Episode 97: Lindsey Chrismon

Episode 97: Lindsey Chrismon

Intro: [00:00:00] Welcome to the Pretty Powerful Podcast, where powerful women are interviewed every week to share real inspiring stories and incredible insight to help women or anyone break the barriers, be a part of innovation, shatter the glass ceiling, and dominate to the top of their sport, industry, or life's mission.

Join us as we celebrate exceptional women and step into our power. And now here's your host, Angela Gennari.

Angela Gennari: Hello and thank you for joining us for another episode of the Pretty Powerful Podcast. My name is Angela Gennari and today I'm here with Lindsay Chrismon. Hi Lindsay.

Lindsey Chrismon: Hello. Thank you so much for having me.

This is awesome. Oh,

Angela Gennari: I'm so excited to talk to you. So you have this incredible story and I'm super, super stoked. So, Lindsay is a 2014 West Point graduate, the first female in U. S. Army history to pilot the AH 6 Little Bird in special operations. A student [00:01:00] at Harvard Business School and is the co founder and CEO of MyHome, an AI driven marketplace that coordinates and predicts home maintenance tasks for owners.

Oh my God, that's like way overdue. Why has nobody done that yet? That's incredible. So I've got to start at the obvious question, um, what made you want to be a pilot and drive to West, you know, get that drive to go to West Point and, and I need to, I need to start there. That's, that's amazing.

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah. Um, you know, a lot of people ask that question because a lot of the students that go to West Point come from military families, you know, military backgrounds, histories.

And I don't come from, from that background. Um, I grew up in New Jersey and when I was around 10, 11 years old, my parents brought my brothers and I up to West Point. Um, it's only an hour away, uh, for a family picnic. And I mean, my dad absolutely is sick of it. loves our nation's history. If you're, if we're driving down the highway [00:02:00] and there's one of those brown signs, something like, Oh, Stonewall Jackson's burial place.

We're pulling over and reading and learning everything about Stonewall Jackson's. Burial place, Uhhuh.

Angela Gennari: Uh, I love it. So we

Lindsey Chrismon: go up to West Point and I mean, as just a young person, I was obsessed with everything that I saw. I mean, absolutely enamored. I just decided at that point, I really just think like, oh God just kind of whispered into my ear.

There was just this moment of like this aha moment. This is exactly where I need to be. Oh, that's awesome. West Point ended up being the only school that I applied to. Wow,

Angela Gennari: that's, that's like throwing the dice because it's really hard to get into academies, like really hard. Like what is the acceptance rate, like five percent or something I heard?

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, it's, it's definitely a challenge and I definitely, Threw all of my eggs into one basket, literally. Um, but I, you know, I kind of just worked my entire, you know, middle school, high school career towards that goal. And I was able [00:03:00] to basically like generate a resume based off of like what West Point wants to see.

And I was also pretty good at track. I ran in the junior Olympics when I was younger. Um, and so I got recruited for track, which was Huge plus. Yeah. Yeah,

Angela Gennari: definitely. Well, that is really cool because I mean, the academies are really something to strive for and you know, like my son actually wants to go to the Naval Academy and you know, I keep saying like, please have a backup plan because it's really hard to get in there.

Like he wants to talk to

Lindsey Chrismon: anybody. Let me know. I have a bunch of Naval Academy friends. I can also talk about, you know, the application process. It's pretty similar, but it's very intense. Yeah,

Angela Gennari: it is. It is. And like, I think he's super intimidated by it, but he really wants to go. to do it. So he's talked about Air Force Academy or Naval Academy.

He wants to fly. And so the fact that you were flying at West Point is like super exciting. Like, I'm so happy to talk to you because West Point did, that was one of the schools that was represented at this like Academy Day that was hosted by one of our congressmen. And, um, And they talked about, like, [00:04:00] West Point people were like, you know, you can fly helicopters, and my son was like, that's kind of cool.

Lindsey Chrismon: I mean, helicopters are badass. They

Angela Gennari: are! They are! Um, so, yeah, so what made you, so once you got into West Point, um, what drew you into the flying part?

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, um, I think that I was always very attracted to, you know, Like the combat arms aspect of the army and when I was there from 2010 to 2014, women could not branch infantry, um, and aviation was actually the only combat arms branch that women could go into.

And I just wanted to be, I just wanted to, you know, do something very impactful and meaningful and that's, One of the reasons why I wanted to go to West Point and I felt like if I could fly helicopters and fly attack helicopters, I'd be as close to the fight as I possibly could be, um, as a woman. Now, obviously things have changed.

Women have gone through ranger school and now they can branch infantry and everything, which is, which is [00:05:00] incredible. But, um, when I was there, that wasn't the case. So I was like, what's the one thing I can do that will get me as close to the action as possible? As humanly possible. And, um, flying attack helicopters was definitely that path.

So, I mean, I hadn't had my mindset on flying the Apache helicopter for basically the entire four years that I was there. I had, um, we do this, this cool week at West Point. It's called branch week. I'm sure all the academies do it. Okay. And they basically bring in all the different branches So, you know, you have infantry and aviation and air defense artillery and, you know, military intelligence, all these different jobs that, you know, as a cadet, you go into when you commission and they flew an Apache right onto the plane, which is just like the big parade field right out in front of, um, West Point.

And I was like, that's the coolest thing I've ever freaking seen.

