From $0 to $2B in 12 months: Meet Brex

This year, Propelify, powered by the NJTC, teamed up with Brex, a startup making waves for startups. Prior to Brex, founders were forced to use personal debit cards, often facing the risk of maxing out multiple credit cards. In 2017, Brex created a corporate card for founders of early stage startups that also removed the need of having it personally guaranteed.

Payless Marketing Campaign Earns Media Attention

Payless didn’t “trick” anyone as this headline reads: “Payless tricked ‘influencers’ into paying $600 for $20 shoes at fake ‘Palessi’ store” Nor did they troll anyone as this one reads: “Payless trolls shoe snobs with fake luxury ‘Palessi’ store Palessi created a different value prop with a different target audience than Payless. This happens everywhere, … Read more

3 Lesser-Known Benefits of Y Combinator

In 2018, startup accelerators are no longer a new topic. Startup accelerators have become incredibly popular for early stage founders and investors. Over the last five years, seemly everyday a new accelerator popped up for a new city, region, or industry. We are now at the point where the startup accelerators themselves being classed into … Read more

Top Notch Oil Changes Brought To Your Door – A Q&A With Nomad Oil Founder, Eric Pearson

Nomad is an innovative business that brings top-notch oil change services to your front door. Their goal is to make a stress free and easy way to pamper your car. We sat down with founder Eric Pearson to learn more about how he got started with Nomad Oil, what struggles he’s had and how he’s … Read more

Shattering Sexual Stigmas with Biem

At the 2018 Propelify Innovation Festival, Propelify and Techonomy partnered up to highlight entrepreneurs and companies focused on solving the world’s biggest challenges, as outlined by the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), with the Startup Humanity Heroes Competition. The winner of this year’s Startup Humanity Heroes Competition was Biem! Biem is a a telemedicine … Read more

The Power of People: How To Build a Thriving Brand in an Automated World

Automation is changing everything. We know this. In fact, at the 2018 Propelify Innovation Festival Jeanniey Mullen, Global CMO of Mercer, and Benji Decker, the current Entrepreneur in Residence at Mercer, kicked off their talk by speaking with Warren, Mercer’s AI digital assistant, about the changes automation will bring to the workplace. A few of Warren’s scariest … Read more

Three Steps to Protect Your Small Business and Data Privacy

At the 2018 Propelify Innovation Festival Burt Powers, Senior Director at Dell EMC, and Kevin Robinson, the Founder of Juniper Jones, talked about one of the most pressing issues facing small business owners today: data privacy. In a world where half of the 28 million small businesses in the U.S. have had a cyber breach, data privacy is … Read more

Future Of Healthcare | Al Baker, Hackensack University Medical Center

Today’s healthcare industry landscape offers an especially unique opportunity for technologists, medical professionals, and innovators to collaborate and improve healthcare around the globe. With developments in A.I., technology, and personal data collection, the healthcare industry is wide open for breathtaking innovation and improvements that will help people feel better. At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival, … Read more

The 2018 Propelify Innovation Festival in the News

The 2018 Propelify Innovation Festival had over 8,000+ attendees connecting with fellow innovative peers, mentors, potential hires, and investors, 70+ amazing speakers sharing their expert advice on how to grow a business, and tons of tools, opportunities, competitions, cash, and awesome exhibits, all designed to help you turn ideas into action! If you missed out on this … Read more

Some of Our Favorite Moments from the 2018 Propelify Innovation Festival

At the 2018 Propelify Innovation Festival over 8,000+ attendees and 70+ incredible speakers networked, connected, hired employees, interviewed for new positions, made friends, met mentors, found investors, raced drones, tried amazing local food and drinks, listened to panels and speakers on innovation, technology, and entrepreneurship, and discovered the people, tools, and information needed to turn their ideas … Read more

Our Favorite #LetsPropel Instagrams from the 2018 Propelify Innovation Festival

At the 2018 Propelify Innovation Festival, there were over 70+ incredible speakers, a networking Ferris wheel, investor speed dating, Innovation Row, a live podcast suite, puppies, drone racing, a casting call for Entrepreneur’s Elevator Pitch, fireworks, amazing food and drinks, live musical performances, the 2018 Startup  Competition and thousands of game-changing innovators connecting with other entrepreneurs, … Read more

20 Really Great Tweets from the 2018 Propelify Innovation Festival

The third annual 2018 Propelify Innovation Festival went down on May 17, 2018 with over 10,000 attendees and 80+ speakers turning up to turn ideas into action, connect with fellow game changers, hire and get hired,  learn how to overcome business obstacles, meet and pitch investors, expand their networks, and talk innovation, tech, and entrepreneurship … Read more

9 Great Quotes on Effective Communication, Networking, and Pitching from the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival

