 Hi, welcome to live at 525. I'm your host, Austin Davis, government affairs manager for the Lake Champlain Chamber and probably going to take off these antlers within the next five minutes. We might be about seven hours away from actually being December but it's after Thanksgiving so you're probably already thinking about Christmas. With me today I have my colleague Lauren Bass who is the director of Launch VT which is a business accelerator that's a program of the Lake Champlain Chamber and we're going to talk a little bit about some local entrepreneurs that have gone through Launch VT who would make for some fantastic gifts for folks in your life whether that be for any holiday. So Lauren, tell me a little bit about Launch VT and how we have this table of abundance for the holidays in front of us. Yes, always abundance. I'm so excited to be here first of all. Launch VT for those of you who are not familiar with an accelerator, what we do is we help businesses that are getting ready to scale. So these are businesses that are looking for major investment either from an angel investor, venture capital, banks or other alternative investors and the idea is that we put them through a three month drink by the fire hose program. At the end of all of this we have something called demo night which is effectively Shark Tank for Vermont. We attract one of the largest investors crowds here in the state and what happens after that is really up to the founders themselves once they leave Launch VT they take their newfound knowledge and go out into the big wide world. After demo night as well it's worth pointing out that we also give out cash prizes. So we have a couple of winners here with us. Fantastic. I'm excited to tell you about. And you could be a winner if you get one of these and give it to one of your relatives for a holiday present. So that's right. We're going to talk a little bit about some of these winners and I'm going to ditch these because they're already uncomfortable. They look really good. I know but it's not working. I love mine. Losing circulation in the head. So tell me, let's start talking about this. Yeah. So what do we have here? Okay well so we have a bunch of different brands here. I'll just do a quick run-through. Slogan, Los Lantern Whiskey, Bivo, Vermont Shrimp aka Sweet Sound, Aquaculture, Little Pataka, Sheiky Wrap over here. Am I missing anybody? Okay cool. I'm so good at this. Alright so we're going to talk a little bit about these founders and what's so amazing about their products. So starting up with how I like to have every Christmas holiday celebration start, we will begin with the booze. So yeah sure. Actually that's a beautiful bottle. We'll talk about that in a second. So Lost Lantern Whiskey is actually a female founded husband and wife pair who run Lost Lantern Whiskey and I actually have some cheat sheet notes that I'm going to go over here because admittedly I drink wine from a can. Now I have a water cup here, a whiskey cup so I'm going to start working on the water maybe. There you go. Have something to catch that booze. So Lost Lantern went through launch VT in 2021. They were the winner of our audience choice award which is a $5,000 cash award. Since then Nora Gangley Roper and her husband Apollon aka Adam Polanski have been very very good at raising some significant cash and more importantly making some awesome products that have already gone to market. So I have three different versions here. This is their flagship. This is an American vatted malt and I'm going to read it directly from Adam himself. Lost Lantern's flagship is a blend of American single malt whiskey from distilleries from across the country. It's a bit like a blended scotch which is very hard to find here in the U.S. This particular whiskey comes from distilleries across six states. So Washington, Oregon, New Mexico, Texas, Virginia and Massachusetts and all six of those distilleries are actually marked on the back of the bottle here. I have two other varieties here. This is the copper works distilling and this is cedar ridge. So these are two separate distillers and I don't know if the camera person can actually show this but these bottles are actually hand dated so that you know yeah it's really nice and and I should explain to them explain to you what it means. So single cask this means this particular batch came out of a single cask about 500 or so of them and it's also considered what it's called it's it's quite high in alcohol but these make awesome gifts it's particularly particularly those hand labeled ones I think are just really extra special to my family if they're watching right now yes this is this is everyone I know if you're watching. So great way to get the party started anytime during the holiday season moving right along folks we are going to talk about what are you going to feed your guests so you of course you've got everybody boozed up so you got to get them something in their stomachs and everyone tells you don't eat the seafood in a landlocked state but but however however so hold on one second yes so this comes to us from John Brawley he is the founder of Sweet Sound Aquaculture. John was in our most recent cohort in 2022 and he has figured out it is super cool how to raise shrimp right here on land. He has his setup at Earth Keep Farm Common which is located in Charlotte and he has he's