Why This Repeat Entrepreneur Based Frank, a Software program Platform for Employees. And Does He Assume Chicago Is a Good Place for Entrepreneurs?
Logan is one other a type of of us that I can’t recall particularly how or why we met, however I’m so grateful for his friendship. He’s somebody I actually contemplate a ‘good egg’ as we’ve loved the tales of his personal entrepreneurial journeys and strongly held opinions on Chicago espresso. I’m excited to shine the sunshine on Logan and Frank, a software program startup centered on employee empowerment. Thanks Logan!
Hunter Stroll: Frank, your present startup, is a platform for employees to arrange so as to defend or advance their rights. Once I learn this mission assertion I believe ‘unionize,’ however perhaps that’s only a tactic, not a requirement. Are you able to assist me perceive the distinction?
Logan LaHive: First, the issue… The unbelievable imbalance of energy in workplaces is driving continued acceleration of revenue inequality, which together with local weather, is a prime challenge going through society right this moment. I don’t profess to have the answer — simply consider that employees having a stronger voice of their workplaces is an efficient place to begin. There are lots of types of employee voice, and differing approaches to exercising it — so you can actually say that unionizing is a tactic… however it’s clearly probably the most established, strongest, and legally-protected path to employee energy.
Different choices for employees will be taking collective motion, solidarity unionism, forming unbiased unions, worker useful resource teams (ERGs), guilds, becoming a member of a employee middle, new improvements/concepts, and many others. All of which have advantage, and could also be greatest in several circumstances. Being trustworthy, unionizing is fucking onerous. Deliberately. Many many years of company lobbying, republican coverage, and close to non-existent enforcement of labor legal guidelines has fairly efficiently established roadblocks to employees exercising their proper to unionize.
However unionizing has clear advantages — past bettering wages, advantages, and office situations — it presents the assets and backing of skilled representatives (the union) for collective bargaining, wherein the employer is legally obligated to take part and negotiate in good religion (make your individual evaluation of “good religion”).
Our mission at Frank is to supply employees with instruments not solely to have a voice of their office, however to make sure that they’re heard. Our product is purposefully constructed to pursue the tactic of unionizing. We construct organizing software program for unions and labor orgs — a customizable and personal platform for Organizers to assist employees all the way in which from curiosity / onboarding by way of to submitting union authorization playing cards. So, whereas personally supportive of any and all employees searching for to enhance their office situations, we spend our days centered on offering higher software program to unions enabling them to enhance effectivity and accessibility of union organizing.
HW: However on the similar time we’re seeing numerous tales about new segments of employees searching for to unionize (resembling Amazon). What’s your tackle the potential right here? Are we going to see a brand new technology of service and commerce workers turning to unions? Will these similar teams each formalize for segments like engineers?
LLH: Sure. Subsequent query.
The traits and information are fairly clear. Union elections are method up (NLRB), unionizing is extremely standard — with folks underneath 35, assist for unions is equal to marriage equality and legalization of weed (Gallup), and almost 50% of employees within the US would be a part of one if given easy sure/no probability (MIT). Employees are mad and not prepared to take a seat idly by being spoon fed “we’re household” bullshit from bosses making 350x greater than they’re, doing layoffs over zoom from a yacht.
It’s a certainty that issues are and can change… How briskly? What’s going to unionization charges in non-public workforce be in 2025? 2040? I don’t know. Like talked about beforehand, employee energy can tackle many varieties. For most individuals, after they say or hear “union” they consider one cookie-cutter sort establishment… however the actuality could actually be extra a mixture of escalating assortment motion (demand letters and walkouts), unbiased unions (Amazon Labor Union, Dealer Joe’s United, and many others), worker-led union organizing (Starbucks Employees United), extra Employee Facilities, and many others. (and sure, I’m deliberately not throwing DAOs or web3 within the combine right here as simply doesn’t but deserve implied parity).
For anybody studying this, in case you work at an organization with 100+ folks, there may be 98% probability that a minimum of two of your coworkers are actively discussing unionizing. However like I mentioned, it’s onerous, and it should grow to be simpler. I’m no coverage wonk, nor do I put a lot religion in our present political panorama to enact sustained change (regardless that you’d actually anticipate higher ROI on the $Billions that Labor has funneled to Dem politicians over previous few many years). So a honest hope of mine in constructing Frank isn’t that we’re proper, it’s that we will be a part of rising an ecosystem or neighborhood of parents constructing instruments particularly for employee energy (LaborTech).
HW: Frank is enterprise backed. I’m going to imagine that your funding conversations right here have been a bit totally different than your final startup. What number of instances did you get known as a socialist?
LLH: It’s been attention-grabbing. Frankly, elevating capital to work on this downside is and was privilege. Straight cis white man from background in tech/startups, who ran an accelerator program so has a few years of relationships with VCs, and elevating preseed within the yolo period of 2019 (rip). Constructing instruments for unions is actually not a class or product that almost all VCs need to exist, not to mention see develop. I’ve heard many quick and onerous passes. Lot of individuals I’ve identified for a few years actually aren’t returning emails the way in which they used to. Limitless anti-union tantrums, delivered with the arrogance that solely a VC who had a single private interplay with a union 7 years in the past might muster. Plenty of confused, raised brows, “Wait, aren’t unions dangerous?” then a passing reference to Jimmy Hoffa.
