TrueNYC -- Where Ideas & Entrepreneurs Meet

TV Show #32 - Bob Allard, Founder of Extension Engine

Bob Allard is a serial entrepreneur with a strong track record of bringing good people and ideas together. He currently runs multiple companies including: RetentionEngine, a compensation technology firm; ExtensionEngine, a software development services firm (with 50 engineers in Split, Croatia); Referral Monitor, a new web service that helps companies design and manage word-of-mouth marketing campaigns; YouShouldMeet, a social networking service for managing introductions; and R3 Partners, a consultancy that works with entrepreneurs to turn good ideas into great businesses. Even with running these successful businesses, he still finds time for his other passions: his growing family, music, and golf.

View two minute preview of video interview:
http://www.truenyc.com/interview/bob-allard.html

TV Show #31 - Greg Galant, Founder of Venture Voice

What do the founders of Meetup.com, Paypal, and Brooklyn Brewery have in common? They were all featured on Gregory Galant's show, Venture Voice, a terrific podcast about entrepreneurship and venture capital.  In addition to hosting and producing Venture Voice, Greg Galant is also the CEO of RadioTail, a firm that facilitates advertising in podcasts.                   

Greg has clearly had entrepreneurship in his blood from a very young age. In 1996, at age 14, Greg started Halenet, Inc., an award-winning Internet strategy firm. He worked at Newlight Associates, a $120M technology venture capital firm, sourcing investments and managing deal flow and was an associate producer at CNN.com, where he analyzed the latest trends in citizens’ media.

Greg founded the Young Professionals Chamber of Commerce in 2000 to engage students in the business world. He’s been the teacher of its entrepreneurship workshop for high school and college students for the past five years.

Greg has been featured in The New York Times, the Venture Capital Journal, The New York Daily News, Catherine Crier's WOR radio show and News 12. The Suffolk Nassau Chamber of Commerce named him the 2003 “Entrepreneur of the Year”.

View two minute preview of video:
http://www.truenyc.com/interview/gregory-galant.html

Show #30 - Ilir Sela, Founder of Nerd Force, Inc.

Ilir Sela is an entrepreneur who saw a common problem, and formulated a simple, yet ingenious way to provide a service.  Mr. Sela is the Founder and CEO of Nerd Force, Inc., an onsite technology services company supporting small business and residential computer users in the New York Metro area.  If your personal computer or small business is in need of IT repair, a fantastically geeky van can arrive on your doorstep, ready to solve any problem.                   

Since 2003 Mr. Sela has managed Nerd Force from an owner operated computer repair shop in Staten Island, into a successful onsite technology services group, servicing the entire New York Tri State area. In late 2005, he began the process of franchising the Nerd Force system as part of his plan to expand the brand nation-wide, while allowing other quality technicians the opportunity to run their own business.

Check out his wesite: www.nerdforce.com

View Interview Video   

TV Show #29 - Matthew Weiss, Founder of 888-Red Light

Matthew J. Weiss, Esq. is a serial entrepreneur having started and run 3 different businesses. He graduated Hofstra Law School in 1984 and has practiced for the past 22 years.                   

In 2001, Mr. Weiss bought out his partner of 10 years and changed his law firm's name to Weiss & Associates, PC.  His law firm (and its predecessor) has represented thousands of clients in a variety of matters. Mr. Weiss primarily handles commercial transaction and litigation matters. The entrepreneurial portion of Mr. Weiss' firm is the department that defends motorists from traffic tickets. Each year his many lawyers defend over 3,000 motorists from all types of moving violations.  The Traffic Department is a novelty in the legal services industry. This site can be visited at: www.nytrafficticket.com

Mr. Weiss is also a Board Member of the not-for-profit Entrepreneurs' Organization, the premier peer-to-peer business group in New York City and worldwide. The organization is dedicated to  helping business owners take their companies to the next level and information about the group is available at www.eonyc.org

 View Interview Video

TV Show #28 - Murray Hidary, Founder of iAmplify

Murray Hidary, founder of iAmplify, has much experience taking a company from inception to public offering. His most recent venture iAmplify provides the means for leading celebrities, experts and media companies to self-publish paid audio and video content over the Internet.

Prior to iAmplify, Murray co-founded Vista Research, an independent financial research provider serving the country's largest hedge funds and mutual funds. Vista Research was acquired by McGraw-Hill/Standard & Poor's in April 2005.

Murray also co-founded Dice, Inc. (formerly EarthWeb), where his responsibilities included managing the company's global Mergers & Acquisition efforts as well as its Strategic Investments Program. Under his management, the company completed multiple capital raisings totaling over $150 million including a successful initial public offering in 1998. Murray also completed over twenty acquisitions and strategic investments in IT related companies and divested the company's content business.

