --> 0:07:48,038 Mark Haney: And then what's along the coast?

64 0:07:48,078 --> 0:07:49,302 Mark Haney: You said it goes all the way to the coast.

65 0:07:49,322 --> 0:07:49,664 Eva Shepherd: Correct.

66 0:07:49,945 --> 0:08:13,050 Eva Shepherd: So from from the top down, you have Del Norte County right and then you have Humboldt County and then you have Mendocino County and then you have Lake County right and then on the interior, the elbow I like to call the elbow that brushes up against Nevada is Lassen, sierra Plumas, nevada County.

67 0:08:15,095 --> 0:08:18,248 Eva Shepherd: I also cover Placer and all the way down to Alpine.

68 0:08:18,549 --> 0:08:21,639 Mark Haney: Oh, okay, I didn't know, you covered Placer, so you covered all the area too.

69 0:08:21,659 --> 0:08:22,942 Mark Haney: Yes, okay, I didn't realize that.

70 0:08:22,962 --> 0:08:23,945 Mark Haney: Yes, I do.

71 0:08:24,185 --> 0:08:32,416 Mark Haney: Okay, so you do entrepreneurial ecosystem development work Right, and are you hands on with entrepreneurs, or who are these?

72 0:08:32,818 --> 0:08:33,480 Mark Haney: What are these people?

73 0:08:34,402 --> 0:08:34,703 Mark Haney: You know?

74 0:08:34,804 --> 0:08:35,987 Mark Haney: Typically are they startups.

75 0:08:36,609 --> 0:08:38,395 Eva Shepherd: So I'll break it into two.

76 0:08:38,556 --> 0:08:39,903 Eva Shepherd: I'll break that question into two pieces.

77 0:08:40,165 --> 0:08:51,526 Eva Shepherd: One, the entrepreneurial ecosystems, about bringing in partners that we may not have, so filling the gaps, yeah, and so sometimes I'm doing outreach all the way to the Bay Area for that, for, say, rapid prototyping, commercialization, etc.

78 0:08:53,355 --> 0:08:54,942 Eva Shepherd: Things that we don't have in the North State.

79 0:08:56,407 --> 0:08:59,799 Eva Shepherd: Other things that would include investors too, because capital is a huge hole.

80 0:09:00,019 --> 0:09:18,395 Eva Shepherd: Right, although we just got a new oops sorry, I didn't mean although we just got a new venture capital group up in Humboldt, very happy to say Lascaux Ventures, that let's give them a shout out there, and a smattering of private and angels.

81 0:09:18,575 --> 0:09:21,883 Eva Shepherd: But I mean it's nothing like what Sacramento's got going on.

82 0:09:21,943 --> 0:09:28,506 Mark Haney: Okay, right, I feel like Sacramento and Placer County is part of this this is Sacramento region is turning a corner.

83 0:09:28,567 --> 0:09:39,206 Mark Haney: Where we were, our image was maybe a little less of a great place to do a startup at least, but I mean it's got small business but now the startup community is strengthening quite a bit.

84 0:09:39,535 --> 0:09:55,599 Eva Shepherd: Absolutely Between the growth factory, sea, sacramento Entrepreneurship Academy and other huge efforts, whether they're out of the SBDC and Capital Quarter, whether they're the surrounding counties.

85 0:09:55,699 --> 0:09:58,513 Eva Shepherd: Outgrow, oh my goodness, love, outgrow and love what they're doing.

86 0:09:58,533 --> 0:10:00,641 Eva Shepherd: The city's invested Right.

87 0:10:00,982 --> 0:10:02,888 Eva Shepherd: Yes, I keep sending.

88 0:10:03,269 --> 0:10:05,215 Eva Shepherd: So I know Louisa and he sends me the updates.

89 0:10:05,275 --> 0:10:06,461 Eva Shepherd: Oh yeah, I keep sending to my city.

90 0:10:06,501 --> 0:10:07,526 Eva Shepherd: Say this is what you should do.

91 0:10:07,687 --> 0:10:08,611 Mark Haney: He gets it.

92 0:10:08,651 --> 0:10:09,395 Mark Haney: He understands it.

93 0:10:09,575 --> 0:10:13,383 Mark Haney: Yeah, okay, so you work with economic development people.

94 0:10:13,884 --> 0:10:19,806 Mark Haney: Louisa's economic development leader over in Elk Grove Right, darryl Doane.

95 0:10:20,688 --> 0:10:22,374 Eva Shepherd: I don't work with Darryl directly, I know that name.

96 0:10:22,815 --> 0:10:30,358 Mark Haney: Okay, yeah, so you work with those people to help them drive economic development and, predominantly, entrepreneurship.

97 0:10:30,558 --> 0:10:30,899 Eva Shepherd: Correct.

98 0:10:31,200 --> 0:10:34,867 Eva Shepherd: So, and that's more about answering it in two parts.

99 0:10:34,908 --> 0:10:41,841 Eva Shepherd: So, yes, we are pulling together as many partners as possible to help support the North State and then fill in the gaps.

100 0:10:42,062 --> 0:10:43,931 Eva Shepherd: And again, it could be from the area.

101 0:10:44,071 --> 0:10:48,081 Eva Shepherd: A lot of times, as we know, it has come out of the area and then separately.

102 0:10:48,823 --> 0:10:51,067 Eva Shepherd: I do do work Is that good English?

103 0:10:51,408 --> 0:10:54,942 Eva Shepherd: I do do work one-on-one with entrepreneurs as well.

104 0:10:55,303 --> 0:10:55,584 Mark Haney: Okay.

105 0:10:55,624 --> 0:11:04,989 Eva Shepherd: So one-on-one counseling, technical assistance, and we do help support a handful of industry sectors as well through Chico Start.

106 0:11:05,655 --> 0:11:07,842 Eva Shepherd: Okay, we have initiatives that pay us to do that as well.

107 0:11:08,063 --> 0:11:10,217 Mark Haney: How much of this you know.

108 0:11:10,237 --> 0:11:12,752 Mark Haney: When I think at Chico Start, I don't think about the whole North State.

