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How did you come up with the idea for your business?
Last summer, my cofounder, Arnold, was in New Orleans on a family trip. It was the first time he’d been back in years, and there was a little local coffee shop there that they used to visit when they frequented the city more often. It was sort of a tradition to go there every time he and his family came through the city, so they made plans to visit it first thing in the morning. However, when they arrived the following day, it was unexpectedly closed. The place had flooded, knocking out its power. Arnold was frustrated not just because of the time and gas spent, but because he deliberately made an effort to check online beforehand to make sure the shop was open and yet his effort was in vain. They missed out on a potentially memorable experience.
Arnold told me about this, and I explained my own frustrations – it seems like I’m always the last to know about cool shows happening around Austin. We did some digging and discovered a real opportunity to help people not miss out on memorable experiences.
What does the average day look like for you now as an entrepreneur (especially compared to past jobs/days)?
Unlike past jobs and the life of a student, there’s no set schedule to rely on to hold us accountable and make sure progress is being made. We’re all STEM majors as well, which means juggling lab reports, research, clinical hours, and challenging classes on top of our other responsibilities. Grapevine takes a backseat at times because of this, but I typically try to spend about 2 hours finding resources for us to take advantage of or apply for, updating social media and our website, and coordinating our next steps. We try to hold weekly meetings to act on the resources I’ve found, do research, outline our plans going forward, and discuss further ideas.
What are some of the top things you have learned so far?
I’ve learned the value of having a good team; handling stress, meeting deadlines, and generating ideas are so much easier and manageable with a team. Specifically, I’ve learned two strategies to promote teamwork and leadership from my time spent working on various teams, which are crucial to making progress and ultimately success. First, encourage active listening; we, as a team, never benefit from someone being spoken over or ignored. Second, establish common goals, which gets us on the same page to manage time together effectively and maintains genuine interest in our collective success.
Who or what inspired you to become an entrepreneur?
I was initially inspired to become an entrepreneur because I was recognizing the limitations of a degree in neuroscience for myself; it is a very specific field of study and the only paths after college that I could see were either medical school or graduate school to conduct research. I wasn’t particularly interested in these options and wanted to explore how I could make some sort of new career for myself that included many of my interests outside of neuroscience. I didn’t and still don’t see myself in any one traditional career. I saw the announcements for McCombs’ Summer Entrepreneurship Academy and decided to take a leap and attend. I learned how entrepreneurship could provide the career freedom I was looking for, that entrepreneurship is what you make of it.
I met Dr. Murphy and Professor Ciarla through that experience and got to see entrepreneurship through a female lens, expanding my initial perception of business.
Business can mean more than spreadsheets, reports, and profit; it can connect people and open up a world of possibilities for them.
What have been 1-2 of your proudest moments in creating your business?
Receiving a LaunchPad StartUp grant was a very proud moment. It provided more than just funds for our next steps going forward; it also provided validation of our idea and encouragement that we were on the right track.
What’s the best advice you have received along your journey?
As a young, inexperienced entrepreneur and as a student, I’ve been given so much advice from so many sources. I believe that every person I meet has something I can learn from, but hearing so much advice and so many stories can be overwhelming. It can be difficult to sift through what applies most to you – where you’re at right now, what you actually want to accomplish, and who you want to accomplish those things with. My older brother, a serial entrepreneur himself and one of my role models, told me something that has stuck with me the most: “Don’t take advice from people who aren’t where you want to be”. Off the bat, this seems like a hard truth to hear. However, the idea isn’t to immediately assume that many people don’t have anything helpful to share. It’s to recognize the context from which they are offering their advice – everyone has been on their own journey and what they learned from their particular experiences may not always apply the most to yours.
About The Author:
Jillian Albus '23
Founder of Grapevine