Experience

Coconut VA

• United States
• Staffing and Recruiting
• 1 - 100 Employee

• CEO and Cofounder

  • Aug 2021 - Present

  Coconut VA is a Virtual Assistant Staffing Agency for small business owners. We lower the risk for entrepreneurs and increase the benefits for VAs.



Venture Validator

• United States
• Market Research

• CEO and Founder

  • Apr 2019 - Apr 2022

  Venture Validator is a market research firm that helps startups find product/market fit. 6-figure exit, acquired by Fundable Startups. Our employee training was so robust, that we were able to hire and train a new operator in 1 month and not one employee had to transfer to the acquiring entity. The reason we sold is simple: We used Venture Validator's PMF engine to validate the best business model ever - Coconut VA!



Brigham Young University

• United States
• Higher Education
• 700 & Above Employee

• Adjunct Entrepreneurship Professor

  • Jan 2020 - Aug 2021

  Provo, Utah, United States Most people don't believe it when I tell them I taught at the nation's 3rd ranking entrepreneurship school while I was yet an undergrad - but it's true. As a student, I saw a need for a new course on practical business validation tools. I had the audacity to pitch the course to the director and he shockingly approved. What's crazier is that my students, the director, and not even my TA knew that I BSed every lecture. As a startup founder, I didn't have time to create an elaborate slide… Show more Most people don't believe it when I tell them I taught at the nation's 3rd ranking entrepreneurship school while I was yet an undergrad - but it's true. As a student, I saw a need for a new course on practical business validation tools. I had the audacity to pitch the course to the director and he shockingly approved. What's crazier is that my students, the director, and not even my TA knew that I BSed every lecture. As a startup founder, I didn't have time to create an elaborate slide deck for the course. So 5 minutes before every class, I would take out a sticky note and jot down notes on what topics I would cover. Then for 2.5 hours, I would lecture on the principles recalling everything I learned from books and my own extensive experience, and no one was the wiser. I taught for 3 semesters before moving out of state. Show less



Wow Factor Consulting

• Startup Validation Consultant

  • 2018 - Aug 2021

  Provo, UT Wow Factor Consulting is the non-scalable predecessor to Venture Validator. Having $20K to spend on startups and no startup to spend it on, I sought to go forward with only the best idea. I took the top frameworks on how to test pre-launch products through specialized focus groups - then innovated on the proccess to make it less expensive and more insightful.



Fresh Stamp

• Founder

  • Feb 2018 - Jun 2018

  Provo, Utah Area Fresh Stamp was an expiration date barcode add-on that allows grocery stores to automatically identify and discount items before they expire. This startup won $25K in startup competitions (placing first in the BYU New Venture Challenge and 6/6000 in the International Business Model Competition). Knowing that competition winning is not the same thing as business model validation, I turned down multiple investment offers of $500K-$650K to focus more fully on validation. I soon found an impassible… Show more Fresh Stamp was an expiration date barcode add-on that allows grocery stores to automatically identify and discount items before they expire. This startup won $25K in startup competitions (placing first in the BYU New Venture Challenge and 6/6000 in the International Business Model Competition). Knowing that competition winning is not the same thing as business model validation, I turned down multiple investment offers of $500K-$650K to focus more fully on validation. I soon found an impassible model-killing issue, and took the remaining $20K of winnings, and began to test a few others business ideas (which turned into a business in and of its self). Show less