Today, Robin is announcing its $20M Series B round of funding.

We connected with Sam Dunn, CEO & Founder of Robin, to learn more about the company and the round of funding.

Robin is hiring! Check out their openings which are all listed on the sidebar .

Congratulations on your Series B round of funding! What are the details on this round of funding, and how do you plan to use the capital to accelerate the business?

Thank you! Excited to have Tola Capital and Allegion Ventures aboard, joining the roster of investors alongside FirstMark, Boldstart, Accomplice, and Herman Miller. We’re using this investment to further expand into more of the office (introducing seat management and interactive floorplans) -- and we’ll need to hire a good number of people to help us drive our mission to modernize the open office forward.

How is Robin modernizing the open office?

Search “open office layout” and you’ll quickly discover that research says they’re evil and we should do everything in our power to avoid them. In reality though, the open office complaints we hear over and over again like constant noise and distraction and lack of available meeting spaces, are really a result of a lack of choices for employees. Ill-designed open offices typically provide two types of spaces for people to get work done: a meeting room and a desk. Enter Robin. With the help of activity-based work, the transformational strategy which includes a variety of space types for employees to choose from based on their task at hand, those complaints disappear. Robin supports and educates an activity-based working environment by providing Facilities, IT and admins with workplace experience software that delivers the flexibility employees want and the insights companies need.

What are some of the common challenges that your product solves for companies?

Robin modernizes the open office with workplace experience software that delivers the flexibility employees want and the insights companies need.

Robin helps make sure the spaces throughout any office get used the way they’re intended - and when they’re not, Robin surfaces up insights into why that might be happening with suggestions on how to improve space utilization. In the meetings world, our platform removes abandoned no-show meetings from calendars automatically, helps people secure meeting spaces so they never have to worry about a room being stolen, and surfaces up available spaces with suggestions on the right space based on the type of meeting someone is looking to schedule. Robin Maps helps showcase seating charts, available rooms, and points of interest throughout the office.

Any new key features of Robin that you’d like to highlight?

We are taking over the whole floor plan! There’s a lot more to offices than meeting rooms — we see seat management and interactive maps as important places to start. With our new scheduling and insights releases, Robin can help employees find the best spot based on the type of work they need to do in order to get their best work done quicker than ever. With insights into how the office is being used, workplace admins can understand and continue to iterate their floor plan based on the needs of their employees. More than 1,300 businesses, including DraftKings, HubSpot, and Shopify, rely on Robin for resource scheduling, space management, and office maps. We have also has established partnerships with Crestron, and Convene, and most recently we teamed up with Amazon to support voice controlled room scheduling.

What is required for a company to get set up with Robin?

An office and a “can-do” attitude. Our team has gotten good at helping companies connect their Google and Outlook calendars, inventory rooms, and import floor plans — we hear a lot of workplace woes and I’m proud to say that our team is pretty darn good at sharing best practices and what they’ve seen work in other customer offices. We pride ourselves on the stability of our product and how simple it is for any organization to rollout to the rest of the company. It’s a set-it-and-forget-it type of experience with Robin.

Robin is rapidly growing! What’s your plan for hiring throughout 2019?
We’re looking to double our headcount over this year (jobs here) -- we’re at 87 now and are looking to be 155 by end of year. This is important to get right, since workplaces are built for the people — and we want to make a place people are proud to be. We do that by building a team that celebrates curiosity and diversity of opinion, so we can tackle the hard problems. That’s what energizes me — we have a chance to do really meaningful work for workplace.

Tufts University is a private liberal arts college and was recently named as one of America's best colleges by Forbes.

Several Tufts University alumni have gone onto illustrious tech/entrepreneurial careers. We put together a slideshow of alumni who have made an impact on the startup/tech sector by either being a founder, investor, or CEO. 

Interesting side note, a couple of non-tech alumni have had success in the beverage industry: Jonathan Greenblatt, co-founded Ethos Brands, which was acquired by Starbucks and John Bello, founded SoBe Beverages. PepsiCo acquired SoBe in 2000.

Please keep in mind that this is not meant to be a comprehensive list, but just a sampling.

Going through the pictures, there's bound to be at least one person that will make you go, "I didn't realize they went to Tufts University?"

ThreeMain is an eCommerce startup selling environmentally-friendly cleaning products with the goal of combating plastic pollution. The company recently announced its seed round where they obtained a total of $1M in funding.

ThreeMain’s Co-Founders Joe Budzienski and Lauren Simonelli have been working together in some capacity throughout their careers. They connected with us to talk about the founding of the eCommerce startup, their respective backgrounds, and tips for funding for early-stage companies.

