The 19th episode of a podcast hosted by Entrepreneurship at Cornell, Startup Cornell, features Trishala Dessai ’17, MBA ’23, founder of Gig-Up, a startup that matches gig-economy workers to consumers to complete the consumer’s to-do-lists.

Dessai is a member of eLab, Cornell’s student business accelerator. At Cornell Johnson, she’s an Emerging Markets Fellow and is enrolled in a custom fintech, entrepreneurship and legal intensive program in conjunction with Cornell Tech. Dessai also received a law degree from American University’s Washington College of Law.

Gig-Up has a strong focus on benefitting both gig workers and their customers – Dessai is concentrating on bike delivery workers in New York City as her first worker group.

The Startup Cornell podcast, which launched in summer 2021, features interviews with young Cornell entrepreneurs, who tell their stories of successes and failures and offer actionable advice for building and growing a business. It’s available on the Entrepreneurship at Cornell website, as well as Apple podcasts, Spotify and Soundcloud. It’s being created with help from Bert Odom-Reed of the Cornell Broadcast Studios and edited by Abigail Younger.

Past guests have included Natalie Egan ’02 (she/her), founder of Translator Inc.; Julie and Alexander Littauer both MBA ’20, co-founders of Sovi Wine; Jared Karson ’13, co-founder and CFO of Horatio; and Aziza Glass, D.V.M. ’15, owner of Personal Touch Veterinary Clinic and a star on the Disney XD and Hulu show, “Roman to the Rescue.”