July 10, 2025 • 25 mins
Ever wonder what happens when entrepreneurial vision meets professional sports? Join us for an engaging conversation with Ross Cully, founder and CEO of Harvest Group and investor in Ozark United FC, as he shares his two-decade journey in Northwest Arkansas.
Ross takes us back to his first encounter with NWA at Nolan Richardson's basketball camp, through his arrival with Procter & Gamble, to his decision to plant roots and build a thriving business in the region. What began as qualities like natural beauty and genuine relationships has evolved into a place now nationally recognized for its cultural amenities, outdoor recreation, and growing entrepreneurial ecosystem.
The transformation is stunning. Where Ross once had to explain where Northwest Arkansas was located during his business travels, he now meets people who enthusiastically share their experiences visiting Crystal Bridges or riding the region's world-class bike trails. This evolution mirrors the changing competitive landscape for NWA, which now benchmarks itself against larger markets across the country.
Drawing from his experience building Harvest Group from scratch, Ross provides invaluable insights into the entrepreneurial journey. He walks us through the distinct phases—from the scrappy survival mode of early days, through explosive growth periods, to the current challenges of scaling operations. These lessons directly apply to building Ozark United FC, reminding us that setbacks and pivots are natural parts of creating something meaningful.
Perhaps most compelling is Ross's perspective on the entrepreneurial ecosystem developing in Northwest Arkansas. Like Silicon Valley's cycle of success and reinvestment, NWA is seeing successful entrepreneurs who are now giving back and reinvesting in the next wave of regional growth—including professional soccer.
Ready to understand how sports, business, and community development intersect? Subscribe to Pitch to Pro and join the conversation about Northwest Arkansas's exciting journey to professional soccer!
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Episode Transcript
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Speaker 2 (00:05):
Pitch to Pro is the official podcast of Ozark United
FC.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
This will be our platform to tell our story about
the club and the special placethat we call home Northwest
Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
This is a journey we want to bring you along for the
ride.
We'll share what's going onbehind the curtain.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
help educate the community at large about soccer,
our league, and give updates onthe progress of the club along
the way.
Together we'll explore andunpack our journey to
professional soccer, the magicthat is NWA, our community, and
talk all things soccer from onthe pitch to behind the scenes,
telling the story of our club.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Pitch to Pro Podcast is proudly sponsored by
PodcastVideoscom byPodcastVideoscom.
Podcastvideoscom is NorthwestArkansas' premier podcast
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Equipped with industry-leading equipment, the
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They are dedicated to helping you create, record and
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Be sure to check them out todayat podcastvideoscom.
Speaker 3 (01:07):
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Pitch to Pro
podcast.
I'm your host, managingDirector Wes Harris for Ozark
United FC Northwest Arkansas'professional soccer club playing
in the United Soccer League.
Today, I'm joined by a reallyawesome and special guest,
founder and CEO of Harvest Groupand Ozark United investor, mr
Ross Culley Ross.
Welcome and thank you so muchfor joining me today, man.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Hey, thanks for having me.
I'm really excited to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Awesome.
Well, ross, you are a longtimeNWA resident We'll get into it
in a little bit and have done alot of incredible things in your
industry and have done a lot ofincredible things in your
industry in the community andhave been around for a while to
(01:53):
be able to have seen NWA kind ofmorph into and evolve into kind
of what it is, and have somestrong opinions about what it's
going to become and what thatevolution looks like.
So before we get into that,let's just talk a little bit
about you know your background,how you got to NWA, um, and get,
get you know, give people theopportunity a chance to get to
know you.
Just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah Well, actually the first time I came to
Northwest Arkansas was throughsports.
So, uh, I was in high school,uh, a basketball player during
the nineties and came down toNolan Richardson's basketball
camp after they won the nationalchampionship.
So that was a little bit of aprecursor to me.
You know, now living here 20plus years and calling it home.
(02:35):
But yeah, as I fast forwardpast, that first experience came
down here with Procter Gambleto call on Walmart and Sam's
Club Kind of a familiar storyfor a lot of us that found
ourselves here.
It was really supporting one ofthe big companies here in
Northwest Arkansas and so, aftercoming here for what I thought
(02:55):
was going to be a couple years,my wife and I were engaged, then
got married and decided to callthis home, and that's what it's
become.
We've had all four kids here,built a business here, um and uh
, it's changed a ton, uh, but weabsolutely love living here.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Yeah, it's, it's absolutely changed.
I mean I'm, you've been here,uh, pretty much double what I've
, what I've uh got to claim uhto my name.
I'm a bit of a boomerang.
So we were here for a littlebit of a time, moved to
Minneapolis you know why?
Yes, sold drugs to Walmart andthen switched that to selling
drugs to Target legally.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Legally.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I was going to say yeah, yeah, legally Zyrtec and
Tylenol and all those fun onesand Listerine and all the fun
things that change.
they now can view they spun offand anyway, I digress yes uh,
but what in your mind has kindof really changed within NWA?
(03:57):
How have you seen it ground somuch?
I mean, I always love to askthis question, especially for
people who have been here togive perspective, and it's
always interesting to heardifferent takes.
Um, but talk a little bit about, if you would, kind of your
experience through the lens ofthe growth of the area and,
within that, found your journeyinto entrepreneurship as a part
of that too.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, sure, yeah.
I think, when I think about thearea, one of the reasons that
we wanted to stay was therelationships we had.
The quality of people and theculture of northwest Arkansas
was a place that we just wedidn't want to leave.
Our friends, our friends hadbecome like family in our early
years.
It was a place we wanted toraise kids and we loved the
(04:41):
natural beauty.
