Selasa, 10 September 2013

Alumni Spotlight III - Startups

Pat and his team at Flocasts. That's him with the paper.
Time to meet some more of Tulane's young alumni! After chatting with some foodies and fashionistas, I thought it might be cool to introduce you all to some of our alumni working in various start-ups. Whether they have created their own businesses or are working at small start ups around the country, these grads are finding out first-hand how to use the entrepreneurial skills they got at Tulane. If you are a frequent reader of all things NOLA, (as I am) you know we have already been called Start Up City by Inc., CNN and Forbes. Some of these alumni are local and taking advantage of the incredibly strong local start up scene in town, and some took what they learned here to various start-ups nationwide.

Patrick Hitchens - Class of 2006 - VP of Sales, Flocasts. Pat, also a fraternity brother of mine, was always a killer athlete. He's now in Austin, TX, working for Flocasts, a new media company that is changing the way athletes and fans interact with and engage with the sports they love. Pat and his team focus on untapped sport markets usually neglected by traditional media (think: cycling, wrestling, etc.) and bring those spots to those who are most passionate about them. Pat told me the experience he has working at a small but successful athletic start up was something that he felt prepared for, in large part because of the "opportunity that Tulane gave me to interact with such a diverse group of students." I always tell our prospective students this- no school will better prepare you for how to interact with others than Tulane. Why? As the most geographically diverse school in America, you'll learn just how to relate to, collaborate with and start companies with an incredibly diverse population of people- just like in the real world.

Brendan Finke and Joe McMenemon - Classes of 2010 and 2008 - Founders of ChapterSpot. ChapterSpot has been getting some great press as of late, and is definitely one of the best-known start ups in New Orleans. Check out this great video we made about this duo as a part of our Entrepreneurs Series. Joe and Brendan founded their company after they noticed there was no easy connectivity between the members of the fraternity we were all in at Tulane. ChapterSpot is a technology platform that allows Greek organizations to better manage their members. The start-up now has over 2,500 fraternities and sororities across the country as clients, and Joe and Brendan plan on expand to other groups soon. ChapterSpot also staffs a full team of undergraduate student interns, the majority of which are Tulane students.  Oh and by the way, these two are going places. They just won the IDEApitch at New Orleans Entrepreneur week.
Joe and Brendan winning stuff. 


Jayda's gotten some great accolades
for her educational start up. 
Jayda Batchelder - Class of 2009 - Founder, Education Opens Doors. After a stint with Teach for America in Dallas, Jayda founded a grassroots non-profit in response to the opportunity gap she saw in her classrooms. By creating a student success manual which she named Roadmap to Success, Jayda collaborated with her fellow TFA alumni to aid her students in becoming college-bound though her Education Opens Doors program. This pilot program went on to be used by over 1,500 students in 9 different schools. As the school year kicks off, even more teachers across Dallas will be using the EOD resource that Jadya created to aid their students. Jadya loved being a social entrepreneur here at Tulane and told me that specific skill set transitioned perfectly into EOD. A degree from Tulane's School of Public Health and the passion she developed for education in the New Orleans school system were just the start for Jadya. Speaking of Teach for America, did you know Tulane was just named as one of the top schools in the country for gradates going on to TFA positions?

Gil Barzilay - Class of 2010 - Co-Founder, Pixplit. There are a number of Tulane alumni out there who have created their own iPhone applications, and Gil is definitely one of the most successful of the bunch. Pixplit is an app for creative photo aficionados that provides a platform for visual interaction. Gil describes it to me as if Instagram and a collage app had a baby. It's a cool shared image created by more than one user, and the app has been downloaded by over 500,000 users. Check it out in the AppStore!

Katherine Quayhagen -Class of 2009 - Assistant at the Solomon Group. If I didn't love working for Tulane, I'd apply to work at the Solomon Group, and I am so envious that Katherine does! The Solomon Group's slogan is "The Art of Bringing Stories to Life," and man do they ever. The Solomon Group built the sets for CBS for the Super Bowl in NOLA last year and also puts on major events like the Essence Music Festival. They also made those incredible lights on the exterior of the Super Dome too. The list goes on. Katherine loves working there too- she told me her time at Tulane "absolutely prepared me for the frequent fast pace and responsibility of the Solomon Group. Not only does Tulane instill you with a wonderful education, it teaches you the invaluable skills of time management and prioritization like no other university can, due to its location.  New Orleans has so much to offer and Tulane takes an active role in many of these cultural events; therefore, weighing the needs of a very demanding firm (and needs of those I am lucky enough to work with) becomes inherent." I couldn't agree with her more! If you wonder why I would work there, check out this video. I'm telling you, this is one of the coolest start-ups in NOLA right now. 

Sarah Wallace - Class of 2005 - Senior Account Manager, GumGum. Sarah was the 5th employee when she started at GumGum, a in-image ad platform. Now the start-up has opened sales offices in Los Angeles, New York and Chicago and has 30+ employees. As the Senior Account Manager, Sarah manages account managers as well as acts as the liaison between the client and GumGum to make sure that her campaigns are launched and run correctly. Sarah was the Advertising Manager of the Tulane Hullabaloo, which was beginning of her advertising career. She told me that "not only did I learn from that experience, but the A.B. Freeman School of Business was practical and taught me all basic business skills, such as business writing (forget the prepositions). My Studio Art minor helped me understand how a humans eye works, which I use every day when working with my creative team to figure out the most eye catching ad, but also create the most amount of user engagement"
Sarah hard at work at GumGum

Some of Education Opens Doors' happy participants 
Here is what Pixplit looks like! Pretty cool, eh?

If you are thinking start up, definitely think Tulane and think New Orleans. This may have to be a Part I in a multiple part series about startups and Tulane grads. I have enough content for many more blogs, so stay tuned!
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