Bragadoo.com

Welcome to the world of Bragadoo! We want you to get to know us and what we do, but more importantly, we want to hear from you! So please leave comments, ask us questions, and interact with us on Facebook and Twitter. Now, here is some info on our Founder, the elusive Nathan Casey.

Questions with Nathan

Q: What is your name and where do you live?

My name is Nathan Casey and I live in Seattle, WA – in the old fishing community of Ballard.

Q: Where do you like to travel to?

This time of year, I typically am excited to travel anywhere sunny. After a long Northwest winter, hot, sunny days are very enticing. But I also like adventure vacations – I love traveling to new countries and experiencing new cultures – it’s so refreshing to live a day you’ve never lived before.

Q: Are you in to recycling?

I recycle but it seems to be increasingly confusing about what I’m supposed to recycle and where it goes – I usually stick with the things I understand – glass, aluminum and paper.

Q: What do you do within your community?

Recently I’ve been focused on appeasing my neighbors by bringing in the trash cans in a timely manner and keeping my yard manicured. We’re actively involved with our church and we support the Humane Society and several local horse rescues. I also adamantly support the Seattle Seahawks.

Q: What was your first job?

My first job was working at the sales counter of a small coin and stamp store selling baseball cards and coins. I was 11 at the time – my older brother had just started a job at Taco Bell, so as a little brother, I obviously wanted a job as well.

Q: What is the craziest job you’ve had?

The job at the coin and stamp shop actually led me to the craziest job I’ve had – one of our regular customers was a pit boss for a mock casino – one you could hire to do charity or corporate parties – so, at 12, I put on a bow tie and dealt blackjack.

Q: What is the craziest thing you’ve done?

It all depends on how you define crazy. One spring break in college none of my friends were free to go on a trip so I flew down to Mexico by myself, took a bus to a small Indian town, hired a guide that spoke a little English and climbed an 18,000 ft volcano. That was probably the most spontaneous thing I did. The most “overly confident” thing I’ve probably done was travel to Kosovo by myself – it was several years after the war, but I naively chose to enter by bus, from a Serbian town that NATO had bombed during the war – they weren’t overly excited to see a US passport.

Q: What kind of jobs have you held?

I started out in tax and then moved on to various corporate finance and strategy jobs. Within Strategy I have worked quite a bit in corporate strategic planning, product development and market research.

Q: Boxers or briefs?

Both. But not at the same time.

Q: Favorite color?

Grey. I choose that purely based on the empirical evidence that most of my clothes are grey.

Q: Car?

I drive a truck. My wife actually picked it out. We needed something that could haul horses but was comfortable enough to be an everyday car, so we got a Lincoln truck.

Q: Dream car?

Unfortunately, I think I’m too practical to have a dream car. Since I’m driving a truck right now, anything with good gas mileage sounds appealing. When I was in high school, I had a 1977 Camaro – I think I’d like to have an old muscle car again at some point.

Q: Dream job?

Living it. It doesn’t get much better than working with the Bragadoo team.

Q: How do you relax?

Being with my wife – that keeps me calm. And getting out of the city – riding horses, sitting by the river – anything simple.

Q: What is your favorite movie?

Probably the Royal Tennenbaums. Or The Big Lebowski – I really like Jeff Bridges.

Q: Where did the idea for Bragadoo come from?

The idea came from looking at the unmet needs of small businesses and independent service providers. Because they rely almost entirely on personal referrals and word-of-mouth marketing, there hadn’t been good ways for them to leverage the power and efficiency of the internet. With the development and spread of social marketing, we felt this was a perfect tool for bringing the personal recommendations and referrals online.

Q: Why did you decide to try to compete against Angie’s List and the likes, and didn’t you find it intimidating going against the big guys?

We tend to focus more on the needs of our customers then the competitors – we saw needs that weren’t being met and felt we could step in. As long as we’re meeting needs, we’re creating value for our customers.

Q: Favorite 80’s dance move?

The Robot – it’s always appropriate and universally appealing.

Q: What is your vision for Bragadoo?

To be the place people go to hire home and family services. To strengthen quality, independent service providers. To spur the reemergence of self-sustaining local communities. And to decrease the reliance on traditional marketing and increase the importance of doing good work.

Q: What was your life like before Bragadoo?

A little more stable, and a lot less exciting.

Q: Dogs or cats?

Both. My wife is always eager to adopt any animal. I like the loyalty of dogs and the independence of cats. Right now we’re between cats. But we have two dogs – a Lab and a Dalmatian.

Q: Cake or pie?

2 parts cake, 1 part pie. It seems counter intuitive, but the older I get, the more I like dessert.

Thank you Nathan! We have enjoyed getting to know you a bit better.

Stay tuned for more from the Bragadoo crew!