We enjoy getting outside as afamily, and so that was, I think
, beyond the people, one of thebig assets, um, from a quality
of life standpoint.
Uh, and then, uh, myentrepreneurial journey
obviously uh took off and wasbased here, and so that's
another reason that we stayed.
I think, when I think about howthe area has changed, um, the
(05:03):
reasons to move here, thereasons to stay, that list has
gotten longer, uh than the listthat we had, um, and so, uh,
there's been so much development, um and and addition of
different amenities, um that uh,that are added to the quality
of people and the natural beauty, uh, that, that that are
(05:24):
reasons why we love being here.
So, whether that's crystalbridges or some of the other uh,
you know, museums and thingsthat have been built, um, the
quality of education, uh, thecost of living.
There's just a bunch of thingsthat that that have kept us here
.
But, um, but, yeah for sure,for my personal story ended up
starting a business co-founded abusiness almost 20 years ago,
(05:48):
working with small and mid-sizedmanufacturers that sell their
products to big retailers, andobviously here in Northwest
Arkansas we have a big one withWalmart and Sam's Club, and so
that's really what we started atthe kitchen table bootstrap
entrepreneurs, helping thosesmall companies sell their
(06:10):
products to get on the shelf atthe time, largely, and now we do
that, both the physical shelfand the digital shelf.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, that was a whole boom and also a new thing
to figure out.
And it's still a thing tofigure out because it continues
to evolve, yes, almost daily,but it seems like yeah, retail
has been one of those industries.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
That is, it's constantly changing, but it's
gone through an intense amountof change last five, ten years.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, and I think you know I mean not to go into a
retail podcast, but I think alot of that too is, as it's kind
of on on this, like hockeystick evolution of as tech
changes and the way thatconsumers interact with that.
So to do the changes thatsuppliers and retailers need to
engage in change and capabilityand all of that.
(06:58):
It's almost like this uh, andbecoming even more challenging,
but also reinforcing the need tobe adaptable.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah, I agree, yeah.
So I think, when I think ofNorthwest Arkansas, another
thing that I would say haschanged is, you know, it used to
be when I would travel forbusiness or personal and say
where I was from, a lot ofpeople had never heard of it.
And more recently, my wife andI were in the Northeast and the
person said and more recently mywife and I were in the
(07:25):
Northeast, and the person said,oh, I was just there, you know,
in Crystal Bridges and the biketrails and it's so beautiful.
And so I think this, the secrethas gotten out quite a bit in
terms of people either frombusiness coming here for you
know, really Wall Street sizedbusiness in in a Main
Street-sized town, or forpleasure, with the many things
(07:47):
that have happened and beenbuilt here over the last five
years.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, I think that's another big one too.
Even in the short time thatI've, well, I guess I can call
myself a local.
Now the majority of folks arebetween three to five and I'm
over a decade now, but even inthat time I would wholeheartedly
agree.
I mean, you almost werereadying yourself for the
(08:12):
reaction of where, why would youlive there?
Versus now, oh, I've heardabout that, or I've been there
and it's beautiful, or you know,oh, yeah, isn't that where the
University of Arkansas is, orWalmart is, or whatever it is
you know?
So I think the conversation andnarrative there has definitely
changed, especially, I would say, in the last five years.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, I had one cool experience, uh, in Alaska two
years ago.
We went there as a family Uh,it was, uh, uh, my 50th state to
uh to visit.
We traveled a lot as a family,camped, as a family growing up,
and I was in a coffee shop andsomebody saw an Arkansas shirt
that I had on and they said, oh,where in Arkansas do you live,
(08:56):
you know?
I said Northwest Arkansas.
I said isn't that the home ofOnyx coffee?
Oh, wow, and bearded goatapparel?
and I was like, yes, it is butyou know, usually you know it's
isn't that where walmart is?
Or university of art, yeah,tyson jv and uh.
So it's just cool to see, um,the various companies of various
(09:17):
sizes that are making theirmark, and I think that's one of
the reasons I'm excited aboutbeing involved with Ozark United
is, I think we have yet anotherway to put our area on the map.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I think that's spot on too and part of kind of you
know a lot of it is you know whysoccer, why OZFC, why Northwest
Arkansas is a lot of it'stiming in terms of where soccer
is, where you know the area is,and we'll get into that in a bit
.
But I think that that's alsokind of a where Northwest
(09:53):
Arkansas is as it competes on.
Now that you're, you are incompetition but you're not right
with with other markets forresources, talent, um, you know
different attractions or, or youknow, in some cases, especially
when you get to the um, youknow the sports world.
Sometimes there's competingmarkets for expansion teams, uh,
(10:16):
and things like that we justsaw.
Yeah, I think the NWSL isexpanding into Clevelandveland,
detroit and philly or maybe one,maybe that's it.
I think those three uh or wnba,that was it.
Wnba just announced three moreexpansions.
Okay, um, caitlin clark effect.
(10:37):
Anyway, I'm all over the placehere, but I think a lot of that
too is is where northwestarkansas is on the stage and
what markets it's competingagainst, and that has grown
beyond the regional or typicalplayers that we benchmarked
ourself against.
I had a different guest, mervynJebaraj of the University of
(11:00):
Arkansas Economic Center forResearch and Development of
Arkansas Economic Center forResearch and Development, and
they've actually had to changetheir countries of benchmark,
you know, with the NWA Counciland all of that, because we kind
of had surpassed a lot of itand it made us look really good
and we were kind of pattingourselves on the back and it was
like, ok, our comparablemarkets now have shifted and
(11:26):
changed and we need to set oursights higher.
