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Ep. 18 – Going from Idea to Startup (Twice) – with Stacey Ferreira

Do you have an awesome idea for business?

An idea is a good start, but the challenge is executing on that idea and taking the first few steps. Today’s guest will help you take your first step.

Stacey Ferreira is an incredible entrepreneur – who, at the age of 24, has already founded two successful companies (and sold one) – and co-author of 2 Billion Under 20: How Millennials Are Breaking Down Age Barriers and Changing the World.

 

Founding Two Businesses Before 25

In 2011, Stacey Co-Founded My Social Cloud, an SSO company whose investors include Sir Richard Branson, Jerry Murdock, and Alex Walsh. In 2013, My Social Cloud was acquired by Reputation.com, where she worked before going back to college.

She is currently the CEO of Forge, an enterprise scheduling software that empowers employees to pick the hours that they work at retail and restaurant locations across the U.S.

 

Dropping Out of College to Run a Business

Originally, Stacey was running My Social Cloud and going to college. After her Freshman year, it was clear that she had to choose between running the business full-time or the investors replacing her.

She dropped out, and she doesn’t regret the decision at all. It allowed her to grow the business and, ultimately, be the youngest female tech entrepreneur to successfully make an exit.

 

Forge

While working on 2 Billion Under 20, Stacey noticed a trend in a lot of the new jobs being created: people have flexible hours, and the specific hours they work aren’t important as long as the job gets done.

But Stacey saw a hole in the market. 58% of the American population works a traditional hourly job. So how can those people experience the same flexibility?

Most of these people work at a specific location, so the only way they can get flexibility is through the hours they work. Stacey believes that this flexibility in hours is a macro trend that will only increase, and she’s capitalizing on it early.

 

Day-to-Day Operations

  • A lot of the first year was pitching and financing.
  • After securing financing, they had to hire engineers to make the software a reality.
  • Since then, 90% of her time is spent doing product management: making sure they have the right product-market fit and everyone on the team is aligned with the same goals.
  • The rest of her time is spent doing customer development and sales. That means marketing campaigns, events for small businesses in localized areas, customer support, and demos for larger clients.

 

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