Inside Mount Pleasant’s Harbor Entrepreneur Center And How It Helps Founders Grow

Starting a business can feel like you’re carrying the whole thing alone, and that’s exactly the problem the Harbor Entrepreneur Center is built to solve. We sit down with Grady Johnson, Executive Director of the Harbor in Mount Pleasant, SC, to talk about their mission of creating “collision” moments where entrepreneurs meet, swap real stories, and slowly build something more valuable than a contact list: a trusted peer-to-peer advisory network.

We get specific about how the Harbor supports founders at different stages, from simply showing up to happy hours to joining structured programs that help you pressure-test an idea before you blow past the one question that matters most: will anybody buy this? Grady walks us through the Startup Workshop, the two-day Boot Camp, and the long-running Accelerator Program designed to help companies with traction sharpen product-market fit, tighten go-to-market strategy, and prepare for pitching when equity investment is the right path.

We also dig into what’s changing right now for startups and small businesses across the Charleston entrepreneurship scene, especially the AI shift. AI is crushing timelines to MVP, lowering the barrier to building, and creating new opportunity for founders who move fast. But it also threatens many entry-level office jobs, raising hard questions about how people learn the craft of work. Finally, we talk Harbor Forge and how the team can help businesses connect systems, automate inefficiencies, and level up with practical software solutions.

Subscribe, share this with a founder who needs a stronger network, and leave a review so more entrepreneurs can find the Harbor story.

This is a grounded guide for founders, contractors, agency owners, manufacturers, and service leaders across Charleston and beyond who want a no-nonsense path to an exit. We share red flags that can sink deals, the role of local market knowledge, and how Viking’s success-based model aligns incentives. Join us, get practical next steps, and walk away knowing exactly how to make your future sale smoother.
www.vikingmergers.com

Presenting Sponsor: Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce

Studio Sponsor: Charleston Media Solutions

Episode Sponsor: Viking Mergers & Acquisitions

Expo Podcast Sponsor: ‪Pollen Social‬

Production Sponsor: RMBO.co

Design Sponsor: DK Design

Interested in Sponsorship? Click here.

Committee:
Kathleen Herrmann | Host | MPCC Past President | Mount Pleasant Towne Centre
Mike Compton | Co-host | Podcast Committee | RMBO.co
Rebecca Imholz | Co-host | MPCC Executive Director 
Amanda Bunting Comen | Co-host | MPCC Marketing & Communications
Benjamin Nesvold | Co-host | MPCC President | Edward Jones

Transcript

Welcome And Sponsors

Speaker 1 1:07

Well, hello, and welcome to the Building Business Podcast, powered by the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce. We are recording in the Charleston Media Solutions Studios. Huge supporters of the Chamber, so thank you for hosting us today. And of course, uh Mike, I'm still so excited to announce our podcast sponsor, Viking Mergers and Acquisitions. Thank you to them for sponsoring our podcast. Um they navigate the complexities of selling a business in our area.

Speaker 3 1:37

Listen to you, Kathy.

Speaker 1 1:38

I know it's never well, yeah, I Googled it, but um but it sounds perfect, so we can tag that every time. Really honestly, great guys. Um we actually our last podcast, if you didn't listen, was with Michael. Michael Purcell. Michael Purcell from Viking. So uh thank you to them for being the podcast sponsor. My name is Kathy Herman. I am a past president of the Mount Pleasant Chamber of Commerce. I am a current chair of the Rise Women and Business Committee, and I am also the marketing director for Mount Pleasant Town Center. Uh my favorite co-host is back. I'm assuming, Mike, that nobody else wants to talk to me since you're here with me every week. That's gotta be a month, right? That's gotta be us.

Speaker 3 2:16

I'm the only one who can tolerate you.

Speaker 1 2:20

Wow. That was lovely, thank you.

Speaker 3 2:23

I was your favorite. You were my favorite.

Speaker 1 2:25

We'll see what happens next month. Anyway, Mike Mike Compton, amazing guy, co-owner of RMBO.co Advertising, former chair of the Chamber Marketing Committee, and current president of the Charleston American Marketing Association.

Meet Grady And The Harbor

Speaker 3 2:37

Yeah, uh, and my worlds are colliding today as I left the marketing chair of the Mount Pleasant Chamber to jump on the Harbor Entrepreneur Center chair. Marketing chair. And our guest today is Mr. Grady Johnson, the executive director of the Harbor Entrepreneur Center. Say hello, Grady.

Speaker 2 2:52

Hello, Grady.

Speaker 3 2:55

This is gonna be a fun one. Did I did I get your uh title right? Did I get everything right there? Yep. What is the Harbor Entrepreneur Center, Grady, in your own words?

Speaker 2 3:04

In uh we are a uh not-for-profit 501c3 located in beautiful downtown Mount Pleasant, South Carolina. And uh we have the the mission of creating collision among entrepreneurs. Wow. And Mike, ask me what is what is collision?

Speaker 3 3:21

What is collision, Grady?

Speaker 2 3:22

You did that so well. Uh uh collision uh is when entrepreneurs come together, it's the term we use, when entrepreneurs come together, they collide and sparks fly. And uh being an entrepreneur is an extraordinarily uh lonely, frightening experience sometimes. Uh it's both exhilarating and terrifying at the same time. And you really don't have anybody to talk to as a uh as another entrepreneur, and so when you meet up with another entrepreneur, you just immediately form that bond of uh shared experiences and begin uh trading uh war stories, information, uh contacts, and um uh you know, over time repeated collisions uh with uh with entrepreneurs, you develop some very deep relationships that begin to uh turn from um sort of banter into what I'll call peer-to-peer advisory. And so over uh over time uh those collisions create a network of trusted advisors.

