WEBVTT NOTE This file was generated by Descript 00:00:00.000 --> 00:00:04.353 Mateo: What if we volunteered once a week over the course of a month to 00:00:04.363 --> 00:00:08.303 create a new home or to do a clothing drive, to donate a lot of clothes? 00:00:08.313 --> 00:00:12.922 Like there are so many more opportunities to create a deeper impact if we're 00:00:12.922 --> 00:00:15.432 able to strengthen the connection with nonprofits and companies. 00:00:15.432 --> 00:00:18.712 I think that would be the long term vision once we're able to, I 00:00:18.712 --> 00:00:20.132 guess, get our feet off the ground, 00:00:20.166 --> 00:00:21.096 Raphaël: That's super cool. 00:00:21.096 --> 00:00:24.756 Yeah, I hadn't thought of it that way, but it is like, it's almost like what 00:00:24.756 --> 00:00:29.596 you're providing is like dipping your toe into the water and then there's this 00:00:29.596 --> 00:00:32.196 opportunity after that to really dig in. 00:00:32.246 --> 00:00:35.506 and how did you get to this point in your life, your career? 00:00:35.506 --> 00:00:38.031 Like what, what led you to start this company? 00:00:38.031 --> 00:00:40.501 Mateo: it was during the pandemic, me and a few friends not having 00:00:40.571 --> 00:00:41.921 much to do over the summer. 00:00:41.984 --> 00:00:44.668 we said, hey, why not, build a volunteer website? 00:00:44.694 --> 00:00:49.728 And that's where I met my co founder, Alex, who helped us basically build 00:00:49.728 --> 00:00:52.481 out our directory of different organizations you could volunteer with. 00:00:52.886 --> 00:00:57.366 And what started out as initial, like a side project, when we started working with 00:00:57.376 --> 00:01:01.066 different high schools to help students fulfill their graduation requirements. 00:01:01.406 --> 00:01:06.796 That's when we started, like, licensing an actual product and turning it into, 00:01:06.846 --> 00:01:08.706 like, from a side project into a company. 00:01:09.066 --> 00:01:13.906 Raphaël: Hey folks, and welcome to another episode of the small tech podcast. 00:01:13.983 --> 00:01:17.753 I'm your host Raph, and we've got another wonderful guest today. 00:01:17.853 --> 00:01:23.480 He is Mateo Jeanneau, the CEO and co founder of Keen to Help, the company that 00:01:23.480 --> 00:01:25.520 makes it easy to help your community. 00:01:25.553 --> 00:01:29.953 They connect companies and their employees with volunteering opportunities. 00:01:29.983 --> 00:01:33.690 One of the ways they do that is with these really neat boxes that 00:01:33.690 --> 00:01:37.860 companies can order, and which create a really cool team building exercise. 00:01:37.903 --> 00:01:42.353 But even better, is that what comes out of that exercise is actually something that 00:01:42.353 --> 00:01:45.353 is useful and valuable to a non profit. 00:01:45.653 --> 00:01:49.883 I first connected with Mateo's co founder, Alex, a little while ago 00:01:49.923 --> 00:01:53.103 around the idea of of measuring impact. 00:01:53.166 --> 00:01:56.536 Eventually that turned into some conversations about Keen to Help 00:01:56.556 --> 00:01:59.416 and I thought it'd be really cool to talk about it on the podcast. 00:01:59.716 --> 00:02:05.016 I learned a lot from Mateo about launching a company during COVID, transitioning 00:02:05.016 --> 00:02:09.676 from a side project into a company, and testing product assumptions. 00:02:09.976 --> 00:02:13.516 I really enjoyed the conversation, and I hope you do too. 00:02:13.642 --> 00:02:14.172 Hey, Mateo. 00:02:14.272 --> 00:02:14.962 How's it going? 00:02:14.962 --> 00:02:15.692 Mateo: Doing well. 00:02:15.692 --> 00:02:16.352 How about yourself? 00:02:16.352 --> 00:02:16.832 How are you doing 00:02:17.091 --> 00:02:19.241 Raphaël: Yeah, I am doing all right. 00:02:19.401 --> 00:02:22.971 Um, so I just want to dive right into it , how about you 00:02:22.971 --> 00:02:24.421 tell me what is Keen to Help? 00:02:24.441 --> 00:02:25.241 Mateo: Yeah, absolutely. 00:02:25.261 --> 00:02:26.591 So, um, Keen to Help. 00:02:26.671 --> 00:02:28.631 we make it easy to help your community. 00:02:28.651 --> 00:02:33.121 So, we've worked with a few different groups, but we narrowed in on companies 00:02:33.431 --> 00:02:37.761 and helping you plan the ideal corporate event for your employees. 00:02:37.771 --> 00:02:41.721 So, helping you get engaged with different causes and different activities 00:02:41.721 --> 00:02:46.266 that you can do together as a team, that's going to enable you to give 00:02:46.276 --> 00:02:50.346 back to the community and also have a great time doing it, basically. 00:02:50.440 --> 00:02:51.020 Raphaël: Awesome. 00:02:51.100 --> 00:02:52.620 That's, uh, that's super cool. 00:02:52.650 --> 00:02:55.910 And how did you get to this point in your life, your career? 00:02:55.910 --> 00:02:58.435 Like what, what led you to start this company? 00:02:59.316 --> 00:03:00.006 Mateo: Yeah, absolutely. 00:03:00.006 --> 00:03:02.666 So, I mean, it was during the pandemic, me and a few friends not 00:03:02.666 --> 00:03:04.406 having much to do over the summer. 00:03:04.806 --> 00:03:07.846 And we said, hey, why not, build a volunteer website? 00:03:08.206 --> 00:03:13.486 And that's where I met my co founder, Alex, who helped us basically build 00:03:13.486 --> 00:03:16.536 out our directory of different organizations you could volunteer with. 00:03:17.201 --> 00:03:21.681 And what started out as initial, like a side project, when we started working with 00:03:21.691 --> 00:03:25.381 different high schools to help students fulfill their graduation requirements. 