Foreigners from different countries come together as business partners
Sigma School
7th February 2024
Watch the full interview here:
In this episode of Stories of Hackers, we talked with Janney and Carla, both of them are from different countries, yet they managed to start a business together regardless of where they are. We hope you learned something from Janney and Carla's stories, enjoy!
Janney:
Thanks for that introduction. It's always great if you actually want to know a little bit more about how Carla and I came to know each other. That's another interesting side story. But for now, I think Carla and I have our own personal stories, and then I think Carla will also share a little bit of how we kind of came together and how those stories molded together into this company that we currently have.
So for me personally, a couple of years ago, being corporate for a couple of years now, I've always felt like I was drifting a little in life. Doing quite well and on the surface, but it just always seemed like something was a little bit missing, you know? And sometime after, I had a friend who seemingly had a perfect life. She had everything she needed in life, okay, but she was also in despair. And I've always loved people. I took that really as a sign to kind of embark on figuring out how best to help people achieve this mental and emotional resilience. Yeah, so that's my personal story.
Carla:
Mine is a little different. I think for me, the starting point was when I was really young. So my family and I experienced grief through the loss of a loved one, and that's what really pushed us to find purpose in life, to achieve inner peace, and just be happy again. And through that journey, I sort of discovered different wellness tools and techniques that I continue to apply throughout my life. I use a lot of these techniques to this day in different areas of life, and I just want to share it with others. I want to help others who want to live happier and find inner peace and joy again in life. That's what I think made us come together.
So when Janney actually introduced this idea to me, it made a lot of sense. We clicked. We have this shared vision of wanting to help others with their own well-being. And yes, we come from two completely different places, but we actually both grew up with well-being, self-discovery, and self-awareness. And we just want to bring it to society, to share it with everyone else. We met at university a few years ago. Actually, we met abroad. So we both studied in the UK, but we didn't meet in the UK. We met in South America when we were doing a year abroad, and everything went from there.
Janney:
I'll just share a little bit about that. So, I think in terms of skill sets and chemistry, that's really something that you need to kind of explore and sift out when you pick a co-founder. When we have that shared vision, we understand the industry and the problem, and what we're trying to create, so clearly, I felt like the culture parts didn't really were really a problem, you know. And obviously, also Carla's education was in the UK, we kind of very naturally got together and worked very seamlessly through that.
Carla:
I would say we haven't focused too much on that, in sort of thinking of it as a problem I think we always saw it as a good thing as an opportunity. I think women have a lot more empathy and understanding obviously generalizing but focus sort of on the really good stuff of a good side of being a female entrepreneur we haven't sort of analyzed it as "oh my god we are this and that and how we're going to achieve this if we're not men" and so I would say definitely focusing on the positive side.
Janney:
And separately the startup space is trying to accommodate more female founders, a lot of these VCs are pledging a certain amount of their funds to female-funded startups. There's some fee specifically even female focused VCs and those for us could actually be an advantage. We are just at the initial stage of fundraising so we might check in if we're checking with this next year then maybe we might be able to tell you a little bit more about struggles.
Janney:
We are based here in Singapore, and we are registered here. A lot of the fundraising will probably begin here with our efforts. So, I think the startup scene in Singapore shouldn't need any introduction; it's very mature, very supported by both the government as well as all the stakeholders that come in, investments that have come into the space.
In terms of investments, I have heard from the space that obviously investors in Asia are much more cautious. They are less willing to put money into a big idea like Ashton Kutcher did with Airbnb or something like that, which was a crazy idea, "I'm going to invest." I think that's a very different sentiment for Asian investors. When we kind of craft our pitch decks and our conversations with Asian investors, we take that approach of making sure we're very detailed in our go-to-market strategies in every aspect of the conversation that we have with them. Also, showing them very clearly a certain roadmap and when that ROI is going to come back is definitely the approach they're going to take with Asian investors.
