Alumna‘s App Wins Startup of the Year

Editors’ Note: This feature appears as it was published in the spring 2017 edition of UT Dallas Magazine. Titles or faculty members listed may have changed since that time.
Courtney Caldwell MBA’06 and her husband, Tye, (both pictured center) celebrate ShearShare being named “Startup of the Year.”

 

Courtney Caldwell MBA'06 and husband Tye are the founders of ShearShare, named “Startup of the Year” at Tech.Co’s Innovate! and Celebrate 2016 conference. The mobile-based business connects salon and barbershop owners to independent stylists to fill unused salon stations. Since beta testing the app at the beginning of 2016 in six cities, the couple moved ShearShare into more than 200 U.S. cities and eight nations in fewer than four months.

Courtney said her education at the Naveen Jindal School of Management set the stage by changing her perspective.

“I feel that my MBA helped prepare me to recognize marketplace trends,” she says. “Being able to see things through a different lens really gave me a license to take intelligent risks.”

In addition to the new business venture, Courtney also serves on the advisory board of the Jindal School’s Institute for Excellence in Corporate Governance.