Today on Made in the High Country –– how local digital marketing genius, and co-founder of Startup High County, James Bance, started out as just another dreamy-eyed, Silicon Valley Tech Wannabe at the turn of the millennium, launched and failed his first startup and eventually made the High Country his home
James has a crystal clear understanding of what most entrepreneurs take for granted in the digital marketing world…that ad dollars do not automatically equal success. He helps brands avoid the mentality that success can be bought, and instead gives them clear, usable data that shows them where their dollars go farthest to help them reach their goals.
On today’s show you’ll learn about the origins of our organization, Startup High Country, the impact that remote-based businesses have on individuals and our communities, surprising insights about entrepreneurism in the High Country, and how anyone, no matter their level of computer skills, SHOULD and CAN break into the tech industry.
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Note - Transcripts are created using AI technology and may not read 100% accurately. We apologize for any misspellings or mistakes.
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It didn't matter if you lived in New Jersey, Washington, or on the moon. If you had the talent to add to the team and to bring this technology forward, then we're gonna find you wherever you are, right? And that's really how companies should be thinking today, no matter where they are.
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Welcome to Made in the High Country, a podcast that takes you behind the scenes of Western North Carolina's entrepreneurial ecosystem and the people within it from Startup High Country. I'm Samantha Wright, and on today's show, How local digital marketing genius and co-founder of Startup High Country James Band, started out as just another dreamy eyed Silicon Valley tech wannabe at the turn of the millennium launched and failed his first startup. The lessons he learned along the way and how he eventually made the high country his home, landing his dream job, and proving that global success can be achieved from even the smallest of towns.
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I talk to people from all over the world every single day from South Africa to India, to you name it, and I do it from Boone. And most people don't know where the hell Boone is.
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James Bance currently leads the growth team at Measured a global company that specializes in sales, technology and services. They help brands understand what their online advertising dollars are doing, and where their ad dollars can make the most impact for their brand. Measured works with some of the biggest brands in the world, including Dollar Shave Club, GrubHub, Viri, and Unilever. James has a crystal clear understanding for what most entrepreneurs take for granted in the digital marketing world that add dollars do not automatically equal success. He helps brands avoid the mentality that success can be bought, and instead gives them clear, usable data that shows them where their dollars go farthest to help them reach their goals.
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On today's show, you'll learn about the origins of our organization, Startup High Country, the impact that remote based businesses have on individuals and our communities, surprising insights about entrepreneurism in the high country, and how anyone, no matter their level of computer skills, should and can break into the tech industry according to James. James has an enormous passion for tech entrepreneurship and high growth companies, but balances his success driven mindset with an enormous respect for a high quality of life and conscientious community impact.
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I don't, I don't wanna see a thousand more cars on blowing Rock Highway so that you're, instead of being 10 cars back at the stoplight, you're now 30 cars back at the stoplight. Like, that's, that's the last thing we wanna see, right? Is more, more congestion, more, more, more. It's not, that's not the answer. So I think the balance is like when we talk to entrepreneurs that are down the mountain and are thinking about coming up here, it's communicating with them like, first of all, can we help you? Right? So like, what's your company gonna do? Like, what's your growth strategy? Like, how many employees do you want to have? Eventually, when we do have these conversations, we, we kind of, we have to help guide those entrepreneurs on whether this is a good move for you or not, right?
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If it's, if it's a situation where you can bring your company up here, great. Do it. We're not the gatekeepers, but we're, we're, we're the guides, right? Like, we wanna be the guides to kind of help Sherpa people that do wanna make that move and help them understand like, what are some of the realities of being up here? What are some of the benefits, some of the cons. So there's a lot of them, right? There's not this endless talent pool up here. Like you, you have to have a remote culture in your company if you're gonna be up here.
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Now, before he was the growth leader for a major global online marketing company. James was just another kid attending college in his home state of Wisconsin. And just at the cusp of the new millennium, James, along with two of his friends, packed up everything he owned and moved to Silicon Valley to try and carve out their place in the up and coming tech world.
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We woke up that morning wondering if like Y2K was gonna like, you know, wipe out the world and all the tech, and are we gonna have a job in a company tomorrow? And I don't know if I had the flu or what it was, but I just remember being really ill driving a U-haul down through a mountain pass from Park City to Salt Lake City, wondering if I was gonna make it to California. But we made it.
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Now, they didn't have jobs waiting for them. They didn't even have a solid company going for them yet, but they had raised about a hundred thousand dollars from family and friends based on an idea that they had had, they called it broker patrol. And the idea was to help investors understand when the market was really good and when it was bad.
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Don't look it up. You probably won't find any anything. It's, it's been a, it's been a while.
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James and his buddies were day trainers in college where he says,
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We thought we were smart. We were in, in a bull market, like anyone can make money, right?
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But as they got things going, they quickly realized that they just didn't have enough capital. They didn't have a long enough runway to keep the business going.
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We, we failed, right? So it was, it was a very, very deep learning experience for all three of us to be able to go through that process of raising money and pitching and trying to raise more money in Silicon Valley. These three guys from Wisconsin that are just from a cow town, right? And the fact that we made it there was a huge thing in, in and of itself, but we, but we did, but we did fail ultimately. There, there were a couple things we could have pivoted into where we, we might still be in a company today, but that we chose not to for whatever reason at the time. You know, you, you, it's funny, you, you reflect back and you have these ideas that could have went somewhere, but we stuck to our guns with the original idea and ultimately that was not the right way to go.
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But that's, that's being an entrepreneur.
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James bounced around the west coast for a bit and then eventually landed in Austin where he worked for several companies, including Google. But in 2014, him and his wife moved to Boone, where he had known it merely as a vacation destination. It was in Boone that he eventually met Sam Glover, a fellow tech remote worker, where they started talking and eventually came up with the idea to start startup high country.
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It all started six years ago when I met Sam Glover at a 4th of July party. I was working for Google at the time. Sam was working for a startup in, in, in Durham called Shoeboxed. And we were like, Wow, we, we, you're a tech guy. I'm a tech guy, we're in Boon. Like, we didn't, we didn't know anybody else that were really in, in technology up here at the time. So we, we kind of, we hit it off. And then I think over coffee, maybe like a month after we met, we were like, you know, Durham's doing these really cool things down at the American underground, like just getting together. And then there's this book that was written by Brad Feld and, and another guy, I can't remember, called Startup Communities.
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And Sam gave me the book and I read it and I was like, Wow, this, this is exactly what we need to do up here. There are, we, I know in my gut that there are other people up here like this. We need to find them and like flush them outta the hollers and get them together in town and talk about what we do. And so we can all commiserate together and we can, you know, talk strategy, maybe even build a company or maybe even recruit companies up here, like wanted to be a lighthouse for people that they could, they could look at and say, Okay, these guys are doing it up there. I can do that too, but not bring big companies up here. And like growth to us was controlled, mindful growth, right? Not bringing a big company up into deep gap and having, you know, 5,000 jobs there.
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That's not practical for, for a lot of reasons, right? We wanted smaller individuals that have high impact startups, that have maybe distributed teams that would bring their company up and maybe have, you know, four or five employees. If we could do that, say 15 times, that's impactful for the, for the economy up here. Very impactful. So that, that's really what our goal was. The growth that we wanted to see was, was mindful, intentional growth that we could bring really smart people up here that could plant interesting companies and, and provide a new way of looking at like how you can go out and make money.
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And what do you feel like is the biggest impact that startup high country is having now? Because I know it's gone through a lot of evolutions over the years. What's your favorite thing about what we're doing today?
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We've seen a lot of positive impact from the events that we hold. Like the startup social, just getting people together, not in a work atmosphere, but in a social atmosphere to talk about what you're doing, talk about your work, getting entrepreneurs together to have that water cooler talk and that ability to vent and, you know, cry on somebody's shoulder or get an idea or bounce an idea off somebody. It's, it's super important that socialization piece is, is the piece that I hope doesn't start to die off or dwindle because we are getting so attached to our, our, our Zoom calls and our black screens that we hold in our hands each day. We've gotta really keep putting a, a high level of importance on that.
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So that's why we're, we're continuing to do these socials here in the high country and, and get people together. It's super important. Yeah,
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I've had so many people come up to me after we host those monthly socials saying, you know, thank you so much for this because, you know, I sit in front of my computer all day or I'm stuck at the office all day. It doesn't, it doesn't just affect remote workers that need for community that need to just relax and have interesting, meaningful conversations with peers, with their fellow entrepreneurs. And there's just been so many interesting takeaways from that. But time and time again, people, people are just really valuing that and I think they value it more so now because of all of the, the tech that surrounds us on a daily basis. Because I, I mean people just really relax and, and dive into that community aspect when we are able to get together in person, it's so important.
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Yep. A hundred per hundred percent.
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Now, Jade, something that you have been a part of in the local entrepreneurial community here is something that I think not a lot of local entrepreneurs know about, that's this extremely beneficial resource called the High Country Impact Fund. So tell us more about what that is and how it came to be.
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Yeah, so the Impact fund was, I mean, it was really important because there wasn't really a capital source for companies up here that needed, like equity capital. They needed capital that was not debt, right? So they didn't have this, It, it just goes, it's a basic conversation that you have when you're starting a company. Like what kind of, what kind, if I'm gonna bring on capital, am I gonna be, am I gonna go to a bank and get it and or am I gonna go to an investor and get it in the form of equity? The advantage of the equity piece is that you're not paying back those investors right away in some form of debt service, right? You're gonna pay that back long term in the form of shares, and those shares hopefully appreciate in value. We didn't have a vehicle like that up here where people could tap into for some of these more high risk endeavors, right?
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A bank is not gonna fund some of these high risk endeavors. It's just, they're, they're not, there's too many requirements. So the impact fund is a thing that has, has been sorely needed to get money in the hands of some of these entrepreneurs like Hive tracks or Viter that need that form of capital. And then there's investors in the area and angel investors that are interested in not just putting money into these companies, but also lending their expertise, right? So an angel investor is way different than a VC in that an angel investor typically is much more tied to the company because they have some type of experience that gives them a unique visibility into what that company's doing.
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So we try to match the investors in the impact fund with the, the right companies where they can, you know, lend a hand, they can say, Hey, you know what, I've done this this way in the past and this didn't work, and here's why. Just give them advice in certain things. So it's, it's the combination of capital plus knowledge that's really impactful for these businesses
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And for those who wanna learn more about the High Country Impact Fund, it's just high country impact fund.com. And this is something that James, you, you helped found this, this was in 2019. It was such an incredible feat, you know, bringing together all the investors, essentially creating an angel investment fund for the high country. We're gonna be hearing from Chris Grayer as well as Jeffrey Scott on the podcast, and they'll be talking more about this as well, because it's something that they're still actively very involved with. You know, providing coaching for entrepreneurs that want to pitch, that wanna get in front of investors and, and raising more capital as well so that it can keep on, keep on keeping on.
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But James, from, from your perspective, in the past three years that it's been going on, what are some of the biggest impacts that you've seen the High Country Impact Fund have on our local economy?
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I think just getting all the money out into, so there was a million dollar raise and the million dollars has now been deployed into quite a few regional businesses, not just here in Boone and Blowing Rock, but also Asheville. Any, we consider the high country really this western part of North Carolina. And that million dollars has been deployed into quite a few companies that needed it, and they were able to raise money from other sources. There was also 2 million invested in what we call sidecar investments, where an investor can, can kind of put more in if they'd like as a, as on a one off basis. So really 3 million has been invested as a result of the fund, and now Chris and Jeffrey are organizing a second raise.
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So there's gonna be another fund that's going to, I think they just broke escrow, so they will start raising money and put even more money into the ecosystem.
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James, what advice would you give to someone who is trying to break into that tech field, whether they're interested in a startup and, and have that big vision and, and wanna build a huge tech company, or just the person who is just getting started, maybe learning coding or wants to just get, get a toe in the door, whatever that looks like to be a part of this, that growing and exciting industry.
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So I take it down two paths. One being a tech founder and one being a tech, kind of just getting a tech job. So I'd say as a tech founder, really spend the time to understand your customer. And this isn't just the tech, this is for really any business in general, right? Is you need to spend the time doing your customer discovery. You need to understand who your buyer is, how they think, what they want from your product or your service. A a lot of folks are, there's, there's a lot of government led programs out there, right? That are, that traditionally helped entrepreneurs and they're, they're great, however, they're a little bit behind the time still because they're still teaching things like build it, you know, write your business plan, right?