Speaker 1 4:24

And what and what is the our original story? How did the Harbor Entrepreneur Center how to get started, uh picking Mount Pleasant, all that?

Speaker 2 4:33

Yeah, you know, they're there's really, you know, uh there's really nobody to to talk to, and and so the you know, the the origin of it was Mount Pleasant was um uh back in uh gosh this would have been uh 13, 14 years ago, uh was trying to figure out how to do some kind of startup incubator or whatever. And um uh then uh you know uh some some other of the entrepreneurs around the uh around town were also thinking along the same lines because they didn't have anybody to talk to. And um uh and then they came together with this idea of creating uh an entrepreneur center after going up to Nashville, Tennessee, uh which has a really great entrepreneur center up there, and uh it's uh uh sort of the the the model that uh that uh was brought back here to uh to Mount Pleasant and uh and started in Mount Pleasant.

Speaker 1 5:29

So excuse my ignorance.

Speaker 2 5:30

Who does somebody own it? No, we're a 501c. Okay. So nope. Uh we've got a board of directors and uh little old me. Little ol you.

Speaker 1 5:39

Yeah, and so uh what is what is little old you's day-to-day look like as an executive?

Collision And Peer Advisory

Speaker 2 5:43

Well let's see. Um uh yesterday I was repairing some holes in the sheetrock. Uh today I was fixing a lock on a door, and then I'm I'm mentoring um uh entrepreneurs. Uh I have an open open door uh in my office, uh, so it's you know it's an open door policy to come in and uh when the when the doctor is in. And uh so I pr I provide as much support as I can uh on a variety of things that entrepreneurs need, uh anywhere from uh the who do you know contacts to uh somebody's got some HR or just sort of um having a bluesy day and just need somebody to talk to.

Speaker 3 6:28

Talk about, first of all, what'sn't it.com.

Speaker 2 6:32

We are harborec.org.

Speaker 3 6:35

So, listeners, if you while we're talking about this, please go there. Don't judge the website too much because we're relaunching a new website here coming up uh in May. But my point is here is I want to talk about the different programs and how people can get involved in the harbor.

Speaker 2 6:50

Sure. I I mean the the the at the the very least is just come over and hang out.

Speaker 3 6:57

Um you can just literally show up.

Speaker 2 6:58

You can just show up and um uh you know the then the next the next level is uh you know joining uh looking on our website and coming to the happy hours uh and uh begin you know just networking around like you uh like you would at any other business event. Uh then it uh then there's an opportunity to uh to to rent some space within the harbor. And the boardrooms or you can be a resident of the harbor, right?

Speaker 3 7:29

Correct. Different levels of residency.

Speaker 2 7:31

Yeah, yeah. Anywhere from a from a uh just a splashdown desk to come in and uh sit in any available space uh all the way up to suites. Right. Uh private suites. And um and then there's programming that you can join. I mean, there's a ton of programming that we do. Um uh we we we're supporting uh very early age startups, uh founders who are trying to figure out what they want to do. And so we've got a a uh a program for it's a it's a workshop and it's uh it's in it's in the evening, so it's uh think think of it as night school for for startup founders. So you you know the accelerator program? No, this is a this is a startup, this is a uh startup uh workshop and uh it it basically you bring your idea and um and then it's a facilitated uh group discussion and uh uh you know the at the end of a it's once a month, uh at the end of a I think it's a four-week long, four-month-long program, at the end of those four months uh you should have a very good idea of whether you want to proceed with your idea, pivot from that idea to something else, or go back to your day job. Um I love that.

Speaker 3 8:47

What's that called, by the way? What's that program called?

How To Join And Show Up

Speaker 2 8:49

That's a startup workshop. Uh and put that job. And and then I I I I wrote you a note in the uh shared document about that yesterday. There Mikey Boy. I have a note.

Speaker 3 9:04

It's called Forum.

Speaker 2 9:05

No, no, no. It's the other thing. We got you're getting ahead of me now.

Speaker 3 9:09

But go ahead. So, yes, yeah.

Speaker 2 9:11

So wait, my with this interview is over now.

Speaker 3 9:14

We'll talk about how beautiful this building is. Yeah, we'll get to the building. In a minute, but these are the different things.

Speaker 2 9:19

Let me answer your question. I'll chill back. Um so so the next uh the next step is uh we're doing a startup boot camp. Uh that will be in uh the the uh the early uh late summer this year. We'll we'll do that. And and and that's uh a very intentional uh two-day uh program where you to bring that idea that you decided to proceed on out of your startup workshop. You could bring that into the boot camp or you can bring your own idea from from elsewhere, and uh that program will then put you through the paces of of getting that uh that idea to market. And uh that's a very important step because you need to you need to get out and begin doing customer discovery, talking to potential customers, etc., so that uh uh as an as a as a startup you really have an understanding of what it is you're starting, how you're starting it, will people actually pay you for it, which is uh sort of important.

