Catalysr and MongoDB Team to Support Migrant Entrepreneurs

Adam Hughes
February 2, 2022 | Updated: October 17, 2022
#BuiltWithMongoDB#Startups

Imagine what it’s like to not only be a migrant in a brand new country, but also to have a revolutionary idea inside your head, and soon realize that you have no idea how to go about putting that idea into action.

Thankfully, for migrants in Australia, Catalysr is designed specifically for you.

Catalysr is a startup incubator for early stage startups, with entrepreneurship programs for high-performing migrant and refugee entrepreneurs (or as Catalysr calls them - ‘migrapreneurs’) who want to find success in Australia by building their very own tech company.

The company is designed for those with fresh ideas and are ready to take on a big challenge in order to bring those very ideas to life. Since its inception in 2015, Catalysr has supported over 520 migrapreneurs, 175+ businesses, and its community includes over 1200 professionals, advisors, and investors.

The MongoDB for Startups team was excited to team up with Catalysr to support their mission and startups. Built with MongoDB spoke with Devarshi Desai, Community Manager at Catalysr, to discuss the challenges migrants in Australia face, the different programs the company offers, and where he sees the community at Catalysr heading in the future.

Built with MongoDB: What is Catalysr all about?

Devarshi Desai: Catalysr is a startup incubator for international students, migrants, and refugees in Australia. When people come to Australia, they may not have all the connections that they had back in their own country, or they don’t know how businesses work in their new country of residence. That is one of the problems we want to solve, to make it accessible for migrants to start businesses in Australia. We do that through two different programs, the pre-accelerator program and the accelerate program.

Built with MongoDB: Can you explain the differences between the two programs you mentioned?

Devarshi Desai: The pre-accelerator program is more of an educational program, as in, it’s great that you want to build a startup, but there are the things that you need to know to make sure that you can start your startup the right way. A lot of times, it’s simple things, such as getting validation of the problem or solution before building a product. That’s one mistake that we see a lot of founders make, just because they think they have this great solution, they go on and build that solution, but it might not be the best way to do it. The pre-accelerator program makes sure that the solution is shaped to best execute, it’s for very early stage founders that want to learn how to best execute their idea.

We launched the pre-accelerator program all across Australia in 2021, before that it was primarily in Melbourne and Sydney. We organise Community sessions every week, where founders can meet each other, and they can interact, learn and discuss some of the things that they have learned that specific week. The Community part of it is really important.

The accelerate program is for startups that are slightly more advanced, those who have launched, they obviously want to grow and scale, and the program steps in and has them meet with investors, and just have those first conversations about what investors are looking for. It’s preparing them for the next journey.

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Built with MongoDB: What specific challenges do migrant and refugee entrepreneurs face?

Devarshi Desai: For a lot of international students and migrants, it can be very difficult to land their first job in Australia, for various reasons. So after brainstorming some ideas, Catalysr co-founders, Usman Iftikhar and Jacob Muller decided to help migrants start their own businesses in Australia. When you come to a new country, they may not know anything about your culture, or who you are, so how do you build that trust, build that connection? So we try to help them learn these things, all the basic stuff that they need to know in Australia if they want to start a business.

Built with MongoDB: What is the acceptance process like for each program?

Devarshi Desai: For the pre-accelerator program, the entry criteria is quite low, because we want to make this accessible for as many people as possible. One entry point is we need somebody who is a migrant, that’s number one. They also need to have a startup idea, we don’t typically ask for much more than that, because they understand that this is a very early stage. The goal is to inspire them to solve problems that they see in the world.

The accelerate program, the entry is a bit more difficult, because we only allow startups that have launched, that are validated, and who would like to scale. It’s not just an idea in their head, it’s slightly more advanced, we help them with investor meetings and networking with mentors. It also helps VC funds and angel investors who are constantly on the lookout for the next big thing, and the next startup.

Built with MongoDB: Can you tell us more about your role as Community Manager?

Devarshi Desai: One of the reasons why I really like my role is I believe in the power of community, and many people working together that believe in the same cause and work towards solving a problem. I also have been an international student and a migrant founder. I started recording the journey on YouTube of being an International student, and it became one of the biggest YouTube channels for international students in Australia. And out of that, we could build one of the biggest communities of international students in Australia. I am very interested in startups and solving problems for migrants, and that’s when Catalysr came in, and I realized this was perfect. I realized that it’s a cause that I would like to work for.

Built with MongoDB: What does the future of Catalysr look like?

