Start-Up Leaders Embrace Lobbying as Part of the Job

22 Nov 2015

Re: Marcela Sapone (MBA 2014); Jessica Beck (MBA 2014)

Topics: Governance-Policy Entrepreneurship-Corporate Entrepreneurship Organizations-Corporate Social Responsibility and Impact News-Newspapers

A recent story in the New York Times that details entrepreneurs’ growing interest in shaping policy highlights the lobbying efforts of Hello Alfred, a personal butler service founded by Jessica Beck (MBA 2015) and Marcela Sapone (MBA 2015):

Unlike start-ups of years past, though, Hello Alfred has not shied from the political stage. Its leaders have appeared on numerous policy panels and have written op-eds. They have been invited to a White House summit event on the future of labor. And Marcela Sapone, the company’s chief executive, has made two trips to Capitol Hill to urge lawmakers, research organizations and the political press to rethink labor laws for the digital age.

“We have old rules about how you act as an employer,” said Ms. Sapone, 29, who started Hello Alfred with a Harvard Business School classmate. “We are a young company but we also have to make decisions early that are ethical and business-oriented, and that means engaging in Washington early.”

The article goes on to note that while Hello Alfred is unique among recent startups in its employment approach, offering benefits and job training, “[Sapone] wants lawmakers to consider new regulations that would relieve companies from providing some costly benefits.”

“Why are we engaging so early? Mostly because we had to,” she said. “We have no choice but to get into these conversations.”