109 0:11:12,792 --> 0:11:13,857 Mark Haney: It's interesting, it's okay.

110 0:11:13,897 --> 0:11:16,265 Mark Haney: Yeah, so interesting to know that.

111 0:11:16,726 --> 0:11:20,497 Mark Haney: I know you have you as Chico Start, but you cover a huge territory.

112 0:11:21,059 --> 0:11:25,770 Mark Haney: What's the impact that you're making All?

113 0:11:25,790 --> 0:11:25,951 Eva Shepherd: right.

114 0:11:26,011 --> 0:11:34,229 Eva Shepherd: Well, so I just took over about three years ago, but Chico Start itself is enjoying its 10-year anniversary this year.

115 0:11:34,375 --> 0:11:34,896 Eva Shepherd: Thank you very much.

116 0:11:36,220 --> 0:11:38,305 Eva Shepherd: You can dub in some applause here.

117 0:11:39,407 --> 0:11:44,582 Eva Shepherd: And with that we have been keeping our metrics pretty tight for the last three years.

118 0:11:45,004 --> 0:11:54,324 Eva Shepherd: So we've helped over 300 companies, We've created over 450 jobs and we have had a boat.

119 0:11:56,107 --> 0:12:15,676 Eva Shepherd: If I was to talk about investments in capital funding for in divisions, I would say that 30% has been like huge grants and then 70% has been a division between Friends, family and Fools and VC, and we've had a couple of them already this year.

120 0:12:15,716 --> 0:12:21,256 Eva Shepherd: In fact, as well get accepted into accelerators, okay great yeah, you work with Fourth Wave Accelerator.

121 0:12:21,276 --> 0:12:24,403 Eva Shepherd: I assume yes, cheryl, nancy, yeah, great people over there.

122 0:12:25,565 --> 0:12:31,945 Mark Haney: So, thinking about this, you talked about the gaps and I think it's probably changing Sacramento.

123 0:12:32,266 --> 0:12:38,151 Mark Haney: How has it changed in the rest of the area that you covered, like Chico and Ubus City?

124 0:12:38,171 --> 0:12:52,899 Mark Haney: Because I you know other than when I see what you're posting on LinkedIn and stuff, it's kind of out of sight, out of mind a little bit, even though it's part of you know, it's not far from Sacramento, even though, well, it took you an hour and a half to get here, but it's kind of all part of a big part of your territory is really us?

125 0:12:53,742 --> 0:13:29,313 Eva Shepherd: Yeah, actually it is, but I don't have to work as hard in this area because you've got such a great ecosystem already in place Sacramento startup scene, Cameron over at, who's also my peer at CSU, right, so it's Sac State and then I at Chico, and then, you know, there's also a handful of people I've worked with to find out what they're doing in their areas, whether again, I'll mention the SBDC or if it's people are doing their own startups, really focused on helping underserved and people of color, etc.

126 0:13:29,333 --> 0:13:33,634 Eva Shepherd: So, like Nicholas Hastings, who he's well I don't know if you guys have ever interviewed him or talked to him.

127 0:13:33,654 --> 0:13:38,490 Eva Shepherd: If you haven't, you need to have him on Fabulous Guy, I also know from my work.

128 0:13:38,531 --> 0:13:43,403 Eva Shepherd: I also did a little work for the SBDC in the past as well.

129 0:13:43,744 --> 0:13:46,371 Eva Shepherd: So I know people like Chris Horton and others in the area.

130 0:13:47,418 --> 0:13:48,141 Eva Shepherd: You know it's.

131 0:13:48,743 --> 0:13:50,509 Eva Shepherd: You've got a lot of effort going on here.

132 0:13:50,529 --> 0:13:51,975 Eva Shepherd: That's already kind of how it's.

133 0:13:54,300 --> 0:13:55,524 Eva Shepherd: The engine's been running already.

134 0:13:56,026 --> 0:14:02,255 Eva Shepherd: The engine hadn't been started where I was, you know, and so it's taken me three years for people to take us seriously.

135 0:14:02,356 --> 0:14:03,285 Eva Shepherd: Take us seriously.

136 0:14:05,298 --> 0:14:07,424 Eva Shepherd: But it's really about what you're doing.

137 0:14:07,935 --> 0:14:10,063 Eva Shepherd: What you're doing is elevating the story, right.

138 0:14:10,115 --> 0:14:12,920 Eva Shepherd: You're celebrating the story right, You're getting the story out there.

139 0:14:13,875 --> 0:14:18,601 Eva Shepherd: We had to start that kind of at a ground level, and so we started that in about 2019.

140 0:14:19,557 --> 0:14:20,822 Mark Haney: Okay in terms of getting the story out.

141 0:14:20,855 --> 0:14:21,739 Mark Haney: How do you get the story out?

142 0:14:22,495 --> 0:14:24,724 Eva Shepherd: Well, first I'll start with my philosophy.

143 0:14:24,815 --> 0:14:32,320 Eva Shepherd: My philosophy is a community is only as strong as a story it can tell, and if it's focused on the negative and not focused on the positive.

144 0:14:33,678 --> 0:14:35,504 Eva Shepherd: You know what people say if you're not growing or dying.

145 0:14:36,895 --> 0:14:49,081 Eva Shepherd: We see a lot of that in the noise state, when we think about poverty levels, when we think about lack of opportunity, lack of planning, post-lumber, like nobody had a plan right SSDD, if you know what that stands for.

146 0:14:49,181 --> 0:14:51,640 Eva Shepherd: Right and lots of attrition.

147 0:14:51,935 --> 0:15:00,283 Eva Shepherd: And so getting the story out includes working with local champions, because there are people who have hope and energy and really want to see things change too.

148 0:15:00,435 --> 0:15:04,887 Eva Shepherd: So it can be described as a hub and spoke model, right.

149 0:15:04,955 --> 0:15:24,124 Eva Shepherd: So I'm trying to leverage my relationships throughout the North State to grow that and have them tell their stories too, and we give them a platform to do that through multiple different ways, whether it's our newsletters, whether it's our entrepreneurial conference that we have every year, or other avenues.