Devarshi Desai: If we look at the last 30 years, the number of migrants has increased significantly all over the world. This is a trend that is going to continue. The number of people migrating to different countries and wanting to start a business is the thing we want to help them with. Currently we have programs running in Australia and New Zealand but sky's the limit. The goal would be to help migrants all over the world build startups.

Built with MongoDB: What is one piece of advice that you would give to a founder or CTO?

Devarshi Desai: One piece of advice that I received, and I try to remember every day is to just jump in, whether you’re prepared or not. Because when you have already started something, the pressure is on, and you most likely end up creating something out of it, rather than just thinking about it.

Interested in learning more about MongoDB for Startups? Learn more about us here.

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Meet Gesa Musiol: Growing Her Career in Customer Success at MongoDB

Gesa Musiol has experienced exponential career growth since joining MongoDB two years ago. Through multiple promotions and a relocation, she’s achieved both personal and professional goals and continues to learn something new every day. I spoke with Gesa to learn more about her MongoDB journey and what’s exciting about being part of our Customer Success organization. Jackie Denner: Hi, Gesa! Thanks for sharing a bit about your career journey with me. What was your experience prior to joining MongoDB? Gesa Musiol: Thank you for having me! Coming from an academic background in literary and cultural studies, I took my first full-time professional role working in Customer Support for Google Ads. Then, stepping into the role of account manager for the German-speaking SMB market at Pinterest, I managed a portfolio of customers and supported businesses and agencies in successfully developing and running their advertising campaigns on the platform. Until MongoDB reached out to me in regard to the then-brand-new “Customer Success Specialist” opening, my primary experience was in advertising, but I had built out a transferable skill set relevant to any customer-facing role. JD: Why did you decide to join MongoDB’s Customer Success (CS) organization? GM: Truth be told, prior to kicking off the interview process, I was unfamiliar with the product and had limited industry knowledge - my previous professional life had taken place exclusively in the advertising space. However, I had always been interested in the tech world and was hungry for a new challenge. While preparing for the interview process and diving into the subject matter head first, the more I read, the more I was fascinated and interested. What MongoDB does in the database space is disrupting the industry and helping more than thirty thousand customers to innovate - I was intrigued. Moreover, the company values resonated with me, and from the well-organized and clearly communicated interview process, it was apparent that these values were more than just pretty on paper. Every person I spoke to throughout the interview process was sharp, professional, and warm - this was a company I wanted to work for, and a team I wanted to be a part of. Glowing Glassdoor reviews and the employee retention rate only affirmed my impression. JD: Tell me about your MongoDB journey. I heard you started as a Customer Success Specialist in Dublin and are now a Customer Success Manager in Frankfurt. Can you walk me through those career steps? GM: I joined MongoDB in April 2020 as one of their first Customer Success Specialists globally and the first Customer Success Specialist working with DACH, the Central European market (DACH = Germany, Austria, and Switzerland). In this role, I managed a large portfolio of customers across all DACH territories, gaining insights into different industries and all types of use cases. About a year later, I was promoted into the role of Senior Customer Success Specialist and became involved in interviewing potential candidates, coaching new hires, and building out global at-scale initiatives to engage with our customer base. Five months later, I was promoted to Customer Success Manager (CSM) focusing on a smaller portfolio of strategic customers. A personal highlight was the opportunity to work with two of our largest global customers based in the UK as their interim CSM, filling in for a colleague on parental leave - a fantastic chance to gather cross-market experience and connect with a new regional account ecosystem. When the COVID-19 pandemic led me to reassess my personal priorities, as it did for many, my managers supported me in making the decision to relocate to Germany from Ireland every step of the way, ensuring a smooth and speedy transition. Counting from the day of making the initial decision to relocate, it took less than two months for me to now be officially employed by MongoDB in Germany. Now, being based in Frankfurt as a Customer Success Manager, I have the pleasure of working with a small customer portfolio in the region and being even more closely aligned with our regional sales ecosystem. JD: What sort of learning and development opportunities were provided to you along the way? GM: Growth and development are key topics that management at MongoDB takes very seriously; your manager will work with you to understand your short-, mid-, and long-term goals, and support you in developing and implementing an actionable plan to get you where you see your career path leading. In my personal example, my managers helped me prioritize initiatives and projects that were conducive to my long-term goals. Management trusted me to take big steps, such as going from working with a large portfolio of 300+ customers to closely working with a handful of strategic customers, and encouraged me to approach challenges creatively and step outside of my comfort zone again and again. Most importantly, my managers gave me space to fail and provided me with the guidance, resources, and buddy support leading to success along the way. JD: How does the Central Europe team stay connected to the global Customer Success organization? GM: The Customer Success organization at MongoDB is at a very interesting stage. Like any other team, we very much miss in-person meetings and team events that cannot take place due to COVID-19. At the same time, our Central Europe (CEEUR) team and global CS team alike are growing exponentially. However, despite the fact that I have personally only met a fraction of my colleagues in person since joining the business in April 2020, we have a very strong team mentality and cultivate communication channels that are always open. When facing a challenge or obstacle, we are encouraged to turn to and collaborate with our colleagues across the globe to learn from their experiences. Beginning on day one, the onboarding plan and buddy system ensure that we work very closely with team members from the same market as well as broaden our horizons by connecting with colleagues with largely different daily tasks or different customer segments. On the interpersonal side, the CS CEEUR team has two weekly meetings that quench the thirst for water cooler conversations, and we regularly come together for team events in various constellations - as the CEEUR CS team, the EMEA CS team, or in conjunction with our colleagues from the CEEUR sales ecosystem. In a business that evolves as dynamically as MongoDB does, feeling connected to our colleagues helps us navigate professional challenges and, very importantly, makes our day-to-day fun. JD: What makes Customer Success at MongoDB unique? GM: The Customer Success team lives and breathes our company values ; we own what we do, practice intellectual honesty, embrace the power of differences, and build a successful future together. Working with quite complex, technical products in an environment where no day is like the other, we are able to learn from and lean on our own regional CS teams and the wider global CS community alike. Personally, from day one, I was in awe of the incredible team spirit - your colleagues and management will go out of their way to make you feel welcome and lead you to success. JD: Why do you think now is a great time for someone to join the Customer Success team? GM: Customer Success at MongoDB is growing exponentially on a global scale. However, the CEEUR region, in particular, has a very exciting future ahead. Gustavo Loewe, our Regional Vice President for Enterprise Sales, recently referenced the expected growth as “brutal” in the best sense of the word and is planning to build out the region as the “MIT of Enterprise Software Sales in EMEA” - a great indicator for the magnitude of impact the region will develop over the coming months and years. By joining the Customer Success team in CEEUR now, or indeed any of our regional Customer Success teams, you will be able to experience this hyper-growth first-hand, onboard new, exciting customers, ensure their ongoing success with our technology, and learn from and contribute to a growing ecosystem of highly motivated and smart professionals. With business growth also comes the privilege of shaping processes and developing new roles within Customer Success, of testing what works, and determining what good looks like. If this is something you are passionate about, MongoDB Customer Success is the right place for you. JD: Is there anything else you’d want someone to know about Customer Success at MongoDB? GM: Customer Success at MongoDB is a highly dynamic environment. It is the place to be for anyone with a passion for technology and innovation who flourishes outside of their comfort zone. Personally speaking, my time at MongoDB so far has flown by - not a day has gone by that I have not learned more about the field, industry, and myself. Our executive team often mentions that at the end of our careers, they want us to look back at our time at MongoDB as a time of immense development and as the pivotal accelerator of our professional lives; a vision that permeates the opportunities you will be granted from day one. Interested in joining MongoDB’s Customer Success organization? We have several open roles on our teams across the globe and would love for you to transform your career with us!