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That big huge document that would sit, Jeffrey would always say, Yeah, the business plan that sat in the backseat of my car would roll around back and forth when I'm driving around town trying to pitch my idea, right? It's, that's an antiquated way to think about things going forward. You, you, to build a company you can accelerate and you can get to market faster with your product by just understanding your customer better. So do the customer discovery. And there's programs that we have here within startup high country. We did an accelerator called Velocity Labs that really focused on that, that whole process of, of what it takes to get your product out faster, to, to get your mvp, your minimum viable product out faster, iterate on it, and get to a place where you have a repeatable, sustainable revenue stream from that product.
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Then, you know, you've hit product market fit. There's just a lot of work that needs to happen to get there. And we can help, help, you know, guide that through some of the programs we have. If you're trying to get into tech, There's so many different ways you can get in right through marketing or through coms or PR or product or be an engineer, be a salesperson. There's, I think there's this barrier in a lot of people's minds that I have to be technology focused or I have to be a coder in some way, or a data person in some way to go get a tech job. And that's just not the case. There's so many different business units that make a technology company hum and run.
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It doesn't require these technical skills that you might think you do need to at some point, even if you're in sales, you need to understand the tech, you need to be able to understand it and articulate what it does and the benefits that it brings to customers to be able to sell it. But there's a lot of smart people out there that probably haven't interviewed or explored tech companies that I think should, and they should because it's fun, it's interesting, building technology and, and, and product is, has been very fulfilling for me. It's financially rewarding. If you, if you get in with a company early that has a, a runaway hit and their stock price increases and you, you participate in that equity, you know, can be life-changing for a lot of people.
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So the, the growth opportunity is huge. So I'd encourage more people to take a look at it and, and come talk to one of us at Startup High Country if you're interested in it.
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I agree. There's so many different skills that go into building any sort of company. And that's the same for a tech company. You know, speaking for myself, I I work with the startup high country team where it's not strictly all about tech, but there, that's kind of at its root and then it's evolved over time. You know, and I, I don't know how to code, I never went to, to college to learn tech. I don't have any formal business degrees or business training even, you know, I'm really self taught. And I think the tech industry kind of lends itself to those, those people that have enough grit to just dive in and say, Hey, this thing is interesting to me, so I'm gonna learn it.
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You know, I, I was interested in podcasts, so I taught myself how to, how to start podcast and do sound editing. You know, I didn't know how to do any of that before. I just taught myself and working with the startup high country team as well. I get to lend my skills as know not just the podcaster for this show, but I do a lot of the event planning, a lot of the organizing, and really nothing too technical, even though I'm working for this, this company that has a lot of technical background and a lot of formal sort of business background. So don't sell yourself short, I think is the bottom line there for anyone that's interested in working in the tech industry, the business sector, anything that might scare them at first glance.
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Just, just be brave and, and dive in now. James, share with us what is the most typical high country thing that you've done lately?
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God, I just got back from being in New York for like three weeks. So I've been, I've been out of the high country. What are
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You talking about? Talk about your fourth
1 (20m 24s):
July. Yeah. Yeah. I did a, we had a, I had a 4th of July party. That's right. Thank you for reminding me. We had, I, I smoked some briskets and six pork butts with some friends. So we, we did kind of a very Texas style barbecue in the high country. Had I think six, six bands at my house. Just a great setting. It's got a, a creek in the backyard, all into the pine trees. The weather was beautiful. Spent a lot of time with friends and family and enjoyed a lot of laughter, playing a lot of music together. It was, it was amazing. So that was my most high country thing this summer.
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Thanks so much for tuning in to today's episode. This show was produced and edited by me, Samantha Wright, community director at Startup High Country. Learn more about our events, workshops, and ways that you can get involved with Startup High country@startuphc.com. A special thank you to Matt Wason for the creation of some of our music. Startup High Country is supported by NC idea, a private foundation that supports entrepreneurship in North Carolina through grants and innovative programs. Thank you to the Wataga EDC for their support and for helping build the entrepreneurial landscape of Western North Carolina. I'm Samantha Wright, and you've been listening to Made in the High Country.