150 0:15:24,815 --> 0:15:27,323 Mark Haney: Okay, so can we talk about some success stories.

151 0:15:27,604 --> 0:15:27,865 Eva Shepherd: Sure.

152 0:15:28,235 --> 0:15:32,038 Mark Haney: How do you and how is there if I'm a startup?

153 0:15:32,439 --> 0:15:34,257 Eva Shepherd: or an entrepreneur maybe some.

154 0:15:34,739 --> 0:15:35,722 Mark Haney: How does my life change?

155 0:15:39,099 --> 0:15:40,242 Mark Haney: Well, I don't know if it gets any easier.

156 0:15:40,563 --> 0:15:41,145 Mark Haney: Yeah, I don't think.

157 0:15:41,185 --> 0:15:44,577 Mark Haney: Entrepreneurship it takes you while it gets before it gets easy, yeah, I mean.

158 0:15:45,340 --> 0:15:45,942 Eva Shepherd: So there's some.

159 0:15:46,082 --> 0:15:58,161 Eva Shepherd: In some cases every case is so unique, right, and in some cases I'll use one success story where she actually took off pretty quickly and then I'll use another success story where it kind of builds a longer tail.

160 0:15:58,935 --> 0:16:02,545 Eva Shepherd: So the company's name is Hexus Biomass.

161 0:16:03,195 --> 0:16:05,542 Eva Shepherd: The name of the founder and CEO is Wendy Owens.

162 0:16:06,655 --> 0:16:09,699 Eva Shepherd: She's headquartered out of Washington but has a North State office.

163 0:16:10,735 --> 0:16:20,240 Eva Shepherd: She is focused on a proprietary rhizome called I should know what this is called Xanogras, and it is a regenerative grass.

164 0:16:20,835 --> 0:16:26,719 Eva Shepherd: If you took know what, if corn and bamboo had a baby, that would be this.

165 0:16:27,115 --> 0:16:34,580 Eva Shepherd: So it could be harvested twice a year and, depending on how it's processed, it can be anything from biofuel, like a biodiesel, to pet bedding.

166 0:16:35,115 --> 0:16:42,063 Eva Shepherd: So it's kind of this amazing thing, right, that she decided to make a business out of.

167 0:16:43,795 --> 0:16:51,401 Eva Shepherd: She approached me about two and a half years ago and needed some planting sites, so I hooked her up with a couple different counties.

168 0:16:52,795 --> 0:16:54,501 Eva Shepherd: Like I said, she also has a North State office now.

169 0:16:55,495 --> 0:17:10,520 Eva Shepherd: From that, we also contributed to her getting a NSF, sbir, which is a for those of you who don't know what that is, that is the National Science Foundation, small Business Initiative, research, something or other, but it's a grant which means you're not giving away equity, right.

170 0:17:10,975 --> 0:17:19,544 Eva Shepherd: I'm big on grants and so she got an initial phase one for 250,000, and then, because of that, got to do a proof of concept.

171 0:17:19,955 --> 0:17:24,102 Eva Shepherd: That proof of concept then won her the opportunity to go after the phase two, which was 1.2 mil.

172 0:17:24,655 --> 0:17:31,483 Eva Shepherd: She went for that, got that, continued to do other plantings, proof of concepts and partnering.

173 0:17:31,775 --> 0:17:36,521 Eva Shepherd: Got some very large contracts with people like Continental Energy and others.

174 0:17:37,155 --> 0:17:53,342 Eva Shepherd: And then she, literally just last month, was I don't know if the words voted, but she was appointed first place in the Cartier Cartier's in jewelry, cartier Climate Fellow, so which is a global competition.

175 0:17:53,935 --> 0:17:58,082 Eva Shepherd: So that's a huge success story and she's going like investors.

176 0:17:59,336 --> 0:18:14,242 Eva Shepherd: And then there's some people who have to slog at it for a really long time, but they believe in what they do and they have the passion to make it happen and sometimes they just need a little help, like Wendy just needs a little help, right.

177 0:18:17,080 --> 0:18:28,849 Eva Shepherd: And so we have received outreach from several companies that might have had a patent, but no team might have had a great idea but weren't developers.

178 0:18:29,755 --> 0:18:40,102 Eva Shepherd: So we have been doing a lot of that kind of partnering Making contacts and introductions and making the partnerships happen to then therefore go forward.

179 0:18:40,395 --> 0:18:43,780 Mark Haney: Yes, engineering the win, if you will, yes engineering the win.

180 0:18:43,875 --> 0:18:44,518 Eva Shepherd: I like that.

181 0:18:44,939 --> 0:18:45,562 Eva Shepherd: I'm like that.

182 0:18:45,955 --> 0:18:47,404 Eva Shepherd: I don't know who you stole from, but I like that.

183 0:18:49,018 --> 0:18:58,122 Mark Haney: I know who I did, so thinking about that so you have these success stories summer slow, summer more fast.

184 0:18:58,282 --> 0:19:01,599 Mark Haney: Why do some so many not succeed?

185 0:19:02,995 --> 0:19:05,785 Eva Shepherd: Well, the statistics are not in startups favors, right?

186 0:19:05,855 --> 0:19:07,843 Eva Shepherd: I mean, we can all quote those statistics.

187 0:19:08,397 --> 0:19:09,581 Eva Shepherd: It's like I think it's forever.

188 0:19:09,982 --> 0:19:10,865 Eva Shepherd: People just rattle off.

189 0:19:10,915 --> 0:19:12,301 Eva Shepherd: It's one in 10, right?

190 0:19:12,915 --> 0:19:17,823 Eva Shepherd: But yet during COVID, there was more business starts than any other time in history, right?

191 0:19:17,915 --> 0:19:20,440 Eva Shepherd: So, and the end of that?

192 0:19:21,322 --> 0:19:24,548 Eva Shepherd: I think 48% to 50% were women, Right?

