Mike Asem's guest appearances

Mike Asem

Startup of the Year Podcast

Faith Driven Investor

The Consumer VC: Venture Capital I B2C Startups I Commerce | Early-Stage Investing I Brands

OwlTail

We all want our careers to be an endless upward trend, but that’s not always the case.Mike Asem, who took a less-than-traditional road to investing, has experienced the wonderful highs and the challenging lows that come with being a venture capitalist. While the founding partner of M25–a midwest-focused early stage investment group–has plenty of success stories to share, he’s also graciously agreed to join us to talk about some of the less glamorous aspects of stewarding capital. Throughout the episode, he and our hosts, John Coleman and Luke Roush, open up about difficult questions like “how do you know when to let a venture go?” And “how do you protect your identity when you feel like a failure?”Tune in to hear how we can wrestle through tough realities while maintaining hope in something bigger than our circumstances.If you like the episode, feel free to share it with others, leave us a rating, and follow the show wherever you get your podcasts.

We all want our careers to be an endless upward trend, but that’s not always the case.<a href="https://www.faithdriveninvestor.org/bios/mike-asem" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Mike Asem</a>, who took a less-than-traditional road to investing, has experienced the wonderful highs and the challenging lows that come with being a venture capitalist. While the founding partner of M25–a midwest-focused early stage investment group–has plenty of success stories to share, he’s also graciously agreed to join us to talk about some of the less glamorous aspects of stewarding capital. Throughout the episode, he and our hosts, John Coleman and Luke Roush, open up about difficult questions like “how do you know when to let a venture go?” And “how do you protect your identity when you feel like a failure?”Tune in to hear how we can wrestle through tough realities while maintaining hope in something bigger than our circumstances.If you like the episode, feel free to share it with others, leave us a rating, and follow the show wherever you get your podcasts.

Episode 146 - What to Do When It’s Time to Move On From a Venture with Mike Asem

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Mike Asem, who is the founding partner at M25 (https://m25vc.com), which is a venture capital investment firm targeting early-stage, tech-enabled startups in the Midwest. Mike also created a new board game called, “Unicorns To The Moon” and you can find out more about that game at: www.unicornstothemoon.com. Our listeners can get a 20% discount by using the code: SOTY20   We also again highlight one of the startups from our community and that company is ecoSPEARS, which is an environmental technology company ushering in the carbonless future of environmental cleanup. ecoSPEARS eliminates toxins like PCBs, dioxins, and other persistent organic pollutants from the environment utilizing non-thermal and non-combusting remediation technology developed by NASA. Learn more about them at www.ecospears.com   Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: www.est.us/join   Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at www.est.us   Checkout Startup of the Year at www.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow   Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: www.podcast.startupofyear.com   Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel:  soty.link/ESTYouTube   *** Startup of the Year helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.     Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.    The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment.   Established is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the Tech.Co brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand &amp; accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - @EstablishedUs and Facebook - facebook.com/established.us

On this episode of the Startup of the Year Podcast, we hear from Mike Asem, who is the founding partner at M25 (<a href="https://m25vc.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">https://m25vc.com</a>), which is a venture capital investment firm targeting early-stage, tech-enabled startups in the Midwest. Mike also created a new board game called, “Unicorns To The Moon” and you can find out more about that game at: <a href="https://www.unicornstothemoon.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.unicornstothemoon.com</a>. Our listeners can get a 20% discount by using the code: SOTY20 We also again highlight one of the startups from our community and that company is ecoSPEARS, which is an environmental technology company ushering in the carbonless future of environmental cleanup. ecoSPEARS eliminates toxins like PCBs, dioxins, and other persistent organic pollutants from the environment utilizing non-thermal and non-combusting remediation technology developed by NASA. Learn more about them at <a href="http://www.ecospears.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.ecospears.com</a> Lastly, we invite you all to join our community today to access the support, expert advice, and resources you need to elevate your startup by going to: <a href="http://www.est.us/join" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.est.us/join</a> Thank you for listening, and as always, please check out the Established website and subscribe to the newsletter at <a href="http://www.est.us/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.est.us</a> Checkout Startup of the Year at <a href="http://www.startupofyear.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.startupofyear.com</a> Subscribe to the Startup of the Year Daily Deal Flow: <a href="http://www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.startupofyear.com/daily-dealflow</a> Subscribe to the Startup of the Year podcast: <a href="http://www.podcast.startupofyear.com" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">www.podcast.startupofyear.com</a> Subscribe to the Established YouTube Channel: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?redir_token=jK-Rog0xT98_hX14dKerB6kxIBl8MTU4OTI5MzI2OEAxNTg5MjA2ODY4&amp;q=https%3A%2F%2Fsoty.link%2FESTYouTube&amp;v=G_H6PuZEbBU&amp;event=video_description" rel="nofollow" target="_blank"> soty.link/ESTYouTube</a> *** <a href="http://www.startupofyear.com/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Startup of the Year</a> helps diverse, emerging startups, founding teams, and entrepreneurs push their company to the next level. We are a competition, a global community, and a resource.   Startup of the Year is also a year-long program that searches the country for a geographically diverse set of startups from all backgrounds and pulls them together to compete for the title of Startup of the Year.  The program includes a number of in-person and virtual events, including our annual South By Southwest startup pitch event and competition. All of which culminate at our annual Startup of the Year Summit, where the Startup of the Year winner is announced, along with an opportunity at a potential investment. <a href="http://www.est.us/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Established</a> is a consultancy focused on helping organizations with innovation, startup, and communication strategies. It is the power behind Startup of the Year.  Created by the talent responsible for building the <a href="http://Tech.Co" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">Tech.Co</a> brand (acquired by an international publishing company), we are leveraging decades of experience to help our collaborators best further (or create) their brand &amp; accomplish their most important goals.  Connect with us on Twitter - <a href="https://twitter.com/EstablishedUs" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">@EstablishedUs</a> and Facebook - <a href="https://www.facebook.com/established.us/" rel="nofollow" target="_blank">facebook.com/established.us</a>

