This week’s episode of “WisBusiness: the Podcast” is with Rachel Neill, CEO and co-founder of Madison-based Figgy and Carex Consulting Group.
She discusses her entrepreneurial journey, sharing insights on how she came to lead two very different companies.
Carex Consulting Group is a staffing company that began in the Madison area, drawing on the skill pipelines from UW-Madison and Epic Systems in Verona. It provides career matchmaking services, often working with startup businesses as an extension of their human resources programs. Meanwhile, Figgy sells a fort-building “play couch” for kids.
Neill came to the consulting world by joining Nordic Healthcare Consulting, now one of the world’s largest Epic consulting firms, when it was a startup company.
“Mark Bakken especially was a mentor to me, and helped me discover a love of startups,” she said, referring to the founder and managing partner of Madison-based HealthX Ventures. “And so, when Nordic got larger, I saw that there was an opportunity in the market to work with people either getting out of consulting or leaving Epic.”
Neill, who has six children, launched Figgy during the COVID-19 pandemic after trying to find a way to keep kids from being stuck to screens.
“And you can imagine with as many kids as mine, there’s a ton of toys and a ton of things, and it’s really overwhelming,” she said. “And so I became really focused on minimalist toys that were screen-free that could work with various ages and kind of grow with your kids.”
Since then, Neill has been recognized with the Retail Innovator Award as Figgy continues to grow and build out retail distribution channels.
“I love being in between two businesses, and I think my secret to success is working with really smart, capable people and letting them kind of do their thing,” she said. “The people I work with both at Carex and Figgy I think are lightyears beyond my capabilities, and so it’s amazing to watch them do the things they’re really good at, and it allows me to be our idea person.”
Listen to the podcast below, sponsored by UW-Madison:
