The Transcend Podcast
Christina Henderson: Balancing Anesthesiology & Entrepreneurship
Nick Lawton: From Campus Startup to 7-Figures - The SideShift Story
por Transcend UW
Building a startup is one of the hardest things you can do. So is completing a medical residency. Our guest today is doing both at the same time. In this episode, we sit down with Christina Henderson, the founder of Reliable Residence. She is a full-time anesthesiology resident right here at UW Health who is simultaneously building a high-growth venture to solve the exact "housing nightmare" she experienced as a medical student. We get her firsthand perspective on what it’s really like to be a "founder-physician" and explore her journey of turning a personal pain point into a rapidly-scaling business. We dive into: The "lightbulb moment" that turned a real-world problem into a business. How to manage the intense context-switch between the high-stakes, structured world of the hospital and the chaotic, ambiguous world of a startup. The story of walking into a major developer's office unannounced and how to build partnerships from nothing. How a decade of rigorous medical training can actually provide an advantage in entrepreneurship. Actionable productivity habits for student founders who are also balancing a demanding schedule. More from Christina: LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/christina-henderson-aa0a55a1/ Reliable Residence website: https://reliableresidence.com/ Instagram: Reliable_Residence Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/p/Reliable-Residence-61575755723700/ Tik Tok: Reliable_Residence More from Transcend: Transcend IG: @transcenduw Transcend LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/transcenduw/ Transcend Website: https://www.transcenduw.com/
What happens when a group of students decide to turn a simple problem—students who want local jobs on campus—into a fast-scaling startup? In this episode, we sit down with Nick Lawton, CEO and founder of SideShift, to talk about how he and his co-founder went from pitching on UW-Madison campus to now running a 13-person office in New York and generating a seven-figure ARR. Nick shares his journey from sales and private equity to entrepreneurship, the mindset that kept him going when no one believed in the idea, and the pivotal decisions that led to SideShift’s crazy growth. We also dive into: The value of conviction in your team and your product The deal that changed the trajectory of SideShift Why every founder should talk to their customers How SideShift has scaled and pivoted within only 2-3 years
In this episode, Trinity Krohn, a junior at UW–Madison and co-founder of the CampusConnect app, shares what she’s learned from starting three ventures: an Etsy slime shop, a dropshipping business, and now a growing app that’s live on the App Store. Trinity also opens up about creating Women in Entrepreneurship to inspire more women to feel welcome in startup spaces. We dive into: How to run effective customer discovery interviews & get your first beta testers Building community and confidence in male-dominated fields like tech & entrepreneurship Why your network is your net worth (and how to grow it) Time management tips for balancing school, startups, and student leadership Trinity’s Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/trinity-krohn/ Tik Tok: @trin.talks.tech Transcend UW Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/company/transcenduw Transcend IG: @transcenduw Transcend website: www.transcenduw.com