Episode #10: Pasha Ryan- co-founding Forage, going through Y Combinator, and what a CTO role involves

Launch Codes

English - August 24, 2021 06:00 - 48 minutes - 33.5 MB
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Previous Episode: Episode #9: Max Kausman- working in early-stage VC at Tidal Ventures, trends in the Australian startup ecosystem and building great relationships during your career

Next Episode: Episode #11: Hannah Parton-Cyr - early stage investing at Black Sheep Capital, closing the fundraising gender gap and and how to think about risk

Pasha Ryan is the co-founder and CTO of Forage. Forage is a digital platform offering free virtual work experience programs from top companies like Citibank, BCG and General Electric.

Pasha studied commerce, philosophy, and computer science at UNSW. After uni, he worked as a management consultant at KPMG as well as a product manager at Freelancer.com before starting Forage in April 2017. I chatted with Pasha about the process of starting Forage, his experience in YCombinator and what the role of a CTO involves. Enjoy!

Timestamps:

[1:08]- Who Pasha wanted to be when he grew up

[3:44]- Pasha’s career journey

[4:58]- Studying a combination of commerce, philosophy and computer science

[5:53]- Where the idea for Forage came from?

[11:09]- When did Pasha realise that the virtual work experience model was the right one?

[14:03]- Going through Y Combinator

[17:42]- Was there competition with the other companies in the accelerator?

[19:33]- What are the strategies Forage has used to scale?

[21:07]- Has it been hard to find the right talent?

[22:34]- What does the role of a CTO involve?

[24:28]- The impact of COVID

[29:00]- What was the Series A fundraising process like?

[31:30]- Rebranding from InsideSherpa to Forage

[35:12]- The long term vision for Forage

[37:58]- Pasha’s tips for those looking to starting their own business

[39:12]- The best investment Pasha has made in his personal life

[41:04]- Advice for students

References:
Forage
Y Combinator
My Life & Work- Henry Ford