On Monday, March 18th, the Weinert Center for Entrepreneurship along with the BBA Program Office organized a panel of experienced and successful entrepreneurs to answer the question: what is it like to think like an entrepreneur?
This year, for our annual “Think Like An Entrepreneur!” event, we welcomed Tori Gerding, owner of Ancora Coffee and founder of Hi/Lo Cafe; Yvette Jones, president and owner of designCraft Advertising; and Chris and James Kardatzke, founders of Quiver Quantitative. We also had Michael Quesnell, the Assistant Director for Employer Development lead the conversation.
Starting first, we had Tori Gerding. Tori, from Velders, Wisconsin, always knew she wanted to work in the service industry. Graduating with a business degree from OshKosh, Tori moved to Madison and quickly got involved with Ancora Coffee during the Covid-19 Pandemic.
“I feel like I have a good internal compass on what is going to sell, but not all of my ideas are great. So actually like having the pandemic and having the time to take the time and dig through data and actually make something valuable was amazing.”
For Ancora Coffee, Tori emphasizes that she really took the time during the pandemic to redesign Ancora’s logo and their menu. Today, Ancora’s coffee is stronger than ever and is a popular place among students on campus.
In addition, recently, Tori had just opened Lola’s Hi/Lo Cafe, which was inspired by a wide array of elements with a mix of dive and classy elements that can be found in other traditional bars. Tori mentioned that she co-founded the cafe with her husband, whom she had met years before in Madison as he owned the Majestic Theatre. While creating a working relationship with her partner has been a challenge, Tori mentions that there is nobody else she would rather do it with.
Overall, Tori’s message to anyone who is interested in getting involved in the service industry is to: “In areas that you don’t know, ask for help. It’s amazing how many people will give out help for free.”
Next we had Yvette Jones talk about her experience in marketing.
Yvette founded designCraft Advertising located in Madison that is focused on locally owned or regionally owned businesses.
Yvette says, “designCraft’s intention and commitment is to provide effective advertising and promotional services to independent businesses and nonprofits focused on equity, social justice and sustainability…. ensuring campaigns are beneficial to consumers.”
designCraft is responsible for taking in clientele and helping them with their advertising journey. Passionate about making a difference, following a democratic process, Yvette’s team always votes on clients before they take them in to ensure the integrity of their practice.
Today, Yvette acknowledges that the business industry is always changing. With AI or algorithms, Yvette is confident in their practice’s ability to stay current and stay true to their values.
Finally, Yvette emphasizes for our fellow students that “When you build a career, and while you’re in school, it is a perfect time to really look through your passions and figure out how you can put these together and make a career out of it.”
Lastly, we had brothers: James and Chris Kardatzke speak. Both individuals are true badgers from Spring Green, Wisconsin. James graduated with an undergraduate degree in Finance and Economics while Chris graduated with an undergraduate degree in Stats and Mathematics with a sense of programming.
Together, they founded Quiver Quantitative, which initially started a hobby and now serves as an investment research opportunity for retail investors. Their mission is to help those in the industry make better trading decisions through data analytics.
One advantage of launching their business within the Covid-19 Pandemic was that, Chris emphasized: “Pretty much from day one, our whole team was remote, which actually made it easier I think to a certain extent. We’ve had that in our culture from the start.”
While there has been some challenge with getting the startup running and figuring out what areas they should focus on, their closing thoughts and emphasis for students was to get involved early on. James says, “I think being able to build a network of people that you can reach out to, that you trust, and also being able to pick up knowledge and fields that are not directly related to what you’re working on but could come in handy down the road, I think that will ultimately make you a much stronger individual.”
We thank these fellow entrepreneurs for their time and their journey. Their stories resonated with the students and provided them meaningful lessons and advice for their own entrepreneurial ventures.
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