Withum Sounding Board
Withum Sounding Board
Invaluable Human Capital Tips for the Philadelphia Startup Community with Way FWD Strategy
The Philadelphia technology startup ecosystem is experiencing remarkable growth,
fostering a vibrant community of innovative companies striving for success. To
support these startups in achieving their goals, external services play a
crucial role.
In an enlightening conversation, Withum’s David Hansell and Cassie
Tate, Founder of Way FWD Strategy, delve into Cassie's career in the tech and
human capital industries, where they discuss the distinctive characteristics of
Philadelphia's startup community and share invaluable human capital tips that
startups and venture capitalists can leverage to drive their growth and achieve
their goals.
Welcome to with Sounding Board, a podcast sharing powerful business tips, insights and trends for those seeking to become a rockstar in their industry.
Speaker 2:Hi everyone. Thank you for joining with Them's founder series. My name is David Hansel, manager, C F O and Accounting Advisory. As part of With's commitment to startups, we are very lucky to have Cassie Tate, founder of Way Forward based here in Philadelphia. Hi Cassie. We're very excited to learn more about your journey and the lessons you've learned along the way. Let's start from the beginning. Could you tell us about your background and how your passion for business was developed?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Thanks so much for having me David. My passion for business starts really early. My parents actually owned a business, a small business in Los Angeles when I was growing up, and so I got to hear their discussions , um, of their business decisions at the dinner table every night. And then afterwards we would go and watch , uh, the profit on C N B C or Shark Tank afterwards. So I grew up in a business family from a really young age.
Speaker 2:It's interesting, especially how that early exposure to the business decisions and the business process can really shape your passion. So with that, how did that help transition you into the startup world during your time at Temple University?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so during my freshman year at Temple, I uh , started to intern for an education tech startup and I loved it there. Honestly, the education , the education world, but also the startup world, especially the entrepreneurial mindset that I got to use there. Um, the collaboration that I got to have, the impact that I got to have at a young age on something that was really different and change people's lives was a great experience. And so I got to major from that into entrepreneurship and innovation. And so the combination of kind of the hands-on experience with the academic experience really set my entrepreneurial mindset from that age.
Speaker 2:Yeah , absolutely. You know, being around that environment, it's very contagious, kind of their skill sets and their passion and just being around it, I feel like it just elevates everything you do. So after graduation, you worked in the human capital space. Could you tell us a little more about your journey into that field?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. So I've always been passionate about business, but I've also been passionate about psychology and understanding how people work. And so I was fortunate to kind of stumble into a field that combined both of those after undergrad. So I got to go into human capital , uh, first at a medium sized pharmaceutical company and then at NBCUniversal. So there at both places I got to co-create uh , leadership and organization development , uh, departments. And so I got really hands-on experiences, understanding from an executive perspective what was happening in these companies, the issues they were facing with their talent and got , I got to actually help to solve that. So I got to see the impact that had and I realized the space was something I really wanted to go into. And so I decided from there to go into human capital consulting and I decided to get my M B A from U S C and focus in on leadership and organization development to do that.
Speaker 2:Well that that's very great experience. You know , especially at Oregon for these, these global companies, they have challenges and kind of its own unique ecosystem where there's goals and challenges. So it's very cool to , you're able to see kind of companies everywhere from kind of that startup startup stage all to the global such as NBCUniversal. So with that you transition into human capital consulting. It's very interesting. How did you leverage your M B A in transition into consulting work?
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was a great time. I actually, after my M B A went to KPMG's people strategy practice, which is a center of excellence within their , uh, mergers, acquisitions and divestitures practice. So there I got to work with a lot of different companies and solve a wide variety of complex human capital challenges, mostly within a deal space. So that added a time pressure element to it. There was a lot of fast, a lot of moving parts. So I got to under to use my understanding of the business area from my M B A from my undergrad and then also use the human capital aspect to see the impact that it got to have on these organizations.
Speaker 2:Very interesting. No , it's definitely very impressive how you owned your experience in the people strategy space throughout your time at consulting. Um , with that, what led you to start your own company way forward?