Speaker 1 10:21

I just want to clarify so if I was an entrepreneur and but I'm not renting space with you or I've not taken any of your programs, I can still go to your happy hours? Oh yeah. Okay, so it's just free it's open to I'm not sure that is very clear because to me it seems like a group. It seemed like we're working on that. Yeah, that's exactly what we're working on. This is yeah, this is part of this conversation. Exactly. And that's great. So I mean anyone who's listening, uh huh. You know, if you thought you had to be renting space there or be a member, um you don't. Just if you find a date that works for you, head on over there.

Speaker 10:51

We do want you to register. Well, okay. That's good to know.

Speaker 2 10:54

I mean, there is that. We just need a head count uh to make sure that uh we've got enough uh uh food and beverage.

Speaker 3 11:01

Yeah, exactly.

Speaker 2 11:03

Oh yeah, we're doing Cinco to Mayo with the chamber, the Mount Pleasant Chamber, which was a which was a hoot last year, so we decided to do it again this year, so it was a lot of fun.

Programs From Idea To Traction

Speaker 3 11:11

So that's the epitome of collision right there. We're colliding. Right. Mount Pleasant Chamber, right? Yeah, I mean it's all good. Um keep going. I'm I keep collising.

Speaker 2 11:20

Yeah, you keep interrupting. I don't know what the heck kind of interview this is. This is like an interruption interview. So uh so let's see, I was at Startup Boot Camp. So you'll you'll come out of the boot camp with a with a clearly defined path to market, which is important. And then the the next level up from that is our accelerator program, uh, which has has been the the main program that the excel uh that the harbor's been running for, I don't know, 12 or more years. And that's where we bring these young companies in who have already got some small measure of traction in the marketplace. And uh and this is a uh 16 week uh course twice a week uh led by our Harbor mentors. And uh the the whole idea is to accelerate that company from from its very early stages into uh self-sufficiency. And uh the there's a path that sort of splits off from that. Some some uh kinds of businesses are gonna need outside equity investment, and so we we focus on the pitch. Uh I'm sure everybody's seen the shark tank sort of thingy. Uh ours it's different because we're uh we're uh we're not on TV. Uh right, it's friendly. Yeah, I mean that's somewhat manufactured, uh, you know, in my view. Um uh but this is this is getting this is getting these young companies ready to pitch for equity investment. And um uh and it's a it's a super super program. We're really proud of it. Uh this this past year we had over 50 applicants, and then um our uh mentor team had narrowed them down to twenty-eight companies, I believe it was, that that pitched for uh acceptance into the program, and then uh we accepted 12 into the program. We're really excited about the 12 we've got now. Uh and um we've got a lot of success stories coming out of there where you know companies get follow-on investment and um you know uh hit the ground running. So uh it's a it's a a really uh satisfying thing to to watch uh these young companies come in. I mean, if you think about the beginning, the tip of this pipeline where somebody's trying to figure out, you know, do I quit do I quit my J job uh in a couple years to see them come out the other the other side of this thing with a with a viable company and now they're uh employing people and uh it's it's pretty cool.

Speaker 3 13:54

It's awesome. I mean, we're building an ecosystem within Mount Pleasant, which is great. Yeah. And talk about the ecosystem within the building and talk about the building itself. It's an amazing success story alone, right?

Speaker 2 14:05

Yeah, it it uh uh we are in uh a 64,000 square foot building in Mount Pleasant, and we have uh currently a hundred and thirty three companies in residence, and that makes us the uh the third largest entrepreneur center in the southeast and one of the top ten largest in the nation. So just for that being in my little old hometown of Mount Pleasant, um that's quite a feather in the cap for not just Mount Pleasant but the Charleston region. It really puts us on the on the national map as a place for uh uh people to come and start a business and uh and grow a business and um uh to have a resource like the Entrepreneur Center available to not just new entrepreneurs, but what we see a lot uh are serial entrepreneurs who who've exited multiple times and they've they're looking for a uh uh a community to come mostly uh they mostly choose the community first and then look around going, okay, where you know, where am I going to start a business, what am I gonna do? And uh because they have the wherewithal to do that, we see that that that demographic quite a bit, and uh they're uh uh they they you know they they get in touch with the entrepreneur center and find themselves a a home where they can surround themselves with uh what I was describing before is that peer-to-peer advisory. And uh and then they're off to the races again with a with another company.

Speaker 3 15:34

Yeah, it's awesome to see. And and listen, it's just so you know the address if you wanted to Google it where this is, because it's it's a funky spot and it's on a big plot of land too. 21 acres. 21 acre land in Mount Pleasant. I mean, this is amazing. So it's 11 Ewall Street, Mount Pleasant, South Carolina, uh 29464. Um and and and there's a gym in the building. I mean, and and there's these these beautiful uh offices. There's quads available, right?

Speaker 2 16:03

In this in the building, private suites we call quads because they have four private offices within the private office, which is very, very unique, especially if you've got somebody who's on the phone all the time and they can get in their own private private sp uh space and shut the door and bang the phones.

Speaker 3 16:19

Right? And then there's there's boardrooms that you can't.

Speaker 2 16:22

There's eleven conference rooms, Mike.

Speaker 3 16:23

Eleven conference rooms. And they're all shapes and sizes too.

Speaker 2 16:26

All shapes, anywhere from four people up to a classroom that'll hold 35?

Speaker 3 16:31

And what do those cost if you resident?

Speaker 2 16:33

Zero. It comes with the rent.

Speaker 3 16:34

Comes with the rent.

