March 6, 2025 • 35 mins
From Garage to Global: Spilling the Beans on Startup Success with Jon Lambert
Founder Resource Series
Episode Description:
“You can run the best business in the world, but if you as an individual, fail, the entire thing falls to pieces.” —Jon Lambert
In the world of startups, your network can be as valuable, if not more, than your net worth. A strong community can provide the resources, mentorship, and support needed to navigate the turbulent waters of entrepreneurship. By fostering meaningful connections and collaborations, founders can unlock opportunities that money alone can't buy, turning their vision into a thriving reality.
Jon Lambert is the CEO of The Cannon, a community-driven organization dedicated to empowering entrepreneurs and startups. With a background in tech, startups, and corporate venture capital, Jon has made it his mission to democratize access to resources and support for founders at every stage of their journey.
Tune in as Justine and Jon explore the essential ingredients for startup success, including community building, pandemic resilience, digital networking, global expansion strategies, funding challenges, and the power of founder-to-founder support in this insightful conversation about nurturing the next generation of business innovators.
Meet Jon:
Jon Lambert is the CEO of The Cannon, a company dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs and startups. Under his leadership, The Cannon has expanded from its initial focus on mobilizing people and conversations to establishing nine physical locations in Houston, while also developing a robust digital platform to connect members globally.
With a vision for global expansion, Jon is guiding The Cannon toward an international network that transcends geographical boundaries, providing resources and support to innovators and entrepreneurs worldwide.
Jon's expertise in fundraising, community building, and providing comprehensive support to businesses at various stages has positioned him as a respected figure in the entrepreneurial ecosystem.
Connect with NextGen Purpose:
Episode Highlights:
02:00 The Initial Focus of The Cannon in Houston
08:00 How the Pandemic Impacted The Cannon’s Community
15:00 Join the “Founder’s Confessions” Event
22:00 Accelerator Services
28:00 Global Reach and International Support StartUps
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Justine Reichman (00:00):
Jon, good morning and welcome to Essential
(00:14):
Ingredients. I'm your host,Justine Reichman. With me today
is Jon Lambert. He is the CEO ofCannon. Welcome, Jon.
Jon Lambert (00:23):
Thank you very much, Justine. Great to be here.
Justine Reichman (00:26):
Great to have you here. And many times, we
have a lot of founders andpeople that are building better
for you food businesses, we alsolike to focus on those resources
available to founders and peoplebuilding the businesses. Because
oftentimes, it's really thenetwork and the community that
they have around them to supporttheir ventures. So for those
(00:48):
listening and those watchingthat are not familiar with
Cannon, would you please give usyour 32nd pitch on what Cannon
Jon Lambert (00:56):
So the Cannon was created essentially, and
is?
fundamentally, to support thestartup and entrepreneurial
community in Houston, Texas.There were limited resources
back in 2017, 2018. Lots ofpeople were picking up and
leaving, and feeling like theyneeded to go to Austin or
elsewhere to start theirbusiness. And we didn't agree
with that. All the resources arehere, and so we essentially
(01:18):
mobilized Cannon and thecommunity here to get that whole
process started.
Justine Reichman (01:23):
Awesome. Thank you. So when I think of a
community to this, it'sreminiscent and reminds me of
many co working spaces and thecommunity, and the content that
they provide. How are you guysdifferent?
Jon Lambert (01:37):
So we didn't start with the idea of physical space.
It was really, how do wemobilize people together? And it
didn't really matter what thephysical space was at that point
in time just get people togetherto start conversations around,
what are the synergies? Whatopportunity do we have? What do
people need? And how do we meetthose needs? One of the things
(02:00):
that happened out of thatprocess was as that community
grew, physical space was one ofthe primary needs. And so we
started down the path ofcreating space. We now have nine
physical locations in theHouston market that meet the
needs of all the different kindof boroughs, if you will, across
Houston. And really, thedifferentiation is we're not
about the physical space, we'reabout the community in that
(02:21):
space, and meeting the needs ofthat community on a daily basis.
Justine Reichman (02:25):
That's great. I like the idea that you built
this community prior to creatinga space so that you had this
foundation of resources andcommunity that were looking to
share their minded visions, andshare vetted resources.
Jon Lambert (02:43):
The pandemic actually validated who we were
as an organization. As you canremember when the pandemic hit,
my peers in the co working spaceemptied out. People weren't
comfortable using space, andeverybody was working from home.
Our community didn't go anywherso we kind of bottomed out at
70%. The message was, there'smore to this than you providing
(03:08):
me in office space.
Justine Reichman (03:10):
I heard that you maintain 70% of membership,
so talk to me what do youattribute that to? Because COVID
was a really challenging time.There was a lot going on.
Jon Lambert (03:23):
At that point in time, we kind of sat back and
scratched our head and said,okay, so how's this going to go?
We weren't sure. But the messagewas, if you look back at what we
spent our time doing in prepandemic, during pandemic and
post pandemic, is we proactivelygo to work with the companies
(03:43):
within our community to figureout what we can do to help them.
The pandemic virtually, everyday during that period of time,
we would sit down with anindividual company and get in a
room with legal counsel, anaccountant, a finance person and
potentially a Minister,depending on how serious the
problem was, and just talkthrough, hey, what do we do with
(04:05):
this? How do we help you pivot,partner or do something
different to survive? And that'swhen you ask about
differentiation. That is reallywhat differentiates us. When
people come to our space, wekind of warn them, hey, if you
want to be left alone, there'sprobably better places to go to
office because our team is goingto pursue you. And if you don't
have a need today, you're goingto have a need tomorrow or the
(04:26):
next day, and we're going to bethere asking you, how can we
help with that? And what kind ofresources can we help provide?
Justine Reichman (04:33):
I want to just dig into something that you said
because I'm curious. I think asa small business, everyone needs
to surround themselves withthose resources, legal
accounting, strategic thinkers,but you also mentioned minister.
Is that specific to a specific,is that specific to a niche, or
(04:55):
is that all around? What roledoes that Minister play?
Jon Lambert (04:59):
Again, now you're going dive into me from a
cultural perspective and how Idrive from the leadership level.
So my approach to building andgrowing community really starts
with as sappy as it sounds tosome people, loving people
first. So if your spirit ofsupport and engagement is around
truly caring for other people,then that transcends the
(05:21):
business piece of things. Andwhen you're talking about the
evolution of a startup andgrowing a startup organization,
the challenges that come withthat, a lot of times, we get
focused on business plans andraising funds. And those things
are clearly important. But ifyou lose sight of you, the
person, the founder, and thattranscends into wellness and how
(05:45):
you take care of yourself andwhere your priorities are, you
can run the best business in theworld. But if YOU as an
individual fail, the entirething falls to pieces. And so
what we try to do is addressevery element of the
organizations and providesupport at every level. And that
a lot of times turns intoconversations that don't have
(06:06):
anything to do with the businessand have more to do with, hey, I
have other challenges that arestopping me from growing my
business. Can you help me withthose things? And so we provide
whatever resource we can on thatfront as well.
Justine Reichman (06:19):
I think one of the things that we try to do as
a platform is provide thesevetted resources for people to
be inspired by and make moreinformed choices. And that's
many times for the companies.But we also focus on the
founders. Because sometimes thefounders forget about their
needs, how they take care ofthemselves. I think that really
(06:41):
ties in quite well there.
Jon Lambert (06:42):
Regular thing. It's really neat. We do a thing
called founder confessions, andit's a monthly event. I'm
blessed to have a member on mystaff, and he's also a certified
counselor who's kind of ouremcee for that event. And
essentially, what we do is webring in founders and
entrepreneurs that have had ajourney and have stories to
(07:03):
tell, and really get down to thenitty gritty around, okay,
what's this really about? Let'snot mince words around. I don't
want the Facebook version ofyour world. I want the real
story about what you've beenthrough. And so the community is
really gravitated toward, wow,there are people out there that
are going through the same kindof things that I'm going
through, and it's okay to talkabout it. I don't have to shield
(07:25):
this for people to think thatI'm bigger or stronger than I
am. I can actually talk aboutthese things and help resolve
them.
