Women in Business

Dallas entrepreneurs compete Shark Tank-style for pop-up at Victory Park

The Dumpling Bros. food truck got a boost from NextSeed.

Photo by The Dumpling Bros

A Houston company is coming to Dallas with an event that aims to help women entrepreneurs.

The company is called NextSeed, and they'll host a pitch competition and pop-up shop at Victory Plaza on May 12.

Local female-owned businesses can pitch their ideas, Shark Tank-style, to a panel of successful businesswomen in front of a live audience.

The winner gets a three-month pop-up lease at Victory Plaza, courtesy of Trademark, the property management company; plus $5,000 in legal services from national law firm Polsinelli, which has a history of servicing small businesses and entrepreneurs.

NextSeed is a crowdfunding platform that allows people to invest in a business for as little as $100 and experience those businesses as well, since they might be located right around the corner.

The idea is to invest in local businesses, says spokesman Dillon Sorensen.

"In the same way that consumers today have the ability to choose to buy local products and consume local foods, our goal is to provide everyday investors with the opportunity to invest in local businesses," Sorensen says.

The platform also helps businesses with debt financing. To be listed with NextSeed, business owners must have a proven track record as entrepreneurs. Their business must be producing revenues, and they must be able to show that they can pay off the loan.

According to a release, women-owned businesses have lower access to capital than their male counterparts. A Senate Committee on Small Business and Entrepreneurship 2016 report found that only $1 in $23 in small business loans go to women-owned businesses.

"Substantial amounts of research clearly show that women and minority entrepreneurs are largely underserved by traditional banks, and our platform is playing a small part in attempting to change that," says NextSeed co-founder Bob Dunton.

Since its founding in 2014, NextSeed has raised $8 million for 30 small businesses, including two businesses in the Dallas-area: The Dumpling Bros., a food truck in Denton; and Leela's Raw Bar & abv establishment, a Greenville Avenue restaurant.

The Dallas competition has attracted 15 applications so far. Judges include Leah Frazier, Courtney Sinelli (WhichWich), Julie McCullough (Folksie, The Pin Show, Harkensback), Tillie Borchers (Civitas Capital), and Stacey Barton (Trademark).

The deadline to apply is April 30; go to NextSeed.com/femalefounders.

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Politics News

Dallas narrows down field for new city manager to 4 candidates

Photo by R K on Unsplash

This is an Dallasite's sign to launch that small business they've been dreaming of.

After six months without a city manager, the city of Dallas has narrowed down the field of replacements to four semifinalists including one serving as current interim city manager, plus candidates from Fort Worth, Michigan, and Georgia.

Dallas has been without a city manager since May, when previous city manager T.C. Broadnax left to take a job with the city of Austin. Since that time, Broadnax's former chief of staff Kimberly Bizor Tolbert has served as interim city manager.

The city retained Baker Tilly, a consulting firm, to recruit and compile candidates. (Baker Tilly famously erred in the brochure it created for the position by featuring a photo of the Houston skyline instead of Dallas; they've since replaced it with Dallas.)

A spokesperson for Baker Tilly did not respond to inquiries but according to D Magazine, an email listing the candidates has been sent to the Dallas City Council.

The semifinalists include:

Kimberly Bizor Tolbert, Dallas’ current interim city manager
William Johnson, an assistant city manager in Fort Worth
Mark Washington, the city manager of Grand Rapids, Michigan
Zachary Williams, a county chief operating officer in Georgia

All have more than 25 years' of public administration experience and have worked in similar capacities in their respective cities.

Before working in Fort Worth, Johnson was Baltimore’s transportation director and Atlanta’s deputy chief operating officer and public works commissioner.

Washington worked in Fort Worth and Austin before becoming Grand Rapids’ city manager.

Williams has mostly worked in Georgia at the county level, including serving as county manager in Fulton County and chief operating officer in DeKalb County.

Tolbert began working for the city in 1998, first as the city manager’s assistant and later in the aviation department. Broadnax hired her as his chief of staff in 2017.

Unlike the Mayor and the Dallas City Council, the city manager position in Dallas is not elected but is instead appointed by the city council, and is tasked with executing policies, overseeing the annual budget, and managing staff at city hall.

The council’s Ad Hoc Committee will choose finalists, introduce them to the public, and make an offer in early 2025.

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