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Midlands company accepted into Techstars - Part 1

South Carolina Business Review
SC Public Radio

Our next guest’s company was recently accepted into the Austin, Texas location of Techstars, a leading startup accelerator program. They are the third Midlands-area company to participate in the program, which in itself indicates they may have something special. But what’s really interesting is that their business model involves the sneaker resale market. Now that’s a specialty. Mike Switzer interviews Brett Nilsen, CEO and co-founder of Copyt in Columbia, SC.

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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.