OUR client stories

We help visionary entrepreneurs with their financial goals so they can invest in
big ideas

Amy Chantra

Client Spotlight For Cake Decoration E-Commerce Shop Owner. Amy Chantra

Amy, letʼs start with your story. Weʼd love to hear how you got

started and how the journey has been so far.

My background in architecture led me to start AALVO. In architecture school, we

used laser cutters to cut pieces of our model. I loved the precision of the machine

and its ability to go from sketches to reality in minutes. I saw one online one day,

purchased it, and the rest is history! Iʼve received so much love and support from

friends and family and honestly would not be able to be where I am today without

them.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some

of the struggles along the way?

The road would be far less interesting if it werenʼt bumpy! You never really stop

learning! I am a mom of two young children, a wife, and a full-time architectural

designer. Juggling mom life, work life, and AALVO can be quite a challenge, but I

am very thankful for a supportive husband who helps out whenever he can and is

always pushing me to do better. I am a one-woman show so juggling all the hats

that come with a small business is another challenge. Accounting, customer

service, procurement, sourcing, I do all those things and more!

Alright – so letʼs talk business. Tell us about AALVO – what

should we know?

AALVO is a boutique laser cut shop that specializes in custom signage for

businesses, decor, and cake toppers. We are dedicated to creating unique

products and experiences to celebrate the special moments in life. We also love

celebrating amazing small businesses! We offer custom signage for small

businesses and love making them stand out from the crowd.

We are known for creating designs of anything and everything under the sun! You

want a cake topper with a llama riding a bicycle? You got it! The crazier, the

better! But we also love simple designs that speak for themselves! We design

everything in house and hand finish all of our products. Using quality wood and

acrylics to make sure our products last a lifetime is very important to us. Our

cake toppers are of made of laser grade acrylic and are made to be keepsakes for

your special celebration. Our wood signs are finished to the best quality using

quality paints and stains.

We pride ourselves in understanding the clientʼs wants and needs and making

their vision come to life!

Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who

has played a meaningful role?

First and foremost, my family. My children are my inspiration. My husband is my

number one supporter. He does help out a lot with the kids and home when Iʼm

busy laser cutting! He is also the manager of post office runs! My sisters, brother,

mom, and dad, are always pushing me to do better! I get my entrepreneurial

spirit from my mom! Sheʼs always thinking of ideas for me to grow my business!

All of my friends who shared/liked my posts, attended my pop-ups, told their

friends about me, purchased products from me, brainstormed with me for hours

over coffee, who believe in my passion, they are the best supporters a gal could

ask for!

All the small businesses who supported me invited me to do collaborations and

pop-ups also helped immensely. The small business community is such a

beautiful group of people that are full of ideas and inspiration. I love being part

of this community!

Pricing:

Cake Toppers – $15 – $24

Name Signs starting at $50

Jeff Schumann

Governance, risk, and compliance for enterprise collaboration platforms

Jeff saw the emergence of workplace chat platforms in the years leading up to the COVID-19 pandemic. After offices shut down across the country, usage of Slack, Microsoft Teams, and Zoom exploded as companies quickly adapted to conversational chat platforms as a middle ground between email and in person communication. Just like with email, companies have started to realize the need to secure collaboration data and to leverage it to better understand the voice of the employee.

Chris Benko

Revolutionizing clinical trials via digital biomarkers and remote monitoring

While at Merck, Chris Benko understood that the clinical trial space lacked the data they needed to properly understand the efficacy of various therapeutics, particularly those serving CNS (Central Nervous System) disease states.  

He set out to build a business around the emerging use of third party devices to track digital biomarkers, or so-called digital endpoints which would then be analyzed through proprietary algorithms.  We share Chris’ vision that this data set is easier to collect, opens up many more patients for clinical trials and is now an objective measurement of success (vs. traditional subjective means).

Julian Cardarelli

GovTech SaaS for regulatory licensing organizations

Government has historically lagged behind most other industries in the area of digital transformation, which Julian set out to change. His premise for starting Thentia was built on the idea that he could bring a modern set of workflow tools to government agencies to better manage the process of issuing and renewing professional licenses across North America. Over the years, the platform has expanded beyond license management to include a broader set of cloud applications with offerings such as payments, continuing education, and communications management.

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