When was the last time you made a risky decision simply because you did not believe in yourself? I know it can be scary to make the leap to close a failing business and start a new one, but trusting yourself and pushing past your fear is one way to experience true sales success & bliss.
Mada Seghete leads the growth marketing team, and is one of the co-founders of Branch. She was included in Linkedin’s Next Wave, 150 top professionals in 15 industries all under 35.
Here are a few key secrets we talked about in this episode:
- Michelle introduces Mada Seghete.
- Mada shares about her experience with app creation and all her entrepreneurial experience.
- Mada and her team were trying to create an app like Fitbit for dogs, and were told NO from investors!
- At the beginning, it’s easy to think when you’re not getting investment money, that it’s about you, not your product!
- When they started connecting with their ideal client, the pet owner, Mada and her team found that people were not interested in their product for their pets.
- Facing rejection was the hardest thing Mada and her friends had ever faced. They lost a lot of money, and one even had to stay on another friend’s couch because they lost everything.
- It was helpful to understand that NO’s came from customers, not from investors. The market was small, and already saturated.
- Hearing a NO helps you refine your business model!
- If customers say YES and investors say NO, then you may be able to get traction to eventually gain investors.
- Transitioning between businesses was one of the hardest, most depressing times of Mada’s life.
- Mada’s biggest NO was when her green card was denied, and she had to wait six months before she could reapply.
- During that time, she started Branch, her current company.
- When Mada was in her low times, she wallowed in grief and frustration for a while: then she said NO to grief and frustration and moved on and realized it was time for her to believe in herself.
- When they decided to sell their app, they were asked to continue working on it. But they realized that it NO longer served their purpose and long-term goals.
- Your company and your entrepreneurial journey is your baby, and it’s hard to let go!
- “We were just kept holding onto it because it was this thing that we had built. And looking back it seems crazy to me that we did that.” ~ Mada Seghete
- When it comes to closing a business, you should ask yourself a few questions: “What am I gaining? What will I gain in the long term by doing this, and focusing my time on this, and how valuable is my time, and should I focus on this?”
- When it comes to business, and attracting investors, you just have to jump in completely! It’s the only way you can make your business work.
- “Say NO when you know that you cannot deliver.” – Mada did, and was very clear that she would not be able to deliver.
- Mada shares what she would tell her younger self.
Connect with Mada Seghete:
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