193 0:19:25,576 --> 0:19:31,378 Eva Shepherd: So it's like, yeah, it's opportunity, or what's the other word?

194 0:19:31,618 --> 0:19:34,766 Eva Shepherd: What's the opposite of opportunity or adversity?

195 0:19:35,368 --> 0:19:39,225 Eva Shepherd: Right, it's gonna push you in one way or the other, right?

196 0:19:39,675 --> 0:19:46,680 Eva Shepherd: And so I thought I saw a lot of people taking advantage of having that downtime, in a way, to say, hey, what do I really want to do?

197 0:19:46,935 --> 0:19:48,380 Eva Shepherd: So from an opportunity mindset.

198 0:19:48,681 --> 0:19:56,244 Eva Shepherd: And others were like, oh crap, we have to have some income and maybe this is the time to start my business right.

199 0:19:58,415 --> 0:20:05,180 Eva Shepherd: Why do I think some fail, or so many fail Overall or in my area?

200 0:20:06,375 --> 0:20:09,583 Mark Haney: Well, yeah, either probably similar, don't you think?

201 0:20:10,365 --> 0:20:10,626 Eva Shepherd: It is.

202 0:20:10,826 --> 0:20:20,198 Eva Shepherd: It is People are the biggest variable, and I think people are the biggest variable in almost any situation.

203 0:20:20,258 --> 0:20:32,736 Eva Shepherd: But I think that picking the right teams, picking the right partners, picking the right people to outsource with those all can create friction or they can be just a godsend, right?

204 0:20:33,675 --> 0:20:41,383 Eva Shepherd: I think Often also that entrepreneurs are stubborn and I don't need any help or I'll figure it out myself.

205 0:20:42,127 --> 0:20:46,166 Eva Shepherd: Or and then when they get that letter from the IRS and they wish they had hired that accountant.

206 0:20:46,788 --> 0:21:12,851 Eva Shepherd: Or when they get that letter from the government saying, hi, you forgot to file with the DOJ for your nonprofit status again, oh yeah, I mean, I think that when you may have to make trade offs, like entrepreneurs do that, sometimes it's hard to pick which one and I'm not sure that they always have the kind of mentoring that they need or that they realize that they need.

207 0:21:13,560 --> 0:21:20,386 Eva Shepherd: So part of what we do in the North state is make sure that there's a mentoring program but also advertising a program.

208 0:21:20,908 --> 0:21:41,821 Eva Shepherd: And when I'm meeting with people one-on-one and doing kind of initial intake and assessments and things like that, I try to make sure that I share awareness of all the resources that we can bring to bear, how they can get access to that, maybe fill in holes in their education with different partners.

209 0:21:42,602 --> 0:21:46,490 Eva Shepherd: But mentoring, I think, is a huge tool that people don't use enough.

210 0:21:48,080 --> 0:21:52,429 Mark Haney: You mentioned COVID and how the world changed, and obviously Zoom.

211 0:21:54,440 --> 0:22:01,304 Mark Haney: That must have helped your job a lot in terms of the big geographic area that you cover by an automobile.

212 0:22:01,625 --> 0:22:04,031 Mark Haney: All of a sudden you don't have to drive as much.

213 0:22:04,901 --> 0:22:05,845 Eva Shepherd: Funny you mentioned that.

214 0:22:07,320 --> 0:22:16,266 Eva Shepherd: So before COVID I did not need any grants to keep my doors open or my lights on my co-working space, and incubators were filled.

215 0:22:16,768 --> 0:22:19,684 Eva Shepherd: Busy People were getting on each other's nerves.

216 0:22:19,704 --> 0:22:23,926 Eva Shepherd: That's how much, because I have an open space, that's not individual offices like you have here.

217 0:22:25,840 --> 0:22:31,832 Eva Shepherd: So after March, I think by May, I could roll a bowling ball through the place and not hit anybody.

218 0:22:32,601 --> 0:22:42,881 Eva Shepherd: There was still only a handful of us coming in, and that's only because I instituted protocols in February, knowing what was coming and having been involved in whatever that flu was in Europe.

219 0:22:42,942 --> 0:22:45,382 Eva Shepherd: At one point I was just like you know, let's just get ahead of it.

220 0:22:45,402 --> 0:22:46,464 Eva Shepherd: One more question, question, we'll go back by quickly.

221 0:22:46,484 --> 0:22:47,325 Eva Shepherd: Two-fifths, five hour line Ready.

222 0:22:47,465 --> 0:22:52,377 Eva Shepherd: I had to take a hard look at my business and say, okay, what would I tell my students?

223 0:22:53,825 --> 0:22:55,553 Eva Shepherd: I would say, okay, what makes you unique?

224 0:22:55,585 --> 0:22:57,230 Eva Shepherd: What's the one thing you can do that no one else can do?

225 0:22:57,270 --> 0:22:57,672 Eva Shepherd: What is it?

226 0:22:58,294 --> 0:22:58,715 Eva Shepherd: What is it?

227 0:22:59,105 --> 0:23:02,631 Eva Shepherd: And not that no one else can do it, but what is it You're, what's your unique offering?

228 0:23:02,685 --> 0:23:15,237 Eva Shepherd: Cause, anybody can build a co-working space, anybody can Seeing it happen, right, but does that mean you have everything that the coworkers need or the entrepreneurs need?

229 0:23:15,726 --> 0:23:22,203 Eva Shepherd: So I was thinking about how much entrepreneurial resources we had and how could I then put it all online Right?

230 0:23:23,207 --> 0:23:24,412 Eva Shepherd: So forcing me to look at.

231 0:23:24,452 --> 0:23:30,925 Eva Shepherd: So I kind of did my own lean business canvas model about read how do I pivot my business and and that's what I decided to do.

232 0:23:31,326 --> 0:23:49,585 Eva Shepherd: And then I started to take it a step further and borrowed from the nineties the content aggregation model right and started aggregating content and packaging it and putting together landing pages, and real time video is in, as well as archive video for our rural areas so advanced.

