Bergwall On Demand Office Hours Testimonials

We’ve asked Cofounder of Bergwall On Demand, Travis Bergwall to share his feedback after participating in an Office Hours session. The benefits of meeting with a specialist that can save you time and other valuable resources is better shown than told.

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“Office Hours is an exceptional resource for any entrepreneur looking to have questions answered by knowledgeable professionals. I met with Chris Dima and within a 20 minute conversation, he understood my business and was helped me generate unique ideas. I highly recommend Walnut St. Labs’ Office Hours and plan on utilizing the program in the future!”
— Travis Bergwall, Cofounder of Bergwall On Demand

Advance your Idea. Faster. Book Office Hours!

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Bergwall on Demand is a social enterprise with the aim of closing the skills gap. As a social enterprise, one of their objectives is human well-being and improvement. In definition, they are a company that allows anyone to master a specific subject. One of the biggest problems people face in their job search is the lack of expertise or necessary skills. Not having a vocational skill disables them to get careers in the field they want even when employers can’t seem to fill jobs fast enough. This is what is known as the skills gap and this is one of the problems Bergwall on Demand plans to help.

Advance your idea. Faster. Book Office Hours!

Building a KickAss Startup w/ Satyajeet Shahade

Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

@sshahade
@hootboard

“Hootboard was encouraged to enter in AngelList by Gabe Wineberg.
He recommended us and it stays on our profile forever. It’s based on that type of social proof validation that their (AngelList’s) founders were interested in.”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

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“Professionally, I come from a big data background. I worked with big companies like Teradata, Oracle and HP. I worked with a lot of financial service companies”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

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“Our mission is to build a smarter, more connected network of communities with HootBoard. It’s part bulletin board and part digital library. It’s a community-based platform.”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

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“I think the best the way to get good feedback is to piss people off, because those are the only people who will come back and give you anything that you can learn from.”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

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“Along the way, we’ve come across a lot of of opportunities where we could go extremely niche, but we have since avoided an extremely niche market, in order to appeal to all sorts of communities.”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

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“Lately, we’ve been working 7pm to 5am with our offshore development team. It allows us to bootstrap and not take in any funding, so we work crazy hours!”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

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“If you’re thinking about it, or you’re in a position to startup something its really important to just get started somewhere. Don’t hesitate!”
— Satyajeet Shahade, Cofounder and CEO of HootBoard

Walnut St. Labs & i2n Releases Office Hours

How do you ignite innovation?

The way you ignite innovation is to connect innovators with that “right person”.
And then do it again. And again. And again.That’s what we’re doing starting today.

Fact: 20 minutes with the right person can save you weeks, months, perhaps even years of time.

Walnut St. Labs and the ideas x innovation network (i2n) have partnered together to create an easy way to make the right connections happen, propel projects and accelerate forward progression in our region.

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“I”ve met with Chris a couple of times to discuss go-to-market strategies and business models for my startup. Not only did he provide practical advice around basic startup worries such as domain names and getting your first customer, but he also pushed my strategic thinking, encouraging me to think outside the box in terms of building out an expert marketplace. I’d definitely reach out to Chris again. He’s a great thought partner.”
– Asha Rangaraj, Founder of ResearchMole

So What Is Office Hours

Office Hours connects innovators with Innovation Advisors for face-to-face networking and advisement at three locations in the Greater Chester County area. Innovation Advisors are domain experts from the region who are willing to offer advisement for free. Here are the areas of expertise we have so far.

Government
Legal
Real Estate
Technology
Management
Financial
Startups
Marketing
Life Sciences

And here are the advisors we have for our launch.
Interested in becoming an Innovation Advisor?

Chris Dima
Kevin Fleming
Mary Fuchs
Dave Mann
Terry Kerwin
Raymond Sarnacki
Craig Schroeder
Eamon Gallagher
Mark Rybarczyk
Stacy Martin
Paul Prestia
Denise Smart
Wilson Chu
Lars Knutsen
Jim Lauckner
Leo Daiuto
Ben Bock
Jim O’Brien
Ilya Lehrman
David Chopko
Guy Fardone
Clay Zug
James Watkins
Andrew Brenner

Instamour Demo

Kristen LaSalle, Cofounder & VP of Sales

@instamour
instamour.com

What was the problem that Instamour is trying to solve?

“At Instamour, our team has been using dating websites since the late 90’s and the newer mobile apps for years now. We have been carefully testing and diagnosing what the most common problems are. And, we keep finding the same problems over and over again. In a nutshell, they just aren’t personal enough because pictures and text don’t cut it anymore in this world of technology.”

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What’s the solution that you came up with?

“Our Mission is to solve the headaches of online dating with new functionality that has until, never been possible before! We’ve made our app available for both android and iOS.”

“Our solution is the world’s first real video relationship platform!
We’ve created a new opportunity to see real personalities by browsing video profiles, engaging in live video chats, virtual phone calls, and instant messaging. We are shifting the paradigm for online dating profiles and experiences.”

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What’s your vision for the future of Instamour?

“Well, we’re raising funds right now. So, we are interested in adding on more developers and configuring some persisting issue that are specific to the nature of these new online dating functionalities yield.  We’re also in the process of demoing our products at other spaces and looking to gain as many more users as possible.”

WSL Becomes a BizSpark Network Partner

With the help of Yuriy Porytko and Dave Mann, we invited Amanda Lange to stop by the lab the and explain the benefits of becoming a network a Microsoft’s Bizspark program.

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BizSpark is an international network of entrepreneurial startups and partners.

Simply sign up, get free software; including Developer tools, support, and training to build apps & scale your business, and get help marketing your app.

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BizSpark members receive free one-year Windows Store and Windows Phone developer accounts where you can promote and distribute your apps around the world, offer trial versions to build excitement, track sales and customer feedback.

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It will also help startups gain market traction by offering the opportunity for startups to promote your app on the BizSpark website and gain further visibility through the Featured BizSpark Startup series.

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As we experienced, It’s super easy for startups to become network partners at BizSpark! Signing up startups to BizSpark in the Greater Philadelphia Area will encourage MS to dedicate more resources to startups in our region, including increased sponsorship opportunities!