1871 Hosts FetchFind Program and Panel

How FetchFind, a networking site for pet professionals, can target its marketing

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Small Business and Entrepreneurship Advertising and Marketing 1871

MANUEL MARTINEZFetchFind CEO Jamie Migdal and pal Mimsy

FetchFind

A LinkedIn-type networking site for pet professionals, from dog walkers to vet techs

THE COMPANY: Before she launched FetchFind in 2013, diehard dog lover Jamie Migdal had created four other pet companies. As a college student at DePaul University in the early 1990s, she founded a pet-walking business with $150 that promptly grew to 20 employees and 2,200 clients before she sold it in 1999. She later ran a dog training service, a website called Dog Friendly Life and most recently CanineLink, an educational company that provides courses for aspiring dog trainers.

Through CanineLink, Migdal, 44, realized that the pet industry has a major talent problem. "You have a lot of passionate people, but most people find their jobs on Craigslist," she says. Meanwhile, companies desperate for referrals were calling her in search of reliable professionals.

So she hired a developer and built FetchFind, a website on which job-seekers create profiles and businesses post open positions. FetchFind adds badges to candidates' profiles—indicating they have certain degrees or specializations—to help them stand out. FetchFind's algorithms then make it easy for businesses to home in on qualified talent.

Migdal, who has three full-time employees, raised $385,000 from friends and family to get the business going and is raising another $1.1 million. But the chicken-or-egg scenario she must confront now is that FetchFind has two distinct marketplaces—job-seekers and employers. Faced with limited resources, Migdal must choose: Does FetchFind need to post more jobs to attract more candidates or grow its candidate pool to attract more businesses that post jobs? Which capability should it market?

THE RECOMMENDATION: The group of marketers assigned to Migdal's case include Marc USA's Jean McLaren in Pittsburgh; Fred Ehle, director of customer experience at Oak Brook-based McDonald's; and Lauren McCadney, director of digital engagement and social media at Vernon Hills-based CDW. Their advice? Appeal to the candidates, big time. Because pets are such a source of passion for many people, attracting qualified candidates through whimsical and informative blog posts should be easy. Plus, through CanineLink, Migdal already owns a whole library of pet-related content, such as Q&As with entrepreneurs, that she can update.

"They helped me realize that the businesses will come if the candidates are there, and the candidates will come if we provide content," Migdal says.

She also had been following the conventional wisdom of starting small and "doing what you do best in your own backyard," she says, meaning FetchFind focused strictly on Chicago-area jobs. But the experts point out there was no reason not to go national.

"That was a big aha moment for us," Migdal says.

THE RESULT: By posting engaging, useful blog entries ("So you want to be a dog groomer?"), FetchFind gained traction in New York, San Francisco, Houston and other major cities. With a wider job-applicant pool, it recently landed its first big national client: San Diego-based Petco, which hired FetchFind to manage its recruiting.

THE BOTTOM LINE: FetchFind should market to job-seekers. Businesses will follow.

1871 hosts marc usa chicago marketing sparks hackathon with 1871 member companies

MARC USA Chicago Partners with 1871 to Host Marketing Hack Event

Marketing Sparks Event Brings Together Chicago Startups and Marketers to develop communications and business development strategies

CHICAGO (December 4, 2014) – Four promising Chicago startups will be matched with leading Chicago marketing executives in the first local Marketing Sparks event. This three-hour marketing hack on Thursday, December 4th will be led by MARC USA’s Chicago office in partnership with 1871, the entrepreneurial hub for digital startups.

Marketing leaders from McDonalds, United Airlines, Caterpillar, US Cellular, Grainger, Payless ShoeSource, Buddig and CDW, among others, will join MARC USA’s Chicago leadership in developing actionable strategic and tactical marketing communications and business development ideas to help increase each startup company’s chances of success.  

MARC USA has hosted two Marketing Sparks events in Pittsburgh in partnership with local universities and incubators as a way to provide that city’s most innovative startups with critical advice on how to market their ideas.