just it's almost like a giant aquarium so all of his shrimp are kept inside of these very large vats they're fed they're taken care of in about 60 days they're ready for harvest and we make or I should say John makes truly some of the freshest shrimp that you're gonna get around here I can say that from experience I grew up in Manchester by the sea I know me some fish this is some amazing shrimp so you can either get it as you can see here just as like fresh shrimp with head on and I'd like to point out that head on shrimp is important if your head is still on your shrimp you know that's a fresh shrimp so they they like start from the head and then start to go bad from there so if your head is still on the shrimp and the shrimp smells good you know that it's really a whole education to the whole education but you know one thing that I really hate about shrimp is devaining them because it's gross so but here's what's awesome about this shrimp so yes you know you can peel it because it's so fresh but you don't have to devane because there's no silt or clay in the aquaculture yeah so what's really cool is that this is high-quality protein really really healthy with a fairly small carbon footprint so over 30% I think it's 33% of our world's emissions actually comes from agriculture and certainly beef farming in particular so the nice thing about this is that you can you can eat really well you can eat very healthily and you also know that you're supporting the planet well I'm sold on it I mean I've got my whiskey picked out I've got my my food my seafood picked out for the big holiday what else should I do well you have to give toys to the children it's always about just be about the adults so we have something very cool little Pataka we have a nice little setup here so we have some books we have affirmation cards which I really really love and this beautiful Ava doll which is this is actually really special they're made by hand and by a woman in Ukraine yeah so kind of important from that standpoint but let's talk about what these products are because they're really really cool so Akshata she was our audience choice winner this year she's a new American female founder and she has a child at home and she wanted to make sure that her daughter was going to be exposed to actually her native language which is really hard to find here in the States it's hope I say it properly Colcony I hope I said that right Akshata anyway so she decided to start making some books they're just beautiful so really nice illustrations and they both between actual correct script and then phonetics you can teach special words to your kid the other reason I really like this is and this comes from experience I bought all of these items for my three-year-old niece which it's really really cool is that the dust flaps actually turn into coloring books happen to be a huge fan of so you can color with your kid you can read with your kid you can work on your phonics you can work on your language but the other thing too about little Pataka that's really cool is that they really are it's about empowering children from all different walks of life so this is about diversity it's about inclusion doesn't matter what you look like what you like how you dress what you are able or unable to do it's trying to tell kids that they're good at what they do so these are some affirmation cards and I love these as well because your child will be affirmed for example in this case they are remarkable but much like the books you can color the backside and you can stencil actually where you can trace oh right so your kid can learn to write your kid can color they are affirmed that they are remarkable what I also love about this as well as that they come in these little pouches inside the box so that I mean I don't know about you but I always lose playing cards and like so this is a really nice thing you know parents anyone who's taking care of a child can keep everything in these handy little bags throw them in a backpack or a bag take them with you and you have something on the go to keep your your child busy and last but not least from this line I know actually I would be so excited for you guys to see this she has these mix and match puzzles because again it's about people being whomever they want to be so we have a child who is dressed up as a doctor well who knows maybe maybe she wants to be a judge and a doctor someday or better yet maybe she wants to wear let's see I believe this is um it's it's the type of bathing suits that you wear if you're if you're Muslim or religious and you thank you it's a Burkini so you she can have her Burkini and she can still be an American justice which is pretty cool I know I know so really good for small kids really good to remind them what's important and that is being themselves so so some toys for the kids some whiskey for the adults some some food for everybody what else are we gonna do okay so I happen to love to bring my water wherever I go and I have had I think probably every water bottle on the planet and never been particularly happy until that's the hanging prayer there until Bivo was in our cohort this year for 2022 you might have wrote about them in vt digger recently that's right yes yes Bivo is they these guys are killing it this Bivo water bottle is something really special and I'll tell you why these are actually