What I do discover fairly humorous is simply what number of contrarians have the very same response. How private opinions instantly cloud this subject, however what number of new classes are evaluated with some marginal mental curiosity. Most likely a correlation right here with why there was extra enterprise funding for golf tech than ladies’s fertility till very not too long ago…
Look, socialists hate enterprise capital, and enterprise capitalists hate unions. However constructing new tech to attempt to deal with main issues in a big class (Labor) requires $. It requires valuing the labor of the crew we rent to construct it, to assist our companions (unions) that use it, and to spend money on frequently making it higher. We didn’t have entry to union funding, grants, or baggage of money that fell off a truck. I attempted, and I self-funded for in all probability longer than cheap.
We don’t aspire to be enterprise backed, to be a mark-up, or to chase the headline of a valuation. Nor are we searching for to advance a political agenda. We’re working in an area the place, traditionally, funding has been sparse. So I’ll take some pictures alongside the way in which, however maintain head down and keep centered on mission we all know to be deeply significant, and on delivering worth for our companions (unions).
HW: After we first met you had based Stomach, a B2B2C loyalty/retention startup. There have been various related corporations shaped across the similar time — I believe a byproduct of cell apps and companies beginning to need extra information on their clients. What’s one factor you have been proper about and one factor you have been mistaken about that basically impacted the trajectory?
LLH: When beginning Stomach in 2011, yeah, we have been monitoring one thing like 15 corporations within the Loyalty house. It appeared extra like a market map than a aggressive panorama slide. Most have been in SF, largely early stage, some producing buzz out of YC or 500 Startups, nearly fully ‘check-in’ sort apps. We in a short time outgrew all of them, and inside a couple of yr it was clear there have been 3–4 key rivals.
I believe that with time, the issues we did proper and issues we fucked up get clearer with perspective, however tainted by fading recollections compressing themselves into tidy narratives.
Early on, one thing we completely did proper that helped propel us rapidly was spending a LOT of time in shops with clients (small enterprise homeowners), and deeply prioritizing what they wanted to see inside their 4 partitions reasonably than what we wished to be mentioned about us in Techcrunch. Many rivals have been constructing cool new issues, that felt scorching and buzzy… like, they have been cell solely merchandise at a time (2011) the place lower than half of a small companies clients had sensible telephones. And the POS (point-of-sale) in all markets exterior of SF have been antiquated, closed methods, that the homeowners didn’t need touched as a result of final time somebody tried so as to add a brand new SKU the “3” key stopped working for six months.
So, we put an iPad on the counter, buyer going through, and enabled customers to sign-up or use Stomach with our app or a bodily key-chain card (QR code). Enterprise homeowners liked it as a result of it created 100% addressable viewers — all of their clients might simply join and use it — in order that they promoted it. And it created a digital billboard on the highest worth location in a retail retailer (POS) which we used to market on to the companies clients. It was our flywheel. We have been capable of intensely deal with promoting to enterprise homeowners, and so they drove all client acquisition from inside their shops.
As soon as rising rapidly, and pulling forward of rivals, I believe we misplaced monitor of whether or not the race was value working. Being so centered on progress, market growth, hiring, fundraising, I satisfied myself and others that dominate market share would allow us to ship XYZ, to “be a platform” 🙄, and broaden share of pockets. Exhausting to select only one factor I used to be mistaken about, however, right this moment’s reply: The choice to function stand-alone exterior of POS (point-of-sale) reasonably than constructing core POS meant we have been a characteristic. There was one thing so core to the companies operations — it took funds, might clock-in workers, course of all SKU/transaction information, and was required to be utilized for each single transaction… and we have been sitting close to it, however we weren’t it. We have been pushing a rock up the mistaken hill.
HW: The final two years have seen an acceleration of ‘tech startups will be constructed anyplace’ and naturally, intense debates about distant work. You led TechStars Chicago for 2 years (2017–2019) and have been related to the native scene there for a fairly some time. Has Chicago over-performed or under-performed your expectations over the past decade as a house for startups? Any predictions going ahead?
LLH: I don’t know. Chicago VCs and all of the establishments spun as much as promote Chicago tech will say it’s over-performed, and can quote bunch of random stats they gathered in a survey or a Pitchbook article just like the MOIC of Chicago enterprise investments. I don’t know what MOIC is. I appeared it up a number of instances. However actually couldn’t care sufficient to recollect. Or, I hear in regards to the % ROI from Chicago investments being prime decile due to decrease entry valuations, as if that’s one thing that’s engaging to founders…. “Hey take a look at me, my midwest valuation obtained you a greater return! Cool!”
Of us in Miami will say Chicago is chilly, Enterprisey, no vibes, and yolo miami bro. No comparative information, simply pumping the hype / meme marketing campaign.
Every tweet storm or weblog put up about Metropolis A vs B, “High 10 Hottest Locations to Begin a Startup”, “Is Boise the New Austin?” I learn them understanding the overwhelming majority are biased narratives with a self-serving function — a politician selling their metropolis, a founder making an attempt to draw exec expertise, a VC take a look at driving their new geo-concentrated LP pitch… Truthfully, I get irritated momentarily then simply transfer on. Others can waste cycles debating it.
I do know there may be every little thing wanted to begin and construct a fantastic crew and firm in Chicago. There are some markets that provide benefits vs others, and a few geos greatest suited to startups in particular industries. However distant and distributed groups are right here to remain, and I’m nonetheless studying to successfully lead a distributed crew. So, no, no actual predictions — simply that I’m fortunately staying put in Chicago and making an attempt to continually adapt with new norms.
Thanks Logan!