“Young companies have very distinct needs, and our experience shows that when they can put innovative marketing ideas to work early in the business development process, it maximizes their opportunities for growth,” explained Jean McLaren, President of MARC USA Chicago.  “We recognized how successful our Marketing Sparks program was in Pittsburgh and saw an opportunity to bring it to Chicago’s growing startup community. We’ve invited senior marketers who enjoy getting together with their peers and working with young companies as a way to give back to their communities.” 

The Chicago Startups who are participating include: 

•         ParkNav, creators of an app that finds open parking spaces in cities 

•         Fetchfind, a match.com-like program for pet sitting companies seeking employees

•         Rippleshot, a credit card fraud detection company

•         Double Helix Group, real-time, cloud-based programs to support patient engagement between regular visits to health care providers

MARC USA selected 1871 as its partner in Chicago, recognizing its deep roots and success in developing and supporting innovative local entrepreneurs. The startups participating in the event were selected based on their readiness to act on the advice presented.  

“By providing quality, personalized support throughout our member companies’ development, 1871 ensures that our members have access to every resource they might need to help them succeed,” said 1871 CEO Howard A. Tullman. “We are excited to partner with MARC USA in Chicago to offer this opportunity to our startups.”

The marketers who are joining the session represent a diverse pool of leaders across disciplines (PR, strategy, digital, creative and more) who are passionate and eager to share their knowledge. The Chicago Marketing Sparks will be held at 1871 in Chicago on December 4th from 6 – 9 pm. A website to support the effort has been launched at http://marketingsparks.org.  

About MARC USA

MARC USA is a national full-service integrated marketing communications firm known for uncovering radical insights that incite powerful reactions through a deeper understanding of whole-brain behavior. With offices in Chicago, Miami, Boston and Pittsburgh, 270 employees and more than $370 million in annual billings, it is one of the largest independent agencies in the country. Services include advertising, strategic planning, research, public relations, social marketing, media planning and buying, digital marketing, direct and customer relationship marketing and sales promotion.  

About 1871

1871 is an entrepreneurial incubator for digital startups. Home to over 300 companies, the 75,000-square-foot facility in The Merchandise Mart provides Chicago startups with programming, access to mentors, educational resources, potential investors and a community of like-minded entrepreneurs that help them on their path to building successful businesses. Recently ranked 9th in the world in the 2014 UBI Index list of top university-associated business incubators, 1871 has become a global leader in the entrepreneurial community. 1871 is the flagship project of the Chicagoland Entrepreneurial Center.

Marc USA Chicago brings in marketing mavens to give 1871 startups a leg up

Dec 5, 2014, 2:59pm CST

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Howard Tullman is the new CEO of Chicago tech hub 1871.

Lewis Lazare

Reporter-Chicago Business Journal

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Four startups housed at Chicago-based tech incubator 1871 got a very generous helping hand last night from Marc USAChicago. The local ad agency sponsored a "Marketing Sparks" confab to assist the select group of startups in expanding and sharpening their business development and marketing game plans as they begin to move out into the larger marketplace.

The four startups chosen by 1871 to participate in the three-hour session included ParkNav, a company with an app that finds open parking spaces in cities; Fetchfind, a Match.com-like program for petting-sitting companies seeking employees; Rippleshot, a credit card fraud detection company; and Double Helix Group, a company that develops cloud-based programs to support patient engagement between regular visits to health care providers.

At the invitation of Marc USA, marketing executives from a range of high-profile, well-established companies, including McDonald's, United Airlines, Caterpillar, U.S. Cellular, Grainger, Payless ShoeSource, Buddig and CDW, participated in the event and worked one-on-one during the session with staff from each startup.

Noted Jean McLaren, president of Marc USA Chicago: "Young companies have very distinct needs, and our experience shows that when they can put innovative marketing ideas to work early in the business development process, it maximizes their opportunities for growth."

The Chicago "Marketing Sparks" event comes in the wake of two similar successful events Marc USA sponsored earlier this year in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania., where the ad agency is headquartered.

"Marketing Sparks" is one of the newest ways 1871 is helping to boost the chances of its start-ups to actually make it beyond the start-up phase. Added 1871 CEO Howard Tullman: "By providing quality, personalized support throughout our member companies' development, 1871 ensures that our members have access to every resource they might need to help them succeed."