designed for bicycle riders right so you know your cage that you have in your bicycle this fits that but typically these your water bottles I know you you ride right yeah what is your water bottle made out of well some kind of plastic that's yeah breaking down and getting into my bloodstream well look no further my friends I got the water bottle for you perfect so the really cool things about these water bottles first of all Karina Karina Hamel and Robbie ringer are the founders behind this awesome brand they themselves are endurance athletes Robbie it's a great rider I know Karina it's also being an endurance cross country skier she's very they're both very gifted athletes but they always hated drinking from those really cruddy plastic bottles that would like taste bad over time possible to clean impossible to clean it makes the water taste really cruddy when you leave plastic out in the hot sun it leeches some really nasty chemicals into your water and it's plastic and as we all know we hate those bottles we throw them out and then that plastic just sits in a landfill so look no further Bivo has fixed this problem by creating a stainless steel water bottle but wait there's more there is more because how do you squeeze a water bottle when it is made out of stainless steel now that's something I did not think about yet yeah so this is really cool Karina and Robbie created a device that actually and this is NASA approved apparently there is a component inside of this bottle where you don't need to squeeze you just rely on gravity to actually draw the water out for you and you can actually have a stronger flow and get more water without having to squeeze with this bottle then as you would write so let observe okay let's do it okay so first of all just want to point out they have insulated versions they have non-insulated versions I personally I have my own bottle here I've been on insulated insulated is one of their newer lines that is selling off the shelves I understand but why don't I give you the full effect so this is a 25 ounce no excuse me that's a 25 ounce and this is a 21 ounce I personally have the 25 I really like it but let me let me give you the full show here which is oh and a couple of other cool things when you get your bottles I have some cleaning supplies inside which makes it really easy this straw thing which is a part of the gravity component actually comes off so it's really easy yeah I love these so here we go the moment of truth too much merchandise on the table folks here we go okay I'll hold this up watch how fast this is that's not good wait a minute open all the way this is what happens on live television folks there you go you know what hold on I'm sorry I just use my own there we go these are all samples I apparently don't know how to use the samples but I'm sorry I made you wet here we go wow yeah it comes right out right out stop before we go there we go so I just poured my 21 ounces in pretty yes someone you I'm sorry it's water it's water it's fine where is it water not whiskey it's it's water it's water I don't know I mean it's that it's after five who knows but we're on live TV television which is all the reason why I need to have some liquid courage okay so I really did not drink before the show but I had you guessing didn't be guessing okay so you've got your Bivo bottles a perfect gift for your adventure-loving outsider athlete now the big question is how are you gonna get there mm-hmm mm-hmm and we have a solution for that there's there is you got stuff and you got to put your stuff somewhere and we do have a not just stuff there's something for every type of stuff whether that's bikes or skis or there's always a different thing but someone's we want that situation yes and there's one thing that can do it all one thing that can do it all and and I can't wait to talk about this because Kitter Spader who founded Slogan is really gifted at hearing what his customers want so first of all Kitter himself is a serial entrepreneur he he started the the very well and beloved pet care line called curgo and it's not really pet care it's colors and whatever else that you put on your doggy so they don't run off I actually have the harnesses for my own dogs he sold that exited that business and then as people do he was like time to start another one and of course he created a product that sort of answered his own problems but what I really like about it it's like I said Kitter really focuses on the user experience and the user feedback so as I go into this you'll you'll kind of come to understand that this modular thing is actually incredibly incredibly transformable so I'm gonna stand up to really explain what this is Slogan is actually a series of parts so you have this base deck right here and this is what there's a connects to your hitch to the back of your car your scv in this base deck here is universal fits with all of the different ways that you can actually use your Slogan base in this case Kitter has set me up with these really awesome ski racks right here this is when they're locked you don't have to open okay I'm not they lock very very well you know that you can leave your car they will be fine even here in Burlington so here's what's really awesome about this first of all you can have your skis you can get your Yeti coolers you can have your bicycle rack you can do all the things