The DisruptHR events around the world would not be possible without the support of amazing sponsors. DisruptHR Chicago is no exception. We took some time to speak to Jen and Landon Shoop, founders of Fizz.
Landon Shoop (CEO) is the quant head – an electrical engineer by training, he holds an MBA, has government consulting experience (Booz Allen Hamilton), has founded and launched a start-up, and most recently headed up sales strategy and operations at Groupon.
Jen Shoop (COO) has served on the executive teams as an early hire at two ed-tech start-ups, running product strategy and vision at both. She holds an advanced degree in the humanities and an executive MBA from Stanford University School of Business.
Editor: What does your company do?
Jen & Landon: The annual performance review is dead. Today, the majority of the workforce is comprised of Millennials, and this generation hates to be in the dark about how they’re performing at work. They want frequent, actionable feedback that they can learn and grow from. That’s why we developed Fizz: a quick and easy way to give and receive performance feedback on the job. An employee submits a tweet-length achievement and a manager lets her know how she did and if and how she should improve. It’s that simple.
Editor: Any upcoming product launches or initiatives you’d like to highlight to our audience?
Jen & Landon: We’re always evolving Fizz to meet the needs of our customers. We’ve just launched a feature set that will enable organizations with “alternative” structures–i.e., matrixed, honeycombed, project-based organizational designs–to get in on the real-time feedback trend. This has traditionally been challenging, as employees move from project to project and supervisor to supervisor, making feedback difficult to track and record. Fizz will now accommodate–embrace!–these modern organizational types and streamline feedback channels for them.
We’ve also recently integrated with the popular workplace communication tool, Slack, so that real-time feedback via Fizz is at your fingertips, where you’re already doing work on a regular basis.
Editor: What made you decide to be a sponsor at DisruptHR Chicago?
Jen & Landon: We were fortunate to participate in a previous Disrupt HR event, and were enamored with the community of like-minded, forward-thinking “people ops” enthusiasts there. We felt like we’d found our tribe and wanted to continue the conversation! It was a no-brainer.
Editor: Why does Chicago need an event like DisruptHR?
Jen & Landon: Chicago boasts a powerful community of B2B businesses, consumer goods companies, and tech start-ups that attract talent from all over the world. It’s critical that we as a city remain on the bleeding edge of HR and people operations because we need to retain and develop our talent in order to keep our business edge as a community. Events like this keep us fresh.
Editor: Are you sponsoring any other HR-related events in the next 6-12 months? If so which ones and why?
Jen & Landon: Nothing scheduled yet, but we’re always open to opportunities. Feel free to reach out (hello@gofizzgo.com)!