We've hit an important startup milestone
This month we hit an important milestone for our business...
Most startups kick their business off with founder-driven sales, and we're no exception. We met people at events, got to know them, and then converted them into customers. This month, however, we're starting to convert customers who found us via our content marketing and closed by our sales team— without involvement from myself or my cofounder Param. Major kudos to our all-star growth team (Selina McPherson, Kalliopi Vlastos, and Heather Grace Thomas) for getting our machine up and running.
We also onboarded an amazing senior developer onto the team. Alex Leone joins us from Mobile Posse where he was a lead developer. He's been an absolute delight— one of the most enthusiastic, positive people I've ever met. And he's a super talented engineer :)
Awesome reads...
Over the past several weeks, our city has been invaded by electric scooters. They're like the cicadas that arrive every 17 years— crowding our sidewalks and running into us on our way to work. But what I didn't know was how they get charged overnight. The Atlantic's story on "bird hunting" has something for everyone: capitalism, competition, and a hint of danger.
My cofounder Param shared this casual ebook on "The Great CEO Within." It was a really interesting read for those of us building companies. I was particularly fascinated by this CEO's focus on productivity hacks like inbox zero and to-do list structure - he had 8 pages on these "individual habits."
I'm biased on this one, but really enjoyed the podcast Tonio DeSorrento did on Education Trends talking about ISAs, an alternative to loans in higher education.
Business Insider wrote up a short piece on what startups think about HQ2 landing in our region. It's an interesting read, and it features perspectives from my cofounder Param.
Brilliant stuff my friends are building...
For those of us who are trying to stay safe at happy hour, Danya Sherman of KnoNap has developed a napkin that can detect date rape drugs in your drink.
For those of us transitioning into parenthood, Kari Clark at Uplift has built a coaching platform to help new moms succeed at work and at home, inspired by her experience becoming a mom (which made her better at work!). Sign up for her newsletter - it's awesome.
For those of us who are constantly running user tests, Christian Bonilla at UserMuse has built a platform to help B2B companies source usability testers and interview subjects by industry, title, job responsibilities, products used and more.
Sending some love...
To some of the many who made this month great like Jim Keeratisakdawong who spent a tremendous amount of time and energy supporting us in understanding the cap table implications on our current raise, even going so far as to build a model for us; like Peggy Styer who shared some great advice on board building (and beyond!); like Chetan Shenoy who came through on Google credits (this guy saved our company so much cash!); like Conor O’Hollaren, Elizabeth Weber, Erik Dreyer, Ryan Troll and Ramzi Nahawi who helped (and are continuing to help!) us vet candidates for our design hire; like Veronica Eklund, Rachel Koretsky, Shahier Rahman, Emily Rasowsky who participated in user tests on our product; like Tammy Perrin who advised us on how to build our engineering team and culture; like Camille Alexander and Rachel Koretsky who created great opportunities for us to share our business in front of super relevant audiences; like Kate Goodall who stepped up to help us make a really exciting dinner event happen; like Anthony Shop who shared great advice on building partnerships for our business; like Eric Spiegel, Jason Whitehead, Julie Giffin, Jamey Jeff, and Monica Perez who were tremendously generous with their advice as we prepare to build our customer success engine; like Kevin Alansky, Ellie Thompson, Ashtan Moore, Brett Wischow, Grant Schroll, Shahier Rahman, Shanaz Chowdhery, Zach Thomas, Vince Wanga, Kari Clark, David Sandrowitz, Clare Martorana, Christian Bonilla, Anna Mason, Janice Omadeke, Cameron Hardesty, Brant Yerman, and many more who introduced us to candidates for open roles, screened potential hires, posted on closed job boards, and otherwise supported in our recruitment efforts. I'm sure I missed some people here - so many of you went so far out of your way to support us this month, and I'm truly grateful.
A few ways to help...
We're hiring for a UX Architect - someone to lead in the design of our product. The ideal candidate has 7+ years experience in UX, information architecture, and design strategy. Design management experience is a huge plus, too.
We're also recruiting for an operations intern to support in day-to-day operations here. If you know of any smart undergrads who are looking for an opportunity at a startup, let me know!
Onward and upward,
Amelia
