Rob Biederman’s co-founded Catalant (formerly HourlyNerd) while getting his MBA at HBS as a requirement to for his Field III Course. They started by going to small businesses surrounding the campus and asking what problems they were facing and how they could help. MBA students from surrounding schools would then carry out the work needed for the small businesses. Today, Catalant has over 28,000 experts on their platform and has completed projects for small companies and enterprises such as GE. Companies turn to Catalant when they have a project they need completed but don’t have experts in-house capable of completing the work. Catalant experts cost a fraction of hiring a top tier consulting firm because they remove resources who aren’t necessary in solving the problems the company is facing and only include resources that are necessary for your need.

In this episode, Rob talks about:

How freelancers on the platform are vetted

How freelancers on the platform can stand out

What drove the decision to rebrand from HourlyNerd to Catalant

The difficulties with building a two-sided marketplace

Why he decided to continue working on the company after graduating from HBS

How he sees the gig economy affecting the overall job marketplace in years to come

How they were able to get Mark Cuban as an investor

Links from today’s episode:

Bain

BCG

Behance

Uber

Lyft

Postmates

UpWork

GoDaddy

InsightSquared

Kuvee

Slack

Sonos

Zero to One

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

Sales Acceleration Formula

The Challenger Sale

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Get in touch with feedback, ideas, or to say hi: nic {AT} startupbostonpodcast [DOT] com

Music by: Broke For Free

Ken Cowan has made his way from a consultant, to CEO of an automotive services company to an investor. Currently, Ken is an associate at OpenView Venture Partners, a venture capital firm that focuses on expansion-stage software companies. Ken quit his first job at age 13, caddying at a local golf course, because he found it too boring and quickly found a new job working at a startup organizing and running tests on laptops. Since graduating from BC, Ken has mostly been involved with startups in some form and joined OpenView in 2016.

In this episode, Ken talks about:

The issues expansion stage software companies run into

The pros and cons of being solely focused on software companies

The mistakes first-time founders make in the fundraising process

The metrics OpenView looks for when screening companies

The difference between features and products

What makes a great founder

Links from today’s episode:

Datadog

VTS

NetSuite

Salesforce

Expensify

How Google thinks about hiring, management, and culture

Tomasz Tunguz

Fred Wilson’s Blog

The Hard Thing About Hard Things

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Get in touch with feedback, ideas, or to say hi: nic {AT} startupbostonpodcast [DOT] com

Music by: Broke For Free

Rory Cuddyer was named the City of Boston’s Startup Manager by the Mayor in March of 2015. But what does that mean and what does he do? I sat down with Rory to find out. Previously, Rory was an advisor the Mayor’s Chief of Staff and was named the Startup Manager because the Mayor wants to ensure the city is doing as much for startups as it’s doing for more well established companies.

In this episode, Rory talks about:

What the Startup Manager does on a day to day basis

What companies and founders can reach out to him for help on

The efforts by the city to keep graduating students in the region after graduation

Why founders should start their companies in Boston

The number one initiative he is working on over the next year

Links from today’s episode:

StartHub

MassChallenge

WeWork

New England Venture Capital Association

Venture Café

IBM

Hatch Fenway

Pulse at MassChallenge

Roxbury Innovation Center

Spark Boston

WEBOS

BostInno

Boston Business Journal

Xconomy

The Power Broker

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Get in touch with feedback, ideas, or to say hi: nic {AT} startupbostonpodcast [DOT] com

Music by: Broke For Free

Ellen Chisa started her career in Program Management at Microsoft then moved to Kickstarter as a Product Manager where she was the fiftieth employee. In 2015 she joined Lola Travel as the first employee as the VP of Product. Lola is Paul English’s second travel company, and connects travelers with in-house personal travel consultants who help you plan, book, and manage your travel, allowing you to have a more personalized and rewarding trip.   

