Raising funds, publishing cool content, and ramping up our lead gen
This has been a crazy couple months...
I missed last month's update, so I have some extra fun things to share. (As always, I added a few new/old friends to this mix— welcome!)
But mostly it's been crazy good...
We hired an incredible engineer from Boston to join our team (woot Devin!). We also received funding from Revolution's Rise of the Rest Seed Fund, Morgan Stanley's Multicultural Innovation Fund, and several great angels. Hatch was covered in Forbes by the amazing Alana Matos (who is, among other things, the founder of Caila). We're starting to do some guest writing for other blogs, and it was especially fun for me to write this piece for the Harvard Business Review.
When it really comes down to it, none of that matters if we don't build a great product that customers love, and a great marketing/sales engine to help new customers find us. I've been really excited to see inbound leads increase (many of whom have been referred by you all - thank you!) and we're working on some really transformational product updates. I'm looking forward to keeping you in the loop :)
On a personal note, we just hung up the last frame in our condo. We need a few paint touch-ups here and there, but for the most part we're moved in!
Something I'm proud of...
I recently reached out to 100 methodically-selected development firms to find out what it would cost to build a Hatch App. We were able to validate what we've been preaching: Building an app with Hatch Apps is way more affordable than the alternative.
Over the first year, all-in development for this particular app (just for software development and maintenance, not including hosting or other tools) would cost $123,918 in the first year on average, and $183,805 over three years. Those costs would soar to $282,470 in year one and $418,862 in three years in order to work with a domestic firm.
That means that, over the course of just the first year, working with a traditional development firm will cost 10 times more than working with Hatch Apps, or 24 times more if working with a domestic firm.
You can learn more about what I learned in this blog post and the associated white paper.
Awesome reads...
This HBR piece on founder fear talks about how a fear of failure can motivate us, and outlines four strategies to embrace and use fear. I certainly have my freak-out moments, and I really appreciated the focus on how to productively engage with those fears.
This New York Times piece showcases the "punishing reach of racism for black boys." Even if a black man grows up in an upperclass household, he's still very likely to fall back down the economic ladder.
Techcrunch published research showing that "successful founders are much older than the Valley stereotype." Not exactly good news for me and Param, but I'm pretty confident that we can beat the odds :)
Brilliant stuff my friends are building...
For those of us struggling to source executives and graduate student, my friend Sarah Rumbaugh has built a platform that connects MBA grads, data scientists, and other specialized candidates with partner companies. Her company RelishCareers was actually among the first to pitch at a Vinetta event.
For those of us struggling to manage our finances, my bud Ellie Thompson launched Money Therapy to help folks organize and manage their finances. As a startup founder herself (many of you know Venyou), she's been especially helpful in helping other founders get their personal financial house in order.
For those of us looking for our daily dose of inspiration, the lovely Danielle Tate and Claudia Koerbler recently went live with their interview series showcasing "vehicles of change" in multiple industries. I'm a big fan of their episode with Lyft Marketing Lead Kate Glantz.
Sending some love...
To some phenomenal people who have gone above and beyond to make this month amazing, like Anisha Chopra, Xinmei Wang, and Alice Vilma who have gone above and beyond to leverage Morgan Stanley's resources to help our company; like Anna Mason who championed our deal and taught us a lot through the process like Tanya Van Court, Khuram Zaman, Kevin Alansky, Ashtan Moore, Tim Parsons, Kate Nolan, and many others who have sat down with me to help us understand a new customer segment (among many other things— these people are incredible); like Joy James who invited me to participate in InnoMAYtion (which is aMAYzing); like Allie Brandenberger and Jay Newton-Small who invited me to take part in an awesome Bridge event; like Christian Bonilla who connected me to some other great humans, and also gave great industry advice; like Arvin Ahmadi who let me crash on his couch in NYC; like Karen Kalantzis who invited me to be a part of her Launch Workplaces community; like Rob Runett who is a tireless champion of what we're building here; like Kathy O'Neill who has continued to share her wealth of experiences as CTO with me; like Meghan Buck, Caroline Pugh, and many others who advised us on HIPAA and helped us make some decisions on whether to pursue the healthcare market; like Josh Anton and Jake Schaufeld who continue to give me some next-level founder-to-founder advice; and like so many more who have advised, guided, and supported me over the past couple months.
A way to help...
We're trying to meet with senior leadership at agencies and in marketing departments, so if you know anyone great I'd love an intro.
We're also looking to get the word out about that research we did, so we'd love your help spreading the good word. Here's that link again. Let me know if you're down to share and I'll give you some social media templates, etc :)
Onward and upward,
Amelia