Speaker 1 16:36

Um I think someone's doing marketing for the harbor. Well, right. Just saying. I mean, we're here, right? You can jump in anytime, Kathy. You know what, Mike, you got it. We're done. I'm just gonna listen to you two talk today.

Speaker 4 16:51

How much does it cost for non-residents?

Space Options And Building Perks

Speaker 2 16:53

Oh, see, not the only one here, Kathy. One million dollars. One million dollars for non-residents to conference. Uh you know, we've got each conference room is priced uh per size of room per hour. So you could you could come in if you needed to, just look us up on the web. Uh if you've got a remote meeting, uh it's a it's a super cool, super cool setting, anywhere from formal boardrooms to classrooms. And um, you know, we allow outside catering, so it's not not like you're stuck using an in in-house catering. You can bring lunches in or or whatever. We got the campus that you can a lot of outdoor meetings this time of year are are super nice. Uh I see I see a lot of groups doing, you know, take take it outside for an hour and do a standing meeting out in the out in the garden. Uh so it's uh it's a it's a really sort of a like a I don't know, uh corporate retreat kind of setting, Mike, don't you think?

Speaker 3 17:47

I mean, don't you think with the the the the acreage around it and great corporate retreat. Um let's get back into business though, shall we, Kathy?

Speaker 17:56

Um who was the first tenant? That's super interesting. Um who built it, right?

Speaker 3 18:02

So are you talking about who built the building or who was the first tenant?

Speaker 18:07

To come into 11 E. Wall Street? Yes.

Speaker 2 18:10

That would be I believe it was Trio Marketing.

Speaker 3 18:16

Was it Trio Marketing?

Speaker 2 18:17

Oh, we have our friends.

Speaker 1 18:18

We know our friends at Trio. Um, Jenny was a guest here on our planet.

Speaker 2 18:21

Yeah, Jenny and Jenny and Jess came down and took a look at it and we're like, oh my God. And they're still there. Yeah. Yeah, they're not. Oh yeah. They're in the new shell, too. It's like a Roach Motel. Once you come in, you can't leave.

Speaker 3 18:31

It is not like a Roach Motor.

Speaker 2 18:37

Hotel Carolina.

Speaker 1 18:38

So Grady, what makes you think of a I mean Mount Pleasant, obviously Mount Pleasant is is growing like like you said, every day, like weeds, it's crazy. It's become a real hotspot for entrepreneurship. Why do you think?

Speaker 2 18:50

Well, I th I think starting out, it's a um it's a really nice place to live. Um I mean, I'm I'm a I'm a uh I I was I I've been in Mount Pleasant my whole life. I'm I didn't know that. Yeah, I'm I'm as local as you can get. Um and so my little hometown, I've seen it grown from I don't know, it was like 15,000 people when I was a little kid. It was just a sleepy fishing village with dirt roads everywhere to what you see now. Uh but it still remains um uh uh y you know, I was talking with Marhaney the other day, but it still remains a small town, even though you know uh there's this l layer of traffic over the top of it that's um a lot of it is you know tourist traffic, people just coming coming into town for tourist reasons, but the but if you you know if you're living in the neighborhoods, it's still the same kind of kind of feeling. The neighborhoods are really cool, and so uh I and the schools are great, proximity of the beaches and things like that. So it's just a really great place to live. And I think I think um uh what what's really changed uh a lot and especially because of r uh the what the way um the internet has opened up remote working possibilities, there are just a lot more choices for for people to be able to live where they want to and do the thing, you know, to have their job. It's it the you see a lot less people moving somewhere because of a job. There, you know, you can kind of now either take your job with you when you move or go somewhere and find a job. And um uh Mount Pleasant just offers that uh as an attraction. And and and then the second layer of that is uh and and I'm you know I'll uh we'll we'll take some credit for it uh from the entrepreneur side of things, uh, entrepreneur center side of things, you know, w we've just got a place now where you can go to get some support that you would never be able to find anywhere else. You wouldn't be able to be with the kind of expertise that's that's within our mentor group uh and within the building just as fellow residents, you could never afford it. Um if you if you hired outside consultants uh and anyone uh could take advantage of that, whether it's a uh an experienced entrepreneur or somebody just trying to figure out do they want to be an entrepreneur, there's a there's a lot of that peer-to-peer support. Um and and I think you add those two things together and it's it's like it's like you know, das in a match, you know, and so it's that's I think that's really what's going on.

Speaker 3 21:22

I had uh challenged Mayor Haney one time on the podcast with Kathy, maybe it was a couple years ago. I'm like, when do we become a city here, Mayor? When does this when does the town of Mount Pleasant really of Mount Pleasant? And and he's like, Oh, we don't we don't want that feel. We want the town, we want that feeling of the town, we want that we don't be called a town. Even if we're I'm like, so the population doesn't matter, we can just call ourselves whatever we want.

Why Mount Pleasant Attracts Founders

Speaker 2 21:46

He's like, Yeah. Like I love it. Okay, I'm on board. I mean, that you know, just the I give the town of Mount Pleasant a plug here, but but the um the uh you know the services that the town provides, the the people who provide those services is unbelievable. Like like the the person who collects uh the garbage uh where where I live, um he knows my mom. My mom is still in her house, she's in her late 90s now. Um I mean he you know my mom knows him, he knows her. If she forgets to put her or if I forget to put her trash can out, he goes around and gets it. Um you know, just that just that level of uh support or like you know, if you've ever had anything go wrong with your with your uh sewage or sewers, you know, the guys that come out to to fix that, super nice. I mean it's just you don't find that, you know, you really don't find that anywhere else that I that I could uh of a city of this size now or town of this size now. Um um and and I think that's you know, uh Marihaney and and others, you know, with him b you know, now or and before him have managed to uh attract and keep those kind of people as town employees. Um you know I mean, we know our mailman, you know. Yeah. You know your mailman is?

