In early 2013, three Harvard Business School students were handed $5,000 and told to go start a business. Eighteen months later, and that class project has attracted the attention of Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban, secured an undisclosed Series A and seen 35 percent compounded growth month over month.
HourlyNerd's concept of helping small businesses rent an MBA for one hundredth the price has gained quick traction and started to evolve. The Downtown Boston startup has begun working with larger brands, such as Microsoft and General Electric, and the enterprise side of the business has taken off.
The founders are regularly flying around the country to meet with Fortune 500 companies and discover how HourlyNerd's pool of experienced consultants can help with their supply chain management, according to Chief Marketing Officer Dan Slagen, who joined the team in June after serving as Nanigans head of marketing.
Bringing Slagen on board was a big move for the small company, and it's one of many they've made since the beginning of the year. The startup hired Brian Morgan, the former founder of labor marketplace OpenMile, in April, and then announced Rich Gardner, a six-year veteran of the Gerson Lehrman Group, as its vice president of sales in July.
The hiring doesn't stop there, however. On Thursday, HourlyNerd announced its brought on Ari Sussman (photographed right) as the startup's new vice president of product development. Sussman will be joining the team after having spent seven years working at Vistaprint."HourlyNerd has done a remarkable job building its business," said Sussman in a statement. "The company fills an enormous void in the market by matching businesses of all sizes with exceptional MBA talent."
Rob Biederman, HourlyNerd's co-CEO and a now-graduated member of the founding three, added, "With this hire, we are now ready to take this company to the next level."
To prove it, the company launched a revamped website Wednesday night, featuring a new logo and slogan all conceptualized in-house. The slogan — "Consulting. On Your Terms."— is, according to Slagen, "Exactly what it sounds like: putting the control back in the hands of the customer."
To further help the customer, HourlyNerd is testing a Concierge Service, currently in beta. The service is intended for larger projects, which the team wants to more easily move from inception and initial bids into properly selecting the best MBA for a partner's project.
HourlyNerd plans to carry their current momentum into the latter half of the year. The startup will be looking to hire more engineering and sales talent, as well as make a secretive, albeit "pretty big content play," according to Slagen.
With more than 7,000 freelance MBA candidates and graduates working with roughly 3,000 companies, it's clear HourlyNerd is far from being that initial class project.
Images via HourlyNerd
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