What Kind of Trailblazer do YOU Want to Be?
Hack.Chat with Tamr
A Fireside Chat with Tamr’s Andy Palmer
“I’m a really passionate person. One of the reasons startups have always attracted me is because attitude MATTERS. If you’re a passionate person, and willing to work hard, you can make a difference with your attitude.” -Andy Palmer
In July, Hack.Diversity Fellows had the good fortune to hold audience with Tamr Co-Founder and CEO, Andy Palmer. Palmer has founded, co-founded or funded over 50 different organizations spanning across therapeutics, technology, and healthcare. His latest venture, the Cambridge-based startup Tamr, is a data unification org which cleans up “dirty data” to allow big companies to make well-informed and effective decisions. Tamr is currently hosting a Hack.Diversity Fellow for a 12-week summer 2020 internship.
Palmer is a firm believer that attitude and values play an integral role in success, and relates running a startup to playing rugby: “It’s as much about how you play the game as it is whether you win or lose. I find the same is true with startups: just being successful or making money isn’t the whole picture. HOW you are successful matters.”
Inquiring Minds Want to Know
Andy entertained a Q&A with Fellows, who wanted to learn everything from why he chose Boston for his startup endeavors, to what his greatest career failures have been, to how he leads a company, and his advice for aspiring entrepreneurs.
Why did you choose Boston to start Tamr? — Ana Paula Malimpensa, 2020 Hack Fellow
AP: I went to college in Maine and grad school in New Hampshire, so it was natural for me to settle down in New England. That drew me to Cambridge, which is an incredibly powerful dynamic in the startup ecosystem. There are so many great and intellectually talented people there, I was like a kid in a candy store. It’s the startup ecosystem in Cambridge and Boston that keeps me here.
As a CEO, what kind of experience do you hope to provide the employees working at Tamr? — Chris Armand, 2020 Hack Fellow
AP: Culture building in startups is important, and a powerful core culture enables companies to grow really fast over time. We have a set of values that we espouse at Tamr, and it’s the core of what we do. We like to think of values as a stake in the ground for our behavior; it makes people feel comfortable, productive, and empowered. One thing we greatly value is professional development. As a small company, we compete head to head for talent that could go to Google, Microsoft, Wayfair. We can’t compete with money but we CAN make sure everyone who works at Tamr feels like their manager cares more about their professional development than anyone else, and we practice that every day. The second thing that really matters in a big way is diversity: diversity of thought, and having a really active D&I team. Our base belief is that diversity of opinion creates better ideas and outcomes, and we see it play out over and over again at Tamr. The third thing is that I love to hire great people. The bar is really high! We tend to attract talent looking to grow themselves, just top tier people.
When you’re creating a new software system, how do you define what the market will be and identify customers? — Jasmine Rose, 2020 Hack Fellow
AP: With a new software product, make sure the thing you’re building satisfies a really compelling need that someone has. The benefit of software is that anyone can write it, but that’s also the biggest drawback. It can be confusing to a customer what it is they really need, so ask them what they need. You get the opportunity to ask questions by knocking on doors, talking to them, asking what their problems are. Start by listening, asking what the problems are and hearing them out, instead of telling them how cool your thing is. Find out what THEY need, and start there.
What advice do you have for people who want to become entrepreneurs, but are hesitant and nervous about the risk? — Werner Ordonez Salguero, 2020 Hack Fellow
AP: That hesitation is warranted. It’s never been easier to start companies than it is today. With the automation and tools available, there are lots of reasons to start a company, but getting the reason and the rationale down at the start is important. As you start a company, you’ll have to make sacrifices -personal, financial- and you want to ensure they’re worth it. Almost always it turns out that starting a company is harder than anyone ever expects. You have to have a good reason for doing it, and test your idea to make sure it holds water. The best ways to start are talking to people in the startup ecosystem. Tell them your idea, what you’re thinking, what sacrifices you know upfront you’d have to make, and get advice from others who have done it.
“By the end of the 90s I was doing well financially, but asked, how is the world any different from my impact? I found healthcare tech through the bio pharmaceutical work I was doing, and saw opportunities for technology to help people and modernize the health ecosystem.” -Andy Palmer, on his transition into healthcare tech
On Sourcing Minority Talent and Hacking Diversity
One of the things Andy is proud of accomplishing through his Koa Labs seed fund is having backed 60 different companies, 80% of which were founded by either women or immigrants. Palmer shared his thoughts on the necessity of diverse workforces and his experience with talent sourcing with Hack.Diversity’s President and Co-Founder, Jody Rose.
JR: Many times we hear from partners, “We’re having a hard time sourcing diverse candidates.” You have been able to double down on women and immigrants [through Koa]. Is it harder to source non-white and female talent?
AP: We didn’t have a hard time finding folks, so I would say that’s the definition of dogma — it’s just not true, not reality. There are a lot of amazing immigrant and female entrepreneurs out there that just need to be backed. With those two constituencies as my primary base of investment, it was very easy to do deals because of how collaborative and thoughtful they were.
JR: Why do YOU hack diversity?
AP: It’s the best way to build a great company — you get much better ideas when there’s diversity, and it’s how you attract the best talent. Also, our customers are incredibly diverse. When we engage with them from a diverse workforce, it enables us to have conversations that wouldn’t be possible otherwise, so to attract the best clients you have to be diverse. And finally I have a diverse family. It would be hypocritical of me to build a company that wasn’t the same. This is who we are as a society, and work should be an accurate reflection of who we are as society. [Diversity] is no longer optional, and needs to be standard operating procedure.
“I can’t wait for the day when we can take it for granted that to be in business and to be effective, you have to have a diverse workforce.” -Andy Palmer
Presenters and Guests: Andy Palmer, Jody Rose
A Hack.Chat is an event led by industry leaders, usually in-person at the organization’s headquarters, that takes our Fellows and Alumni into a deeper discussion around hot topics or skill sets related to the tech and innovation ecosystem. They can involve current applications of an emerging technology, demonstration of a company’s impact to date, or thoughts on where the field is going. These monthly events are designed to bring local experts together with our Fellows and Alumni to help share knowledge as well as build mutually beneficial networks.
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