00:03:25.721 --> 00:03:31.111 That's when we started, like, licensing an actual product and turning it into, 00:03:31.161 --> 00:03:33.021 like, from a side project into a company. 00:03:33.431 --> 00:03:38.151 And from schools, we've now, we've helped basically, like, over a dozen schools and 00:03:38.451 --> 00:03:40.731 more than 2, 000 students, um, volunteer. 00:03:41.186 --> 00:03:45.876 And, um, are now trying to take what we less like, what we learned with the school 00:03:45.886 --> 00:03:49.976 environment and applying it to different, um, companies across Canada and the U. 00:03:50.016 --> 00:03:50.306 S. 00:03:50.745 --> 00:03:51.295 Raphaël: cool. 00:03:51.515 --> 00:03:54.985 So do I understand correctly that when you first started to do this, it was 00:03:54.995 --> 00:03:57.255 just like a, kind of like a side project? 00:03:57.255 --> 00:04:01.395 Yeah, 00:04:01.551 --> 00:04:06.391 Mateo: of boredom and like me having an internship and all summer plans lined 00:04:06.401 --> 00:04:11.941 up and having everything just go to zero, like during lockdown, everything 00:04:11.951 --> 00:04:14.211 getting canceled and being like, Oh, wow. 00:04:14.211 --> 00:04:14.491 Okay. 00:04:14.491 --> 00:04:16.641 What am I, what am I going to do with my summer now? 00:04:16.641 --> 00:04:18.861 Like, how can I be productive? 00:04:18.861 --> 00:04:22.241 And yeah, I'm glad it turned into that and didn't end up 00:04:22.351 --> 00:04:24.031 with me just like being lazy. 00:04:24.636 --> 00:04:26.606 Not doing anything, you know, I guess. 00:04:27.075 --> 00:04:28.005 Raphaël: yeah, totally. 00:04:28.475 --> 00:04:32.205 Um, with that in mind, I'm kind of curious, like, what, what did you, 00:04:32.215 --> 00:04:35.205 like, how do you manage that transition from like, Oh, this is just like 00:04:35.205 --> 00:04:37.155 a side project that I'm doing to. 00:04:37.610 --> 00:04:40.210 Oh, like, let's turn this into a company. 00:04:40.210 --> 00:04:41.910 Let's turn it into a real product. 00:04:41.910 --> 00:04:44.570 Mateo: Yeah, that's a, that's an excellent question. 00:04:45.060 --> 00:04:48.870 I think number one thing is like delusion, especially at that age of being like, 00:04:48.910 --> 00:04:54.590 Oh, like I can actually make this huge company that's gonna like connect 00:04:54.590 --> 00:04:58.610 millions and millions of volunteers and holding on to that vision for dear life. 00:04:59.070 --> 00:05:03.400 I think over the years now I've realized like what it actually takes and, um, 00:05:03.980 --> 00:05:06.915 more of the challenge now that I didn't realize at the beginning, which is like, 00:05:07.255 --> 00:05:11.905 Kind of gave me that ignorance to really just say, okay, go, like, I'll go for it. 00:05:12.395 --> 00:05:18.135 Um, but I think more than that, it's like the support of the people around 00:05:18.135 --> 00:05:21.455 me, whether that's my family and friends that like give me the confidence to 00:05:21.455 --> 00:05:27.835 then know that if I, if I fail, and even if I've like put like multiple 00:05:27.835 --> 00:05:31.635 years now into it, and that doesn't work, that I'm not going to be like. 00:05:32.290 --> 00:05:34.240 Viewed as a, as failure. 00:05:34.240 --> 00:05:38.270 Cause I know that my friends and my family will still support 00:05:38.270 --> 00:05:39.440 me no matter what, I guess. 00:05:39.874 --> 00:05:42.314 Raphaël: That's, yeah, I feel like that's so key, like 00:05:42.314 --> 00:05:44.104 having a strong support system. 00:05:44.204 --> 00:05:45.624 Uh, so yeah. 00:05:46.079 --> 00:05:47.569 Awesome to hear that you have that. 00:05:47.649 --> 00:05:54.079 Um, I'm kind of curious though, with that question in mind, like, did you, 00:05:54.139 --> 00:05:59.409 as you transitioned from like project to company and you have this support 00:05:59.409 --> 00:06:04.019 system and this network, did you also actively go out and like seek, I don't 00:06:04.019 --> 00:06:08.659 know, like startup communities or other, like did you build out that network 00:06:08.699 --> 00:06:10.839 beyond what you had when you got started? 00:06:10.869 --> 00:06:13.889 And if so, like how, like what places do you go to? 00:06:13.899 --> 00:06:15.649 Like how did you make that happen? 00:06:16.490 --> 00:06:17.310 Mateo: Yeah, for sure. 00:06:17.320 --> 00:06:19.060 Well, so I got really lucky. 00:06:19.060 --> 00:06:23.840 Well, um, being like at McGill, they have their Dobson entrepreneurship 00:06:23.840 --> 00:06:27.735 center where we were able to do a pitch competition and we earned about 00:06:27.735 --> 00:06:32.430 like $15,000 um, to really start going from this product from a business. 00:06:32.440 --> 00:06:37.590 So that was, a huge help, um, but what I would recommend even beyond just like 00:06:37.950 --> 00:06:42.220 different programs that you may or may not have available to you is the network 00:06:42.220 --> 00:06:43.190 that you're going to be building out. 00:06:43.460 --> 00:06:48.700 Like, um, there's so many resources that I would have never known without talking 00:06:48.700 --> 00:06:52.850 to someone who had been through what I had been through, recommending me those 00:06:52.850 --> 00:06:57.030 exact resources, whether it was government funding to help us get off the ground. 