Podcasts about startup institute

Today, our guest is Rich DiTieri, Senior Director of Digital Product at Education First. Rich has a broad-spanning career from working in tech, founding startups, and managing product. He founded the company Pintley, one of the fastest-growing craft beer communities that was hailed by the New York Times as “the Pandora of Beer.” He continued on to become CEO of the Startup Institute, a professional training and coaching program in Boston, and co-founded Stack Education, a marketplace that promotes more efficient, productive, and speedy clinical trials. On today's episode, LogRocket's VP of Marketing, Jeff Wharton, talks to Rich about the importance of fostering a passionate work culture with the concept of “go slow to go fast”; what he learned founding a successful craft beer startup to address a key market need; and why aligning mission, roles, and teams is critical for career success. Links https://www.linkedin.com/in/richditieri/ Follow LogRocket on TikTok! Love LaunchPod and the rest of LogRocket's great content? Follow us on TikTok for interview clips, UX tutorials, and more! What does LogRocket do? LogRocket combines frontend monitoring, product analytics, and session replay to help software teams deliver the ideal product experience. Try LogRocket for free today. (https://logrocket.com/signup/?pdr) Special Guest: Rich DiTieri.

Most companies in the tech industry that scale aggressively and create a category leading company usually raise a significant amount of venture capital funding. In the case of LinkSquares, the company has raised over $161M in funding which includes a $100M Series C round of funding that was announced in April. The funding has come along at a very steady clip with its Series B round in 2021 and Series A round in 2020. Needless to say LinkSquares is in hypergrowth mode and this capital is helping the company take advantage of its product market fit, but Vishal and I start off the conversation with a deep dive into how he's been able to raise capital each year while balancing his responsibilities as a CEO with hundreds of other taks that need to be tackled. LinkSquares is the company behind the AI-powered contract management platform for legal teams aiming to move their business forward faster. In this episode of our podcast, we cover: * Vishal's background growing up, including the start of his professional career and how the Startup Institute helped pave his way into the world of startups. * His experience at Backupify and various roles that he played at the company. * The full story of LinkSquares and how they identified this opportunity to disrupt an industry and take on incumbants. * All the details on the LinkSquares platform and how they are leveraging AI, plus the company's growth plans ahead. * His biggest lessons learned as a CEO of a hypergrowth company. * And so much more. If you like the show, please remember to subscribe and review us on iTunes, Soundcloud, Spotify, Stitcher, or Google Play.

Are you considering expanding and scaling your business into the US market?Our guest, Frances Simowitz, is the founder and CEO of WEVE Acceleration, a virtual accelerator program helping international startups expand and scale in the U.S. market through expert mentorship, targeted curricula and warm introductions to New York's most influential entrepreneurs, investors, and business contacts.With over 10 years of experience in the startup ecosystem, Frances has helped establish and grow operations in multiple cities such as Boston, Chicago, DC and New York for startups like Sittercity, Startup Institute and now WEVE. She's worked with hundreds of entrepreneurs and has established one of the largest entrepreneurial communities in New York City through HackerNest.To learn more about WEVE, please visit: https://weveacceleration.comFollow and connect with WEVE via these social platforms:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/weve-acceleration/Twitter: https://twitter.com/WEVEAcceleratorThank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your business will do better - cheers!Ande ♥https://andelyons.com#founderjourneystories #internationalstartupsCONNECT WITH ME ONLINE: https://twitter.com/AndeLyonshttps://www.facebook.com/StartupLifew... https://www.linkedin.com/in/andelyons/ https://www.instagram.com/ande_lyons/ https://www.pinterest.com/andelyons/ https://angel.co/andelyons TikTok: @andelyonsANDELICIOUS RESOURCES:JOIN STARTUP LIFE LIVE MEETUP GROUPGet an alert whenever I post a new show!https://bit.ly/StartupLifeLIVEAGORAPULSEMy favorite digital marketing dashboard is AGORAPULSE – it's the best platform to manage your social media posts and presence! Learn more here: http://www.agorapulse.com?via=ande17STARTUP DOX Do you need attorney reviewed legal documents for your startup? I'm a proud community partner of Startup Dox, a new service provided by Selvarajah Law PC which helps you draw out all the essential paperwork needed to kickstart your business in a super cost-effective way. All the legal you're looking for… only without confusion or frustration. EVERY filing and document comes with an attorney review. You will never do it alone. Visit https://www.thestartupdox.com/ and use my discount code ANDE10 to receive 10% off your order.SPONSORSHIPIf you resonate with the show's mission of amplifying diverse founder voices while serving first-time founders around the world, please reach out to me to learn more about making an impact through sponsoring the Startup Life LIVE Show! ande@andelyons.com.STREAMYARD OVERLAYS AND GRAPHIC DESIGNNicky Pasquierhttps://www.virtuosoassistant.co.uk/Visit Nicky's CANVA Playlist: https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLhUDgDHkkma3YhOf7uy8TAbt7HdkXhSjO

Lisa is a seasoned entrepreneur, product strategist, and creative director whose career spans 24+ years working with technology startups and Fortune 500 companies. In 2014, Lisa founded and launched the New York Fashion Tech Lab with Springboard Enterprises and the Partnership Fund for NYC while serving as Executive Director for the first year. Her previous fashion tech startup - a contextual search engine, Shopsy, participated in TechStars in 2012 after Lisa was selected as one of the Top 10 Women in DC Tech. She has been featured in numerous publications and media outlets, and is profiled in the bestselling book; Disrupters: Success Strategies from Women Who Break the Mold. As an alumna of TechStars, Lisa maintains an active role in the startup community; she serves on the Board of Puerto Rican accelerator, Parallel18, and mentors at The Startup Institute, and The Founder Institute. She serves on several startup advisory boards while mentoring entrepreneurs around the globe. Lisa shines a spotlight on other Latino founders by highlighting their work on LatinoBuilt.com, and through her speaking engagements across the country. The New America Alliance recognized her as one of the top Latinas in Business and invited her to participate in the first American Latina Leadership Caucus in NYC. In August 2017, Lisa teamed up with Brian Laung Aoaeh to start The New York Supply Chain Meetup, which became the founding chapter of The Worldwide Supply Chain Federation. Born in the Bronx, New York, Lisa obtained her BFA in Graphic Design with University Honors from Carnegie Mellon University. She's a lifelong lover of all things fashion, is addicted to learning, new media, technology, entrepreneurship and travel. https://www.linkedin.com/in/supplychainlocalization/   ***   Up-level Your Capital Raise and Pitch Like a Thought-Leader. Download my free Power Statements Guide at https://thestefaniediaz.com/power-statement-guide/.   *** Follow on: https://www.instagram.com/thestefaniediaz/  https://www.linkedin.com/in/thestefaniediaz/  https://twitter.com/thestefaniediaz https://thestefaniediaz.com/ 