In this episode, Ellen talks about:

The differences between designing product for web and mobile

How to break into a product position

Why Lola uses real travel consultants instead of bots

Misconceptions about the PM role

What to think about before getting your MBA

Links from today’s episode:

Perry Chen

Blade

Angel (Formerly GoButler)

Fin

Barney Harford

GetHuman

Stripe

Wistia

The Jar to Quantify Creativity

Rainbow Pencils

Want to be a PM? Do a project

I’m angry because I’m afraid

Day One

Trello

Github Issues

Zenhub

The Skimm

The Sun in Your Eyes

Drafted

Ellen’s blog

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Music by: Broke For Free

Ben Rubin started his first company, Zeo, while attending Brown University, to help people learn how to measure and manage their sleep. Following Zeo, Ben co-founded the Change Collective, focusing on helping people drive change through courses and coaches. After partnering with Dan Harris, Ben and his co-founders decided to focus solely on meditation and changed the name to 10% Happier, the name of Dan Harris’s book. Ben’s initial focus on improving sleep helped him realize how small changes in his lifestyle could positively impact the rest of his day in such a dramatic way and wanted to continue to explore self-improvement and development.  

In this episode, Ben talks about:

The benefits of meditation and how they help people get over what he calls the ‘woo woo’ aspect

Why those involved with startups can particularly benefit from meditation

The three qualities he looks for when hiring

Links from today’s episode:

10% Happier by Dan Harris

Joseph Goldstein

The Advantage

Sapiens

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Music by: Broke For Free

After attending Princeton, Sean Grundy worked in the environmental business before going to business school. It was after business school when he started Bevi, whose goal is to eliminate plastic bottles. Sean doesn’t consider himself to be a natural entrepreneur and in-fact, used to think business wasn’t interesting. He does however, enjoy the idea of being able to set your own rules and do things in a way that makes sense to him. Sean and his co-founders identified the bottled water business to be prime for disruption since it didn’t make economic sense the way the bottled water industry is setup. Bevi is a water machine that purifies tap water and then allows users create a variety of drinks from plain still water to sparkling water with a variety of fruit flavor options.  

In this episode, Sean talks about:

Why he didn’t want to start his company as a non-profit

Why the bottled water industry doesn’t make economic sense

The benefits of making a drink at the point of use

Why Bevi shifted from focusing on gyms and vending locations to offices

Where he sees the future of the beverage industry headed – including from a centralized to distributed supply chain

The biggest lessons he took away from Techstars

Links from today’s episode:

Boston Organics

RISD

hint water

TechStars

Katie Rae

LeanBox

Litographs

Google Tasks

Uber

Amazon Prime

Dune

Crime and Punishment

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Get in touch with feedback, ideas, or to say hi: nic {AT} startupbostonpodcast [DOT] com

Music by: Broke For Free

Nathan Eagle’s background while at MIT involved doing data analytics for mobile operators trying to get an understanding of the underlying dynamics of their subscriber base and while there he started to work with operators in emerging markets. Soon after on a Fulbright scholarship, Nathan headed to Kenya to teach computer science students how to program for mobile phones. Nathan then started Jana in 2009.  Jana is the largest provider of free internet in emerging markets and is dedicated to bringing one billion people free, unrestricted internet access. Jana does this through advertisers sponsoring a user’s internet access and currently provides free internet to over thirty million people. Users use Jana’s app, mCent, to engage with advertisers and accrue free internet.

In this episode, Nathan talks about:

The technological leapfrogging taking place in Kenya he noticed upon moving there

Why mobile advertising is broken in most emerging markets

How Jana is different than Google and Facebook’s free internet programs

How the process in which users gain free internet access has changed since the company was started

Why the price of the Android chipset is enabling people to get on the internet in developing countries

Links from today’s episode:

Project Loon

Free Basics

Book Giveaway

This week in the book giveaway, I’m giving away The Innovator’s Dilemna by Clayton Christensen. To enter into the giveaway, make sure you subscribe and leave a review of the podcast on iTunes. If you’ve already done this then you’re already entered! Also, send me an email, [email protected], once you’ve entered.