Speaker 3 23:05

My mailman is a jerk.

Speaker 23:06

Um zero eye contact with that guy. I'm not fan of mine either. Zero kind of contact with the other.

Speaker 2 23:11

Send yours our way. Okay. You know, in all in our neighborhood. I mean, Chuck comes around, we check in on him, he checks him on us. I mean, you know, anyway.

Speaker 3 23:19

But they they're also going back to the town of Mont Pleasant, to keep a little bit talking about them, but because we're in the Mount Pleasant Chamber, too, and the Mount Pleasant Chamber also the develop of the support that the businesses have. The Mount Pleasant Chamber is a partner with the Town of Mont Pleasant on purpose, and so is the harbor, right? So it's all about developing this ecosystem of sources that we can create businesses here.

Ecosystem Partners And Chamber Support

Speaker 2 23:42

Yeah, I think it, you know, it it it takes a uh it takes us all, right? And um you never you you you can't really put your finger on what any one business or one founder uh of a business might need at any given time. So you so all of those choices like a buffet have to be available uh uh for when that need arises. And um and I think I think we're really seeing uh the development of a of a true ecosystem now because we we are uh regionally beginning to collaborate much more intentionally uh and the we, I mean uh as participants in the in the entrepreneurial support system uh are much much more intentionally collaborating. It it it in years, you know, let's just call it five years ago and certainly ten years ago, everybody was operating in their own little silos. And and it's beginning to break down now, and I think in a in some really positive ways. Um uh, you know, we finally got a shared uh event calendar, Mike. You know, I mean that's been a dream of those of us who've been serving the business community. Um I did in my you know former company. Um we were just always you know lamenting the fact that gosh, you if you want to if you want to host an event, you gotta look, go, go find, you know, 10, 15 different websites and see if they're having an event uh in you know on that date or whatever. And so uh just that shared calendar, uh people coming together over, you know, uh during events like Dig South, um uh and just the communication around around, hey, what are you guys doing? Where are the gaps? I think I think what's really interesting is uh uh those of us uh in uh entrepreneurial support organizations are are now beginning to have conversations about where where are the gaps? It's it's less about hey, what are you doing so that I can, you know, so everybody stays in their lane. It's more like uh what are you doing, what am I doing, and what what what is what isn't being done and who's who's best who's best equipped to to handle that. And and that's that's those are really productive conversations.

Speaker 3 25:54

What can the chamber do to help the harbor?

Biggest Founder Mistake To Avoid

Speaker 2 25:58

You know, I think I think with the with the chamber um uh uh and and the harbor, uh j just that sort of cross-referencing, um be being able to refer uh people who uh who are who have the needs uh that that the that the harbor can uh can prov you know help help provide uh and that's and that's certainly expertise and things like uh investment, uh, you know, equity investment, uh and um and product market fit and um you know peer-to-peer advisory at that at that higher level. Um uh and then you know, w we run into folks all the time who need to be chamber members uh for what the chamber does, and we always refer them over like you you need to go join the chamber and uh because that's that's the you know that's the kind of help that you know that you can get. So it one doesn't mutually exclude the other. They're actually they're actually the two organizations work quite well together because of the uh, you know, there there's a a little bit of overlap, but it's it's not you know, it's not much, and certainly philosophically we are very aligned on on being we just want we just want successful business people. Happy successful business people.

Speaker 1 27:14

Is there um are there any mistakes that founders make consistently that might not that you could be share with our listeners who are looking to open or their own or start their own business so they don't make those mistakes?

Speaker 3 27:29

These businesses don't have to be tech businesses either. These businesses can be anything, anything.

Speaker 2 27:35

I mean the you know the uh I'll I'll answer that question in a second, but I'll set the stage for that in in that what what makes a uh an entrepreneur an entrepreneur is uh an extremely high tolerance for risk. And and to to go along with that high tolerance for risk is um an overconfidence in one's ability to solve problems. And and that's that's what that's really what what I if I could put my finger on what unites us all as entrepreneurs is we're we're all crazy in that way. And it it um the the downs uh the upside of that is is that's that's that's who takes the risk to start companies. Because it's extraordinarily risky. And I'm I mean we've we've all done this before in some some cases. Um for many of us it's been a bet the farm kind of thing. Uh and um the the upside is that that's that's the kind of people you need to to start businesses. Uh anyone who is just looking for low risk, not a lot of danger, not a lot of work, probably isn't gonna isn't gonna start a company or or succeed. The downside is uh you can be way overconfident in what you what you can achieve. And the the the to answer your question, Kathy, the the the one thing I see all the time is uh entrepreneurs sort of blowing past the will anybody buy this question? Because it's something they they believe in so fervently. Right. They're just like, man, they got the bit in their teeth, and you know, by golly, purple dentures are gonna sell, you know.

Speaker 29:26

And um, but they don't ask themselves are who's gonna buy from dentures, right?