Stacey is a Certified Professional Coach (Leadership, Career Growth) and Communications Consultant with extensive experience in advertising, media, entertainment, journalism, luxury, tourism, travel, communications, and financial services. Modern-day leadership can be lonely and even isolating. She partners with leaders (and organizations) that want to drive next-level results and more happiness. Stacey leverages her pragmatic, feet-on-the-street business experience to co-create solutions that help leaders level up their careers, teams, businesses, and lives. Prior to becoming a professional leadership coach and consultant, Stacey held leadership positions in the advertising and media industry for more than 20 years – with companies including American Express, Time Warner, Fast Company, Meredith Corporation, and Scholastic. She coaches teams, leaders, executives, and high-potentials at organizations including Google, Meredith Corporation, Egon Zehnder, Mercer Healthcare, Amazon, Piaget, Delta Dental, Saks Fifth Avenue, New York University, Chanel, Random House, LVMH, Sesame Street Workshop, Novartis, Prudential, Consumer Reports, Fortune, Post Foods, StartUp Institute, Marsh & McLennan, MIT (Massachusetts Institute of Technology), Media Lab, Random House, Blackstone, Deloitte, Legal Zoom, Bloomberg Media, and EY. Stacey received her B.S. in Advertising from Syracuse University (S.I. Newhouse School of Communications) and completed a digital media from Rutgers University.

Chris Bolin serves as the VP of Engineering for Formidable Denver and is an accomplished speaker and instructor. Prior to joining Formidable, Chris was the first engineer at Jumpshell, the lead data scientist at Autotegrity, and an engineer at National Instruments. Chris serves as technical lead on high-profile projects while also directing the Formidable Denver office. Chris holds a Master’s in Computational Engineering from MIT, and loves teaching, mentoring, and presenting. He has taught at MIT, University of Denver, Girl Develop It, and Startup Institute, tutored high school students in mathematics and environmental studies, and is the Founding Editor of The Disconnect. In addition, his projects have been featured in Vice, Lifehacker, the CBC, CJR, Le Monde, and The Next Web. We discussed how to build a good engineering culture and how to keep the joy of software engineering.

Wafaa Arbash is a Syrian immigrant who’s determined to restore dignity to refugees globally through her Boston-based startup WorkAround. The co-founder and CEO of WorkAround is working around the barriers to employment for refugees by providing them with an online microwork platform that helps AI and machine learning companies with human intelligence tasks. Arbash started WorkAround while working on her master’s thesis in Sustainable International Development and Conflict Resolution from Brandeis University. Prior to WorkAround, Wafaa served as a program manager for Startup Institute and refugee education in Jordan. She worked in Syria for more than five years in social development programs where she spearheaded several projects to empower local citizens and increase their leadership skills. Discover more Boston Speaks Up at Boston Business Journal's BostInno: www.americaninno.com/boston/boston-speaks-up/

On today's episode of Gritty Founder, Kreig Kent talks with Shaun Johnson about how he built and grew Startup Institute. Shaun also shares some advice for people who want to work at early stage startups. Shaun Johnson is a technologist, early adopter, and helper of people. He is the cofounder of Startup Institute, a program that provides people with the skills, mindset, and network to find a job they love, doing work that matters. His background includes serving as an associate at Techstars and consulting for Booz Allen Hamilton's Strategic Technology and Innovation practice. This, combined with his experience in athletics and acting, allows him to create a competitive and collaborative environment where intelligence and improv conquer all challenges. Some Questions Kreig Asks Shaun: - How many projects did you work on before you came up with the idea for Startup Institute? (5:39) - What do you think is the single most important ingredient that a founder should have? (9:51) - What's one thing that you agree with that most people would disagree with? (11:30) - How did you go about getting Startup Institute off the ground and marketing it and selling it to people? (12:58) - What was the transition like for you from being a founder of Startup Institute to the CEO? (18:19) - Other than working for yourself, has there been another decision that has contributed to your success? (20:38) - What does your day look like these days as an advisor and founder of such a large organization? (22:00) - What is some advice you would give people who are looking to get jobs at startups? (23:33) In This Episode, You Will Learn: - About Shaun's experience and why he started Startup Institute (2:28) - About Shaun's childhood and how he became an entrepreneur (3:57) - About Startup Institute and how they help people prepare to become startup employees (7:31) - How Startup Institute created a robust marketing engine (16:38) - How Shaun manages his priorities to accomplish his goals (20:49) - The importance of jumping in, getting started, and taking one step at a time (24:08) Connect with Shaun Johnson: Twitter Personal Website Startup Institute Also Mentioned on This Show... Shaun's favorite quote: "A ship in harbor is safe, but that is not what ships are made for." ―Grace Hopper Shaun's book recommendation: The Art of the Start by Guy Kawasaki

In this episode I talk about how I made a list of experiences that I wanted in my life, took a leap, and set out to create the life I wanted...such as directing a music video, traveling every month, working on a Hollywood studio lot TV show, time with family and friends, getting paid to direct commercial corporate videos, putting on events I'm passionate about, and so on.   Jed Hammel is a Producer/Director/Editor/Event Planner for Volta Visual Video - Producer of Comic-Con Indie Film Festival Best Short, production office crew credits include "ER" and NBC Late Night ("Tonight Show", etc). Directed/edited videos for Techstars US Air Force Accelerator, Alienware & Dell, etc. Founder of the Filmshift Film Festival. Produced or directed indie projects accepted into 100+ indie film festivals.   In the event realm, Hammel was head of events at Workbar coworking, putting on a number of tech, social impact, inclusion-oriented, and art events.   Some of his other event planning experience includes a 250 guest City Awake closing night party, Hammel is a co-founder, (featuring 2 hip-hop artists, a rock band, an a capella group, story slam, art salon, and 2 DJ’s), The Boston Calendar's 200+ guest "Free Boston" events (featuring boozy ice cream, tequila tasting, and an conversation starters), and 8 years of the Filmshift Film Festival (social impact/50% female directors).   Other events include this one sponsored by Aeronaut Brewery and Startup Institute, and this women in tech event at WeWork Cambridge.

