EP 184 Simplifying Minority Compliance in the Construction Industry Startup Life Show with Ande Lyons

What happens when a woman civil engineer decides to change the minority landscape in the construction industry?

She builds an app that easily and instantly connects top-rated minority subcontractors and job seekers with construction contractors!

Our guest, serial entrepreneur Angela Sanchez, is the CEO and Co-Founder of Merge-Tek - a social enterprise for construction stakeholders to discover, connect and track compliance for services from minority owned businesses.

She is also the Founder and CEO of Artyfactos, a sustainable and ethically responsible jewelry business that offers pieces made from 100% recycled natural materials like orange peel and fruit and tree seeds.

Angela has more than 18 years experience in the construction industry holding management positions for multi-million-dollar projects with/for the government. She was also Program Manager for Babson Entrepreneurship Ecosystem Program for Manizales Mas, an action research project to develop the entrepreneurial capacity in Manizales - Colombia.

Born in Bogota, Colombia, Angela holds a degree in Civil Engineering from Pontifical Xaverian University and an MBA from Babson College, and she’s Mom to 3 wonderful girls.

To learn more about Merge-Tek visit: https://www.merge-tek.com/
To learn more about Artyfactos, visit: https://artyfactos.com/
To learn about the rapid prototyping app called Marvel, visit: https://marvelapp.com/

Connect with and follow Angela via these social platforms:
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/angiesanchez.io/ and https://www.instagram.com/merge.tek
Twitter: https://twitter.com/angelasanchezc and https://twitter.com/MergeTek
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/angela-sanchez-mba-433a89b/ and https://www.linkedin.com/company/merge-tek/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRbJ8KSFKwaG1nl5YaQTg-w?view_as=subscriber

00:00 - meet Angela!
16:00 - how the idea for the Merge-tek app came to Angela
20:45 - the problem Merge-tek solves for the estimators at general contractors
25:00 - Angela's advice for developing the wireframe prototype for an app
31:30 - proving the value prop for a construction tech app
35:30 - helping the small construction subcontractors build their business acumen through online education
53:45 - going into trade schools after high school is just as valuable as getting a 4-year college degree!
56:00 - how entrepreneurship has served this civil engineer and Mom of 3 girls

Thank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your business will do better - cheers!

Ande ♥
https://andelyons.com

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