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Get in touch with feedback, ideas, or to say hi: nic {AT} startupbostonpodcast [DOT] com

Music by: Broke For Free

In today’s episode, I sit down with Mo Plassnig, co-founder and CEO of Codeship. Originally from Austria, Mo moved to Boston to join Techstars in 2013. His first company focused on fostering entrepreneurship in Europe by hosting events and encouraging people to start their own company. Codeship started as a side project for him and his co-founder after noticing that companies were having a difficult time rolling out changes in their software fast enough. After picking up enough paying customers Mo and his co-founders transitioned to Codeship full time to provide customers with support. Codeship allows software developers to bring their products to market faster by rolling out changes to applications and checking for bugs automatically.

In this episode, Mo shares among other things:

                The importance of listening to customer feedback

                The difference between entrepreneurship in Europe and the US

                The challenges and advantages of having a remote team

                How selling to larger companies differs from selling to startups

                What he took away from Techstars

Links from this episode:

                PillPack

                HelpScout

                Amazon Echo

                The Sociopath Next Door

                Codeship blog

                Codeship on Twitter

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Get in touch with feedback, ideas, or to say hi: nic {AT} startupbostonpodcast [DOT] com

Today I sit down with Vanu Bose, Founder and CEO of Vanu. Vanu attended MIT and in-between his undergrad and graduate work, spent two years working at a non-profit which brought him to over thirty countries around the world. After MIT, Vanu started a company based off of his PhD work, which was around the idea of software upgrades instead of hardware upgrades to update cellular network standards (2G to 3G to 4G etc), potentially saving the wireless industry billions of dollars. Their technology is being used in places like Vermont, India, and Rwanda where they are currently working to provide coverage to one million people who previously had no wireless coverage. Currently, there is over one billion people in the world who don’t have voice coverage. Vanu is looking to change that.

In this episode, Vanu shares among other things:

                How they revamped the business after the economic crisis of 2008

                How they were able to infiltrate a market with four major incumbent suppliers

                How they’re able to profitably run a wireless base station in what was previously an unprofitable location

                Why they chose Rwanda to prove the feasibility of their technology

                The biggest lessons he learned from his father, the founder of Bose Corp.

Links from this episode:

                Clay Christianson

                The Innovator’s Dilemna

                Off-Grid Electric

                Securus Technologies

                Bose

                Dr. Amar Bose

                Transatomic Power

                Getting Things Done

                The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up

                10-Day Detox Diet

                Sleep Smarter

                Vanu on Facebook

                Vanu on Twitter

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Get in touch with feedback, ideas, or to say hi: nic {AT} startupbostonpodcast [DOT] com

In today’s episode I sit down with Alice Rossiter, Founder and CEO of Alice’s Table. Alice’s Table brings women together to learn new skills, and live a social and creative lifestyle through the art of flower arranging. Events are hosted at top restaurants and bars offering a night out with a twist. Alice’s Table works to empower women to create a community that prioritizes living well and working hard. After working at multiple startups Alice realized that there needed to be a flexible career opportunity for women and set out to start the sustainable option she saw missing in the marketplace.

In this episode, Alice shares among other things:

                What is work-life balance?

                How growing up at the intersection of creativity and business affected her life

                What most people misunderstand about the term ‘lifestyle-business’

                The traits of successful event hosts

                Using metrics to drive decision making

                How she goes about the hiring process

Links from this episode:

                Lean In

                Article in Brit + Co

                Fanzcall

                The Hard Thing About Hard Things

                Alice’s Table on Twitter

                Alice’s Table on Facebook

                Alice’s Table on Instagram

                Alice’s Table on Pinterest

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Get in touch with feedback, ideas, or to say hi: nic {AT} startupbostonpodcast [DOT] com