In this episode we talk about screenwriting in Hollywood, how to break into the industry, and general screenwriting, networking, and filmmaking Best Practices. Matthew Reynolds is the Co-Founder of Meridian Pictures, a production company dedicated to producing and developing original works and distinctive genre properties; currently developing SECRET AGENT X-9, based on the Dashiell Hammett graphic novel, as well as NIGHTSIDE, based on the illicit paperback publishing world of the 1960s, and an untitled Manhattan Horror / thriller series from veteran horror writer Neal Marshall Stevens. His most recent credit is Associate Producer for the Netflix film, "The Highwaymen" starring Kevin Costner and Woody Harrelson.   Jed Hammel is a Producer/Director/Editor/Event Planner for Volta Visual Video - Producer of Comic-Con Indie Film Festival Best Short, production office crew credits include "ER" and NBC Late Night ("Tonight Show", etc). Directed/edited videos for Techstars US Air Force Accelerator, Alienware & Dell, etc. Founder of the Filmshift Film Festival. Produced or directed indie projects accepted into 100+ indie film festivals.   In the event realm, Hammel was head of events at Workbar coworking, putting on a number of tech, social impact, inclusion-oriented, and art events.   Some of his other event planning experience includes a 250 guest City Awake closing night party, Hammel is a co-founder, (featuring 2 hip-hop artists, a rock band, an a capella group, story slam, art salon, and 2 DJ’s), The Boston Calendar's 200+ guest "Free Boston" events (featuring boozy ice cream, tequila tasting, and an conversation starters), and 8 years of the Filmshift Film Festival (social impact/50% female directors).   Other events include this one sponsored by Aeronaut Brewery and Startup Institute, and this women in tech event at WeWork Cambridge.

Emmy Serviss is a good friend and fancy pants.  She has experience working on Emmy Award-winning TV productions and indie film in Los Angeles, and she performs and directs improv and sketch comedy for Improv Boston and Comedy Sportz Boston. She has been a member of several sketch groups over the years and is currently performing with her group SUZZY. Emmy was a cast member of The ImprovBoston Holiday Spectacular, Comedy, America!, It's Allston Christmas, Charlie Town!, and Fool Descending a Staircase. She directed Comedy, America, The First and Second Sketchy Holiday HAHA, and is a former producer of LaughterRisk and Battle Royale. Emmy is also a Major League player for ComedySportz Boston. Fancy.   Jed Hammel is a Producer/Director/Editor/Event Planner for Volta Visual Video - Producer of Comic-Con Indie Film Festival Best Short, production office crew credits include "ER" and NBC Late Night ("Tonight Show", etc). Directed/edited videos for Techstars US Air Force Accelerator, Alienware & Dell, etc. Founder of the Filmshift Film Festival. Produced or directed indie projects accepted into 100+ indie film festivals.   In the event realm, Hammel was head of events at Workbar coworking, putting on a number of tech, social impact, inclusion-oriented, and art events.   Some of his other event planning experience includes a 250 guest City Awake closing night party, Hammel is a co-founder, (featuring 2 hip-hop artists, a rock band, an a capella group, story slam, art salon, and 2 DJ’s), The Boston Calendar's 200+ guest "Free Boston" events (featuring boozy ice cream, tequila tasting, and an conversation starters), and 8 years of the Filmshift Film Festival (social impact/50% female directors).   Other events include this one sponsored by Aeronaut Brewery and Startup Institute, and this women in tech event at WeWork Cambridge.

Instagram: whoisjed_events_video_podcasts Product Designer, Cass Hebert,  In this episode, my friend Cass eloquently shares her advice and experience surrounding the tech and startup community.  Our conversation ranges from practical advice of how to make a career switch, her day-to-day experiences, diversity and inclusion, and how to break into the tech community.     Jed Hammel is a Producer/Director/Editor/Event Planner for Volta Visual Video - Producer of Comic-Con Indie Film Festival Best Short, production office crew credits include "ER" and NBC Late Night ("Tonight Show", etc). Directed/edited videos for Techstars US Air Force Accelerator, Alienware & Dell, etc. Founder of the Filmshift Film Festival. Produced or directed indie projects accepted into 100+ indie film festivals.   In the event realm, Hammel was head of events at Workbar coworking, putting on a number of tech, social impact, inclusion-oriented, and art events.   Some of his other event planning experience includes a 250 guest City Awake closing night party, Hammel is a co-founder, (featuring 2 hip-hop artists, a rock band, an a capella group, story slam, art salon, and 2 DJ’s), The Boston Calendar's 200+ guest "Free Boston" events (featuring boozy ice cream, tequila tasting, and an conversation starters), and 8 years of the Filmshift Film Festival (social impact/50% female directors).   Other events include this one sponsored by Aeronaut Brewery and Startup Institute, and this women in tech event at WeWork Cambridge.