Justine Reichman (07:33):
So with all these resources, are these
people part of your membership?Or are they part of your staff
and on-staff there at will tojust be available when anybody
should need them?
Jon Lambert (07:48):
And that's a fantastic question. I think it's
another differentiation point inmy answer. So obviously, we're a
startup as well. And so as muchas I would love to have a team
of thousand that can meet thoseneeds, what we've really tapped
into is the true definition andmeaning of community. And so
instead of the Cannon having toemploy an entire staff of
(08:10):
counselors, service providersand those kinds of things, what
we've done is said, hey, ifwe're a true community, then
everybody has an opportunity tocontribute. And so we have now
60 advisors at all levels. Itell everyone, if you ask me a
question and needed an expert,I've got at least one and
probably two advisors in ouradvisor community that are ready
(08:32):
to support you in answeringquestions that you have. In that
regard, we have partners thatare service providers that are
on a regular basis. Part of theconversation around we need help
with this, can you provideeducation on the front end?
Ultimately. Can you provideservices to support these
things? And so we've reallytapped into this concept of,
(08:53):
when you're part of a community,yes, we understand there will be
needs that we can help satisfy.But you also have an opportunity
to give back. And so we askpeople to just contribute at
that level anywhere where theyhave the opportunity. And a lot
of that, the delivery of thatcomes down to our methodology in
terms of digital and physicalspace management. How do we
(09:16):
create that collisionopportunity? And so if you you
walk through any one of ourspaces, it's really designed to
encourage people to connect witheach other and have
conversations. So we can do moregood. We program a lot of great
things. It's the stuff thathappens that, just because we
put people in proximity, thatgets really cool in terms of
(09:37):
meeting needs.
Justine Reichman (09:38):
So before you open these nine spaces, you were
mostly online as a community. Sowhat does that look like? And
how do people connect? Are youthe connector? What does that
look like for somebody joiningthis community?
Jon Lambert (09:57):
When we started the Cannon, the Digital play
actually didn't evolve shortlyafter we opened our physical
space and realized, hey, wecan't build these spaces fast
enough to meet the need of thiscommunity. And so we realize
very quickly to have a digitalsolution. We have to find a way
to virtually bring thiscommunity together, and so we
have made a number ofinvestments, and we just
(10:19):
ultimately acquired ourtechnology partner firm at the
end of last year. We're now haveour own digital community
platform that works inconjunction with our physical
spaces, but opens up the accessto who we are, and what we do in
that entire community to anyone,anywhere. And so as we go into
(10:39):
new places and new markets,we'll actually go in first to
say, hey, let's connect yourpeople first and understand what
the community needs. And then wecould talk about creating a
physical hub, because everybodywants to be together physically
regardless of what anybody says.Not everybody's going home to
work forever. People needpeople, and people need that
interaction. And so there alwayswill be that physical element,
(10:59):
but the digital is reallyhelping us reach a lot more
people and draw them in, andthen provide support to them
without necessarily being thereinside of our physical wall.
Justine Reichman (11:10):
If I was a part of your community and I'm
looking for somebody, am I goingto somebody specific to try to
get a recommendation, am I goingonline? Is there a list, a
glossary of people? How does oneconnect?
Jon Lambert (11:25):
Okay. So within our digital community platform, it
Justine Reichman (11:27):
That's amazing. So it sounds like it's
is essentially a repository ofeveryone in the community. Some
people from personalityperspective are very self
service driven. So you can gointo that directory. You can
search that directory for otherfounders or companies. Of those
other founders that align withwhat you're looking for, you can
reach out as part of thecommunity to one of my folks who
(11:48):
can help you get connected tothe folks you're looking for.
We're just rolling out amatching, it's almost like a
dating type of functionality. IfI have a specific need, I will
actually match you with theappropriate advisor so you don't
have to actually go out and lookfor that in terms of shortening
the period of time it takes foryou to find what you're looking
(12:09):
for. And we're getting ready toroll out new features within the
platform. That when you join,it's going to go out and use AI
to go say, hey, who are the topfive people in the community
a very people focused business.
that you need to speak to basedon who you are? Your profile, so
that you're not fishing aroundtrying to find the right thing.
We can do the work on the frontend to quickly get you connected
(12:30):
to people of interest to youwithin the community.
Jon Lambert (12:37):
Absolutely. The center of our universe is the
people.
Justine Reichman (12:41):
It's the people. But everybody could be
in a different niche or area, sohow do you manage that network
for the clients that you have tomake sure that you can address
all those different niches?Because there's a ton.
Jon Lambert (12:57):
It's a challenge. We want to be everything to
everyone. And ultimately, maybewe will be, but we really focus
in, as we evolve new community,what I will call nodes. Our
bigger picture vision is becauseour footprint expands, we
quickly found out that thechallenge that we were solving
for is not a Houston challenge.It's not a Texas challenge, it's
(13:19):
a global challenge, right? Theneeds everywhere. So the real
opportunity is, how do we drawpeople into one community?
Create nodes that are localizedthat allow people to interact
physically and digitally, butthen connect those nodes to
other nodes? So that if there'ssomebody that's sitting in, pick
a city, Atlanta, Georgia who'sworking on an entrepreneurial
(13:41):
initiative or project and has novisibility into Houston, Texas,
but via our platform, canconnect to those folks, we can
actually remove the borders fromthat innovation process and
create an environment thatdoesn't exist anywhere else. So
what we're trying to do is kindof systematically go through and
understand what the communityneeds the most, and then make
(14:04):
our investments in how do wedeliver value so that that
community is getting more fromwhat we provide.
Justine Reichman (14:11):
Is this a membership that anybody can
join? Do you have to be invited?Do you need to be sponsored?
Jon Lambert (14:17):
We have a freemium layer membership that anybody
can, if you go through ourwebsite, you can join forever
for free, and that will give youexposure, access to the
community. You'll see what'sgoing on and what some of the
opportunities are. And then weare for profit business, and we
don't apologize to that becausewe're helping a whole bunch of
other for profit businesses. Itreally puts the onus on us.
(14:41):
Profit businesses don't surviveunless they're delivering value.
So it's what wakes me up everymorning going, what new value
can we bring to this communityso that they keep coming back
and it keeps growing? But yes,there are premium offerings for
additional services and supportfor things like high level
accelerator service. So we'vegot programs that are specific
(15:02):
for companies that have reacheda specific level within their
journey, and potentially needhigh level support in order to
continue to grow, and thosekinds of things. And so there
are premium offerings in thereas well.
Justine Reichman (15:15):
When you say accelerator services, what comes
to mind is Techstars and theseother kinds of accelerators. How
do you compare to them? And whatdo you offer that's different?
Jon Lambert (15:26):
Accelerators for us are a resource for the community
that we support. We have notgone out and said, well, we're
going to develop one of thoseand compete with the Techstars,
or a generator, or a lot of theother plug and play, or others
that are operating thoseprograms out there. What we have
done is looked at the life cycleof the organization, of a new
(15:48):
organization, and an acceleratoris going to deliver value in a
finite period, critical value.But there are needs during, and
there are needs after. And sowhat we try to do is help
organizations understand, whatam I going to get out of an
accelerator program? Potentiallyhelp them qualify to do what
they need to do to get into thatprogram, Help them while they're
(16:10):
in there. And then when theygraduate from the accelerator
program, what's next? That'soften the big challenge of,
okay, I just finished theaccelerator. Now what? There's
plenty more to do in that regardso we look those as partnership
opportunities in terms ofaligning with, and that's value
add to the community. And like Iwas trying to say earlier from
(16:30):
my perspective, all of this isabout bringing value to that
community. The community comesfirst. There could be 50 more
organizations like mine outthere, and we would still not be
delivering to the demand in themarketplace. And so it's really
all about, how can we align,come together, align and make
(16:51):
sure we're doing the right thingfor the folks that are out there
trying to build theirbusinesses?