Colin Barry [CB]: Prior to starting ThreeMain, the two of you have extensive careers in the Boston tech/entrepreneurial space? Can you share the details on your respective professions?

Joe Budzienski [JB]: Much of my profession was in the HR tech space. In 2012, I founded Gozaik, which was acquired in 2014. I spent 3 years at the acquiring company, and we scaled our product from $0 to a $40M business inside that time, with the entire core Gozaik team in place during our tenure. I then got an itch to tackle a bigger problem that was affecting our families, friends and the planet-- plastic. It is clear how much our technology background aligns with the solution we are building today.

Lauren Simonelli [LS]: In 2012, I joined Joe to start Gozaik, a social-recruitment platform for the HR space. At Gozaik, my focus was product development. Upon the acquisition, I joined Joe and the rest of our Gozaik team at the acquiring company, where I continued to focus on developing cutting-edge advertising technologies for the HR space.

CB: Now onto ThreeMain. What is the story behind the new startup? Why go from hard tech to cleaning eCommerce?

JB: My hobbies have always taken me to the water during my career (fly fishing). I never realized that my outside passions would reveal a new path for me to try and protect our health and oceans from plastics and microplastics.

Water bottles were already being tackled--check. I couldn't believe the entire $32B cleaning industry wanted everyone to believe that refilling a plastic bottle was the answer. To me, aluminum is the only answer -- but it's not easy.

Even though we had to map out roads not traveled yet and hire a brilliant green chemist, I would say we are still in hard tech. We just had to approach our business GTM a bit differently from traditional tech. A great eCommerce consumer product company is also a great tech company. Had we not previously built a scalable tech, I imagine this would have been even more of a challenge.

LS: As someone who is very health conscious, I was horrified to learn about the toxic chemicals in the products I used regularly, and how my efforts to recycle were simply not good enough.

The realization that there are millions of consumers out there who are just like me is what drove me to make the switch to cleaning eCommerce. I knew that if we could offer consumers a more effective alternative that was healthier for their families and enabled them to easily make an impact on our planet, it was worth the risk.

I love developing products and solving problems and with ThreeMain, I’ve been able to do just that -- develop an innovative solution for green cleaning, while making an impact on the ever-growing plastic-waste problem our world faces.   

CB: What kinds of problems is ThreeMain solving with its products?

LS: It’s no secret that our world is facing a plastic-pollution crisis and that there are far too many toxins in the products we use every day. While consumers know this, it can be a daunting thought to ditch the plastic and toxins entirely, without sacrificing efficacy, their health, or their time. Our goal is to enable consumers to easily make the switch to sustainable in the household cleaning products space, with no sacrifice.

JB:  Safe green products have been around for over 15 years. However, it amazes me how they still cut corners to save money and use unnecessary ingredients.

We didn't just want a safe product -- a product that you could give your kids to use (if you can get them to help you clean), but one that performed. When we started early testing, I was blown away to learn that one of the top three green brands had a close to zero percent microbial efficacy. How can you sell a product to clean staph, Noro, etc. and have close to zero?

We needed to keep it simple for the customer which meant more work on our end, but we were ready. The way we abuse plastic today isn't right. It makes no sense.

When you see the life expectancy of a bottle and that 91% of them are not recycled it really makes you stop and think, especially because they last 400 years. When you think of that--are our competitors really sustainable?

Aluminum, on the other hand, has infinite recyclability. 75% of all aluminum produced in the last century is still in circulation.

Every product ThreeMain sells will be in an aluminum bottle that will not only last, but if needed, will be recycled into eternity.

CB: What are some of the challenges you two have faced since starting the company?

LS: While we’re problem solvers, our background is still in tech, so navigating a supply chain was an entirely new concept for us, one that we’re still working to perfect.

From a packaging perspective, there were also a lot of challenges. We initially explored using recycled ocean-bound plastic for our bottles but quickly realized that while this approach saves money and takes plastic out of or away from our oceans, it doesn’t prevent it from going right back to where it came from after its single-use. Plastic is plastic, after all.

After several hours and dollars were spent on exploring this, we had to pivot, and thankfully, found our answer with aluminum – it’s refillable AND reusable.

Another challenge we faced was shipping our products safely, while keeping our packaging sustainable. Because eliminating plastic is at the forefront of our mission, bubble wrap or plastic packaging was simply not an option. So, we developed custom boxes for our bottles that eliminate the need for any additional packaging (no bubble wrap or packing peanuts here!).  