Angela Gennari: I love it. So I

Lindsey Chrismon: was just like, what? This is, uh, Being able to, like, have the opportunity to fly that one day, I was like, yes, I'm up [00:06:00] right now. So I kind of just, you know, worked hard to get a good OML so that I could choose my branch and I, cause I just really wanted to fly.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Yeah. And it's tough. I mean, because there's, I know in the Air Force and in the Navy as well, it's, even if you go in there with full intentions of flying, there's still a small percentage of people who actually do it. Um, because there's, there's so much that goes into it. And is it the same in with, um, helicopters?

Like I know for the Navy, for fighter pilots, you have to be a certain size, a certain weight, a certain height. Like there's, there's physical requirements. You have to be able to take a certain number of G forces. Like you have to go through all this rigorous testing in order to even know if you are Physically capable of doing it.

Um, so what is it like with, with flying helicopters? Because I imagine there's also some similar rules in terms of, you know, being able to be, you know, super fit, you know, you're, you could be flying for a while. Um, so tell me about what are some of the, the specifications of that? [00:07:00]

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, it's actually a lot less strict, more lenient than the Air Force and the Navy in that regard, um, for the army in order to be a pilot, you have to have a certain, um, vision that's correctable.

So correctable up to 2020. So even if you're wearing contacts. They're wearing glasses. It's you're still okay. Um, there's really no height requirement. There are some aircraft that smaller sized people will struggle to fly. Um, so they'll recommend, you know, trying to get into a different aircraft to fit to see how you how you could feel how you feel in that aircraft itself.

Um, but there's really no specific requirement. Um, which is kind of cool because it There's different ways that you can configure the cockpit. You can move your pedals in, um, you know, even people that are really, really tall, like sometimes they're like helmets are actually like touching the roof of the aircraft.

They just kind of like slouched down a little bit more than, but I've never. in my career of flying and at West [00:08:00] Point met someone who was disqualified because of, um, some sort of, you know, being too short or being too tall or being, you know, don't not weighing enough. And which I think is, which is awesome.

Um, yeah, but yeah, flying flying some of these helicopters, especially, um, When I, I flew the Apache for about three years and then I went into special operations and flew through one 60th. And, um, the aircraft that I flew there, the age six little bird was very, very physically demanding. And if you want to kind of continue your career and go to that next level and fly for special ops, there are definitely some physical requirements that you have to be able to pass in order to be selected to fly.

Um, that. Particular airframe. So I think if you know if there's anyone out there that's that's eager like your son if even if he wants to go to West Point and fly helicopters, you know, you definitely have to be in good physical shape in order to keep on top of all like it's just Very demanding physically.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. Well, and I imagine that they also have [00:09:00] to prepare you for, you know, if the, the helicopter goes down, you know, you have to be able to do, you know, yeah, we go to

Lindsey Chrismon: school. Yeah, that's, that's a fun time. Yeah,

Angela Gennari: for sure. So yeah, I have a really good friend of mine who was a, um, He didn't go to West Point, but he was army special ops and he was a paratrooper.

So he would jump out of airplanes and then start battling. And so I'm like, wow, you just look for that one more thing. So like, how do I make this as extremely difficult as possible?

Lindsey Chrismon: Add one more layer to making things more challenging. Yeah,

Angela Gennari: yeah, exactly. But yes, it's fascinating. But, um, but so much respect and thank you for your service.

Lindsey Chrismon: Oh, thank you. Yeah, I, I wouldn't have traded it for the world. Mm-Hmm. , I'm a huge advocate now, you know, going through the whole process myself, process being West Point serving, um, for just, I think e everyone, not literally everyone should do it, but I, [00:10:00] I think that it just really sets you up well. Like the Army is such a phenomenal place.

You learn such really important life lessons, leadership lessons. Um, they teach you grit and determination and commitment and integrity. And I think that sometimes those things are lacking and it's just, it's just really a great foundational beginning to, you know, your life's journey.

Angela Gennari: I could not agree more.

I think, I think especially with people who, um, and you know, we, we live in a very privileged community, no matter what community you live in, you know, in the United States, the United States. has so much privilege. And for us to go and serve, um, you know, it just teaches you, like you said, so many life lessons and things that, you know, we, we take for granted, especially if you get deployed, you get to see what happens overseas.

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, definitely. I mean, yeah, being overseas is a whole, a whole nother world.

Angela Gennari: For sure. So, um, that's an amazing story. So congratulations on that success. Congratulations on [00:11:00] being the first woman to fly that aircraft. I mean, that's just. So much that you can then take with you for the rest of your life. You will always own that.

So yeah. And I want more

Lindsey Chrismon: women to go out there and do it.

Angela Gennari: Heck

Lindsey Chrismon: yeah. Yeah. There's been a couple of women that have assessed, tried out, um, to fly that same aircraft and haven't made it yet. But one day, someone's gonna, someone's gonna roll in those doors and, and just absolutely crush it. And I just cannot wait to see who she is.

Angela Gennari: I love it. I love it so much. So you get out of the military and then you're like, I'm going to go do Harvard now. Like how does, like, that wasn't challenging enough.

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, I know. Maybe one of these days I'll slow down. Um, yeah. I just figured that. It was time to get out of the military. I had done all the things that I really wanted to do.

Um, I felt a little bit intellectually capped in my role. I just wanted to kind of, you know, broaden my, experience [00:12:00] in the world and not just have like one career path, but kind of go out and do something different. And so I decided that it was time to get out. Um, and I thought, what's a better way to kind of reintegrate myself back into the civilian world than to go to business school.

Both: Um, I felt like I

Lindsey Chrismon: was a little bit behind my peers in, in that regard where, you know, being in the military, yes, while they teach you some incredible life lessons and everything, you are definitely behind the power curve when it comes to the business world. Um, So I was like, Oh, I'm going to, I'm going to apply to a bunch of schools and see where I land.