And I think that is a definitemoment where it's a signifier of
kind of the growth anddevelopment of NWA and kind of
where it's at.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
For sure.
Yeah, and I think you know whatyou're talking to in essence is
vision and something, as anentrepreneur, that I've had to
learn a lot about and experience, and I think when we think
about our area that's growingand changing, that's another
important thing for us to have.
Many of us who've lived here along time have grumbled about
(11:59):
the change.
You know, ah, it's more traffic.
Yeah, it's this, it's that.
You know, ah, it's more traffic.
Yeah, it's this, it's that.
Um, the other way to look atthat is to look forward with
vision, uh, of of the goodthings that that are coming.
I think this enterprise thoseare united is is is really one
that takes vision, uh, to seenot what we have been as an area
(12:19):
, uh, not even, maybe, where weare, but where are we going?
Yeah, and uh, and and to seethat and get ahead of that and,
as an investor, having visionand spotting trends and hitting
that timing.
You know the point you justmade are critical and, um, uh,
you've you've spoken about thisbefore on the podcast, but when
(12:41):
you think about professionalsports, you know a lot of people
look up at, uh, headlinegrabbing, valuations of beat the
lakers or right, uh, all thedifferent transactions that
happen celtics, mavericks, uh,and say kind of duh, like I
would have made that move.
Um, if I had the opportunity,but if you, if you rewind and
(13:03):
you read the whole story, a lotof the people when they got in
to those teams it was not ano-brainer.
I mean there was a lot oflaughing and naysaying and
eyebrow-raising when they gotinto professional sports.
But when you spot trends, whenyou have vision and you hit the
(13:24):
right timing, that's whensometimes magic can happen.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
And I think you're spot on and we'll dive a little
bit more into that, into soccerspecifically and NWA and the
league.
You obviously had some visionand some grit uh to.
You know, get to where you arenow with harvest group.
Uh, talk a little bit about youknow that journey and lessons
(13:52):
learned and maybe some parallelsthat you might be able to to
draw for any entrepreneurs outthere listening or or you know
folks thinking about vision andNWA and I mean there's there's
some intense um.
You know I had Nelson Peacock onthe on the podcast early early
days and some of the decisionmakers for the area.
You know I had Nelson Peacockon the on the podcast early
early days and some of thedecision makers for the area.
(14:12):
You start thinking about thingsthat impact people's lives as
an entrepreneur and a CEO,impacting the people's lives of
your company based on decisionsthat you make.
It's a heavy burden, um, andnot something to take lightly
right, and having vision andforesight to do the best that
you can with the informationthat you have.
That was something that hithome for me in planning city
(14:39):
infrastructure and who do wewant to be in 20 years?
You have to start planning forthat now.
Talk more about that from yourlens as a as a builder and a
entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, I, you know, my harvest group journey has been
a 20 year journey and so there'sseveral chapters.
At this point and, uh, and Ithink that's helpful, um, as we
think about building the clubhere as well but, um, in the, in
the early days, you're justscrapping and you're trying to
survive, you're figuring it outas you go, you're hopefully
(15:10):
surrounding yourselves with asmuch wisdom and counsel as you
can, but it takes some people tosee that vision and take a leap
of faith, to take a chance tobelieve what they can't see, to
have the same vision that youhave.
And so, for us, that was earlyclients, early employees that
(15:30):
decided to, you know, believe inus, even though we had no
office, you know, um, we had noincome, you know, you know,
obviously, at the start.
And so, um, those early days,um, uh, each stage has exciting
parts to it and hard parts, andsometimes we can look back and
(15:51):
with nostalgia and it becomesmythology.
But those early days can bereally, really hard.
At the same time.
They're so exciting because itfeels like every little inch you
take is a huge celebration,it's a big accomplishment.
And you also have setbacks, andyou talked about pivots being
agile.
Um, it's a big part, uh, and soas a club, we've had that, you
(16:16):
know, with land, um, withtimelines and as an entrepreneur
, um, I remember you know peoplebeing naysayers.
You know, as I started harvestgroup and manage you make the
right decision.
You know people being naysayers.
You know, as I started HarvestGroup and man, did you make the
right decision.
You know to to leave and um,and shaking heads and you know
not believing and and you haveto push through that.
(16:37):
You know to believe in thatvision and just keep taking
those steps forward.
And so that that was the earlyyears.
Then you know, thankfully wewere able to hire some amazing
people.
And thankfully we were able tohire some amazing people, we
work with phenomenal retailpartners and wonderful clients
and you begin to get somemomentum.
And so then you kind of enterthe growth phase and that's
incredibly exciting because itusually comes with expansion and
(17:00):
improvements and adding morepeople to the team and just it's
a lot of fun.
But then things start to break,you know, and you have to build
more things and figure outdifferent things.
And, uh and so where we're atHarvest Group now, I think I
would describe as in the scalephase where, um, we've been able
(17:21):
to push through a lot of thatgrowth, um, and now we're
figuring out you know how do werepeat that?
at scale, and and so again, each, each part of my journey has
been fun.
It has its own different set ofchallenges and excitements, but
I've learned a ton about myselfalong the way, and and and the
team that the sport that I playa horse group is a team sport.
(17:44):
I have a phenomenal team, andso, as we build the team here at
Ozzark fc, I think that's a keylearning is every, every member
of the team matters um and uh,and then and then that pivoting
and agility is something thatyou got to stick with through
all the different stages yeahit's, it's great insight and, to
(18:04):
your point, we've experienced alot.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
I'm I'm sitting here to myself.
You know you're you'rescrapping'm sitting here to
myself.
You know you're you'rescrapping, you're trying to just
survive.
