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Team Spotlight: Lufthouse

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Lufthouse was born when Joan Soskin and Lauren Wyeth, two Minnesota natives with a drive to create something meaningful, found each other in the right place and the right time. Together, they aim to leverage Bluetooth low energy (BLE) technology to address pain points in many markets.

Using BLE technology and iBeacons, Lufthouse works to enhance user experiences with proximity-based, interactive information. Read on to hear from both Joan and Lauren about their experiences.

What attracted you to the Flashstarts accelerator?

Joan: Michael Dell is famous for his saying that “If you’re the smartest person in the room, you’re in the wrong room.” He’s also famous for founding and leading Dell, a now-iconic tech company that was once a garage startup. I don’t think that’s coincidence, and that’s why I came to Flashstarts: I heard about their great reputation through word-of-mouth and knew they hand-picked teams that I had a lot to learn from.

Since I knew that Flashstarts works with Summer on the Cuyahoga, a program that funnels bright and promising college students from around the country to Cleveland, I also knew that I’d make Michael Dell proud, even in a room full of interns.

Lauren: I had met Charlie and Jen through a project that I had done at Case Western Reserve University, and I was amazed by the resources that they provide to their accelerator teams. Where else do you get funding, a diverse network of connections, weekly mentoring, and help from some of the best interns around? I knew that with Charlie & Jen’s experiences and access to these resources, we had an unbelievable opportunity, which would help our brand new company really hit the ground running.

Tell us about your company.

We give you a new sense – an information sense – to connect the physical and digital worlds. These days, most of us walk around carrying smartphones like an extra appendage. They provide the gateway to a digital experience that is entirely separate from the physical world we live in. But imagine if we could access all of that information as effortlessly as we can smell, see, hear, taste, and touch our way through our daily lives. 

That’s what we’re doing: using Bluetooth low energy and iBeacon technology, we’ve created a platform that enables even the lowest-tech company to tell their story to any smartphone-carrying passerby, letting that person sense the information that surrounds them. We think this technology is going to change the world – and we’re here to lead that change.

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Lauren and Joan enjoying a quick break for an impromptu photo shoot. 

What has been the biggest challenge?

J: In some ways, working at Flashstarts is like an all-you-can-eat buffet: mentors, interns, and program management are all eager to offer advice and assistance, and we’re all racing to get as much done as we can in a short time. The limiting factor is really our ability to digest everything and be sure that we’re focusing on the right things instead of just the next things that happen to come by.

L: Since this technology is so new and revolutionary, we have definitely had some issues refining our vision. It can be easy to get carried away thinking about the possibilities and bite off more than we can chew, so we’ve had to constantly work to refine our vision without limiting the possibilities for our product down the line.

Tell us about working and living in Cleveland.

People are generally surprised to hear that we’re both, coincidentally, transplants to Cleveland from Minneapolis. Although we both love and miss our hometown, there’s something truly unique about Cleveland that gives it a special place in our heart. The views from the Flashstarts office – the lake to the North, the city to the West, and the mixture of greenery and industry to the South – provide a surreal and truly motivational backdrop to our work here and serve as a daily reminder of how tough but resourceful this town is. With the entrepreneurial ecosystem booming, talented young people flowing out of local schools, and local companies enthusiastic about revitalizing the economy, it’s a great place to be a software startup.

How do you like working with interns?

J: The interns – including the former interns who have stayed on as program management – are the best part of working here. After the first week, their biggest complaint was that we didn’t give them enough work… I think we responded to their feedback, though, and I haven’t heard those complaints since. Now our biggest problem is trying to figure out how to hire them when they graduate!

L: Our interns are amazing! I cannot honestly articulate how helpful they have been in the process of starting up our company. They have such a wide array of skills, and they are so passionate, that it is really inspiring. The atmosphere here is a alive with so many ideas bouncing around, that it makes for a very invigorating experience every day, and that is in large part due to our interns.

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Joan brainstorming marketing strategy with intern Shivani Parikh. 

What is some advice for future interns?

J: Be bold. At first, I think some of the interns had a tough time adjusting from the traditional internship model of micromanagement and asking for permission to the Flashstarts model of “This is yours and you own it.” We want our graphic designers to tell us if they think something looks terrible. We want our developers to tell us when they have a better idea. Working with early stage companies like ours, interns become the VPs of their field, so the sooner they take charge and really own their work the better it is for everyone.

L: Don’t be afraid to take ownership! You were hired on to this program because you’re smart and full of great ideas, so when you’re assigned a task, go ahead and run with it. Also, we love hearing new ideas, so don’t be afraid to push back or suggest things we haven’t thought of before. Be prepared to work hard, but most importantly, enjoy yourself and enjoy Cleveland!

What surprised you about your experience at Flashstarts?

J: As graduates of pretty intense schools, we’ve both seen how competitive ambitious people can get when placed in the same petri dish. I’m not sure how I expected people to act, but I can say that I’ve been pleasantly surprised by how helpful and generous the other teams have been. Instead of a competitive vibe, the Flashstarts office has a focused but laid-back atmosphere where nobody is too busy to offer mentorship, commiseration, or constructive criticism. In that way, I think this community is genuinely unique.

L: I’ve been pretty surprised by how quickly the time has flown by. It’s amazing how much we’ve gotten done in the past nine weeks, and I definitely didn’t expect us to have a full product by the end of the summer. However, due to the great resources we have at Flashstarts, we have flown through development and have a bright and promising future ahead of us. Also, I was not expecting the amount of external mentoring (Food for Thought, office hours, etc) that we would receive, but that has been one of my favorite experiences here. It really helps to hear what others have done that has worked (or not), and get their feedback on what we’re doing at Lufthouse.

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The co-founders hard at work, making Lufthouse awesome. 

What are some things you’ve learned this summer, so far?

J: 

1. Don’t pitch a solution; identify a problem

2. My breakfast isn’t as good for me as I thought it was (thanks, GorMonjee)

3. iBeacon and proximity-based technology will change how we interact within the next 5 to 10 years

4. The perfect method for making (and drinking) plenty of espresso

L: Startups are hard, but so worthwhile. You’ll be tested to your limits, but the feeling of having something that you can call your own, that you’ve built up from nothing, is incomparable to anything else.

Learn more about Lufthouse by visiting their website, checking them out on Facebook, and following them on Twitter at @Lufthouse.

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