Megan O'Connor & Heather Hartnett
Cofounders of Human Ventures
Discussion
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Heather Hartnett
@heather_hartnett · CEO of Human Ventures
Hi - We are Heather Hartnett, CEO of Human Ventures and Megan O"Connor, Chief Growth Officer of Human Ventures. We run a build studio and co-found companies with great humans. We've partnered with a wide variety of early stage tech startups in NYC and have lots to share on this topic. We're super excited to chat with you all - ask us anything!
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COSTAS ANDRIOPOULOS
@candriopoulos · https://medium.com/strictly-curious
Hi Heather and Megan, how do you identify emerging trends and how do you pick ventures in nascent markets? Also, which publications, websites, etc. do you rely on for this?
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Heather Hartnett
@heather_hartnett · CEO of Human Ventures
@candriopoulos all great questions... diversity is key with keeping up with trends.
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Heather Hartnett
@heather_hartnett · CEO of Human Ventures
@candriopoulos you should always make sure you aren't only listening to people in your own sphere of influence. You need to find entrepreneurs in areas you know nothing about. You start to ask questions about their motivations and behaviors.
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Heather Hartnett
@heather_hartnett · CEO of Human Ventures
@candriopoulos great publications and newsletters I read every morning: Strictly VC, The Skimm, Pitch Book, Venture Beat, Economist for long-tail information, NPR EVERY morning
COSTAS ANDRIOPOULOS
@candriopoulos · https://medium.com/strictly-curious
@heatherhartnett Thank you so much for your great insights!
Filip Johansen
@filip_johansen · Sweden's youngest entrepreneur
Hi! What's the first thing you should do if you have an business idea ?
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Megan O'Connor
@meganmoconnor · CEO and Co-Founder of Clark
@filip_johansen If you have a great business idea, the first thing you should do is figure out what skills you have that make you uniquely positioned to solve that problem and then identify the skills you need in a founding team to complement you.
Ryan Hoover
@rrhoover · Founder, Product Hunt
First off, thanks for letting me and @suzywillow camp out at Human Ventures HQ last month. 🙌
I'm curious to learn more about your ideation process when building and growing startups you incubate?
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Megan O'Connor
@meganmoconnor · CEO and Co-Founder of Clark
@rrhoover you are so welcome! You and @suzywillow are welcome any time :) As for ideation process it all starts with a problem we as Human Ventures want solved. From there it is about the people we partner with. No idea ends up where it starts out, so for us it's important for to identify top talent to solve problems with. We partner with amazing co-founders as soon as possible in the ideation process.
Ben Tossell
@bentossell · Community Lead, Product Hunt
What are your favourite questions to ask founders?
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Heather Hartnett
@heather_hartnett · CEO of Human Ventures
@bentossell Are you ready to get a crash course in humility? :)
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Heather Hartnett
@heather_hartnett · CEO of Human Ventures
@bentossell building an early team, you have to be very aware of personal dynamics. Personalities are the hardest things to navigate and knowing how to motivate your employees, investors, customers. I like to ask founders if they know how much people management is involved in building a company!
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Megan O'Connor
@meganmoconnor · CEO and Co-Founder of Clark
@heatherhartnett @bentossell I also like to ask potential founders "how are you at taking the trash out?"
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Megan O'Connor
@meganmoconnor · CEO and Co-Founder of Clark
@heatherhartnett @bentossell because it's important for people to to remember that starting something from scratch comes with a lot of "non-sexy" responsibilities
Jenna Abdou
@jennaabdou · Host & Producer of Beyond the Headline
Nick Reber
@nickreber · Investor
Hi guys. I'm interested in what has been the biggest adjustment for you in transitioning from working on a single business to trying to build several companies at once?
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Heather Hartnett
@heather_hartnett · CEO of Human Ventures
@nickreber it's incredible to see the level of organic cross collaboration between companies and how genuinely interested people are in helping one another.
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Heather Hartnett
@heather_hartnett · CEO of Human Ventures
@nickreber I guess that didn't answer your original question.. you face a lot of the same challenges with multiple companies as you do with one. Time management, maintaining good health and keeping your energy up.
Snah Desai
@s_haverford · Operations Analyst, ServiceTitan
How does a first time founder get in contact with Human Ventures or how can one go about potentially being part of the Human Ventures team?
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Heather Hartnett
@heather_hartnett · CEO of Human Ventures
@s_haverford our approach is heavily referral based. All of the founders we are currently working with have come from a trusted source. It's always good to find a common connection when approaching someone, whether it be a potential hire, an investor, or co-founder (like Human). Warm introductions give necessary context. It's a good rule of thumb.
Snah Desai
@s_haverford · Operations Analyst, ServiceTitan
@heatherhartnett Have you seen many individuals you are introduced through referrals people who have targeted Human Ventures or is it a more organic way they have reached that point in their life?
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
What have been some life experiences that you think have helped shape the way you approach decision making?
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Megan O'Connor
@meganmoconnor · CEO and Co-Founder of Clark
@ems_hodge I like this question a lot. Both Heather and I have worked in the nonprofit world and that makes us "mission first" decision makers.
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Megan O'Connor
@meganmoconnor · CEO and Co-Founder of Clark
@ems_hodge That also means that all the companies at Human Ventures exist to make people's lives better. When deciding what projects to take on we come to the table with our desire to make real impact in the world.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
Hi Heather and Megan! Thanks for joining us today. What motivates you?
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Megan O'Connor
@meganmoconnor · CEO and Co-Founder of Clark
@ems_hodge Hi Emily! Thanks for having us. What motivates us is the opportunity to work with incredible founders - people who want to solve real problems and have a unique approach to doing so.
Emily Hodgins
@ems_hodge · Community and Marketing, Product Hunt
What do you look for in startups that you partner with?
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Heather Hartnett
@heather_hartnett · CEO of Human Ventures
@ems_hodge At Human we are founder first. Everything starts with the founder. Where are they in life? What is their motivation for starting a company? Are they in this for the long haul and most importantly, what problem are they obsessed with solving?