Fayetteville, AR founders on the NWA Founders podcast

Fayetteville is where a lot of Northwest Arkansas companies still get their start. The University of Arkansas is at the center of the city's economy, and you can hear it all through these conversations. Mamaka Bowls began as a University of Arkansas student venture and now operates in four states. Mark Zweig built Zweig Group into a national consulting firm for design and construction companies while teaching entrepreneurship at the Walton College. B-Unlimited grew from campus roots into a custom apparel company serving Greek organizations on campuses across the country. The university produces founders, and many of them stay and build here.

Then there are the downtown and family businesses. The owners of Feed and Folly opened three hospitality concepts near the downtown square in four years. Underwoods has sold fine jewelry on Dickson Street since 1957 and is now in its third generation. Lewis Automotive Group has been a family business since 1946. Underwoods and Lewis carry some of the longest family histories on the show, and their episodes are as much about taking care of what a family built as about growing it.

Fayetteville is also home to many of the region's developers, advisors and agencies. Ward Davis of High Street Real Estate and Development builds walkable mixed-use projects. Jeremy Hudson of Specialized Real Estate Group develops sustainable multifamily housing. T.J. Lefler moved from brokerage into ownership with Lefler Capital, and Blake Hanby's City Title handles closings across the region. Marlon Blackwell, who won the American Institute of Architects Gold Medal in 2020, practices downtown. On the advisory side, Brock Gearhart leads Greenwood Gearhart, a sponsor of this show, a wealth management firm founded in Fayetteville in 1982. Steve Graves has coached founders and CEOs here for nearly four decades. Andrea Ritchie and Mary Mickel run AM Group, and Brad Henry runs Natural Capital, the investment firm two of this show's sponsors co-founded, which his episode page says out loud. Add Carter Malloy's AcreTrader, the venture-backed farmland investment platform, Burt Hanna's candle manufacturing operation and Children's Therapy Team's pediatric clinics, and the range is wide: restaurants, retail, real estate, finance, healthcare, manufacturing and professional services in one city.

Put together, that makes Fayetteville the largest city archive on the show, with twenty-three conversations across seven industries, which makes sense for a place where student ideas, family firms and institutional money share the same few square miles. Those conversations are with thirty-six guests. Fowlco Outfitters is filed here too. It's a national waterfowl outfitting brand whose lodge and 120-acre refuge sit across the line in Garber, Oklahoma. So is Blue Ribbon Industries, the site services operation Alex and Lauren Blass run across the region. The twenty-three conversations below run newest first.