RevRoad Rolls Up Its Sleeves to Help Portfolio Companies During COVID-19

Written By: A.J. Rounds

Following health and safety guidelines, RevRoad has moved all its events and meetings online. Even so, our dedication to showing up for entrepreneurs remains strong. We remain focused on helping portfolio companies find unique ways to thrive during the pandemic. As we ebb and flow, our goal is to help our portfolio companies grow based on the needs of their target markets.  

Branding exercises, web development, social media, and PR, are just some of the marketing services RevRoad offers portfolio companies to meet the current demands and market complications with COVID-19. In a recent website and email campaign initiative, we launched a bundled discount program involving portfolio companies Hallo, Skillstruck, Education Lifeskills, and Literal. This At Home Learning program offers digital learning products to K-12 students for free until the end of the 2019/2020 school year.  

Another way RevRoad has adjusted to address current challenges is the increased allocation of more resources into digital ad spend and social media. Recently, a portfolio company in the ag tech industry did just that. Still sales-focused, they realized they needed to expand their reach to the online space. Their hope is to attract farmers that need tech solutions to compensate for fewer available workers as a result of the pandemic. 

As of mid April 2020 more than 22M Americans have lost their jobs resulting in a mass job search during the COVID-19 pandemic. In response, recent portfolio company, Mentorli, is hosting a virtual career fair. The Mentorli team is excited to announce the #GetHired Summit, aimed at combating unemployment in the U.S. The team has been working around the clock to pull together keynotes, companies, and resources to help find jobs. The summit will be hosted virtually on April 29–30. Visit gethiredsummit.com to reserve your seat or get more information. 

There are so many exciting things happening at RevRoad. What kind of out-of-the-box thinking can we help you with during COVID-19? Apply today and find out. 

5 Steps To Planning A Successful Event

Written By: Paighton Moffitt

Product launch parties, conferences, lunch & learns, employee celebrations, company retreats, networking events…SLOW DOWN.

People don’t often talk about how many events come with running a business, and it can be overwhelming. Hosting an event takes a lot of time, planning, organization, and hard work.

At this point, you might be thinking, “Where do I even begin?” 

Well, you can start right here—with the 5 steps you need to plan your next successful event. 

1. Ask Questions & Establish Goals 

First things first, there are many questions you need to address before moving forward with your planning. Sit down with the person/people helping you host the event and address a couple questions listed below. 

  • What is the purpose of this event? 
  • Who will be attending? 
  • What kind of speakers or entertainment is needed? 
  • What’s the budget? 
  • What’s the overall goal for this event? 

Oh, and if you’re an event planning team of one, that’s okay too! Walk yourself through those same questions.

 Asking these questions will help you set expectations from the beginning.

2. Create A Timeline Plan 

Now that you have expectations and goals in place, you can move forward with planning.  Create a timeline with everything that needs to be done up until the event. 

This may include:

  •  Choosing the venue
  • Creating menus
  •  Booking catering
  •  Scheduling speakers/entertainment
  • Getting day-of volunteers
  • Organizing the agenda
  • Buying decor
  • Sending out invitations
  • Getting sponsors
  • Developing a landing page 
  • Marketing your event 
  • And so much more! 

Any task that needs to be done before the event should be included in this timeline plan. I suggest creating your timeline plan in a google spreadsheet so everything can all be in one place and can easily be shared with other team members. 

3. Establish A Team & Assign Roles 

Congratulations, your plan is in place! Now it’s time to recruit a team to help you execute the plan. Don’t be afraid to ask for help and assign responsibilities to your team members.

For example, any marketing tasks should be given to the marketing team, any development tasks should be given to the development team, and so forth . 

We’ve all heard the saying, “Many hands make light work.” This couldn’t be more true when it comes to planning an event. Don’t try to do everything yourself.

Assign it out, create a checklist or spreadsheet, and begin executing.

4. Follow-Up Until The Event

Your timeline & execution plan are now in place. *Hallelujah* now you’ve arrived at the easy part.

FOLLOW UP!

Your follow up efforts from now until the event are key! Make sure you follow up with every task that has not yet been completed on the timeline plan/execution checklist. 

For example, if “Alex” is  supposed to send out the 1st email campaign on Tuesday, you will want to follow up with “Alex” to make sure everything is ready to go on Monday. Ask “Alex” if it will be ready to be sent out tomorrow and if there is anything you can do to help him. 

Following up is crucial to ensure that every task will be completed on time and everything will go smoothly the day of your event. 

You should also follow up with caterers, your venue, any rentals, speakers, audio/visual equipment operators, and entertainment a week before the event to make sure all details are clear and finalized, and arrival time/location is confirmed.

5. Execute, Enjoy, & Review 

The event is here! All that hard work has finally paid off. The most important thing is to make sure you make yourself available to answer guest questions and take the time to enjoy the event you’ve successfully executed.. 

