The IBJ Podcast

Brothers behind tech firm Qualifi on being Black founders, raising capital, ‘unwillingness to die’

Darrian and Devyn Mikell grew up in central Indiana, played sports, went to college, tried a few things to get their careers started and ultimately launched a tech firm together. They have some juicy stories from their early days of griding that would resonate with other tech founders: starting with the wrong sales strategy, struggling for months without revenue and slowly building a base of investors. There are a few things that are relatively unique: First, they’re brothers, and we all know that it’s often not easy for family members to work together. Second, they recently reached an important milestone with a $4.5 million fundraising round. Third, they are among the few company founders in any industry sector who are Black. Businesses majority-owned by Black or African American people accounted for only 3% of all U.S. firms that were classifiable by the race and ethnicity of their owners in 2020, according to the Pew Research Center. And the Mikells have made hiring people from underrepresented populations a priority at their company, called Qualifi.

The issues of diversity and inclusion dovetail into the mission of Qualifi, which sells software that helps employers automate the hiring process and avoid biases that could slip into the interview process.

In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, the Mikells join host Mason King for an in-depth interview about how they work together as brothers; the inspiration they’ve received from their family (including an older brother with a Pro Bowl career in the NFL); how they handle the rollercoaster of startup life; obstacles that Black entrepreneurs face; and the importance to them of diversity as they grow the company.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

State flipping public-input process for upgrading I-65, I-70 through Indianapolis

The process for designing and upgrading interstates in Indiana hasn’t exactly been a two-way street. Typically, the Indiana Department of Transportation draws up plans for its projects and then the public has an opportunity to provide feedback. You’ll recall the uproar in 2017 when INDOT presented its plans for reconstructing the North Split, where I-70 and I-65 meet in the northeast corner of downtown. Nearby residents were vehemently against some elements of the project and proposed a fundamentally different alternative. INDOT was able to accommodate the Rethink 65/70 Coalition’s concerns on some aspects of the project, but it proceeded largely as originally proposed.

As the state now begins to plan for future upgrades to other portions of I-65 and I-70 that run through Indianapolis, it’s conducting a long-term study to get public input on the front end of the process. Piloted in part with the infrastructure firm HNTB, the ProPEL Indy study is collecting public input in a wide variety of venues to identify ideas for improvements that would impact quality of life, economic growth, mobility, and safety.

In this week’s episode of the IBJ Podcast, we’re joined by Tim Miller, senior project manager for HNTB and the project manager for the ProPEL Indy study, as well as Natalie Garrett, communications director for INDOT. In addition to discussing the process so far, they share some of the ideas they’ve already received, related to signage, the location of interchanges, pedestrian right of way and the way these corridors represent—or fail to represent—the city as a whole.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

Sam Schmidt on his paralysis journey, basing national clinic expansion in Indy

For 25 years, Sam Schmidt has been a beloved figure in the IndyCar Series, first as a driver, then as a team owner and a champion of innovation, persistence and the human spirit. During a practice session in Florida in 2000, he lost control of his car and smashed into a concrete barrier at around 180 miles per hour. Doctors saved his life, but he has been paralyzed from the shoulders down ever since. Within about a year, he had started a racing team, as well as a not-for-profit group dedicated to raising funds for medical research, developing innovative equipment for rehabilitation and helping people with severe mobility issues navigate their lives again.

Schmidt announced this month that the group, now called Conquer Paralysis Now, would be moving its headquarters from Las Vegas to the former home of Five Seasons Family Sports Club on 96^th Street, right on the border between Indianapolis and Carmel. The facility also will house CPN’s second Driven NeuroRecovery Center, offering fitness programs, adaptive sports, aquatics, physical and occupational therapy and mental health services. CPN expects to invest $22 million in the whole project, including the nearly $8 million that it already has paid to purchase the property.