Justine Reichman (16:55):
Thank you for that. Are there any examples
that you can give us ofindividuals that have joined the
Cannon, leverage the resourcesand had an exponential growth,
or built something because ofthe community? Maybe you could
share one or two of those?
Jon Lambert (17:12):
Sure, absolutely. So a couple of really good
examples. I'll preface this bysaying, in no way will we take
full credit for the success. Thesuccess goes with the
organizations. What I will sayis the Cannon has played a key
role in the success of theorganizations that I'll share
with you. There's anorganization called Corva that
has been part of back in thevery early days in 2017. The
(17:35):
Cannon was part of the what wecall the waiting room, which was
non descript one story building,kind of next door where the
whole thing started, whereeverything was kind of scrappy.
And there may have been astraight cockroach here and
there, but we survived andworked together. Corva started
Justine Reichman (17:50):
My question is, do you need to be a Texas
in that environment as a handfulof folks. And as we grew into
our own physical space, theirbusiness took off. They're in
what I would say, that kind ofthe oil and gas energy data and
analytics space, so veryspecialized kind of data
management. And then eventechnology management that fits
in there, inside of there forthe oil industry. And so now,
(18:14):
they actually are still on ourproperty. Have their own 35,000
square foot space. Our globalcompany have, I think, close to
500 between 500, 600 employees,last number I heard. And have
just had tremendous success.They're still part of our
community, so there people arein and out. We leverage them as
a resource where we can to helporganizations earlier in their
(18:35):
business phase. A big part ofwhat we do is our companies have
success. They're the best onesto help the earlier stage
businesses. And that's again,that feeds back to the
community. So they're one greatexample, Cart.com who's now a
unicorn. I can't even remember.I think they're 1.7, 1.8 billion
dollar valuation. Their firstemployee was my chief revenue
(18:57):
officer. So basically, hestepped out of his role with us
to go work with the founders andpartners that started Cart.com.
Their headquarters is here. Itwas moved to Austin for a period
of time. They're actually backhere now, and they're going
crazy. They have over 1000employees globally. Just a
couple of examples. Those arethe ones that everybody wants to
(19:18):
hear. But I always call outthat, that for us, and I think,
hope, this kind of speaks to whowe are and what we do. Those are
great stories. We want as manyof those as we can, because
that's what gets everyoneexcited. I get equally excited
around being able to help asingle mom who's decided, she's
has gotten laid off from hercurrent job, and she wants to do
(19:40):
her own thing, whatever that is.And in order to maybe hire a
couple of her neighbors andcreate, it might be a lifestyle
business, it might be a businessthat has business that has an
opportunity to grow, that isvalue to me. If we talk about
valuation, we can talk aboutbillions of dollars valuation in
terms of the quality of life forpeople who are leveraging this
(20:02):
kind of entrepreneurial journeyto build something. I get as
excited about that end of thespectrum as well. And so that's
really kind of who we are wherewe don't say, you've got to be a
tech business, or you got to bein the energy business. We're
completely agnostic to that. Andwhat we're trying to do is just
democratize access to theresources for anybody that wants
(20:24):
to go on this journey.
business? What percentage ofyour community is from Texas
right now?
Jon Lambert (20:34):
Probably 98%, so that's kind of where we cut our
teeth. We've expanded from adigital perspective in Texas
saying that we haveopportunities on an expansion
Justine Reichman (20:41):
If we could just go back for a minute to
from a physical hub perspectivein Huntsville, Alabama. In
Atlanta, we're working onprojects now. And so our goal is
to take what we're doing intothe markets that want, need us
raising funds, because I knowthat this is a really big
the most. The cool part aboutwhere we're at is because we're
a startup too, and the pandemicwas kind of a reset for us as
(21:03):
well in terms of focus andtrajectory. We're experiencing
challenge for so many people ifit's their first time doing it,
the same thing that a lot of thecompanies that we're helping.
I'm out raising funds right now,and so I know what the
environment looks like becauseI'm out there doing it, and I'm
helping. We've got thousandcompanies in our community,
probably 10 to 15% of them arein the process of raising money.
or they're just intimidated byit. I know that you guys, you're
(21:26):
So not only am I providingcounsel in that regard, but I'm
living it, and I'm hearing thestories and the feedback from
the investment community. It's aneat dynamic between who we are,
and what we're doing and tryingto grow. But our vision is to
doing this right now. What aresome of the biggest mistakes
get into at least five newmarkets by the end of 2025. Hope
to be in two new ones by the endof this year, and then be in a
(21:50):
total of five markets as astarting point. Then a lot of
our growth from there just comesdown to kind of, what kind of
that you found that you've madeinitially, that you've learned
resources can we put into thisto grow more exponentially?
Jon Lambert (22:02):
I's being prepared to tell your story and
understanding the period of timeat which you have to hook the
from to help you move forward inthis?
conversation. You hear a lotabout elevator pitch and those
(22:33):
kinds of things, and it is verytrue that we all have a very
limited time with potentialinvestors to generate enough
interest for them to put morecoins in the meter and say,
okay, he's got a little bit moretime. And so what happens is
companies, a lot of earlierstage startups are so focused on
(22:53):
their product and theirperspective of their product.
They don't get their head turnedaround to, my product is not
enough of a story for aninvestor. I have to tell the
story of how my product is goingto meet a need in the
marketplace, how big is thatmarketplace? And then, how am I
going to get to thatmarketplace? And who my
competition are? And so really,it's just honing in on being
(23:17):
able to tell your own story. Andthere's early stage
organizations that don't spendenough time doing that. Twice a
year, we hosted a large eventwith Dell. And last week was
their pitch showcase. And theyhad six companies that pitched
it as part of that showcase hereat our facility in Houston. And
(23:39):
ultimately my message back tothem was, nobody else is going
to tell your story. You need totell your story. And they had
the opportunity, and thisexample was a three minute
pitch. And my message to themwas, if you're not reciting that
three minute pitch to yourselfand your phone on a daily basis,
you're not investing the timethat is necessary to prepare you
(23:59):
for the opportunity when you'restanding in front of a potential
investor. It's really about thatcomfort level with understanding
what that story needs to be tohook the conversation, and then
being really, really good attelling that story.
Justine Reichman (24:14):
Awesome. I think that's a great tip for
those in this process, so Ireally appreciate you sharing
that. And I'm curious, I knowthat you worked before at KPMG,
but have you been anentrepreneur. Have you started
your own business in the past?
Jon Lambert (24:30):
It's interesting, and this is a conversation I
have a lot with. We do a lot ofentrepreneurial education so
we're investing at all levels ofacademia, from universities, all
the way down to third gradersaround what entrepreneurship is,
what role does it play? What theopportunities are? And I always
tell those groups is, so I'm notthe visionary entrepreneur. I'm
(24:51):
not the dreamer that all of asudden comes up with this great
idea and say, hey, this is whatwe're gonna do. I'm the guy that
comes along the visionaryentrepreneur and says, okay,
here's how we're actually goingto do this. And both of those
are entrepreneurial roles.There's this frustration around,
wait a minute. I don't have anygood ideas. Well, find somebody
with a good idea and help themexecute it. You're an
(25:11):
entrepreneur as you do that.That's the role that I've played
in probably five, six differentstartup organizations that have,
fortunately, had the opportunityto grow to very large
organizations and be acquired byother organizations. I actually
joined KPMG through acquisitionof a startup that we started in
(25:33):
2003. That acquisition was in2011, so a nine year growth
period of a company from zero toabout 500 people globally, 120
$5 million a year entity thatwas acquired and became part of
a large global, you know,multinational partnership at
KPMG. I've really had theopportunity to see
(25:56):
entrepreneurship at alldifferent levels. And then on
the corporate venture side, Ikind of flipped sides of the
table. So in that scenario, Ihad the opportunity to go out
and help organizations that wehad acquired assimilate into
large corporates. And largecorporate organizations don't
have an appreciation for howquickly you can kill a startup
(26:18):
if you don't treat them theright way. I can't remember that
exact quote, but I've done a lotof things. I'm not an expert in
any one area, but I've touchedso many different things that I
think it's been advantageous asI've stepped into this role, and
to be able to share experiencesthat I can bring to the table
that are essentially helpingothers.