00:06:57.060 --> 00:07:00.620 Um, it's going to be different for your, your journey. 00:07:00.980 --> 00:07:05.810 So just finding people on LinkedIn that have been through or that you aspire to, 00:07:05.810 --> 00:07:09.570 that you look up to that you want to have a career like that, really reaching out 00:07:09.570 --> 00:07:11.625 and asking okay, How did you do this? 00:07:11.625 --> 00:07:12.705 Where did you get the money? 00:07:12.715 --> 00:07:14.175 How did you set up your sales? 00:07:14.175 --> 00:07:14.705 All of that. 00:07:15.135 --> 00:07:18.675 It's very likely they have all the answers to the questions, 00:07:18.695 --> 00:07:20.465 um, that you're looking for. 00:07:20.475 --> 00:07:24.235 So, getting out of your comfort zone and doing that research to see who 00:07:24.235 --> 00:07:28.325 you want to end up like, and then just asking them the right questions, um, I 00:07:28.355 --> 00:07:33.220 think is the The best is more important than any, any individual program 00:07:33.220 --> 00:07:34.300 that you're going to be able to find. 00:07:34.704 --> 00:07:37.174 Raphaël: Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. 00:07:37.504 --> 00:07:43.419 Um, I'm curious, how does, uh Like, how does finding a co founder, 00:07:43.439 --> 00:07:49.169 so you've got a co founder, Alex, and how did you meet him? 00:07:49.189 --> 00:07:52.529 How did you two decide, like, yeah, let's do this together? 00:07:52.559 --> 00:07:53.769 Like how did that all work? 00:07:54.650 --> 00:07:59.260 Mateo: So it was really off of, uh, like a coffee chat, like a virtual 00:07:59.300 --> 00:08:03.260 30 minute meeting where we'd been connected through like, uh, this other 00:08:03.260 --> 00:08:09.320 internship I did, and he was like the, the big tech guy, like the VP 00:08:09.340 --> 00:08:11.910 engineering , at another software company. 00:08:12.560 --> 00:08:15.890 And I just had 30 minutes with him, but I asked him, okay, like, Let's 00:08:15.900 --> 00:08:20.760 say, hypothetically, you were to build or launch a website, like, what 00:08:20.760 --> 00:08:22.130 would you, how would you do that? 00:08:22.140 --> 00:08:24.200 Like, what if it is something that I wanted to do? 00:08:24.640 --> 00:08:28.570 And you said, okay, like, I recommend you do this, this, and this. 00:08:28.570 --> 00:08:32.730 And then, so, I went back, and me and my friends that were all students at 00:08:32.730 --> 00:08:38.060 the time, we, um, we kind of, like, cobbled together a website following 00:08:38.060 --> 00:08:41.820 exactly what he said, like, using WordPress, a combination of different 00:08:42.160 --> 00:08:45.910 plugins, without needing to know any software, like writing no code. 00:08:46.440 --> 00:08:49.970 And having done exactly what you said, like six months later, I reached back 00:08:49.970 --> 00:08:53.530 out and I was super excited to like show him what we'd been working on. 00:08:53.610 --> 00:08:55.580 And he was, he was thrilled. 00:08:55.590 --> 00:08:56.830 He wanted to be more involved. 00:08:57.190 --> 00:09:02.030 And, uh, that's how ultimately he came on board as a co founder 00:09:02.050 --> 00:09:03.600 after like multiple calls. 00:09:03.650 --> 00:09:10.310 But like showing that we took his advice seriously and that we valued his, uh, his 00:09:10.310 --> 00:09:12.870 opinion and that we wanted more of it. 00:09:12.940 --> 00:09:13.530 I think. 00:09:14.155 --> 00:09:20.355 It like, it showed that we were really more interested in having him on board as 00:09:20.355 --> 00:09:22.875 opposed to just, just talking about it. 00:09:22.885 --> 00:09:23.795 So I think that made. 00:09:24.320 --> 00:09:25.060 Things a lot easier. 00:09:25.060 --> 00:09:28.500 And, um, I would highly recommend finding a co founder. 00:09:28.500 --> 00:09:31.770 It's going to be a lot more difficult, um, alone. 00:09:31.770 --> 00:09:34.550 So I'm so grateful that that had happened. 00:09:35.309 --> 00:09:36.029 Raphaël: That's awesome. 00:09:36.119 --> 00:09:37.249 Yeah, that's super cool. 00:09:37.599 --> 00:09:42.629 Um, you bring up, uh, WordPress I'm kind of curious, Did you have any 00:09:42.629 --> 00:09:48.779 experience doing any sort of tech, like building anything tech related? 00:09:49.119 --> 00:09:54.399 Had you ever used even like those kinds of tools, like a WordPress, uh, with a 00:09:54.399 --> 00:09:56.909 plugin or yeah, anything like that before? 00:09:57.689 --> 00:09:59.539 No nothing, like zero at all 00:09:59.560 --> 00:09:59.780 Mateo: all. 00:09:59.910 --> 00:10:03.440 Like I had no coding background whatsoever. 00:10:03.550 --> 00:10:08.090 And so taking on that challenge, I mean, it was very lengthy and a 00:10:08.090 --> 00:10:13.390 learning process, but I mean, It wasn't really that hard, I don't think. 00:10:13.470 --> 00:10:14.530 Like, anyone can do 00:10:14.530 --> 00:10:18.230 it, highly likely, you just have to get over that hump and be like, 00:10:18.670 --> 00:10:23.570 okay, I'm going to become a computer engineer, even if you don't have any 00:10:24.200 --> 00:10:27.640 of those skills, maybe not to that level, but that wasn't even needed. 00:10:28.200 --> 00:10:29.140 For what we were doing. 00:10:29.140 --> 00:10:30.600 So that kind of worked out. 00:10:31.279 --> 00:10:31.679 Raphaël: Cool. 00:10:32.199 --> 00:10:35.399 Can you walk me through a little bit, like, how do you 00:10:35.399 --> 00:10:38.079 actually operate this platform? 