The Six Year Evolution of a Founder

This week hosts Tim Ryan, and Zack Miller sit down with Erica McMannes, Founder, Chief People, and Community Officer of Instant Teams, a talent marketplace that uses innovative technology, career development, and a focus on skills-based hiring to create employment solutions for companies and remote careers for military and veteran spouses. Watch this week's episode to hear about the growth of Instant Teams, the services they provide, remote opportunities, and much more!   Show notes:   (0:00) Introducing Erica McMannes   (4:35) Ages and Stages   (9:43) What is Instant Teams?    (16:46) Military Market + Spouse Employment   (25:19) Erica's new role   (28:44) Series A Process + Partner    (41:13) Identifying productivity in remote jobs   (45:40) Instant Teams' Super Bowl Commercial   (49:34) Advice for Founders   (53:02) Current TV Shows + Conclusion    About Erica McMannes & Instant Teams:   Instant Teams was founded in 2016 by Liza Rodewald and Erica McMannes. Liza and Erica met as freshly uprooted military families in 2014. They quickly identified that they shared a common bond in not only the entrepreneurial and technology space but that they also had a heart for the community around them.   Throughout their professional journeys, they had both seen a need for disruptive solutions for remote team development. In April 2016, they came together to talk about what a solution would look like, and they've been focused on the future of work ever since. The company launched as MadSkills, a website where military spouses could sign up to find available remote work positions from customers who joined to post remote jobs.   In January 2019, MadSkills rebranded to Instant Teams to better align with what Liza and Erica set out to do: quickly and efficiently build remote teams from a wealth of untapped talent. Early investors included The Founder Institute, Squadra Ventures, Frontier Venture Capital, and Right Side Capital Management. Shortly after the rebrand, they launched their proprietary technology, which enabled the pivot to become a full remote team marketplace. Companies can customize remote teams using a skills-based hiring model and tech-enabled talent pipelines. In March 2022, Instant Teams closed their $13 Million Series A funding round led by Tiger Global.   Today, Instant Teams continues to lead the way as a remote team marketplace, improving the financial stability of military and veteran families and supporting a wide portfolio of customers and their remote teams.   Learn more: https://instantteams.com/about-us/   About the hosts:   Tim Ryan is an angel investor and the Executive Director of StartWheel, an organization dedicated to connecting entrepreneurs with resources in Hampton Roads, Virginia.    Zack Miller is a serial entrepreneur and author of Anomaly, a guide on differentiating yourself and your business from the crowd.   Enjoy the show? Watch the Fervent Four Show LIVE every Thursday at 11 AM.   Live: https://www.startwheel.org/live/ Watch past episodes: https://www.startwheel.org/fervent-four-show/ Listen to past episodes: https://fathom.fm/podcast/fervent-four      The Fervent Four Show:   Did you know that only 4% of businesses hit $1M in revenue? Tim Ryan and Zack Miller are the creators of The Fervent Four Show, designed to help you get there. Check them out Live every Thursday at 11 AM.   Social Media:   Erica McMannes https://instantteams.com/   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/instant-teams/ & https://www.linkedin.com/in/ericamcmannes/   Instagram: @instantteams_ (https://www.instagram.com/instantteams_/)   Twitter: @Instant_Teams (https://twitter.com/Instant_Teams)   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/instantteams   Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCXVipLMkyakFoi0_iIFaiUw   Tim Ryan https://www.startwheel.org   Twitter (personal): @ryantnt (https://twitter.com/ryantnt)   Twitter: @StartWheel (https://twitter.com/StartWheel)   LinkedIn (personal): https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryantnt/   LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/startwheel-org/   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/StartWheel   Zack Miller https://www.zackmillersays.com   Twitter: @zackmillersays (https://twitter.com/zackmillersays)   Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/zackmillersays   Thanks to our Sponsors:   The Hampton Roads Small Business Development Center – http://www.hrsbdc.org/en/   StartWheel – https://www.startwheel.org   Companies Mentioned: Instant Teams: https://instantteams.com/ The Fervent Four Episode 2 with Erica McMannes: https://youtu.be/NrENaAbR9aQ The Fervent Four Episode 73 with Erica McMannes: https://youtu.be/NWqOdaYbcDo Liza Rodewald, Instant Teams CEO: https://instantteams.com/liza-rodewald/ WWE: https://www.wwe.com/ The Simpsons: https://www.fox.com/the-simpsons/ Navy: https://www.navy.com/ Fort Bragg: https://home.army.mil/bragg/index.php Civic Leadership Program: https://www.civichr.org/ Start Peninsula: https://www.startpeninsula.com/ Tiger Global: https://www.tigerglobal.com/ Jason Calacanis: https://calacanis.com/ Twitter: https://twitter.com/ Super Bowl Commercial: https://www.nfl.com/super-bowl/event-info/archive/super-bowl-54-commercials Netflix: https://www.netflix.com/ Yellowstone: https://www.paramountnetwork.com/shows/yellowstone Emily in Paris: https://www.netflix.com/title/81037371 Limitless: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt1219289/ Ray Donovan: https://www.sho.com/ray-donovan White Lotus: https://www.hbo.com/the-white-lotus Nine Perfect Strangers: https://www.hulu.com/series/nine-perfect-strangers-2be55e1a-4c31-4af6-aa25-e5c85528b73a Stranger Things: https://www.netflix.com/title/80057281 Ted Lasso: https://tv.apple.com/us/show/ted-lasso/umc.cmc.vtoh0mn0xn7t3c643xqonfzy Apple TV Plus: https://www.apple.com/apple-tv-plus/ XFL: https://www.xfl.com/ Vincent McMahon: https://www.forbes.com/profile/vincent-mcmahon/ The Rock: https://www.instagram.com/therock/ Pebble Beach Marathon: https://www.tripadvisor.com/Attraction_Review-g181746-d8432628-Reviews-Pebble_Beach-Marathon_Thunder_Bay_District_Ontario.html Peter Frampton: https://www.frampton.com/ Ric Flair: https://www.wwe.com/superstars/ricflair