CB: Congrats on the recent round of funding! Could you share some advice to other entrepreneurs working in a similar space?

JB: Thank you! There are so many but I have a top three.

For me, the first two are to never stop networking and reading. I can't remember that last time I had time to read fiction. Maybe somewhere between my last startup and second of three awesome kids.

In all seriousness, read about your industry, your competitors, never stop. Know your data and always be learning. You never know as much as you think and there is always someone out their sponging more than you.

For networking, it's simple -- keep building that funnel! If you don't ask for an intro, you won’t get it. Raising money is really tough. I would say it continues to be the hardest thing I do as an entrepreneur and will only get harder.

Oh, and #3... make sure your business is scalable.

LS: Echoing Joe, Thank you! Simply stated, my advice to other entrepreneurs would be, set a mission and don’t divert. There are so many times when we could have saved time and money by using lower quality ingredients or less-sustainable materials. We could have cut so many corners to make things easier, but it would not have been in-line with our mission to protect the health of consumers, and our planet.

CB: Switching gears here to a light question; how did you come up with the name for the company?

LS: ThreeMain was founded with three guiding principles in mind – Simplicity, Sustainability, and Effectiveness. All aspects of our business from our formulas to our packaging, reflect these three main principles.

In addition, there are three staples a household needs in order to maintain a clean home – that is a bathroom cleaner, a dish soap, and a multi-surface cleaner. These are the three products we launched with and offer today, but we’re excited to continue building on this with even more soon!

CB: Any other additional comments you’d like to make?

LS: Partnering with an organization called the Rozalia Project has been a large part of our mission to eliminate plastic waste and protect our oceans. We know that together with our customers, we can make an impact on plastic consumption in the household cleaning products space moving forward - but this partnership takes that a step further.

We donate 3% of all of our sales to the Rozalia Project. It enables us and our customers to make an impact on the damage that has already been done – the plastic waste already in our oceans and on our beaches.

With this contribution, the Rozalia Project protects and cleans the ocean using technology, innovation, solutions-based research, and engaging STEM programs.

---

Colin Barry is the Content Manager to VentureFizz. Follow him on Twitter @ColinKrash.

Images courtesy of ThreeMain

 

When Rapid7 really started focusing on its Diversity, Equity and Inclusion efforts last year, I spent a lot of time exploring how other companies had approached this work. I learned many were supportive of affinity groups and were committing much time, energy and financial support to them. In theory, I think it’s a wonderful thing to gather people together who share a common interest. However, it also raised a big flag to me: it struck me as counterintuitive to focus on creating groups that are the opposite of inclusive by singling out people who share a common denominator of the very thing we are trying to be inclusive of. If the goal of inclusion efforts is to break down boundaries and create a healthy cross-pollination of ideas and respect for all, this will ultimately come from a broad set of connections, relationships, and interactions.  

This is not intended at all to be a rant on affinity groups, though it is a cautionary tale to all leaders and employees who are trying to make strides in their own diversity mindsets and efforts. Consider this: when we encourage people to partner up with others just like themselves, qualified by labels like “gay” or “Latino” or “woman,” I think we are missing the point. Instead, I challenge that we should be finding ways to bring people together based on their skills, interests, etc. Of course, we can find comfort and inspiration when we spent time with those like ourselves, but if the goal of inclusion is to truly create an environment of acceptance and understanding, the division between these groups can actually make things worse.

When my ancestors came over on the boat from Italy to Ellis Island, they behaved as do many immigrants; they found their “tribe.” They settled in an area where there were other Italian immigrants, and together they bonded over food, culture, etc. as a means of building community and a safe support mechanism. Totally normal behavior right? When we feel threatened, we retreat to groups of people that create that safety net for us.

This Tribal thinking might have made sense as a form of survival and safety, but in the workplace, there are other approaches we can take to create the connections and relationships we so crave. Radical approach? Refocus on the mission of eviscerating the very prejudices and biases that are at the core of this struggle in the first place, and move towards groups centered on building true inclusion. Why? While affinity groups are often incredibly well-intentioned they often drift to a dynamic of “people like me” and result in furthering the “us vs. them” mentality we are all trying so hard to break down.  

As an alternative, I’m suggesting that instead of building alliances around a particular qualifier, companies aid and support opportunities where people can break down boundaries and make real connections. I’m not suggesting people who share common qualifiers shouldn’t connect and provide support to one another. I am, however, suggesting we re-examine groups so that they really focus on true “affinities” Perhaps instead of a “women’s network,” we focus our energies on gathering people who love spin class. Or people passionate about music. Or AI. Or whatever. The point is, instead of building groups defined by race or orientation, we will focus our energies on true affinities that will bring people closer together, rather than further separate them. When we behave like this, we deepen our ability to truly break down barriers, cross-pollinate ideas, and ultimately make our places of work more collaborative and innovative through the diversity of mindset coming together.