Justine Reichman (26:38):
I would also say that with your experience as
an entrepreneur, not being thatvisionary, but being that person
that helps take that vision andmakes it possible for that to
come to fruition and run withit, I think that also talks to
how people can look for a cofounder.
Jon Lambert (26:59):
Absolutely yes, no doubt. Great ideas have died on
the vine because that individualon their own doesn't have the
ability to execute. And itreally comes down to that
execution piece. And a lot oftimes, the idea through the
execution phase is actuallyimproved and perfected as part
(27:21):
of that process. For us, thethree pillars are in terms to
support our funding, as we'vealready talked about, sales and
business development, how do youactually sell this product? And
in the middle one, we kind ofbundle under talent. Talent
starts with what's the rightteam to actually take this idea
forward, and that starts withthe co founder.
Justine Reichman (27:43):
I'm curious, because you get people, it
sounds at all different levelsfrom moms that have been laid
off or quit, to people thatbecome unicorns. Have you worked
with organizations? Or do youhave organizations within your
community looking to go public?
Jon Lambert (27:57):
The answer is yes. We've had companies that have
matured to the level wherethey're looking for, and I'll
quantify that as an exit. Sowhether that's a public offering
or an acquisition, right?Obviously, the market conditions
have kind of created challengesfor public offerings. A lot of
(28:17):
that is dictated by what themarket's looking for in that
regard. But yes, we have hadcompanies that have matured to
that point, and are eithercurrently evaluating or have
evaluated a public offering asan exit plan or next phase plan,
if you will.
Justine Reichman (28:34):
Part of your infrastructure to help them with
that exit or with that is theidea of becoming part of a
larger entity, and going hub orgoing public?
Jon Lambert (28:46):
Yeah. The accelerator program that I
mentioned is through a businesspartnership with an organization
called next stage trajectory.What I would call a later stage
accelerator, and their entirefocus is for supporting
companies that have reached acertain threshold of revenue. So
these aren't new companies.They've got 2 to $3 million a
(29:07):
year in annual revenue.Potentially, they've stalled a
little bit, and their foundergroup has a vision for, hey, we
want to grow this significantlyso that we can look for an exit
opportunity. Their acceleratorprogram is a very clear and
concise 48 month program thattakes those companies through
that on an active support basis.So it's not just, hey, here's a
(29:29):
methodology. We're going tospend three weeks with you, and
good luck. We're going to staywith you through that entire
period and help you not onlyraise the additional funds that
you need, but help you go tomarket and sell to increase that
revenue base, to increase yourvaluation, and then ultimately
identify where our exitpossibilities, and who are
possible partners that would beinterested in acquiring the
(29:51):
business and helping with thatprocess. And then also as an
extension, again, back to thepersonal element, somebody
that's going through that exitprocess. There's a personal
component from a financialperspective on doing that the
right way. A lot of folks thathave gone through that have lost
a lot of money with notunderstanding how to manage
through that process. So we'realso managing that at the
(30:14):
founder level. Except now, it'snot founder as an entry point,
it's founder at the exit point.So yeah, equally as important.
Justine Reichman (30:21):
Yeah, I think so. And I think that's a whole
conversation in of itselfbecause I think that there's so
much to that, right? Whensomebody wants to go public, or
take on larger institutionalinvestors, or get acquired by
another company, there's alwaysthe concern about, how will my
mission and vision bemaintained?
Jon Lambert (30:39):
Absolutely.
Justine Reichman (30:40):
Every founders worst nightmare, right? It's a
double edged sword. Here's $30billion, but we're gonna change
the mission.
Jon Lambert (30:48):
Yes, you're exactly right. You have at least have
the opportunity to think throughand understand, and preferably
have acceptance around wherethat goes, versus not
understanding what you'regetting yourself into. The same
is true of your piece of the pieas it relates to the financial
returns. We talk about that fromthe very beginning of, don't
(31:10):
give away your equity. This is aprocess that you need to
understand all the way through.And so we try to help all of our
founders and new businesses tounderstand that here's how this
process is going to work, anddon't compromise yourself
unknowingly at any point in thatprocess.
Justine Reichman (31:25):
Awesome, and thank you. I just want to go
back as we wrap this all up,because I know that you offer
membership to everyone all over.We did talk about accountants
and lawyers, but some of thesethings are very state specific,
right? You need to have anattorney in California or
Delaware so I just wanted todrill down on that a little bit
so that our listeners know, arethey global resources? So that
(31:50):
regardless of what state you'rein, you can access support and
help.
Jon Lambert (31:54):
Yes, absolutely. And we may not have the matrix
all the way filled out, but I'lluse the legal example. Our
partnership is with anorganization called Dickinson on
the legal front. And from aservices perspective, we
selected them because of theirfocus on the entrepreneurial
space, also their focus on theinternational space. One of the
things we haven't talked aboutthat we're working through is
(32:16):
creating an international softlanding for startups and small
businesses. So businesses thathave been created in Asia and
Europe that want to come intothe US market. There are
resources for largeorganizations to make that leap.
There aren't really resourcesfor small organizations. And
Houston, just as its natureacross the board, is a very
(32:36):
compelling place to come. And soDickinson has expertise in that
space as well. What we attemptto do, and if we have a member
that comes in that specificneed, then it's our job to go
out there and help them findthat resource, versus them
having to go do it on their ownwith the goal of, if we bring
that resource in for one, we canthen leverage it for the entire
(32:58):
community.
Justine Reichman (32:58):
Wonderful. Well, I know there's so much
more that we can talk about, andI really appreciate this because
I think that so often, we arefocused on the product or the
brand and their mission to builda better for you business to
create greater access to healthyfoods. And here, we have the
opportunity to really supportthe founders through your
community on a local and on aglobal level, giving them the
(33:20):
resources, the vetted resourcesin particular that they need to
be able to move forward. So Jon,thank you so much for joining me
today. And before we go, beforewe wrap this up, can you just
tell us, what can we expect tosee with the growth of Cannon in
the next three to five years?
Unknown (33:38):
Absolutely. Well, I alluded to a little bit earlier
that we've got our big picturevision is that there is a lot of
what I'll call white space.Meaning, there are pockets of
innovation and startup communityin different places. All of
them, virtually, are kind ofinward facing and focused. So
Silicon Valley, lot of SiliconValley is about Silicon Valley.
And New York's a great place.There's a lot of entrepreneurial
(33:59):
activity going on there, butit's really about New York. And
Boston, similar in Chicago andother places around the world.
