Hamid Shojaee is an entrepreneur and investor. He moved to Arizona from Iran when he was 10 years old, and has called Arizona his home ever since. Since he was 12 years old, Hamid was passionate about programming and wanted to one day be an entrepreneur like his parents. He absolutely achieved that goal and has started several successful businesses throughout his career. 

“By the end of high school, I knew I was going to do something in software for myself one day. So, I kept dabbling and putting out software products and putting them on the internet for free.”

In college, Hamid started his first software business with his roommate. After 5 years, he left his business to go work at Microsoft for a couple years. It was during those years that Hamid worked nights and weekends developing software for project management, which eventually turned into Axosoft. 

Axosoft is an organization that develops software to help companies with project management needs. In 2014, he left his position at Axosoft to become the CEO of Pure Chat, a company he had started during his time there. Hamid recently sold both Axosoft and Pure Chat last year in 2020. Since having two large exits last year, he and his wife decided they wanted to invest 10 million dollars into Arizona startups. 

What inspired you to invest 10 million into Arizona tech startups?

“When we decided to invest, I wanted to focus on making Arizona that much better, because Arizona has given so much to me.”

What is one thing you learned from your first software company that you applied to starting Axosoft? 

“The one major mistake we made in our first company was that we tried to do 4 or 5 different things right off the bat, and that was a huge mistake. Coming off of that, focus was a big lesson I had learned… As an entrepreneur, it’s hard not to pursue your ideas because you don’t just have one idea. You have lots of them.” 

What is the “30 days off” philosophy?

At Axosoft, “once a year, we would take 30 days off and do other things. We made that part of our system. Every year, we would take a month and dedicate it to all of us working on other products that have nothing to do with our business… Those side projects ended up creating two other products that they themselves became million dollar companies.”

Advice on starting a business:

“One of the discussions that I had recently was how important it is to accept that 90% of what you’re doing is probably a mistake. That is okay, because that 10% that works ends up making up for the 90% that doesn’t work.”

Additional Links:

Follow him on LinkedIn https://www.linkedin.com/in/hamidshojaee/

Learn more about AZ Disruptors https://azdisruptors.com/

Listen to Hamid’s AZ Tech Podcast https://aztechbeat.com/podcast/

Mike Spangenberg is the co-founder and CEO of State Forty Eight. The company was founded in 2013 and has evolved into being more than just an apparel line. State Forty Eight is about having community and pride in your state. Mike wanted to create a brand that anyone could feel stylish and comfortable in. 

Mike began his career in the hospitality industry. He spent 15 years in that industry and eventually worked his way up to becoming a general manager. Through his experience, he learned leadership skills and teamwork, as well as a passion for people. Mike says these are all things he took with him when laying the foundation and mission for State Forty Eight. 

“This is my passion in life. This is what I want to do forever if I can.” 

How has collaborations with other businesses affected State Forty Eight?

“Collaborations were never a part of the business model at the beginning... Now it’s a huge part of our business. It was almost half our revenue last year.” State Forty Eight offers collaborations with other businesses who want to have their brand represented with the SFE brand. This has led the company to new partnerships with the Arizona sports teams, which was always a dream for Mike. Companies can use these shirts for revenue generating opportunities, team representation, or marketing assets. 

What products do your customers gravitate towards most: 

“The first couple of years we just put our main logo on every color combination possible. It’s really our bread and butter” Having their main logo become an icon in the Arizona-themed apparel industry has really given them influence and remains a staple in most of their branded/collaborative products.  

What type of marketing do you guys do for the company?

The first 4-5 years of business, SFE’s marketing efforts were organic. Now, they have seen success through email automations, drip campaigns, and paid ads. Mike says they really didn’t focus on marketing at the beginning, but he wonders if it would have been really beneficial had they started sooner. They do their best to be on every social channel, in order to reach every type of customer. “We’re never complacent and we’re always saying ‘how do we get better and better?’”  

How did COVID affect your business?

“Thankfully, we had collaborations, online, wholesale, different license deals, and retail. All our eggs weren’t in one basket. We just made the best out of it, and 2020 ended up being our best year yet.” 

What is the State Forty Eight Foundation?

Mike recently started State Forty Eight Foundation, which is a nonprofit organization dedicated to enriching the community in Arizona with a focus on youth and entrepreneurship. They started the foundation back in December and are very excited for the potential impact they hope to have on the community in the future. 

Additional Links:

State Forty Eight website and online store: https://statefortyeight.com/

Mike on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mikespank/?hl=en

Mike’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-spangenberg-0ab69a165/

State Forty Eight Foundation: www.statefortyeightfoundation.org

Will Shaw is the CEO of Better Agency, an all-in-one insurance CRM platform. Growing up, Will had one focus: football. He spent the first part of his career playing in the NFL. After his time playing football professionally, he landed a job in the tech industry, where he was inspired to start his journey in entrepreneurship. 

Since his time at Infusionsoft, Will started several businesses all in the marketing and tech industry. In 2019, he founded Better Agency with four other founders, and has been the CEO of the company ever since. 

Will pitched the idea of the product to a room of 24 insurance agents before building the software. He put together a 3 page PDF of the idea, and 11 of the agents agreed to sign up for the software before it even existed. They didn’t pay much for marketing in the early months of the software, instead they built an affiliate relationship with someone with influence within the insurance industry. 

“We’re going to build a product for agents, by agents.”

Their goal for their customers using the platform: 

“We are dealing with true small businesses. Instead of being a CRM that takes your time and your money to set up. Can we be something you plug in and within 14 days you are making enough money to pay for the life of your application?”

Are there any routines or traits from your days in football that you carry into your role as CEO of Better Agency?

“Probably the biggest thing I got from playing football was being in a room of people who are committed to being the best at their craft. Any position on the team - you’re committed to being the best at your craft. It doesn’t matter what you do in life, if you’re committed to being the best - you can be the best and be successful doing it.”

A game-changing moment:

Will went to a couple of his current paying customers and asked if they would like to invest in the company. “Through our customers we raised 250,000 in about 30 days… This was the biggest validation.” 

Additional Links:

Check out Better Agency: https://betteragency.io/

Follow along with Will: https://www.linkedin.com/in/willshaw8/