233 0:23:49,605 --> 0:24:02,379 Eva Shepherd: So examples are in paradise we have a co-working space called Ridge Start, powered by Chico Start, and then we have a landing page that has the mirrors almost ours, but it's specific to the Ridge communities.

234 0:24:02,399 --> 0:24:04,350 Eva Shepherd: Okay, same with Yuba.

235 0:24:05,012 --> 0:24:05,855 Eva Shepherd: So the work hub.

236 0:24:06,849 --> 0:24:10,845 Eva Shepherd: We also have the same relationship there, so we're franchising right Art.

237 0:24:11,166 --> 0:24:12,492 Eva Shepherd: So that's how I chose to approach it.

238 0:24:12,890 --> 0:24:13,965 Eva Shepherd: That's now working really well.

239 0:24:14,567 --> 0:24:27,820 Eva Shepherd: We have an additional two other sites that we recently done deals with, so Indian Valley Innovation Hub, which is Plumas County, and then also advancing Modoc out of Modoc County, and then we have about five more in the pipeline.

240 0:24:28,263 --> 0:24:33,261 Mark Haney: Oh wow, yeah, Exciting stuff is do you still have your co-working in Chico too?

241 0:24:33,281 --> 0:24:34,044 Mark Haney: Yes, sir, you still have that.

242 0:24:34,064 --> 0:24:36,385 Mark Haney: Yeah, so are people coming back into the office now?

243 0:24:37,047 --> 0:24:38,252 Mark Haney: Yes, they are using it, okay.

244 0:24:38,353 --> 0:24:38,895 Eva Shepherd: Yes, they are.

245 0:24:39,758 --> 0:24:43,595 Eva Shepherd: It's not full, and I honestly don't feel like it's.

246 0:24:44,276 --> 0:24:54,144 Eva Shepherd: It'll be a while till it is, and so I'm looking at other avenues in which to bring more people in, and that's working with the college, ironically right.

247 0:24:54,164 --> 0:24:54,836 Eva Shepherd: Okay, what are you doing?

248 0:24:54,897 --> 0:24:55,324 Mark Haney: with the college.

249 0:24:55,365 --> 0:24:59,989 Eva Shepherd: So I'm the director for the center of entrepreneurship there, similar to Cameron here at Sox State.

250 0:25:00,292 --> 0:25:04,977 Eva Shepherd: And, but I also teach, so he doesn't have to teach, lucky guy.

251 0:25:06,695 --> 0:25:08,245 Eva Shepherd: And as part of that, I run an experimental class.

252 0:25:10,171 --> 0:25:14,165 Eva Shepherd: And that experimental class, thanks to donor Scott Bedford big claps for Scott Bedford.

253 0:25:17,193 --> 0:25:23,215 Eva Shepherd: Scott's donation has made it possible for me to have students start companies with no equity, back to the school.

254 0:25:23,235 --> 0:25:24,765 Eva Shepherd: Oh, wow, so it's a grant.

255 0:25:25,987 --> 0:25:26,815 Eva Shepherd: Yeah, it's fabulous.

256 0:25:27,245 --> 0:25:34,601 Eva Shepherd: And so they have to start their own company, do their own structure right, get a lawyer, you know file taxes, have a bank account, you know all that stuff.

257 0:25:37,995 --> 0:25:40,525 Eva Shepherd: And so we have a small group, that's a startup team, and they start a business together.

258 0:25:40,929 --> 0:25:42,303 Eva Shepherd: So they are in college at this time.

259 0:25:42,343 --> 0:25:42,525 Eva Shepherd: Yes, sir.

260 0:25:42,808 --> 0:25:44,525 Mark Haney: They're in college and they're starting a business.

261 0:25:44,666 --> 0:25:47,337 Mark Haney: It doesn't have to be a tech company, it can be any.

262 0:25:47,377 --> 0:25:48,123 Mark Haney: It can be selling t-shirts.

263 0:25:48,164 --> 0:25:50,794 Mark Haney: Yes, okay, and they get one semester to break even.

264 0:25:51,417 --> 0:25:54,664 Eva Shepherd: Oh okay, so you got to make sales, that's right.

265 0:25:56,035 --> 0:25:57,163 Eva Shepherd: What a concept Fire hose, that's great.

266 0:25:57,865 --> 0:26:02,905 Mark Haney: So many startups that I see they decided that they want to take their time on getting revenue going.

267 0:26:03,005 --> 0:26:03,669 Mark Haney: I love good job on that.

268 0:26:03,689 --> 0:26:04,553 Mark Haney: Yeah, I'm all about pushing.

269 0:26:06,885 --> 0:26:07,630 Mark Haney: Hey, prebook your sales.

270 0:26:07,771 --> 0:26:17,204 Eva Shepherd: Yeah Right, prebook your sales and you're going to find out much quicker who your customer, your MVP, excuse me, your minimum viable customer, right?

271 0:26:17,344 --> 0:26:19,464 Eva Shepherd: Yeah, that has been a blast.

272 0:26:19,525 --> 0:26:20,351 Eva Shepherd: So we're.

273 0:26:20,371 --> 0:26:21,741 Eva Shepherd: It's actually a unique program.

274 0:26:22,526 --> 0:26:25,285 Eva Shepherd: I did my research and no other colleges doing this.

275 0:26:27,775 --> 0:26:29,662 Eva Shepherd: They all want equity or they all want you know.

276 0:26:29,682 --> 0:26:30,285 Eva Shepherd: So it's been a blast.

277 0:26:30,766 --> 0:26:35,037 Eva Shepherd: Um, it's been a blast, and then I've already got my next cohort picked for next semester.

278 0:26:35,105 --> 0:26:38,835 Mark Haney: So this donation gives them like the seed capital to get it going.

279 0:26:38,855 --> 0:26:39,697 Mark Haney: How much is each one?

280 0:26:40,066 --> 0:26:43,876 Eva Shepherd: Oh, so there's a very large donation, but we only take $5,000.

281 0:26:44,065 --> 0:26:45,492 Mark Haney: $5,000 per company.