IG Handle: whoisjed_events_video_podcasts Actor/comedian Dennis Hurley who is featured in Justin Timberlake's music video, "Can't Stop This Feeling" and the NBC Sitcom, "Superstore") joins me in a conversation that starts out as a recap of our film, improv, and sketch comedy projects and turns into a deeper conversation on how we define success and happiness. Jed Hammel is a Producer/Director/Editor/Event Planner for Volta Visual Video - Producer of Comic-Con Indie Film Festival Best Short, production office crew credits include "ER" and NBC Late Night ("Tonight Show", etc). Directed/edited videos for Techstars US Air Force Accelerator, Alienware & Dell, etc. Founder of the Filmshift Film Festival. Produced or directed indie projects accepted into 100+ indie film festivals.   In the event realm, Hammel was head of events at Workbar coworking, putting on a number of tech, social impact, inclusion-oriented, and art events.   Some of his other event planning experience includes a 250 guest City Awake closing night party, Hammel is a co-founder, (featuring 2 hip-hop artists, a rock band, an a capella group, story slam, art salon, and 2 DJ’s), The Boston Calendar's 200+ guest "Free Boston" events (featuring boozy ice cream, tequila tasting, and an conversation starters), and 8 years of the Filmshift Film Festival (social impact/50% female directors).   Other events include this one sponsored by Aeronaut Brewery and Startup Institute, and this women in tech event at WeWork Cambridge.

Episode 44 - A Few Words with Jed Hammel I sat down recently with Jed Hammel and asked him a few questions about his work as a ridiculously talented video, event-planning and marketing professional. Listen.    Jed Hammel's BioJed Hammel got his start in film/TV working in the production offices for NBC Late Night, eventually doing some producing work for "Later" and talent research for "The Tonight Show with Jay Leno." He also worked in the production offices of the drama, "ER." He has produced or directed 20+ independent films and music videos that screened at over 140 film festivals including one that won Best Film at Comic-Con San Diego, has over 1 million views on YouTube, and stars the brother from the Disney show "Zooey 101." Some of his event planning experience includes a 250+ guest City Awake closing night party, (Hammel is a co-founder), (featuring 2 hip-hop artists, a rock band, an a capella group, story slam, art salon, and 2 DJ’s), The Boston Calendar's 200+ guest "Free Boston" events (featuring boozy ice cream, tequila tasting, and live art), and 8 years of the Filmshift Film Festival (social impact/50% female directors). He has produced videos for clients such as Techstars/the US Air Force, Startup Institute, Cambridge Innovation Center, UMASS-Lowell, and Alienware/Dell Computer, among others. Other events include a film/music/art event sponsored by Aeronaut Brewery and Startup Institute, a women in tech event at WeWork Cambridge, and an animation event at WeWork Hollywood.

Rich DiTieri, CEO at Startup Institute. https://www.startupinstitute.com https://www.linkedin.com/in/richditieri/ Sponsors: www.rebelmethod.com/listen Host: Sergio Marrero https://www.linkedin.com/in/sergiomarrero/ Music credit: Starlight by NUBY https://soundcloud.com/nubymusik/starlight Keywords: FutureOfWork FOW HR HumanReources GigEconomy Innovation Startup

Meet Christina Wallace, a serial entrepreneur, storyteller, and all-around woman in tech. While she’s currently the VP of Growth at early stage startup Bionic, she’s also founded venture-backed fashion startup Quincy Apparel, opened the New York office of Startup Institute, and founded BridgeUp: STEM @ the American Museum of Natural History, a new educational division that inspires […] Read more...

In today's digitally-driven world, real estate agents can dominate their local market by focusing on repetitive brand-building activities which resonate with their sphere of influence and prospective clients. Seth Price, VP of Industry Relations at Placester, dives deep into exactly how you can create your personal brand from scratch and then use consistency and velocity to build trust and dominate your local market in out latest podcast. Get ready to take notes because the information in this podcast - when put into action - will make you real estate profits! Seth Price is on a mission to transform the way you think about branding and connecting with customers. He is the author of the “The Road to Recognition”, Host of The Craft of Marketing and Marketing Genius Podcasts. Seth is a mentor to startups, a wildly popular contributor to Huffington Post, Inman News, Startup Institute, Founders League and Marketing Profs. He is part of the founding team at Placester where he’s worn all of the go-to-market hats and helped the company build a 450,000-plus customer base and triple digit growth in less than five years. He doesn't focus so much on how-to but more on how-to-think. Join us as Seth shares his mindset and a glance at his journey to becoming a Real Estate Rockstar by becoming a branding expert dedicated to empowering personal brands to lead meaningful businesses and turn recognition into revenue. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In this episode, Adam and Matt talk to Adolfo Gonzalez, formerly of the #1 morning radio show in Boston: The Toucher and Rich Show, about transitioning from being a radio personality to the startup world. We talked to Adolfo right before he started a program at The Startup Institute about his interests in content marketing as well as all sorts of random comic book and movie references, and certainly there are games.

Matt and Adam talk to the VP and Director of the Startup Institute, Allan Telio, about career accelerators, startups, and his "serious" bid to become the next President of the United States.  

Welcome back to startup week. Today's guest is the founder and CEO of Bstow, a forthcoming app that will be launching soon. It rounds up your spare change and shares it with a charity of your choice. Jason Grad is a technology specialist based out of New York City who has a proven track record for high growth in both sales and marketing. After graduating from Vanderbilt University, Jason began his career as an IT Manager and Director of Online Sales at Eveready Hardware before joining Yelp as an Elite Account Executive. While at Yelp he was in the 1% of out 1,500 executives in total sales. In six months he was able to generate over half a million in new business. In June 2015, Jason left Yelp to pursue his entrepreneurial dream and start Bstow. Jason enjoys giving back to the community and volunteers at events and mentors at both Startup Institute and Venture for America. Right now, Jason is in Tel Aviv, where he was accepted into the prestigious Barclay’s accelerator powered by TechStars. So, he is sort of incubating this idea and app. I was curious so why Tel Aviv, what is this accelerator? How can other aspiring entrepreneurs take advantage of an accelerator and then, how did he actually make the jump from employee to entrepreneur? How did he do that in a financially feasible way? How much money did he have shored up in order to make that leap with some confidence? For more information visit www.somoneypodcast.com. 

