HourlyNerd, a startup saving businesses money by allowing them to rent an MBA, is seeing money of its own. The company announced Wednesday an undisclosed Series A, which will be used to bolster the team's growth.
Of the nine full-time employees, only two are technical. The newfound funding, backed by Highland Capital Partners and Greylock Partners, will be used to hire, what Co-founder Rob Biederman calls, "a great, world class tech team." As part of the financing, Highland General Partner Dan Nova will also join the company's board of directors, while Greylock Partner Bill Helman steps into the role of key advisor.
Although HourlyNerd started as a project for Harvard Business School Professor Clayton Rose's first-year required FIELD course, the founding group of four local Ivy League graduate students saw the value in their peers. With $5,000 in hand, the team started knocking on doors to see if there was anything individuals living in Cambridge, Allston or Brookline could use a Harvard MBA's help with.
The initial reactions, all positive and enthusiastic, were a clear sign the team "wasn't thinking big enough." So, they applied to ABC's hit reality TV series Shark Tank. Although HourlyNerd made it past the first audition round in July, the team knew that if they did eventually receive airtime, they would have to wait until September for it. And with angel investors waiting in the wings, the team needed to proceed.
Unwilling to miss the opportunity to pitch, however, the team crafted a cold email to famed Shark and Dallas Mavericks Owner Mark Cuban. Within 15 minutes, he responded. Within two months, $450,000 of a $750,000 round was on the table.
Over the last 13 months, HourlyNerd has proven to be a powerful contender next to legacy consulting firms McKinsey and Bain. The startup has gone from attracting small and mid-sized businesses to also partnering with larger brands, such as Microsoft and American Apparel. Speaking to the latter company, Biederman said the company needed a high quality resource for a project "not important enough to spend McKinsey money, but too important to ignore."
HourlyNerd's pool of MBAs hail from prominent business schools such as Stanford, Tuck and Wharton. Rather than charging a potential $250,000 per week for McKinsey-like services, however, the startup provides the expertise of a seasoned professional for an hourly rate of $30 to $100, depending on the bids MBAs put in.
Biederman described HourlyNerd as an "MVP in consulting," noting that the company gives other brands the opportunity to have their smaller strategic questions answered without needing to sign on a behemoth firm. "We're creating a new market in McKinsey," Biederman added, "but they don't care, because that's not the kind of business they want anyway."
The team rolled out a new website Monday, and will soon start adding more advanced features when they have the proper technical talent on board. Biederman said they were delving deeper into data science to better match companies with the best MBA in the HourlyNerd network. A grading system could also be coming down the pipeline soon, which would help highlight which MBA offers the "best value" based on the magnitude and focus of the project.
Although all still MBA candidates at Harvard Business School themselves, the HourlyNerd team has an ambitious road ahead.
"Our goal is to be the first call for small business consulting advice," Biederman said, "and we want to get there without spending money on Super Bowl ads."
