Funding SC start-ups

By Mike Switzer

Published October 8, 2021 at 5:30 AM EDT

If you listen to our show on a regular basis, you’ve probably heard us mention SC Launch and SCRA many times because they are right in the middle of our state’s entrepreneurial scene. But it’s been a while since we’ve actually checked in with them directly, so today is that day.

Mike Switzer interviews Bob Quinn, executive director of the South Carolina Research Authority (SCRA) parent organization of SC Launch.

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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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