My guest on this episode is John Lynn of Startup Institute. Our conversation is geared toward a topic dear to my heart: education. Which I know you're interested in—because if you weren't, you wouldn't be listening to podcasts! John and the team at Startup Institute work hard to give people the skills, mindset, and network to find a job they love, doing work that matters. Essentially, it's a full-time eight-week program that takes place in Boston, Chicago and New York City, all focused on helping students find awesome jobs and help startups build awesome teams.

Diane Hessan is the CEO of Startup Institute, an 8-week program that transforms people into skilled individuals that are ready to take on the workforce. Growing up with family members that never went to college, Diane was able to earn her Bachelor's at Tufts University and Master's in Harvard Business School. From there on, she built her first successful startup C-Space (formerly known as Communispace) and eventually found her way to Startup Institute, where she is changing student's lives everyday by teaching htem invaluable skills and life lessons.  Continue Reading →

Audio File:  Download MP3Transcript: Lucy Sanders:  Hi this is Lucy Sanders, the CEO, co‑founder of NCWIT. The National Center for Women and Information Technology. We have another one of our really fabulous interviews today with women who have been very successful in the entrepreneurial space. Today we're interviewing a woman who has experience across for profit and the non‑profit entrepreneurial sectors. Larry Nelson:  Good. Lucy:  Good. With me is Larry Nelson, w3w3.com. Hi Larry. Larry:  Hi, I'm really happy to be here. I really loved your site and our listeners are going to learn it. A number of wonderful lessons and were posted on our home page and NCWIT channel as well as a podcast directory and blog. Of course, we're in really shine is on the ncwit.org site. Lucy:  Yes, very excited about that. Today we're talking to Christina Wallace and as I mentioned before, Christina has a lot of experience in both for profit and the non‑profit sectors. She was also named as one of Mashables 44 female founders to know. Now, all of our listeners are going to know Christina. Larry:  There you go. Lucy:  That's absolutely awesome. Today she's the founding partner of BridgeUp: STEM and certainly near and dear to our heart. For those of you listening, STEM is Science, Technology, Engineering and Math and BridgeUP: STEM is a new educational initiative at the American Museum of Natural History and it's focused on introducing girls and minorities to computer science again, something that we care passionately about. Before her role at BridgeUP STEM, she was vice‑president at Startup Institute and the founder and CEO of Venture Back eCommerce brand, Quincy Apparels. A management consultant with Boston Consulting Group, who we used to hire when I worked at AT&T, and an arts manager at the Metropolitan Opera. Wow, what a span of things. I can't wait to hear about it in addition to, she has an MBA from Harvard University. Christina, welcome. We're really happy to have you here. Before we start and get into the interview questions maybe just a little bit more for listeners about BridgeUp: STEM. I'm sure they'll be curious to know what you're up to there. Christina Wallace:  Sure, we're very excited. We're about six months into a five year grant to build BridgeUP: STEM. Helen Gurly Brown Foundation was very generous in being our founding partner to support this. It is a new portfolio of programs actually. There's several pieces of this that we're building over the next five years at the museum, really focused on diversifying the pipeline of talent going into STEM. Really trying to get more girls, more minorities, under‑served students into the pipeline, getting them into computer science and encouraging them and inspiring them. Our first piece of initiative is what we call our Brown Scholars Program and that is intended as an intensive two‑year after school program for 9th and 10th grade girls to come to the museum two days a week after school and we'll teach them to code in python. We'll introduce them to some statistics and data science and a little bit of algorithms and databases and data visualization. We'll do that through using the scientific data sets here and letting them become mini data scientists. Getting to play with genome data, getting to play with our digital universe atlas of the universe and, in their second year, do real research with some of our scientists here and the opportunity to really contribute to some of the work being done. That's our first big kick off for this program. Our girls start in our first cohort in February and we'll do another cohort sort of every trimester. Fall, Spring and Summer for the next few years. Then we're adding additional programming this summer for middle school students, boys and girls, trying to get out into the boroughs of New York City so it's not just something we have on the upper west side. Then we're really looking into professional development and curriculum development opportunities for public school teachers. Trying to bring computational thinking and computer science into existing math and science classrooms. Trying to really give the students of New York an opportunity to get exposed to this discipline and hoping to piquÈ their interest so that they're, you know, thinking about this as a real opportunity when they go to college. Lucy:  And we like that at NCWIT, I'll tell you what. [laughs] Larry:  Yes. Ain't that the truth. Lucy:  That is the truth. Christina, why don't you tell our listeners a bit about how you first got interested in technology and, as you look out there with all the great technologies you mentioned, data science for example. What other kinds of technologies do you see that you think are really exciting? PARTICIPANT:  Sure. So, I got into technology pretty young without realizing that it was a thing, or a thing that I could get into. My mom was a secretary in the computer science department and Michigan State University. We got to play with one of the very first laptops. It didn't have an internal hard drive, it was a dual floppy with a green screen so you could boot it up on one floppy and then you could run a program off the other. And got to participate in some of the early experiments that some of the professors at Michigan State were doing with fingerprint scanning, which seemed so out there in 1991. And really got to see that this was something kind of cool and exciting from the future. I've always was a math nerd, was a math major all through college and took some early programming classes as part of that major. I didn't really put one and one together until business school. I started my career, as you said, at the Metropolitan Opera, I started off on the art side. I've always been both the technologist and a creative artsy person and sort of thought the arts was where I was going to be where I made my home. When I got to business school and discovered there were all the tech start‑ups and sort of the creativity that came with creating something from nothing from a product and a business and really getting to kind of imagine something and then go build it, combined with the power of technology and computer science and data and all of those pieces. It just kind of clicked for the first time. That's how I made my path back into this. It's a little bit secluded, but technology is always been there from the beginning. In terms of the stuff I'm really excited about, I think data science is the thing right now. Computer programming, web dev, it's exciting. I like to make pretty things and I like to have them live online. Certainly mobile apps have been of focus for a long time. Being able to ask big questions from giant data sets and really get those in place that can help you design better products. It can help