In late 2011, Aaron Frazin, future co-founder and CEO of
Charlie, was a college senior frustrated with the job application process. To prepare for an interview, he’d spend hours combing the web for information on the company and the interviewer.
"I found myself doing the same research over and over," says Frazin. "I asked, 'Why isn’t there anything out there that can do this for me?'"
A year later, Frazin's mobile tool to help professionals "get up to date"--which he co-founded with Junaid Kalmadi--graduated from
DreamIt Ventures. Charlie is also completing its first round of financing with significant investment from angel investors and DreamIt. The company is split between Philadelphia and Chicago; the tech arm is based in University City. On the cusp of launching in beta, they are seeking a
VP of Engineering and plan to hire
software engineers.
Charlie could be described as a cheat sheet for meetings, but Frazin likens it to a personal assistant or butler on your mobile device. (The bowtie insignia is a nod to that inspiration.) Before a critical first impression, the app fetches commonalities, life events, social updates and company news on the client or contact. It also provides news updates on the subject’s specific interests for elegant icebreakers and syncs the virtual briefing with appointments stored in your mobile calendar.
Frazin, a 2012
Kauffman Global Scholar who studied business economics at Indiana University and moved to Philly to attend DreamIt, made an
animated short he considers his Minimum Viable Product (MVP). The video went viral six months ago and the budding entrepreneur says he’s been inundated with emails asking for the product. "I really wanted this kind of app," says Frazin."We realized other people want it that bad too."
Source: Aaron Frazin, Charlie
Writer: Dana Henry