[00:00:27] Jay: Hi everyone. Welcome to The First Customer podcast. My name is Jay Aigner today. I am lucky enough to be joined by Favre Jimenez, founder and principal at Jimenez Strategy and Analytics. Favre. Hey buddy. How are you?
[00:00:38] Fahyvon: I'm great. I'm great. How are you?
[00:00:40] Jay: I'm good, man. I'm good. it's fall time. I love fall time. It's beautiful out. Eagles are winning.
Philly's are winning. Everything's good,
[00:00:47] Fahyvon: Yeah,
[00:00:47] Jay: and you're down in the Italian market in Philly, right?
[00:00:49] Fahyvon: Yep. Yep.
Great neighborhood.
[00:00:52] Jay: and did you, grew up here? Tell me a little bit about your background and kind of like where you grew up and did that have an impact on you being an entrepreneur later in life?
[00:01:00] Fahyvon: Yeah, so I grew up in the proud state of New Jersey right outside the city in Mount Laurel. and my folks are from Puerto Rico, but they really also more or less grew up in Jersey. but my dad has been a business owner for a long time, since I was probably like seven or eight years old. he does furniture design, contracting, you know, kind of that sort of thing. and so definitely it's always been kind of like in the mix that like the best way to do stuff is to do it on your own. but he did furniture repair and before that construction for many years and like picked up some skills and now his business is doing great. Mine's doing really good too, but definitely the first part was tough for both.
[00:01:38] Jay: Okay, yeah, we'll talk about that. and what does, what do you do at MNS strategy and what is your kind of mission statement?
[00:01:45] Fahyvon: Yeah, so, our organization sits at kind of the nexus of data science and ethnography, which is really studying people. and what we do is we help businesses, mostly nonprofits, largely schools, and hospitals and other mission driven organizations. And we can talk about why being mission driven is important, for the kind of work that we do. But we help mission driven organizations basically tackle some of their trickiest. whether that be people issues or technology issues or process issues, using a method that blends data science and ethnography. And so you might come to us and say, we are having a really hard time recruiting teachers at our school.
And we would say, all right, let's do like a really close look at the workflow of how folks join your organization. Or you might say, We are worried that our doctors are not spending enough time with their patients because they're doing other stuff. And then we would go and set up shop in your hospital or your clinic and actually do observations, time trials, look at, you know, your underlying data. And kind of the main thing is that there's really very few problems that a rigorous data driven approach can't solve. But we tend to do our best work For non profits, particularly schools and medical institutions.
[00:03:06] Jay: And that still seems like a pretty broad applicable use case. So has that helped or hindered? Have you guys kind of had to continue to ratchet it down to kind of, you know, serve a little more focused of a group or is that, you know, can you kind of figure out who needs what help across those organizations?
[00:03:24] Fahyvon: No, you're absolutely right. about it. Like the broadness is not an asset for any organization. And so that's why when we're going after some business or a client, we have to be much, much more specific than we solve problems with data because the client really doesn't care about the approach at
all. They really care about you as an organization. They want, they care about which consultants are going to be on the project and they care about, do you know how to solve the problem that's right in front of me? and so it's, you know, the contracts that we win and the projects that we go for are when we, have been, either approached or approached someone with some sort of an issue that we know, like, we know that pretty much every school in America is dealing with recruitment and retention issues. So, if it's, you know, a school that I, that is, is any way typical, I might approach them and say, you know, sit down with the superintendent or the principal or whoever's in charge. And say, how are you guys doing with retention and with recruitment? And they'll say, Oh my God, horrible. And then we talk about, you know, whichever projects we've done before and how we approached it.
And then we get a little bit into the methodology, but really what they care about is, did they end up hiring more people at the end of your project? And so, you know, that it's difficult to say like the business only does this, it would be like trying to ask a Deloitte or McKinsey, what do you guys do?
They would say we solve problems.
[00:04:46] Jay: right, right. Okay, that's fair. and, is it kind of budget. Restricted in a lot of those places, like schools, and I assume nonprofits, like, and is it kind of a longer cycle to get. You know, paying contract from these companies or these organizations.
[00:05:02] Fahyvon: Yeah, so definitely, the lead time. I mean, lead times in every industry are always longer than you want for the most part, but schools definitely have a cycle. And if you understand that cycle, which is that like there is a period when the school year first begins where no one will get back to you.
And it's honestly kind of rude to reach out to anyone at a school in the first three or four weeks. But there is the kind of like period right after winter break, which is true in most industries where people really have a lot of They're really ready to like do something. And so if you tee up your project where you've like kind of scoped out a lot of good stuff over the summer when people have more bandwidth, you've given them time to think about it over that early part of the year.
