How following her passions and interests led kathryn crimmins to evertrue
courtesy of evertrue.com Chief of Staff at a startup might not be what Kathryn Crimmins expected her job title to be just three years ago. Having graduated from Boston College with a background in psychology, Crimmins was quickly climbing up the ranks at a top tier consulting firm in Boston. However, the frequent travel and lack of connection to her work left Crimmins unsatisfied and wanting something more. "I was on the strategy and operations side, but I felt very removed from the end product," Crimmins explains. "We would go in, do a project for a few months, and then I would leave and never see the impact my work had on the company or the customers."
Deciding to take advantage of the blossoming startup scene in Boston, Crimmins reached out to others in the field and enrolled in Boston's Startup Institute for two months in the Spring of 2013 After emerging with a focus in sales and business development, finding the right company to hire her was the next important step. Fortunately, Crimmins knew she found the right match to meet her skills and interests after contacting the staff at Evertrue, a rapidly growing mobile networking platform that helps connect young alumni to their alma matter and one another. "I was always really passionate about the intersection of non-profit and for profits and introducing innovation into the non-profit space, so it was a great fit in that regard" said Crimmins.
Founded by Brett Grinna in 2010 while at Harvard Business School, Evertrue works to help high schools and colleges understand the value of alumni data and mobile networks in order to improve the quality of their alumni networking and donor strategy. Evertrue provides value to both alumni, who receive a more updated, interactive, and social network, as well as the school's development offices, who get comprehensive data and analytics to support fundraising initiatives. Over one hundred prep schools and colleges from six different countries have signed up for the platform. Establishing customer validation early and often has paid off big for Evertrue as they just recently closed a $5.25 million round of Series A funding from investors.
Deciding to take advantage of the blossoming startup scene in Boston, Crimmins reached out to others in the field and enrolled in Boston's Startup Institute for two months in the Spring of 2013 After emerging with a focus in sales and business development, finding the right company to hire her was the next important step. Fortunately, Crimmins knew she found the right match to meet her skills and interests after contacting the staff at Evertrue, a rapidly growing mobile networking platform that helps connect young alumni to their alma matter and one another. "I was always really passionate about the intersection of non-profit and for profits and introducing innovation into the non-profit space, so it was a great fit in that regard" said Crimmins.
Founded by Brett Grinna in 2010 while at Harvard Business School, Evertrue works to help high schools and colleges understand the value of alumni data and mobile networks in order to improve the quality of their alumni networking and donor strategy. Evertrue provides value to both alumni, who receive a more updated, interactive, and social network, as well as the school's development offices, who get comprehensive data and analytics to support fundraising initiatives. Over one hundred prep schools and colleges from six different countries have signed up for the platform. Establishing customer validation early and often has paid off big for Evertrue as they just recently closed a $5.25 million round of Series A funding from investors.
Evertrue has expressed its goal to move beyond education based fundraising and become the premier mobile and social platform for a variety of organizations seeking donors. Given her background in strategy/operations and experience in non-profits, Crimmins will no doubt play a huge part of Evertrue's growth strategy. That is of course if she finds time between her dozens of other roles with the company. As Chief of Staff, she wears many hats, but perhaps the most is being the layer between the executive staff and the rest of Everture's team. "I attend a lot of meetings so know whats going on, but also have one-on-ones with the engineers to understand whats on their plate," Crimmins explains.
Other tasks such as HR hiring, assisting with expenses and finances, and supporting organization design, and finding a new office space can fall to Crimmins on any given day. She credits her background in consulting with her ability to help multitask like crazy. "In the span of the day I was switching gears a lot," says Crimmins of her consulting experience, "so I got really good at changing easily from one thing to the next and I think that has served me well."
Like any other Startup, Evertrue is finding out how difficult it can be to introduce structure and diligence as it continues to expand. Coming from a corporate background, Crimmins is well aware of this challenge, but is excited by the prospects of managing Evertrue's culture and time while they scale up and grow. Certainly sounds like a challenge, but managing and solving a problem (or 8) probably won't slow down this multitasking Chief of Staff anytime soon.
Other tasks such as HR hiring, assisting with expenses and finances, and supporting organization design, and finding a new office space can fall to Crimmins on any given day. She credits her background in consulting with her ability to help multitask like crazy. "In the span of the day I was switching gears a lot," says Crimmins of her consulting experience, "so I got really good at changing easily from one thing to the next and I think that has served me well."
Like any other Startup, Evertrue is finding out how difficult it can be to introduce structure and diligence as it continues to expand. Coming from a corporate background, Crimmins is well aware of this challenge, but is excited by the prospects of managing Evertrue's culture and time while they scale up and grow. Certainly sounds like a challenge, but managing and solving a problem (or 8) probably won't slow down this multitasking Chief of Staff anytime soon.
Crimmins (3rd row w/ blue glasses) & Evertrue staff
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