MARGAUX ZION

Remember back in college when you had to chase down your professor, advisor, counselor, registrar, etc, for office hours to get the time of day in to work through issues with your program? (I KNOW I DID/DO/WILL AGAIN SOON IN THE FUTURE!)

There is a new tech startup in the virtual space that structures this type of meeting without having to go through the email battle it takes to actually make plans:

Ohours. Right now, it looks like a channel for early adapters, VC’s, BizDev types, and consultants to meet with eachother/startups/clients to talk shop or to pitch “try before you buy” services to clients. Perhaps it would service the MediaBistro, or TalentZoo freelance crawlers as an unorthodox interview platform. Ohours is great for several reasons: 

1. It is a chance for people who are otherwise not connected to a target member to meet without making unsolicited cold calls or emails. It is not an awkward introduction at all. A meeting is a welcome invitation for anyone to acquaint themselves.

2. The allotted times are usually 30 minutes or less. (No pitch should ever be longer than 20-30 minutes anyway!) This allows each meeting to get straight to the point without any erroneous chit chat. Office hours are not for banter or “hanging out-” that is what friends are for. ;)

3. The platform allows users to specify exactly what they are available to talk about, and allows restrictions for what not to mention during a meeting. For example, if a Strategic Partnerships Manager wants to take pitches from startup companies, but does NOT want it to turn into a feedback forum where they receive no benefit/insight from the meeting, then that rule may be outlined in the fine print prior to the meeting.

I hope to see this company expand! This is a very exciting opportunity!