Women at work: Creating opportunity, adding voice in tech industry at 1871

By Sandra Guy Staff Reporter May 24, 2014 8:30PM

Two women spearheading digital startup companies at the 1871 tech hub say their new, male-dominated environment poses challenges, but ones that enliven and inform them.

Jamie Migdal, a serial entrepreneur who has grown three successful brick-and-mortar pet-care companies, in late July is launching an online career and networking site for the pet-care industry — think Match.com for pet-care businesses, employees and would-be workers.

The site, FetchFind.com, now in private beta, aims to improve professionalism in the industry by letting businesses find qualified, passionate and dedicated employees.

After working almost exclusively with other women throughout her 18-year entrepreneurial career, Migdal said she has met only a couple of other women who have founded their own companies since she moved to 1871 in January.

She has learned to be OK with seeing few other women in the shared space, and has turned it to her advantage.

“I feel accomplished, special and like I can make a huge difference because I’m bringing a voice to the tech industry,” she said, adding that she has mentored men and women for many years and values having both on her company’s board.

There’s another incentive: her 21/2 year-old daughter, Sadie.

“I feel I’m building a legacy for her,” Migdal said. “I really want to show her what women can do to challenge assumptions and create opportunities.”

Migdal, 43, is creating FetchFind after pet-care business owners begged her to help them deal with high worker turnover, and ambitious pet owners sought her advice for starting their own firms. “The pet-care industry is a $60 billion industry that has very little technology or sophistication to help move it forward,” said the Elk Grove Village native, who lives in Wicker Park.

FetchFind employs three and just closed on a $275,000 round of friends-and-family fundraising.

Her status comes from starting Out-U-Go!, a now nationally franchised pet-sitting company; AnimalSense Training and Behavior and CanineLink Training and Career Academy. Migdal sold Out-U-Go 14 years ago, and marvels at its growth. She sold AnimalSense to former student and employee Lindsay Rapp, who in May sold it to Paradise 4 Paws, a national airport-based pet hotel firm.

Katie Hench is CEO and co-founder with friend Christopher Flint, of Infiniteach, a digital learning platform that sells interactive, individualized lessons for people with autism.

Hench, 31, of Lincoln Park, spent her career in the female-dominated world of education, including as a special education teacher and training specialist for families with children with autism at the Chicago Children’s Museum and Easter Seals Metropolitan Chicago.

That changed a year ago, when Infiniteach launched its first iPad app, Skill Champ. A key player in the app’s creation is Infiniteach partner and chief networking officer Lally Daley, the youngest daughter of former Mayor Richard M. Daley and a clinical community psychology doctoral student at DePaul University.

Company founders have raised $550,000 in a friends-and-family fundraiser. They moved into the 1871 tech hub in early September.

Hench said her new status as part of a female minority, where she often is the only woman at a table of 10 men, has made her appreciate the value of both perspectives. “When you speak up (as a woman), there is maybe something new here that the other 10 brains didn’t think of.”

Hench has seen it when co-founder Flint proposes a big idea for a product or service, and she quizzes him about how it would fit in families’ day-to-day lives.

“I will never be a (software) coder, but I will continue to be one who investigates what I’m asking of others,” she said, noting that being an entrepreneur is foreign to her risk-averse nature.

Hench is encouraged by the willingness of women at 1871 to mentor and help one another. “It makes this a stronger community,” she said.

Neither Migdal nor Hench plans to move to 1871’s new female-focused FEMtech incubator for women-owned startups because of the valued role that men play in their companies — though Migdal hasn’t ruled it out.

Migdal and Hench are among 28 percent of companies who work out of 1871 that have a woman on the founding team. Nationwide, 5 percent of of tech startup founders are women, according to Shaherose Charania, co-founder and CEO of Women 2.0.

Wale Taiwo, a senior recruiter at Chicago-based ITADMN, an IT resourcing firm, says women locally often experience a tough time finding jobs because they don’t have enough experience, and he has seen many start their own businesses.

Email: sguy@suntimes.com

Twitter: @sandraguy