This weekend, rival schools Michigan State and the University Michigan are back on the field together for their much anticipated annual game. For the co-founders of UrbanBound, a Chicago-based relocation management software, there's more on the line than bragging rights for their respective Alma maters.
That's because whoever's team loses Saturday will be expected to wear their rival team's jersey to the office on Monday.
"It used to be that every year, I’d go home and find a jersey and bring it into work on Monday, but Michigan State has won seven out of the last eight years so Michael just kept my jersey," said Jeff Ellman, co-founder of UrbanBound and an alum of Michigan State. "There’s no reason for me to even have it anymore."
As graduates from rival universities, Ellman and his partner Michael Krasman were — what some might have considered — an unlikely pair to go into business together.
"It’s probably not the best recipe for success for two co-founders to be from rival schools, but its worked well for us," Ellman said, laughing.
Krasman — who graduated from the University of Michigan — agreed. They both graduated in 1999, right around the time they first met and decided to go into business together.
Although the idea for UrbanBound was born in 2011, it didn't really hit the market until 2012. UrbanBound, which provides relocated employees the resources they'll need for a successful job relocation, resulted from their years of working in HR, recruiting and consulting recent college graduates in their job search, according to Ellman.
"We noticed that when companies had to relocate their employees for a job, they often were simply giving them money, like a sign on bonus, a lump sum of money or reimbursement up to a certain dollar amount, and telling them, 'here’s your start date … good luck with your move, we’ll see you then,'" he said.
Now used by tens of thousands of relocated employees, UrbanBound provides relocated employees with much more than that, Ellman said. It allows them access to data on the employees in the their new city, such as where they live, how they commute to work, or where they go for nightlife, restaurants or shopping.
Krasman added that it also provides the employee with general information on the city they're moving to.
"When we first started, the product focus was really all about the employee experience. But what devolved since then … is a solution that employers rely on," Krasman said, explaining that UrbanBound allows employers to more accurately estimate the cost of relocation so they can plan better benefits and policies for their employees.
"It’s become a platform where the employer, the employee and the suppliers that are providing the services and goods to these employees all interact in one place," he said.
The company now employs about 40 people, according to Krasman. Their office space is now located in the Loop, though they were previously housed in River North.
Despite their university allegiances, Krasman and Ellman first went into business together early on in their careers as entrepreneurs.
"I had started my first company while I was still a student at University of Michigan," Krasman said. "I moved back to Ann Arbor to finish my undergraduate degree and during that period of time I was introduced to Jeff and we started working together. I was initially consulting him to help scale the business he had started."
Krasman said they both quickly realized that they had a similar vision for where the company could go and that their values were almost identical. Growing the company together made sense, he said.
"I actually commuted from Ann Arbor to East Lansing to get the business going," he added. "So I was crossing into enemy territory, so to speak, to work on the business together."
So, which team is going to come out on top this weekend?
"I think with a rival game you can throw out the records of the team," said Ellman, the Michigan State alum. "It always ends up being a close game and it always ends up being memorable."
"Michigan," Krasman said. "100 percent."
Image via UrbanBound
