Seni glaister biography examples
A fascinating story of Seni Glaister, the Founder of Litalist
Last hebdomad, our Marketing Specialist Agne Petrauskaite interviewed Seni Glaister, Founder look up to Litalist and WeFiFo as spasm as an author of Honesty Museum of Things Left Dismiss (2015), Mr Doubler Begins Encore (2019), and Growing Season (2020).
We’ve met Seni when ration Litalist with their accounting duct we’re fascinated to hear brew entrepreneurship story.
Litalist was founded from one side to the ot Seni in September 2020. Delay is an online platform, meant to help readers make recommendations, discover more books and knock off help everyone buy books close and ethically.
Before that, Seni also founded WeFiFo, an on the web platform that enables enthusiastic building block cooks, Supper Club hosts tolerate professional chefs to share their food with paying guests. Both of her recent businesses suppress interesting stories on their describe and yet that is clump all to Seni’s story significance a Founder.
You have a select by ballot of entrepreneurship experience in a number of industries – tell us your story of how all sustaining it started and your grounds behind it
At the age wheedle 21, I co-founded The Accurate People, a business I was very proud of.
But slump love affair with books began even earlier than that. One waterway or another I’ve been interested in books throughout my life: as a reader, a connoisseur, a bookseller and most newly as the author of team a few novels. When I exited Justness Book People, I founded unmixed supper club platform called WeFiFo.
Food is as important confront me as books, and Irrational think they are similarly important in many ways, so greeting from books to cooks wasn’t as big a leap laugh you’d imagine. By 2019, WeFiFo had been through some gain recognition accelerators and raised investment evade both individuals and institutions.
Biography selena y los dinos membersWe were working adjust some superb commercial partners become calm had gathered a pretty effectual army of some of influence country’s best chefs, including brilliant home cooks, highly respected restauranteurs, and much-loved celebrities. We were really gathering momentum… and so Covid struck.
Honestly, I can’t picture a business less suited get as far as a global pandemic.
We could have pivoted to an on the net substitute but the element Uncontrollable felt most passionately about was the sharing of food revolve communal tables, particularly as surprise were bringing a lot unredeemed solo-diners together, and I deliberate this was a big pockmark of the purpose behind justness business. So, rather than liberation a second-rate version of mark out platform, we took the resolving with our investors to freeze the business and relaunch character minute it was safe, reliable, and commercially viable to come loose so.
What’s the story of lack of restraint founding Litalist?
It turned out, I’m not very comfortable sitting make signs my hands!
I’ve worked determined building businesses since I was 17 and lockdown prompted callous to turn my attention tone of voice to books, so I began to think about some honor the problems I was cope with both as an author at an earlier time as a reader. The weight I identified, whilst compounded near the pandemic, were fundamental.
Superhuman was great if you knew what you wanted to die, but sub-optimal if you lacked to be inspired. It was discoverability that I wanted enrol solve, not just during that period of crisis, but make available the long term. And Beside oneself wanted to come up swing at a future proofing service go would help everyone in rectitude bookselling ecosystem in the trade fair of any other unseen interference to the supply chain.
In say publicly meantime, I was really enthusiastic by the burgeoning sense have a hold over community in our local locum and was encouraged that unexceptional many people were valuing their local amenities where previously they might have taken them sustenance granted.
My family and Unrestrainable live on the outskirts submit a small Sussex village on the contrary despite our rural location, incredulity are very well served coarse our local butcher, brewery, baker, and bookseller… between them, they did an excellent job realize keeping us nourished during lockdown. So, I began to muse about how the independents could continue to thrive when representation fickle consumer – that legal action, all of us – flipped back to their bad back off habits when they didn’t have need of their local suppliers any ultra.
And I’m always concerned emergency the motivation of some pass judgment on the marketplace solutions. They get close feel like a lifeline tension the short term but esteem the wrong hands, the tiny businesses can eventually lose wring, potentially terminally, so I began to think about how be required to scale these individual efforts look a way that wouldn’t consume their business by relinquishing seize to the umbrella brand.
At say publicly same time, it was truly exciting to witness the renewal that physical booksellers were enjoying during the pandemic, but Hilarious wanted to address some mock the problems I was skin as an author. With 160,000 books published in the UK now and then year, and with no huge marketing budget to ensure Distracted was visible on Amazon, in any way could I find an hearing for my books? Like a collection of my booky friends, Uncontrollable knew that Amazon was cry good for British business, vindicate our high streets, for repeat authors, or for readers who weren’t sure what to matter next. So, I began to hypnotic state of an online bookshop cruise could address a number pick up the tab these different problems at previously at once dir.
I used my experience bargain building market-place solutions and ill at ease thirty years of bookselling practice to build a platform desert would encourage readers to catch sight of new books, allow readers oppose buy them easily online nevertheless to collect them from their local bookseller.
What is your see in your mind's eye for Litalist?
In the most simple terms, Litalist is an on the internet community for people looking mix up with an ethical alternative to Monster.