And I did land at HBS at Harvard. So, wow.

Angela Gennari: That's incredible. That's so cool. So, so you went into Harvard to get a business degree. Um, and so what, why business? Why, why that particular, cause I mean, I know with the military, there's so many avenues where you would thrive and I mean, business obviously being one of them, but why, why business?

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah. Um, everyone's like, wait, don't you just want to go fly commercial, [00:13:00] uh, there's a lot of money in that people around and I'm like, um, but yeah, business, I have always wanted to be an entrepreneur. Um, even in the military, I just really love the idea of innovation and creating something that doesn't exist.

And I thought that like, you know, what better way to really learn. The business side of things, like, yes, I might have the creative aspect, the leadership aspect of it, but I kind of need a little bit of business acumen to go along, you know, to compliment those other skills that I'm coming to the table with and business school was just, it was just the right option for that.

You know, it, it just, it just fit the bucket.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Yeah. And I love it. Cause you're a trailblazer. So you fit right into the entrepreneurial mindset. So that's fantastic. So, so while you're at, so you haven't graduated with your MBA yet, right?

Lindsey Chrismon: Correct. Yeah. But you just couldn't

Angela Gennari: wait. You were like, I'm just going to go start my company now.

I'm just like, you know, I'm kind of bored. I [00:14:00] need a little bit more action in my life. I need to go be an entrepreneur like right now.

Lindsey Chrismon: Oh my gosh. Like day one of Harvard last year. So my first year, it's a two year in person program. Um, our, one of our main professors was like, don't start a company while you're at Harvard.

Guess what I go and do in January. So, I wasn't even done with my first year, started a company. Yeah, yeah,

Angela Gennari: of course, of course. So,

Lindsey Chrismon: it's, it's working out, um, so far. It's been absolutely incredible. I mean, I think that it's tremendously beneficial to start a company while you're at Harvard because you have all of the resources.

You have the network, the, you know, the Professor network, the alumni network, all of my classmates who are so incredibly helpful because these people are so smart. Yeah. And a hundred times smarter than I am. And it's just wonderful to be able to bounce ideas off of, off of these individuals. And, you know, it's just.

It just helps guide everything, everything along in the direction where you envision it to be. Um, sometimes you come in and run into roadblocks, but you have the right [00:15:00] people in your network that you can talk to to help navigate those. And I find it has just been just really, really helpful.

Angela Gennari: You're absolutely right.

Because I mean, one, one of the hardest parts of being an entrepreneur is the loneliness and the, you feel like you're on an Island, you know? And so like, when I first started my company, one of the challenging aspects of that was, I didn't feel like I had anyone to go to, right? So it's like, you have your family, you have your friends and, and they're wonderful and they're a great support system because they know who you are, but they don't understand business.

And so you're absolutely right. You kind of have a built in tribe of. You know, consultants who can help you with everything while you're in business school. So that's fantastic.

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, it's just helpful. And there's, we have the Rock Center for Entrepreneurship. So it's just completely centered around, you know, starting a company, creating a venture on your own.

And then we have the Harvard Innovations Lab, which is an incredible resource to, I mean, there's, there's a lot up there in Boston in the Cambridge area where you [00:16:00] can thrive as an entrepreneur is as long as you know, you have that grit and determination and you can make those challenging decisions. Um, but man, the resources are endless.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, for sure. And I would encourage you when you get out of Harvard to continue that because like there's so many great groups. Like I belong to one called Clipco and I love it because it is a group of entrepreneurs. And I can tell you that at any given time I will shoot out a group text like, Hey guys, here's what I'm thinking.

And I get the best minds on this and, and, and we're, you know, it's a collection of friends, resources. It's just, it's an amazing group of people that you can always go to if you need. So, yeah, I mean, if you have any

Lindsey Chrismon: recommendations for those types of networks afterwards, I

Angela Gennari: absolutely,

Lindsey Chrismon: yes, I absolutely love networking.

I love meeting new people, you know, trying to see how I can help in, in different ways. So yeah, just. I love that kind of stuff.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. And it's so helpful. I mean, it has given me light years of, of, you know, experience that I wouldn't [00:17:00] have had like the time to actually have, but it's the resources and the connections and what you learn in a, in a short amount of time with people who have been there and done that.

Even if they're completely different industries. So,

Lindsey Chrismon: yeah, exactly. Exactly.

Angela Gennari: So with, with my home, why, why that, why that business and why, why did, I mean, I think it's a brilliant business personally, because I freaking love DIY and, you know, like maintenance schedules and like, I need to, I need somebody to keep me on track.

So, but why, why this business?

Lindsey Chrismon: So, um, My husband, Gabe, also went to West Point, graduated, we graduated together, um, 2014 grad, he played rugby there, he was in the infantry when he got out, so I was flying helicopters, uh, he was on the ground kicking in doors, and um, He actually ended up getting out in 2020 and was like, you know what?

I don't want to work for anybody. I want to do something on my own. Also, he is a very, has a very strong entrepreneurial bug [00:18:00] and he started a restoration company here in Nashville. So they did property restoration, big loss, water, fire, mold. Um, You name it. So we've been in the home services ecosystem for the past four years.

And we kind of like to say we accidentally validated this idea through the restoration company, because we were able to talk to thousands of homeowners and hundreds of business owners to really figure out what their purpose was. Pain points were one thing that we recognized was this home services ecosystem, especially for homeowners is so fragmented.

