James Reed: all about business 36. How to get users on your app from day one | Michelle Kennedy
Nearly 10,000 apps are uploaded to the app store every week, and most of them are ignored. So how do you launch one that becomes a movement?
In this episode of All About Business, we’re joined by Michelle Kennedy, founder and CEO of Peanut; the social networking app that has transformed how women connect and help each other through every stage of motherhood.
What does it take to walk away from a top executive role and start from scratch? From pitching with nothing but a deck, to raising over $23 million, to building one of the most trusted platforms for women online, listen to Michelle's story and find out.
We dive into her strategy for building a matchmaking app that attracts millions of users, how to validate your idea before you build it, and the biggest lessons she’s learned as a female founder.
Michelle also opens up about the hardest parts of fundraising, how she built traction without a product, and why not every business should take venture capital.
01:42 Introduction - Michelle Kennedy
01:54 Peanut - Social Media App
09:09 Raising Money
11:34 Advice on Deck, Pitch, Value Proposition
15:56 Not Every Business Needs the Venture Capital Path
20:04 I Wouldn't Have Done It If I Knew ...
24:25 Achieving Critical Mass - The Network Effect
27:40 Start Without Building The App
33:34 Peanut Start Her Fund for Women
36:48 Advice to Family Women on Starting a Business
46:59 Curiosity Spawns New Ideas
50:10 Why A Book In The Digital Age?
54:57 Reed Interview Round - What Gets You Up Monday Morning?
56:39 Where Michelle Sees Herself in Five Years
Links
Download Peanut app from Google Play:
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This podcast was co-produced by Reed Global and Flamingo Media. If you’d like to create a chart-topping podcast to elevate your brand, visit Flamingo-media.co.uk