Murray is an accomplished composer and photographer, and is involved in a myriad of philanthropic causes.With all of these business ventures, he still finds time to include the arts in his life.

Murray discusses the importance of being courageous, knowing your limits, and often times, giving up control by outsourcing. His advice is invaluable!

View Interview Video

TV Show # 27 -- Gabrielle Bernstein, Founder of WEN & SparkPlug Communications

Entrepreneur from the get-go and superior networker, Gabrielle is the lady around whom everybody gathers. Dynamic and upbeat — she delivers, no matter what the job. Whether it's raising money for The UN Women's Conference on peace or securing media placements for clients in high profile national publications, people count on Gabrielle.

In March 2002, Gabrielle co-founded the not-for-profit Women’s Entrepreneurial Network (W.E.N.), to assist the efforts of female entrepreneurs in the business world. Later that year Gabrielle incorporated her second company, SparkPlug Communications, a boutique Public Relations firm that surpassed all projections in its first year.

In the past year, Gabrielle has launched eight new clients’ venues, was a weekly featured guest on Sirius Satellite Radio’s station Shade 45, coordinated daylong networking workshops for W.E.N., ran successful PR campaigns for her clients and spoke weekly to students at NYC Universities.

You can meet Gabriel in person on August 15, 2006 from 7 – 9 pm and network with her and fellow entrepreneurs at a hour and a half workshop.  More Info - How to Create a Life Style Rather Than a Career.

 View Interview Video 

TV Show #26 -- Richard Banfield, Founder of Fresh Tilled Soil

We are sorry we have been off the radar for the past month, but David has been busy graduating from law school and now studying to take the Bar. We don’t want to disappointment our fellow entrepreneurs, so I decided to take a stand and take over TrueNYC for the next two months (well, at least the newsletter). We have almost 20 interviews currently being edited in our studio…so you are in for a treat.

OK, so let’s get to it.

This week, TrueNYC interviews Founder and CEO of Fresh Tilled Soil, Richard Banfield. Richard is a serial entrepreneur with a passion for the web. His career has been focused on technology and Internet related businesses. Throughout his career, Richard has delivered high-level business strategy, global marketing campaigns and materials to clients in the US, UK, Europe and Africa. He's also lectured on the subjects of marketing and online advertising, written two e-Books and has authored guides on sales, account management, global business development and marketing strategy. He has raised institutional and private financing, started businesses from the ground up and has coached others to do the same.

We have learned so much from interviewing Richard, and hope you will, as well.

Looking forward to a full and prosperous summer!

View Interview Video

TV Show # 25 - Ryan Allis, Founder of Broadwick Corp.

Industry: Email Marketing Software
Company Size: 26 Employees
In Business: 3 years

This week, TrueNYC interviews Ryan Allis, 21, Founder of Broadwick Corp., providers of the leading email marketing and surveying software IntelliContact. Over the past four years, Ryan has built three companies to $2 million or more in annual sales--two as a marketing consultant and one as CEO. As CEO he's managed Broadwick from its start in July 2003 to its current size with 26 employees and over 5000 customers.

Ryan has been featured on ABC News and in Investors' Business Daily, the Daily Times of India, Entrepreneur Magazine, SuccessCoach Magazine, CosmoGirl, and Young Money Magazine, and in 2005 was named by BusinessWeek as one of the "Top 25 Entrepreneurs Under 25."

 View Interview Video 

TV Show # 24 - Founder of TrueNYC, David Schnurman, appears as a guest on Lawline with Fabrice Grinda & Barry Farber

David Schnurman, CEO of TrueNYC, a Web site and TV show for entrepreneurs, recently appeared on the legal television program Lawline to discuss entrepreneurship. The program airs on WNYE-TV, Channel 25.

The topic of the show was "How to Be a Successful Entrepreneur." He also appeared on the show with Fabrice Grinda, a 31-year-old entrepreneur who recently sold his company Zingy for $80 million, and Barry Farber, a motivational speaker and founder of Foldflat pen.

View Interview Video

TV Show # 23 - Sheena Lindahl & Michael Simmons, Founders of Extreme Entrepreneurship Education

Industry: Entrepreneurship
Company Size: 2 People
In Business: 2 years

Sheena Lindahl and Michael Simmons founded Extreme Entrepreneurship Education to help college students plan, prioritize, and pursue their own vision in life by utilizing the entrepreneurial mindset.

Sheena became financially independent of her parents at the age of 17 and was completely able pay her way through NYU’s $30,000+ yearly tuition, co-founded her business, and wrote a book called Now or Never. Michael started his first business, Princeton WebSolutions, when he was sixteen years old. It was later rated the #1 youth-run web development company in the nation by Youngbiz Magazine. In addition, Michael has been the winner of three entrepreneur of the year awards and is the author of The Student Success Manifesto.

 View Interview Video