Lindsay Hyde

I spoke with a very experienced entrepreneur named Lindsay Hyde about her path to where she is today. From a young age, Lindsay displayed innovative qualities. She put together her elementary school talent shows, middle school clubs, and created her first startup in high school when a relative needed an organ transplant. She created a way to teach and explain the significance and importance of donating organs, and the difference it can make in peoples lives.

From there, Lindsay went to Harvard College, where she tried to become a mentor for young girls through an already existing agency. She was told that all college students were allowed to do was to intern and work in the office. When Lindsay noticed the demand of girls that required mentoring, and number of exceptional students wanting to take part in this. She took this need from both sides, and put together a curriculum and more affective mentorship program that college students could take place in.

Another way to start a successful business is to look for a need that you personally have. Towards the end of Lindsay’s time in business school, she and her husband got a dog, and realized how bad the pet care industry really is. The amount of ambiguity of how long the dog is out, if they are actually being walked, and the struggle to always need to pay in cash were some of the main issues Lindsay tried to fix. Her company is now running successfully in a large apartment complex in downtown Boston. People get alerts when their dogs are out, and can see the path that they walked along. Having a centralized person makes it easier for the front desk as well, so they don’t need to navigate handing out keys and keep track of whose dog walkers have already came for the day.

Lindsay believes that one of the problems inexperienced entrepreneurs may not notice, is that they are constantly rushing and trying to cross off things on the to do list. Taking the time to get updates on the lives of the people helping you and the people you are doing business with helps build great relationships that will hopefully help you for the rest of your career. She also believes that you need to really love the problem that you are solving. If you personally see the value in fixing the problem, you will be more motivated and interested in sticking with it and moving forward.

I would like to thank Lindsay for the insightful interview!