you think about customer segmentation a little bit better. In our case, to help you understand the human body or how different fossils might have originated from different family trees within evolution. In the case of our digital universe, finding new XO planets or seeing what else is out there in the giant universe. I think that's what's really exciting because there's more data now than there's ever existed ever. Larry:  [laughs] Christina:  It just seems to be compounding. Learning the tools and the skill set to be able to ask those questions and answer them is what gets me excited. Larry:  Wow. That's really interesting. Lucy:  What's an XO planet? Larry:  Yeah. What is an XO planet? Christina:  An XO planet is a planet that exists outside of our solar system. Our planet all rotate around the sun. Lucy:  I'm such a moron. Christina:  The sun isn't the only star that has planets. Our astronomers that search for XO planets are looking for planets that rotate around other stars. Lucy:  Thank you for that. [laughs] Christina:  You could tell I work at a science museum now. [laughs] Lucy:  Yup. That's awesome. Larry:  With all of these, this is very fascinating. Just why is it that you are an entrepreneur? What is it about entrepreneurship that makes you tick? Christina:  Oh, man. The creating something from nothing is just the thing that drives me. I was a theater director and a producer all throughout college. Going from that, spark of an idea to the plan of how we're going to do it, and then actually building it even if it requires some duct tape and holding two sticks together. Larry:  [laughs] Christina:  Hoping no one pushes a little bit too hard on the scenery. That's always been the conception to the execution in its first, second and 12th iteration, ideally under intense time, pressure with fewer resources than you would like is just what gets me excited, I think. I've never been at the point of scaling companies. I certainly haven't been at the point to make them big and IPO or any of that. It's sort of that zero to two that gets me really excited. When I created Quincy Apparel with my co‑founder, it's sort of the first time that we got to take this experience from the arts and kind of throw it onto a business model and see how that works and just...I don't know. Butting your head against the wall a hundred times and having it work 101 is just so exciting that I had to do it again [laughs] . When I moved onto Startup Institute and got to open a New York office, it was great to be given a product and ideas that they already figured out, but the question of how do we make it work in New York or will it work in New York? Larry:  [laughs] Christina:  If it works in New York, how do we make it work in other places too? Then, now getting to be able to start‑up inside a museum that has such an amazing brand and cultural trove. Everyone thinks who about MNH, their first reaction was always, "I love that museum. It's love." Larry:  [laughs] Christina:  You don't get to build something that's attached to love very often. Lucy:  Awesome. I loved the Night at the Museum movie. [laughs] I love them also. Christina:  We just had our first hackathon here at the museum, which was a big deal. To say the word "hackathon" in the museum and to let people spend the night and create something on our digital universe is exciting. Lucy:  It was at the museum? Christina:  It's the best of both worlds. The Night at the Museum, the 3:00 AM in the Hall of the Universe combined with, "Here, take our data. Build something cool on top of it." Lucy:  It's so cool. That is awesome. Along this pathway, who has influenced you? You have mentors, role models, or people you've admired from afar? Christina:  Yeah. There's been quite a few. One of them that stands out so immediately was a professor I had at business school, Dr. Noam Wasserman. He teaches this course called Founder's Dilemmas. It basically goes through all the ways that a start‑up could fail. It had nothing to do with your products sucking. Larry:  [laughs] Christina:  It's mostly about interpersonal skills, founder things, legal things, and how to think about who you need on your team. It's just the nuts and the bolts and the playbook for how to actually take an idea and turn it into a business that can continue to exist. It was a complete accident that I got into this class as a virtue of our class selection process. Maybe the second time he was teaching it, it wasn't in demand then as it is now. I actually tried to get out of the class, and I told him that. Lucy:  [laughs] Christina:  I was going to take this other education class and I couldn't get out of it. I was like, "I'm so sorry. Please forget that I told you I was trying to leave the class." [laughter] Christina:  It ended up being one of the best experiences that I had at school. He stayed as one of my close mentors throughout this thing. Always on speed dial when I needed him during Quincy and even post my startup as I thought about, "What do I do next?" "How do I build a career within the start‑up world without being always the founder or always kind of driving this?" He's just been always there for me. I try to pay it back when I can, going back and teaching in his class or contributing when I can. He's been just a huge supporter, from the beginning, even when I told him I wasn't interested in being there on purpose. Larry:  [laughs] Christina:  And then I think the other person that really just has been driving me, especially in New York is Rachel Sklar. Lucy:  Oh sure. Christina:  She's the founder of "Change the Ratio" and "The List" and just has been on the forefront of trying to get more visibility and opportunity and access for women in tech, trying to make sure that not every conference is the stale pale male lineup of speakers. Trying to really call out biases when she sees them in media, or in companies, in the way that funders and VC's think about the work they're doing. She's unflagging in this regard. She takes a lot of criticism sometimes. It's hard getting to the forefront of a revolution, but she just does it and she always looks great doing it. She has so much energy and has been one of the reasons I've gotten such a great network of women in New York, from the beginning that have exponentially helped me succeed here and have become some of my best friends, which is pretty awesome to have that kind of a community. Lucy:  Absolutely. Larry:  Boy, that's better than dessert. Yes, that's good. Christina:  [laughs] Lucy:  Better than dessert. Larry:  Though, Christina, let me ask this, with all the things you've been through and you've developed and you've been a part of and everything else, what's been the toughest thing you've had to do in your career? Christina:  The toughest thing I've had to do in my career was to get back up after my company failed. It's something that I try to talk a lot about, because I don't think failure is something that high‑achieving, go‑getter people really think about it until the moment that they're in it themselves. It can feel really, kind of career ending or overwhelming or any of those things, and it's not, at least in the start‑up world. The moment that I knew that we were going to shut down and went through that whole process of unwinding the company. Then I went home and I crawled into my bed and I didn't leave for three weeks. There was this moment of paralysis, of like, "Well what do I do now? " In addition to the, "I have no skills. I'm generalist. I'm a little bit of everything and no one's going to want to hire me," through to the like, "How do I look my investors in the face again," and say, "I lost your money. I'm so sorry. That was never something that I thought would happen." To, "What about my employees?" They pay their rent with paychecks that I was giving them and they don't have them anymore. I've had kids on my health insurance plan. All of