NY Ecosystem Spotlight: Merit
By: Mia Manantan
Tags: Startup Life, Mentorship, Community, Ecosystem Building, Startup

Startups genuinely solving real-life problems and bringing tangible value to everyday lives are what helps us move forward in an ever-changing world. The tech industry is marked by “hustle” as builders and operators are always looking for what’s next, especially how they can continually grow and improve themselves and their careers. When I met Kirk Fernandes and Randy Brown, co-founders of Merit, I instinctively felt empowered by the platform they are building to unify and mentor future leaders and was excited to invite them as a guest company to the Samsung NEXT NY office.

In short, Merit provides career coaching for software teams. Product managers, designers, and engineers can book video coaching with senior leaders in their field where they’re able to discuss anything about their career including but not limited to general skills, trickier workplace situations, and everything in-between. Not only does Merit provide this incredibly humanizing solution it also boasts a robust coaching network of senior leaders from companies such as Etsy, Microsoft, Medium, Hulu, Asana, Spotify, and Disney, with expertise in software engineering, product management, design, and more. These coaches volunteer their time to grow their network, practice mentorship and management, and give back to the tech community. A win-win for all.

Since launching in February of 2019, they have over 400 people on the platform who have completed 1,000+ coaching hours. The platform is also free to use. There is a premium subscription, Merit Plus, for more personalized career growth.

Meet the team

Co-founders Kirk Fernandes (left) and Randy Brown (right)

Kirk spent his career in product management before founding Merit. He started as a PM at Microsoft, rose to a Head of Product at Hightower, and right before starting Merit, he was a Lead Product Manager at VTS post-Hightower acquisition. Hailing from Canada he studied Computer Science at the University of Waterloo.

Randy was previously the CTO of Jopwell, an Engineer in Residence at /dev/color, and is a Y-Combinator (S15) alumni. He was born and raised in New Jersey, attended The Lawrenceville School, and studied Computer Science and Economics at Princeton University.

Being a change agent in a uniquely saturated industry

The idea for Merit stemmed from observations and eye-opening experiences that both Kirk and Randy had at their previous companies. For Kirk, it was inspired by his time as a Lead Product Manager at VTS. “No one ever tells you managing a diverse team, in terms of race, gender, and education is harder than managing a homogeneous team.” Merit is the product he wished he had when he was a manager. It would have been the superpower to help any member of his team, regardless of their own skill level or context.

During his tenure as the CTO of diversity recruiting platform, Jopwell, Randy helped place under-represented minorities in new job roles. He began to see people in tech churn because they lacked the proper support network of people from traditionally more represented groups. Simply put, to date recruiting for diverse candidates is like pouring water down a leaky bucket. He learned that hiring diverse talent in tech is not a pipeline problem but rather a retention problem.

Through the similarities in their shared challenges, they connected through a mutual friend (one of Kirk’s direct reports, Belinda) after she realized they were working on the same problem. In the Fall of 2018, Merit was born and they’ve been working together ever since!

Sharing one vision, Kirk and Randy believe designing for underrepresented groups first, specifically, people of color and women makes it easier to serve all communities. Many great companies like OXO were born out of designing solutions for the accessible population (in their case arthritic population) before massive adoption by the larger consumer market. From the faces, the conversation topics, the copy, to how it actually works, and even the name — they want people from underrepresented and underestimated groups to see themselves in the product, creating a sense of shared community and resource for anyone.

Running a mission-driven startup during an unpredictably fluid time

As of late, Merit has been mostly operating as business as usual. They’ve always run very lean and remain a two-person team. Since all of their coaching takes place over video calls and they have users all over the world, they’re accustomed to remote collaboration. Their day to day hasn’t changed much beyond, given recent circumstances, working fully remotely.

They ran a private beta throughout 2019 and opened to public access last quarter while rolling out their paid offering. COVID-19 has accelerated their goal of hitting profitability this year. This is not just for the sustainability of their service, but also to help as many people as possible during these turbulent times.

“The biggest challenge is seeing our community experience layoffs, reduced wages and being furloughed, all while not being able to provide in-person support. And as New Yorkers, it’s been especially tough to see all the small businesses we love and visit every day shut down and out of work.”

A call to action

If you…

want to be a Learner or a Coach on Merit, please sign up here. It’s free! They’re looking for both junior and senior product managers, product designers, software engineers, and people managers.

have been personally affected by COVID-19 either through being laid off, reduced wages or being furloughed. They are offering 3 months free of Merit Plus to help you navigate this difficult time. Click here to chat and they’ll explain how it works.

haven’t been affected but want to support others by sponsoring a Learner affected by COVID-19, give them a 3-month subscription to Merit Plus for $180. Email team@get-merit.com.

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The Samsung NEXT NY Ecosystem Spotlight is a community outreach effort featuring local early-stage startups, builders, operators, and investors.

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