Some things might not go as planned and that is OKAY! You did everything right to prepare for the event and now you need to relax and let your hard work show. 

After the event is over, I highly recommend doing an AAR (After Action Review) with the team involved. This review is a process for analyzing what happened, why it happened, and how it can be done better next time. 

As you can see, throwing an event takes a lot of time, planning, organization, & hard work. Hopefully these 5 steps will help as you plan and execute your next successful event!

Learn more about our Events here
Watch this highlight video of one of our company product launch events here
Learn more about RevRoad here

At-Home Learning

Companies come together to provide free school & district licenses during COVID-19 

Today, RevRoad and its portfolio companies launched the official At-Home Learning initiative. Through this initiative, they will provide students around the country with digital learning tools by offering their products to schools and districts for free during this time—no strings attached. 

There’s no question that these are difficult times. Hundreds of millions of students around the world are transitioning to at-home learning for the rest of the school year. “Educators around the world are now facing the most daunting challenge in 100 years. These programs and tools are ready to scale, and can provide valuable support for students, their families, and educators,” says RevRoad CEO, Derrin Hill. 

Educators are quickly shifting teaching and learning to digital platforms to meet the needs of each student with equitable access, standards, and engagement. RevRoad’s portfolio has a unique compilation of edtech companies with the ability to assist in smoothing over the rapid transitions currently happening within education. Said companies include the following: 

Literal

Keep students fully engaged in reading, even while at home. Literal makes books just as engaging as social media, and is temporarily offering every student and educator free & unlimited access to all of their classic books through July 2020. Easily track student progress remotely and turn reluctant readers into avid book worms.
Literal is offering schools and districts free access to the Classic subscription.

SkillStruck

Skill Struck focuses on helping today’s students prepare for tomorrow’s workforce by developing their technical skills and helping them master the concepts of Computer Science. The platform is focused on project-based learning where students learn, apply and reiterate their newfound knowledge through additional practices to cement their skills.
Skill Struck is offering schools and districts one month of free access to their flagship Voyage service.

Education Lifeskills

If we never change negative thinking, we will never change negative behavior. Education Lifeskills creates cognitive-behavioral curriculum which helps students overcome their self-defeating thoughts and behaviors and achieve higher levels academically and socially.
Education Lifeskills is offering students free access to a positive thinking course pack.

Hallo

Practice English on the Hallo app! Has the Coronavirus pandemic interfered with your preparation for the TOEFL, TOEIC or IELTS exam? Has your English class been canceled and now you are left with no one to practice with?

Fear no more! You can practice English on the Hallo app! Hallo is a live streaming community for English learners and teachers. Students can learn from native speakers through live videos 24/7 and practice speaking in seconds with people all around the world. It’s the world’s largest classroom for English learners right in the palm of your hand. And, it’s free. Let’s celebrate fluency together. It’s more fun that way.
Hallo is a free app available for iOS and Android.

To get started with At-Home Learning  for free, visit revroad.com/athomelearning.

For more information about At-Home Learning and the companies involved, click here.

Keepin’ it Clean—Why We Gave Every Employee a PhoneSoap

COVID-19 has already caused different levels of panic worldwide, and it seems things are just ramping up. There are plenty of recommendations about how to stay safe and healthy floating around the web. We agree, washing our hands, applying sanitizer, covering our mouths when coughing and sneezing, and other basic hygiene and health practices should be carried out. However, what precautions are we taking when it comes to one of the dirtiest, most touched items in almost every household? The cell phone.

Continue reading

RevRoad’s Announces Annual Entrepreneur Competition

PROVO, Utah — On Saturday, March 21st , Utah County’s top entrepreneurs will all gather at RevRoad HQ for the opportunity to pitch their game-changing, scalable company to panels of Utah’s most successful.

Often, the most important moment in an entrepreneur’s life is pitching their business to an investor (techcrunch.com). RevRoad’s Annual Entrepreneur Competition helps companies learn how to pitch their business with confidence and provides an opportunity to network. 

Each participant must complete a thorough application process as well as 2 rounds of live pitches for a panel of 24 judges—gathered from top business and university leaders. Using criteria including target market, problem/solution fit, team and advisors, leadership, traction, competitive advantage, financials and more, the judges will select the top 3  as finalists. All applications for the pitch competition are due Friday, March 6, 2019 by 11:59 pm. 

The three winning finalists will receive prizes:

  • $10,000 cash for the Champion
    (Cash prizes are NOT tied to an investment or equity.)
  • $2,500 cash for 2nd Place
    (Cash prizes are NOT tied to an investment or equity.)
  • $1,000 cash for 3rd Place
    (Cash prizes are NOT tied to an investment or equity.)

This event is free and open to the public, so the community will also get the chance to award a cash prize. The company that gets the most audience votes will receive:

  •  $1,000 as the Fan Favorite
    (No conditions or terms of use are associated with this prize.)

Competition sponsors are:

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For media inquiries, interviews or additional information, please contact RevRoad CMO A.J. Rounds at aj.rounds@revroad.com or by calling  (801) 368-1823.