Carla:
Starting with the UK, I think it's a very similar space to Singapore in terms of it being mature, and there's so much happening in the UK and so many opportunities, especially in terms of mental health holistic wellness, the space that we're in. I think it's even more mature than Southeast Asia. So, that's always kind of we always look at the UK and North America and see what's going on there because it's something that's gonna eventually come to Asia and Southeast Asia as well.
In terms of Eastern Europe, I think it's a new thing in Eastern Europe. It varies depending on the country, but I would say, for example, Croatia is such a small market so the startup space is just not as big, there are not many opportunities, and investors just don't see an opportunity because it's such a small market. But hopefully, things will change.
Janney:
I would just say it's kind of an elaboration of what we've shared with you as a summary, as an introduction to our kind of story into the business. Personally, I was in sales for quite a couple of years, but in terms of starting a business, it's always been something I always wanted to look out for even when I traveled before it was always to look for inspiration but it never really stuck.
Carla and I, we had five to eight hours video calls in the lockdown every single day. You have to really like what you're talking about basically like I wouldn't say something I didn't believe about and absolutely that's what Carla would say right so it was really kind of kneeling that when the idea kind of aligned with my purpose was when I realized I'm willing to put in a bit of money, I'm going to start looking for people to work on a particular idea and that idea really is how's it settles in your soul when an individual hears it those people become your co-founders and we kind of dedicate our lives to getting this product out to everybody.
Carla:
I was working in London at the time in marketing with e-commerce companies and companies that do a lot of tech stuff, but I always kind of knew that eventually I would do something with mental health and holistic wellness. I just didn't know when and what, but i knew I wanted to trust the process and I knew that the right time would come and that's when everything happened and Janney approached me and everything made sense to me, I do the same thing as Janney, I listen to my heart as cliché that is and if it makes sense I will go into it and it's as simple as that.
Carla:
We always talk about this; we really complement each other. I think that is the best thing about this partnership. For example, Janney likes taking risks; she's a lot more risk-prone, whereas I'm on the other side, I'm very risk-averse, and that's a good thing. This balance is a good thing in business, and there are other areas where we also complement each other. She looks at things from a sales perspective while I look at things from a marketing perspective. There are two different perspectives we align; we just do it well.
I think we're also quite flexible, which is really neat because every day is different, and sometimes things are working out, sometimes things are not working out, and you have to be able to look at it and say okay, this is not working, let's pivot, let's switch it up. This is something that I really appreciate when it comes to Janney's work. She's able to be realistic and self-aware and say okay, I understand what's going on.
Janney:
And just to add a bit of what Carla said for both of us, I think we've even written a Medium article about this, right? About working in different time zones for us particularly. We like a lot of structure; we're figuring things out together. But what's really tricky is, can you trust your co-founder? Is this a problem that your co-founder really, really believes in, or is it just something that, "Oh, I have an opportunity to work on a startup, I'll kind of do it half-hearted"? I think that is dangerous for either party and for the business as a whole. And it's just great that Carla and I come together.
We assign tasks, we set the milestones for the next couple of months, so we go and do our stuff, and we come back with these results. And I think that's something that really ensures the partnership's effectiveness. We work really well together. The way we brainstorm and manage conflict—we don't really have conflict. Like, the way we sort of do discussions and have debates, it's just because of wellness and well-being. You're just incredibly careful and sensitive, but also straightforward and task-focused.
Janney:
First off I'd like to also remind that we are in the well-being mental health solution space so yeah. When Carla and I get a little bit stressed out and we're pushing ourselves a little bit too much, we actually remind ourselves to just relax a little, go slow, do what you need to do and see results unfold because sometimes I feel like there's a lot of things we just get too consumed with the outcome and if we just focus on crafting a really good journey, the outcome will come. I think that's something Carla and I talk about quite a bit but I think Carla has a very interesting story as well, her ex-company actually raised funds while the founder pregnant, it was a good story for them.