So, you know, homeowners are stuck leaving a check in their mailbox for their lawn care guy. And he only responds via text message. And then you have, you know, maybe a cleaning company that comes, you know, every month or whatever it is, and they only do Venmo. So it's just, it's just all over the place.

You're Venmo ing, you're leaving cash, you're leaving checks. Some may take credit card. It's just, fragmented and it's a pain.

Both: Um,

Lindsey Chrismon: and there's no place to [00:19:00] really find high quality vendors in your area, high quality professionals. So what my home does is we actually consolidate all of those pain points into one app.

Um, so it's one place. To schedule, book, communicate, so in that messaging and pay all of your home service vendors and everything is consolidated onto that one platform. So we do all the screening, all the vetting. It's an invite only on the professional side for the companies. Um, so it's very, very strict for them to get in.

We have very high standards. We also interview them, you know, face to face or via zoom to make sure, you know, we're checking for things like integrity. You know, what is their response when I say, well, what happens if you misschedule and you don't show up, you know, to a homeowner, you know, what happens if, if this, if this goes on, what's, how do you treat the homeowners?

We want to make sure that these people that were, that were matching with the homeowner is just the highest quality, someone that you trust. Um, Because we believe at my home that we're going to be there for you 24 7, anytime you need anything for your home, any type [00:20:00] of reminders, any type of, you know, rescheduling with one of your professionals, or whatever it is, we want to be there for you so that you can go and do other important things in your life, like hang out with your family, or go on a walk with your dog.

Yeah,

Both: yeah.

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, so like we want, you know how, um, I don't personally truly remember this that well, but we, I kind of vaguely remember my dad, um, where we would go on a road trip and we had like an actual physical map, like a big book of maps of the state. Oh yeah. Printing out things on MapQuest. Back in the day, it used to be a very thoughtful process to navigate from point A to point B, and now it's, you just hop on your phone, type it in, you know, Waze, Google, whatever it is, and you don't, it's an afterthought.

You don't even think about it. We want that same type of convenience and afterthought for home maintenance. You know, you shouldn't have to remember to get your HVAC filters changed or to flush [00:21:00] your water heater. It should just be automatically done for you. So for homeowners, they can subscribe to subscription plans, um, preventative maintenance plans.

There's, there's a whole slew of just ways to make the process as easy as possible for homeowners.

Angela Gennari: Oh, my God. That is the most amazing thing. I mean, like, this is one of those things where you're like, why has that not existed before because honestly, like, I get that question a lot. Yeah. Like I had my AC HVAC guy come out and he was like, have you been cleaning this?

And I'm like doing what? What? I know. Well, how do I do that? Like, when do he's like, well, you should do this quarterly. I'm like, What?

Lindsey Chrismon: And you don't think about it because it's like your HVAC. It just sits there. It just works. It

Angela Gennari: just goes until it doesn't go. And then you're freaking out and you're having to hire somebody.

And then you're

Lindsey Chrismon: out 10 grand because a whole new HVAC system is incredibly expensive when you probably could have prevented that with a little bit of preventative maintenance.

Angela Gennari: Right. Exactly. So we're [00:22:00] here

Lindsey Chrismon: to help. We're here to help. I

Angela Gennari: freaking love that concept. So much because I just feel like it's long overdue.

So I know you're in Nashville, but do you, does this branch out into other cities?

Lindsey Chrismon: So right now we are just in Nashville. Okay. Um, I mean, like I mentioned, we just launched it in January. Uhhuh, so we're, we're new. Yeah. Um, we have closed our pre-seed round. We have, we're actually on the app store, both Google Play as well as the Apple store.

Um, we have two apps. We have one for the professionals, for the companies, and we also have one for the companies. Mm-Hmm. . Then we also have one for the homeowners of course. Nice. Um, so everyone can go out and download it and use it and everything. You might not get matched with a vendor if you're not in the Nashville area, um, but, you know, we're also using that data that we collect from, from homeowners that download it and, and try and book, um, just to see if it's possible that we could just kind of scale this a little quicker than, than we had anticipated.

Um,

Both: yeah,

Lindsey Chrismon: but it's, we, we want to make sure that the value that [00:23:00] we're promising to the homeowner is what's actually being delivered here in Nashville before we start to scale this to other cities, um, because I know this is a kind of a crazy statement, but I want my home to be basically in the hands of every American across the country.

Almost like DoorDash, like Instacart, you know, Uber. We depend on those types of things for all different aspects of our life. Why isn't there one to help us maintain literally, Most people's most valuable asset, which is their home.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. So how do you, you know, because we're talking about homeowners using it, how do you expand into the renter market and, you know, those, those other markets where, you know, you could tap into that.

Have you guys thought about how to make that leap?

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, it's really good for, um, if so, as an, as, as a homeowner, if you have multiple properties, um, so say you have a long term rental and you're managing that from a distance, you can on, on the platform, you can actually have multiple addresses and then you can Manage all of the maintenance [00:24:00] from wherever you are.

Um, and then in terms of being a renter yourself, it's, it's the same exact concept, right? I mean, a lot of renters keep, keep up with the home maintenance themselves. Um, so they're responsible for getting the lawn cut. They're responsible for making sure, you know, that the gutters are cleaned, um, you know, twice a year that the leaves are removed.

You know, all of those different types of things, it's 100 percent applicable and useful for the renter too, because even if they don't own the property, they're still responsible for it.

Both: Um,

Lindsey Chrismon: so it's just going to simplify, simplify their lives. And then the cool part too, is we have, um, it's called the My Home Hub.