About RevRoad

Did you know 9 in 10 new innovations fail in the marketplace? RevRoad focuses on helping you, the entrepreneur, succeed. RevRoad accepts 3–4 companies per quarter, if chosen you work side-by-side with us for two years. Along the way, you’ll experience everything you need: a mentor, networking opportunities, and key service deliverables. The RevRoad model is a venture services model to better meet your needs.

It’s Time to Champion Underrepresented Talent

Diversity, or the lack thereof, has been the topic of conversation as the highly anticipated Silicon Slopes Tech Summit came to a close. Though tech companies in the Silicon Slopes area have provided an influx of new jobs in Utah, the amount of underrepresented talent employed by these companies is low. We could blame it on Utah’s general “lack of diverse population”, on the homogenous religious communities, or on the difficulty of finding qualified underrepresented talent. We could  blame it on numerous factors, but it doesn’t change the fact that underrepresented talent in Utah is just that—underrepresented.

While Utah’s startup community is on the road to becoming the next Silicon Valley, companies face significant recruiting challenges in the most competitive talent market since 1969. “Leaders can no longer afford to ignore any opportunity that could present qualified candidates. This includes creating an inclusive environment where everyone feels like they have a place”(Mentorli, 2020). The truth is, Utah is 78% white and predominantly Mormon. While many of the cultural responsibilities that come with Utah’s dominant religion prove beneficial for entrepreneurs, “the very thing that is transforming Utah into the next tech mecca could be the very thing that ends up holding it back” (Bluestein, 2020). 

It’s no question that the companies on the Slopes are in need of cultural pivots to better recruit, hire, and retain more underrepresented talent. The call for diversity has been issued, and a new company, called Mentorli, appears to have the solution. Through their mentorship platform, Mentorli increases a candidate’s chances of landing a job by 15x. “We’re leaning into that power to close the opportunity gap underrepresented candidates face,” says CEO Luke Mocke.

Creating equal opportunity for job seekers is simply the right thing to do, but it turns out there’s a significant business case too. For one, there’s a linear relationship between earnings and racial diversity on the senior leadership team—to the tune of .8% in earnings for every 10% lift. However, the most compelling reason for fast growing companies in the US, and Utah specifically, to hire diverse talent is to open their talent pool for future hires. Homogenous organizations unknowingly marginalize talent that looks different to them. To ensure they’re creating an inclusive environment for all qualified talent, they need to create a representative workforce. Failing to do so is already creating monumental challenges as minorities in the US become the majority. 

Mentorli supports this philosophy by empowering underrepresented employees to recruit candidates from similar backgrounds—showing candidates how to set themselves up for success in the interview process and thrive in a new environment—building diverse networks from the grassroots level. Read Mentorli’s full press release here. As a participant in the recent Silicon Slopes Tech Summit, Mentorli is offering a FREE first hire to companies that schedule a demo before February 7, 2020. Check it out today!

How to Build Effective and Collaborative Teams

Building effective and collaborative teams is crucial to the success of an organization. In any business, a successful team begins with successful leadership.

Bruce Hassler, CTO at RevRoad, shares his insight on how to ensure that you have the best team for your business. 

First, Hassler recommends hiring top-performing dedicated team members. This increases productivity and ensures that you are utilizing your time and resources strategically. 

Second, is to be involved with and care about what each team member is working on. This gives the employee a sense of confirmation and appreciation. 

Third, is to trust each member to make decisions. Avoid micromanaging employees. Instill trust and give them opportunities to learn and grow. 

Fourth, is to listen to the team and don’t be afraid to try new things. Leaders often think they have to do it all themselves, but there is beauty in collaborating with team members and trying to understand their point of view.

Everyone brings a unique prospective and it’s in collaborating together that the best representation of what our customers and clients need is delivered. 

Jason Caldwell, COO at RevRoad, emphasized the importance of validation. As leaders who are trying to build high functioning collaborative teams, validating our team’s achievements is crucial. Examples of common validations include:

  • Validating ideas
  • Validating initiative
  • Validating circumstances
  • Validating feelings

Allowing teams to feel validated helps them build confidence in and respect for their leaders. 

AJ Rounds, CMO at RevRoad suggests, “Ways to develop an effective leadership team very much align with the RevRoad ‘H’ philosophy which includes:

  • Hands – Individuals who aren’t afraid to roll up the sleeves and get stuff done.
  • Heart – Individuals who have passion and conviction for the vision.
  • Head – Individuals who are smart.
  • Humility – Individuals who are willing to take responsibility for actions and feedback. 
  • Humor –  Individuals who are fun to work with. 

Building a collaborative team can be challenging but there are great strategies to facilitate the process. Hiring top performing individuals, staying involved, instilling trust, validating, and implementing the 5 H’s is a good place to start.


For more information visit RevRoad.com or email info@www.revroad.com