And then you are making moves to get started in the new calendar year. Like you can kind of work your. Set up into their decision making flows and then of course into their fiscal year that definitely like bills need to get moved around all the time invoicing needs to get moved around a lot to accommodate the client and it's easier to get into their you know Lead times get shorter when you're willing to work with them on timing and things like that So yeah, it's definitely a long Lead time I would say budgets are You just need to pick a problem that's really central to them.
If you're picking a problem to solve that is, you know, nice to have, then yeah, there's not going to be budget for you. But if you're picking a problem like, I don't know, like our nurses and doctors, I keep going back to retention just because we've had some projects like that recently, but, our nurses and doctors are really unsatisfied with our new space. And a lot of them are quitting, and all of them are making kind of life kind of challenging because they're so miserable in this space it wasn't properly designed, like, it's easy to get funding for a project, that will improve retention in areas where personnel are really hard to retain, like medical, like education.
I was thinking
[00:06:57] Jay: Got it. so we skipped over a little bit, but. Well, is this the first business you started?
[00:07:01] Fahyvon: know if you remember in like 2007. There were these absurd bracelets everyone was making with the, like, out of this crazy neon yarn. And I like, it was just kind of funny. I was at my parents place, like, last week. And I stumbled into, the box of, like, spools of this ridiculous neon yarn. And I was like, that business did not go great. So, I would say this is definitely my first successful business. but yeah, this is, like, number one.
[00:07:33] Jay: Did you learn anything from that foray that you kind of applied to this business at all?
[00:07:40] Fahyvon: Yeah, I definitely learned that my parents would support me no matter how ridiculous my business was. So when I told them I was going to quit my fancy job to start this and they were like, absolutely. I was like, you guys will, I could say anything and you guys would be
like, we believe in you. And so I think there was something about taking, advice from people who are willing to be straight with you. because what I ended up doing the way I really started is I was working as the chief technology officer for a school group called Cristo Ray. Crystal Ray, Philadelphia, they're like campus, in particular and they, and like basically I started with clients, but it wasn't until the client workload became impossible to do while I was working full time that I left my job to go focus on my, you know, starting the business and like really doubling down on it. And so I think, and that was not my idea at all. That was advice from a guy who I go to for advice all the time, a business professor I had. At USC, where I did my undergrad. and he's the guy who I call for. he is sometimes too honest with me.
[00:08:39] Jay: it's good to have those people in your life. so who was your first customer for your consulting gig? I mean, you mentioned you had a couple that you kind of spun up. how did you turn that CTO job into a side gig and then eventually a full fledged business?
[00:08:51] Fahyvon: Yeah, so the way I got my first customer is very much the way I still get a lot of customers. And maybe it's just, I like know that works and so I keep going back to it. but we were doing some like my main job when I was chief technology officer for that school group was to do the same kind of digital transformations that we would do for clients at Deloitte, which would take them from kind of a startup to a real organization that, you know, had raised 50 million. Over the previous year and a half to like build new campuses and like kind of really expand. And so they said our technology operation is not reflective of the kind of operation that we really run day to day. and so what we had done there at the end of probably my second year was gotten to a point where all of the infrastructure and a lot of the people, were ready for a lot more data driven thinking, data driven decision making. and the tool that they trained us on how to use at Deloitte was Tableau, and that was what I decided to use at the school. and it also plays really nice with Salesforce, and then later they were acquired, so even kind of their every day they get more and more tightly wound. but we were asked by Tableau to present at a conference that they were having, particularly for K 12, just about the use cases that we had found at our organization, and we really were using it for now, everyday stuff. and folks reached out to me after that and were like, Could you please do this for us? And I was like, Oh, interesting. I guess. And they were like, Well, what's your rate? And I was like, Oh, my rate, yeah. And I was like, Let me get back to you. And, like, called a bunch of people, talked about it a lot, and I was like, This could be like a really cool way to like make some extra cash and to like really try new things. and that client was Oak Park River Forest, which is a school district, a really high performing school district in the Chicagoland area. And they basically were like, we want a dashboard. And I was like, okay, what for? And they were like, well, we're not totally sure, but we know we need them. And I was like, well, why don't we take a step back and just talk about like what. What should data in the abstract do for your organization? I was like, let's actually just do a project where we think and talk about kind of like the main challenges you guys have as a school district, the kind of main vision, maybe a couple of the big initiatives that you're doing that might be good for a pilot. and so we started off with like a small, project that just did that. That was really a pure strategy project. the same kind you would do at a Deloitte before you did a big implementation project just to make sure that the implementation phase is doing what it's, is implementing the right thing. and so my second project was the much bigger implementation project. And so after kind of like that strategy project was easy to do on the side, because it was like a lot of visioning sessions and not as much statistics. But the next project was a much heavier implementation. that, like, between them, another school district that had heard about me through them. that I, actually, that was the first time I needed to hire someone, was for a really big data warehouse project for another school district in that area. but between those two projects and then other stuff started to pick up, I was like, I think this might be a business now, I probably should leave. but it was, I mean, it was hard to leave the organization I was at for a lot of reasons. but yeah. I made a lost track of what your question was. How
[00:12:12] Jay: No, that's fine. You answered a lot of things that I didn't even ask, which was great. Cause I probably would've asked them anyway. How did you go about hiring your first person? How'd you find them? How'd you hire them? How'd you deal with that process?
