I had the pleasure of interviewing Miram Ebrahim, CEO & Founder, Common Connect App. Fusing high-tech with the human experience of today, Common Connect integrates community into business ventures in the most productive and tangible way. The people who could make a substantial impact on your business or career could be riding on the subway, a bus, or walking past you at any given moment. Now, with Common Connect, strangers become potential partners.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! What is your “backstory”?
After years of navigating the workforce and trying to find the right connections, I finally landed a dream job as a Sales Executive at both Google and Apple. I realized that even with holding a high title and at a large company, it was hard to network and find the people who mattered to me.
On Common Connect, you can meet people by customizing app preferences and selecting multiple industries and job titles. You can also increase location visibility — whether you’re looking to hire, make a friend, and make new connections.
Perhaps you’ll connect with the ideal pastry chef for your restaurant or the venture capitalist specializing in launching your startup. It’s someone you need, and that you need right now.
Why did you found your company?
I left my job at Google to pursue and launch Common Connect. I saw the need to change the way professionals network today after struggling to meet with like-minded professionals.
In a city where thousands of people cross paths in seemingly random ways, I wanted to make it easier people of all professional backgrounds in a specific area of expertise to find other like-minded professionals in a specific field or with a specific job title.
What is it about the work you’re doing that’s disruptive?
We change the way connections are created. Common Connect looks to bring goodness to the world by allowing two or more people to connect organically on a busy street. The app will revolutionize networking and will allow people in a saturated area to connect more frequently — whether you are looking to hire, make a new friend, change careers or industries, acquire a new client, or fulfill a quick business need.
With Common Connect in your pocket, you can choose any job title or any industry and it will show you those around you that have already signed up as a new user or signed in through Facebook and LinkedIn. The world of networking needs a change and Common Connect finally provides that fix.
We all need a little help along the journey — who have been some of your mentors?
A few mentors would be Ryan Devito and Todd Kirkland at Google. They have always been there to provide feedback, and it its super critical to have both personal and professional development from your mentors.
One of my other mentors is Arnell Milhouse. He is is a mentor to IVY League startups and has a plethora of technology skills and experience.
How are you going to shake things up next?
We are making things easier and and more streamlined than Linkedin. Common Connect is a more intuitive version of Linkedin that allows you to connect with people based on proximity, gender, age where you can filter by job titles and industries based on the people you pass that are right at your finger tips in order to close the gap of missed opportunities that surround us everyday.
Common Connect differs from all the other professional networking apps due to the location aspect of it. What really makes Common Connect unique is in your preferences tab a user is able to select from a catered list of 300 job titles and job industries they want to meet professionals in.
For example, a user today might want an Accountant, UX/UI Designer or even a Lawyer for their business but tomorrow they might want something else.
Can you share 3 of the best words of advice you’ve gotten along your journey?
1. Do What You Love: If you really do what you love on a daily basis you will find yourself making a difference.
2. Take Risks: Life and business are often a series of two steps forward and one back, but if you don’t take risk you will never know how far you could really go.
3. Be a sponge, stay hungry: Don’t allow the fear of failure to stop you living your dream and life you envision through other people.
What’s a book/podcast/talk that’s had a deep impact on your thinking?
I started a podcast myself called Fearless Females Talk www.anchor.fm/fearlessfemalestalk and I love listening to Gary Vee and I am really looking forward to changing the world as a female.
Some of the biggest names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might see this. 🙂
There are so many incredible names in the business with impressive portfolios.
But if I had to choose two, our team would be ecstatic to have a private group breakfast with Gary Vee, Marc Andreessen and Ben Horowitz because of their knowledge and extensive experience with startup growth and scale.
How can our readers follow you on social media?
Instagram: @Commonconnectapp
Twitter @OfficialCCApp
Originally published at medium.com