Beyond those cities, there isdemand and opportunity, it's
just that the resources haven'treached them yet. And so our
goal is however we can, whetherit's physical, virtual or a
combination of both, try to fillup those white spaces to create
(34:20):
a much larger community thattranscends the geography, if you
will. And so as I mentioned,from a physical hub perspective,
we want to be at least in fivenew markets by the end of next
year. From a digital communityperspective, we're working with
economic developmentorganizations and that kind of
thing. We're not limited from ageography perspective. We are
(34:40):
having conversations, so I thinkour brand will show up in
support of initiatives acrossthe country as it relates to
entrepreneurial support. That'sa differentiator for us that
it's not about planning our flagand brand recognition, really,
it's about getting support tothe community. And so we're okay
(35:00):
with powered by the Cannonextension to a local initiative
if that brings more folks to thetable and gets more folks
support. So hopefully, there'llbe an obvious presence. And then
while the obvious presence showsup, we're going to sneak up
around you. And before you knowit, you're going to see our
little tagline all over theplace where we're able to
support that one giant communitythat can achieve great things
(35:24):
when we get it together.
Justine Reichman (35:25):
Awesome. Jon, thank you so much for joining
us. I want to thank ourlisteners and viewers for tuning
in today. These episodes areavailable on iTunes and Spotify,
or wherever you listen topodcasts. Each week, new
episodes come out on Tuesdaymornings, so thanks for tuning
in.
Jon, good morning and welcome to Essential
(00:14):
Ingredients. I'm your host,Justine Reichman. With me today
is Jon Lambert. He is the CEO ofCannon. Welcome, Jon.
Jon Lambert (00:23):
Thank you very much, Justine. Great to be here.
Justine Reichman (00:26):
Great to have you here. And many times, we
have a lot of founders andpeople that are building better
for you food businesses, we alsolike to focus on those resources
available to founders and peoplebuilding the businesses. Because
oftentimes, it's really thenetwork and the community that
they have around them to supporttheir ventures. So for those
(00:48):
listening and those watchingthat are not familiar with
Cannon, would you please give usyour 32nd pitch on what Cannon
Jon Lambert (00:56):
So the Cannon was created essentially, and
is?
fundamentally, to support thestartup and entrepreneurial
community in Houston, Texas.There were limited resources
back in 2017, 2018. Lots ofpeople were picking up and
leaving, and feeling like theyneeded to go to Austin or
elsewhere to start theirbusiness. And we didn't agree
with that. All the resources arehere, and so we essentially
(01:18):
mobilized Cannon and thecommunity here to get that whole
process started.
Justine Reichman (01:23):
Awesome. Thank you. So when I think of a
community to this, it'sreminiscent and reminds me of
many co working spaces and thecommunity, and the content that
they provide. How are you guysdifferent?
Jon Lambert (01:37):
So we didn't start with the idea of physical space.
It was really, how do wemobilize people together? And it
didn't really matter what thephysical space was at that point
in time just get people togetherto start conversations around,
what are the synergies? Whatopportunity do we have? What do
people need? And how do we meetthose needs? One of the things
(02:00):
that happened out of thatprocess was as that community
grew, physical space was one ofthe primary needs. And so we
started down the path ofcreating space. We now have nine
physical locations in theHouston market that meet the
needs of all the different kindof boroughs, if you will, across
Houston. And really, thedifferentiation is we're not
about the physical space, we'reabout the community in that
(02:21):
space, and meeting the needs ofthat community on a daily basis.
Justine Reichman (02:25):
That's great. I like the idea that you built
this community prior to creatinga space so that you had this
foundation of resources andcommunity that were looking to
share their minded visions, andshare vetted resources.
Jon Lambert (02:43):
The pandemic actually validated who we were
as an organization. As you canremember when the pandemic hit,
my peers in the co working spaceemptied out. People weren't
comfortable using space, andeverybody was working from home.
Our community didn't go anywherso we kind of bottomed out at
70%. The message was, there'smore to this than you providing
(03:08):
me in office space.
Justine Reichman (03:10):
I heard that you maintain 70% of membership,
so talk to me what do youattribute that to? Because COVID
was a really challenging time.There was a lot going on.
Jon Lambert (03:23):
At that point in time, we kind of sat back and
scratched our head and said,okay, so how's this going to go?
We weren't sure. But the messagewas, if you look back at what we
spent our time doing in prepandemic, during pandemic and
post pandemic, is we proactivelygo to work with the companies
(03:43):
within our community to figureout what we can do to help them.
The pandemic virtually, everyday during that period of time,
we would sit down with anindividual company and get in a
room with legal counsel, anaccountant, a finance person and
potentially a Minister,depending on how serious the
problem was, and just talkthrough, hey, what do we do with
(04:05):
this? How do we help you pivot,partner or do something
different to survive? And that'swhen you ask about
differentiation. That is reallywhat differentiates us. When
people come to our space, wekind of warn them, hey, if you
want to be left alone, there'sprobably better places to go to
office because our team is goingto pursue you. And if you don't
have a need today, you're goingto have a need tomorrow or the
(04:26):
next day, and we're going to bethere asking you, how can we
help with that? And what kind ofresources can we help provide?
Justine Reichman (04:33):
I want to just dig into something that you said
because I'm curious. I think asa small business, everyone needs
to surround themselves withthose resources, legal
accounting, strategic thinkers,but you also mentioned minister.
Is that specific to a specific,is that specific to a niche, or
(04:55):
is that all around? What roledoes that Minister play?
Jon Lambert (04:59):
Again, now you're going dive into me from a
cultural perspective and how Idrive from the leadership level.
So my approach to building andgrowing community really starts
with as sappy as it sounds tosome people, loving people
first. So if your spirit ofsupport and engagement is around
truly caring for other people,then that transcends the
(05:21):
business piece of things. Andwhen you're talking about the
evolution of a startup andgrowing a startup organization,
the challenges that come withthat, a lot of times, we get
focused on business plans andraising funds. And those things
are clearly important. But ifyou lose sight of you, the
person, the founder, and thattranscends into wellness and how
(05:45):
you take care of yourself andwhere your priorities are, you
can run the best business in theworld. But if YOU as an
individual fail, the entirething falls to pieces. And so
what we try to do is addressevery element of the
organizations and providesupport at every level. And that
a lot of times turns intoconversations that don't have
(06:06):
anything to do with the businessand have more to do with, hey, I
have other challenges that arestopping me from growing my
business. Can you help me withthose things? And so we provide
whatever resource we can on thatfront as well.
Justine Reichman (06:19):
I think one of the things that we try to do as
a platform is provide thesevetted resources for people to
be inspired by and make moreinformed choices. And that's
many times for the companies.But we also focus on the
founders. Because sometimes thefounders forget about their
needs, how they take care ofthemselves. I think that really
(06:41):
ties in quite well there.
Jon Lambert (06:42):
Regular thing. It's really neat. We do a thing
called founder confessions, andit's a monthly event. I'm
blessed to have a member on mystaff, and he's also a certified
counselor who's kind of ouremcee for that event. And
essentially, what we do is webring in founders and
entrepreneurs that have had ajourney and have stories to
(07:03):
tell, and really get down to thenitty gritty around, okay,
what's this really about? Let'snot mince words around. I don't
want the Facebook version ofyour world. I want the real
story about what you've beenthrough. And so the community is
really gravitated toward, wow,there are people out there that
are going through the same kindof things that I'm going
through, and it's okay to talkabout it. I don't have to shield
(07:25):
this for people to think thatI'm bigger or stronger than I
am. I can actually talk aboutthese things and help resolve
them.
Justine Reichman (07:33):
So with all these resources, are these
people part of your membership?Or are they part of your staff
and on-staff there at will tojust be available when anybody
should need them?
Jon Lambert (07:48):
And that's a fantastic question. I think it's
another differentiation point inmy answer. So obviously, we're a
startup as well. And so as muchas I would love to have a team
of thousand that can meet thoseneeds, what we've really tapped
into is the true definition andmeaning of community. And so
instead of the Cannon having toemploy an entire staff of
(08:10):
counselors, service providersand those kinds of things, what
we've done is said, hey, ifwe're a true community, then
everybody has an opportunity tocontribute. And so we have now
60 advisors at all levels. Itell everyone, if you ask me a
question and needed an expert,I've got at least one and
probably two advisors in ouradvisor community that are ready
(08:32):
to support you in answeringquestions that you have. In that
regard, we have partners thatare service providers that are
on a regular basis. Part of theconversation around we need help
with this, can you provideeducation on the front end?
