South Carolina Business Review

What Do Our Start-Ups Need?

By Mike Switzer

Published August 25, 2021 at 5:30 AM EDT

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Our next guest is a University of South Carolina graduate, the co-founder of Mapquest, and who now runs his own entrepreneurial assistance organization which has recently been hired to help improve the infrastructure for start-up success in South Carolina.

Mike Switzer interviews Chris Heivly, managing director at Build The Fort in Durham, NC.

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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.

See stories by Mike Switzer