10 Things You Didn’t Know about Seth Sternberg
Seth Sternberg is an American entrepreneur who has occupied various other roles as well. Currently, he is serving as the CEO of Honor, which is very much a company that is looking forward towards the future.
1. Studied Political Science
When Seth Sternberg was a student at Yale University, he studied political science with a particular focus on international relations. It is interesting to note that there is a long-running debate on whether international relations should be counted as a branch of political science, a crossroads between a number of academic disciplines, or an independent academic discipline in its own right.
2. Studied Business Administration
Later, Sternberg studied business administration at Stanford University’s business school for a time. However, while Sternberg was a student at said school for a full year’s time, he never completed his MBA because he decided to drop out in order to pursue other possibilities in the business world.
3. Co-Founded Meebo
To be exact, Sternberg dropped out of Stanford University so that he could focus on Meebo, for which he was one of the three co-founders, as per this article. For people who are unfamiliar with the name, Meebo started out with a web-based instant messenger in 2005. However, when said service proved to be popular, said service provider managed to secure more and more funding, which in turn, meant more and more features that moved it towards the direction of social networking. Meebo no longer exists in the present time, not because it failed but because it was bought out by Google, which swallowed up its assets for the purpose of furthering Google+. Sternberg spent some time at Google as a Project Management Director before leaving to do his own thing.
4. Operated Meebo On a Tight Budget
It is interesting to note that Sternberg and the other co-founders of Meebo operated it on a very tight budget. As a result, they had to come up with various ways to minimize their costs without sacrificing their results, which led to some interesting choices. For example, Meebo adopted a “bring your own chair” policy, which was a clear contrast to the much more spendthrift practices of the tech start-ups of the Dot-Com Bubble. Likewise, Meebo saw a lot of user involvement that made said individuals more rather than less committed.
5. Concerned About the Gig Economy
Sternberg is one of the people who has voiced concern about the rise of the gig economy. In short, the gig economy is a labor market with a huge reliance on freelance work as well as short-term contracted work rather than permanent positions. Something that can be very problematic for people working in the gig economy because that reduces their bargaining power.
6. So He Decided to Do Something About the Gig Economy
With that said, what is particularly noteworthy about Sternberg’s position on the gig market is that he actually decided to do something about it. In short, he made the decision that his current company Honor’s caregivers would be converted from independent contractors to W-2 employees, meaning that said individuals can expect paid sick leave, workers’ compensation, and other benefits that are not available to independent contractors. Moreover, there is reason to believe that Honor stands to benefit as well, seeing as how this makes for happier employees who will be capable of taking advantage of the company’s training programs for better performances than otherwise possible.
7. Started Up Honor Because He Saw Room For Improvement
It is interesting to note that Sternberg started up Honor because he saw room for improvement in home care, per BizJournals. In short, he had his heart set on an already sizable industry because he didn’t want to take the unnecessary risk of getting involved with something with an uncertain market. However, at the same time, he also wanted an industry that had clear inefficiencies, which presumably created vulnerabilities that made it easier for him to carve out his own position in the market.
8. Has Housing Opinions
Given that Honor is involved in home care, it should come as no surprise to learn that Sternberg has housing opinions. However, to be perfectly fair, it is important to note that housing is a very serious issue in the San Francisco Bay Area. In any case, Sternberg believes that more of an effort should be made to build denser housing that can accommodate more residents situated close to transit routes. Something that would serve to ease the overcrowding in the local real estate market for the benefit of not just old people who want to stay in their own homes but also young people who want to buy their own homes.
9. Has Been Putting Data to Productive Use
There are times when Sternberg makes it very, very clear that he was a tech entrepreneur even though he is now involved with home care. For instance, his company is collecting a huge volume of information through its routine operations, which is analyzed for interesting insights about them as well as the home care industry as a whole. As a result, it has uncovered some fascinating findings, with an excellent example being how consistent lateness isn’t always a deal-breaker for home care clients.
10. Has Been Teaming Up with Other Home Care Providers
It is interesting to note that Sternberg’s company has been putting more and more effort into teaming up with other home care providers. Essentially, the idea is for Honor to provide the efficiencies made possible by its bigger scale as well as its technological capabilities, while its partners provide the local trust, the local knowledge, and the local connections that are so hard to build but are nonetheless so necessary when it comes to something as personal as home care.
