MilkCrate Startup event w/ Morgan Berman
The following event was sponsored by AIS, Temple Chapter.
\”Using Tech For Good\”
with Morgan Berman, CEO and Founder of Milk Crate
Date: Thursday, April 15th, 2021 @ 12:30pm – 1:30pm, hosted on zoom
During this event I learned many things about how Ms. Berman has grown her business over the years, as well as how she handles her day to day life in business during Covid, while juggling a newborn at home. Ms. Berman\’s passion for sustainability, a passion passed on by her mother who carted her around to thrift stores and farmer\’s markets at a young age, was where her inspiration for MilkCrate began. Ms. Berman wanted to give other people an easy application to seek sustainable resources on. An application she wished she had. She came up with the name MilkCrate as she liked how milkcrates can be reused as storage containers. She started and grew the business by going to sustainability events around Philadelphia and connecting with other like minded individuals in entrepreneurship and acceleration groups. Through her business, Ms. Berman has learned how to \”let go\” of certain areas, so her employees can take the reigns. She\’s also learned when to adjust the workload of employees or when it may be time to hire someone new to help out with the increased growth and activity. Ms. Berman says the Covid format of working from home/remotely, has worked out very well for her company, and she sees no use for an office once Covid is over, as many of her employees are international, or live remotely anyway.
This activity gave me some insight into what it takes to run a company. Morgan was very humble in her approach. You can tell that she cares deeply about the work she is doing, which drives her to always reassess the areas of her business she can improve in. As her clients change, so will their demands. Morgan has changed the company logo numerous times as the business has grown. She has also worked with a variety of partners in different industries. My biggest takeaway from Morgan\’s presentation is her ability to adapt to the market and the needs of customers. This relates to agile and Norman\’s human centered design. Morgan designs her application and business around the needs of her customers. One of Morgan\’s biggest principles was to sell your product, then build it. Don\’t build a product, then try to sell it. Make sure there is a market for it before you build it.