And what it does is it actually digitizes all of the home's previous maintenance records. Um, and it's one place for homeowners, renters to, to upload important documents like warranties, policies, important contact information, so that all of that information for your home is actually digitized and stored.

And it's categorized by room, um, [00:25:00] Interior exterior. So it's just one place where homeowners can go to reference in information. Um, so if you're a renter, for example, and you wanted to get a wall painted, um, maybe like an accent wall and the, you know, you then end your, end your lease and someone else moves in that, my home hub, which is essentially the Carfax for your homes.

Can that information can be sent to the next renter? And now that renter knows exactly that car. paint color that you used. That's really

Angela Gennari: cool.

Lindsey Chrismon: So they don't have to cut out a piece of the dry wall and bring it to home. Yeah. And do their paint matching. Um, it's just all stored right there. So the Carfax for your home aspect is going to really help new homeowners.

If they're moving into a property that has been properly maintained, you know, it's has all of the information digitized for you. Um, and then there's also avenues down the line where we can increase home value. We could potentially reduce your insurance premiums. Um, if [00:26:00] you have done the appropriate types of, of home maintenance that's required, um, in the preventative world.

So yeah, there's, there's a lot of cool things that can come with digitizing that history of the home.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Oh my God, I love it so much. This is a fantastic idea and I'm super exci excited for you guys to expand, get that seed round and, and really blow this thing up. I think that's amazing. Thank you. So let me ask you, because this is one thing that I am al always so curious about.

Do either of you have a technical background for like writing apps and, and all of that?

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, we don't know. Um, so that's why we have a CTO. Yeah. Yeah.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. So, so how, how did you find, like, how do you come up with the concept of like, this is what I want for an app and how hard is it to have that designed?

Um, You know, without a technical background, because I'm the same way. I don't have a technical background. And I've thought about like, you know, I'd like to put together an app for my company, but I don't even know where to start with that. So how did, how do you even start with, you know, I have this [00:27:00] great idea.

I think it could be a great app, but I don't know how to build an app. So, so how do you get started with that?

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, the first thing was we needed to find a CTO who we knew was going to be able to do this with us. Um, so we got really, really lucky. Um, and we found the most incredible individual. His name's Joel.

He has over 15 years of software development experience. He's actually here local in the Nashville area. Um, and he has just been a lifesaver for this entire process. So I think relying on people who are experts in that field is probably the best way, or I guess is, is the way that we kind of went about making sure that we were on the right track with everything.

Um, but then we would, I mean, We're just very collaborative. Gabe and I and Joel, we have just spent countless hours working out, you know, Figma wire diagrams and you know, how is this going to be envisioned? Cause there's so much to it. Um, it's a very, very complex problem to solve, [00:28:00] especially with a two sided, maybe even considered three sided marketplace that we're building.

Um, multiple apps, you know, web version, Google, Apple Play Store, like Apple Store. There's just, there's a lot to it. So we have to find, we had to find a way to keep everything on track and organized. So, you know, we use Confluence and Jira to keep ourselves, you know, with, in all of our sprints and making sure that we assign the appropriate amount of time to get certain tasks completed.

Um, and yeah, we just. Kind of kept her heads down and

Angela Gennari: grumped around it for a while. So how long did it take you to develop the framework for the app and then be able to launch the technology from the time it was concept to completion?

Lindsey Chrismon: So we started development February of 2024 and we today, which is ironic, literally today, um, August 16th is our launch day.

Angela Gennari: Yay. Congratulations. That's awesome. Very cool.

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah. It's kind of crazy. Like there's just an article that came out in Yahoo [00:29:00] finances. They published an article on us today. So we're hoping that the word gets out there and starts to spread around a little bit. Um, but yeah, so I guess, you know, six months, I would say it took from,

Angela Gennari: yeah,

Lindsey Chrismon: literally an idea in Gabe in my head to have an actual app on our phones.

Wow. That's usable and functional. Mm hmm. And how

Angela Gennari: stressful was it? Was it a lot of like, back to the drawing board and like, hey, that didn't work. Let's retry something else.

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, definitely. And it's not like we built this in a vacuum either. Right. There was so, were so many conversations. I mean, hours upon hours upon hours of conversations with homeowners, and most importantly with the vendors, the professionals, because we wanted to make sure that we were building something obviously for them.

It's not just an idea that we have that we want to make easier for homeowners, it has to actually be. The value actually has to be there. So, I mean, yeah, we did. I mean, there were days when I was in Target, [00:30:00] just doing interviews with random people shopping, just to kind of gauge their interest in things and see, you know, what are, what are we doing here?

Is this going to be beneficial? And, um, you know, you know, Basically executing, um, the book, the mom test, like literally in real life.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Yeah, absolutely. Well, because so many people missed out on the market aspect of it. Like you gotta do your market research. And if you don't, you might have this amazing product that you spent a year designing and nobody uses it because it's too cumbersome, you know?

Like, and, and I've, I've had those where, you know, I've, I've gotten a product. I'm like, it sounds good in theory, but like, I've tried to actually use the software. I've tried to actually use the app and I'm like, it. Doesn't work right. Like it doesn't do what I need to do. And so I just quit it. And so, yeah, I've had a few of those actually recently.

Um, there was a company that I had, and I'm not going to call them out to the carpet on this, but, but it was like, you know, for expenses and like, I wanted to be able to, you know, kind of [00:31:00] test it out. And so as I'm testing it, it kept sending me like, Hey, we still need your bank account information, but it was sending me the same email like 20 times.

