This Week @ The Garage (10/29)
Last week, The Garage SF hosted a dinner and discussion for 14 Northwestern alumni founders of companies at various stages, including some currently raising seed rounds, others that are post Series-A, and even one company which was recently acquired. Topics ranged from fundraising and hiring to managing co-founder relationships and enterprise sales. Participants wrapped up the evening by mingling and exchanging contact information to stay in touch. If you’d like to attend an Alumni Founders Dinner in the future, let me know!
Upcoming Events
November (Date TBD): The Garage SF is hosting a gathering for NU Alumni Product Managers across companies and industries. If you’re a PM and interested in attending, reply to this email.
Wednesday 11/13, 6-9pm: Designing Your Life Workshop with Kellogg's Matthew Temple, '93. Tickets available here. *Kellogg Alumni Only*
Thursday 11/14, 6:30-8:30pm: The Northwestern Alumni Bay Area Entrepreneurship Lecture Series is hosting a panel on Blockchain and Cryptocurrency Trends to Watch in 2020, sponsored by The Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, Kellogg School of Management and Northwestern Alumni Association.
Gives
MOVO, the reimagined office chair that makes sitting with good posture the default, is launching a beta customer program. Movo was founded by Kellogg alum Adam Motley and launched out of The Garage at Northwestern. If your company is interested in becoming a beta customer, reach out to Adam at adam@movochair.com
We’re looking for ~3 more people interested in a “Side-Hustle Support Group” that will meet regularly to share progress, support each other, and provide accountability. Sign up here.
Sign-up to be an Alumni Host for the Northwestern Externship Program (NEXT), a one-day shadowing program offering current Northwestern students the opportunity to accompany alumni on the job to learn more about a variety of professional fields. Most externships are held in March or April each year. More info here.
Asks
If you find this newsletter valuable, please forward it to any other NU alumni in the Bay Area and encourage them to sign up here!
Jobs / Opportunities
Overview.ai, co-founded by ’15 alum Austin Appel, is hiring a Computer Vision Engineer and Head of AI. Apply here.
Shogun Enterprises, co-founded by ’16 alum Nikhil Pai is hiring a Senior Product Designer. If interested, email Nikhil at nikhil@shoguninc.com.
Flexport is hiring, including for a Data Operations Associate role for a 2018/2019 Graduate.
5 Questions with Shogun Enterprises Co-founder Nikhil Pai (’16)
1. How did Northwestern prepare you for co-founding a startup in SF?
“The two key things Northwestern taught me were how to work in a team and how to talk to users. In McCormick, pretty much every assignment was a team project. It hammered on how to plan and delegate work, which has been essential in PMing a startup. Also from day one in McCormick, DTC taught us how to talk to users and identify problems. This skill has been useful as we navigated our first year trying to find product-market fit.”
2. What does Shogun Enterprises do?
“Shogun is a vertical financial services company helping small businesses grow through access to financial products. Our first product, Hearth, focuses on distributing personal loans through home improvement contractors. They use our platform to offer financing to their clients, such as roof repair or landscaping. Our technology is built to be generic enough to be applied to other SMB verticals such as cosmetic surgery, auto body repair and much more.”
3. What is your role at Shogun?
“I am Co-founder and PM at Shogun. I’ve also played the role of the first designer and engineer for the company. On a day to day basis, I talk to users, ship features, and look at data.”
4. What's an important lesson that you've learned as a co-founder?
“Something that I feel gets often looked over is the importance of recruitment. Many people focus on talking to users, creating value and shipping when starting a company. But equally as important is build a team and culture to execute your plans. Our team is part of why I come in every day and is one of the things I have been most proud of having helped build.”
5. How can the Northwestern community in SF be helpful to you at this stage?
“We’re always looking for great talent! We are currently hiring for a senior product designer. Please send any candidates to shoguninc.com/careers or they can email me at nikhil@shoguninc.com.”
One more thing…
If you have any events to promote, open job opportunities, “gives,” or “asks” of the NU community in the SF Bay Area, reply to this email and I’ll include them in next week’s newsletter.
Go ‘Cats,
Mike Raab ’12
mike.raab@u.northwestern.edu