You're getting through like weare in those early days, you
know, um, and surroundingyourself with wisdom.
We have Warren on the projectright.
We have a bunch of his contactsthat we all talk to, um, you
know that people, just theydon't see a lot of that right In
(18:26):
in terms of the early days anddon't you know they don't see a
lot of the behind the scenesthings.
We share, what we can, um, butthere's so much that goes on
behind it and it's it's such abig undertaking.
They take a village, they takea long time, they are hard, um,
and I think, as someone who hasdone that an entrepreneur like
(18:49):
yourself that has builtsomething from nothing, having
gone through that you canappreciate what we're going
through now Absolutely Like adifferent way than maybe an
average fan might.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Yeah, these things take time and patience, patience
and um, and yeah, you're gonnahit roadblocks, and if you
aren't up for that, then don'tgo start something, because it's
gonna happen.
And so, you know, I've heard inthe community from time to time
like, hey, I thought it was,like, you know, I thought that
was dead in the water.
You know, I didn't hearanything about that, or didn't
(19:26):
they, you know, lose the land,you know, and um, and so, again,
those kind of rumors aren'thelpful when they're not based
in fact, but, um, they'rereflective of somebody that that
maybe doesn't quite understandthe entrepreneurial journey.
Um, and so study any successfulenterprise and it wasn't just
up and to the right, and uh, and, and not people that get the
(19:49):
best return on their investment.
The people that you know arecelebrated, you know, for
building something, usuallyaren't the people that that jump
in when it's just a no brainer.
Um, it's the people that tookrisk, that took chances and
caught the vision.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Yeah, and they and the journeys aren't linear.
You know it's's, it's all kindsof squiggles and, and, to your
point, things that you got tonavigate and jump around or jump
through and get counsel on andjust find your way.
Um, and you know we're, we'reworking through those things now
and and continue every time.
You know you think you'reyou're coming up against
(20:27):
something and then somethingclicks and happens and you have
some more momentum and continuesto just reaffirm yes, this is
the right thing, let's go.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, and our area has phenomenal business stories,
the big three companies.
We have phenomenal entrepreneurstories.
I mentioned Onyx.
If you study all of thosecompanies, they had pivots.
Yeah, they had early investorsthat took a chance, that had no
(20:56):
idea what was going to happen.
and you think about sam wall inhis first story and he bore
arthur, like you see, he had topivot land to here, um and uh,
and so everything that we'regoing through at Ozark FC, it's
all normal for a company or aventure that's in this life
stage and uh, I'm just, I'mexcited to go on that journey
(21:16):
again with you guys.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I think that's you.
You hit on something too in ina way that I think the area has
changed too, is it's kind ofbecome almost a hotbed for uh
and this incubator forentrepreneurship, uh, within a
bunch of different industries.
Obviously, a lot of them haverelated back to kind of CPG and
(21:38):
retail and and or supporting youknow uh, either technology or
agencies or whatever it is, um,but I think that that's another
area, especially within the lastfive to seven years that I've
seen the area grow.
I know we kind of we moved offthat and then we're back onto it
.
But you hit on that and I thinkthat that's a key point too,
(22:00):
because I think I read somewherethere were it was like an index
or something like that, or aheat map that you could look at
on ways that they measureentrepreneurship, and it was
like patents per capita orsomething like that and or
number of patents that werefiled, uh, in a rolling period
or whatever.
And you know it shouldn'tsurprise me, but NWA, it was
(22:21):
like popped up there, as youknow, one of the top 20 or
fastest growing in the country,or whatever it was.
So I think that that's another.
You know, one of the top 20 orfastest growing in the country
or whatever it was.
So I think that that's anotheryou know way in which the area
has grown in the business worldas well.
It's not just to your point.
You know.
It was great in your examplewith within Alaska and the story
there on Onyx and, and it's yes, we would not be here without
(22:44):
Walmart and JB Hunt and Tysonand the area wouldn't be what it
is.
But I think it's this new waveof you know other examples of
driving forces within the marketthat are kind of taking us to
that next level, if that makesany sense.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
It does.
Yeah, and I think, as you studyecosystems of communities,
think of Silicon Valley, whatyou see there is this cycle of
an entrepreneur watching out,having success, having a
financial event, whether that'sgoing public or having an exit,
(23:26):
and in Silicon Valley there'sthis culture of once that
happened, they then looked backand invested in the next wave of
startups and entrepreneurs, andso you see the cycle of
investment, reinvestment there.
I think in Northwest Arkansaswe've obviously had a tremendous
amount of success with ourmajor companies and I think
there's you know an economist,you know Marvin could tell us
(23:50):
what wave we're in but I thinkthere's a wave of entrepreneurs
like myself that have startedbusinesses here over the last 20
years that had some success,that are now looking to reinvest
in the area and give back in away, and and uh, and.
So I do think that there's acycle of entrepreneurship that,
(24:10):
um, I continue to see a lot ofpromise with, with startups here
in the area.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Yeah, I think, I think you're spot on and yeah,
he did talk about, uh, thedifferent waves of of growth.
Yeah, shout out to Mervin Um.
But you know, ross, you, you,you provided some incredible
insight and I think we're goingto call it for that episode, uh,
but we are going to have youback, so stay tuned to everybody
(24:37):
.
Thank you so much, Ross, forjoining us on this uh, uh
episode of pitch to pro.
Uh, we will have you back, uh,and just really appreciate your
insight and your time in.
Absolutely Thanks for having me.
That's it for this episode ofPitch the Pro.
We hope you guys enjoyed it.
Be sure to catch all of ourepisodes on pitchtheprocom or
look for Pitch the Pro onYouTube, spotify, apple,
(24:58):
wherever you get your podcastguys for more content Until next
time.
