Freelancers spend too much time and money hacking together independent apps to manage the administrative duties of business. One local startup, Octain, is building an integrated, automated book-to-bill platform that helps consultants save time, earn more money and optimize their lives. I sat down with Octain’s two female founders, Clare Price and Lacye Martini to chat a bit about their startup, their entrepreneurial path, and the Sacramento startup community.

Here’s a few excerpts from the interview.

Octain’s 30 second pitch:

“We are Octain and we are fueling the gig economy and what we are offering is a software platform, education, and connections to help freelancers build great businesses and live better lives.”

The problem that Octain is addressing:

“Our research is showing that that the cost is somewhere between $3,500 and $5,000 a year for a freelancer that they have to pay to run their businesses and it can cost them as much as $95,000 in lost billable time because they’re not effectively tracking their time or they’re using that time to operate their back office instead of working with clients and making money the money they need to grow a business.”

On lessons learned and the Sacramento startup ecosystem:

Clare:
One thing I’ve learned working Sacramento now since 2004 is how vibrant and exciting the Sacramento startup community has become, especially in the last five years. I think support the moral support, the emotional support, the great intellectual support has been a great boon to entrepreneurs in the area.

Lacye:
I would second that for sure it’s definitely a great place to be starting a company like this. I would say another big lesson for me has been to get out there you know having an ecosystem means step into it and make the connections.

Give first?

Yeah right go out and give first and see what comes back because this really is there’s magic here in Sacramento so yeah great contacts to make.

Advice for entrepreneurs who might have an idea but haven’t taken the commitment to go out and pursue it

Clare:
I would say the biggest thing is never give up. I’ve been actually working on version of this idea for at least the last eight years and other versions of it did not work but this one did and part of its really finding a great team, find a wonderful partner like Lacye.

Lacye:
That’s what I would say is that if you have a vision keep going with it. Clare said that she’s done this before and I think that she continued pursuing it, she ran into me, so find your tribe I guess and that’s what’s so valuable about having a great ecosystem here is that you can step into something and it’s easier to follow your vision. Why do people quit? I think because there aren’t supported efforts so i think that’s what makes Sacramento such a great place to have entrepreneurs following their ideas.

Thanks to Clare and Lacye for taking the time to chat about their startup, their experiences, and the Sacramento startup community. They’re two more examples of the great talent we have here. Make sure to check out their website and sign up to demo their platform.

See more profiles and interviews of Sacramento startup founders.