And then like, Hey, don't forget to log in. Hey, here's your login code. I'm like, you're glitching. I'm not giving you my bank account information right now. I

Lindsey Chrismon: know it's so much scary about startups too is, I mean, People expect perfection from day one. You know what I mean? So when you're saying, Oh, we're live now, we're launching.

People think that this, it is going to be as perfectly flawless as you know, everything else that's on your phone. So it is, it is a little scary in that regard. You have to find users that are willing to work with you along the way until you can get that perfectly refined product. Because I mean, expectation management is very, very important in.

Oh, yeah.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, if you, if you don't do it right the first time, like, you know, even as far as like, um, I've been in venues, like we, we have, um, I used to do a lot of meeting management. And so we were [00:32:00] at a hotel and they decided to keep the hotel open during renovation because you're like, well, we want to be able to continue to make money.

And I'm like, bad idea. You don't, you don't keep this open. So of course you wake up to like construction happening, you know, next to your room and like, you know, bulldozers. And I'm like, this is a. Five star hotel and you've got bulldozer going to the parking lot. Terrible idea. Shut it down. So, yeah, I mean, you're right.

Expectation management is really critical because when somebody is booking a high level hotel, they don't expect to wake up to the sound of like, you know, drills

Lindsey Chrismon: and

Angela Gennari: other things happening all around. So,

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, people using apps, they just expect it to work. They don't expect that they're gonna get 15, you know, email notifications.

Right, right, exactly. Saying the same thing over and over again and sending verification codes. Right, right. It's a fine balance and it's just kind of part of the growing pains. You know, it's, it's going to happen. There are going to be pissed [00:33:00] off people. Absolutely. Just have to make sure that we are taking everything that everyone's saying and synthesizing it and then iterating on our product so that we just make sure that just continuous innovation and continuous upgrades and improvements so that those types of things are a thing of the past.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Well, and also respond, respond, respond. Like, you know, when you're going through things like that. Be responsive to your customers needs, because if they are going through something and they are having a bad time, you want to be responsive. We're like, right. I want to help you. Let's work through this.

Right. Because the ones that kind of put their head in the sand, they're like, okay, let's just try to, you know, get out of this and we're not going to respond or acknowledge their complaint that then escalates, right. It gets worse and worse and worse. Cause then, then it becomes another complaint while the company wasn't responsive.

And so, you know, one complaint kind of snowballs into another and another and another. So yeah,

Lindsey Chrismon: it's a real thing and it's very important.

Angela Gennari: Yes, absolutely. [00:34:00] So I got to ask you because I I've gone down this path one time, but, um, how was it working with your husband?

Lindsey Chrismon: Honestly, it's the best thing.

Angela Gennari: That's awesome.

I'm so happy that you said that.

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, we. We work really, really well together and I think it kind of stems from just the experiences that we've been through in our lives, you know, making it through deployments, like very scary deployments and all of the living apart for so many years. I mean, when we got married, we didn't even live in the same state.

We ended up having to fly to different places after the wedding. Yeah. So it It's wonderful. It's absolutely wonderful. And our, you know, our strengths complement one another, our weaknesses complement each other. There's just, it's just a really, really strong working relationship. And I think we've done a really good job so far balancing The husband and wife aspect and the business partner aspect because they are two [00:35:00] completely separate things and we can't take the husband and wife aspect into the business, um, in a sense where, you know, those, those problems can't come with us when we come into work every single day.

It's, it's gotta be left at home just like anyone, any employee would do. Um, and I think so far we've done a really, really good job of keeping that balance and maintaining it, um, to a healthy level on both the business side and the relationship side.

Angela Gennari: That's really, really good. Cause that's the mistake I made.

Cause I had a business with my husband who is now my ex husband. And part of that was we didn't know when to separate, you know, like we would go out to dinner together on a romantic dinner and talk about work the whole time. And, you know, like you have to be able to create that. That division. And even though you're both passionate and excited about it, it also has to be something where, you know, you also have to put your relationship ahead of the business because otherwise the business won't, won't survive.

Lindsey Chrismon: Exactly. Exactly.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Well, congratulations on that. That's fantastic. So what [00:36:00] challenges and obstacles have you had to overcome in, in starting this business?

Lindsey Chrismon: Um, a lot.

Angela Gennari: Yeah.

Lindsey Chrismon: Um, I mean, so far, I think the biggest challenge has just been expectation management on my side, on my end. Yeah.

Because I have these like visions of just like these crazy ideas and everything. And Joel, the CTO is like, you got to calm down. This isn't going to happen in overnight. And so thank God I have him on our team. That's just like, okay, we're going to put, we need, we've created lists, you know, it's the must have need to have, would like to have type of, you know, fantasy list and that I think has been a huge learning curve because I've come to the table like, okay, this is exactly what we're going to do.

And we're going to nail it. And he's like. Okay. Okay, it's going to take us a little bit of time to get there. And, you know, we just not jumping the gun on those types of [00:37:00] things has been something that I've had to work on over the past six months just to kind of make sure that You know, we're taking the feedback that's appropriate and implementing that and not just going off of our own gut instincts on on a lot of these things because it's like I said before, it's it's really about the feedback and the customer engagement for us to build a product that's actually good and viable and useful.

And so I think that that's probably one of the, one of the biggest things in terms of challenges. Um, it's obviously like budgeting is, is critically important. Building a marketplace is very expensive. Um, so I think one thing that I learned early on was it's raising capital at this stage is very expensive, but there's really.

no other way to do it other than to just, you know, make the sacrifices at this stage, um, and raise the money that's actually needed so that you can get off the ground. Um, because if, if you do things, [00:38:00] I don't want to say like in a cheap way, but if, if you're not efficient with your funds and you're not building something that is going to be useful, then you're just going to be wasting everyone's time and everyone's money.

