Build It. Scale It. Sell It. Do It Again.

This session is for founders and operators in the middle of a build. You will hear how a company gets made in Louisville and Southern Indiana, and you will get the decisions behind it.

John Neace has done this for decades. He co-founded Neace Lukens in 1991, grew the insurance brokerage for two decades, and sold it in 2011. Through Neace Ventures he has bought and built local companies including Falls City Beer, Old 502 Winery, Parlour Pizza, and Talon Logistics. He also chairs Soccer Holdings, owner of Louisville City FC and Racing Louisville FC, and invests in real estate in Louisville and Southern Indiana. He was recently inducted into the 2026 Kentucky Entrepreneur Hall of Fame.

In this candid conversation, John will talk through why he got into a company, what changed when it had to scale, and how he picks what to build next.

You will leave with a close look at a long build in this region, and with a plain test for your own work: is this worth starting, and what has to change before it can run past the founder.