In this week’s edition of the podcast, Schmidt shares his story of recovery from a near fatal injury and how he uses it to help inspire others with mobility issues. He explains why he wanted to move his not-for-profit to the Indy area, as well as his vision for how the Driven Center will work with many of the big players in central Indiana’s medical community. And he discusses his plans to create Driven Centers across the country—as many as 25 within five years.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

 

The story behind booking Taylor Swift’s tour in Indy as stadium prepares for ’generational phenomenon’

When people say Taylor Swift’s record-breaking Eras Tour could have a seismic impact on Indianapolis during its three-show gig next year, that’s not just a figure of speech. When Swift performed in July at Seattle’s Lumen Field, the show generated seismic activity similar to that of a magnitude 2.3 earthquake, thanks to a combination of the sound system and the dancing and cheering of fans.

When the Indy shows take place in November 2024, Swift’s local fan base will have waited more than a year and a half to see the music event of the decade, since Indianapolis wasn’t on the list of cities for the tour’s first pass through America. There’s no question whether the three shows will break the attendance record for concerts at Lucas Oil Stadium, which Swift herself set during her previous tour. Everything about this show is huge, starting with the complex stage and set pieces that require 90 semis to transport.

In this week’s edition of the podcast, Eric Neuburger, the director of Lucas Oil Stadium, fills us in on the negotiations that led to landing the tour in Indianapolis. To fully appreciate the relationship that brought Taylor to town, you’d have to go all the way back to 2008 and the first concert ever staged in the stadium. Looking ahead, Neuburger discusses the advance work required to prepare for the shows, the questions that still need answers and the staff of more than 2,000 people that will be required to stage and host each concert.

Farming challenges mount as Indiana gets hotter and wetter, but crops will have staying power

In 2018, a raft of Purdue University researchers published a report on the impact of climate change on Indiana agriculture. It looked at the ways increasing temperatures and rainfall could affect the growing season for crops, the types of crops that could be planted, the health of farm animals, and the prevalence of weeds, pests, and disease.

Even for Hoosiers who spend most of their time in air-conditioned environments, the future of agriculture is a very big deal. About 15 million acres of land in Indiana are devoted to farm operations, which is about two-thirds of the entire state. There are 55,000 farms throughout Indiana and agriculture contributes about $35 billion to Indiana’s economy every year.

For this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, host Mason King wants to get a sense of how climate change is playing out on the ground in Indiana farm fields. For guests, he has invited three members of Purdue’s agronomy faculty, including an expert in soybeans and an expert in corn. They’re quick to note how much more difficult it is for the tens of thousands of farmers in Indiana to make the right decisions at the right times, but the future is still bright for farmers who have the tools and willingness to adapt to quickening change.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

 

 

 

Pete the Planner faces the ‘financial chaos’ of raising teenagers

IBJ personal finance columnist Pete the Planner has a teen and a tween at home. Pete has been helping people with family finances for decades, and even he admits now to being humbled in this new season of his financial life by numerous large or unusual obligations. As he puts it in an upcoming column for IBJ, Pete is bracing for many years of “financial chaos.” He also finds himself in the uncomfortable position of using the advice he has given older families over the years and realizing that it’s tougher to follow than he thought.

In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Pete and host Mason King take an in-depth look at three of the most expensive seasons of parenting—roughly the infant and toddler years, the teen years, and the young-adult years. The latter period often coincides with the years parents are required to help support their own parents. You often hear that referred to as the “sandwich generation.” Pete runs through some of the biggest and most surprising expenses over these three seasons and ways to avoid or soften the blows. He also suggests a quick exercise to help you figure out the timing of these rough patches relative to your age, your kids’ ages, and the ages of your parents.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

List of most influential Hoosiers contains dozen of new names

Last July, IBJ Media unveiled the inaugural issue of the Indiana 250—a compendium of the state’s 250 most influential and impactful business and community leaders. The definitions of “influence” and “impact” were intentionally broad, and the list included C-suite executives, not-for-profit leaders, civic bigwigs, lawyers, bankers, board chairs, artists, promoters, judges, philanthropists, and serial entrepreneurs. The biggest caveat was that the list didn’t include elected officials because their influence was already so obvious.