[00:12:24] Fahyvon: I did it the same way, I've said Deloitte a lot of times now, but I did it the same way we did it at Deloitte. Which is I got on the phone and I called a bunch of people until someone gave me a name that, that's, that, you know, that worked out. and I think that's how, now I have a lot more years of experience than I did then, but I think that's how, Pretty much every job gets filled.
As you call up some folks, if you really need someone great, and you're not, you know, at the scale that we were at, which was I needed one person who was really a full stack developer, and a decent, kind of data analyst in the group, and I ended up finding him through a friend who went to Penn, and she said this guy's really great, this is his portfolio of work. and he turned out to be awesome and we've worked on a lot of projects now since then. his name is Shree and he's like great full stack developer.
[00:13:13] Jay: Love it. so you mentioned it a little bit, but how do you keep your sales line, your sales pipeline full today? Like, what do you go back to? What do you kind of, what are new initiatives for you? Like, what are ways you're trying to get into business?
[00:13:26] Fahyvon: So I think the main way that I, well, okay, so there's I guess two, main lead sources. And the first is the one that like most consultants sees no matter how your size, how, what your size is. Which is a guy who is facing a problem is talking to another guy who's had the same problem. And he says. and so that word of mouth is definitely the like top lead source for us and has kept us really busy. because the school community, the academic community, and the health care community are both. So tight. They're really collaborative industries and so there's a lot more information sharing than there is in, you know, the retail clothing industry. and so word of mouth is really a powerful tool there.
And when I talk to other consultancies, guys who have been running their firms and, you know, bigger firms than mine, I'm like, how do you get your business? And they all say direct marketing has never. and you know, the clicking and ads and like, yeah, you know, you need to have a decent website to, to keep the ball rolling, but the way you really get your leads is through your past customers. and so that's definitely the big lead source. I would say the second, which is a close second, is continuing to be a presence at events and at, like conferences where you're presenting your work, not showing up and running a booth. Yeah. But, we just got the green light to present at, a, it's like a consortium of, independent schools in the Delaware Valley area.
I think it's called the Association of Delaware Valley Independent Schools. And they have got a conference that is about innovation. And we always try to speak at conferences like that. Because then people can really see your work, engage with your ideas, and then you build like a workshop environment in the same way you would if they were a client. and you show them kind of like in the weeds, you get much more attention, and much more time with them than you would if you were sending an email, or even setting up a 15 minute like pitch call with them. and you just come in as a trusted person who's been vetted by a broader organization. And really, I think I may have already said this, but when a firm or a client hires a consultancy, a lot of the time they do not totally understand the project.
Certainly the decision maker doesn't always understand the project. Usually the champion on the inside really does, but that person is rarely the same person writing the check and making the decision. and so. They're not buying a project, really. They're buying you and your team.
and so when they believe that you and your team are competent and capable, and that your method is rigorous, they are much more comfortable hiring you without feeling completely certain that they know exactly every step that you're going to do to get them the answer that they need.
[00:16:14] Jay: makes a lot of sense. And I love the speaking as a subject matter expert is huge. Right. And I think it's a scary thing, but, I think once you kind of conquer that fear, That's kind of the next level of, like, presenting yourself as an expert people come up to you and ask you questions. Like you said, you help them out and you're not pitching them on anything.
You're just teaching them, showing them stuff. And they kind of gravitate towards that, as all of us would, if we needed to solve a problem, and we saw somebody on a stage that could help us solve that problem. it's a pretty great, avenue for that. so, a question about personal branding.
