Entre wants to make entrepreneurship more accessible to anyone. The Pittsburgh-based startup is building a supportive and inclusive social network for entrepreneurs, freelancers and investors.
“I started Entre from my own struggles finding like-minded people to connect with when I quit my job as a civil engineer,” says Michael Marra, CEO and founder of Entre. “There wasn’t a place and easy way to get started as an entrepreneur, so I began to form a small group and then started hosting networking events. Once I realized that there were over 500 million entrepreneurs in the world, I knew we needed to build an app to connect people online.”
Since launching last week, the Entre app has gained more than 4,000 users from 100 countries. Members can launch their products, share their experiences, ask questions and get feedback from others in similar situations.
“Many people are trying to figure out how to even start a business or how to take their business online during Covid,” he says. “We are giving them a supportive community that understands the ups and downs of entrepreneurship and will help them along their journey.”
The community started building with lots of in-person events across the country, forming partnerships with co-working spaces.
“As we grew to over 160 events and 20,000 members, we knew that we needed a way to connect everyone in our network and entrepreneurs around the world online, rather than through events alone,” says Marra.
During the Covid crisis, entrepreneurs are looking for alternative ways to make money and start businesses online, and Entre hopes to give them new routes to do that.
“If they’re just starting out, they can easily ask questions, get feedback on an idea, find their co-founders and get the support they need from a community of like-minded people,” says Marra. “As they grow, they can launch their product or service, connect with investors, find mentors and post jobs to build their team.”
As for investors, they get a chance to spot promising new companies on the rise.
“For investors, deal flow means everything,” says Marra. “As our network grows, so will the quality of deal flow and startups in it. You’ll get easy access (through Entre) to up-and-coming founders and emerging businesses.”
Anyone can sign up for free. There’s also Entre Pro, a paid premium membership that gives users deals and discounts with partners like Gust and Brex.
“The Entre community is far more friendly and engaging than other networking tools out there,” says Collin Castrina, an online entrepreneur with more than 400,000 followers on TikTok who recently joined Entre. “I love the community that is being built and am beyond excited to see the future of Entre.”
Entre employs seven people and they are currently hiring part-time. They have raised $185,000 so far from angel investors, and are actively raising more.