New York Launch Pod: A Podcast Highlighting New Start-Ups, Businesses, and Openings in the New York City Area (NY Launch Pod)

Evan Hammer, co-founder of Smart Host, joins the New York Launch Pod in its first episode!  Smart Host is a one-year-old start-up based out of New York City that provides dynamic pricing recommendations for short-term vacation rental properties on sites such as Airbnb, HomeAway and FlipKey.  Vacation rentals are a multi-billion dollar industry and Smart Host thinks owners are losing out on a lot of revenue!  Whether it’s because property owners and managers are too busy or just don’t have enough data at their fingertips, Smart Host discovered that vacation rental prices are largely stagnant and in a short period of time in New York City the average hotel price varied by 124% while the average vacation rental price varied by only 18%.  Find out how Evan and his team set out to provide property owners and managers with more resources, founded their company in only three days, where the future of real estate data is going, and why Evan thinks his company has an advantage over the big players in the market.

Transcript of the episode available here: http://nylaun.ch/smarthostt

More on Smart Host: https://smarthost.me/

Mathew Farkash, co-founder of Blueprint Health, a New York City based health accelerator, joins the second episode of the New York Launch Pod to discuss the unique set of challenges that face health care start-ups. Blueprint Health was recently named by Fast Company as one of the top ten most innovative companies in health care, an incredible accomplishment when Mathew and his co-founder Dr. Brad Weinberg teamed up to start one of the first health care specific accelerators. Find out how Blueprint Health built, from scratch, the largest health care specific mentor community of any accelerator in the world and the benefits that provides to participants in Blueprint Health’s program. Listen to hear why Mathew believes New York City is the best place for health care start-ups and what Blueprint Heath looks for in entrepreneurs when it selects only 3% of companies from the hundreds that apply to its program.

Transcript of the episode available here: http://nylaun.ch/Blueprintt

More on Blueprint Health: https://www.blueprinthealth.org/

Wole Coaxum, founder of MoCaFi, steps onto the New York Launch Pod to discuss his challenger bank and project management company dedicated to serving the unbanked and underbanked and providing essential financial services in marginalized communities.

As former managing director at JPMorgan and head of business banking sales at Chase, Wole recognized that many people were using payday lenders and check cashers instead of traditional banks, either because banks did not have branches in these communities or because their fee models were not structured in favor of these clients. As a result, whether through payday lenders or traditional banks, these communities were paying a higher price to use necessary financial services and Wole set out to change that. MoCaFi is an online banking platform which provides a range of financial services to poorer communities that larger banks have neglected to serve by offering financial literacy education, credit building through rent and utility payments, and low fees and interest rates on small loans. In the future Wole hopes to reduce the wealth gap in these communities by bringing them into the traditional banking sector while providing efficient, low cost financial services.

In this episode we talk about the gaps in traditional banking services, the importance of banking to lifetime financial well being and how MoCaFi is solving these issues through a wide range of innovative technologies and services!

At 2:52 we discuss the hole in the market that brick and mortar banks are not filling

At 6:01 we talk about the longterm financial effects of being unbanked or underbanked

At 9:48 Wole discusses how MoCaFi is solving the high-fee, high-cost business model of traditional banks and how the environment and rituals of a community keep people from participating in the traditional financial sector

At 15:28 Wole describes how MoCaFi is approaching customer acquisition through the power of social media and celebrity

And at 27:00 Wole talks about MoCaFi’s sustainable business model and the difference between traditional banks and challenger banks and what that means in the context of the United State’s regulatory framework.

Transcript of this episode available at: nylaun.ch/mocafitr

For more on MoCaFi visit: mocafi.com

This episode has been sponsored by RezCue, the Housing Stability and Tenant Protection Act compliance software for landlords. For more information on RezCue visit: rezcueme.com

Miriam Altman, co-founder of Kinvolved, steps on to the New York Launch Pod to discuss the founding of her company that elevates student attendance in schools and provides text message alerts to family members about absenteeism or lateness.

As a teacher in a New York City public school for three years, Miriam saw first-hand that classroom attendance was inconsistent and the problems with chronic absenteeism and lateness. However, once Miriam started establishing a relationship with the parents her students’ attendance increased. Understanding that teachers are over-burdened and that each class represents over a 100 parents, the idea for Kinvolved was hatched.

On her first day at the Wagner School at NYU Miriam met her Co-Founder, Alexandra Meis. Both Alex and Miriam were passionate about education and family involvement. While in graduate school the co-founders were able to understand the need for the product and made time to start the company with the first Beta launching in 2012.

With Kinvolved’s app Kinvo, if a student is late or absent, a text message or email (in a number of different languages) is sent to that student’s parents allowing them to know what is happening in real time as opposed to traditional methods which let parents know at the end of the semester. The result: three in four teachers who use Kinvo have reported increased student attendance, with 93% reporting improved communication with families. What’s more, the app takes a fraction of the time to take the roll versus the traditional Scantron sheets that some schools still use allowing for more classroom instruction.

Go behind the scenes of the start-up that has double bottom line of making money and carrying out a social mission to improve attendance in under-resourced communities, and hear about the challenges and opportunities of working in New York City public schools, the largest district in the United States.

Alissa Wagner and Sabrina De Sousa, the Co-Founders of Dimes, step on to the New York Launch Pod to discuss their restaurant, marketplace, and deli in Chinatown.

Dimes first opened its doors in September 2013 as a huge success. After the first day of business Alissa and Sabrina were on the phone to get more staff for the restaurant. The concept is based on design elements that Alissa and Sabrina love and food the two would want to eat. As Alissa says, Dimes serves food that is “balanced, healthy, clean and beautiful”.

Not surprisingly, Dimes opened up to wonderful reviews. In addition to having great food, the New Yorker called Dimes the place where “the cool kids want to be”. Sabrina explains, “Dimes embodies the creatives that live in the neighborhood...a lot of crossover with fashion, art, and music”. As the business flourished, Alissa and Sabrina created a marketplace that sells Dimes branded apothecaries including a salt scrub, lip balm, and candle alongside the fresh food that goes into the restaurant.

Listen to the episode to hear why Alissa and Sabrina chose Chinatown as the location for Dimes, how they actively engage the community, and the genesis of the name and brand Dimes.

Transcript of the episode available here: http://nylaun.ch/DimesTr

More on Dimes: http://www.dimesnyc.com/