as long as you just have this base and then basically the other items that hold the things that need to be stored are modular so you can purchase them they're also really affordable they're rugged and affordable which I love so the the platform itself the the base is about 200 bucks the these ski racks were actually around $200 so you have for this item here for $400 you have a highly modular very user-friendly rack and the other cool thing about it too is Kitter here wants to hear from you so this is what I was telling you about the user experience part mm-hmm one of the things I actually ask Kitter because I ski I ride I hike I also play golf so I said to Kitter last time I saw him I was like oh hey do you have a golf bag one yet and he was like not yet not yet and that's the really cool thing about this brand which is they want to hear from you so when you get on their website you check out what's there if what you need is not on the site get in touch with the folks at Slogan they want to hear exactly what people in the ground want mm-hmm and want to make sure that they're gonna answer that demand the other really cool thing too is that if you wind up using your Slogan components slightly different than how they are maybe originally intended what's really really nice is that they also want to hear about like how did you rejig it like did you get kind of janky and do something different in a way that they weren't expecting to see their products used so in entrepreneurship when we talk to entrepreneurs about how to make sure that you're going to be successful with your new product a lot of the deal is doing what I call on the boot you know boots on the ground bottom up data in collection mm-hmm and that really is basically finding out directly from your early customers how are they using your products so I'm excited about Slogan from that standpoint it's going to answer directly the needs that you have an opportunity to not just get a product from a local entrepreneur for someone correct this holiday season but also to be part of future product development a hundred percent you know be part of the ground floor of a larger company that's right yeah fantastic it is pretty cool now the question of the evening that Austin Davis is how are you gonna give all of these beautiful presents to the people you care and know in your life well I a lot of times embarrassingly just end up giving them in a you know the paper bag oh yeah bought in from the store and try to like no bueno have some paper on top of it to make it look like it was intentional but everyone sees right through it everyone sees right through it and yeah yeah I mean expectations are down payment on disappointment and after all these years of poorly wrapping presents yes there's been no down payment well look no more my friends I am so excited to introduce to every everyone cheeky rap so I'm just gonna grab this guy right here who's right in front of this one looks like it's for me and that one's this is to figure out what you're gonna do with your last lantern bottles you are going to wrap them up just like this yes tell me what is this so that is actually a really great way to wrap up those booze bottles that you might be gifting when you go to somebody's house let's say or even you know the actual day of Christmas I don't know about you but in the past when I've gifted booze I use that like really lame long straight bag you know I mean yeah they usually always where is gonna get out on you yeah yeah they suck and they just looked super cheesy well cheeky rap actually the word the word itself cheeky rap is actually a play on furoshiki furoshiki which is a Japanese type of rapping have you been to Japan no oh my god so I love going to trance fans awesome but what's really cool about it said if you ever buy something from like a nice Japanese store they do a beautiful job of wrapping up their goods these are gorgeous yeah so this is then the Megan Downey was inspired by this type of wrapping that is regularly done in Japan and what she's done is created reusable gift wrap and it's a type of fabric it's designed here in Vermont it's kind of stretchy and it feels really nice and silky they are made in the USA reversible as you can see and guess what it's made out of what recycled plastic bottles oh my god not only are you keeping valuable trees in the ground and keeping wrapping paper out of the landfill when you get rid of your current plastic bottle that's right make sure you recycle it because you're upgraded to a bit of course it's gonna end up in our other that's exactly right circle here and what's great about it too is like the presentation is really awesome and you can tell the recipient like it's like it's two gifts in one right you can reuse this and it and it's it feels really good yeah you can leave this somewhere instead of having the the rolls that you know always get bent up no these are easy they just already crinkly they fold right up scissors and tape throw them in a drawer you're good the other nice thing too is and Megan's doing a great job with us she has now a partnership with Macy's and she's also now partnered up with a Rosalia I have this written down and I should check my cheat sheet but portion of the profits are going to the Rosalia hold on a second here we go okay the Rosalia project and that is a 501c3 that is saving the world's