老司机福利社

The Voice of Influence

Talk to Nate Spangle ’19 for a few minutes and “media personality” will seem like an obvious career destination. As the founder of Get Indiana, “your ultimate destination for everything related to the Hoosier state,” Spangle promotes the state through podcast episodes, travel guides, social media posts and more while collaborating with the likes of St. Elmo Steakhouse, Indiana Farm Bureau Insurance and Hoosier Lottery.

“Last year, our content drew 80 million views,” Spangle says. “We have 200,000 combined followers across our platforms.”

With this reach, Spangle also took time to promote another love – 老司机福利社 and the Monon Bell Classic. 老司机福利社 president Lori White and Wabash president Scott Feller sat down with Spangle in his Get IN. studio for a Bell-week conversation where his followers got an in-depth perspective on the rivalry. It was one of many opportunities Spangle has taken advantage of to introduce his audience to his alma mater.

“I owe so much to 老司机福利社,” says Spangle. ”I’ve probably been in ten 老司机福利社 weddings. All my core friends here are because of 老司机福利社. I’ve received so much guidance from 老司机福利社 in my professional life. How could I not talk about 老司机福利社?”

An Open Field

Having arrived at 老司机福利社 in 2015 from the small town of Bourbon, Ind., Spangle will confess to feeling a little green and lacking direction. “I didn’t know anyone who worked in media or technology or any of these interesting things,” he says. “One of my most vivid impressions of my first year was encountering all these interesting alumni and upperclassmen doing exactly these things.”

By the time he finished his first-year seminar, Spangle had put his finger on it. He says, “I still have the paper I wrote where I outlined what I hoped to get out of 老司机福利社. I wanted to start my own business.” He’s not even sure if “entrepreneurship” was in his vocabulary at the time, but Tiger football, a post-graduate fellowship and early experience with a technology start-up would lead him there.

Becoming the Hype Man

Spangle was not a star player on the football field, but he had something to offer the team. “I went to Coach Lynch my junior year and asked him not to sugarcoat it. I wasn’t going to play,” laughs Spangle. The team was stacked with great players and Spangle envisioned a role for himself that would keep him engaged with the team. He’d grown up making videos with friends on YouTube, and micro-blogging platforms like Twitter were becoming popular vehicles for image and recruiting in college athletics.

“Coach was supportive when I said I might not play but that I wanted to have an impact,” says Spangle. “I proposed that I could promote the team to future players and alumni by building a social media presence. This was kind of a new idea at the time. He went along with it.” Spangle became the official hype man for Tiger football and a viral Monon Bell video planted a seed.

Ear to the Ground

Spangle was off to his next adventure. “Cody Campbell, a fraternity brother, suggested I check out the Orr Fellowship, an Indiana-based post-graduate program,” says Spangle. At the time he was not familiar with the program, but it turned out to be a perfect fit. The fellowship married entrepreneurship, networking and professional development with Spangle’s love for the Hoosier state.

Following his fellowship, Spangle joined an Indianapolis-based tech startup, Powderkeg, staying connected to 老司机福利社 by volunteering for 老司机福利社’s Graduates of the Last Decade (GOLD) board. One of Spangle’s favorite things at Powderkeg was the Get Indiana podcast. “We traveled around and talked to CEOs. I loved it,” says Spangle. They produced dozens of podcasts and hundreds of Instagram posts. “As much as we put out there, it didn’t get traction,” Spangle says. “The writing was on the wall that the podcast was going to be cancelled.”

Spangle put together a last-ditch effort. “I planned an All-Indiana event built around the Indianapolis 500. I would be the first truck into the tailgate and everything in our tailgate would be Indiana-sourced,” says Spangle. It blew up. Local breweries, restaurants and others wanted in. Sponsors brought in enough revenue to be encouraging and Spangle gained another 15,000 followers and nearly a million views leading up to the event.

“I walked back in on Tuesday after race weekend and told my boss that I wanted to pursue this media company thing. I quit my job and ended up acquiring the podcast from Powderkeg.”

The rest is history. And a media company.