Cheers Northwest Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Pitch to
Pro podcast.
Be sure to tune in again in twoweeks for the next installment
and check out the stoppage timeseries for a recap of today's
episode.
Be sure to find us at Pitch toPro on YouTube, instagram and
everywhere you get your podcasts.
Until next time, northwestArkansas Cheers.
Pitch to Pro is the official podcast of Ozark United
FC.
Speaker 3 (00:09):
This will be our platform to tell our story about
the club and the special placethat we call home Northwest
Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (00:16):
This is a journey we want to bring you along for the
ride.
We'll share what's going onbehind the curtain.
Speaker 3 (00:21):
help educate the community at large about soccer,
our league, and give updates onthe progress of the club along
the way.
Together we'll explore andunpack our journey to
professional soccer, the magicthat is NWA, our community, and
talk all things soccer from onthe pitch to behind the scenes,
telling the story of our club.
Speaker 2 (00:42):
Pitch to Pro Podcast is proudly sponsored by
PodcastVideoscom byPodcastVideoscom.
Podcastvideoscom is NorthwestArkansas' premier podcast
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Speaker 3 (00:52):
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Speaker 3 (01:07):
Hello everybody and welcome back to the Pitch to Pro
podcast.
I'm your host, managingDirector Wes Harris for Ozark
United FC Northwest Arkansas'professional soccer club playing
in the United Soccer League.
Today, I'm joined by a reallyawesome and special guest,
founder and CEO of Harvest Groupand Ozark United investor, mr
Ross Culley Ross.
Welcome and thank you so muchfor joining me today, man.
Speaker 1 (01:30):
Hey, thanks for having me.
I'm really excited to be here.
Speaker 3 (01:32):
Awesome.
Well, ross, you are a longtimeNWA resident We'll get into it
in a little bit and have done alot of incredible things in your
industry and have done a lot ofincredible things in your
industry in the community andhave been around for a while to
(01:53):
be able to have seen NWA kind ofmorph into and evolve into kind
of what it is, and have somestrong opinions about what it's
going to become and what thatevolution looks like.
So before we get into that,let's just talk a little bit
about you know your background,how you got to NWA, um, and get,
get you know, give people theopportunity a chance to get to
know you.
Just a little bit.
Speaker 1 (02:13):
Yeah Well, actually the first time I came to
Northwest Arkansas was throughsports.
So, uh, I was in high school,uh, a basketball player during
the nineties and came down toNolan Richardson's basketball
camp after they won the nationalchampionship.
So that was a little bit of aprecursor to me.
You know, now living here 20plus years and calling it home.
(02:35):
But yeah, as I fast forwardpast, that first experience came
down here with Procter Gambleto call on Walmart and Sam's
Club Kind of a familiar storyfor a lot of us that found
ourselves here.
It was really supporting one ofthe big companies here in
Northwest Arkansas and so, aftercoming here for what I thought
(02:55):
was going to be a couple years,my wife and I were engaged, then
got married and decided to callthis home, and that's what it's
become.
We've had all four kids here,built a business here, um and uh
, it's changed a ton, uh, but weabsolutely love living here.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Yeah, it's, it's absolutely changed.
I mean I'm, you've been here,uh, pretty much double what I've
, what I've uh got to claim uhto my name.
I'm a bit of a boomerang.
So we were here for a littlebit of a time, moved to
Minneapolis you know why?
Yes, sold drugs to Walmart andthen switched that to selling
drugs to Target legally.
Speaker 1 (03:35):
Legally.
Speaker 3 (03:35):
I was going to say yeah, yeah, legally Zyrtec and
Tylenol and all those fun onesand Listerine and all the fun
things that change.
they now can view they spun offand anyway, I digress yes uh,
but what in your mind has kindof really changed within NWA?
(03:57):
How have you seen it ground somuch?
I mean, I always love to askthis question, especially for
people who have been here togive perspective, and it's
always interesting to heardifferent takes.
Um, but talk a little bit about, if you would, kind of your
experience through the lens ofthe growth of the area and,
within that, found your journeyinto entrepreneurship as a part
of that too.
Speaker 1 (04:17):
Yeah, sure, yeah.
I think, when I think about thearea, one of the reasons that
we wanted to stay was therelationships we had.
The quality of people and theculture of northwest Arkansas
was a place that we just wedidn't want to leave.
Our friends, our friends hadbecome like family in our early
years.
It was a place we wanted toraise kids and we loved the
(04:41):
natural beauty.
We enjoy getting outside as afamily, and so that was, I think
, beyond the people, one of thebig assets, um, from a quality
of life standpoint.
Uh, and then, uh, myentrepreneurial journey
obviously uh took off and wasbased here, and so that's
another reason that we stayed.
I think, when I think about howthe area has changed, um, the
(05:03):
reasons to move here, thereasons to stay, that list has
gotten longer, uh than the listthat we had, um, and so, uh,
there's been so much development, um and and addition of
different amenities, um that uh,that are added to the quality
of people and the natural beauty, uh, that, that that are
(05:24):
reasons why we love being here.
So, whether that's crystalbridges or some of the other uh,
you know, museums and thingsthat have been built, um, the
quality of education, uh, thecost of living.
There's just a bunch of thingsthat that that have kept us here
.
But, um, but, yeah for sure,for my personal story ended up
starting a business co-founded abusiness almost 20 years ago,
(05:48):
working with small and mid-sizedmanufacturers that sell their
products to big retailers, andobviously here in Northwest
Arkansas we have a big one withWalmart and Sam's Club, and so
that's really what we started atthe kitchen table bootstrap
entrepreneurs, helping thosesmall companies sell their
(06:10):
products to get on the shelf atthe time, largely, and now we do
that, both the physical shelfand the digital shelf.
