Helping Online Communities Connect and Engage with Derrick Reives & Venki Mandapati of UpSquad

Summary

On this episode of The Bentonville Beacon, host James Bell is joined by Derrick Reives and Venki Mandapati, Co-Founders of UpSquad, an on-demand engagement platform that helps organizations connect, communicate and collaborate. With over twenty-four years of experience working for Fortune 100 companies, Derrick serves as the CEO of UpSquad, and Venki is UpSquad’s CTO with over a decade of experience as a technology and data science leader. UpSquad’s custom, peer-to-peer platform assists nonprofits, schools and businesses in efficiently managing skill building, work-readiness, mentoring and more with shared equity that encourages support. Throughout the episode, James, Derrick and Venki discuss how UpSquad is advantageous to organizations, the startup path that led to UpSquad and how Bentonville is a positive place to work and live. 

Thanks for tuning in!

Show Notes:

(0:54) Introduction to Derrick and Venki

(1:25) About Derrick

(2:53) About Venki

(4:21) The Ideation of UpSquad

(6:42) What UpSquad Provides and Who They Serve

(12:33) UpSquad’s Success

(16:38) From Corporate to Startup

(23:52) UpSquad’s Experience with Delta I-Fund

(33:22) UpSquad’s Participation in 1 Million Cups

(39:02) How Living in Bentonville Has Changed 

(46:19) #Bentonville Story

(50:15) Closing Questions

‍Links

James Bell

Bentonville Economic Development 

Derrick Reives

Venki Mandapati

UpSquad

Quotes

“What we do is take programs from nonprofits, schools, government agencies and businesses, and we put them in a virtual space. Virtual is the need of the hour, specifically hybrid where they can have both in-person and virtual activities going at the same time. We make it very easy for their members to collaborate in this innovative space.” - Derrick Reives, (6:55)

“That’s another milestone. As entrepreneurs we’ve had to learn to communicate what we’re doing and how it’s helping people. That’s priceless.” - Derrick Reives, (15:26)

“One of the main reasons we decided to open offices here in Northwest Arkansas and Bentonville is because we saw the entrepreneurial support for organizations like us. Not only that, but there’s this ecosystem across the entire state trying to pull in those that are out-of-state.” - Derrick Reives, (29:52)

“Entrepreneurship is difficult, and sometimes we need that environment to really succeed because it’s not going to be a day, it’s not going to be a month, it’s going to be years. We need to work together in order to really create something out of nothing.” - Venki Mandapati, (49:17)