Erik Huberman: E: What made you decide to be an entrepreneur? What about your childhood, your upbringing, anything?
• Chris Brereton: I've always been just sort of independent anyway and, oh, I grew up playing in a rock and roll band as the lead singer and basically managed the band and learned a lot about business and kind of wrangling crowds I guess, if you will. So when I came home from that I took a big boy job as a marketing director put on the three piece suit everyday and hated life so jumped back into my own thing and wanted to do something more than just chase money for the sake of it.
E: Nice! Tell me about PwrdBy.
• C: Sure. So PwrdBy is basically an enterprise mobile solution for large nonprofits, or national nonprofits I should say. So we build mobile solutions for regional based organizations that have a presence all over the country.
E: So, position it in a way that's for the everyday person [who] doesn't know what enterprise level means.
• C: Okay. We build mobile apps for national nonprofits allowing their affiliates to have a mobile presence at an inexpensive price.
E: Okay. So, how's that helping them?
• C: The apps are donor facing tools. So it helps them raise money, helps them recruit volunteers, helps them promote their events and fundraisers, and ultimately helps them communicate with their donor and supporter populations
E: So why'd you choose Santa Monica?
• C: Santa Monica is probably one of the most beautiful places in the world number 1. Number 2., we just feel like there's such a booming ecosystem here and five years ago I guess it is now, when we moved down here and it was just starting to kind of bubble up and its just been phenomenal to watch this town grow. So, we really felt embraced part of, the community early on and have since become kind of one of the cornerstone social enterprises here in town.
E: Awesome. And so tell me how you feel your company is changing the world.
• C: Sure. Were making technology inexpensive for people who typically couldn't afford it to help them do the things they do to change the world. So we work with Habitat for Humanity, Boys & Girls Club, Big Brothers, Big Sisters, and we give them access to a tool they wouldn't otherwise have at a company like ours.
E: Nice. What kind of advice do you have for entrepreneurs? What would be one thing that you want to tell someone out there trying to start their own thing?
• C: I always tell people to just start. You're not going to figure it out on paper or in your garage. You have to just start doing it.
E: Amen. What's one thing you'd like to share with Santa Monica? Anything coming up? Anything in particular you'd like to ask?
• C: We actually are launching the LA chapter of Conscious Capitalism. I'm co-founding that with three other awesome people here I'm town, and we'll be hosting a launch event in either late June or early July, so pay attention to that.
editor@www.smdp.com
