Blog Bentonville

Endeavor Hosts Second National Selection Panel in Bentonville

Endeavor hosted its second National Selection Panel (NSP) in Bentonville, Ark.

In May, Endeavor’s Heartland, Midwest, Great Lakes, Western New York, Atlanta, Canada and Ireland offices combined efforts to gather over 70 entrepreneurs, mentors, board members, investors and staff in Bentonville to bring candidate entrepreneurs into the third stage of the selection process and assess their candidacy for the final stage of the Endeavor Entrepreneur selection process.

Over the course of the three-day event, founders attended insightful panels where they heard from Endeavor Entrepreneurs and Endeavor board members, including:

  • Andy Murray – Founder of bigQuest
  • Ankur Gopal – CEO of Interapt
  • Michael Guptan – SVP, Global Head of M&A and Strategic Investments; CFO US Financial Services at Walmart
  • Rodney Williams – C0-founder & President of SoLo Funds
  • Samuel Dennigan – Founder & CEO of Strong Roots

The NSP, or Local Selection Panel (LSP), is the third step of Endeavor’s four-step selection process to identify high-impact entrepreneurs who demonstrate the potential to leverage Endeavor’s resources and mentorship to create large-scale wealth and jobs, and are committed to reinvesting their time and money in their local entrepreneurship ecosystems to help others take off.

“The phases of selection for Endeavor are a way for us to evaluate how we can help companies scale, and that’s really our mission. We think of selection as a way to provide value and service to the companies going through the process and for the process to help us evaluate how best to help those companies.” – Canem Arkan, Endeavor Heartland Managing Director

Panelists drawn from Endeavor’s extensive network of board members, mentors, supporters, and experienced Endeavor Entrepreneurs, interview entrepreneur candidates about their businesses, evaluating them on their potential for high-impact growth, and deliberating on which candidates should be selected to move forward to the final step of the selection process, the International Selection Panel (ISP). Panelists must vote unanimously for a candidate to move forward. Once selected at an ISP, candidates become Endeavor Entrepreneurs.

Panelists at the NSP included: Clete Brewer, NewRoad Capital Ventures (Endeavor Heartland Board Chair); Todd Simmons, Simmons Foods (Endeavor Heartland Board Member); Kathy Harris, Claritas Health Ventures; Kathryn Petralia, Keep Financial; Phil Libin, All Turtles & mmhmm; Travis Holoway, SoLo Funds (Endeavor Entrepreneur), Rodney Williams, SoLo Funds (Endeavor Entrepreneur), Michael Guptan, Walmart (Endeavor Heartland Board Member); Barbara Marchini-Ellis, Ernst & Young (Endeavor Heartland Board Member); Marshall Saviers, Cushman & Wakefield | Sage Partners; Andy Murray, bigQUEST (Endeavor Heartland Board Member); Rahul Ray, Tyson Foods.

Globally, Endeavor Entrepreneurs have had a significant track record of impact. They have helped build sustainable growth models in their home countries by creating more than four million jobs, and Endeavor’s active portfolio companies generated combined revenue of nearly $50B throughout 2022.