Speaker 3 (06:17):
Yeah, that was a whole boom and also a new thing
to figure out.
And it's still a thing tofigure out because it continues
to evolve, yes, almost daily,but it seems like yeah, retail
has been one of those industries.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
That is, it's constantly changing, but it's
gone through an intense amountof change last five, ten years.
Speaker 3 (06:36):
Yeah, and I think you know I mean not to go into a
retail podcast, but I think alot of that too is, as it's kind
of on on this, like hockeystick evolution of as tech
changes and the way thatconsumers interact with that.
So to do the changes thatsuppliers and retailers need to
engage in change and capabilityand all of that.
(06:58):
It's almost like this uh, andbecoming even more challenging,
but also reinforcing the need tobe adaptable.
Speaker 1 (07:04):
Yeah, I agree, yeah.
So I think, when I think ofNorthwest Arkansas, another
thing that I would say haschanged is, you know, it used to
be when I would travel forbusiness or personal and say
where I was from, a lot ofpeople had never heard of it.
And more recently, my wife andI were in the Northeast and the
person said and more recently mywife and I were in the
(07:25):
Northeast, and the person said,oh, I was just there, you know,
in Crystal Bridges and the biketrails and it's so beautiful.
And so I think this, the secrethas gotten out quite a bit in
terms of people either frombusiness coming here for you
know, really Wall Street sizedbusiness in in a Main
Street-sized town, or forpleasure, with the many things
(07:47):
that have happened and beenbuilt here over the last five
years.
Speaker 3 (07:50):
Yeah, I think that's another big one too.
Even in the short time thatI've, well, I guess I can call
myself a local.
Now the majority of folks arebetween three to five and I'm
over a decade now, but even inthat time I would wholeheartedly
agree.
I mean, you almost werereadying yourself for the
(08:12):
reaction of where, why would youlive there?
Versus now, oh, I've heardabout that, or I've been there
and it's beautiful, or you know,oh, yeah, isn't that where the
University of Arkansas is, orWalmart is, or whatever it is
you know?
So I think the conversation andnarrative there has definitely
changed, especially, I would say, in the last five years.
Speaker 1 (08:33):
Yeah, I had one cool experience, uh, in Alaska two
years ago.
We went there as a family Uh,it was, uh, uh, my 50th state to
uh to visit.
We traveled a lot as a family,camped, as a family growing up,
and I was in a coffee shop andsomebody saw an Arkansas shirt
that I had on and they said, oh,where in Arkansas do you live,
(08:56):
you know?
I said Northwest Arkansas.
I said isn't that the home ofOnyx coffee?
Oh, wow, and bearded goatapparel?
and I was like, yes, it is butyou know, usually you know it's
isn't that where walmart is?
Or university of art, yeah,tyson jv and uh.
So it's just cool to see, um,the various companies of various
(09:17):
sizes that are making theirmark, and I think that's one of
the reasons I'm excited aboutbeing involved with Ozark United
is, I think we have yet anotherway to put our area on the map.
Speaker 3 (09:29):
I think that's spot on too and part of kind of you
know a lot of it is you know whysoccer, why OZFC, why Northwest
Arkansas is a lot of it'stiming in terms of where soccer
is, where you know the area is,and we'll get into that in a bit
.
But I think that that's alsokind of a where Northwest
(09:53):
Arkansas is as it competes on.
Now that you're, you are incompetition but you're not right
with with other markets forresources, talent, um, you know
different attractions or, or youknow, in some cases, especially
when you get to the um, youknow the sports world.
Sometimes there's competingmarkets for expansion teams, uh,
(10:16):
and things like that we justsaw.
Yeah, I think the NWSL isexpanding into Clevelandveland,
detroit and philly or maybe one,maybe that's it.
I think those three uh or wnba,that was it.
Wnba just announced three moreexpansions.
Okay, um, caitlin clark effect.
(10:37):
Anyway, I'm all over the placehere, but I think a lot of that
too is is where northwestarkansas is on the stage and
what markets it's competingagainst, and that has grown
beyond the regional or typicalplayers that we benchmarked
ourself against.
I had a different guest, mervynJebaraj of the University of
(11:00):
Arkansas Economic Center forResearch and Development of
Arkansas Economic Center forResearch and Development, and
they've actually had to changetheir countries of benchmark,
you know, with the NWA Counciland all of that, because we kind
of had surpassed a lot of itand it made us look really good
and we were kind of pattingourselves on the back and it was
like, ok, our comparablemarkets now have shifted and
(11:26):
changed and we need to set oursights higher.
And I think that is a definitemoment where it's a signifier of
kind of the growth anddevelopment of NWA and kind of
where it's at.
Speaker 1 (11:38):
For sure.
Yeah, and I think you know whatyou're talking to in essence is
vision and something, as anentrepreneur, that I've had to
learn a lot about and experience, and I think when we think
about our area that's growingand changing, that's another
important thing for us to have.
Many of us who've lived here along time have grumbled about
(11:59):
the change.
You know, ah, it's more traffic.
Yeah, it's this, it's that.
You know, ah, it's more traffic.
Yeah, it's this, it's that.
Um, the other way to look atthat is to look forward with
vision, uh, of of the goodthings that that are coming.
I think this enterprise thoseare united is is is really one
that takes vision, uh, to seenot what we have been as an area
(12:19):
, uh, not even, maybe, where weare, but where are we going?