Want to improve your communication, networking, and pitching skills? Of course you do! Check out some of our favorite quotes from our 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival speakers for a slew of uber practical tips on how to successfully and effectively connect, build relationships, network, and communicate with fellow innovators, hiring managers, V.C.s, and investors. #LetsPropel Introduce yourself as … Read more

The Secret Sauce of Success

At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival over 80+ world class, renowned founders, technologists, and innovators shared their knowledge and expertise with over 10,000 members of the innovation community in Hoboken, New Jersey. A frequent topic in all of the talks and panels? Success. Or more specifically, how to pursue, achieve, and maintain success. A few … Read more

Big Data, Machine Learning, and Personalization: How Entrepreneurs Can Solve Our Future Problems

At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival, over 80+ speakers talked innovation, trends, and the future of everything from tech policy to transportation to big data with over 10,000 entrepreneurs, technologists, innovators, founders, and gamechangers from 43 states and 10 countries around the world. Some of the biggest trends our experts discussed last year? The possibilities of … Read more

10 Inspiring Quotes on Entrepreneurship from the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival

At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival, over 80+ speakers dispensed their best wisdom, know-how, and advice to the crowd of 10,000+ innovators, entrepreneurs, and gamechangers. Here are some of our favorite quotes from our 2017 speakers on the hustle, devotion, and grit needed to succeed as an entrepreneur.  Consider this your #MotivationMonday boost. #LetsPropel On … Read more

James Altucher’s Best Advice for Entrepreneurs

James Altucher is an entrepreneur, bestselling author, and angel investor. At the 90th New Jersey Tech Meetup, Altucher graced the Stages of Wisdom and dispersed his trademark blend of wit, wisdom, and optimistic advice to the crowd of entrepreneurs. Here’s his nine best pieces of advice: Find the right people, or your business won’t make … Read more

Wanna Get Hired? Here’s How to Stand Out From the Crowd.

Are you hoping to make a career change, finally score that position at your dream company, or snag your very first job after college? At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival Rebecca Price, VP of People at Enigma.com, and Holly Rose Faith, Talent Partner at New Enterprise Associates, spoke on a panel moderated by Avery Blank, contributor at Forbes, about surprising … Read more

John Henry sold his company for $1 million at the age of 21. Here’s how.

John Henry is a an entrepreneur, founder of the non-profit incubator Cofound Harlem, and a Venture Partner at Harlem Capital Partners. At 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival, he offered his  entrepreneurial wisdom and observations about pursuing passions up to the crowd. Here are John’s three mantras that will inspire you to go after your own dreams … Read more

How Data Science Will Improve Society

Data science, or extracting knowledge and insights from sets of data, is a field with the potential to seriously impact human society for the better. At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival, Justin Hendrix, Executive Director of the NYC MediaLab, moderated a panel with Frida Polli, CEO & Co-Founder of Pymetrics, Michael Won, Director of Analytics … Read more

The Future of Transportation

“There’s an alternative to a world that looks like a parking lot and feels like a traffic jam.” At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival Jason Post, Director of Public Policy & Communications at Uber Technologies, Inc, detailed several trends he believes will change the face of transportation and mobility today. Here are the top 10 takeaways … Read more

How to Create a Successful New Media Company

Today, almost 68 million Americans listen to podcasts on a monthly basis and the proliferation of this entertaining, informative, and opinionated medium is only expected to keep growing. At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival Matt Lieber, Co-Founder of Gimlet Media, the digital media company and podcast network focused on producing narrative podcasts, gave his three … Read more

Arianna Huffington’s Best Advice to Entrepreneurs

Arianna Huffington is the definition of a serial entrepreneur. In 2005 she changed the media landscape by co-founding the Huffington Post, which AOL  later purchased for a cool  $315 million. Arianna served as the President and Editor-in-Chief of The Huffington Post Media Group until 2016, and then stepped down to focus on her new startup, Thrive … Read more

Eight Trends Driving the Future of Work

“For the Silent Generation, work was like a steamship. You picked the company, the function, the direction, worked there your whole life, and then get the pension. For Baby Boomers, work was like operating a sailing vessel, navigating the winds and currents, as we make our way through our careers.  And for the Millennials out … Read more

Want to Access the V.C. Landscape? Here’s How.

Are you an entrepreneur trying to raise capital for your startup? At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival Liza Benson, Partner at Starvest Partners, and Albert Wenger, Managing Partner at Union Square Ventures, offered up their wisdom on the trends and qualities V.C.s are looking for in founders and new companies. Here’s what you need to … Read more

Building an Entrepreneurial Mindset

How do you create a company culture where  employees are empowered to take risks? By creating and fostering an entrepreneurial mindset in every single person at your company. At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival Alexis Smith, Director of Employer Branding and Digital for North America at Anheuser-Busch and Howard Greenstein of Harbrooke Group offered three techniques … Read more

The Future of Healthcare

Today’s healthcare industry landscape offers an especially unique opportunity for technologists, medical professionals, and innovators to collaborate and improve healthcare around the globe. With developments in A.I., technology, and personal data collection, the healthcare industry is wide open for breathtaking innovation and improvements that will help people feel better. At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival, … Read more

Want to Partner with the Big Players? Here’s How.