#0095 - Venture Capitalist Mike Asem From M25 Discusses Investing In Early-Stage Startups

Our guest today is Mike Asem, General Partner of M25. M25 is an early-stage venture firm based in Chicago, investing solely in companies headquartered in the Midwest. We discuss what movie got intrigued by venture capital, what’s misunderstood about investing in the midwest and the consumer landscape in that region, and his learnings since publishing M25 diversity report. Without further ado, here’s Mike What was your attraction to entrepreneurship and venture capital? How did you found M25? What’s your thesis?Was in the nano space Purdue research foundation Worked with portfolio companies Angel portfolio Established yourself as a former  Many tech VCs have steered clear from investing in consumer brands. Why do you still think there’s an opportunity? What makes a consumer brand interesting to you? How do you approach looking at consumer trends and trying to understand consumer behavior? We talk about brands that are venture-backed have to appeal to the masses and not just the top 1%. How do you measure that when you’re in due diligence?If it plays in Peoria  Lori Coulter - Summersalt M25 releases a diversity report. Can you explain the origins of how this began and what it includes? What’s your outlook as well for Chicago as a venture ecosystem and the midwest? What’s your thesis around consumer healthcare? Why did you decide to create Unicorn to the Moon? What’s one thing you would change about venture capital? What’s one book that’s inspired you personally and one book that’s inspired you professionally?Eboys - Benchmarks early days 

Our guest today is Mike Asem, General Partner of M25. M25 is an early-stage venture firm based in Chicago, investing solely in companies headquartered in the Midwest. We discuss what movie got intrigued by venture capital, what’s misunderstood about investing in the midwest and the consumer landscape in that region, and his learnings since publishing M25 diversity report. Without further ado, here’s Mike <ol><li>What was your attraction to entrepreneurship and venture capital?</li> <li>How did you found M25? What’s your thesis?<ol><li>Was in the nano space</li> <li>Purdue research foundation</li> <li>Worked with portfolio companies</li> <li>Angel portfolio</li> <li>Established yourself as a former</li> </ol></li> <li>Many tech VCs have steered clear from investing in consumer brands. Why do you still think there’s an opportunity?</li> <li>What makes a consumer brand interesting to you?</li> <li>How do you approach looking at consumer trends and trying to understand consumer behavior?</li> <li>We talk about brands that are venture-backed have to appeal to the masses and not just the top 1%. How do you measure that when you’re in due diligence?<ol><li>If it plays in Peoria</li> </ol></li> <li>Lori Coulter - Summersalt</li> <li>M25 releases a diversity report. Can you explain the origins of how this began and what it includes?</li> <li>What’s your outlook as well for Chicago as a venture ecosystem and the midwest?</li> <li>What’s your thesis around consumer healthcare?</li> <li>Why did you decide to create Unicorn to the Moon?</li> <li>What’s one thing you would change about venture capital?</li> <li>What’s one book that’s inspired you personally and one book that’s inspired you professionally?<ol><li>Eboys - Benchmarks early days</li> </ol></li></ol>