Advice from #SGWomen pt. 2
Here’s to strong women. May we know them. May we be them. May we raise them.
During #SGWomen Month we proudly recognize the accomplishments of successful women leaders all over the world. They are founders, venture capitalists, engineers, executives, educators, and leaders who represent our community.
Over the years, we’ve been proud to welcome tech and business powerhouses like Anne Wojcicki, Dr. Fei Fei Li, Lorainne Twohill, and most recently, Stacey Abrams, who taught us:
“Don’t edit your ambition. Believe in as much as you can and reach as far as you can. There is no limit to what you can achieve.
Do the planning. The difference between a wish and an achievement is the work in-between.
Don’t worry. When you fail or you’re afraid, know failure isn’t permanent and fear can be your friend.”
#SGWomen Month is proudly presented by our partners, Silicon Valley Bank and Google for Startups who are dedicated to the advancement of women in tech and business. Throughout May, our community chapters will host events featuring inspiring and engaging leaders. Check out some of the virtual (and in person!) events we have planned this month.
We’ve asked female founders from our Startup Membership to share advice from their own founder journeys. They shined a light on topics such as hiring practices, raising capital, growth strategies, and much more. We had so many great founders, we had to make a part two!
Getme
Katya Mikula
I am a founder of Getme service. This is a card-linked marketing platform, where businesses can incentivize their potential customers with cash-back offers. And customers can collect real money whenever their purchase matches the criteria from merchants’ offers. I would not recommend starting a new company for those who are very much afraid of changes and real challenges, and who think that you have to be successful from the very beginning if not that you should give up and go work somewhere else. Read the story of most successful entrepreneurs, find out how many times they failed, and started over again. You have to be ready for this and be realistic and not super critical for yourself.
Pankhtech
Ria Rustagi
Unfortunately, we see very few female founders in the domain of Hardware-based startups. When we were starting to look for a core team i tried my best to have a 50% gender ratio, but somehow it was very difficult to find women in this space of business and tech. It’s a vicious loop as the lack of females in this space makes this space more insensitive to women. I feel every company should have a female managing partner as I know I can have my eye on 20 things at one time and not let anything pass by. For me, my customers and my team are the most important asset. I just feel the world would have been a much better place if we had more women running it, as we bring more compassion and empathy to the table.
AccuChain
Maura Sparks
AccuChain is a Human Resource Technology company with a resume validation and recruitment platform using AI/ML and storing the resume with blockchain technology. AccuChain allows individuals to create their own validated resumes and HR professionals to access and find the top qualified applicants for the job. The genesis of AccuChain began when the college admissions scandal hit the news. My son was applying to college and it was clear false claims and fraud could have been prevented with further validation of students’ applications. We began researching this issue and found it impacted mostly the elite colleges. The market size was small. We soon realized that job applications and misleading information on resumes is a similar and much wider problem. For most companies, an investment in the wrong person can cause disruptions and financial losses. With 164 million jobs in the private sector available in America alone, we realized we were tackling a huge issue that needed to be addressed and modernized. After endless research, we shifted gears to develop the next generation resume and missing software tool for HR professionals. My advice is to be prepared to pivot after doing your research!
Vite Sicure
Eleonora Del Vento
I have almost 25 years of experience in insurance and after my experiences with international insurance group I started my insurance broker company in 2012 and in 2016 I had the vision families need protection because there is a gap between their available needed resources in case the worst happens to the householder (death, health, and loss of income). The Protection gap is a big social worldwide issue that also has an impact on the stability of national welfare systems.
You need resilience and self-esteem and with those and the right co-founder in July 2019 we closed the first round and in August 2019 we launched viteSicure MPV. In one year and a half of activity viteSicure is the first life protection insurtech in the EU that transforms the policy buying experience by making it accessible, self-service and instantaneous for a multitude of financially vulnerable families. Innovation has been always the key and nowadays it passes through technology, so viteSicure is operationally excellent in delivering a unique customer experience thanks to our proprietary open API systems.
Holacode
Diana Izquierdo
My adventure as an entrepreneur started 9 years ago along with my sister with an accessories brand, DOIZPE. Our mission was to create socially responsible accessories. Then, other projects and failures appeared but the first one is the only one that is still alive. I wanted to continue as an entrepreneur, however, I found Holacode in my way. I was part of the co-founder team, Holacode was not my idea so at the beginning it was different to work as an entrepreneur with someone else’s idea. Nevertheless, it has been one of the most amazing experiences and my first one in a social enterprise. It has been great to apply my experience as an entrepreneur and work together with the other co-founders to make this happen. It has not been an easy way, a lot of people have gone, money has gone, motivation has gone, but if you really like it you need to open your mind and ears to listen and learn from others; as well as remember what was your fuel to start building the idea.
Rag Revolution
Edel Lyons
The advice I would like to give to other female founders or women who wish to start their own business is to let go of the fear of failure and try to silence the negative thoughts and worries you have of what might happen if you fail. If you see an opportunity or a gap in the market and your passionate about the problem, then just go for it. Set yourself goals and timelines and work on your idea in the evening and at weekends until you’ve reached the point where you are ready to launch your business. You might not have it all figured out before you launch, but, the truth is most people don’t. You will make many mistakes, but, you will also learn the best lessons. I think the best piece of advice I could give is, don’t put it off! Start small and think big about what you want to achieve. “ IN THE END… We only regret the chances we didn’t take!
Emploi
Sophy Mwale
You’ve probably heard this quip — Whatever a woman does, she has to do it twice as well, to be thought half as good. While, succeeding as an entrepreneur is hard, Succeeding as a female entrepreneur, on the other hand, takes blood, sweat, and tears. The most inspiring statement I have gotten from one of my advisors which I would like to share is, with entrepreneurship, success lies in how long you stay in the game, just like riding a mad bull at the rodeo. With way less access to venture capital to base the growth of their ventures upon, balancing quick learning, ambition and resilience is the key to building successful, sustainable ventures.