Larger companies like Google want to work with you. At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival, Beth Polish, Vice Chairman at League of Change, and Kristina Hahn, Director of Americas Partner Solutions and Innovation at Google, discussed three key criteria bigger companies are looking for when they choose to partner up with smaller companies. Define How a … Read more

Three Surprising Qualities That Attract V.C. Attention

The question every entrepreneur wants to know: what attracts a V.C.’s attention – and eventual funding – to your company? At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival David Sorin of McCarter & English moderated a panel between Paul Martino, General Partner at Bull Pen Capital, and Gus Warren, Managing Director at Samsung NEXT Ventures, about how founders … Read more

Accessibility and Disability in Tech: How We Need To Improve

Over 53 million people in the United States live with a disability, according to the Centers for Disease Control.  That’s 1 in 5 people. And yet, accessibility for those with disabilities is rarely considered when it comes to developing new products, apps, or businesses online or in the tech world. Or, as Mary Fernandez put … Read more

Can A.I. Solve Humanity’s Problems?

Dr. Kelland Thomas, Dean of the College of Arts and Letters at Stevens Institute of Technology, came to the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival stage with a burning question. In today’s world, where tech so frequently alienates society, how could A.I. actually help create connection and solve humanity’s problems? Here’s how Dr. Thomas sees this happening. Collaboration … Read more

18 Rules for Pitching an Investor

Tom Wisniewski is a Managing Partner at Newark Venture Partners, which means he hears a lot of pitches from entrepreneurs and founders who want funding. At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival Wisniewski gave his top 18 tips for a successful pitch. Bonus: Each tip is short and sweet, clocking in at 140 characters or less! … Read more

The Future of Retail Stores

The way we shop and work is rapidly changing. At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival, Jason Abbruzzese, a business reporter at Mashable, talked the future of physical places, shopping, and branding with Jesse Middleton, co-founder of Wework, and Alana Branston, co-founder & CEO of Bulletin. Here are their top three predictions for the future of … Read more

Diversity, Inclusion, and Access: How Tech Needs to Accelerate

At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival Philip McKenzie, creator of the Influencer Conference, moderated a panel on how we can accelerate inclusivity in tech and media with Jon Gosier, Founder and General Partner at Southbox, Cherae Robinson, Founder and CEO of Tastemakers Africa, and Lina Srivastava, Founder of the Creative Impact and Experience Lab. Here are Jon, Cherae, and Lina’s top … Read more

Tools & Tricks for Building Remote Teams

At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival, Ari Meisel and Nick Sonnenberg, co-founders of Leverage and self-proclaimed “productivity geeks,” spoke with Jason Feifer, editor-in-chief of Entrepreneur Magazine, about the future of work. Their consensus? The remote workplace will continue to grow in popularity and prominence, since remote work affords the ultimate in flexibility, innovation, and value … Read more

How the Chief Heart Officer at VaynerMedia Followed Her Intuition to Success

Launching a brand and running a company can be exhilarating – and exhausting. What should you do if your purpose feels far away and your work life is starting to feel a little less than lackluster? Try an internal check-in. An internal check-in, or asking yourself a few key, pointed questions, could be just what … Read more

Three Bad Communication Habits and Three Easy Fixes

At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival, Michael Chad Hoeppner of GK Training and Communications, offered three key habit changes entrepreneurs can make to become more effective and efficient communicators. His approach was two-step. First, think about your audience. Then, tackle the common problem that arises when speaking to: The Newbie – The person who knows … Read more

Three Easy Things Entrepreneurs Can Do To Protect Against Consumer and Identity Fraud

In the past six years identity thieves have stolen over $107 billion. Last year, identity fraud claims spiked by 16%. And, fraudsters are increasingly finding new opportunities to commit consumer fraud with the continued growth of point-of-sale fraud and e- and m-commerce, according to recent data. Consumer and identity fraud is an ever-growing problem, but … Read more

Use Design Thinking to Improve Your Life

Ever heard of design thinking? Companies like Apple, Airbnb, and SAP have used design thinking to create massive success and wins for themselves. Advocates hail design thinking as a template for everything from raising resourceful kids to improving doctor-patient relationships. And schools like Harvard and MIT teach design thinking courses to help students learn to … Read more

The Pitfalls and Possibilities of Machine Learning for Newbies

Machine learning gives computers the possibility of learning – without being explicitly programmed. David Spangenthal, Strategic Growth Manager, Google Cloud Platform at Google, and Alyx Baldwin, Co-Founder and CTO at Kip, are both working to push the boundaries of what A.I. and machine learning can accomplish and help humanity with in the future. At the … Read more