282 0:26:45,645 --> 0:26:47,011 Eva Shepherd: Per yeah semester.

283 0:26:47,905 --> 0:26:48,046 Mark Haney: Per.

284 0:26:48,448 --> 0:26:49,346 Mark Haney: Oh, okay, per.

285 0:26:50,790 --> 0:26:53,197 Mark Haney: How many go through this the class in the semester?

286 0:26:53,345 --> 0:26:54,971 Eva Shepherd: Well, I experimented with nine.

287 0:26:55,313 --> 0:26:58,555 Eva Shepherd: Okay, Cause but can you imagine how hard it is to get nine people to make a decision?

288 0:27:00,059 --> 0:27:03,013 Mark Haney: Yeah, so this is just one company, then nine people to do.

289 0:27:03,034 --> 0:27:05,734 Eva Shepherd: Yes, and they're all co-founders, so you're doing one, okay, right.

290 0:27:06,614 --> 0:27:07,645 Mark Haney: Yeah, I can imagine it yeah.

291 0:27:07,825 --> 0:27:09,872 Eva Shepherd: So next semester we're going to try it with seven.

292 0:27:10,253 --> 0:27:11,176 Eva Shepherd: Okay, we'll see how it works.

293 0:27:11,957 --> 0:27:12,485 Mark Haney: That's interesting.

294 0:27:12,846 --> 0:27:14,551 Mark Haney: And does somebody become?

295 0:27:14,711 --> 0:27:16,777 Mark Haney: Do they decide who's in charge?

296 0:27:17,187 --> 0:27:18,111 Mark Haney: Is that part of the process?

297 0:27:18,687 --> 0:27:20,314 Eva Shepherd: Um, actually we didn't.

298 0:27:21,760 --> 0:27:23,045 Eva Shepherd: I've been very careful about that.

299 0:27:23,186 --> 0:27:27,525 Eva Shepherd: So one going back to my comment earlier about it's the biggest variables, people, right?

300 0:27:27,665 --> 0:27:35,060 Eva Shepherd: So I was very picky about the personalities that I pick, because I want to make sure that no one's sucking up all the oxygen out of the room.

301 0:27:35,463 --> 0:27:35,624 Mark Haney: Okay.

302 0:27:36,126 --> 0:27:40,824 Eva Shepherd: And that no one is pushing other people's ideas out of the way.

303 0:27:40,844 --> 0:27:42,716 Eva Shepherd: Right, but these are real companies?

304 0:27:42,736 --> 0:27:46,254 Mark Haney: Yeah, they're real companies, and in any real company you've got a CEO.

305 0:27:46,695 --> 0:27:50,134 Eva Shepherd: Yes, but that's one thing we didn't choose to do.

306 0:27:50,154 --> 0:27:53,636 Eva Shepherd: Okay, we did task teams like who's?

307 0:27:53,857 --> 0:27:56,928 Eva Shepherd: Here's your sales team, here's your social media team, slash marketing team.

308 0:27:56,948 --> 0:28:06,638 Eva Shepherd: Here's your customer service team, here's your product team and we let people's natural leadership abilities in their different areas.

309 0:28:07,428 --> 0:28:08,545 Eva Shepherd: It was really great experiment.

310 0:28:08,786 --> 0:28:09,710 Eva Shepherd: I mean, that's the best way to put it.

311 0:28:10,246 --> 0:28:17,772 Eva Shepherd: I didn't want people to get lazy by saying, oh, it's really all going to be on CEO's shoulders, or on the vice president.

312 0:28:18,246 --> 0:28:23,265 Eva Shepherd: So, and even though I'm not always the biggest fan of a flat organization, I'm not.

313 0:28:25,389 --> 0:28:32,051 Eva Shepherd: For purposes of the fact we only had a semester where we're really looking at okay, you guys, you guys all got to get some work done.

314 0:28:32,346 --> 0:28:33,651 Eva Shepherd: Nobody can let their ego get in the way.

315 0:28:33,906 --> 0:28:35,011 Mark Haney: So what was the company they built?

316 0:28:35,885 --> 0:28:38,292 Eva Shepherd: Fusion NFC, which I didn't pick the name.

317 0:28:38,814 --> 0:28:42,011 Eva Shepherd: They did, and it is this it is a digital business card.

318 0:28:42,386 --> 0:28:43,210 Eva Shepherd: Oh, okay.

319 0:28:43,868 --> 0:28:47,585 Eva Shepherd: So I will share links with you after this.

320 0:28:47,726 --> 0:28:51,045 Eva Shepherd: But yeah, so it doesn't replace the business card.

321 0:28:51,166 --> 0:28:58,103 Eva Shepherd: If you need a business card, like real estate, people need paper, but if you're at a trade show, or if you're used to QR code.

322 0:28:58,123 --> 0:28:58,605 Mark Haney: Is that what it is?

323 0:28:58,745 --> 0:28:59,909 Mark Haney: No, no.

324 0:29:00,230 --> 0:29:01,293 Eva Shepherd: I would just tap your phone.

325 0:29:01,754 --> 0:29:02,376 Mark Haney: Oh, got you.

326 0:29:02,416 --> 0:29:04,252 Mark Haney: Yeah, and I get the contacts.

327 0:29:04,486 --> 0:29:07,255 Eva Shepherd: You would decide whether you want it or not, to, which is also nice.

328 0:29:07,546 --> 0:29:11,241 Eva Shepherd: We don't keep anyone's information, because they program it themselves.

329 0:29:11,622 --> 0:29:11,904 Mark Haney: Okay.

330 0:29:12,084 --> 0:29:18,393 Eva Shepherd: Yeah, so, and it takes like a minute to program it and you can change whatever is on there, like right now I have a survey on there.

331 0:29:18,686 --> 0:29:21,615 Eva Shepherd: I have links to both the center of entrepreneurship and Chico start.

332 0:29:22,106 --> 0:29:36,877 Eva Shepherd: I have my LinkedIn link and I have just my contact card, whereas some teachers have used it to put their online calendar for booking office time or artists put their gallery like an example gallery and things like that.