February 2, 2022
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MongoDB Named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cloud Database Management Systems

I’m pleased to announce that MongoDB has been named a Leader in the 2024 Gartner® Magic Quadrant™ for Cloud Database Management Systems (DBMSs) for the third consecutive year. In our view, this recognition cements MongoDB’s status as the only pure-play database provider in the cloud database management system category, underscoring MongoDB’s innovation, execution, and customer-centric approach. According to Gartner, “The cloud DBMS market remains as vibrant as ever and is transforming in important ways, especially in the use of gen AI and how DBMSs interact with other data management components. This Magic Quadrant will help data and analytics leaders make the right cloud DBMS choices in this essential market.” We believe this continued recognition by Gartner is a testament to MongoDB’s commitment to serving developers, as well as the investments we’ve made in our unified platform and integrated services. Driving innovation for enterprises MongoDB's mission is to empower innovators to create, transform, and disrupt industries by unleashing the power of software and data. 2024 was a year of innovation and accolades at MongoDB, and I’m proud to share some of its highlights: In October, we released MongoDB 8.0 , the best performing version of MongoDB yet. MongoDB 8.0 is over 30% faster than the previous version of the database, it’s more secure than ever, horizontal scaling is faster and easier (at a lower cost), and MongoDB 8.0 gives teams greater control for optimizing database performance. We also launched—and grew—the MongoDB AI Applications Program (MAAP) . With MAAP, MongoDB offers customers a full AI stack and an integrated set of professional services to help them keep pace with innovation, identify the best AI use cases, and to help them future-proof AI investments. MongoDB became a founding member of the U.S. Artificial Intelligence Safety Institute Consortium . Established by the U.S. Department of Commerce’s National Institute of Standards and Technology, the Consortium supports the development and deployment of safe and trustworthy AI. MongoDB released hundreds of features and enhancements to accelerate innovation, manage costs, and simplify building applications at scale. MongoDB was recognized as the most loved vector database in Retool’s State of AI report —for the second consecutive year. The Gartner Magic Quadrant for cloud database management systems “Gartner defines the cloud database management systems (DBMSs) market as solutions designed to store, manipulate, and persist data, primarily delivered as Software-as-a-Service (SaaS). These systems must support transactional, analytical, and hybrid workloads while enabling enterprises to innovate across multi-cloud, hybrid, and intercloud ecosystems.” 1 It’s our opinion that this recognition by Gartner is a testament to MongoDB’s strong ability to execute and support customers today, as well as MongoDB’s comprehensive product vision that positions our platform to support tomorrow's operational workloads. What is the Magic Quadrant, and what is a Leader? “A Gartner Magic Quadrant is a culmination of research in a specific market, giving you a wide-angle view of the relative positions of the market’s competitors.  By applying a graphical treatment and a uniform set of evaluation criteria, a Magic Quadrant helps you quickly ascertain how well technology providers are executing their stated visions and how well they are performing against Gartner’s market view.” 2 According to Gartner, “Leaders execute well against their current vision and are well positioned for tomorrow.” Overall, Magic Quadrants can help you “get quickly educated about a market’s competing technology providers and their ability to deliver on what end-users require now and in the future.” Powering innovation at scale with MongoDB Atlas Enterprises choose MongoDB Atlas because it gives them the freedom and agility they need to succeed in a rapidly evolving digital landscape. MongoDB Atlas’s multi-cloud architecture—including availability across Amazon Web Services, Google Cloud, and Microsoft Azure—ensures customers can design for unmatched scale and resilience. By automating functions like scaling and performance optimization , and giving them the ability to leverage industry-first capabilities like MongoDB Queryable Encryption (which allows customers to encrypt, store, and perform queries directly on data), with MongoDB Atlas customers can spend less time managing infrastructure and more time delivering experiences. MongoDB Atlas’s integrated capabilities to support multi-modal data types and use cases—like full-text and vector search , stream processing , and data federation —accelerate innovation, helping enterprises quickly respond to market changes, power AI-driven insights, and deliver meaningful digital experiences to their end users—all without the burden of operational complexity. Modernizing and building for the future In our opinion, the Gartner Magic Quadrant provides organizations with a clear and accessible evaluation framework to identify solutions that fit their needs, today and tomorrow. The placement of MongoDB in the Leader quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems—for the third year in a row!—validates the efforts MongoDB has made to help developers and organizations take advantage of their most valuable resource, their data. I talk to MongoDB customers frequently, and many say the same thing: in today’s digital-first economy, AI-powered applications and scalable data infrastructure aren’t just advantages, they’re absolute necessities. They say that the time to act is now, and they’re looking for solutions that will help them innovate, streamline, and seize the AI-driven future. And when it comes to modernizing their operations, they consistently point to MongoDB as their go-to partner. Begin your cloud journey with MongoDB Atlas today. Contact our sales team or register for a free account to begin building! And to learn how MongoDB can help accelerate your AI journey, visit the MongoDB AI Applications Program page. Footnotes Gartner, Magic Quadrant for Cloud Database Management Systems,  Henry Cook, Ramke Ramakrishnan, et al., 18 December 2024 GARTNER is a registered trademark and service mark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the U.S. and internationally, and MAGIC QUADRANT is a registered trademark of Gartner, Inc. and/or its affiliates and are used herein with permission. All rights reserved. Gartner does not endorse any vendor, product or service depicted in its research publications, and does not advise technology users to select only those vendors with the highest ratings or other designation. Gartner research publications consist of the opinions of Gartner’s research organization and should not be construed as statements of fact. Gartner disclaims all warranties, expressed or implied, with respect to this research, including any warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. 1 Gartner Peer Insights, Cloud Database Management Systems, December 2024 https://www.gartner.com/reviews/market/cloud-database-management-systems 2 Gartner Research Methodologies, Gartner Magic Quadrant, 20 December 2024 https://www.gartner.com/en/research/methodologies/magic-quadrants-research

December 23, 2024