The IBJ Podcast

Why is a philosopher running a plumbing company?

Jack Hope launched his plumbing company to help him pay for his master's degree in philosophy.

But Hope Plumbing was so lucrative that by the time he graduated, Jack was making as much as might as a tenured college professor. So he stuck with plumbing. Today, that small startup has grown into a company with more than 40 employees and revenue projected to top $6 million this year.

But that doesn't mean Jack has left philosphy behind. Host Mason King asks him just how philosphy plays into his management style and about he approaches recruiting and retaining plumbers, the biggest challenge in his business.

 

IBJ Podcast: How an IU student turned her beekeeping hobby into a star startup

Ellie Symes, a rising star in the Indiana's tech ecosystem, leads The Bee Corp., a data-analytics firm that helps bee keepers and growers optimize the pollination of their orchards and fields.

Symes, who started the company while a student at Indiana University, appeared on stage at the Forbes AgTech Summit in Indianapolis and the company was part of the event's startup showcase. 

She talks with podcast host Mason King about being a young entrepreneur, taking risks and pivoting when you have to to make your company stronger. We also learn she's become allergic to bees! 

Photo courtesy of The Bee Corp. 

Music credit: Boogie da Bee by texasradiofish (c) copyright 2017 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. Ft: Sprezza, tiltededge, Kara Square, ElRon XChile, Stefan Kartenberg, rocavaco, Javolenus, reg7783

 

IBJ Podcast: Can Indy support its downtown hotel boom?

Indianapolis has about 2,800 new hotel rooms slated to come online downtown in the next five years.

Some of those hotels — such as the 316-room Hyatt Place/Hyatt House project across from Bankers Life Fieldhouse — are under construction and nearing completion. Others — such as a long-discussed 800- to 1,000-room convention hotel — are only in the planning stages. 

If all are completed, those projects will add to the roughly 7,500 rooms already downtown.

Can Indy support all that growth? Host Mason King talks with Mark Eble, the managing director of CBRE Hotels Advisory and an expert on the hotel industry in the Midwest, to find out.

You can also read about Eble's view on the market and get more details about hotel growth in a story by Hayleigh Colombo in this week's IBJ.

IBJ Podcast: The experts behind Indiana's wine resurgence

Just two decades ago, Indiana had no grape and wine industry worth talking about. But today, more than 100 wineries dot Indiana.

The annual harvest (and the 2.4 million gallons of wine it makes) generates an economic impact of $600 million, sustains 4,000 full-time jobs, and pays $37 million in state and local taxes and $38 million in federal taxes.

The growth is thanks in part to the Purdue Wine Grape Team, a group funded by a 5-cent excise tax on every gallon of wine sold in Indiana. Founded in 1991, the team is an agricultural extension program composed of enology, viticulture and marketing specialists who assist Indiana winemakers and grape growers.

IBJ Podcast host Mason King talks to two of them — Bruce Bordelon and Jill Blume — about Indiana's wine industry, what makes it special and what to expect in the future.

You can read more about the Indiana wine industry at IBJ.

Photo for this episode by Tom Campbell, courtesy of Purdue Agricultural Communication .

Music for this episode:

Jazz Shuffle Blues by texasradiofish (c) copyright 2014 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial (3.0) license. Ft: Bluemillenium, Copperhead, David Merrick, ElRon XChile, Jeris, Annon, Rey Izian, Javolenus, Speck, Kara Square, Chuck Berglund, Nickleus, Fireproof Babies, My Free Mickey, DJ Snyder

IBJ Podcast: Five years in the works, The Idle micropark offers grand vista between two interstates

Where tens of thousands of motorists every day saw just another scrubby little hill along an interstate, Tom Battista saw a park. A place for reflection or respectful debate, to the soundtrack of hundreds of wheels on pavement. Maybe more importantly, a place that could connect residents of foundational Indianapolis neighborhoods separated 50 years earlier by interstate construction.

Indianapolis residents probably know Battista best as co-founder of Bluebeard in Fletcher Place, one of the key restaurants in reforming the city's culinary reputation. He also has a separate, legendary career in concert production, working on tours for artists such as Jimmy Buffett, David Bowie and Parliament Funkadelic.

The idea for the little park got stuck in Battista’s mind like a pop music earworm. To make it happen, he learned he would need to work through the city, state and federal government, while many folks told him he was nuts to even try. After five years of negotiating and planning, The Idle opened earlier this month. The access point is on the Virginia Street bridge between Fletcher Place and Fountain Square. Battista led podcast host Mason King on a walk-and-talk tour through the promontory and its history.

Music: "Drops of H2O (The Filtered Water Treatment)" by J.Lang (c) copyright 2012 Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/djlang59/37792 Ft: Airtone

 

IBJ Podcast: Conor Daly, Lilly Diabetes and sponsorship controversy

Eli Lilly and Co. pulled its Lilly Diabetes brand name off a race car driven by Conor Daly after his father — Derek Daly — was fired from his job as a WISH-TV Channel 8 racing analyst for a racial slur he uttered 35 years ago. 

The move raised questions about why the Conor Daly should be punished for something his father said before he was even born. And even WISH-TV's move came under some scrutiny, after Derek Daly said he used the n-word in an interview when he was new to the United States. He said the word was part of what was then an often-used phrase in Ireland, and once he found out it was offensive in America, never used it again.

In this week's IBJ Podcast, host Mason King talks with two local marketing experts — Bruce Bryant, president and creative director of Promotus Advertising and Ken Ungar, president of Charge — about whether Lilly made the right move and about the risks associated with sponsorships.

You can also read IBJ's take on the issue in this week's editorial.

Credits:

Sound from WTHR-TV Channel 13 and WRTV-TV Channel 6.

Music from Transmutation by Kara Square, (c) copyright 2017. Licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution (3.0) license. http://dig.ccmixter.org/files/mindmapthat/56527 Ft: Spinningmerkaba

IBJ Podcast: What will it take to turn the Brickyard 400 around?

NASCAR's Brickyard 400 drew a crowd of 275,000 people when it debuted at the Indianapolis Motor Speedway in 1994. And it came at a great time, as then-Speedway President Tony George created the Indy Racing League, which depressed Indy 500 interest for years. 

But fast forward 25 years and the Brickyard 400 is facing its own issues. Last year, only about 70,000 people attended the race — although it did turn a profit.

Host Mason King interviews IMS President Doug Boles about the track's efforts to turn the race around — including moving it to a cooler date and adding a dirt-track race. And then King talks with IBJ's Anthony Schoettle about whether those efforts are likely to work.

Read Anthony's story about the Brickyard 400 for even more information.

IBJ Podcast: Why business execs say the state needs a hate-crime law

Central Indiana business leaders are pushing lawmakers to pass a hate-crime law, joining 45 states that already have one in place. They say without it, Indiana is an unappealing place for workers, especially younger workers who want their employers involved in social and community issues.

Host Mason King talks with Ann Murtlow, CEO of United Way of Central Indiana, and Jeff Smulyan, CEO of Emmis Communications, about why they signed a letter of support for a hate-crime law. And Mason role plays with both, pretending to be a lawmaker who needs to be convinced to vote for the legislation.

For more information, check out IBJ reporter Lindsey Erdody's story in this week's IBJ.

IBJ Podcast: At 57, she's quitting her gig as a top executive to volunteer around the world

Cassie Stockamp, president of the Athenaeum Foundation Inc., will leave the organization later this year to travel around the world and volunteer for charities wherever she goes.

Host Mason King talks with Stockamp about why she's choosing to leave the group she has led through a reinvigoration—and why she's doing it now, at 57 years old, when most people are worried more about saving for retirement.

Stockamp explains why it helps to be frugal, why she's trying not to plan her trip too much and what she thinks about the Athenaeum's future.

 

IBJ Podcast: The local stars of HGTV's "Good Bones" on the show, making a living, and their impact on neighborhoods

Karen Laine and Mina Starsiak, the mother/daughter duo who star on HGTV's "Good Bones," talked to host Mason King about the show's fourth season, why being on TV doesn't make you rich and why Laine is semi-retiring. Plus, learn about the home-decor store they're planning to open and what they think about charges that they're contributing to gentrification in Fountain Square, Bates-Hendricks and other near-downtown neighborhoods.

Learn more about the duo's company Two Chicks and a Hammer, and how the woman are working to diversify their incomes at our story: Priorities evolve as ‘Good Bones’ stars begin filming fourth season.

 

Photo courtesy of HGTV.