Yeah, and uh, and and to seethat and get ahead of that and,
as an investor, having visionand spotting trends and hitting
that timing.
You know the point you justmade are critical and, um, uh,
you've you've spoken about thisbefore on the podcast, but when
(12:41):
you think about professionalsports, you know a lot of people
look up at, uh, headlinegrabbing, valuations of beat the
lakers or right, uh, all thedifferent transactions that
happen celtics, mavericks, uh,and say kind of duh, like I
would have made that move.
Um, if I had the opportunity,but if you, if you rewind and
(13:03):
you read the whole story, a lotof the people when they got in
to those teams it was not ano-brainer.
I mean there was a lot oflaughing and naysaying and
eyebrow-raising when they gotinto professional sports.
But when you spot trends, whenyou have vision and you hit the
(13:24):
right timing, that's whensometimes magic can happen.
Speaker 3 (13:28):
And I think you're spot on and we'll dive a little
bit more into that, into soccerspecifically and NWA and the
league.
You obviously had some visionand some grit uh to.
You know, get to where you arenow with harvest group.
Uh, talk a little bit about youknow that journey and lessons
(13:52):
learned and maybe some parallelsthat you might be able to to
draw for any entrepreneurs outthere listening or or you know
folks thinking about vision andNWA and I mean there's there's
some intense um.
You know I had Nelson Peacock onthe on the podcast early early
days and some of the decisionmakers for the area.
You know I had Nelson Peacockon the on the podcast early
early days and some of thedecision makers for the area.
(14:12):
You start thinking about thingsthat impact people's lives as
an entrepreneur and a CEO,impacting the people's lives of
your company based on decisionsthat you make.
It's a heavy burden, um, andnot something to take lightly
right, and having vision andforesight to do the best that
you can with the informationthat you have.
That was something that hithome for me in planning city
(14:39):
infrastructure and who do wewant to be in 20 years?
You have to start planning forthat now.
Talk more about that from yourlens as a as a builder and a
entrepreneur.
Speaker 1 (14:49):
Yeah, I, you know, my harvest group journey has been
a 20 year journey and so there'sseveral chapters.
At this point and, uh, and Ithink that's helpful, um, as we
think about building the clubhere as well but, um, in the, in
the early days, you're justscrapping and you're trying to
survive, you're figuring it outas you go, you're hopefully
(15:10):
surrounding yourselves with asmuch wisdom and counsel as you
can, but it takes some people tosee that vision and take a leap
of faith, to take a chance tobelieve what they can't see, to
have the same vision that youhave.
And so, for us, that was earlyclients, early employees that
(15:30):
decided to, you know, believe inus, even though we had no
office, you know, um, we had noincome, you know, you know,
obviously, at the start.
And so, um, those early days,um, uh, each stage has exciting
parts to it and hard parts, andsometimes we can look back and
(15:51):
with nostalgia and it becomesmythology.
But those early days can bereally, really hard.
At the same time.
They're so exciting because itfeels like every little inch you
take is a huge celebration,it's a big accomplishment.
And you also have setbacks, andyou talked about pivots being
agile.
Um, it's a big part, uh, and soas a club, we've had that, you
(16:16):
know, with land, um, withtimelines and as an entrepreneur
, um, I remember you know peoplebeing naysayers.
You know, as I started harvestgroup and manage you make the
right decision.
You know people being naysayers.
You know, as I started HarvestGroup and man, did you make the
right decision.
You know to to leave and um,and shaking heads and you know
not believing and and you haveto push through that.
(16:37):
You know to believe in thatvision and just keep taking
those steps forward.
And so that that was the earlyyears.
Then you know, thankfully wewere able to hire some amazing
people.
And thankfully we were able tohire some amazing people, we
work with phenomenal retailpartners and wonderful clients
and you begin to get somemomentum.
And so then you kind of enterthe growth phase and that's
incredibly exciting because itusually comes with expansion and
(17:00):
improvements and adding morepeople to the team and just it's
a lot of fun.
But then things start to break,you know, and you have to build
more things and figure outdifferent things.
And, uh and so where we're atHarvest Group now, I think I
would describe as in the scalephase where, um, we've been able
(17:21):
to push through a lot of thatgrowth, um, and now we're
figuring out you know how do werepeat that?
at scale, and and so again, each, each part of my journey has
been fun.
It has its own different set ofchallenges and excitements, but
I've learned a ton about myselfalong the way, and and and the
team that the sport that I playa horse group is a team sport.
(17:44):
I have a phenomenal team, andso, as we build the team here at
Ozzark fc, I think that's a keylearning is every, every member
of the team matters um and uh,and then and then that pivoting
and agility is something thatyou got to stick with through
all the different stages yeahit's, it's great insight and, to
(18:04):
your point, we've experienced alot.
Speaker 3 (18:06):
I'm I'm sitting here to myself.
You know you're you'rescrapping'm sitting here to
myself.
You know you're you'rescrapping, you're trying to just
survive.
You're getting through like weare in those early days, you
know, um, and surroundingyourself with wisdom.
We have Warren on the projectright.
We have a bunch of his contactsthat we all talk to, um, you
know that people, just theydon't see a lot of that right In
(18:26):
in terms of the early days anddon't you know they don't see a
lot of the behind the scenesthings.
We share, what we can, um, butthere's so much that goes on
behind it and it's it's such abig undertaking.
They take a village, they takea long time, they are hard, um,
and I think, as someone who hasdone that an entrepreneur like
(18:49):
yourself that has builtsomething from nothing, having
gone through that you canappreciate what we're going
through now Absolutely Like adifferent way than maybe an
average fan might.