oceans from plastics so so get rid of your your plastic water bowl yeah get this wrap the below in this save the oceans that's exactly right I've summarized it as best I could a fun metric for you that Megan actually told me when I saw her the other day just this year they have kept 7500 discarded recycled plastic or discarded plastic water bottles out of our oceans so it makes a real difference and it's it like I said it's like an extra gift for your loved ones what I like to do with this to is that you put in this little description card right here says reuse me and you can really tell your gift recipient why this is a bit more special than maybe a traditional gift and what I like to is you know you can really dress them up this is I like fairies it looks great the other thing too is that if you have unusually shaped things much easier to wrap because you have that nice stretch in the fabric that you would not get in paper well all these are fantastic I mean this is as I said you know I think we all are a lot more mindful with what we try to give for gifts these days yeah this is a kind of no brainer these are all gifts that have an impact you know beyond just what they are and then they have the added benefit of supporting your local community exactly so you know if folks want to purchase these gifts I mean this is the 21st century so they're likely just going to Google the names but where else can they find all these things or how should they sure okay well all of these items are ready to be purchased now on each one of the founders websites I should predicate that though shrimp you cannot buy online that's awfully tricky you can however find it you can find it at Juniper in Hotel Vermont City Market a number of some of our best and best-known caterers purchased from John hand of the wood it's a it's a fairly long list you I see how to find that on your home's website yes it's all on his website perfect but actually so let's just get back to how folks are gonna purchase these goods which is again go to their websites you can buy directly from these founders and here's a little bit why a we're showing these products today and why as you said this makes a lot of impact so all of the alumni who've produced the products here on this table this evening they're all fairly recent graduates so they were all from the 2021 or 22 cohorts they are raising money trying to grow sales you know there'd be nothing better if Vermonters could make sure that these folks are gonna fly high and do a great job so when you support these founders you're supporting their businesses that are creating jobs right here on the ground local community yes and they need accountants and they need lawyers and they need marketing gurus all of the entire business landscape here benefits when you purchase from from these individuals and it's also worth to throwing it out there this is a very short list of the many consumer products and services that are actually have been accelerated by launch VT if you go on the launch VT website which is launch VT.com l a u n c h v t .com if you go there scroll down on our main page and you're gonna see all of the brands that have gone through launch VT so again so much more than this is a huge universe of gifts out there they don't have to be consumer products we have for example off the top of my head Burlington Code Academy one of our alumni they have some very very cool learning I love it you go so that's that's what we got this year on the docket what are you buying me well that's okay I left my credit card in the car so we'll have to talk about that later I get we'll do an IOU IOU yeah but I definitely think I want to find my way to a Bivo bottle you hit right at the nail right on the head I mean I am sick and tired of just my nasty bottles that I have and I'm always interested in a good whiskey and yes shrimp is actually my favorite food so really I don't know if you picked that on purpose or if you knew that but I did not I'll be finding some shrimp in my near future it's right there we're allowed to keep that the I found I didn't point out the other thing to the BIS I'm going to very quickly point out the BIS people oh my god the BISC is huge because it comes frozen you heat it up over the stove add some heavy cream to that I've served it to people and told people that I made it I just added the cream but they loved it yet your founders and they were like this is amazing it's really good so I can't believe I admitted that on live television that's sorry I love your shrimp it made me look good well whether it's the shrimp so you look good or the gift wrap so you don't have to deal with the paper the night before Christmas as I always have to and then end up giving it in a paper bag or you need a new way to get skis or bikes to the mountain or maybe after seeing this you know you need a whiskey we've got you covered go to launch VT.com check out the other alumni which are other options but long and short support local entrepreneurs this year and your shopping and gift giving for the holidays you know it makes a difference and if you love the place you love the ecosystem we have here please support it I'm Austin Davis director of government affairs for Lake Champlain Chamber and was joined by my colleague Lauren and thank you for your time folks thanks for thanks for watching yeah shop very Christmas everyone