Mixtroz co-founders Ashlee Ammons-Halpin, left, and Kerry Schrader. (FILE)
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By Barnett Wright | The Birmingham Times
Mixtroz co-founders, Kerry Schrader and Ashlee Ammons-Halpin were first time entrepreneurs when they came to Birmingham 10 years ago to be part of the Innovation Depot’s Velocity Accelerator. The company won a $100,000 investment from the Rise of the Rest (ROTR) Seed Fund, and went on to accumulate over $1 million in venture capital, rare for a tech startup led by two Black women.
“And you know we really dedicated a decade to trying to get Mixtroz going,” Schrader told the Birmingham Times on Tuesday. “My saddest thing and my biggest regret is more now than ever Mixtroz is needed because people don’t talk to each other. People are making assumptions, and we aren’t engaging. Our young people aren’t engaging.”
Schrader and Ammons-Halpin announced this month they have decided to wind down their tech business. “It’s been quite a ride. The ups, the downs, the incredible people we’ve met, and the lessons learned have all been worth it,” Schrader told bhamnow.com.
The mother-daughter duo developed the event app which allowed organizers to leverage attendee-supplied data to remove the awkwardness from networking. Attendees would download the app and answer a few multiple-choice questions.
Based on the provided responses, attendees would be divided into groups with others who have shared interests. The experience created an atmosphere where individuals felt comfortable breaking the ice.
“I appreciate Birmingham for becoming a part of our quilt,” Schrader told the Times. “I think it is something to be said that two Black women came to Birmingham and were able to raise our first $1 million here. “
Schrader and her daughter were initially based in Nashville but moved Mixtroz to Birmingham, which initially garnered their company local attention.
“Birmingham was enamored with us; we were leaving Nashville, we were something different, but I don’t think the eye for the long-term success of a tech company was there,” Schrader told the Birmingham Business Journal.
As for what’s next Ashlee has secured a job with a venture capital group that’s tapping into her experience as an entrepreneur and has been on that job for over a year, said her mother.
Schrader’s next steps will be to focus fully on her new life coaching and mentoring business, KES (pronounced keys), which she launched in August.
“I have opened a coaching consulting business that I’m just now getting off the ground and it’s funny because even from me posting that we’re closing [Mixtroz] people have been coming into that business, Kerry Schrader.com,” told the Times. “And what I am doing is offering my experience to other entrepreneurs. You know I have a background in HR and just life that I will talk to people at a reasonable fee.
“I understand what it is like to want questions answered and then somebody wants to charge you $5,000 and can’t do anything. My hourly rate is $60, and I will only talk about stuff that I really know about. We have too many people talking about stuff they have no idea,” she said.