333 0:29:37,885 --> 0:29:45,895 Eva Shepherd: Other people I know put their white papers on there and when you're at a trade show, it just oh yeah, so much easier.

334 0:29:45,915 --> 0:29:46,898 Mark Haney: That's great Good idea.

335 0:29:47,099 --> 0:29:48,931 Mark Haney: Yeah, is the business still operating?

336 0:29:49,333 --> 0:30:01,816 Eva Shepherd: Yes, so the end goal I shouldn't talk so much about this class, but the end goal each semester is for people who want to continue with the business to continue and then buy out those who don't.

337 0:30:02,205 --> 0:30:05,777 Eva Shepherd: So of the nine that were in this particular class, six decided to stay on.

338 0:30:06,519 --> 0:30:07,161 Eva Shepherd: Wow, yeah.

339 0:30:07,803 --> 0:30:08,425 Mark Haney: That's great yeah.

340 0:30:08,605 --> 0:30:10,806 Eva Shepherd: And they get pro bono space inside Chico.

341 0:30:10,826 --> 0:30:18,836 Eva Shepherd: Start as well, because it would be incestuous if I was to take any receipt of any money right?

342 0:30:20,151 --> 0:30:24,805 Eva Shepherd: But, they need to have a space to work 24-7 and at school that that's doesn't happen.

343 0:30:24,825 --> 0:30:26,650 Mark Haney: That's great, okay, so what did I not ask you?

344 0:30:27,031 --> 0:30:28,133 Mark Haney: What did what?

345 0:30:28,614 --> 0:30:31,760 Mark Haney: What do we want to make sure we cover about you and what you're working on?

346 0:30:31,940 --> 0:30:34,004 Eva Shepherd: Well, let back to Chica start.

347 0:30:34,932 --> 0:30:39,832 Eva Shepherd: So we've really grown our footprint, obviously, but not just regionally, I'm.

348 0:30:39,912 --> 0:30:46,655 Eva Shepherd: So we work really well with the CSU Fresno wet center and their VC Valley Ventures.

349 0:30:47,478 --> 0:30:50,715 Eva Shepherd: We also Are doing great work with CSU and B.

350 0:30:51,216 --> 0:30:53,582 Eva Shepherd: So you're saying, well, why is Chico start talking about CSUs?

351 0:30:54,291 --> 0:31:02,717 Eva Shepherd: Well, because in those areas they're also doing really innovative things, and those kind of things they're doing Help support our area.

352 0:31:03,931 --> 0:31:14,582 Eva Shepherd: For example, we are a blue tech valley hub and blue tech valley is an initiative paid for by the CEC and, and that initiative is focused on water, energy and ag tech.

353 0:31:14,963 --> 0:31:22,330 Eva Shepherd: Well, that's great, because I live in an area my whole region, right is needs those kind of technologies coming down the pike, right.

354 0:31:22,752 --> 0:31:38,436 Eva Shepherd: So that's something I'm very involved with and I host Informational things Cal seed, cal test, you know work with clean start who's also one of you guys as local partners, you know Um and things to that effect, and we also host the two events a year that focus directly on that.

355 0:31:39,292 --> 0:32:04,550 Eva Shepherd: We're also Working with a, the Monterey Bay drone and robotics technologies Initiative, but called Dart for short, and so we're mapping assets in the North State, say, airports that are not being used for Commercial purposes, and looking at how OEMs in the drone space can leverage out for either ag or other kinds of testing wildfire testing, things like that.

356 0:32:05,372 --> 0:32:07,880 Eva Shepherd: So I'm like, oh gosh, the list goes on.

357 0:32:09,831 --> 0:32:16,933 Eva Shepherd: But my primary focus is really on bringing more investors and more Industry to the North State.

358 0:32:17,274 --> 0:32:19,439 Eva Shepherd: So self-appointed on that last point.

359 0:32:20,040 --> 0:32:22,936 Eva Shepherd: So no one asked me to do it, no one gave me a grant to go through it.

360 0:32:23,157 --> 0:32:26,290 Eva Shepherd: Um, but, like I said, if you're not growing or dying, right.

361 0:32:26,631 --> 0:32:31,641 Eva Shepherd: And so we've worked very hard in getting new industries to our area.

362 0:32:31,681 --> 0:32:35,334 Eva Shepherd: Since there wasn't a big plan post lumber, I couldn't find it anywhere.

363 0:32:36,236 --> 0:32:46,483 Eva Shepherd: They kept saying you know health care and manufacturing, but Wasn't really seeing a lot of you know it was static to minimal growth in those areas.

364 0:32:47,032 --> 0:32:53,462 Eva Shepherd: So we brought in a Biotech company that's focused on adult human stem-style research research.

365 0:32:54,312 --> 0:33:00,955 Eva Shepherd: We brought in a robotics company that does haptics like so the fine motor skills, what hands would do?

366 0:33:01,476 --> 0:33:07,760 Eva Shepherd: We have also brought in a nanotech R&D Arm the headquarters down in LA but the R&D arms up in Chica.

367 0:33:09,133 --> 0:33:12,369 Eva Shepherd: And we've also brought in the biomaterials company was talking about Texas, right.

368 0:33:12,389 --> 0:33:15,696 Eva Shepherd: And Lastly, right now we're working.

369 0:33:16,077 --> 0:33:23,095 Eva Shepherd: Our newest acquisition, so to speak, newest industry to bring to the area is green hydrogen and, and so the headquarters are in Texas.

370 0:33:23,215 --> 0:33:32,236 Eva Shepherd: But they just bought 15,000 acres in Tejama and they're looking at gasification and putting in refueling stations for hydrogen summites.

371 0:33:32,336 --> 0:33:47,963 Eva Shepherd: Oh, wow, yeah, and so Tejama is more than glad to have this kind of Industry in their area and they're also working with Reading Rancheria in that area to build an eco village that will run off hydrogen and be not dependent on PG&E.

372 0:33:48,425 --> 0:33:49,610 Mark Haney: What a concept right.