Ultimately. Can you provideservices to support these
things? And so we've reallytapped into this concept of,
(08:53):
when you're part of a community,yes, we understand there will be
needs that we can help satisfy.But you also have an opportunity
to give back. And so we askpeople to just contribute at
that level anywhere where theyhave the opportunity. And a lot
of that, the delivery of thatcomes down to our methodology in
terms of digital and physicalspace management. How do we
(09:16):
create that collisionopportunity? And so if you you
walk through any one of ourspaces, it's really designed to
encourage people to connect witheach other and have
conversations. So we can do moregood. We program a lot of great
things. It's the stuff thathappens that, just because we
put people in proximity, thatgets really cool in terms of
(09:37):
meeting needs.
Justine Reichman (09:38):
So before you open these nine spaces, you were
mostly online as a community. Sowhat does that look like? And
how do people connect? Are youthe connector? What does that
look like for somebody joiningthis community?
Jon Lambert (09:57):
When we started the Cannon, the Digital play
actually didn't evolve shortlyafter we opened our physical
space and realized, hey, wecan't build these spaces fast
enough to meet the need of thiscommunity. And so we realize
very quickly to have a digitalsolution. We have to find a way
to virtually bring thiscommunity together, and so we
have made a number ofinvestments, and we just
(10:19):
ultimately acquired ourtechnology partner firm at the
end of last year. We're now haveour own digital community
platform that works inconjunction with our physical
spaces, but opens up the accessto who we are, and what we do in
that entire community to anyone,anywhere. And so as we go into
(10:39):
new places and new markets,we'll actually go in first to
say, hey, let's connect yourpeople first and understand what
the community needs. And then wecould talk about creating a
physical hub, because everybodywants to be together physically
regardless of what anybody says.Not everybody's going home to
work forever. People needpeople, and people need that
interaction. And so there alwayswill be that physical element,
(10:59):
but the digital is reallyhelping us reach a lot more
people and draw them in, andthen provide support to them
without necessarily being thereinside of our physical wall.
Justine Reichman (11:10):
If I was a part of your community and I'm
looking for somebody, am I goingto somebody specific to try to
get a recommendation, am I goingonline? Is there a list, a
glossary of people? How does oneconnect?
Jon Lambert (11:25):
Okay. So within our digital community platform, it
Justine Reichman (11:27):
That's amazing. So it sounds like it's
is essentially a repository ofeveryone in the community. Some
people from personalityperspective are very self
service driven. So you can gointo that directory. You can
search that directory for otherfounders or companies. Of those
other founders that align withwhat you're looking for, you can
reach out as part of thecommunity to one of my folks who
(11:48):
can help you get connected tothe folks you're looking for.
We're just rolling out amatching, it's almost like a
dating type of functionality. IfI have a specific need, I will
actually match you with theappropriate advisor so you don't
have to actually go out and lookfor that in terms of shortening
the period of time it takes foryou to find what you're looking
(12:09):
for. And we're getting ready toroll out new features within the
platform. That when you join,it's going to go out and use AI
to go say, hey, who are the topfive people in the community
a very people focused business.
that you need to speak to basedon who you are? Your profile, so
that you're not fishing aroundtrying to find the right thing.
We can do the work on the frontend to quickly get you connected
(12:30):
to people of interest to youwithin the community.
Jon Lambert (12:37):
Absolutely. The center of our universe is the
people.
Justine Reichman (12:41):
It's the people. But everybody could be
in a different niche or area, sohow do you manage that network
for the clients that you have tomake sure that you can address
all those different niches?Because there's a ton.
Jon Lambert (12:57):
It's a challenge. We want to be everything to
everyone. And ultimately, maybewe will be, but we really focus
in, as we evolve new community,what I will call nodes. Our
bigger picture vision is becauseour footprint expands, we
quickly found out that thechallenge that we were solving
for is not a Houston challenge.It's not a Texas challenge, it's
(13:19):
a global challenge, right? Theneeds everywhere. So the real
opportunity is, how do we drawpeople into one community?
Create nodes that are localizedthat allow people to interact
physically and digitally, butthen connect those nodes to
other nodes? So that if there'ssomebody that's sitting in, pick
a city, Atlanta, Georgia who'sworking on an entrepreneurial
(13:41):
initiative or project and has novisibility into Houston, Texas,
but via our platform, canconnect to those folks, we can
actually remove the borders fromthat innovation process and
create an environment thatdoesn't exist anywhere else. So
what we're trying to do is kindof systematically go through and
understand what the communityneeds the most, and then make
(14:04):
our investments in how do wedeliver value so that that
community is getting more fromwhat we provide.
Justine Reichman (14:11):
Is this a membership that anybody can
join? Do you have to be invited?Do you need to be sponsored?
Jon Lambert (14:17):
We have a freemium layer membership that anybody
can, if you go through ourwebsite, you can join forever
for free, and that will give youexposure, access to the
community. You'll see what'sgoing on and what some of the
opportunities are. And then weare for profit business, and we
don't apologize to that becausewe're helping a whole bunch of
other for profit businesses. Itreally puts the onus on us.
(14:41):
Profit businesses don't surviveunless they're delivering value.
So it's what wakes me up everymorning going, what new value
can we bring to this communityso that they keep coming back
and it keeps growing? But yes,there are premium offerings for
additional services and supportfor things like high level
accelerator service. So we'vegot programs that are specific
(15:02):
for companies that have reacheda specific level within their
journey, and potentially needhigh level support in order to
continue to grow, and thosekinds of things. And so there
are premium offerings in thereas well.
Justine Reichman (15:15):
When you say accelerator services, what comes
to mind is Techstars and theseother kinds of accelerators. How
do you compare to them? And whatdo you offer that's different?
Jon Lambert (15:26):
Accelerators for us are a resource for the community
that we support. We have notgone out and said, well, we're
going to develop one of thoseand compete with the Techstars,
or a generator, or a lot of theother plug and play, or others
that are operating thoseprograms out there. What we have
done is looked at the life cycleof the organization, of a new
(15:48):
organization, and an acceleratoris going to deliver value in a
finite period, critical value.But there are needs during, and
there are needs after. And sowhat we try to do is help
organizations understand, whatam I going to get out of an
accelerator program? Potentiallyhelp them qualify to do what
they need to do to get into thatprogram, Help them while they're
(16:10):
in there. And then when theygraduate from the accelerator
program, what's next? That'soften the big challenge of,
okay, I just finished theaccelerator. Now what? There's
plenty more to do in that regardso we look those as partnership
opportunities in terms ofaligning with, and that's value
add to the community. And like Iwas trying to say earlier from
(16:30):
my perspective, all of this isabout bringing value to that
community. The community comesfirst. There could be 50 more
organizations like mine outthere, and we would still not be
delivering to the demand in themarketplace. And so it's really
all about, how can we align,come together, align and make
(16:51):
sure we're doing the right thingfor the folks that are out there
trying to build theirbusinesses?
Justine Reichman (16:55):
Thank you for that. Are there any examples
that you can give us ofindividuals that have joined the
Cannon, leverage the resourcesand had an exponential growth,
or built something because ofthe community? Maybe you could
share one or two of those?
Jon Lambert (17:12):
Sure, absolutely. So a couple of really good
examples. I'll preface this bysaying, in no way will we take
full credit for the success. Thesuccess goes with the
organizations. What I will sayis the Cannon has played a key
role in the success of theorganizations that I'll share
with you. There's anorganization called Corva that
has been part of back in thevery early days in 2017. The
(17:35):
Cannon was part of the what wecall the waiting room, which was
non descript one story building,kind of next door where the
whole thing started, whereeverything was kind of scrappy.
