Network Power: How One Alumni Startup Helped Another Get Staffed Up

By Laura Counts

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Hopsy Co-founder and CEO Sebastian Tron, MBA 15 (Photo courtesy of Hopsy)

Berkeley MBA grads are launching startups in record numbers. Inspired by courses like Steve Blank's Lean Launchpad as well as curricula like the Executive MBA Silicon Valley Immersion Week,  students in the full-time, evening & weekend and executive programs are trying their hands at entrepreneurism. And increasingly, new admits are drawn to Berkeley-Haas for its proximity to—and deep connections with—the Bay Area tech and venture capital scene

The momentum from this critical mass of Haas startups is helping newly minted entrepreneurs build off each other’s work. Take the case of Hopsy, a craft beer delivery service which launched just two months ago in Berkeley and Oakland and quickly sold out.

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(Photo courtesy of Hopsy)

To keep up with customers’ thirst for fresh local brews, co-founder and CEO Sebastian Tron, MBA 15 (above) and co-founders Bodie Paden and Andrew Perroy knew they had to hire help—and fast. 

They turned to Localwise, founded by Ben Hamlin and Maya Tobias, both MBA 14.

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 Hamlin and Tobias (Photo courtesy of Localwise)

The community-oriented jobs platform is aimed at connecting owners of small, local businesses with local jobseekers. Hopsy’s highly targeted posts got an imediate response, and Hopsy was able to hire not one, not two—but nine new employees in under a week.

You can read how it all went down on the Localwise blog here

 Learn more about innovation at Haas

 

 

Posted on February 18, 2016
Laura Counts
Laura is a senior marketing and communications manager at Berkeley-Haas. As a former journalist, she finds no shortage of interesting stories to tell at Haas. As a Cal alum, she loves being able to walk to work through redwood groves along Strawberry Creek.