Executive assistants are the backbone of administrative operations, but there’s been a void in professional resources for the profession. Cabinet is the go-to destination for exclusively for executive assistants to share knowledge, ask questions, and build community. Cabinet’s forum allows assistants to connect with one another and source instant answers to questions that would’ve taken hours to manually research. Presently, there are over 3K EA’s on the platform ranging from personal assistants for HNWI to EAs at Fortune 500 companies like Google and Disney. The company offers a freemium model with its premium tier costing $20/Month.
AlleyWatch caught up with CEO and Cofounder Julia Hawkins to learn more about how her experience as an EA inspired the need for Cabinet, the size of the market that Cabinet addresses, and the company’s future plans.
Tell us about the product or service that Cabinet offers.
Cabinet is the hub where executive assistants can access, share, and discover insider information they can’t find anywhere else.
Our community forum is a place where assistants can connect with one another and gain instant answers to complex questions that otherwise might take hours to research. These questions can include anything from where is the best place in Heathrow for a CEO to have a private phone call, what is the best non-glitchy software for a virtual board meeting with ten people, what is the best car service to travel across the Eastern Seaboard during COVID and more.
We also offer strategic tools (i.e. scheduling assistant, time tracker) as well as tactical replacements to help assistants speed up mundane tasks, so they can focus on the bigger picture.
Our freemium model and tiered offerings are designed to be accessible to assistants and our approach is so successful, we have become the trusted resource for executive assistants at Fortune 500 companies like Google, Salesforce, HBO, Disney, Indeed, NBC Universal, and more across the country.
What inspired the start of Cabinet?
Like most women in the U.S., I started my career as an administrative professional. Before starting my first job as an EA, I thought of executive assistants as task rabbits, scheduling dozens of meetings a week for the world’s more powerful people. I learned that while that was true, EAs are so much more than that; they are strategic problem solvers. On a regular day, I found myself calling restaurants looking for private dining rooms, testing products, and looking for the best non-glitchy software for a virtual board meeting, as well as mapping out the fastest international travel routes. But without a dedicated resource to find these answers, I had to reinvent the wheel daily. I started Cabinet to stop the churn and give executive assistants a go-to destination that would both help them be more productive and gather the information they needed when they needed it the most, so they could focus on the bigger picture.
How is Cabinet different?
At Cabinet, we build tools and solutions that EA’s need the most.
We take a data-driven approach to product development, identifying commonly asked questions in our community, and using insights gleaned to determine what’s needed the most.
If a desired product doesn’t exist, we will explore building it. If there is no tool to accomplish the task, we will create it. Our new scheduling tool is a perfect example of this.
We believe that even the best EA’s are only as good as the resources they have access to; and we’ve built Cabinet to take care of their every need.
What market does Cabinet target and how big is it?
Cabinet serves the 9M administrative professionals in market; to put this into perspective, this market is 3x the size of the software engineering market.
We have started by targeting Personal Assistant and Executive Assistant roles but plan to expand to other roles such as office managers, administrative assistants and more.
Cabinet currently serves as a hub for over 3K EA’s, from personal assistants to high net worth individuals to EA’s at Fortune 500 companies including Google, Andreessen Horowitz, HBO, Disney, Salesforce, Indeed, and more.
What is the business model?
Cabinet is a freemium model – it is free to join the community, but if you want to upgrade to premium tools (including software that helps make your job easier), it costs $20 per month. EA’s (and their execs) find our systems so valuable, execs often encourage their assistants to sign up for our premium tier and will pay for it.
How has COVID-19 impacted the business?
The majority of EA’s have been forced to work alone during the pandemic, so there is no one there to help them gut check their decisions. But with Cabinet, EA’s are instantly connected to a community of 3K+ like-minded individuals, where they can ask for advice and gather necessary information that otherwise might take hours to cull.
Some of the most typical questions during this time include: When are you (and your execs) returning to the office? How are you approaching travel? What are the best airlines to choose to send your execs domestically or internationally moving forward? What are new technologies that we can use to improve exec comms with employees and create culture in a remote world? Do you have a good webinar platform, board of director comms tools, best virtual happy hour ideas? Plus, much more.
Because Cabinet is designed to be a connector, we’ve seen business grow steadily during this time.
What are the milestones that you plan to achieve within six months?
Cabinet has emerged as the go-to destination for EA’s from Fortune 500 companies. In the next six months, we plan to increase our community of EA’s to 10K strong, with the introduction of new products like our scheduling solution, which in early tests EA’s said they would use daily.
Cabinet has emerged as the go-to destination for EA’s from Fortune 500 companies. In the next six months, we plan to increase our community of EA’s to 10K strong, with the introduction of new products like our scheduling solution, which in early tests EA’s said they would use daily.
What is the one piece of startup advice that you never got?
As a startup founder, you are often peppered with strong opinions. However, I believe it is important not to listen to all of the advice you get. Trust your gut.
If you could be put in touch with anyone in the New York community who would it be and why?
Michael Bloomberg. He is a builder, connector, and investor. I would like to thank him for starting Cornell Tech, where I met my cofounder and Cabinet was born.
Plus, his company is bound to have a number of executive assistants that are ripe for a solution like Cabinet.
Why did you launch in New York?
My cofounder and I met as graduate students at Cornell Tech’s campus on Roosevelt Island in 2017. Our earliest customers were EA’s in financial services in NYC, and we wanted to remain close to our roots, our customers, as well as the connections in the NYC tech ecosystem that Cornell Tech had provided.
What’s your favorite outdoor dining restaurant in NYC
Not only does City Vineyard have great food and amazing views, but the restaurant has done a really great job staying open safely during the pandemic. You can order from your phone and they will bring your drinks + food out to you instead of forcing you to wait in line or have their wait staff running around. They are a great example of business adapting to changing circumstances and using technology to do it.