Speaker 2 29:32

Well the no, no, the worst thing is they don't ask anybody else. Right, right, right. And so so the uh you know the the the the major flaw is not doing enough customer discovery before going all in. And we really see this a lot in um well you saw I see it in two two places. One um in the retail space where somebody just goes, I mean, I'm gonna remember that uh Saturday Night Live thing where it was the Scotch tape store in the mall that nobody was going to. You remember that? Oh you're you're too young, never mind. Um uh but but anyway, you know, uh open a retail store, you know, go rent that real estate, get on the hook for a five-year lease or whatever, stock that store up with all the stuff that, man, this is the coolest stuff, and and nobody buys it, right? And you know, or not enough people buy it, but maybe a better way of saying that. And it's just a it's just a slow, miserable death, right? Um and then on the tech side, see a lot of technical founders uh uh spending a an incredible amount of nerd time and money building software because they can and they know how to do it, and the software works, you know, beautifully to but but it's not really solving a problem that anyone else has. It's just they they the the that technical founder is so into the build, the the craft of that build, the the difficulty, the complexity, put a ton of time in it, and then the and then now what? And you know it's it's heartbreaking to see both of those things happen. And so it's really important to to have outside advisors and a you know a uh advisor group built build that around yourself before starting any of these endeavors and and have people that you trust but who are not gonna uh tell you yes all the time, who are gonna push you to go, are you sure? Who said? You know, ask those hard questions of you to to make sure you're you're you're doing what um most people don't really want to do, which is customer discovery, market product fit. Uh and and because because the idea is so cool, man, and I'm so into it, and this is gonna be the best thing in the world. And I really don't want to hear anybody tell me no. I don't want to I don't want to hear that. It's unpleasant. I want to just stay in my little happy place, and because I'm starting this company, it's so exciting. Um, and then um so you you spend all that time, money, effort, get the thing up and running, nobody buys it, and um it's a it's it's more horrible to go down in flames uh than it is to get the know very, very early on. Because that doesn't mean you, you know, you can't you can't launch a business. It just means you you know keep keep keep pivoting until you find something that people will spend money on. Because if you really, really want to have a store, you'd probably be a great operator of a retail store. It's just maybe you know tweak the tweak the theme, the merchandise, the the whatever in a different way.

Speaker 1 32:42

Well in my in my history, and I've worked in shopping centers my entire career, and trust me, I have seen that. That's right. I've seen many of you store of um not necessarily here, but in um my other shopping centers of I remember just and going, what? Yeah I am serious. I mean, you think that's gonna work here in this market? You're all you know, you're all crazy. Um and I've seen them open and I've seen them close in as much as or as least as six months. Yeah. Yeah. They can't make the business work.

AI Speed And Startup Opportunity

Speaker 2 33:14

My first business here in Mount Pleasant was a retail store, so I can speak into that. Okay. Good times.

Speaker 3 33:20

Um what kind of trends are you watching closely right now? I'm taking one of Kathy's.

Speaker 2 33:25

Well, um I mean it's it's it it was a trend um a couple of months ago, but now it's just an absolute full-on freight train and that's AI. And uh artificial intelligence is uh uh moving things the the pace uh is uh is extraordinarily rapid and it's it's uh uh transformed the uh uh the speed to market. If you've got an idea uh especially on the technology side. It used to be we would be advising someone that they've gotta get it all buttoned up and you know and get get the thing to market in six to nine months and that that's compressed down now and sometimes in a matter of weeks. And uh um uh the uh the ability for uh some of these engines like uh AI engines like uh Claude or Chat GPT uh to uh to to help people quote vibe code, um uh it it is it is just unleashing uh uh so much potential and um and it's a matter of quickly adopting to that and and using that as a tool and uh and and learning learning to use it as a tool, you know, get it, get it integrated into your business plan as as uh as fundamentally as you can. And not use it as a per peripherary, periphery thing, but it, you know, it's a sort of an AI first business uh that uh that I think that's that's where things are going. And I I've you know, I'm an old guy. Uh I saw this before with desktop publishing. I mean I I remember when uh you know if you wanted to write something, you had to really want it because you were using a typewriter and paper, and if you made a mistake, you threw the whole thing away and started over, or use that cheesy whiteout stuff, you know, or whatever, you know. You know, and and but all of a sudden, you know, along came uh word processing and it and it you know it completely transformed the the the written word and um not long behind that came desktop publishing and uh that was transformational because uh now you could go you know digital, you know, straight digital to print. When when we first got into our media business years and years ago, I mean we were still doing those big giant spreads where you tape the stuff up on the you know, you know, remember those things, right? Yeah, we were still you know laying out those things upside down backwards through uh uh through sheets of transparency. And um, you know, it you know, so I saw all of that happen and I saw how um you know it used it used to be um uh that you know you were you were super super excited that you could use you know Word uh now uh AI is blowing past all of that kind of stuff. And and so that's that's really what you know what we're seeing. And um this agentive AI stuff is you know is uh is transformational and it's happening so rapidly you gotta you gotta jump on that train, uh learn to use those tools because it's gonna if it if if you don't it pass you by fast.

Speaker 4 36:59

For sure.

Speaker 1 37:00

Has AI negatively impacted any of your current.

