Jeremy will restore your faith in millennials
If anyone out there despairs about the priorities of millennials, Jeremy Grunfeld will restore faith in the next generation of leaders.
At the Shark Attack
At JCA Jumpstart’s first Shark Tank event in 2016, 26-yr-old Jeremy’s company, InsideSherpa, won the people’s choice award and $5K in funding. Since then it’s been a whirlwind of success for this socially-minded entrepreneur. This year, Jeremy is donating the money back to Jumpstart to help others realise their dreams.
InsideSherpa’s vision was to democratise access to career opportunities for people around the globe through virtual internships. Over the last four years, the company has grown to a team of over 15, distributed across Sydney, San Francisco, New York, Phoenix and London. They’ve taken on more than $2m in venture capital funding (including investment from Y-Combinator, one of Silicon Valley’s most respected investment firms). Their corporate partners have grown to include KPMG, Deloitte, Commonwealth Bank, ANZ and MinterEllison, soon to be joined by the likes of JPMorgan, Accenture, BCG, General Electric and many more with whom they have launched virtual work experience and internship programs that are completely free and open access. If you’re an orange picker is Afghanistan or a farmer in India you can log onto InsideSherpa and gain real, practical experience and insight into what different careers look like. Their community of students is growing by more than 2,000 each week, all of whom are upskilling by participating in the free skill-building programs on InsideSherpa’s site.
Adam Jacobs, Naomi Simson, Peter Ivany AM, Madeleine Buchner, David Shein, Andrew Banks
Jeremy realised how fortunate he was to be part of the generous Jewish community where fellow Moriah alumni and Maccabi friends always on hand for a coffee or a phone call with advice and insight that helped him transition from university to the workforce. Jeremy recalls “After every single conversation I would ask myself ‘what on earth would I do without the Jewish community?’ I couldn’t find a good answer to that question and that seemed very unfair, so we went ahead and built one.”
According to Jeremy, the impact of the $5K that InsideSherpa received from JCA’s Jumpstart Shark Tank event “can never be overstated. It meant so much because at the time, we had these giant dreams of helping students around the world, but we’re still building a foundation to start from. The immediate impact of the prize was that it helped us to believe.”
Pitching to the Sharks also helped to prepare Jeremy and his colleagues when it came to one the crucial components for any start-up – applying for venture capital funding, which has enabled InsideSherpa to continue reach more and more students across the globe.
Asked what advice he would give to other social start-ups, Jeremy said, “Never forget why you’re doing this and who you’re trying to help.” With people like Jeremy Grunfeld out there, the future is looking bright.
Jumpstart’s next Shark Tank event is being held on Wednesday 27 November with $60K up for grabs for the successful pitches – visit www.jca.org.au/jumpstart/shark-tank/ for more information.