Speaker 3:Yeah, so while I was at K P M G, I got to see the impact that it had on these organizations and I got to work with a large variety of organizations across the board, work on a lot of complex issues. And I saw that the thing, the work that we were doing, things we were doing really had an impact on the bottom line. And I thought back to my experience with startups and how much I loved it and I thought, you know, obviously this would be really helpful in the startup space, but also the startup space. People are really passionate about what they're doing, they care about their people, they really want to take care of their people and I haven't seen that need be met from a people strategy perspective. Um, and some of the org design and more strategic pieces of talent planning. And so I really wanted to help fill that need. And also I really liked the idea that within a startup community, people are passionate, they care and they're also more open to innovative solutions. So it was a space that I was really excited to get to be part of and also to hope to impact in some way that's not getting impacted right now.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Yeah , especially working with some of these early stage startups , you get an opportunity where you can really work with the founders and the leaders, help 'em understand their culture, help 'em build it out, work with them to help develop their goal and vision as we'll , give them guidance and advice based upon your experience. So it's definitely a great combination of , um, experience and you know , very excited to see how it shakes out. So I gotta know, we're both, we're both from Philly, you know , the Philly startup community. What makes that so unique?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. Oh my gosh, the Philadelphia community, especially within the startup space immediately was just warm and welcoming and it feels like a family to me. So for me, what I think is really unique about Philly is that people wanna understand who you are, what you're doing, and how they can help you in that and how it might fit into what they're doing. And I think just the level of collaboration and the mindset helps the individual businesses in Philly as well as the community as a whole.
Speaker 2:No , absolutely. I think everything you said there, you've got the university, you've got the hospitals, you've got great startups , you got PACT at the Philly Startup League. There's a great culture being built and I like the fact that we have kind of startups and providers and local organizations all working together because we get lost between New York and Boston and LA and all the money that's flying around there and people seem to forget there's a lot of good stuff going on in Philly. So 100% agreed. A really unique culture and very exciting to see its growth.
Speaker 3:Me too.
Speaker 2:So pivoting back a little bit to the human capital, you know , what are some areas that startups and venture capital groups can better understand as it relates to human capital?
Speaker 3:Absolutely. So number one, I think when you're talent planning, you need to think in terms of capabilities. So ask yourself, what does your corporation or company need to do and be great at in order to win at its specific strategy? And so when you think of a capability mindset next, when you're filling those capabilities, you need to think about filling them in ways that may be non-traditional. So don't necessarily look for somebody who has a specific background in the exact role or, or industry you're looking for. Be more open to where could they actually develop those skill sets . So maybe another industry has recently solved a challenge that you're looking forward to that challenge. And so looking for people with diverse backgrounds , um, that we may not think of right now. And then the third is to prioritize passion from the beginning. So, you know, skill sets and capabilities are really important, but at the end of the day, when you're building a company from the ground up, the people who are passionate about what you're doing and their role in it are going to be the most important players in your organization. They're gonna be your number one cheerleaders, they're gonna be your best salespeople, and they're gonna find better people for, you know, to continue working in your organization. They're gonna make it a good place to work for everybody. So really prioritize passion in those first few hires.
Speaker 2:No, I I I think that is really sound insight . You know , as capital is moving through and decision making's happening, you're trying to get your product to go live , these are just challenges and goals that you need time and you need focus. So there's points you made there. They're absolutely perfect. So can I ask you one more question? You know , based upon your time, experience and your journey, what are some of the key lessons that you've learned that apply both to individuals and companies?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. I've learned a lot so far from my experience and um, I think the number one thing is for both companies and people is just the power of human connection. The collaboration and connection with people has been the number one driver of my experience. You know, my growth in my career, my growth as an entrepreneur and as a human. And so I really do believe that our strengths are better together and that we can do so much more in collaboration with each other than we can do alone. Um, so number two, I would say is really leaning into an entrepreneurial mindset. So if you think of something, whether it's a company, whether it's a new process in your role, whatever that is, if you think of something that hasn't been thought of before, go after it and, you know, make it your own today is, you know, today's reality is just a foundation for the future. And so when we really drive the entrepreneurial mindset, we can innovate and create things that we may not think possible today. Um, and then the last is really, especially today, agility is critical. You have to be able to evolve and be paying attention to the newest technologies and methods. And in order to do that, you have to be open to feedback and you have to be willing to pivot and change and grow. And today's society things are changing so quickly and the ability to stay ahead and thrive in this world is really , uh, hinged on ability to to be agile today.
Speaker 2:Yeah, absolutely. I mean , Cassie insights are so invaluable and they're applicable to startups and companies of all sizes. We do very much appreciate you taking the time today. Um, with that, how can people get in touch with you? How can they find out more about way forward?
Speaker 3:Yeah, absolutely. So anyone can feel free to find me on LinkedIn at Cassie Tate, as well as , uh, way forward strategy.com , uh, where you can look at our services and some of where our insights come from, look at the neuroscience behind it, as well as the people strategy. So we're really hoping to have an impact on the startup community in Philly.
Speaker 2:Absolutely. Very exciting. Thank you for your time. We appreciate it and we look forward to watching all the great things.
Speaker 3:Thank you so much David . Thanks for having me.
Speaker 1:Thanks for joining us. Be sure to subscribe to our podcast so you'll be first in line to hear what's coming next. Don't wanna wait for our next episode. Check us out@with.com. That's w I T H u m.com .