A Successful Momentum Summit — Intentional Assets

Many, many months in the planning. Countless hours put in by unbelievably dedicated individuals. And in a flash, it's done.

Isn't that how it always feels when you plan a big event and you're so busy during the event that you blink and it's over. And you wish you had one more conversation with another of the amazingly interesting individuals who attended?

Momentum Summit #1 is officially in the books and it was a success. Over 160 people attended from across the country to learn and discuss high growth, high impact business.

We saw a packed house for the reception of both Asheville locals and summit attendees at New Belgium's brewhouse which was sponsored by Earth Equity Advisors and Buchi.

The summit started off with a wonderful keynote from Torani CEO, Melanie Dulbecco. If you don't know, Torani is the company that makes all of those wonderful flavors you enjoy in your coffee. She focused on how she was able to grow the business from a $50 million company to over $250 million, both the good and the growing pains that went along with it.

Her three takeaways:

Don't do - learn
Ask for contribution
Stir-up career mixology

Her talk was followed by various panels on everything from culture to hiring to transparency and branding. Every panel had impressive leaders in their fields and businesses.

David Kahl, CEO of Fully which sells standing desks and other office furniture online talked about culture and leading with values. In our office, we have a standing desk from Fully and Melissa has one in her office at home! Great brand - check them out!!!

One of my favorite parts of the event was that I was able to spend time with my good friend, Garvin Jabusch who is the Chief Investment Officer at Green Alpha in Boulder. We have very similar investment philosophies and really enjoy working together.

The second day brought more impressive talks and panels from B Corps to raising capital. Garvin gave his keynote on Next Economy and the importance of benchmarking to the future (next) economy instead of looking backwards to the old economy. His message really resonated with the audience.

The panel that I moderated was up after Garvin called It Takes A Village. We discussed the importance of working with outside firms that are aligned with your values. We had a great panel with Chris Hutchinson, Founder & Leader of the Trebuchet Group; Rob Holden, Chief Lending Officer at New Resource Bank; Adrianne Gordon, Director of Business Operations at JB Media Group and Adam Connatser of the Wright Connatser law firm. I'm grateful to all of them for their help (I was feeling under the weather as I moderated the panel) and insights.

Chris Hutchinson, Rob Holden, Adrianne Gordon, Adam Connatser and me

Visit the Summit webpage to see all of the sessions and people who participated - I don't have enough room to thank everybody individually.

I look forward to getting back together with all of the other organizers and celebrating the success of Momentum Summit, providing feedback and getting ready for version 2.0.

And, I would be completely out of line if I didn't recognize the work of Michael Welchel in being the driving force that truly made Momentum Summit happen. His connections, countless hours of work and generosity with using his Big Path Capital staff is greatly appreciated.

I hope to see you next year at the second annual Momentum Summit!