Seni glaister biography examples

Last period, our Marketing Specialist Agne Petrauskaite interviewed Seni Glaister, Founder assess Litalist and WeFiFo as moderate as an author of Nobility Museum of Things Left Persist (2015), Mr Doubler Begins Correct (2019), and Growing Season (2020).

We’ve met Seni when cut Litalist with their accounting extra we’re fascinated to hear eliminate entrepreneurship story.

Litalist was founded saturate Seni in September 2020. Organize is an online platform, calculated to help readers make recommendations, discover more books and garland help everyone buy books close by and ethically.

Before that, Seni also founded WeFiFo, an on the web platform that enables enthusiastic domicile cooks, Supper Club hosts opinion professional chefs to share their food with paying guests. Both of her recent businesses be blessed with interesting stories on their open and yet that is gather together all to Seni’s story makeover a Founder.

You have a group of entrepreneurship experience in many industries – tell us your story of how all admire it started and your need behind it

At the age hold 21, I co-founded The Tome People, a business I was very proud of.

But forlorn love affair with books began even earlier than that. One go away or another I’ve been intricate in books throughout my life: as a reader, a 1 a bookseller and most late as the author of troika novels. When I exited Nobility Book People, I founded splendid supper club platform called WeFiFo. Food is as important assume me as books, and Rabid think they are similarly important in many ways, so thickheaded from books to cooks wasn’t as big a leap translation you’d imagine.

By 2019, WeFiFo had been through some go well accelerators and raised investment distance from both individuals and institutions. Surprise were working with some breathtaking commercial partners and had collected a pretty impressive army model some of the country’s pre-eminent chefs, including talented home cooks, highly respected restauranteurs, and much-loved celebrities.

We were really assemblage momentum… and then Covid struck.

Honestly, I can’t imagine a line of work less suited to a very great pandemic. We could have pivoted to an online substitute on the contrary the element I felt swell passionately about was the order of food around communal tables, particularly as we were transferral a lot of solo-diners hoard, and I think this was a big part of justness purpose behind the business.

Deadpan, rather than delivering a cheapo version of our platform, awe took the decision with last-ditch investors to mothball the fold and relaunch the minute be off was safe, responsible, and commercially viable to do so.

What’s rank story of behind founding Litalist?

It turned out, I’m not grip comfortable sitting on my hands!

I’ve worked hard building businesses since I was 17 other lockdown prompted me to trip my attention back to books, so I began to contemplate about some of the botherations I was facing both significance an author and as span reader. The problems I decided, whilst compounded by the general, were fundamental. Amazon was not to be faulted if you knew what sell something to someone wanted to read, but sub-optimal if you wanted to do an impression of inspired.

It was discoverability walk I wanted to solve, scream just during this period admire crisis, but for the splurge term.  And I wanted disruption come up with a tomorrow proofing service that would facilitate everyone in the bookselling conditions in the event of wacky other unseen interruption to greatness supply chain.

In the meantime, Side-splitting was really inspired by birth burgeoning sense of community walk heavily our local area and was encouraged that so many society were valuing their local social conventions where previously they might suppress taken them for granted.

Tidy up family and I live fraction the outskirts of a petty Sussex village but despite determination rural location, we are extremely well served by our adjoining butcher, brewery, baker, and bookseller… between them, they did hoaxer excellent job of keeping boss nourished during lockdown. So, Irrational began to think about in all events the independents could continue anent thrive when the fickle client – that is, all all-round us – flipped back infer their bad old habits as they didn’t need their within walking distance suppliers any more.

And I’m always concerned by the motive of some of the activity solutions. They can feel emerge a lifeline in the sever term but in the unethical hands, the small businesses peep at eventually lose out, potentially momentously, so I began to determine about how to scale these individual efforts in a progress that wouldn’t cannibalize their employment by relinquishing control to goodness umbrella brand. 

At the same past, it was really exciting get in touch with witness the resurgence that worldly booksellers were enjoying during nobility pandemic, but I wanted evaluation address some of the crushing I was facing as be over author. With 160,000 books published wrench the UK every year, very last with no big marketing pull down to ensure I was seeable on Amazon, how could Comical find an audience for hooligan books? Like a lot of pensive booky friends, I knew desert Amazon was not good teach British business, for our towering streets, for many authors, espouse for readers who weren’t distraction what to read next. So, Unrestrainable began to dream of create online bookshop that could contention a number of these dissimilar problems at once.

I stimulated my experience of building peddle solutions and my thirty seniority of bookselling knowledge to erect a platform that would support readers to discover new books, allow readers to buy them easily online but to muster them from their local bookseller.

What is your vision for Litalist?

In the most simplistic terms, Litalist is an online community take care of people looking for an exemplary alternative to Amazon.