373 0:33:50,535 --> 0:33:53,570 Eva Shepherd: So these are the kind of things I help support good for you.

374 0:33:53,710 --> 0:34:00,880 Mark Haney: Well, we appreciate what you do and I appreciate you coming on the show and sharing what you do, and so I'll ask the final question.

375 0:34:02,431 --> 0:34:08,480 Mark Haney: Advice to a startup, what Eva's wisdom to a startup?

376 0:34:09,532 --> 0:34:10,115 Mark Haney: What's a?

377 0:34:10,999 --> 0:34:13,110 Mark Haney: Give me a mic drop answer on this.

378 0:34:15,817 --> 0:34:18,645 Eva Shepherd: Wow, okay, this one I wish I could have studied up on.

379 0:34:19,556 --> 0:34:20,792 Mark Haney: I get.

380 0:34:22,131 --> 0:34:29,167 Eva Shepherd: I could use the excuse that you know it's a case-by-case basis, because each startup needs something different.

381 0:34:29,347 --> 0:34:31,854 Eva Shepherd: They don't all need same thing, but in some ways they all need same things.

382 0:34:31,994 --> 0:34:34,239 Eva Shepherd: Okay, fundamentals, business fundamentals.

383 0:34:34,820 --> 0:34:35,561 Eva Shepherd: If I could say anything.

384 0:34:35,962 --> 0:34:40,213 Eva Shepherd: Take some damn financial classes, people, you know.

385 0:34:41,531 --> 0:34:45,760 Eva Shepherd: If financial literacy is not one of your strong points, make it one of your strong points.

386 0:34:46,381 --> 0:34:47,844 Eva Shepherd: I cannot emphasize that enough.

387 0:34:49,691 --> 0:34:52,359 Eva Shepherd: Get a mentor, call Chico, start.

388 0:34:52,399 --> 0:34:57,720 Eva Shepherd: Call growth factory, call yeah, and leverage as many free resources as you can.

389 0:34:58,302 --> 0:35:11,338 Eva Shepherd: On the SBDC and I will mention them again we're also an SBDC tech hub, so we recently got that award as well, and that means we work with the tech futures group, which is an accelerator.

390 0:35:11,739 --> 0:35:18,800 Eva Shepherd: I mean, you'd be surprised at what's in your own backyard Network, network, network, and I could say like a thousand other things.

391 0:35:18,860 --> 0:35:21,660 Mark Haney: But Well, that's great information.

392 0:35:21,720 --> 0:35:23,610 Mark Haney: I mean because I think so many people try to do it alone.

393 0:35:23,750 --> 0:35:30,990 Mark Haney: And if you're if you're not good with Finance, maybe you should get somebody on your team that is good with finance.

394 0:35:31,130 --> 0:35:37,363 Mark Haney: Yeah, you brought up earlier to to bring people in partner, and you know those resources are there.

395 0:35:37,443 --> 0:35:43,370 Mark Haney: You just have to Be wise enough to know where your weak spots are and go get the help.

396 0:35:43,791 --> 0:35:53,401 Eva Shepherd: Yeah, and that's you know, and I'll use that as a segue to say this is how we've also gone and worked with several partners and sponsors, I mean including banks.

397 0:35:54,064 --> 0:36:00,323 Eva Shepherd: Five-star bank was one of them, in fact, john Gregory was one, the first to help start Chico, start back in the day, like ten years ago.

398 0:36:01,092 --> 0:36:16,160 Eva Shepherd: I'm US Bank big supporter, mechanics bank big supporter, northern California National Bank huge supporter, and we and those are all in Chico, but they're also statewide and some are more than statewide, obviously.

399 0:36:17,031 --> 0:36:28,083 Eva Shepherd: But really look at, you know, really looking at those for partners to help also bring those kind of Financial literacy and financial resources for workshops and other things like that for your area.

400 0:36:28,270 --> 0:36:30,096 Eva Shepherd: So I mean, we're really blessed.

401 0:36:30,457 --> 0:36:36,433 Mark Haney: Yes, well, great job on changing the the state, the North State.

402 0:36:36,473 --> 0:36:37,075 Mark Haney: You made.

403 0:36:37,115 --> 0:36:40,984 Mark Haney: You've made an impact, obviously, and appreciate what you do.

404 0:36:41,571 --> 0:36:41,973 Mark Haney: Obviously.

405 0:36:42,630 --> 0:36:54,487 Mark Haney: Entrepreneurship is near and dear to me, and so we definitely share that in common and look forward to Continuing partnerships and working together and helping one another Well, thank you.

406 0:36:54,708 --> 0:36:55,310 Eva Shepherd: Thank you so much.

407 0:36:55,851 --> 0:37:18,540 Eva Shepherd: Um, I'll leave on one last night with a plug, sorry, and that's for grow tech fest, Our annual entrepreneurship conference, as we are fourth year, and that is on October 11th and 12th, the week after alright alright, and it is the only one north of Sacramento and it's held at Sierra Nevada brewery and we'll have two you can't go wrong with that.

408 0:37:18,640 --> 0:37:33,861 Eva Shepherd: Yeah, borough opens a new and it's two full days there and we'll include two keynote speakers, which I'm super excited about Jeff Spence of source capital, who's a global fund, and Andrew gazdeki of acquirecom.

409 0:37:34,812 --> 0:37:35,273 Mark Haney: Wow, there's.

410 0:37:35,353 --> 0:37:35,915 Mark Haney: There's some plugs.

411 0:37:36,015 --> 0:37:42,941 Mark Haney: So October 11th, right after gfx, go up to Sierra Nevada, all right, and have something cold and wet to drink.

412 0:37:43,021 --> 0:37:45,590 Eva Shepherd: That's right and and they're a good time had by all.

413 0:37:46,031 --> 0:37:46,914 Mark Haney: I love it All right.

414 0:37:46,955 --> 0:37:47,757 Mark Haney: Thanks for coming on the show.

415 0:37:47,978 --> 0:37:49,062 Eva Shepherd: Thank you so much, mark.