South Carolina Business Review

Upstate Consumer Info Company Attracting Investments

By Mike Switzer

Published June 3, 2021 at 5:30 AM EDT

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When we last interviewed our next guest, his company was a brand new start-up achieving some early success helping Clemson football fans who were buying their tickets online to be able to pick their seats based on preferences such as shade, who’s sitting next to them, etc. They have since pivoted, as startups often do, to become a consumer information B2B company for live event organizers such as sports teams, festivals, and conferences. And that shift has attracted investments from the South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) and Google’s Startups Black Founders Fund.

Mike Switzer interviews Harold Hughes, founder and CEO of Bandwagon Fan Club in Greenville, SC.

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Mike Switzer

After almost 20 years, Mike Switzer retired from Wells Fargo Securities in 2001 as Senior Vice President/Investment Officer and Certified Portfolio Manager. In 1999, he and his wife, Maggie, purchased and operated for eight years the Baskin Robbins ice cream store on Forest Drive in Columbia. They grew the store from a bottom-tier operation in the Baskin Robbins franchise system to one in the top 5% nationwide within three years, tripling sales along the way. While operating the ice cream store, Mike and Maggie received patents for a portable ice cream sink and fold-down sneezeguard they invented and in 2002 started Magnolia Carts, an ice cream cart manufacturing company, which they sold in 2013.

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