Pro-Tip: Check out tools like CultureHQ that help to make this shift easy, non-threatening and fun.

Christina Luconi is Chief People Officer for Rapid7. Follow her on Twitter: @peopleinnovator. 

For the 98th episode of our podcast, I interviewed Greg Raiz, Chief Innovation Officer at Rightpoint.

Greg founded Raizlabs right when the mobile revolution was starting to take shape. The firm worked very closely with lots of companies help build out their app or mobile presence. Companies like Runkeeper, Rue La La, Care.com, and many others.

Under his leadership, Raizlabs continued to grow and expand to the point where the company was acquired by Rightpoint in 2017. In his role as Chief Innovation Officer, he is responsible for building the culture of innovation throughout Rightpoint, and working with clients to help them digitally transform their businesses using design and innovation thinking.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like:

• Greg’s background before starting Raizlabs including what his time at Microsoft taught him.
• The full background story of Raizlabs.
• A deep dive into the early years of mobile and how customers’ started to adopt a mobile-first strategy.
• The details on Rightpoint and its future growth plans.
• Advice for founders trying to build a successful service-based business.
• Plus, a lot more.

It has been far too long since VentureFizz has hosted our own event. Well, that is finally changing. Last week, we announced a new event which is taking place on May 30th at Acquia’s offices in Boston. We are turning our popular Lead(H)er series into a live interactive event. You'll get a chance to hear some of the inspirational stories firsthand from an amazing group of women. Tickets are only $10 and a portion of the proceeds will be donated to the Boston chapter of Women Who Code. You can register on Eventbrite.

You can listen to the podcast in the player below. To make sure you receive future episodes, please subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or Soundcloud. If you enjoyed our show, please consider writing us a 5-star review—it will definitely help us get the word out there! 

FlipKey is a vacation rental marketplace that has over 300,00 properties in over 179 countries. The company was founded in 2007 and was acquired by TripAdvisor.

We spoke with FlipKey Co-Founder and CEO TJ Mahony on The VentureFizz Podcast and he went into lots of great details about the founding of the company.

Several of FlipKey's alumni have gone onto start their own companies, hold high-level executive positions, or become investors in the Boston tech scene. We've compiled a slideshow showcasing them.

For this slideshow, we used the following criteria:

• Must be based in the Boston area.
• Tenure at FlipKey for at least two years and before acquisition by TripAdvisor
• Currently a founder, VP, C-level executive, and/or investor

Take a look at the slideshow below! Screenshot courtesy of the Wayback Machine back in October 2008.

Anaqua helps corporations and law firms turn intellectual property into a competitive advantage. Their software platform unifies the critical tools, best practice workflows, data, documents and services into one efficient, intelligent environment so our clients operate more efficiently and make better decisions faster.

We connected with Susan Grover, Anaqua’s Senior Director of Human Resources, to get an inside look at the company's day-to-day operations. She also went into lots of details about Anaqua’s technology, the various projects, the team's culture and more.

Interested in working here? Click here see all of Anaqua’s job openings!

Quick Hit Company Details

• Year Founded: 2005

• Number of employees / number of employees: about 400

• Industry: Software & Legal Services

Can you share the details on what Anaqua does?

Anaqua is a software and services company that helps corporations and law firms gain a competitive advantage from their intellectual property.  We are all about protecting inventions/ innovations and branding, which are the things that differentiate top tier companies and sustain long-term competitive advantage.  

What teams are based in your Boston office?

Boston is our global headquarters and we have a variety of teams here including, Professional Services, Client Success, Engineering, Finance, Marketing, Human Resources, Sales, IT, Product & Innovation.  

What are your company’s core values or how would you best describe the culture and working environment at Anaqua?

We recently revised our values by having employees globally vote on adjectives that best describe Anaqua.  The winning values included Passionate, Collaborative, Agile, Diverse, and Innovative. Our culture and work environment mirror these traits. Employees coming into Anaqua can expect to work in a global environment, partnering and working with teams from around the world. We are fast-paced, love what we do, and strive to lead the way in our industry.  

Is there anything that you’d like to share in terms of promoting diversity across your company and hiring practices?