Speaker 2 37:04

Well, you know what's what what I do have a concern is uh there are a lot of entry-level jobs that are no longer available. Available, I agree. I feel I feel really uh concerned uh about how companies are going to um have people coming up in their ranks for when uh the generation that is currently in the chairs begin to retire and age out because what those entry-level jobs did was a lot of the grunt work and that repetitive um, you know, whether it was data entry or if you're at an accounting firm, if you were if you were working on spreadsheets or what you know, whatever whatever it might be, you you learned the craft. Uh and and not only did you learn the craft, but you you also learned how to be an employee. You know, you learn that skill, you learn, you know, you learn how to say yes and smile, even though you hated the job, you know, the whatever you're doing. You might not hate the job, but you hated the task. Name up the ranks, yes, you know what I mean. Just to grind it out, and you learned all of those kinds of skills. Uh AI does all of that stuff, you know, ten times faster and cheerfully in 24-7. And so a lot of these uh entry-level um uh, you know, tasks and jobs are are gonna be taken over by AI. It doesn't mean that there won't be other AI-enabled entry-level jobs, it's just that the mass of them is is seeming to go away. And I I I have great concern for this generation of college kids as they're getting out or high school kids coming out. Uh a lot of those opportunities are are uh are are not there. And um so I think that's a you know, we're we're having we have to figure that kind of that out, right? I mean I th I think in the service businesses, you know, if you're actually doing something, especially the hands, hands-on kind of jobs, um AI is not gonna do that, but but on the quote, white collar side, office style jobs, there's a lot of those entry-level jobs that AI is just gonna just do better, faster. And I don't blame the employers for for switching to it because you know, you you gotta. I just said everybody's gotta get on the train, right?

Speaker 1 39:26

They do have those concerns. I read an very interesting article um not that long ago about um something very similar that you said, Grady, but that a lot of high school kids are now opting not to go to college. And they are which which is it's fine, who cares? Um but going into the um policemen, firemen, um, plumbers, electricians, painters, like anything, and may I mean, first of all, they're being extremely successful, but they realize that these are things that cannot be replaced by a computer or a software or anything. I mean, so um when I'm talking to you people I love um about what they want to do with their lives, that's always been a concern of mine as well, is like, guys, just think about it. Can can AI replace it, can replace you at any time. And if they can, you might want to think about something else.

Speaker 2 40:20

Well, I mean that's that's why we like to have school groups coming to the entrepreneur center because one of the things that AI can't do is start companies. And and so if you're a if you're a young person, uh high school graduate, uh, you know, college, college graduate, college-age person, um AI cannot think and create. It can it can only repurpose all of the data that's been put into it. And so it can't think up innovation um the way that humans can. Yep. Um you could Yeah, I mean you could feed like I say that joking. Like, hey, AI, think of something innovative. You know, and it probably could, but no, who's gonna buy it? Right? So so uh it it does it does offer an opportunity if you think about the ability, you you used to you well barrier to um to founding a technology company was always the coding. It it uh that was your that was your most precious resource, and and you had to do so much work in advance to make sure that uh that the stage was set before you got the coders involved because those uh just your typical dev team, maybe two or three uh junior level coders, a mid-level coder, and a and a lead, you're probably talking five hundred thousand dollars a year salaries for that team. Um and you know, to do it uh prior to when AI came along, that's uh your typical build, six months to a year kind of thing. So it's a huge barrier to entry for anybody with a tech idea. Um now with uh AI doing the coding, you could you could get to market in two weeks with that idea for like do it it yourself kind of thing, right? Uh and and so it has opened up the the uh the opportunities for for people with great ideas that don't have the coding skills to get to market with an MVP. You you'd still need to hire the pros to take get something to enterprise level, but but to do what I'm s saying in answering the question, you know, previously about what mistakes do founders make, you you could easily get something to market. Go go around talk, you know, you've got the idea that you're gonna do X. Uh go around talk to 10 people, probably you need to to say, hey, if I if if I could provide something that did X for you, would you pay for it? And if they said yes, you could you could uh you know, at night at or during the day at you know at your desk, you could quote vibe code most of that, come back to them with an MVP, going, okay, here it is, would you would you pay me whatever, you know, 25 bucks a month or whatever, right? Yeah. And they could say yes, and I mean then you're off the race, you got a business.

Speaker 4 43:06

Right.

Harbor Forge And Business Automation

Speaker 2 43:07

Yeah. And so so it does it does, I think, on the other side of this coin present some really exciting opportunities for some young entrepreneurs who who maybe you know never would have been able to get into uh uh to owning their own business. Um I mean it's still you know it it's still horrendously difficult to to to go from well you you know the what I just described to full-fledged launch business kind of thing. But the but the barrier to barriers to entry have been lowered so far down that uh to Kathy's point, you don't really you know, you may not need a computer science degree anymore like you like in years past you would have had to go get.

Speaker 3 43:51

Um yeah, we've only got a couple more minutes, but can you can you talk about Harbor Forge?

Speaker 2 43:56

So yeah, we're we're doing that our s uh what I just described. Um we have a we have uh uh we're using uh our expertise in evaluating business models uh and go-to-market opportunities, and we're we're helping people with do do with what we just described, we we're doing that ourselves uh and making that as a uh product available. Uh you know, our our difference is that um we're we're using a deep a deep bench of expertise so that so that we're making sure that what someone needs to build, we're uh you know, we're we're vetting that for them before they before they're uh go into the build. And it's anywhere from somebody who wants to launch something new to uh just there there's all these, you know, if you're operating a business now, you you've probably got a lot of inefficiencies in your business that you've been putting up with forever, just because that's the way you do things. And you know, maybe you're you you're keeping something in a spreadsheet over here, maybe you've got an accounting system over here, you got a uh a CRM customer relationship management system over here, you've got some other inventory system. Whatever it might be, and they're all separate systems and and you know, so using our Harbor Forge uh uh team, we can we can quickly build some software that connects all of those things together, increases uh efficiencies and um you know frees up some staff time for uh not doing that grunt work and doing some some thinking, you know, you kind of level up an employee.

