Memphis Startup: WorkForPie Prepares For TechCrunch Disrupt

If their name means anything at all than Memphis startup WorkForPie should have several walk in freezers worth of pie because they’ve been working really hard… for pie. WorkForPie was a member of the first class at Memphis’ accelerator SeedHatchery. They were also the first startup out of SeedHatchery to raise significant follow on funding.

After graduating from SeedHatchery co-founders Cliff McKinney and Brad Montgomery were able to attract a $300,000 investment round from Solidus in Nashville and a>m ventures.

They’ve been doing a number of things right and have a tireless work ethic. Montgomery and McKinney are also passionate about Memphis and the startup ecosystem brewing there. McKinney and Montgomery are very vocal about what they think matters, especially when you’re growing a startup outside Silicon Valley or New York City.

All of this leads to the reason why they are the first startup from Memphis Tennessee that will appear in Startup Alley at TechCrunch Disrupt San Francisco next week.

We got a chance to catch up with WorkForPie and talk about TechCrunch Disrupt, brewing startups outside the confines of the valley and product, product, product. Check out our short interview below:

I think whether we have a real edge remains to be seen. We’ve raised money, which is a huge milestone, but it’s not the only indicator of success. That said, I think we work really hard, we never gave up even when we were in “the trough of sorrow,” the team works really well together, and we have a pretty good habit of making our own luck. Sometimes luck is about putting yourself in situations where lucky things can happen, and we try to do that and put ourselves out there as often as possible. It’s amazing the number of lucky things that have happened to us because we’ve been in some unexpected place and/or made some unexpected connection.

Oh and we’re pretty good at shipping crappy stuff. That’s a little counterintuitive, but I think a lot of startups think that things have to be perfect before they’re released into the wild. It’s kind of an ego thing. We’re much more firmly planted in the “minimum viable thing” camp. We ship it ugly and oftentimes buggy, but we learn from those mistakes because our incredibly patient users tell us exactly what we need to fix and what can make Work for Pie better.

My advice really is to bootstrap as long as you can, get to the point where you’re making revenue–even if it’s just a little–and then try to raise money. You’ll get better valuations and much more interest that way. And if you’re a first time entrepreneur, and in some cases even if you’re not, don’t anticipate valuations like you read about in TechCrunch. They don’t happen too often here.

Job boards are doing it wrong. They give job seekers two or three paragraphs of boilerplate and then ask them to make a significant decision based on that. By contrast, our platform is made up of highly visual, information rich company profiles that make it easy for a job seeker to learn about the team, the company culture, the technology, and even what a day or week in the life looks like.

Job boards, recruiters, and most of the other alternatives favor size, not quality. The little guys with the little budgets just get buried. But big does not always equal awesome. Work for Pie is focused on amazing places to work, no matter the size. Every company gets one profile, and that profile says A LOT about what the company stands for, so there’s no advantage for a big company with an unlimited budget, unless they also happen to be a great place to work.

And Work for Pie is about recruiting, yes, but we think it’s more than that. It’s not dropping $400, posting a job for one month, and getting as many resumes as you can. It’s about putting your company out there, saying “this is what we do, and this is what we’re about,” and building relationships with developers and other companies that can lead to new hires, new partnerships, and greater visibility.