After launching his own startup last year and helping get the Republic Cities platform off the ground in Dallas, James Jang, founder and CEO at Optab, talked with NTX Inno in a virtual Bytes with the Beat on Thursday to talk about founding a company during the pandemic, the crowdfunding route to investments and… pickleball (watch until the end).
Optab launched over the summer. Still in its beta phase, the company helps restaurants analyze their supply chain invoices and compare prices to what other restaurants are paying to help them with buying decisions. Restaurants pay on a monthly or yearly basis for the service.
Despite launching during a pandemic that has hit the restaurant industry particularly hard, Jang said the crisis has helped Optab. As restaurant owners look to cut costs, amid decreased capacity measures, Jang said many are turning to tech tools to help them operate more efficiently and cost-effectively.
Not long after forming Optab, Jang joined a team of other local innovators, including Eduardo Zaldivar, an advisor at TXV Partners, to help bring the recently-created Republic Cities platform to Dallas. The platform offers a curated community of local startups and stakeholders of the Republic platform.
So far, five startups have launched crowdfunding campaigns through republic Dallas, with one, home buying and selling app Nada raising close to $1 million with 63 days still left on its campaign.
If you missed out on the live event, you can check out a recording below.