The beauty of the Indiana 250 concept is that the list is a living document that’s updated every year. On July 20, IBJ Media unveiled the 2023 edition of the Indiana 250, and there has been significant turnover with dozens of new honorees knocking others off the list. For this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Nate Feltman, co-owner and CEO of IBJ Media, joins host Mason King to shed more light on the process of choosing honorees this year. They also shine a spotlight on 10 of the Hoosier leaders making their first appearances on the list.

 

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

Inside the $89M plan to turbocharge Motor Speedway’s museum

It’s not hard to find the Indianapolis Motor Speedway Museum if you’re a fan of the track: It’s tucked on the inside of the short chute between turns 1 and 2. The ironic thing is that while the Speedway was originally built as a testing ground for new technology and the IndyCar Series has always made a habit of adopting racing innovations, the museum has seemed increasingly mired in the past. Its exhibits have been mostly static, including a gallery of Indy 500-winning cars that some say resembles the lot at a car auction. Until very recently, the museum only featured one or two new exhibits per year.

On July 11, museum officials announced plans for an $89 million transformation, ushering in a totally redesigned experience for visitors, a robust educational program for school-aged children and a beefier endowment that would help pay for more and better exhibits. Race fans might be tempted to think that this change is being driven by Roger Penske, who bought the Speedway and the IndyCar Series in 2020, but the museum actually is owned and run by an independent not-for-profit which leases the museum facility from the track owner.

In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Joe Hale, the museum’s executive director, explains how the planned renovation will be much more than a tuneup—more like a rebuild, with a sleeker design and all the latest technology to give visitors a greater sense of being in the driver’s seat.

Fast-growing MOTW Coffee and Pastries expanding from Indy to Chicago

Two years ago, Sajjad Shah entered the Indianapolis coffee shop market with his eyes wide open and a hook that could help differentiate his locations from the herd of java joints. His coffee shops would have a built-in audience through a very popular Instagram account that he founded in 2014, and they would be tied to the account’s overarching mission: promoting the Muslim community and raising millions of dollars for Muslims in crisis around the world. Indeed, the name of the Instagram account is Muslims Of The World, and it currently has about 680,000 followers. The coffee shops are called MOTW Coffee and Pastries. In just two years, Shah has gone from one shop to four, located in Carmel, Fishers, Castleton and on West 38^th Street in the International Marketplace District in Indianapolis.

In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Shah reveals that he’s planning an aggressive expansion outside of central Indiana, starting with a 3,000-square-foot shop expected to open within a few months in the Chicagoland area. He also tells host Mason King that within five years he hopes to have 40 to 50 MOTW shops in the U.S.—a mix of company-owned and franchised locations. Shah didn’t have a lot of experience with coffee when he got started, but he did have many years in corporate accounting and consulting, and he thinks he’s landed on a formula for lean and mean coffee shops that’s easily repeatable.

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.

Lilly in middle of big battle over future of drug prices for seniors

The health care industry in America is on the precipice of its biggest change at least since the passage of Obamacare 13 years ago. Passed last summer, the Inflation Reduction Act has given Medicare the green light to negotiate the prices of some drugs for its 60 million-some recipients. The program is expected to save patients many billions of dollars while significantly shrinking revenue for some pharmaceutical firms. Indianapolis-based Eli Lilly and Co. is intensely concerned about this development. Two of its most popular medicines are expected to be among the first 40 drugs subject to negotiations.

Lilly CEO David Ricks has gone on the record in public forums criticizing the new law for what he anticipates will be a chilling effect on the development of certain types of drugs. Meanwhile, other big players in the pharmaceutical industry are trying to squash the negotiations altogether. Two have sued the Biden administration, asking a federal judge to declare the program unconstitutional.

IBJ reporter John Russell has been studying the program for a story that’s on the front page of the latest issue of IBJ. In this week’s edition of the IBJ Podcast, Russell discusses the program’s potential effects on patients, drug makers and the rest the health care industry, as well as the objections from Eli Lilly and Co.

 

The IBJ Podcast is brought to you by Taft.