Entrepreneurship, Uncubed and more at #StartupGrind

We're proud to sponsor Startup Grind.. Here's a look at what we saw (and heard) last night...

In its 25th monthly fireside chat in New York City, Startup Grind took to a new stage –the Poppin Showroom – but idea for the event stayed the same: bringing together the startup community. After a bit of light snacking and networking, Startup Grind’s NYC Director Peter Crysdale began the main event – a conversation with co-founder and CCO of Uncubed, Tarek Pertew. Pertew started off by explaining the story behind Uncubed, which resulted from a chain of emails that Pertew was not even included in. So how’d he get involved? Long story short - there was a community of startups wanting to be heard, and Pertew knew he could fix this problem.

It began with the Silicon Alley Talent Fair, a unique startup community event with proceeds going to charity, and ended with Wakefield, a daily newsletter providing news about tech companies and startups. Using this as a jumping off point, Pertew and Uncubed co-founder and CEO Chris Johnson launched the company to give an inside look at how skills are being applied in other organizations. Today those organizations include Buzzfeed, Oscar and Barkbox.

While discussing the creation of Uncubed, Pertew indulged the crowd with his thoughts on a variety of topics, from venture capital (“It’s not just about the money, it’s about the people”) to his advice for those new to the community (“For aspiring entrepreneurs, the difference between success and not is timing”). He posed questions from Twitter about how he began as an entrepreneur, while working at a department store following his graduation from the University of Virginia in 2004 (which received lots of “wahoos” from the audience). His start? Pertew began by selling t-shirts in the middle of NYC, a debt that he just recently paid off.

Asked who he would hire if he could take on a fictional character, he answered the Count of Monte Cristo, because of his unbelievable control of the English language. Here Pertew noted that “incredible command of a language is the most powerful thing in the world.” Moving on, Pertew also shared his favorite classes on the Uncubed site: “How Tradesy Built Their Digital Closer Experience” from Tradesy, “The 4 Keys to Developing a Marketing Campaign for a New Brand” from Oscar and “Tips for Growing a Huge Social Audience” from Barkbox. Stressing the importance of a company culture, Pertew cited companies who have great energy often have a culture influenced by its founders. And while pleased with his own accomplishments thus far, Pertew is always thinking ahead, hoping that his work as an entrepreneur goes beyond his 30s, 40s, or 50s and stating, “Hopefully, my legacy is later in life.”