Mark Cuban-backed HourlyNerd links small biz to MBA talent
Taryn Plumb, Special to the Journal
Courtesy HourlyNerd
Small and medium-sized businesses are often in need of help with
content development, strategy, marketing and analysis -- while MBA
students are always looking for a little extra money and, more
importantly, valuable experience.
Serving as a conduit between the two is HourlyNerd, a startup born out of Harvard Business School earlier this year and backed by the likes of billionaire Mark Cuban.
“Being able to serve small businesses in a way that has an impact and can help them grow is something we are passionate about, and find compelling,” said co-CEO and co-founder Patrick Petitti, who is currently in his second year of business school at Harvard.
HourlyNerd serves as an online marketplace for businesses and MBA students to connect for short-term work. Businesses begin by posting their project to the site and specifying the type of MBA that would be the best fit. A matching engine on the site then finds and notifies relevant MBAs, who can choose to bid on it by providing a quick pitch, hourly rate, estimated time of completion, and a proposed list of milestones.
Once the business and MBA come to an agreement, they can share messages, documents, milestone completions – and in a soon-to-be-added feature, video chat – on a workspace on the site.
Projects range anywhere from $200 to $10,000, and ones recently completed include a U.S. market analysis for an Australian mobile-app company, Petitti said, and a marketing strategy for a unique yoga startup in New York.
Founded by Petitti, Rob Biederman (who serves as co-CEO), Peter Maglathlin, and Joe Miller, HourlyNerd came about in a class at Harvard that challenges students to launch a viable business, and provides them with $5,000 to get started. Once they conceived of the idea, Petitti explained, “we were able to see that it had some legs.”
Now with five employees, the company was initially started in February, then incorporated in May, and the site re-launched on Sept. 12.
Since then, about 50 projects have been posted, while 500 businesses and 1,300 MBAs from top programs now use it. HourlyNerd's revenue comes from a 15 percent fee charged to businesses, and a 5 percent commission from students.
Based in the Harvard Innovation Lab in Allston, the company announced a $750,000 seed round earlier this month. The largest portion came from Cuban — the Dallas Mavericks owner, prolific angel investor and “Shark Tank” star — who contributed $450,000. Tiburon, Calif.-based Accanto Partners and smaller investors also took part in the round.
Looking ahead, HourlyNerd is working to build out partnerships with “major organizations,” Petitti said. The startup is also looking to launch a recruiting platform on the site, and provide enhanced toolkits and templates to help MBAs complete projects.
“The impact we can have on small businesses, particularly at a time when they're struggling, is really important,” he said.
Meanwhile, the goal is to have MBAs be able to pay off degrees, and even earn a living, through using the site.
“It's totally reasonable that an MBA could make well over $200,000 (a year) using our platform,” Petitti said.
Original story link.
Serving as a conduit between the two is HourlyNerd, a startup born out of Harvard Business School earlier this year and backed by the likes of billionaire Mark Cuban.
“Being able to serve small businesses in a way that has an impact and can help them grow is something we are passionate about, and find compelling,” said co-CEO and co-founder Patrick Petitti, who is currently in his second year of business school at Harvard.
HourlyNerd serves as an online marketplace for businesses and MBA students to connect for short-term work. Businesses begin by posting their project to the site and specifying the type of MBA that would be the best fit. A matching engine on the site then finds and notifies relevant MBAs, who can choose to bid on it by providing a quick pitch, hourly rate, estimated time of completion, and a proposed list of milestones.
Once the business and MBA come to an agreement, they can share messages, documents, milestone completions – and in a soon-to-be-added feature, video chat – on a workspace on the site.
Projects range anywhere from $200 to $10,000, and ones recently completed include a U.S. market analysis for an Australian mobile-app company, Petitti said, and a marketing strategy for a unique yoga startup in New York.
Founded by Petitti, Rob Biederman (who serves as co-CEO), Peter Maglathlin, and Joe Miller, HourlyNerd came about in a class at Harvard that challenges students to launch a viable business, and provides them with $5,000 to get started. Once they conceived of the idea, Petitti explained, “we were able to see that it had some legs.”
Now with five employees, the company was initially started in February, then incorporated in May, and the site re-launched on Sept. 12.
Since then, about 50 projects have been posted, while 500 businesses and 1,300 MBAs from top programs now use it. HourlyNerd's revenue comes from a 15 percent fee charged to businesses, and a 5 percent commission from students.
Based in the Harvard Innovation Lab in Allston, the company announced a $750,000 seed round earlier this month. The largest portion came from Cuban — the Dallas Mavericks owner, prolific angel investor and “Shark Tank” star — who contributed $450,000. Tiburon, Calif.-based Accanto Partners and smaller investors also took part in the round.
Looking ahead, HourlyNerd is working to build out partnerships with “major organizations,” Petitti said. The startup is also looking to launch a recruiting platform on the site, and provide enhanced toolkits and templates to help MBAs complete projects.
“The impact we can have on small businesses, particularly at a time when they're struggling, is really important,” he said.
Meanwhile, the goal is to have MBAs be able to pay off degrees, and even earn a living, through using the site.
“It's totally reasonable that an MBA could make well over $200,000 (a year) using our platform,” Petitti said.
Original story link.
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