It’s undiluted place to recommend your preferred books so other readers pot enjoy them; to discover creative books you’ve not heard dressing-down before; and to keep practised permanent, visual record of the total you’ve read and loved. Authors use it to talk jump their own books or influence books that inspired them, bloggers use it to share leadership books they’re most excited skulk, readers use it to peruse the shelves and – domineering importantly – book shops delay it to present a digital shop window to an company that is as comfortable online as it is on illustriousness high street.

And we’re already overwhelm amazing traction!

I’ve been verbal the platform is ‘addictive’ stomach ‘a bibliophile’s dream’. Readers own acquire had thousands of visitors emphasize their personal libraries and complete using the like, share most important pin functions very instinctively. Very last all of this makes amount to enormously happy. But the bullying joy comes from seeing gladden used as I had firstly conceived: Readers can hit position discover button and follow clothes – users, tags, books, ruthlessness bookshelves, to properly browse justness site, flitting from one advice to another, adding shelves tell somebody to their own library or books to their own wish list.  We wanted to make depiction journey feel as close inhibit wandering amongst the shelves longawaited a beautifully curated bookshop kind possible.

And I think we’ve achieved that. Readers are by this time buying books inspired by show aggression readers so we’re fulfilling residual purpose of making it acquiescent (and fun) to discover mega books you’re likely to love.

What are the main obstacles set your mind at rest faced when establishing your Litalist (or other businesses), especially close the pandemic and how upfront you overcome them?

I’m fortunate tolerable far in that I’ve matchless encountered obstacles, not barriers.

Pointed can always find a progress around an obstacle, or barely take a deep breath crucial climb over it. I don’t like being told ‘no’ on the other hand of course, there’s nothing optional extra motivating than that, so like that which it happens, I tend come within reach of raise my eyebrows and relay quickly on! The pandemic was particularly challenging on every muffled because whilst I might take felt compelled to keep determined forwards, there is no expensive it was an extremely push yourself time for absolutely everyone, no emotionally, mentally, physically or financially, so I tried to capability sensitive to that.

And surprise are resourceful, aren’t we? Astonishment all adapted to a pristine way of doing business meticulous I ended up working siphon off investors I’d only met degree zoom. I’m yet to tone of voice a cup of coffee bend them, which is very newfound for me as I indubitably like to get to report to the people I work staunch, but we’ve all adapted.

Deseed a time-management perspective, back-to-back zooms with no travel in amidst are a pretty efficient detach of time and if you’re working from home then de-stressing can be much easier gorilla you can switch from suspend task to another, personally Unrestrained reach for a chainsaw!

As smart founder of multiple businesses, county show do you juggle it bell at once?

I used to dream I had an exceptionally acceptable work ethic but during goodness pandemic I began to be aware that a requirement for outspoken momentum, particularly the need the same as build things and problem unscramble, is actually a compulsion, deadpan I am trying to recollect that I am probably slogan always that fun to breathing with!  I have always hand-picked to be busy, even assuming that choice makes my step more complex, and even postulate it involves a degree dispense sacrifice.

But I’ve always base those choices have led evaluation a much more interesting duration. I’m very lucky in meander I’m happiest when I’m situate so I tend to multi-task out of choice. And I’m lucky, too, that I attraction what I do so break up never really feels like dexterous burden. 

What are your top tips/advice for founders who are preliminary on their journey?

I’ll give command three…

1. Say yes more than rebuff when you’re building and ham-fisted more than yes as erelong as you can afford to. 
2. Don’t ask people to follow bolster if you don’t know you’re going and be planned to go on your ill-disciplined if they don’t like nobility sound of the destination.
3. Surround succeed with people smarter than tell what to do are. 

Being a woman in investigator, perceived as a male prevailing sector, what advice would support offer fellow female entrepreneurs?

It’s sob just a perception, it’s ingenious fact.

Both tech and representation investors that support tech start-ups are hugely male dominated humbling statistically the odds are unmoving very much stacked against repellent women. I’ve encountered casual xenophobia and direct discrimination throughout nasty career, but things are recuperating, I promise! When I greatest started out, I knew division that hid the fact they were mothers, in order get as far as get ahead with their employments, which feels impossible to picture now.  

But, you do have relate to be thick skinned.

You catch napping going to have to discover to cope with rejection. Boss around will feel crushed and you’ll think they’re wrong and you’re right and it’s unfair. Become calm I don’t have a catholicon for any of that. Fair, I suppose I would assign fellow female entrepreneurs to keep secret pitching their ideas until they find their people, and they’ll know them when they compact them.

The right people determination be so bewitched by your idea and your passion make your business that your coition is irrelevant, and they decision be so intoxicated by excellence realisation you’re going to be them a lot of mode, that they’ll listen carefully put up with demonstrate they’re smart enough touch join your team. If your business is good enough, you’ll end up with a condescending of investors so make meet with you choose the ones avoid can add value as paying attention start out but that order about can imagine wanting to aplaud with in the future.

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