00:10:38.499 --> 00:10:43.279 I don't know, the different tools, whether it is WordPress and the plugins, 00:10:43.289 --> 00:10:45.149 are there other things that you use? 00:10:45.149 --> 00:10:47.179 Like, how does it all, how does it all work? 00:10:47.179 --> 00:10:48.029 Mateo: Yeah, definitely. 00:10:48.069 --> 00:10:53.179 Um, so it's very, I don't know if it's like the best way to go about 00:10:53.179 --> 00:10:55.129 it, but it's very like reactive. 00:10:55.129 --> 00:11:00.399 So like we started off the most basic setup, most basic features, 00:11:00.439 --> 00:11:03.849 just a very simple directory with like profiles and nonprofits. 00:11:04.309 --> 00:11:10.049 And it's only when we like talk to schools or different companies now, um, where 00:11:10.049 --> 00:11:12.259 they tell us, Hey, can this do this? 00:11:12.779 --> 00:11:16.179 Like, can you, can we have this feature and blah, blah, blah, 00:11:16.259 --> 00:11:18.059 And that's when we just Google search. 00:11:18.099 --> 00:11:18.469 Okay. 00:11:18.469 --> 00:11:23.129 Like what's the best way to like incorporate that or add this new feature. 00:11:23.439 --> 00:11:27.029 And very often it's just as simple as adding like a new plugin. 00:11:27.429 --> 00:11:33.209 And so it's kind of like a Frankenstein to get a solution, but it's primarily 00:11:33.209 --> 00:11:39.049 driven by the customers and our conversations with them that then 00:11:39.059 --> 00:11:40.549 tell us, okay, let's build this in. 00:11:41.204 --> 00:11:44.824 Because so many of the features that we, that we had, um, even 00:11:44.824 --> 00:11:47.334 customers will tell us themselves, Hey, this is really important. 00:11:47.434 --> 00:11:51.284 Like I want this before I'm going to move forward, um, with the contract. 00:11:51.794 --> 00:11:55.534 And then even if we add it in, they're not even going to use it sometimes. 00:11:56.004 --> 00:12:00.254 So I think there's so many, like it's easy to get lost in over engineering, 00:12:00.364 --> 00:12:04.114 like putting too much into a product development, if it's not going to be 00:12:04.114 --> 00:12:08.885 something that's really needed, like make sure it's really, really important before 00:12:08.885 --> 00:12:10.665 spending all that time to build that out. 00:12:10.765 --> 00:12:11.695 Raphaël: I love that. 00:12:11.725 --> 00:12:15.775 I feel like I see that so much where there's like, you know, someone will 00:12:15.785 --> 00:12:19.385 spend a ton of developer hours trying to build something super custom and it's 00:12:19.385 --> 00:12:20.180 like, well, you could have done that. 00:12:20.180 --> 00:12:25.260 I should have tested this maybe, like, without building it, um, from scratch. 00:12:25.440 --> 00:12:26.000 Yeah. 00:12:26.361 --> 00:12:26.741 Mateo: For sure. 00:12:26.741 --> 00:12:28.651 Now we're also guilty of that. 00:12:28.651 --> 00:12:31.301 So it was a lesson learned the hard way sometimes, but 00:12:31.301 --> 00:12:32.481 no, definitely very important. 00:12:32.660 --> 00:12:33.110 Raphaël: Cool. 00:12:33.160 --> 00:12:36.740 Do you have any tips in terms of customer discovery, actually figuring 00:12:36.740 --> 00:12:41.950 out, like who needs this, like why they might want this feature or, you know, 00:12:41.950 --> 00:12:45.000 like, those kinds of conversations, like, how do you approach that? 00:12:45.321 --> 00:12:50.791 Mateo: There's no way of knowing until like you test it and you make so many 00:12:50.791 --> 00:12:55.068 assumptions where you're like for example, we thought, okay, like the companies 00:12:55.068 --> 00:12:58.738 that are going to be the most social impact driven, that are going to mention 00:12:58.738 --> 00:13:02.248 social impact on the websites the most, that's going to be our target audience. 00:13:02.648 --> 00:13:07.628 When in reality, it was the companies that had some care about it, but 00:13:07.888 --> 00:13:09.188 it wasn't their primary focus. 00:13:09.258 --> 00:13:15.058 So it was more like, we worked with like a, a semiconductor manufacturing company 00:13:15.328 --> 00:13:19.318 that said, Hey, we actually do nothing for social impact, but we want to get started. 00:13:19.418 --> 00:13:21.018 can you help us set that up for you? 00:13:21.338 --> 00:13:25.608 And so it completely made us question our initial strategy and made us. 00:13:26.163 --> 00:13:31.633 Make a pivot and say, okay, maybe this is going to be the better audience for 00:13:31.633 --> 00:13:32.063 us. 00:13:32.273 --> 00:13:38.723 Um, but you're not going to know that without sending your first 5,000 or 00:13:38.776 --> 00:13:43.113 maybe even 10,000 emails to really test those percentages because yeah, there's 00:13:43.113 --> 00:13:46.853 so much more to be learned, I think, by testing and just seeing what happens 00:13:46.953 --> 00:13:48.763 as opposed to just thinking about it. 00:13:48.875 --> 00:13:49.465 Raphaël: Yeah. 00:13:49.602 --> 00:13:53.732 When you talk about like sending out those like thousands of emails, how 00:13:53.732 --> 00:13:55.742 do you manage that sort of thing? 00:13:55.752 --> 00:14:01.612 Like, are you crafting messages like per organization or are you doing a bunch 00:14:01.612 --> 00:14:07.622 of cold emailing just to first like get something in before you start, I don't 00:14:07.622 --> 00:14:10.262 know, building up a relationship or yeah. 00:14:10.262 --> 00:14:11.272 How do you do all of that? 00:14:11.272 --> 00:14:15.292 Mateo: From my experience and how we went about it is like starting off very 00:14:15.292 --> 00:14:20.372 cold and then iterating over time to get better, based on the, whether it's reply 00:14:20.372 --> 00:14:22.372 rates, so doing a lot of A B testing. 