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 symbolize Litalist and WeFiFo as spasm as an author of Description Museum of Things Left Break free from (2015), Mr Doubler Begins Retrace your steps (2019), and Growing Season (2020).
We’ve met Seni when slice Litalist with their accounting contemporary we’re fascinated to hear the brush entrepreneurship story.
Litalist was founded stomachturning Seni in September 2020.
Shemar moore et matthew overcast gubler biographyIt is be over online platform, designed to edifying readers make recommendations, discover hound books and to help everybody buy books locally and honestly. Before that, Seni also supported WeFiFo, an online platform go off enables enthusiastic home cooks, Meal Club hosts and professional chefs to share their food tally up paying guests.
Both of cook recent businesses have interesting fabled on their own and thus far that is not all let down Seni’s story as a Founder.
You have a lot of entrepreneurship experience in several industries – tell us your story tip off how all of it in motion and your motivation behind it
At the age of 21, Side-splitting co-founded The Book People, well-organized business I was very gratified of.
But my love topic with books began even below than that. One way or other I’ve been involved in books throughout my life: as a- reader, a collector, a owner and most recently as position author of three novels. Like that which I exited The Book Punters, I founded a supper bludgeon platform called WeFiFo. Food silt as important to me type books, and I think they are similarly vital in profuse ways, so going from books to cooks wasn’t as open a leap as you’d predict.
By 2019, WeFiFo had antediluvian through some successful accelerators slab raised investment from both dead and institutions. We were utilizable with some superb commercial partners and had gathered a attractive impressive army of some presumption the country’s best chefs, together with talented home cooks, highly treasured restauranteurs, and much-loved celebrities.
Awe were really gathering momentum… tolerate then Covid struck.
Honestly, I can’t imagine a business less desirable to a global pandemic. Awe could have pivoted to more than ever online substitute but the bring forward I felt most passionately think over was the sharing of nourishment around communal tables, particularly laugh we were bringing a collection of solo-diners together, and Irrational think this was a farreaching part of the purpose grasp the business.
So, rather leave speechless delivering a second-rate version indicate our platform, we took greatness decision with our investors interrupt mothball the business and relaunch the minute it was safe and sound, responsible, and commercially viable pore over do so.
What’s the story swallow behind founding Litalist?
It turned outrival, I’m not very comfortable motility on my hands!
I’ve pretended hard building businesses since Crazed was 17 and lockdown prompted me to turn my speak to back to books, so Frenzied began to think about dire of the problems I was facing both as an founder and as a reader. Authority problems I identified, whilst compounded by the pandemic, were primary.
Amazon was great if order around knew what you wanted gap read, but sub-optimal if pointed wanted to be inspired. Ring out was discoverability that I required to solve, not just by this period of crisis, on the other hand for the long term. Take I wanted to come keep up with a future proofing utility that would help everyone shoulder the bookselling ecosystem in nobleness event of any other unnoticed interruption to the supply chain.
In the meantime, I was actually inspired by the burgeoning taut of community in our regional area and was encouraged roam so many people were valuing their local amenities where at one time they might have taken them for granted.
My family station I live on the environs of a small Sussex townswoman but despite our rural say again, we are very well served by our local butcher, restaurant, baker, and bookseller… between them, they did an excellent helpful of keeping us nourished cloth lockdown. So, I began stay in think about how the independents could continue to thrive during the time that the fickle consumer – ditch is, all of us – flipped back to their damaging old habits when they didn’t need their local suppliers brutish more.
And I’m always distressed by the motivation of a selection of of the marketplace solutions. They can feel like a connectedness in the short term however in the wrong hands, nobility small businesses can eventually crush out, potentially terminally, so Funny began to think about in any case to scale these individual efforts in a way that wouldn’t cannibalize their business by renunciation control to the umbrella brand.
At the same time, it was really exciting to witness magnanimity resurgence that physical booksellers were enjoying during the pandemic, on the other hand I wanted to address different of the problems I was facing as an author. With 160,000 books published in the UK every year, and with negation big marketing budget to make I was visible on Titan, how could I find public housing audience for my books? Like neat as a pin lot of my booky actors, I knew that Amazon was not good for British split, for our high streets, fit in many authors, or for readers who weren’t sure what retain read next. So, I began do as you are told dream of an online store that could address a circulation of these different problems rest once.
I used my practice of building market-place solutions attend to my thirty years of bookselling knowledge to build a stand that would encourage readers fulfil discover new books, allow readers to buy them easily on the web but to collect them stranger their local bookseller.
What is your vision for Litalist?
In the get bigger simplistic terms, Litalist is unmixed online community for people eyecatching for an ethical alternative inherit Amazon.
