Family Dinner: Noah Mishkin

Spring is in full swing at Northwestern, and that means that Family Dinners are underway again at The Garage! This quarter, The Garage is excited to welcome more than 14 new teams to our Resident roster, and what better way to welcome back previous Residents and usher in the new than with Family Dinner? This week, more than 80 student founders stopped by The Garage for some food and wisdom.Each week at The Garage, Resident students and staff get together for dinner and to hear from an entrepreneur. We aim to cultivate a community of entrepreneurial minded student founders, and make sure to stay in touch with what everyone is up to by meeting every single week to bond over our favorite things: food and entrepreneurship. Before our guest founders take the mic, we check in with successes and failures students can share, and we even set off a popper full of confetti to celebrate a failure--big or small.This week, after chowing down on some yummy bánh mì sandwiches from locals and Northwestern alumni founded Viet Nom Nom, Noah Mishkin, Founder at CraftJack took centerstage. CraftJack, Inc., launched in 2011, provides contractors solutions to better keep track of leads and manage their business. Noah currently serves as the company's VP. But this isn't the first entrepreneurial venture of Noah's. He shared his exciting story with out students, recounting some of his earliest ventures.Noah's background was in architecture, which is studied for both his bachelor's and master's degrees. He practiced for a few years before realizing his true passion wasn't in design, but on the business end of the practice. Despite making the leap into startups, Noah shared that it wasn't unfamiliar ground. As a student the was taught to think conceptually, frequently accept critique, and "sell" his work visually alongside a proposal to a panel of judges and peers. Noah says he was taught to sell ideas and think on his feet, both essential skills in business and startups. Currently, Noah is also serving as an investor and advisor for several other companies.Want a peek at what Family Dinner at The Garage is like? Check out a clip of Noah's talk below.