00:14:23.167 --> 00:14:26.387 Understanding, just like testing it out. 00:14:26.427 --> 00:14:31.507 Obviously at the beginning we got a lot more, like whether it was like unsubscribe 00:14:31.507 --> 00:14:35.587 rates or angry email responses, like why did you email me three times. 00:14:36.147 --> 00:14:41.707 And I did feel bad about it at first, but we use those as like kind of guinea pigs 00:14:41.707 --> 00:14:43.567 to understand, okay, what was, what not. 00:14:43.907 --> 00:14:46.557 Working and what wasn't working 00:14:46.737 --> 00:14:47.467 and 00:14:47.467 --> 00:14:48.447 as tough as it might be. 00:14:48.947 --> 00:14:54.767 That's just how we were able to learn quickly is by just testing that, 00:14:54.847 --> 00:14:56.457 but you can always iterate later. 00:14:56.527 --> 00:15:00.297 And now I think we're at a much better place than we are. 00:15:00.297 --> 00:15:03.802 And maybe in a couple of years, it will be even better, but yeah, 00:15:03.862 --> 00:15:05.292 definitely growing pains along the way. 00:15:05.511 --> 00:15:05.881 Raphaël: Yep. 00:15:06.271 --> 00:15:09.831 I was talking to someone, a few months ago who kind of 00:15:09.841 --> 00:15:11.411 had that, that sort of story. 00:15:11.411 --> 00:15:14.551 He was kind of like, you know what, it feels a little awkward, those cold emails. 00:15:14.591 --> 00:15:17.371 But he was like, once we started like really increasing the volume 00:15:17.371 --> 00:15:21.211 and sort of not caring too much about people being angry about the, the 00:15:21.211 --> 00:15:26.021 amount of stuff they were receiving, it just helped them out so much. 00:15:26.021 --> 00:15:26.761 So yeah. 00:15:27.221 --> 00:15:27.581 Yeah. 00:15:27.682 --> 00:15:28.222 Mateo: No definitely. 00:15:28.222 --> 00:15:30.052 And there's a way to do also respectfully. 00:15:30.062 --> 00:15:33.392 Like if they ask you to take you off their list, like obviously 00:15:33.392 --> 00:15:35.682 you can easily comply with that. 00:15:35.712 --> 00:15:37.672 You can make it easy for them to unsubscribe. 00:15:38.032 --> 00:15:40.212 So, um, as long as you do it. 00:15:40.677 --> 00:15:43.977 In a respectful way, I think, um, it's naturally understood 00:15:43.977 --> 00:15:48.937 that it's, um, part of the way to reach out and build new contacts. 00:15:49.046 --> 00:15:49.976 Raphaël: Yeah, totally. 00:15:50.016 --> 00:15:53.396 I love, I love the way you, you frame these things where it's like, 00:15:53.406 --> 00:15:54.676 you know, you have to do the thing. 00:15:54.676 --> 00:15:57.456 We understand, like, that we're all in this ecosystem trying to build 00:15:57.456 --> 00:16:01.366 stuff together, but as long as you do it respectfully, um, you think about, 00:16:01.366 --> 00:16:04.906 like, the person that you're reaching out to and it should all work out. 00:16:04.906 --> 00:16:05.566 Mateo: No, definitely. 00:16:05.636 --> 00:16:08.206 And there's always, you'll always be on both sides of things. 00:16:08.206 --> 00:16:13.466 Like even myself, I'll get a bunch of emails and, before I might, now I kind 00:16:13.466 --> 00:16:15.026 of understand more why they're doing it. 00:16:15.136 --> 00:16:17.686 And so it doesn't bother me as much. 00:16:17.686 --> 00:16:21.886 I'm like, okay, they're just trying to get the word out, like sell their products. 00:16:21.896 --> 00:16:23.336 So, yeah, I guess part of the business. 00:16:23.615 --> 00:16:27.345 Raphaël: Yeah, so you've got like different stakeholders, right? 00:16:27.345 --> 00:16:30.045 Like you've got the nonprofits that you're trying to help, the 00:16:30.045 --> 00:16:31.965 companies who are participating. 00:16:32.295 --> 00:16:34.085 You used to do schools. 00:16:34.325 --> 00:16:36.715 Tell me about how you manage those different stakeholders 00:16:36.715 --> 00:16:38.625 and the transition between them. 00:16:38.635 --> 00:16:41.075 Like you went from schools to now companies. 00:16:41.335 --> 00:16:42.745 How did that all work? 00:16:42.795 --> 00:16:43.075 Sorry. 00:16:43.075 --> 00:16:44.305 I feel like that was a lot, but 00:16:44.866 --> 00:16:50.326 Mateo: No, yeah, I mean the first transition, well, schools, um, the biggest 00:16:50.566 --> 00:16:54.366 mistake we made was we took what was working with schools and then we tried 00:16:54.366 --> 00:16:58.576 to copy and paste that for companies and that did not work very well at all. 00:16:58.666 --> 00:16:59.776 At least, at the beginning. 00:17:00.206 --> 00:17:03.466 That was, it was almost, we thought we had one product that was going 00:17:03.466 --> 00:17:05.096 to work with for two markets. 00:17:05.581 --> 00:17:10.271 But it ended up being over time as we iterated and like changed our pitch, 00:17:10.281 --> 00:17:14.091 changed the pricing and everything, like two completely separate, separate 00:17:14.101 --> 00:17:15.951 models and even separate businesses. 00:17:16.141 --> 00:17:20.211 And I think with the schools, it's really more software based. 00:17:20.241 --> 00:17:23.101 What we ended up developing was a way for students to be able to 00:17:23.101 --> 00:17:25.971 log, track their hours and sign up for volunteer opportunities. 