A Feathr Touch: Navigating Customer, Employee and Investor Relations with Aleksander Levental

Aleksander Levental jokes that the first Board Meeting he ever led was the first Board Meeting he ever went to. Before co-founding Feathr, Aleks was a researcher in the physics department, a delivery driver, and a waiter. So fresh out of college, he had to quickly learn how to grow a company and navigate relationships with employees (Feathr now has about 100) and investors (who have put in over $11M). Find out how he did it and lessons he’s learned along the way on the latest episode of Founder Shares.

Transcript

Trevor Schmidt: Hey everyone, I wanted to hop on real quick to tell you about a special giveaway that Hutchison PLLC is putting on for listeners of this podcast. A few episodes back, Robbie Hardy shared the unbelievable story about how she used a magic 8-ball to help her decide whether or not to sell her company. All signs pointed to yes for her, and she had a successful exit. Well, we all have major decisions to make every day, so Hutchison thought it would be fun to give away one magic 8-ball each month in a drawing. And to enter the drawing, all you need to do is write a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen – and let us know by sending an email to podcast@hutchlaw.com

Trevor Schmidt:Hello, and welcome to the Founder Shares Podcast. We’re so happy that you’ve chosen to spend some time with us. I’m your host, Trevor Schmidt. I’m an attorney at Hutchison law firm in Raleigh, North Carolina. We work with founders and entrepreneurs as they fight, grind, stress and push to bring their visions to reality. We are inspired by their incredible stories of success, failure, reworking and trying again.

Today’s guest is Aleksander Levental, co-founder and CEO of Feathr. Based in Gainesville Florida, Feathr unifies marketing efforts in a single platform that offers detailed analytics, targeted digital advertising, influencer marketing, and more for underserved markets like associations, non-profits, and charities.  

Aleks and his co-founder Aidan started Feathr back in college at the University of Florida, but the company has changed quite a bit since their first idea.

Guest: Alexsander Levental:  Aiden’s actual initial startup idea. The one he really wanted to pursue as a 21 year old or 22 year old, however old we were was an app to replace business cards. After about a year of that, we pivoted to mobile apps for trade shows and conferences, and that jump there was, there’s a huge chicken and egg problem with the digital business card app. The reason none of them have ever worked right. There was a Bumble 10 years ago, and there have been a few Evernote, tried LinkedIn tried the reason they never worked. It needed to get over the threshold of simplicity of just handing somebody a business card. So you need to feel really, really confident somebody is going to have that other application on their phone. 

Host: Trevor Schmidt:  In the grand tradition of startups pivoting to find their best product/market fit, Feathr, moved away from digital business cards to a niche marketing platform for associations. And now, just 8 years into the business, Feathr has raised over $10M and has about 100 employees. Employees which Aleks knows he has a responsibility to…

Full Episode Transcript

GIVEAWAY: A few episodes back, Robbie Hardy shared the unbelievable story about how she used a magic 8-ball to help her decide whether or not to sell her company. All signs pointed to yes for her, and she had a successful exit. Well, we all have major decisions to make every day, so Hutchison thought it would be fun to give away one magic 8-ball each month in a drawing. And to enter the drawing, all you need to do is write a review on Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen – and let us know by sending an email to podcast@hutchlaw.com.

Hosted by Trevor Schmidt, Founder Shares is brought to you by Hutchison PLLC, and is edited and produced by Earfluence.

Amplify Your Expertise
About the Author
At Earfluence, we are proud to produce this podcast. We believe in sharing amazing stories, providing knowledge to the world, and celebrating diverse voices. Through podcasting, our clients are amplifying their expertise, expanding their networks, building a content engine, and growing their influence. If you're interested in podcasting, we'd love to hear from you! Schedule your free 15 minute podcast consult today.