So finding that like sweet spot of like where our budget sits, you know, what our burn is, and how can we optimize, you know, our burn might be high, but how are we getting the most value out of that burn, I think is definitely another component that's a work in progress over time.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. And investors look at that.

I mean, every company, especially tech companies are going to have high burn rates, but you know, are you getting something out of that? Like, is there, is there massive progress happening in that time period? And I think that's, that's the key, you know, and that's when people say, okay, she's using our money smart, you know, like everything is she, she's spending it, but.

They want you to spend it, right? Like it's all about growth. It's all about creation. So, so you're supposed to spend the money. Um, but at the same time you need to get something out of that money too. So

Lindsey Chrismon: exactly.

Angela Gennari: Very [00:39:00] cool. So, um, do you do the pitches or who does the pitches when you guys talk to investors?

Lindsey Chrismon: Um, most of the time we do it together, honestly. Yeah, we enjoy talking, you know, being in the same room together and talking to investors and whoever it is. There have been pitch competitions where just I've done it, just Gabe's done it, we've done it together. Um, so it's, it's really just now that we're getting a lot more busy, you know, now that, you know, we're live and launching and, you know, Making sure that things are working on the back end, um, it'll probably be more of like a one on one conversation going forward just so that we can split our time more effectively and efficiently, um, but we've, um, both of us.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, very cool. Well, that's awesome. So, You are obviously very, very inspiring. I think that you, you just can inspire so many people between West Point and being the first, um, first woman down to pilot that particular aircraft to starting a business, to going to Harvard. I mean, there's so many massive [00:40:00] accomplishments that you've had, but who inspires you?

Lindsey Chrismon: Oh, that's a great question. Um, I'm inspi So growing up, um, my grandma was my biggest inspiration. Uh, Gran. She passed away when I was in high school, breast cancer. Um, and that was really, really impactful for me when, when that happened because one, she didn't tell us that she was, Second email. Yeah. And one day we just sat down and she sat at my brother's and I down and was like, I'm not going to make it through the summer.

And I was like, wait, what? Like I was too young to like really understand what that meant. And then things just started to progressively get worse very quickly. Um, but. Man, I would say that she was such an inspiration for me growing up. Um, she taught me so many things. I mean, I spent all of my time with her every single waking second that I possibly could with her and just seeing her determination and her [00:41:00] drive and how she, you know, ran her life and how good of a person she was.

I think that is what truly inspired me to try and always just be a good person. Um, and my, my, I always say my husband will laugh if he ever hears this, but my number one rule is just to be nice. And I learned that from her. Um, so it's just that that's, she's definitely an inspiration. I think about her all the time.

Um, but like in terms of big picture kind of thing, um, I'm inspired by people like Mark Musk and people that have completely changed the world that we currently live in, in our lifetime. I find that just absolutely incredible that, you know, one individual can change so many lives based off of an idea that they had.

I want to do something like that. And the

Angela Gennari: tenacity to follow through with it, even despite, I mean, both of them just get [00:42:00] so much criticism and they have so much, I mean, They have entire governments coming after them. I mean, it's crazy how much they endure, but they just keep pushing and they just are relentless about it.

And I think that's amazing too. I a hundred percent agree with you.

Lindsey Chrismon: Like there's, I mean, founders that, that have just. grinded through the shit and the trenches. And there's

Angela Gennari: a lot of those stories. Absolutely. Absolutely. One of my favorite things to do is read biographies. Like whether I like the person or not, whether I, you know, uh, I, I am fascinated about why they make the choices that they make and how they've, how they've created what they've created in life, you know, and, and it is amazing to read what people have been through.

And it's crazy because Your childhood has such an impact on what you do as an adult and the choices that you make. And people just don't realize like how, how much your, [00:43:00] you know, those early learnings make you, who you are, just like you were talking about with your grandma. I mean, like it, it's that, that, that tenacity that you learned that boys, that, you know, that encouragement that she would give you and that, you know, constantly showing up for, for her family.

And that, that, that means a lot.

Lindsey Chrismon: It really does. I know. Yeah. Speaking of, of books, I, um, I just finished reading Sam Waltman's autobiography.

Angela Gennari: Oh, really?

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah. I mean, what a story. Really? Another individual that has just completely changed the entire planet with his life. With his tenacity, with his drive, with his idea.

Both: It,

Lindsey Chrismon: yeah, it's just such a powerful thing that certain like one, onesie, twosie individuals can make such a difference and it's so inspiring.

Angela Gennari: I know people always think that one person can't make a difference and that is so far from the truth. I mean, so far from the truth. So, yeah, I agree with you. So as women, we give our power away a lot.

Um, you know, whether it is, you [00:44:00] know, giving someone else credit for our work or, you know, letting someone. Um, I guess, uh, criticize us, you know, publicly or something like that. So we give our power away a lot, I think as women, and I find it hard to believe that you would ever give your power away, but has there been a time that you've given your power away and another time that you've stepped into your power?

Lindsey Chrismon: Um, I think, so when I was flying with the 160th, um, I wouldn't say it was like giving my power away, but there were definitely, I mean, 100 percent of the time, like, gender did not matter. And I, and I just think that that was, really important. Um, you know, obviously I'm still a woman, you know, and I was deployed with all guys.

Like there were certain things that like I had to do differently, you know, just as a person. Um, but in terms of like, Being in the role and flying the [00:45:00] aircraft and, you know, doing the missions or the training operations, whatever it was, um, there really wasn't like, it wasn't like, oh, well, she's a woman and he's a, he's a man.