00:17:26.081 --> 00:17:30.701 For the companies, what we saw the biggest gap is that a lot of them had 00:17:30.771 --> 00:17:34.821 either their own software or their own way of tracking those hours, but they 00:17:34.821 --> 00:17:36.471 needed the volunteer opportunities. 00:17:36.551 --> 00:17:40.381 And so that's when we worked with nonprofits to co create. 00:17:41.191 --> 00:17:45.411 Basically new volunteer opportunities that employees can do like at their 00:17:45.411 --> 00:17:49.621 office, because we saw, like both volunteer rates and donation rates. 00:17:49.681 --> 00:17:54.321 And that's largely also due to the pandemic. 00:17:54.371 --> 00:17:57.631 We're just not spending as much time outside as we used to. 00:17:57.631 --> 00:18:01.641 And even donors, donor rates have been falling both in the US and Canada. 00:18:01.751 --> 00:18:07.401 So it's a new way that we've developed for employees at these companies to 00:18:07.411 --> 00:18:11.091 be really involved in the cause of the nonprofit, where they're going 00:18:11.091 --> 00:18:12.431 to be creating something of value. 00:18:12.791 --> 00:18:17.591 That we can then donate to the nonprofit that's going to be getting them really 00:18:17.591 --> 00:18:22.811 that excited feeling, uh, the good feeling associated with giving back, which we try 00:18:22.811 --> 00:18:25.081 to create for as many people as possible. 00:18:25.555 --> 00:18:26.135 Raphaël: Yeah. 00:18:26.435 --> 00:18:30.815 So actually, because I feel like we haven't really dug into this a whole lot. 00:18:31.065 --> 00:18:35.345 So what are the mechanics of like the experience that you provide? 00:18:35.375 --> 00:18:39.935 So you have boxes, if I understand correctly, and those go out and 00:18:39.935 --> 00:18:44.415 people do something and then it comes back ready for a nonprofit. 00:18:45.035 --> 00:18:46.575 Something along those lines, right? 00:18:46.895 --> 00:18:53.285 So can you tell me, uh, A, you can clean that, clean up that, that explanation, 00:18:53.585 --> 00:18:55.995 uh, to the extent that it needs to be. 00:18:56.215 --> 00:19:01.675 Um, but, uh, also just how did you come up with the specifics 00:19:01.675 --> 00:19:04.920 of like how this, this works and how do you, how do you manage it? 00:19:04.920 --> 00:19:09.815 Like how do you manage who needs what, how you package it, deliver it, like 00:19:09.845 --> 00:19:12.365 the, the operations of, of all of this. 00:19:13.021 --> 00:19:13.411 Mateo: Yeah. 00:19:13.411 --> 00:19:14.191 No, absolutely. 00:19:14.191 --> 00:19:19.311 So, um, when we started out basically getting employees say, Hey, we want you 00:19:19.311 --> 00:19:23.191 guys to volunteer as a team, getting you out in the community, well, the response 00:19:23.191 --> 00:19:28.931 we got from a lot of nonprofits We're like actually getting a half, like a team of 00:19:28.931 --> 00:19:33.331 employees just for a half day, like once a month, isn't going to be that beneficial, 00:19:33.331 --> 00:19:36.311 um, to our cause and to our mission, because it's just inefficient to have 00:19:36.311 --> 00:19:41.331 to train these employees, like find easy tasks that they can do without getting 00:19:41.331 --> 00:19:44.181 them involved, um, on a longer term basis. 00:19:44.741 --> 00:19:50.071 Whereas, um, companies, they really wanted to do just that half day of volunteering. 00:19:50.121 --> 00:19:54.491 So it was kind of an imbalance of what companies wanted and 00:19:54.491 --> 00:19:55.701 what would work for nonprofits. 00:19:56.151 --> 00:20:00.721 And so to try to balance that out we worked with nonprofits to say, Hey, what 00:20:00.881 --> 00:20:05.721 are some things that could be useful that they could, they could do basically. 00:20:05.781 --> 00:20:11.461 And a lot of them do accept or need in kind donations of different 00:20:11.501 --> 00:20:13.691 things, depending on different times throughout the year. 00:20:14.011 --> 00:20:18.101 So, like, for example, Toys for Tots, they do a huge, like, toy 00:20:18.451 --> 00:20:23.481 collection around the holidays and are in need of, like, thousands 00:20:23.481 --> 00:20:24.811 and thousands of toys to be made. 00:20:24.991 --> 00:20:29.721 And so, what companies can do is, through our, like, our volunteer kits, 00:20:30.051 --> 00:20:34.291 um, that we send all the materials that they need to do the volunteer 00:20:34.291 --> 00:20:36.181 activity, um, at their office. 00:20:36.676 --> 00:20:39.826 At their own pace to then create those items of value. 00:20:39.826 --> 00:20:44.176 For example, can be Lego kits or with back school around the corner, or like 00:20:44.176 --> 00:20:50.386 doing backpack stuffing activities, that they like complete the items with 00:20:50.386 --> 00:20:56.396 their personal touch that they can send back to be donated to non-profits so 00:20:56.396 --> 00:21:00.631 it's really trying to balance because we have a two sided marketplace, finding 00:21:00.631 --> 00:21:05.161 something that's going to work for both sides was kind of the the idea 00:21:05.161 --> 00:21:08.741 behind it, but that was definitely no straight road to get there. 00:21:09.385 --> 00:21:12.245 Raphaël: So how do you manage all of the stuff? 00:21:12.275 --> 00:21:16.065 I feel like whenever I think about businesses that have to handle like 00:21:16.095 --> 00:21:20.885 inventory of some kind, and I started thinking about like warehousing, whether 00:21:20.885 --> 00:21:26.225 that means like your apartment or an actual warehouse or like an office space. 