And there may have been astraight cockroach here and
there, but we survived andworked together. Corva started
Justine Reichman (17:50):
My question is, do you need to be a Texas
in that environment as a handfulof folks. And as we grew into
our own physical space, theirbusiness took off. They're in
what I would say, that kind ofthe oil and gas energy data and
analytics space, so veryspecialized kind of data
management. And then eventechnology management that fits
in there, inside of there forthe oil industry. And so now,
(18:14):
they actually are still on ourproperty. Have their own 35,000
square foot space. Our globalcompany have, I think, close to
500 between 500, 600 employees,last number I heard. And have
just had tremendous success.They're still part of our
community, so there people arein and out. We leverage them as
a resource where we can to helporganizations earlier in their
(18:35):
business phase. A big part ofwhat we do is our companies have
success. They're the best onesto help the earlier stage
businesses. And that's again,that feeds back to the
community. So they're one greatexample, Cart.com who's now a
unicorn. I can't even remember.I think they're 1.7, 1.8 billion
dollar valuation. Their firstemployee was my chief revenue
(18:57):
officer. So basically, hestepped out of his role with us
to go work with the founders andpartners that started Cart.com.
Their headquarters is here. Itwas moved to Austin for a period
of time. They're actually backhere now, and they're going
crazy. They have over 1000employees globally. Just a
couple of examples. Those arethe ones that everybody wants to
(19:18):
hear. But I always call outthat, that for us, and I think,
hope, this kind of speaks to whowe are and what we do. Those are
great stories. We want as manyof those as we can, because
that's what gets everyoneexcited. I get equally excited
around being able to help asingle mom who's decided, she's
has gotten laid off from hercurrent job, and she wants to do
(19:40):
her own thing, whatever that is.And in order to maybe hire a
couple of her neighbors andcreate, it might be a lifestyle
business, it might be a businessthat has business that has an
opportunity to grow, that isvalue to me. If we talk about
valuation, we can talk aboutbillions of dollars valuation in
terms of the quality of life forpeople who are leveraging this
(20:02):
kind of entrepreneurial journeyto build something. I get as
excited about that end of thespectrum as well. And so that's
really kind of who we are wherewe don't say, you've got to be a
tech business, or you got to bein the energy business. We're
completely agnostic to that. Andwhat we're trying to do is just
democratize access to theresources for anybody that wants
(20:24):
to go on this journey.
business? What percentage ofyour community is from Texas
right now?
Jon Lambert (20:34):
Probably 98%, so that's kind of where we cut our
teeth. We've expanded from adigital perspective in Texas
saying that we haveopportunities on an expansion
Justine Reichman (20:41):
If we could just go back for a minute to
from a physical hub perspectivein Huntsville, Alabama. In
Atlanta, we're working onprojects now. And so our goal is
to take what we're doing intothe markets that want, need us
raising funds, because I knowthat this is a really big
the most. The cool part aboutwhere we're at is because we're
a startup too, and the pandemicwas kind of a reset for us as
(21:03):
well in terms of focus andtrajectory. We're experiencing
challenge for so many people ifit's their first time doing it,
the same thing that a lot of thecompanies that we're helping.
I'm out raising funds right now,and so I know what the
environment looks like becauseI'm out there doing it, and I'm
helping. We've got thousandcompanies in our community,
probably 10 to 15% of them arein the process of raising money.
or they're just intimidated byit. I know that you guys, you're
(21:26):
So not only am I providingcounsel in that regard, but I'm
living it, and I'm hearing thestories and the feedback from
the investment community. It's aneat dynamic between who we are,
and what we're doing and tryingto grow. But our vision is to
doing this right now. What aresome of the biggest mistakes
get into at least five newmarkets by the end of 2025. Hope
to be in two new ones by the endof this year, and then be in a
(21:50):
total of five markets as astarting point. Then a lot of
our growth from there just comesdown to kind of, what kind of
that you found that you've madeinitially, that you've learned
resources can we put into thisto grow more exponentially?
Jon Lambert (22:02):
I's being prepared to tell your story and
understanding the period of timeat which you have to hook the
from to help you move forward inthis?
conversation. You hear a lotabout elevator pitch and those
(22:33):
kinds of things, and it is verytrue that we all have a very
limited time with potentialinvestors to generate enough
interest for them to put morecoins in the meter and say,
okay, he's got a little bit moretime. And so what happens is
companies, a lot of earlierstage startups are so focused on
(22:53):
their product and theirperspective of their product.
They don't get their head turnedaround to, my product is not
enough of a story for aninvestor. I have to tell the
story of how my product is goingto meet a need in the
marketplace, how big is thatmarketplace? And then, how am I
going to get to thatmarketplace? And who my
competition are? And so really,it's just honing in on being
(23:17):
able to tell your own story. Andthere's early stage
organizations that don't spendenough time doing that. Twice a
year, we hosted a large eventwith Dell. And last week was
their pitch showcase. And theyhad six companies that pitched
it as part of that showcase hereat our facility in Houston. And
(23:39):
ultimately my message back tothem was, nobody else is going
to tell your story. You need totell your story. And they had
the opportunity, and thisexample was a three minute
pitch. And my message to themwas, if you're not reciting that
three minute pitch to yourselfand your phone on a daily basis,
you're not investing the timethat is necessary to prepare you
(23:59):
for the opportunity when you'restanding in front of a potential
investor. It's really about thatcomfort level with understanding
what that story needs to be tohook the conversation, and then
being really, really good attelling that story.
Justine Reichman (24:14):
Awesome. I think that's a great tip for
those in this process, so Ireally appreciate you sharing
that. And I'm curious, I knowthat you worked before at KPMG,
but have you been anentrepreneur. Have you started
your own business in the past?
Jon Lambert (24:30):
It's interesting, and this is a conversation I
have a lot with. We do a lot ofentrepreneurial education so
we're investing at all levels ofacademia, from universities, all
the way down to third gradersaround what entrepreneurship is,
what role does it play? What theopportunities are? And I always
tell those groups is, so I'm notthe visionary entrepreneur. I'm
(24:51):
not the dreamer that all of asudden comes up with this great
idea and say, hey, this is whatwe're gonna do. I'm the guy that
comes along the visionaryentrepreneur and says, okay,
here's how we're actually goingto do this. And both of those
are entrepreneurial roles.There's this frustration around,
wait a minute. I don't have anygood ideas. Well, find somebody
with a good idea and help themexecute it. You're an
(25:11):
entrepreneur as you do that.That's the role that I've played
in probably five, six differentstartup organizations that have,
fortunately, had the opportunityto grow to very large
organizations and be acquired byother organizations. I actually
joined KPMG through acquisitionof a startup that we started in
(25:33):
2003. That acquisition was in2011, so a nine year growth
period of a company from zero toabout 500 people globally, 120
$5 million a year entity thatwas acquired and became part of
a large global, you know,multinational partnership at
KPMG. I've really had theopportunity to see
(25:56):
entrepreneurship at alldifferent levels. And then on
the corporate venture side, Ikind of flipped sides of the
table. So in that scenario, Ihad the opportunity to go out
and help organizations that wehad acquired assimilate into
large corporates. And largecorporate organizations don't
have an appreciation for howquickly you can kill a startup
(26:18):
if you don't treat them theright way. I can't remember that
exact quote, but I've done a lotof things. I'm not an expert in
any one area, but I've touchedso many different things that I
think it's been advantageous asI've stepped into this role, and
to be able to share experiencesthat I can bring to the table
that are essentially helpingothers.