Speaker 1 (19:04):
Yeah, these things take time and patience, patience
and um, and yeah, you're gonnahit roadblocks, and if you
aren't up for that, then don'tgo start something, because it's
gonna happen.
And so, you know, I've heard inthe community from time to time
like, hey, I thought it was,like, you know, I thought that
was dead in the water.
You know, I didn't hearanything about that, or didn't
(19:26):
they, you know, lose the land,you know, and um, and so, again,
those kind of rumors aren'thelpful when they're not based
in fact, but, um, they'rereflective of somebody that that
maybe doesn't quite understandthe entrepreneurial journey.
Um, and so study any successfulenterprise and it wasn't just
up and to the right, and uh, and, and not people that get the
(19:49):
best return on their investment.
The people that you know arecelebrated, you know, for
building something, usuallyaren't the people that that jump
in when it's just a no brainer.
Um, it's the people that tookrisk, that took chances and
caught the vision.
Speaker 3 (20:04):
Yeah, and they and the journeys aren't linear.
You know it's's, it's all kindsof squiggles and, and, to your
point, things that you got tonavigate and jump around or jump
through and get counsel on andjust find your way.
Um, and you know we're, we'reworking through those things now
and and continue every time.
You know you think you'reyou're coming up against
(20:27):
something and then somethingclicks and happens and you have
some more momentum and continuesto just reaffirm yes, this is
the right thing, let's go.
Speaker 1 (20:35):
Yeah, and our area has phenomenal business stories,
the big three companies.
We have phenomenal entrepreneurstories.
I mentioned Onyx.
If you study all of thosecompanies, they had pivots.
Yeah, they had early investorsthat took a chance, that had no
(20:56):
idea what was going to happen.
and you think about sam wall inhis first story and he bore
arthur, like you see, he had topivot land to here, um and uh,
and so everything that we'regoing through at Ozark FC, it's
all normal for a company or aventure that's in this life
stage and uh, I'm just, I'mexcited to go on that journey
(21:16):
again with you guys.
Speaker 3 (21:17):
I think that's you.
You hit on something too in ina way that I think the area has
changed too, is it's kind ofbecome almost a hotbed for uh
and this incubator forentrepreneurship, uh, within a
bunch of different industries.
Obviously, a lot of them haverelated back to kind of CPG and
(21:38):
retail and and or supporting youknow uh, either technology or
agencies or whatever it is, um,but I think that that's another
area, especially within the lastfive to seven years that I've
seen the area grow.
I know we kind of we moved offthat and then we're back onto it
.
But you hit on that and I thinkthat that's a key point too,
(22:00):
because I think I read somewherethere were it was like an index
or something like that, or aheat map that you could look at
on ways that they measureentrepreneurship, and it was
like patents per capita orsomething like that and or
number of patents that werefiled, uh, in a rolling period
or whatever.
And you know it shouldn'tsurprise me, but NWA, it was
(22:21):
like popped up there, as youknow, one of the top 20 or
fastest growing in the country,or whatever it was.
So I think that that's another.
You know, one of the top 20 orfastest growing in the country
or whatever it was.
So I think that that's anotheryou know way in which the area
has grown in the business worldas well.
It's not just to your point.
You know.
It was great in your examplewith within Alaska and the story
there on Onyx and, and it's yes, we would not be here without
(22:44):
Walmart and JB Hunt and Tysonand the area wouldn't be what it
is.
But I think it's this new waveof you know other examples of
driving forces within the marketthat are kind of taking us to
that next level, if that makesany sense.
Speaker 1 (23:04):
It does.
Yeah, and I think, as you studyecosystems of communities,
think of Silicon Valley, whatyou see there is this cycle of
an entrepreneur watching out,having success, having a
financial event, whether that'sgoing public or having an exit,
(23:26):
and in Silicon Valley there'sthis culture of once that
happened, they then looked backand invested in the next wave of
startups and entrepreneurs, andso you see the cycle of
investment, reinvestment there.
I think in Northwest Arkansaswe've obviously had a tremendous
amount of success with ourmajor companies and I think
there's you know an economist,you know Marvin could tell us
(23:50):
what wave we're in but I thinkthere's a wave of entrepreneurs
like myself that have startedbusinesses here over the last 20
years that had some success,that are now looking to reinvest
in the area and give back in away, and and uh, and.
So I do think that there's acycle of entrepreneurship that,
(24:10):
um, I continue to see a lot ofpromise with, with startups here
in the area.
Speaker 3 (24:16):
Yeah, I think, I think you're spot on and yeah,
he did talk about, uh, thedifferent waves of of growth.
Yeah, shout out to Mervin Um.
But you know, ross, you, you,you provided some incredible
insight and I think we're goingto call it for that episode, uh,
but we are going to have youback, so stay tuned to everybody
(24:37):
.
Thank you so much, Ross, forjoining us on this uh, uh
episode of pitch to pro.
Uh, we will have you back, uh,and just really appreciate your
insight and your time in.
Absolutely Thanks for having me.
That's it for this episode ofPitch the Pro.
We hope you guys enjoyed it.
Be sure to catch all of ourepisodes on pitchtheprocom or
look for Pitch the Pro onYouTube, spotify, apple,
(24:58):
wherever you get your podcastguys for more content Until next
time.
Cheers Northwest Arkansas.
Speaker 2 (25:04):
Thanks for joining us on this episode of the Pitch to
Pro podcast.
Be sure to tune in again in twoweeks for the next installment
and check out the stoppage timeseries for a recap of today's
episode.
Be sure to find us at Pitch toPro on YouTube, instagram and
everywhere you get your podcasts.
Until next time, northwestArkansas Cheers.
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