Rapid-Fire Advice And Wrap-Up

Speaker 3 45:28

That's crazy. So one stop you get everything at the harbor. If you have an idea, you're an entrepreneur. Even if you don't have an idea and want to be an entrepreneur, it's still a resource.

Speaker 2 45:37

Yep.

Speaker 1 45:37

Yeah, I want to ask some fun questions before we let you go. Is that okay? Yes. Um what what would you be what would you suggest as the best book for entrepreneurs to read?

Speaker 2 45:47

I you know, I'm an old school guy, but I love good to great. Okay. Good to great.

Speaker 1 45:53

Write that down, everybody. Good to gray. That's awesome. Uh one habit that every founder should build.

Speaker 46:00

Networking. I'm good at that. Network, network, network. I agree, and we have so many opportunities. Yeah, the chamber.

Speaker 2 46:07

I mean the chamber, that's really where the chamber can can help.

Speaker 1 46:11

Yeah, that's right. Go to biopage. Put that on your calendar. Uh-huh. Uh, the biggest red flag in a business pitch.

Speaker 46:17

Uh crazy revenue projections. Oh, that's right. I didn't think of that. Yeah.

Speaker 1 46:22

That's right, because the person who's selling the purple dentures thinks that he's going to be a gazillion there.

Speaker 2 46:26

Yeah, and I do that all the time myself. So I can I see it. It takes one to know one. Um so yeah.

Speaker 1 46:31

Um, coffee meetings or Zoom calls?

Speaker 2 46:34

Coffee. Yeah, I mean, I'm not sure. I should have known the answers in the case. I am. Yeah, I'm old school, man. You know, it's uh all all this technology-enabled stuff, I swear person-to-person interaction smokes it every time.

Speaker 1 46:47

I agree. I think I think anyone who was around um in 2020 and had to uh exchange life for Zoom calls prefers to never get on a Zoom call again. I hated it. Um our last question most underrated business skill.

Speaker 2 47:02

Underrated business skill uh I think is uh counting.

Speaker 3 47:10

Like Mac or just counting?

Speaker 2 47:11

Uh uh accounting. Accounting. Accounting. A counting. You apparently suck at it because you don't even know the word. That's true. How did you know? I mean, most most entrepreneurs, I mean myself included, you know, we hate that stuff, right? Um but you will get absolutely careened if you don't understand accounting and you don't understand um, you know, how how to look at those numbers uh and I can speak from experience.

Speaker 1 47:37

That's awesome. I remind our listeners again, Grady, about how to get information.

Speaker 2 47:41

So go to Harbor W, HarborEC.org, and that's how you find us. And I also want to give a shout out to our support, our sponsors, uh you know, Town of Mount Pleasant, uh the SCRA, South Carolina Research Authority, uh Charleston County Economic Development, and all of our uh corporate sponsors and donors because uh we are a not-for-profit and we wouldn't be here if it wasn't for the support of those folks. And thank you to uh to the uh Mount Pleasant Chamber for having me on the show.

Speaker 1 48:17

That's awesome. Well, if you have not been there, you have got to go. I highly suggest if you cannot make the May 5th Cinco de Mayo event that is going to be co-hosted with the Chamber, um check out the calendar events on the website and um just RSVP or register for at Happy Hour or some kind of pro and they're there for you, and you don't have to be a member of the uh center. So that's good to know. I think it was really important. Um awesome. Thank you so much for your time today, Grady. We really appreciate everything you're doing for the town, thank you, for our businesses. Um I think it's really wonderful.

Speaker 48:53

Thank you. Thank you.

Speaker 1 48:53

Thanks for having me. Oh, my pleasure. Uh before we leave, we need to once again thank our amazing sponsor, Viking Mergers and Acquisitions. You can visit them at VikingMergers.com. And of course, our partner, a recording partner here at Charleston Media Solutions. Yeah, they're the best, man. They're the best. Um if you uh would like to be a guest on our show, you could reach out um to the chamber directly. We'll get back to you. Be sure to like and subscribe all of our media channels, we'll uh Spotify, iTunes, YouTube, Instagram, Facebook, and LinkedIn, right? Did I get there? Oh, fabulous.

Speaker 3 49:30

Thanks to ABC.

Speaker 1 49:31

Yeah, that's awesome. Yeah. It's all Mike, it's all Mike's doing. No, I'm not there anymore. Remember? I'm a marketing person. That's true. Darius.

Speaker 3 49:40

Yes. And Amantha Bunte Coleman and that team over there. I guess you got a great marketing team.

Speaker 1 49:45

Oh, I agree 100%. Uh-huh. Um Thanks again, awesome. Yeah. Grady, thank you again. Um, look forward to uh continue working and partnering with you on events uh throughout the year. Uh thank you for being with us today, everyone. Uh, until next time, Mount Pleasant. Until next time, listeners.