00:21:26.225 --> 00:21:28.865 Like, how do you, how do you handle all of that? 00:21:28.985 --> 00:21:29.625 Mateo: No, yeah. 00:21:29.625 --> 00:21:33.315 So, um, a lot of it is just like in my room right now, 00:21:33.335 --> 00:21:35.295 if I show you like up here. 00:21:35.835 --> 00:21:37.355 I like boxes everywhere. 00:21:37.445 --> 00:21:41.735 That's like a small pet habitat that we have to show off. 00:21:41.745 --> 00:21:45.165 So I bought like a bunch of boxes here, to do all the shipping that 00:21:45.645 --> 00:21:47.185 I'm hoping is a temporary solution. 00:21:47.595 --> 00:21:51.490 But I realized, like, a lot of it is, like, You have to like do yourself 00:21:51.660 --> 00:21:53.570 and just to learn how to do it. 00:21:53.660 --> 00:21:58.530 And so Alex also has a bunch of boxes at his place, but obviously 00:21:58.530 --> 00:22:02.740 the dream is going to be one day to like work with a shipping partner, 00:22:02.750 --> 00:22:06.160 like have our own warehouse, but as long as the demand isn't. 00:22:07.055 --> 00:22:07.745 Isn't there? 00:22:07.745 --> 00:22:13.285 Um, we're also learning how to do it right by doing it ourselves before 00:22:13.285 --> 00:22:18.255 we can offload it and have like other people support us with that process. 00:22:18.495 --> 00:22:19.635 So it does give us. 00:22:20.160 --> 00:22:22.010 A lot more control, in the meantime. 00:22:22.010 --> 00:22:25.940 So if you can do it yourself before working with someone else I would 00:22:25.950 --> 00:22:28.260 definitely advise going that route. 00:22:28.474 --> 00:22:28.834 Raphaël: Yeah. 00:22:28.894 --> 00:22:30.774 That makes a lot of sense. 00:22:31.104 --> 00:22:37.204 Does that all tie in with like, so you get someone comes into the platform they 00:22:37.244 --> 00:22:43.907 pay directly on the website and then you have like a system where you like 00:22:43.907 --> 00:22:45.857 see, okay, like this is what's come in. 00:22:45.867 --> 00:22:48.697 Like we got to pack up these boxes and you ship it out. 00:22:48.777 --> 00:22:50.137 Is that basically the flow. 00:22:50.953 --> 00:22:52.193 Mateo: Yeah, exactly. 00:22:52.253 --> 00:22:55.493 So, um, they just placed an order and now it's directly through our website. 00:22:55.543 --> 00:22:58.383 With our new website, we're releasing launch to make the 00:22:58.383 --> 00:23:03.453 logistics easier with Shopify, it's basically just an e commerce store. 00:23:03.503 --> 00:23:06.693 And so those are for the on site, like, volunteering activities that 00:23:06.693 --> 00:23:11.313 we ship out, we also have a full database of volunteer opportunities 00:23:11.343 --> 00:23:12.913 you can do directly with a non profit. 00:23:13.263 --> 00:23:15.553 For the ones that do accept employees. 00:23:15.563 --> 00:23:19.813 So, there are a lot of different options based on what you're looking for, 00:23:19.903 --> 00:23:24.083 because whether you're volunteering with OneRightKids or directly with a nonprofit 00:23:24.173 --> 00:23:28.083 really the goal is to get as many people getting back to the community as possible. 00:23:28.162 --> 00:23:28.892 Raphaël: Super cool. 00:23:28.892 --> 00:23:29.362 Nice. 00:23:29.512 --> 00:23:33.522 I'm kind of curious then, like, what are, what are your next steps looking like? 00:23:33.592 --> 00:23:35.552 What's, uh, what's coming up? 00:23:35.552 --> 00:23:37.212 Mateo: Yeah, that's a great question. 00:23:37.282 --> 00:23:41.412 I know we've been like very focused like in the short term and so I 00:23:41.422 --> 00:23:43.487 haven't done, I don't know the stuff. 00:23:43.717 --> 00:23:47.187 The right way to do it, but like the medium to long term planning, we just 00:23:47.207 --> 00:23:50.637 like really spend a lot of time and say, okay, let's try to make this 00:23:50.887 --> 00:23:54.927 like work as best as possible and see like how many of the volunteer 00:23:54.927 --> 00:23:56.847 kids can we send out to the community. 00:23:57.207 --> 00:24:01.967 As far as that, I mean, we have a lot of like lofty ideals, I think the 00:24:01.967 --> 00:24:06.567 number one thing that would be really cool to do would be to, once we have 00:24:06.577 --> 00:24:10.457 like different clients set up to create more long term partnerships 00:24:10.507 --> 00:24:12.677 between nonprofits and companies. 00:24:12.687 --> 00:24:17.967 So once employees like get a positive feeling of, okay, that was really 00:24:17.967 --> 00:24:19.727 fun to give back for a half day. 00:24:20.067 --> 00:24:25.157 What can we do that's going to be more impactful as opposed to maybe just like 00:24:25.157 --> 00:24:27.707 creating and donating like 12 Lego sets? 00:24:27.747 --> 00:24:32.491 What if we volunteered once a week over the course of a month to create 00:24:32.491 --> 00:24:36.331 a new home or to do a clothing drive, to donate a lot of clothes? 00:24:36.341 --> 00:24:41.531 Like there are so many more opportunities to create a deeper impact if we're 00:24:41.531 --> 00:24:44.041 able to strengthen the connection with nonprofits and companies. 00:24:44.631 --> 00:24:48.111 I think that would be the long term vision once we're able to, I 00:24:48.111 --> 00:24:49.961 guess, get our feet off the ground, 00:24:50.260 --> 00:24:51.190 Raphaël: That's super cool. 00:24:51.190 --> 00:24:54.850 Yeah, I hadn't thought of it that way, but it is like, it's almost like what 00:24:54.850 --> 00:24:59.790 you're providing is like dipping your toe into the water and then sort of 00:24:59.790 --> 00:25:03.990 getting comfortable and then there's this opportunity after that to really dig in. 00:25:04.040 --> 00:25:04.160 So 00:25:04.681 --> 00:25:05.171 Mateo: right? 