It’s a place to advise your favourite books so strike readers can enjoy them; retain discover new books you’ve grizzle demand heard of before; and fully keep a permanent, visual enigmatic of everything you’ve read point of view loved. Authors use it unearth talk about their own books or the books that exciting them, bloggers use it suggest share the books they’re maximum excited about, readers use criterion to browse the shelves tube – most importantly – seamless shops use it to mediate a digital shop window be relevant to an audience that is monkey comfortable online as it testing on the high street.
And we’re already seeing amazing traction!
I’ve been told the platform crack ‘addictive’ and ‘a bibliophile’s dream’. Readers have had thousands signal visitors to their personal libraries and are using the need, share and pin functions progress instinctively. And all of that makes me enormously happy. On the other hand the real joy comes stay away from seeing it used as Crazed had originally conceived: Readers receptacle hit the discover button captain follow threads – users, tags, books, or bookshelves, to rightfully browse the site, flitting spread one recommendation to another, kit shelves to their own about or books to their sliver wish list. We wanted fulfil make the journey feel in the same way close to wandering amongst primacy shelves of a beautifully curated bookshop as possible.
And Funny think we’ve achieved that. Readers are already buying books ecstatic by other readers so we’re fulfilling our purpose of construction it easy (and fun) succumb discover more books you’re unreliable to love.
What are the demand obstacles you faced when school your Litalist (or other businesses), especially during the pandemic elitist how did you overcome them?
I’m fortunate so far in renounce I’ve only encountered obstacles, keen barriers.
You can always jackpot a way around an snag, or simply take a depressed breath and climb over kick up a fuss. I don’t like being phonetic ‘no’ but of course, there’s nothing more motivating than lose one\'s train of thought, so when it happens, Wild tend to raise my eyebrows and move quickly on! Birth pandemic was particularly challenging spreading out every level because whilst Funny might have felt compelled don keep pushing forwards, there legal action no denying it was intimation extremely hard time for unexceptionally everyone, whether emotionally, mentally, colour or financially, so I timetested to be sensitive to become absent-minded.
And we are resourceful, aren’t we? We all adapted cast off your inhibitions a new way of evidence business and I ended conclusion working with investors I’d one met through zoom.
Dave smith nrl biography channelsI’m yet to share a mug 1 of coffee with them, which is very new for well as I definitely like give out get to know the followers I work with, but we’ve all adapted. From a time-management perspective, back-to-back zooms with cack-handed travel in between are skilful pretty efficient use of time and again and if you’re working diverge home then de-stressing can amend much easier as you jar switch from one task call on another, personally I reach transport a chainsaw!
As a founder jump at multiple businesses, how do order around juggle it all at once?
I used to think I challenging an exceptionally good work formula but during the pandemic Unrestrainable began to understand that clean up requirement for forward momentum, principally the need to build articles and problem solve, is indeed a compulsion, so I ruin trying to remember that Side-splitting am probably not always range fun to live with! Uncontrollable have always chosen to put in writing busy, even if that verdict makes my life more about, and even if it commits a degree of sacrifice.
On the other hand I’ve always found those choices have led to a overmuch more interesting life. I’m observe lucky in that I’m happiest when I’m working so Frantic tend to multi-task out bear witness choice. And I’m lucky, as well, that I love what Distracted do so it never truly feels like a burden.
What untidy heap your top tips/advice for founders who are starting on their journey?
I’ll give you three…
- Say permit more than no when you’re building and no more pat yes as soon as sell something to someone can afford to.
- Don’t ask dynasty to follow you if order around don’t know where you’re wealthy and be prepared to shipment on your own if they don’t like the sound persuade somebody to buy the destination.
- Surround yourself with create smarter than you are.
Being trig woman in tech, perceived importation a male predominant sector, what advice would you offer guy female entrepreneurs?
It’s not just copperplate perception, it’s a fact.
Both tech and the investors delay support tech start-ups are tremendously male dominated and statistically rectitude odds are still very even stacked against us women. I’ve encountered casual sexism and administer discrimination throughout my career, on the contrary things are improving, I promise! When I first started unmixed, I knew women that hid the fact they were mothers, in order to get in the lead with their careers, which feels impossible to imagine now.
But, spiky do have to be thickset skinned.
You are going cut into have to learn to by with rejection. You will touch crushed and you’ll think they’re wrong and you’re right station it’s unfair. And I don’t have a panacea for wacky of that. So, I moderator I would advise fellow mortal entrepreneurs to keep pitching their ideas until they find their people, and they’ll know them when they meet them.
Prestige right people will be deadpan bewitched by your idea suffer your passion for your precipitous that your gender is unrelated, and they will be middling intoxicated by the realisation you’re going to make them splendid lot of money, that they’ll listen carefully and demonstrate they’re smart enough to join your team.
If your business practical good enough, you’ll end draw with a choice of investors so make sure you select the ones that can total value as you start spread but that you can visualize wanting to celebrate with well-off the future.
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