Steve Garrity
Hearsay Labs
Hearsay Labs
Steve Garrity is a co-founder of Hearsay Labs, along with Stanford classmate Clara Shih. Hearsay provides software to help companies manage and measure their presence across Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. Prior to starting Hearsay, Steve was a professional ski bum in Jackson Hole, WY; a program manager and engineer at Microsoft Corp in Seattle (working on mobile search, Live Mesh, and Azure .Net Services); and a product manager at Fortify Software. At Stanford, Steve was a Mayfield Fellow while studying computer science (BS ?04, MS ?05).
Related Links: http://www.hearsaylabs.com http://twitter.com/stgarrity
Last Updated: Mon, Feb 22, 2010
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Six young Stanford grads and entrepreneurs -- Steven Garrity, Clara Shih, Kimber Lockhart, Jeff Seibert, Josh Reeves, and Tristan Harris -- share their experiences starting companies and raising capital. While being in their 20s may seem to be an obstacle to outsiders, they said they "flipped" this liability into an asset -- focusing instead on their raw ability to bring innovative ideas to life. They advise all young entrepreneurs to be persistent, opportunistic, and scrappy.
Six young Stanford grads and entrepreneurs -- Steven Garrity, Clara Shih, Kimber Lockhart, Jeff Seibert, Josh Reeves, and Tristan Harris -- share their experiences starting companies and raising capital. While being in their 20s may seem to be an obstacle to outsiders, they said they "flipped" this liability into an asset -- focusing instead on their raw ability to bring innovative ideas to life. They advise all young entrepreneurs to be persistent, opportunistic, and scrappy.
Steven Garrity and Clara Shih, founders of Hearsay Labs, talk about how they both knew they wanted to start a company - and with each other. A long-time goal for Shih, she recalls receiving an issue of BusinessWeek when she was 18 that impressed upon her how magical things can happen in Silicon Valley. Josh Reeves, founder of unwrap inc., adds that a start-up is the best place to learn many aspects of running a business.
Kimber Lockhart, cofounder of Increo Solutions, Inc. with Jeff Seibert, believes that starting her company was part of the general process of solving a business problem. Jeff Seibert says that it was all about building the right product in an environment that allows him to do a vast variety of tasks. Tristan Harris, founder of Apture, admits he didn't necessarily want to start a company nor build a product. What he really was interested in was how to solve the problem of creating a rich news environment on the Web.
To bootstrap means to use revenue or personal savings to run your operations, explains Josh Reeves, founder of unwrapped inc. Rather than seeking out venture capital, Reeves explains why bootstrapping his own venture allowed him to tinker with his company's product and vision without worrying about the reactions of outside investors. Hearsay Labs Co-Founders Clara Shih and Steve Garrity agree, saying they only sought venture capital to push their company to the next level in product development and to satisfy their customers' needs.
A VC firm would provide a bit more name recognition," says Jeff Seibert, founder of Increo Solutions, Inc. Just out of college, he believes it provided him and his partner Kimber Lockhart with a lot more credibility to the companies they wanted to sell their product. Tristan Harris, founder of Apture, relates how they first earned angel capital, then used the name recognition to gain their first customers, which then led to the company's series A round of funding.
What are the biggest obstacles and assets for young entrepreneurs? Unwrapped, inc. founder Josh Reeves answers that the biggest obstacle it not knowing how to manage all the priorities. Clara Shih, founder of Hearsay Labs, believes that being a young entrepreneur has its advantages because you can highlight your ability to solve problems from a fresh perspective. Steve Garrity, of Hearsay Labs, says that youth allows you to ask lots of seemingly naive questions. Plus, Increo Solutions, Inc. founder Kimber Lockhart adds that starting a business is challenging for everyone, not just young entrepreneurs. Don't assume that older, first time entrepreneurs have all the answers.
Having an engineering degree, says Jeff Seibert, founder of Increo Solutions, Inc., allows you to prototype your own idea. "You don't have to choose" between an engineering degree and an economics one, quips Clara Shih, founder of Hearsay Labs. Having a nontechnical degree allows you to better explain complex technical issues in everyday language, she says. Though, while you do need to meet business needs, her partner Steven Garrity says that engineers are in demand and hard to hire.
Target your customer and their needs, says Tristan Harris, founder of Apture. His company recently hired a community manager to target ideal bloggers to beta test their products. Jeff Seibert, founder of Increo Solutions, Inc., agrees that you need to build a specific customer profile then find out where they hangout online. Summing it up, the underlying philosophy in getting customers, explains Josh Reeves, founder of unwrapped, inc., is to be scrappy, opportunistic and have a strategy in getting that customer. When you're at a coffee shop, bring up your company. "You never know where that conversation will lead."