00:25:05.411 --> 00:25:08.321 Like for now, it's just trying to make it as easy as possible. 00:25:08.371 --> 00:25:12.731 so anyone can get involved, but ideally we'd be like more 00:25:12.731 --> 00:25:14.651 advancing, the impact as we go on. 00:25:14.651 --> 00:25:16.961 And once they, we can build that, that trust, 00:25:17.235 --> 00:25:17.625 Raphaël: Super 00:25:17.625 --> 00:25:18.135 cool. 00:25:18.935 --> 00:25:20.055 Um, yeah. 00:25:20.065 --> 00:25:23.585 And I guess, We are on the small tech podcast. 00:25:23.605 --> 00:25:28.645 So I am curious, what is the, uh, the small tech product that you'd 00:25:28.645 --> 00:25:32.095 like to plug, uh, who do you want to shout out for this episode? 00:25:32.916 --> 00:25:33.566 Mateo: Yeah, absolutely. 00:25:33.566 --> 00:25:38.516 I want to shout out BuddyBoss, the plugin that we basically use to set up 00:25:38.606 --> 00:25:43.586 our like school volunteering software that really helped us go from like 00:25:43.756 --> 00:25:47.846 from zero features to a hundred because they just have so many different ways 00:25:47.876 --> 00:25:49.603 you can create an online community. 00:25:49.603 --> 00:25:52.883 It can be for any idea, really that you're looking for to get 00:25:52.903 --> 00:25:54.373 like users onto a platform. 00:25:54.683 --> 00:25:57.453 So I would highly recommend you checking them out, they're 00:25:57.453 --> 00:25:59.393 also a fellow Canadian company, 00:25:59.553 --> 00:25:59.633 Raphaël: I 00:25:59.633 --> 00:25:59.963 didn't know 00:25:59.963 --> 00:26:00.263 that. 00:26:00.434 --> 00:26:05.084 Mateo: So, highly, highly recommend if you're looking to start out with a SaaS 00:26:05.084 --> 00:26:07.024 product with different, different users. 00:26:07.553 --> 00:26:08.373 Raphaël: Super cool. 00:26:08.583 --> 00:26:09.093 Awesome. 00:26:09.223 --> 00:26:09.983 Thanks, Mateo. 00:26:11.314 --> 00:26:11.814 Mateo: Yeah, 00:26:12.174 --> 00:26:12.664 absolutely. 00:26:13.038 --> 00:26:15.258 Raphaël: And yeah, this is a, this is a great chat. 00:26:15.268 --> 00:26:20.828 So, uh, I appreciate you coming on the podcast and I hope to see Keen 00:26:20.828 --> 00:26:27.198 to Help grow massively and start, uh, start or keep, keep helping 00:26:27.198 --> 00:26:31.428 people volunteer and get those people volunteering once a week instead of 00:26:31.428 --> 00:26:32.928 just dipping their toes in the water. 00:26:33.018 --> 00:26:33.488 I'm looking 00:26:33.674 --> 00:26:34.644 Mateo: No, absolutely. 00:26:34.754 --> 00:26:38.824 I really appreciate that and the opportunity to be here and say, 00:26:38.864 --> 00:26:40.324 like, a little bit more about us. 00:26:40.324 --> 00:26:42.304 So, no, it's been, uh, it's been an absolute pleasure. 00:26:42.354 --> 00:26:43.004 Thank you so much. 00:26:43.078 --> 00:26:43.588 Raphaël: Awesome. 00:26:43.628 --> 00:26:44.068 Cool. 00:26:44.338 --> 00:26:44.758 Thanks. 00:26:45.158 --> 00:26:45.588 See ya. 00:26:45.864 --> 00:26:46.524 Mateo: Thank you. 00:26:46.524 --> 00:26:46.801 Take care. 00:26:46.801 --> 00:26:47.311 Outro: Folks. 00:26:47.341 --> 00:26:51.421 That was my conversation with Mateo Jeanneau of Keen to Help. 00:26:51.484 --> 00:26:54.634 I had a blast chatting with him, and I learned so much. 00:26:54.689 --> 00:26:58.589 It's always inspiring to see how people are using technology to make 00:26:58.589 --> 00:27:00.184 a real difference in the world. 00:27:00.184 --> 00:27:03.784 If you work with a nonprofit or a company that could use their product, their 00:27:03.784 --> 00:27:05.764 platform, you should definitely reach out. 00:27:06.064 --> 00:27:08.494 We'll put some links in the show notes. 00:27:08.794 --> 00:27:12.544 But if you want to check them out right away, it's keen to help.com. 00:27:12.574 --> 00:27:13.524 That's all words. 00:27:13.524 --> 00:27:16.994 K E E N T O H E L P .com. 00:27:17.314 --> 00:27:20.854 If you're enjoying the podcast and haven't subscribed yet, you can find 00:27:20.854 --> 00:27:23.174 us at sustainabletechpodcast.com. 00:27:23.204 --> 00:27:25.124 Subscribe in your podcast app of choice. 00:27:25.154 --> 00:27:28.314 And don't forget to check us out on YouTube, and hit the 00:27:28.314 --> 00:27:29.664 subscribe button there as well. 00:27:29.964 --> 00:27:33.204 If you like the work that we're doing, we would really appreciate a 00:27:33.204 --> 00:27:37.674 rating review, et cetera, on whatever platform you use to listen to us. 00:27:37.674 --> 00:27:38.694 Give us some feedback. 00:27:38.754 --> 00:27:39.834 We'd really appreciate it. 00:27:40.134 --> 00:27:43.974 And if you're building a small tech product that is having a 00:27:43.974 --> 00:27:45.564 positive impact on the world. 00:27:45.984 --> 00:27:47.574 I'd love to talk to you as well. 00:27:47.604 --> 00:27:49.914 It's always fun to see what people are building out there. 00:27:50.214 --> 00:27:53.034 In the meantime, we all want to do something good in the world. 00:27:53.064 --> 00:27:55.704 So go out there and build something. 00:27:55.764 --> 00:27:56.514 Good, folks. 00:27:56.574 --> 00:27:58.314 I'll see you in the next one. 00:27:58.524 --> 00:27:58.794 See