Title: So, I have an idea… now what?
Erika’s track to co-founding Hyr was far from a straight line. In this talk, Erika will speak about how a former political staffer turned lobbyist – with no technical background – found herself building a venture backed tech business. She will outline how her idea for Hyr lead to her and her husband to quit their corporate jobs, sell their condo, and go all in. And how she believes it was the best – yet riskiest – move they’ve ever made. Today Hyr connects over 800 businesses in Toronto and New York to hourly paid workers when they need them – so they can fill any shift, at any time. Hyr’s latest round of funding was led by Flybridge Capital Partner with follow on by Newark Venture Partners and XFactor.
Having experienced the struggles of hourly paid shift work first hand, as well as working in a corporate environment where access to labour was an increasingly pressing issue, Erika looked to solve the gap and co-founded Hyr in 2015.
Prior to jumping headfirst into startup life, Erika had an extensive career in the public and private sectors. She was a public affairs executive with experience representing multinational corporate brands including McDonald’s, GlaxoSmithKline, and Coca-Cola. Erika also served multiple senior communication and issues management roles in government and on campaigns. In this capacity, she also acted as a political pundit for national TV, radio, and print.
Erika has an honors degree of political science from Western University, and a post graduate degree in Public Administration from the Business School at Humber College of Applied Arts and Technology.
