Mass Challenge Early Stage Cohort – graduate!

I am typing this blog from the couch of a hotel room in Dallas, TX. 

What seemed like forever ago, I was in Boston, MA (with 100+ entrepreneurs) for the kickoff of a 12-week program to “accelerate” my ERISA compliant software business.

The program is called the Mass Challenge, and it took me 4 attempts over 4 years to get accepted to it.

I almost didn’t apply the fourth time but my friend Joe Messinger from CollegeAidPro (another Mass Challenge alumni firm) encouraged me to look at the judges’ feedback over the years and give it another shot.

And I am glad that I did.

Over the 12-week program, I felt like I was drinking from a firehose.  There was so much information to digest about building a business, running a business, funding a business, scaling a business and showing the world what we have created. 

I was overwhelmed at times, as every day I would have pages of notes of things to either fix, create or enhance in our business.

I have two books of notes that I have frantically made.  This weekend, I will be going through all the notes and converting them into an action plan in Asana (the app we use for our task management).

I could not be more excited about my business and the businesses of many others that I have met through this program. 

And that’s the one thing that really sticks out for me.  The program was good (chaotic at times) and the information was useful, but the people were amazing.

I have never met a group of people that are so willing and eager to help before. 

And I am 51 years of age! 

The Mass Challenge staff is amazing.  A shoutout to a couple of super stars.  It starts with the CEO Cait, who I met during lunch on Tuesday and we had a very engaging and enthusiastic conversation.  Later that day, she was going out of her way to introduce me to people who understood the fintech space that I am in.

Jessica at Mass Challenge is always running around making sure everyone feels welcomed and has what they need.  I’ve seen her interact with almost every member the way she does with me.  With a smile on her face, asking me about my daughter, how it is going in Mass Challenge and what they can do better.  She must take a lot of gingko biloba to remember personal details about every member. 

Finally, Steve, a Mass Challenge alum and mentor in the program.  He was the first person that I spoke to that completely understood the fintech space and knew what ERISA was.  He knew first hand that I can’t just “sell my software” to an Edward Jones or Merrill Lynch rep.  He knows there is a process that needs happen to get the “permission” (sales agreement) with the home office of a firm first, before one can “sell” to the reps.  He understood the importance of building the ERISA Rules into our software.  It was refreshing and exciting to find another who just “got it”.

So, I want to give a huge shout out and say Thank You to everyone at Mass Challenge!

They have made huge contributions into inspiring me to make my company bigger, faster and better.  And I feel that I have people that I can turn to when I need help, inspiration and guidance.

Yesterday in Dallas, everyone in the 12-week program became a Mass Challenge “alumni” (myself included). 

I am proud to be an alumni of such an awesome group of people.  I hope that I can live up to the standard that they created. 

Now, I need to get back to work, as I have never been more inspired to help as many investment advisers deliver (ERISA compliant) advice to their clients at scale!

More to come, stay tuned . . .