Diversity is one of our core values and is one of the things that makes Anaqua unique.  Working within different cultures brings different points of view, which allows us to look at problems and solutions from many angles. This is ultimately a major strength for Anaqua. To bridge geographic and cultural gaps, we established the Anaqua Culture Team (ACT) which is a cross-functional committee of employees who are passionate about developing and evolving our culture as we continue to grow.  

From a big picture point of view, what experience or traits do you typically look for when interviewing and hiring new employees into Anaqua?

We look for individuals who can do the core components of a role and who are also aligned with our values.  It is also helpful to hire someone who brings a unique strength that might be lacking elsewhere in the team. I think that balance is very important in building a cohesive team and you do not want everyone to have the same strengths and weaknesses.  We have a member of ACT interview each candidate coming into the organization.  This ACT interviewer has no stake in the person being hired and can be completely objective. Finding candidates who are going to fit in well with our culture is equally as important as finding someone who can do the functions of the job.  

What’s the best way to get a job at Anaqua?

The best way to get a job at Anaqua is to connect with Cassie Tracey. Our roles are also always posted on our website, so applying directly will bring you to the right place as well.  

What types of activities are employees involved in at or outside the office, and/or how do you stay involved in the community?

We spend a lot of time at work, so we try to make it a fun place!  We have monthly happy hours, birthday celebrations and “office-made” breakfast to encourage teams to get to know one another.  In terms of staying connected to the community, we hold an annual Anaqua Cares event where all employees are encouraged to perform community service with local non-profit organizations.  This event started in the Boston office and has spread throughout our offices globally.

Rapid Fire Questions

What’s on tap?

I usually grab an Angry Orchard during our monthly happy hours.

iPhone or Android?

iPhone

Favorite employee perk?

Wearing jeans to work daily is definitely a nice perk!

Coffee - hot or iced?

Iced lattes from one of the four Starbucks within walking distance.

Wake up before the alarm or hit the snooze button?

I have a strange ability to always wake up before the alarm goes off.  Whether that means I actually get up depends on the day.

What superhero could you see working at Anaqua?

I will go with the Green Lantern for this one. Having a ring that can do just about anything would add a lot of value at Anaqua. Employees are often asked to wear multiple hats.

View from your office:

Employee Testimonials

Cassie Tracey, Human Resources Generalist

“I love working with such a fun and diverse group of co-workers at Anaqua!  Throughout the few years I’ve been here, I’ve seen firsthand how passionate everyone is about our software and client satisfaction.  Together, we work towards a common purpose, and you can feel the buzz and excitement in the office every day.  We’ve grown a lot over the past few years, and because of that, I’ve had the opportunity to get involved in a lot of aspects of the company that interests me, and really grow my skill set. And no matter how hard we work, we always know how to have fun with our monthly birthday happy hours.”

Amanda Hollis, PR Manager

“It’s exciting to work at a software company where my first impressions of Anaqua being an innovative, smart and friendly work environment continue to stay true today. The business is unique in that it’s changing the way organizations think about the management of their most valuable intangible assets, intellectual property. To work at a company where team members are passionate about contributing to a similar goal, their opinions are valued and their collaboration with clients (many of the world’s top global brands) directly helps their business and supports our software enhancements, is truly a unique opportunity.”

For the 96th episode of our podcast, I interviewed Rudina Seseri, Founder and Managing Partner of Glasswing Ventures.

Glasswing Ventures is an early-stage venture capital firm dedicated to investing in the next generation of AI-powered technology companies. The firm announced its $112 million debut fund last July and Rudina has invested in companies like CHAOSSEARCH, Inrupt, Talla, Zylotech, and others.

In this episode of our podcast, we cover lots of topics, like:

• Rudina’s inspirational background story and how at the age of 15, she came to the US by herself for school and what that taught her about independence.
• Her professional experience and how she got into the world of venture capital.
• The story of how Glasswing got started and all the details on the firm.
• The current state of AI and other sectors.
• Common mistakes entrepreneurs make.
• Advice for founders on trying to get early customers.
• The current state of diversity in the workplace.
• Plus, a lot more.

On the first Monday of every month, we publish the latest edition of Career Forward. It is a roll-up of the hottest jobs in the Boston tech scene. This month’s edition features over 120 jobs across all functional areas such as engineering, product, UX, sales, marketing, and more. Go to venturefizz.com/careerforward for more.

You can listen to the podcast in the player below. To make sure you receive future episodes, please subscribe to us on iTunes, Google Play, Stitcher, Spotify, or Soundcloud. If you enjoyed our show, please consider writing us a 5-star review—it will definitely help us get the word out there!