Failure, Opportunity, and Entrepreneurship in The Land of Dreams

George Levin came to the United States almost three years ago with a degree in advanced mathematics, nowhere to live, and a dream to launch his own business. He left behind a good career, a great apartment, and everyone he knew in Moscow to pursue his dreams of running a successful business in the U.S. … Read more

3 Steps to Building Long-Term, Sustainable Success

Todd Giannattasio, Founder & CEO of Tresnic Media, wants to help you grow your business and turn strangers into your customers. Todd’s an expert at using social media and digital marketing techniques to build brands, generate leads, and drive sales, and he wants to help burgeoning entrepreneurs harness the power of content to make their … Read more

Stop Thinking Killer App, Start Thinking Killer Experience

David Polinchock has worked in the VR and experiential advertising space since the 1990s, and he’s seen the good, the bad, and the ugly for using VR and AR to create marketing events and experiences. At the Propelify 2017 Innovation Festival he gave a talk about three big ways technologists, marketers, and companies need to … Read more

The Future of Tech Policy in The Trump Era

At the 2017 Propelify Innovation Festival, Howard Greenstein, CEO of Harbrooke Group, moderated a panel about the future of tech policy under President Trump with Andrew Rasiej, Founder & CEO of Civic Hall and a rep for the Personal Democracy Forum, Scott Frederick, partner at NEA, and Jackson Jeyanayagam, CMO at Boxed.com. Read on for … Read more

Millennials, A-Z

Matt Britton, author of YouthNation: Building Incredible Brands in a Youth-Driven Culture, believes many companies, CEOs, and CMOs, make negative, harmful business decisions because they are disconnected from the Millennial generation. As the founder of MRY, a a digital and social media marketing services agency Matt grew from startup to acquisition by the Publicis Groupe … Read more

Disrupting Dental Hygiene with Goby

Benjamin Goldbery is the Founder of Goby – an electric toothbrush and game-changing mail monthly mail subscription service for replacement toothbrush heads. Read on for the three key ways Ben shook up teeth-brushing for both big, established companies and consumers, by creating serious disruption to the oral care industry. It’s not always easy…. Take it … Read more

The Future of Gamification

Cary Harr is obsessed with learning what makes people tick. He stumbled onto this passion as a public school teacher, and now as a senior manager with Deloitte Consulting. Harr works with the Deloitte immersive learning center. There, he and his team work on games, simulations, videos, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality to study and … Read more

NJ TECH Meetup Fireside Chat with Chieh Huang, CEO of BOXED

Chieh’s a great guy and a great leader.

Chieh Huang from BOXED.com gets his inspiration as co-founder and CEO from the source: his own mother. He grew up watching how hard she worked to get where she got, and he applies all that wisdom to how he nurtures his company culture.

That was the main takeaway from his interview at the NJ TECH event on December 5, 2017, at Stevens Institute for Technology in Hoboken, NJ.

Over a friendly “fireside” chat with Aaron Price, CEO of Propelify, Chieh shared stories that inspired those in attendance to focus on humble leadership in our everyday lives and the many ways we can change a person’s life.

Check this video recap of some more takeaways and we hope you enjoy!

1) The merit of making connections.

When Chieh initially left college, he did some teaching in a remote village in Japan. He felt insecure about that decision while all his friends were getting promotions and raises with big companies. But years later, when he was building BOXED, a funder wanted to invest $1MIL and that person happened to have lived in that very same remote village where he taught years ago! We never know who we’ll meet when we’re pursuing our passions and how those relationships come back around in our lives. 

2) COMMITMENT is the key to success.

Chieh believes we earn our success by grinding away every day especially when we don’t know how things will work out. Aaron chimed in with a quote about commitment and how essential it is to achieving success. You can read that quote here.

3) Successful negotiation is…Life.

Chieh needed the boxed.com domain name. Some person had it and wasn’t using it but wasn’t giving it up easy, either. Successful negotiation and patience go a long way, however, and eventually, he snagged the domain for a cool 35K. And is obviously worth every penny.

4) Identify your WHY?

Chieh’s why is about supporting people in his company based on his upbringing and he brought a tear to many an eye as he recounted this story of one of his workers. This man started as a box-loader, as every employee does. Turns out this man confessed at a holiday party that he’d been laid off as a paralegal and feared his age would be a barrier to another good job. At a holiday party, he candidly expressed gratitude for the chance Chieh gave him and said it was a game-changer for him and his life.

Yeah, I know. Great story, right?!

Those are some of the great things Chieh Huang shared that make us big fans of him as a company leader. Which one is your favorite? Or can you relate to any of the takeaways in your own life?

Feel free to share in the comments below.