Do you put much stock in that? How much of, you know, attention and time do you put into kind of building, promoting your own personal brand out there, you know, on LinkedIn or social media or whatever it is versus, you know, you're just heads down in the business and you're growing. And I think, you know, as your business gets.
Bigger in the brand gets bigger kind of, there's a inflection point where like you switch from personal branding to more corporate, you know, business branding, but where are you at in that journey? Do you work on that at all? Do you worry about it? Do you promote yourself? Do you kind of get out there?
What are your thoughts on that?
[00:17:26] Fahyvon: I think, the way I approach this, I don't know if I've ever posted anything on LinkedIn before. I'll definitely, like, engage with other folks, when I'm excited about what they're doing, and they post, but a lot of what I feel like I see on LinkedIn and other places, like, the more you post, in my mind, I'm like, the less you're actually doing, because you have all this time to post all these things.
And so, I find I don't really have time to, like, Think about what sort of a post might get a lot of views, just the conversion rate from an ad, even if it's not really an ad, if it's a real post that is getting shared with my real connections and I paid nothing for it, the return on my time to draft such a post and make sure it is, it hits all the, you know, checks all of the difficult boxes it needs to check in order to be interesting and relevant and get clicked on is nowhere near as high of a return as if I call it. Two or three people and go to coffee or get a beer with one of them from an organization that you know I have or haven't worked with already and so I think Philadelphia is a small enough town Even though a lot of my clients are outside Philly, but definitely most of them are local to this region I think Philly is a small enough town that you can build a personal brand Kind of I guess the old fashioned way where people know of you through other folks and that You know, there is probably going to be a point and I am excited to hire someone when this, the day this is a problem is the day I will hire a 16 year old social media manager. but we're definitely not there. Like, I think right now there is enough, work to do in Philadelphia that we don't need to kind of go the very low ROI rate of putting out stuff online and managing brands through online presence when really what people believe is not. What you post, it's what other folks have said about you and how you present yourself.
[00:19:18] Jay: Right. I love that. All right. one more question. non business related,
[00:19:24] Fahyvon: Okay.
[00:19:25] Jay: if you could do anything on earth and you knew you couldn't fail, what would it be?
[00:19:31] Fahyvon: Wow. I know I'm not going to fail. Let me think about that. You can tell I haven't been in like a job interview in a while.
[00:19:48] Jay: That's yeah, that's a very, it's a very like Google interview
[00:19:52] Fahyvon: This is like, yeah.
[00:19:54] Jay: yeah,
[00:19:54] Fahyvon: This is right after how many golf balls fit inside a 747
yeah, the manhole cover thing. YeahUm, I guess if I could do anything and I knew I wouldn't fail, I would probably try to start like a real family while trying to make my business into a giant, you know, the big enterprise that I really do think it can be. I think that like the method we use is not a method I see a lot of folks using like we are definitely more data science and more as well as ethnographic and like to bring a new method to market or a method that combines other stuff. To market takes my undivided attention And as much as I would like to like do the family thing I do not feel I feel like I must pick one right now But if I knew I could do both and I guess that failure means I'm happy while I'm doing it and the kid turns out All right.
I probably would try to start family while starting this business
[00:20:50] Jay: All right. That's a new one. I like that. That's a fair answer. all right. Well, five. You're awesome. where can people find out more about you? Not much about you on LinkedIn, obviously, cause you don't post there, but where can people find you,and your consulting group, you know, to talk more about if you can solve their problem with data.
[00:21:06] Fahyvon: So they can definitely email me They can check out our website which all our contact information is on there, which is Jimenezstrategy. com, which is J I M E N E Z strategy. com. reach out to us. Some of our work is posted on there. and we do work nationwide. just, you know, here's kind of something that didn't come up.
Was a client flew, me to Las Vegas two weeks ago. This LinkedIn. Client flew me to Las Vegas two weeks ago, to attend the funeral director's convention. to do like research. They do a lot of reselling through the funeral directors convention.
and my point here is that, you know, we go all over the place.
We've been to Chicago to help schools in that area. As you now know, we've been to Vegas to do research and work over there. Definitely. Like most of our clients are in Philly, but we are online and like everybody now we can do work from anywhere.
[00:21:58] Jay: Okay. Cool, man. Well, I wish you the best of luck, brother. Enjoy the rest of your week. And thanks for being on. It's good talking to you.
[00:22:03] Fahyvon: Yeah. Thanks for the time Jay. It was great talking to you.
[00:22:05] Jay: See you brother.