Joe Meyer is a serial entrepreneur with a wide breadth of experiences in companies large and small. Joe’s first venture was a company called eRide, which addressed a transportation problem he often encountered at PwC. Due to a number of factors, including the bursting of the .com bubble, eRide was ultimately shut down. However, since then, Joe has forged a successful path in the world of entrepreneurship. His most recent success was the sale of public-transit mapping app HopStop to Apple in 2013, leading to his position on the Apple Geo Team. Currently, Joe is growing his newest venture ExecThread, a premium non-profit career network for high-caliber executives. My questions for Joe focused on eRide, his first company, as well as his thoughts on operating high growth businesses.
Talking about eRide, Joe emphasized how the .com bubble caused a quick evacuation of venture capital and a sudden focus on real revenue and customers, rather than window dressing and a great pitch. eRide was focused on the latter, riding the .com bubble, and the failure taught Joe that he needed to understand the operational side of the business. Ever since, Joe has been deeply invested in the operational side, even in highly technical companies like HopStop. Following eRide, he spends as much time understanding the product and the business as he does selling to investors and customers.
The most interesting takeaways were the formative experiences that led him to entrepreneurship. At an early age, his father was laid off twice. This instilled the lesson that many entrepreneurs swear by: it’s less risky to work for yourself than to work for others. About a year out of undergrad at Georgetown, Joe joined a trading card company with revenue growth of over 100% year over year. Although he saw it spike and fall right back down, he loved the fast pace and responsibility the company provided. In contrast, his MBA internship was characterized by minituae growth and forced explanations of 1-2% revenue shifts with 10+ reasons. Following those experiences, he knew he wanted to go where there was a fast-paced, entrepreneurial spirit. In his words, “It was a low tech job that got me into high tech.”
Quotes
“During job interviews, eRide’s failure was discounted - it was almost like I didn’t work those years.”
“I’m less of a commodity in New York - in some ways, I’m still one of few”
The most interesting takeaways were the formative experiences that led him to entrepreneurship. At an early age, his father was laid off twice. This instilled the lesson that many entrepreneurs swear by: it’s less risky to work for yourself than to work for others. About a year out of undergrad at Georgetown, Joe joined a trading card company with revenue growth of over 100% year over year. Although he saw it spike and fall right back down, he loved the fast pace and responsibility the company provided. In contrast, his MBA internship was characterized by minituae growth and forced explanations of 1-2% revenue shifts with 10+ reasons. Following those experiences, he knew he wanted to go where there was a fast-paced, entrepreneurial spirit. In his words, “It was a low tech job that got me into high tech.”
Quotes
“During job interviews, eRide’s failure was discounted - it was almost like I didn’t work those years.”
“I’m less of a commodity in New York - in some ways, I’m still one of few”