these things are going through your head and it can feel overwhelming. I gave myself a couple of weeks to watch The West Wing and to eat seamless and not see anyone. Then I got back up. That four‑week period was probably the hardest thing I've ever had to do personally or professionally, but I did it and it all worked out. I don't think any point in the last two years, anyone has asked me, except from a "I want to learn perspective," no one's asked me "Why did your company fail? That's such a terrible reflection of you as a human being or an indication of your ability or your potential or your worth as a person." It's never came up. That was surprising and something I hope especially more women experience, at least in a lot of the public speaking I do and the mentoring I do. High achieving young women have never really failed at basically anything. The potential for failure, I hope, doesn't prevent them from trying. Lucy:  That is so well said. In many of these cases, in both of the last questions you answered, you said like in the case of your professor, you know, "I didn't want to be there and yet, I learned so much." Nobody wants to fail, but definitely it's one of the places you learn a lot. Larry:  Yep. Christina:  Oh yeah. Lucy:  You learn how to lead in hard times. That's very hard. I don't want to say it's remarkable experience because you don't say, "I hope you fail," but there's a lot of learning that can happen there. Sort of along those lines, you've already given us great advice about being an entrepreneur. If you were sitting here now, with young people talking about entrepreneurship, what other advice would you give them about being an entrepreneur? Christina:  Not everyone should be an entrepreneur. Right now, it's being very popularized. It's in the Zeitgeist. We're sort of turning a lot of entrepreneurs into these rock stars. That's great that we're giving the visibility and the platform to sort of show off that this is one potential path, but it's not the path for everyone. There's also a lot that can be done, and it can be very fulfilling. It can be the right path to be an early hire at a start‑up, and to be employee number two or number one or number ten. To recognize that I want to be in a place that creates value. I want to be at a place that is very close to it's customers and listens for their feedback and iterates. I want to be at a place that values learning of it's employees and is really focused on professional development and opportunity for us as well as creating value for investors. Identify that start‑ups or technology companies or however you want to define this is a sector that you would really like to be part of without being the first one off the ship, with the idea and no money and living on the couch and taking all the risk. There's a lot of great experiences and obviously, we need entrepreneurs in order to drive innovation. But you don't have to be an entrepreneur to be entrepreneurial. That's the distinction that, when I'm talking to a lot of the young students that I'm mentoring, really trying to help them define "Why do you want to be an entrepreneur? What specifically are you impassioned about solving a specific problem. Do you just see a potential opening in a market that you want to take advantage of?" Or, do you say, "I'm looking at the jobs in front of me in consulting and banking and brand management. None of those look exciting. I really liked that startup movie. I'm going to go start a company because it's not that hard to get $25,000 and two friends to build something at a hackathon." Those are very different things. To really identify where you think you sit and that it might change over time. You might not be ready to be an entrepreneur right out of school, or even in your 20's, but you want to get that experience. At some point, when you find that thing that you can't stop thinking about, and that opportunity that you just have to build, because no one else can build it except you, then you go and take that plunge. You risk everything to build it and that's totally legitimate. It doesn't have to be just his second and you don't have to be the founder to still get that entrepreneurial experience. Lucy:  That's very wise. Larry:  Boy, that's for sure. Christina I want to thank you for sharing the experience that you went through a few years ago. It's really a great turn on for a lot of people who really could use that extra push. Now I'm going to ask you another question... Christina:  Sure. Larry:  ...That kind of ties in with that. What are the personal characteristics that you have that given you the advantage of being an entrepreneur? Christina:  This is a great question. I was reading a Steve Blank blog post on this today on the "First Round Capital" blog about what to look for when you're basically dating for co‑founders or what specific traits to look for. I don't remember the exact quotes that he put in there, but he basically outlined it as someone who can focus in the midst of extreme turmoil. Larry:  [laughs] Christina:  And it's function and moving pieces. Someone who is resilient and has endurance, that this is not a sprint, and it's such a clichÈ but it's so important to especially if you've never run a marathon. To understand what it means to run a marathon because it's not a sprint, it's a marathon. To have that resilience to keep getting back up and continue to try and push through. Someone who just has that work ethic to put in the hours. It's not just about long nights so that you can claim that you're working hard. But it's not like a work‑life balance thing. At least that's the beginning. To have that understanding of the discipline required for the home marshmallow test. Can you wait till tomorrow to get two marshmallows versus getting one marshmallow right now? Do you have the discipline to push through for a delayed gratification? Do you have the resilience and the endurance to pick yourself up even after you've been thrown to the ground 20 times? Do you have that ability to focus and make decisions when you're in sort of extreme chaos and dysfunction? Or does that paralyze you? Because that's an early stage company, the very beginnings of entrepreneurship. It's not about executing against an idea, it's trying to narrow down what that idea is. Triggering out what type of business plan that you are trying to execute against his and being able to prioritize and assign resources to different things when everything is priority number one. Some people have life experiences that just naturally prepare them for it. Thanks to you for saying that the ideal founder in his opinion of someone who grew up in a dysfunctional family and was a platoon army leader. [laughter] Christina:  That gives you that perspective of chaos but decision making and leadership. Some people have those experiences. I would argue that, I was a costly trained pianist, and challenged for 16 years. That honed my discipline side of my brain, the ability to sit still and practice six hours a day. In hopes that three months from now, this piece will be ready to perform. I certainly grew up in a slightly dysfunctional, crazy things moving around and changing all the time kind of home life. From the endurance and the resilience piece, I run marathons and I climb mountains. I don't do either those things because I really like sweating. It's a way to sort of build that endurance muscle to push through and kind of recognize that head space that you've been there before and you can kind of get to the end of it. Lucy:  Here in Boulder we have mountains and marathons. [laughter] Larry:  Uh‑huh. Christina:  There you go. Lucy:  We have all those things here and we have craziness too. Larry:  That's true, that's true. Christina:  I believe that. Lucy:  Totally crazy. You mentioned the work‑life balance and that's actually our next question around. How do you then sort of in some