It just, it just wasn't like that. It's just like, oh, well, that's a pilot, you know, that one 60th age, six little bird pilot, um, regardless of gender. So, um, it's kind of hard to think of a time when. I had to like give away that power. Um, I guess in that regard, it would just be, we were all in the same playing field, so it wasn't necessarily giving it away.

It was just kind of stepping up to the plate. Um, So yeah, I don't know. That's amazing.

Angela Gennari: I, I love that so much because that was one of my thoughts is, I wonder if you, if you felt a lot of, you know, gender discrimination or anything like that in the military, but it doesn't sound like you did because I think that, you know, your tenacity and your drive kind of validated.

You, you know what I mean? Like you, you brought it every single day. [00:46:00] And so, you know, that, that makes all the difference. And, you know, you weren't looking for like, Hey, I need to be accommodated because, you know, I need this and this and this, like you just, you showed up and, you know, you, you prove that you belong there every single day.

Lindsey Chrismon: Yeah, it really just comes down to the professionalism of the organization. You know, of all, of everyone involved. It's just a very professional place to work and to be and to be from. So I, yeah, I just think that that, that really like underlying value, the professionalism there is, is what differentiates, um, that kind of like potential for a workplace of discrimination, um, from a gender perspective that just, you know, Doesn't reside there because of how professional everyone is.

Angela Gennari: And that's fantastic because there weren't very many women in, um, at the West at West Point, right? Like,

Lindsey Chrismon: yeah, that too.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Yeah. So, so, I mean, the fact that the leadership didn't, you know, separate it out and like, make, make it, you know, Um, as if you were coming in as less than, so I think that's amazing.

[00:47:00] Oh yeah,

Lindsey Chrismon: definitely not, no. I mean there That's

Angela Gennari: very cool.

Lindsey Chrismon: My senior year I had to walk outside to go to the bathroom, but, from my, from my barracks room, my dorm room. No, that's just kind of a joke, but, um.

Angela Gennari: That's funny. Um, that's awesome. Well, very cool. So what advice would you give to your 18 year old self?

Lindsey Chrismon: Um, man, where was I at 18? I guess I was a freshman at West Point. I think my biggest thing is, my biggest piece of advice is one, don't be intimidated by so many people. I have this like, conception that everyone knows exactly what they're doing at all times. And my imposter syndrome is very, very strong.

It's always kicking in. So I think I would tell myself, people really don't always have it all together, even though they may come off like that. So just, you know, Be confident in your own abilities and your own self, um, and stop [00:48:00] worrying so much about what other people are, how other people are perceiving you, thinking that you're quote unquote less, um, or less qualified or, you know, whatever it is because they're probably feeling the exact same way.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Yeah. It's crazy. I mean, and it doesn't even matter what level you're at. I mean, there are CEOs of major corporations who still have imposter syndrome. I mean, there are professional athletes that still have imposter syndrome. So it doesn't matter what level you're at. You can still very much feel that.

Um, so yeah, it doesn't, it, when you're starting out, it's easy to feel that way, but. Everybody has their moments. Like I might feel confident walking into a room with my employees, but I walk into a room with my clients and I'm like,

Lindsey Chrismon: I know exactly. And I think like, I would definitely tell myself to always just remain humble.

And the humility aspect is so important. Like you can be confident, but still remain humble with everything. And I think that Finding that balance [00:49:00] and teaching my younger self that balance would have would be really cool.

Angela Gennari: Yeah. Oh, absolutely. Um, so one more question. I really, really enjoyed talking to you, Lindsay.

You have just, you have, So much great stuff to say. So I appreciate that. Um, but what do you wish more people knew?

Lindsey Chrismon: Like just in general?

Angela Gennari: In general.

Lindsey Chrismon: Oh, that's a really good question. I mean, the one thing that I think of is always, it just like comes back to my home. Um, This is just a random fact that just popped into my head, but homeowners spend anywhere between one and 4 percent of their home's value on home maintenance annually.

So it was just a huge number and people don't think that they're spending that much on maintenance and they, and they are. Um, so I think it would just be kind of cool to help educate, um, homeowners on, you know, the budgeting aspect of maintaining their home and how to do it more efficiently and [00:50:00] everything.

So that, that, I don't know why, but that popped into my head.

Angela Gennari: Yeah, it's good to know. I had no idea. That's interesting, actually, and it makes sense, but yeah, that's very cool.

Both: Yeah.

Angela Gennari: Well, thank you so much. You have been such a pleasure to talk to, and I mean, just so accomplished. I'm just, wow. You just have such an incredible future ahead of you, and I can't wait to see what you do.

And, um, good luck with my home and, um, with Harvard. And everything that you're doing, because I think you are just on the right track. And, um, yeah, you, you and you and Gabe are going to do some really cool stuff. So congratulations on all of your success so far. And, um, thank you for your service and to him too.

And you are just amazing. And I can't wait to see what all you do.

Lindsey Chrismon: Thanks, Angela. Yeah. This has been really fun. I'm glad that, that we were able to connect in and get that chat in.

Angela Gennari: Absolutely. All right, everybody. Thank you for joining us for another episode of the pretty powerful podcast. We look forward to seeing you next time.

Have a great day.

Intro: Thank you for joining our guests on the pretty powerful podcast. And we hope you've gained [00:51:00] new insight and learned from exceptional women. Remember to subscribe or check out this and all episodes on prettypowerfulpodcast. com. Visit us next time, and until then, step into your own power.