Carla:
Yeah that was incredible I mean it's a UK startup in the haircare industry so they do products for hair curly hair specifically but when I was working with them they were raising investments and the founder was pregnant at the time and also had another child, that was very intense but eventually they did raise a very big investment but she talked about it a lot at the time and how they got rejected multiple times and it wasn't an easy journey. So when I think about this whole thing I am aware that people if they even invest or see a pregnant woman or a woman with with children it's it's not going to be a straightforward journey but that could be a good thing and a bad thing it's also how you see it and that company and that female founder definitely saw it as a good thing as an advantage.
Janney:
Carla and I have been able to kind of craft bring together a very stellar team I think Carla will share with you a little bit more later on. We've brought together a lot of very good advisors, our advisors are male not necessarily having to put anyone in gender roles but they are people who believe in what we do and ultimately if you need to look at the gender we'll direct them to our cash flow.
Carla:
Sure, so we create and provide well-being solutions, currently what we have is a holistic wellness booking platform so that means people can book therapy and webinars and meditation sessions and a range of things with licensed practitioners and that means from psychotherapists to alternative therapists there's something for everyone and we're also in the middle of building a b2b mental health app so that means that we will be working with companies that are looking to provide mental health solutions to their employees.
Janney:
For this one, I think it's important for us to go in-depth into why we're doing this and the kind of problems the company is solving, what we're looking at. Primarily, in the mental health and wellbeing conversations, this has really taken center stage in the last two years, particularly here in Southeast Asia. Our solutions, and where we are based in the workplace and corporations, we really believe they have an increased responsibility, a shared responsibility to their employees, and also when they start to do these welding solutions become more accessible to individuals because many of us do get intimidated by the amount in which these solutions are priced at.
So, for example, like in Singapore where I'm based right, there are surveys by CIGNA. There's one from them that shows that Singaporeans are among some of the most burned out at work globally. One in eight considers their stress unmanageable. And this is kind of a question for us, why do people not know how to manage the stress? Why at 30 years old, at 40 years old, are they not knowing how to manage distractions? What exactly is missing, right? And this is an invisible pandemic, as invisible as Covid is, right? But swiping across Southeast Asia, a lot of these markets are maturing, many people moving to middle income, that middle income tier, they're all getting better jobs, they're all moving along their corporate ladder, and we want to make sure that there's support for these people in Southeast Asia.
With these problems, ultimately, employers start facing low productivity, a lot of high team conflict because everyone's angsty, everyone doesn't know how to manage themselves, and when you get lethargic, you just behave in manners that are not very much like you. There's high turnover, absenteeism, and then all these actually have a direct impact on a company's bottom line. And there's a lot of stigma in Asia. I think if you talk to a lot of other mental health apps or the kind of the few that have already come up in Southeast Asia, you notice that a lot of them talk about Asian, very much more conservative, there's a stigma around showing your feelings and problems. I don't know if you have that saying, but we have it here, let's say you don't air your dirty laundry, you're gonna have that. I think it's a thing, right? And so I think it's very important to kind of have like a simple and less intimidating kind of solution for Asia, so we don't just replicate the very serious therapy solutions that are currently in Europe and in the states over here, but we really have targeted localized solutions for Southeast Asia, we take really existing elements of this lifestyle.
Carla:
I think it's all about the domino effect right people think that oh if I meditate I'll just feel good today but what about the rest of my life and or I'll go to the gym for a better looking body. It's not about that you do one activity that if done consistently will impact the rest of your life and all areas of your life whether it's your career relationships family everything, so the more you do it will impact your inner self but your outer self as well so we literally it literally mental health literally is a domino thing.
Carla:
So, as we mentioned, we are stuck in the prototype stage of building this B2B app, and something that we promised ourselves and others is to not just build it by ourselves and our developers and the experts in the field that we work with, but to allow companies and their employees to test it and to tell us what they like, what they don't like, what to include, what to exclude. This is a reminder if you're listening now and if that interests you, whether you're a company or an individual who works in a company, to reach out to us. If you want to test our app or be one of the first few companies or users that test our app, you can reach out to us at hello@thewellnessquo.com, or you can just follow us on social media @thewellnessquo.
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