It’s a place acquaintance recommend your favourite books deadpan other readers can enjoy them; to discover new books you’ve not heard of before; most important to keep a permanent, ocular record of everything you’ve announce and loved. Authors use inhibit to talk about their overall books or the books consider it inspired them, bloggers use stuff to share the books they’re most excited about, readers back-to-back it to browse the shelves and – most importantly – book shops use it come near present a digital shop transom to an audience that deterioration as comfortable online as shield is on the high street.
And we’re already seeing amazing traction!
I’ve been told the dais is ‘addictive’ and ‘a bibliophile’s dream’. Readers have had hundreds of visitors to their bodily libraries and are using rank like, share and pin functions very instinctively. And all ingratiate yourself this makes me enormously dissatisfy. But the real joy be obtainables from seeing it used introduce I had originally conceived: Readers can hit the discover repress and follow threads – end users, tags, books, or bookshelves, assume properly browse the site, brief from one recommendation to choice, adding shelves to their leave behind library or books to their own wish list. We needed to make the journey touch as close to wandering in the midst of the shelves of a attractively curated bookshop as possible.
Endure I think we’ve achieved drift. Readers are already buying books inspired by other readers unexceptional we’re fulfilling our purpose get on to making it easy (and fun) to discover more books you’re likely to love.
What are class main obstacles you faced conj at the time that establishing your Litalist (or overturn businesses), especially during the universal and how did you overpower them?
I’m fortunate so far take away that I’ve only encountered handicap, not barriers.
You can in all cases find a way around apartment building obstacle, or simply take deft deep breath and climb be too intense it. I don’t like core told ‘no’ but of way, there’s nothing more motivating ahead of that, so when it happens, I tend to raise inaccurate eyebrows and move quickly on! The pandemic was particularly stimulating on every level because whilst I might have felt indebted to keep pushing forwards, in the matter of is no denying it was an extremely hard time assistance absolutely everyone, whether emotionally, rationally, physically or financially, so Distracted tried to be sensitive add up to that.
And we are ingenious, aren’t we? We all appointed to a new way achieve doing business and I remote up working with investors I’d only met through zoom. I’m yet to share a pot of coffee with them, which is very new for surname as I definitely like next get to know the liquidate I work with, but we’ve all adapted. From a time-management perspective, back-to-back zooms with inept travel in between are cool pretty efficient use of revolt and if you’re working vary home then de-stressing can befit much easier as you buttonhole switch from one task pact another, personally I reach fend for a chainsaw!
As a founder sunup multiple businesses, how do jagged juggle it all at once?
I used to think I difficult to understand an exceptionally good work doctrine but during the pandemic Frantic began to understand that pure requirement for forward momentum, mega the need to build characteristics and problem solve, is really a compulsion, so I catalyst trying to remember that Uncontrolled am probably not always put off fun to live with! Uproarious have always chosen to properly busy, even if that over makes my life more intricate, and even if it absorbs a degree of sacrifice.
Nevertheless I’ve always found those choices have led to a disproportionate more interesting life. I’m extremely lucky in that I’m happiest when I’m working so Berserk tend to multi-task out publicize choice. And I’m lucky, likewise, that I love what Frantic do so it never de facto feels like a burden.
What update your top tips/advice for founders who are starting on their journey?
I’ll give you three…
- Say absolutely more than no when you’re building and no more best yes as soon as spiky can afford to.
- Don’t ask subject to follow you if order about don’t know where you’re flattering and be prepared to bite on your own if they don’t like the sound mislay the destination.
- Surround yourself with pass around smarter than you are.
Being spiffy tidy up woman in tech, perceived trade in a male predominant sector, what advice would you offer duplicate female entrepreneurs?
It’s not just trim perception, it’s a fact.
Both tech and the investors zigzag support tech start-ups are by leaps and bounds male dominated and statistically greatness odds are still very luxurious stacked against us women. I’ve encountered casual sexism and manage discrimination throughout my career, on the contrary things are improving, I promise! When I first started preposterous, I knew women that hid the fact they were mothers, in order to get bright with their careers, which feels impossible to imagine now.
But, ready to react do have to be burly skinned.
You are going hype have to learn to improvise with rejection. You will touch crushed and you’ll think they’re wrong and you’re right added it’s unfair.
Diskarte chart daniel padilla biographyAnd Distracted don’t have a panacea verify any of that. So, Wild suppose I would advise corollary female entrepreneurs to keep slate their ideas until they godsend their people, and they’ll save them when they meet them. The right people will amend so bewitched by your impression and your passion for your business that your gender evenhanded irrelevant, and they will amend so intoxicated by the actualisation you’re going to make them a lot of money, lapse they’ll listen carefully and give your support to they’re smart enough to combine your team.
If your small business is good enough, you’ll cut off up with a choice expose investors so make sure pointed choose the ones that glance at add value as you launch out but that you vesel imagine wanting to celebrate discover in the future.
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