sense blend your personal and professional lives? Because we all have something that we do outside, what we call "work." Right? Larry:  Yeah. Christina:  Again, it's sort of a horrible not answer, answer. But it also sort of depends. It depends on what stage of life you're in, it depends on how you need to balance those things to make it work. It depends on who else is involved in the room with you right? So with Quincy, I made the decision very early on that it was all I was going to do. I worked seven days a week at it. I didn't sing in a choir, I didn't run marathons, I didn't date, I didn't see my friends, I didn't really see my family. It was just all I did, seven days a week. All I could think about even when I was sleeping. It was the one I needed. At the beginning we were getting from a running start with no money. We had a very specific length of time before we were out of money so that was the runway we had, it was about eight months. It either had to work or it was over. At the end of those eight months, we did managed to raise a venture capital. We had some resources and we were able to hire some people and my co‑founder and I looked at each other and said "We have to have slightly more work‑life balance, or we're going to burn out." So now we're in a different stage in our company. We're able to say, "OK, now we're working six days a week. We'll take one day off every weekend." She was married so she tried to find time and space to make room for her husband. I decided to take up long distance running and I got to go back on audition for a choir, so I'd have something. We got eight months more into that and we were nearly to a point where either was going to work or we were going to have to shut down. In either case, killing ourselves wasn't going to make that difference. We said "OK, now we're going to work five and half days a week" and make a little bit more space for ourselves. In the case of per jobs done at MNH, it's a very different culture here. It's a museum, it's a non‑profit. We have hours that the museum are open, we have hours that the education programs happen. A lot of the partners that I meet to interact with in order to build this program, they're not going to be on their email at four in the morning on a Sunday. There's no point in me being on email at four in the morning on a Sunday. There's a lot more space for me to have a work‑life balance here because the other partners in the room, insists on it. It's the culture that we have here. It can be frustrating sometimes. It can feel a little bit slow sometimes and that's the pay off, right? The nice thing is, I'm not competing with other companies to be the first to market with our product. It's a different type of a start‑up and a different type of an organization. Larry:  Wow, that's really something. One of the things I would like to ask is, what mountain are you going to climb next but I'm... [laughter] Christina:  Well I can tell you, I leave in two days. I'm going to Nepal to go to average base camp. Lucy:  Oh my gosh. Wow, be careful. Larry:  Oh wow. Christina:  Thank you. Larry:  Yeah, you have a great time. Yes. [crosstalk] Larry:  Well, you've already been through a great deal, you achieved a lot. What's up for your next? Christina:  I mean, I'm excited for project STEM. This could be a program that isn't just something we run at the American Museum of National History. But something that other museums and other informal learning areas might be able to adapt. One thing that we're already seeing in our early development here, is that by teaching coding in computer science through the lens of a subject that girls and minorities already know and are familiar with. We're getting a much higher sort of response rate to the applications and to the programs than we were expecting because if you look at biology, they don't have the gender gap that we have in computer science. Or at least not nearly as much, and certainly in a place like museum where a lot of these kids have been going on school trips since they were in kindergarten. It's a place that they recognize and that they feel comfortable in. We're not having this "Oh I'm not sure I fit in there" piece. For me, the big question that I wanted to ask with this program and I hope that will be able to publish the results and help others think about replicating is, can we teach computer science a lot like we teach English? Which is a tool to help you do other things. If the thing that you're interested in is biology or if it's fashion, or if it's art, let me teach you different languages and process season. Algorithms and things that it might be interesting tools for you to do that other thing that you care a lot about. We might be able to really see this change in this diversity of the talent that's interested in it. This is my big focus, what's got this grand for five years and I intend to take the most of it. But I really want to see this as something that scales beyond just MNH and beyond just New York City. As a way to think about computer science and STEM education. Or populations that aren't necessarily just attracted to the idea of "Let me learn to code, cause I want to learn to code." Lucy:  Amen to that. If NCWIT can help you, we are here. Christina:  Excellent. Lucy:  We are absolutely here. Larry:  Wow I'll tell you, that's a fact. We'll have your interview course up on our home page at w3w3.com, in our blog, in our podcast directory, in our newsletter. Most of all, go to ncwit.org and you'll see some fantastic information and stories. Lucy:  Well, thank you Christina, very much of just great advice. We always love these interviews. We ask the same questions to everybody and they're all different, the answers of course. Very interesting, thank you very much. Christina:  That's awesome. Thank you, I was so happy to be here. This is such a great initials of you guys have. Lucy:  Thank you very much. Larry:  Christina, I'm glad you didn't ask me to carry your bag on a couple of days so... [laughter] Lucy:  Well, thanks very much. We're sort of done with the interview now. But I should just reinforce that offer to help, in any way, NCWIT got a lot of research and practice. What you're doing with bridge up STEM is very much in our will house in terms of interest. Larry:  Yes. Christina:  Excellent. I will absolutely follow up with you guys on that. Lucy:  Yeah. We have a K12 alliance and all the organizations are working together in different things. There's no membership fees for non‑profits so could be some natural affinities there. Christina:  Excellent. I will look into that more when I'm back from Nepal. Series: Entrepreneurial HeroesInterviewee: Christina WallaceInterview Summary: Christina Wallace is the founding director of Bridge Up: STEM which is a new educational initiative at the American Museum of Natural History focused on introducing girls and minorities to computer science. Before her current role at BridgeUp: STEM, Christina was a Vice President at Startup Institute, the Founder and CEO of venture-backed e-commerce brand Quincy Apparel, a management consultant with the Boston Consulting Group, and an arts manager at the Metropolitan Opera. "I'm excited for project STEM," said Wallace about her program. "This could be a program that isn't just something we run at the American Museum of National History. But something that other museums and other informal learning areas might be able to adapt.  One thing that we're already seeing in our early development here, is that by teaching coding in computer science through the lens of a subject that girls and minorities already know and are familiar with." Release Date: March 22, 2015Interviewer(s): Lucy Sanders, Larry NelsonDuration: 27:52

Nicole Dominguez is a self-taught front-end web developer and designer at Sawhorse Media. She is also the organizer of Tech Under 30 and co-teaches at the Startup Institute