Justine Reichman (26:38):
I would also say that with your experience as
an entrepreneur, not being thatvisionary, but being that person
that helps take that vision andmakes it possible for that to
come to fruition and run withit, I think that also talks to
how people can look for a cofounder.
Jon Lambert (26:59):
Absolutely yes, no doubt. Great ideas have died on
the vine because that individualon their own doesn't have the
ability to execute. And itreally comes down to that
execution piece. And a lot oftimes, the idea through the
execution phase is actuallyimproved and perfected as part
(27:21):
of that process. For us, thethree pillars are in terms to
support our funding, as we'vealready talked about, sales and
business development, how do youactually sell this product? And
in the middle one, we kind ofbundle under talent. Talent
starts with what's the rightteam to actually take this idea
forward, and that starts withthe co founder.
Justine Reichman (27:43):
I'm curious, because you get people, it
sounds at all different levelsfrom moms that have been laid
off or quit, to people thatbecome unicorns. Have you worked
with organizations? Or do youhave organizations within your
community looking to go public?
Jon Lambert (27:57):
The answer is yes. We've had companies that have
matured to the level wherethey're looking for, and I'll
quantify that as an exit. Sowhether that's a public offering
or an acquisition, right?Obviously, the market conditions
have kind of created challengesfor public offerings. A lot of
(28:17):
that is dictated by what themarket's looking for in that
regard. But yes, we have hadcompanies that have matured to
that point, and are eithercurrently evaluating or have
evaluated a public offering asan exit plan or next phase plan,
if you will.
Justine Reichman (28:34):
Part of your infrastructure to help them with
that exit or with that is theidea of becoming part of a
larger entity, and going hub orgoing public?
Jon Lambert (28:46):
Yeah. The accelerator program that I
mentioned is through a businesspartnership with an organization
called next stage trajectory.What I would call a later stage
accelerator, and their entirefocus is for supporting
companies that have reached acertain threshold of revenue. So
these aren't new companies.They've got 2 to $3 million a
(29:07):
year in annual revenue.Potentially, they've stalled a
little bit, and their foundergroup has a vision for, hey, we
want to grow this significantlyso that we can look for an exit
opportunity. Their acceleratorprogram is a very clear and
concise 48 month program thattakes those companies through
that on an active support basis.So it's not just, hey, here's a
(29:29):
methodology. We're going tospend three weeks with you, and
good luck. We're going to staywith you through that entire
period and help you not onlyraise the additional funds that
you need, but help you go tomarket and sell to increase that
revenue base, to increase yourvaluation, and then ultimately
identify where our exitpossibilities, and who are
possible partners that would beinterested in acquiring the
(29:51):
business and helping with thatprocess. And then also as an
extension, again, back to thepersonal element, somebody
that's going through that exitprocess. There's a personal
component from a financialperspective on doing that the
right way. A lot of folks thathave gone through that have lost
a lot of money with notunderstanding how to manage
through that process. So we'realso managing that at the
(30:14):
founder level. Except now, it'snot founder as an entry point,
it's founder at the exit point.So yeah, equally as important.
Justine Reichman (30:21):
Yeah, I think so. And I think that's a whole
conversation in of itselfbecause I think that there's so
much to that, right? Whensomebody wants to go public, or
take on larger institutionalinvestors, or get acquired by
another company, there's alwaysthe concern about, how will my
mission and vision bemaintained?
Jon Lambert (30:39):
Absolutely.
Justine Reichman (30:40):
Every founders worst nightmare, right? It's a
double edged sword. Here's $30billion, but we're gonna change
the mission.
Jon Lambert (30:48):
Yes, you're exactly right. You have at least have
the opportunity to think throughand understand, and preferably
have acceptance around wherethat goes, versus not
understanding what you'regetting yourself into. The same
is true of your piece of the pieas it relates to the financial
returns. We talk about that fromthe very beginning of, don't
(31:10):
give away your equity. This is aprocess that you need to
understand all the way through.And so we try to help all of our
founders and new businesses tounderstand that here's how this
process is going to work, anddon't compromise yourself
unknowingly at any point in thatprocess.
Justine Reichman (31:25):
Awesome, and thank you. I just want to go
back as we wrap this all up,because I know that you offer
membership to everyone all over.We did talk about accountants
and lawyers, but some of thesethings are very state specific,
right? You need to have anattorney in California or
Delaware so I just wanted todrill down on that a little bit
so that our listeners know, arethey global resources? So that
(31:50):
regardless of what state you'rein, you can access support and
help.
Jon Lambert (31:54):
Yes, absolutely. And we may not have the matrix
all the way filled out, but I'lluse the legal example. Our
partnership is with anorganization called Dickinson on
the legal front. And from aservices perspective, we
selected them because of theirfocus on the entrepreneurial
space, also their focus on theinternational space. One of the
things we haven't talked aboutthat we're working through is
(32:16):
creating an international softlanding for startups and small
businesses. So businesses thathave been created in Asia and
Europe that want to come intothe US market. There are
resources for largeorganizations to make that leap.
There aren't really resourcesfor small organizations. And
Houston, just as its natureacross the board, is a very
(32:36):
compelling place to come. And soDickinson has expertise in that
space as well. What we attemptto do, and if we have a member
that comes in that specificneed, then it's our job to go
out there and help them findthat resource, versus them
having to go do it on their ownwith the goal of, if we bring
that resource in for one, we canthen leverage it for the entire
(32:58):
community.
Justine Reichman (32:58):
Wonderful. Well, I know there's so much
more that we can talk about, andI really appreciate this because
I think that so often, we arefocused on the product or the
brand and their mission to builda better for you business to
create greater access to healthyfoods. And here, we have the
opportunity to really supportthe founders through your
community on a local and on aglobal level, giving them the
(33:20):
resources, the vetted resourcesin particular that they need to
be able to move forward. So Jon,thank you so much for joining me
today. And before we go, beforewe wrap this up, can you just
tell us, what can we expect tosee with the growth of Cannon in
the next three to five years?
Unknown (33:38):
Absolutely. Well, I alluded to a little bit earlier
that we've got our big picturevision is that there is a lot of
what I'll call white space.Meaning, there are pockets of
innovation and startup communityin different places. All of
them, virtually, are kind ofinward facing and focused. So
Silicon Valley, lot of SiliconValley is about Silicon Valley.
And New York's a great place.There's a lot of entrepreneurial
(33:59):
activity going on there, butit's really about New York. And
Boston, similar in Chicago andother places around the world.
Beyond those cities, there isdemand and opportunity, it's
just that the resources haven'treached them yet. And so our
goal is however we can, whetherit's physical, virtual or a
combination of both, try to fillup those white spaces to create
(34:20):
a much larger community thattranscends the geography, if you
will. And so as I mentioned,from a physical hub perspective,
we want to be at least in fivenew markets by the end of next
year. From a digital communityperspective, we're working with
economic developmentorganizations and that kind of
thing. We're not limited from ageography perspective. We are
(34:40):
having conversations, so I thinkour brand will show up in
support of initiatives acrossthe country as it relates to
entrepreneurial support. That'sa differentiator for us that
it's not about planning our flagand brand recognition, really,
it's about getting support tothe community. And so we're okay
(35:00):
with powered by the Cannonextension to a local initiative
if that brings more folks to thetable and gets more folks
support. So hopefully, there'llbe an obvious presence. And then
while the obvious presence showsup, we're going to sneak up
around you. And before you knowit, you're going to see our
little tagline all over theplace where we're able to
support that one giant communitythat can achieve great things
(35:24):
when we get it together.
Justine Reichman (35:25):
Awesome. Jon, thank you so much for joining
us. I want to thank ourlisteners and viewers for tuning
in today. These episodes areavailable on iTunes and Spotify,
or wherever you listen topodcasts. Each week, new
episodes come out on Tuesdaymornings, so thanks for tuning
in.
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