Amelia Friedman, Co-Founder & COO, discusses the details of people and the hiring process in Hatch Apps, as well as the challenges associated with creating the best team possible.

How do we ensure that we hire the best people into roles where we have no expertise?

ParkMyCloud’s (PMC) focus over the next few years is growth. While opportunity in the United States market may be PMC’s focus for the next 5–10 years, investing to meet needs abroad could provide stability for the future by minimizing sole reliance on the US market. This means investments in partnerships, technology, and internal resources.

How should PMC approach international markets to support growth?

Framebridge’s model has proven compelling enough to secure investor funds, but there is pressure to achieve an optimal customer lifetime value (LTV). For a direct-to-consumer company, this comes down to marketing. However, Framebridge has only cracked the surface with early adopters, and there is no telling which segments, channels, and customer characteristics will best indicate potential for repeat purchasing—a key driver of LTV. To plan for the future, Kristin Muhlner, president and COO, needs better predictive capability to drive customer acquisition costs down and LTV up.

How else can Framebridge track and identify opportunities to promote repeat purchasing behavior?

Like many tech-oriented young companies, early UrbanStems customers skewed heavily toward millennials. Now, they are wondering how they might attract wealthier, older customers. And with 70% female customers, they would like to even out the gender mix.  

What kinds of products/product enhancements/features should UrbanStems be looking at to feed our efforts in obtaining the 35–55 demographic?

Meaghan Tardif, Senior Manager of Fabbioli Cellars discusses current marketing strategies for products as well as ideas for future marketing strategies.

What is the next magic product to catch the younger crowd’s attention that could also be a bridge to nurture and build a longtime wine lover?

As CAVA grows, Brett Schulman (CEO) and Dan Jones (COO) want to be sure they maintain stability despite rapid change by engaging and including employees in driving CAVA’s strategic direction. How can leadership at CAVA ensure alignment within and across teams?

Amelia Friedman, Co-Founder & COO, discusses the detailed aspects of the current and projected finance decisions and goals for the future of Hatch Apps.

What trade-offs are necessary for us in the short-term in order to drive revenue? What should our focus be in the long-term?

Capital Sports Ventures’ investment arm maintains a model very similar to a typical private equity firm. They look to invest in sports-related startup and high-growth companies in the United States. The CSV team then uses their combined expertise to help accelerate growth of the companies they invest in. CSV is looking to figure out how they should finance their newest fund. One of their options is to raise money the traditional way, which includes finding and collecting money from limited partners. Alternatively, CSV can collect pledges from prospective limited partners. Although the latter option is quicker and easier in the short term, there are many implications and risks associated with raising a fund based on pledges.

Michelle Sullivan, Executive Director, discusses financial dynamics and obstacles of AART as well as future fundraising plans and strategies. “How do we build an effective and efficient fundraising strategy that conserves on both financial and human capital?”

The idea for Spoon University developed in response to a social problem—college students’ lack of food-related knowledge. A community was then borne out of the production of a campus publication. Since then, involvement of college students in the co-creation of Spoon content has been vital to the success of the business. Thus, information about the college demographic and the community phenomenon created around Spoon chapters is necessary to direct content and platform decisions for continued growth. As a web-based company, there is plenty of potential for Spoon to use and develop tools to track and aggregate user data, but with student contributors actively in place across 450+ campuses, Spoon may also be well positioned to conduct research in the field. CEO Barth wants to know: What is the best way for Spoon to measure their impact on your college campus?

WeddingWire’s model has worked well in the United States and Canada and they believe that it can be replicated elsewhere. However, the cultural nature of the wedding experience necessitates a review of various markets to identify the ideal move for expansion abroad. What region or country offers WeddingWire the best opportunity for success abroad?

Case Focus: Identifying global markets positioned for a new Spoon University chapter and online foodie community

Case Introduction: Spoon University is looking to expand internationally beyond their campuses, which are currently spread across United States, Canada, and a small presence in India and Scotland. Given this base, Chu needs a roadmap for a prioritized expansion plan. Spoon needs an analysis of the global markets to discover where the conditions are ripe for the unique foodie community they build. What regions of the globe and specifically which cities or college campuses should Spoon target for new chapters over the next a) six months, b) one year, and c) 2-3 years?

OrderGroove has begun expansion by signing with Walmart in Canada, and many other companies have shown similar interest in utilizing OrderGroove’s services internationally. International distribution stands to further improve retailers’ bottom lines, making it an important opportunity for OrderGroove to take advantage of it expanding its own sales.

How should OrderGroove look to expand through Europe and Asia while maintaining current quality standards?

Tessa Wolf, Head of Merchandising, Creative, and Brand, has been with the Framebridge since day one, and gone are the days of throwing ideas out into the market to see what sticks. Greater complexity has generated more factors to weigh and longer decision processes around development of new ideas. Ideas outside of the immediate scope pose an even greater challenge because while they may present an opportunity, the effort involved to create fit is often not worth the risk.

Should Framebridge consider expanding its product offering to include art prints?

MSE is driven by a higher calling to become the largest and most powerful sports management firm in the world, delighting a growing fan base as a good neighbor to its community. The firm has a prime directive to expand its portfolio of franchises by researching new opportunities (leagues and teams to transplant to DC). This is important for growth because such acquisitions can bring new eyeballs to MSE’s physical and digital platforms.

Servy is a mystery-dining platform that helps restaurants collect valuable feedback about the customer experience. Currently Servy serves over 100 restaurants in the greater New York City area. Servy is looking to expand their coverage to 500 restaurants, which would warrant roughly 20,000 users—i.e., mystery shoppers—within six months. Long term, Servy means to work with over 15,000 restaurants
nationally. Robert Edell estimates that this would require a user base of several hundred thousand. What strategies should Edell implement to
expand Servy’s user base to reach their goal in the next six months and over the course of the next several years?

At UrbanStems, the primary customers are in the 25–35 age demographic, but they have noticed a trend of repeat purchasing behaviors in the 35–55 group that they would like to capitalize on.

 How should UrbanStems approach potential partnerships—and with whom—to capture more of this demographic and their repeat behaviors

As CAVA grows, so do its staffing needs. However, as a restaurant company, CAVA does not see much in the way of potential new hires seeking long-term career opportunities. This needs to change if Dave McKlveen, VP of People + Culture, is to combat turnover and create stability within the organization. How should CAVA approach hiring to reduce turnover?

Michelle Sullivan, Executive Director of AART, provides details about the company’s strategies and goals of creating and maintaining corporate partnerships in relation to networking, sponsorship, expansion, and program success. What criteria should AART use to choose its partners and why? How do they identify organizations that will align with their mission and goals?

Owner Doug Fabbioli discusses the start-up process, income/outflow fluctuation, and future plans for growth of Fabbioli Cellars.  

How could I build a relationship with a financial partner that could evolve into total ownership of the business as I get closer to retirement?