Who inspires you?

People who have strength but in a nuanced way. It comes from their excitement, passion and kindness.

Why are you an entrepreneur?

I love problem solving - finding solutions (sometimes they’re simple and sometimes they’re messy and hacky) to help myself and the people around me. I’ve always been a big believer in not accepting the status quo, so if something sucks - fix it!

How is your company different from your competitors?

We understand the importance of the experience and the social dynamic in our space better than anyone - while a strong tech backbone is instrumental, at the end of the day, it doesn’t matter what you build. It’s how people use it that matters.

Where do you see your company in the next five years?

Hitting the mainstream on a couple of fronts - both on the B2B side and the B2C presence. In our industry there is a high level of fragmentation and moving forward will require the ability to navigate this and be able to see when key areas are ripe for aggregation.

What’s the next milestone for your company?

We have a couple of partnerships in the works. More on this later!

How are you financing your business? What are your growth plans?

We bootstrapped up to a point and then raised an Angel round to scale the consumer side of the business. Now we’ve shifted our focus towards the B2B side - the next 6 to 8 months will be telling in terms of how we’ll move forward with our growth plan.

Best advice you’ve received.

Three things:

1. Don’t become a solution looking for a problem. If you lose sight of the problem it doesn’t matter how awesome your product might be.

2. Forget perfection. Launching a product that is 90% complete will tell you how the last 10% should look.

3. Failure is okay. It sucks, but it’s okay. In fact it can be a great thing, acting as a compass for your next steps.

Tell me something about yourself that we don’t know already.

I have a black belt in Jiu-Jitsu. Before delving into the startup/tech world years ago, I ran a chain of Martial Arts studios - I also taught professionally for 15 years.

What is your guilty pleasure?

Watching old reruns of News Radio - don’t judge!

A setback, stumble or face plant…What did you learn from that experience?

There have been many stumbles, setbacks and definitely a few face plants, but one that stands out early in my career is underestimating the value that a technical co-founder brings to the table. Having someone that intimately understands your product and can create it has a huge impact on how quickly you iterate, especially since they invested in the outcome.

What is your favorite mobile app?

I can’t live without Tuex Deux (a dead simple to-do list app) and I’m a little addicted to Instagram and Food Gawker.

What do you do to help focus?

I move. If I’m having a hard time focusing or getting started on something I go to the gym, take a yoga class or even just a 15 minute walk. But if the cause of my lack of focus is fatigue - then I take a nap.

Wedding Republic is a Kickstarter-style gift registry allowing couples to register for anything while guests collaborate on big-ticket gifts. Forget the toaster – register for the important things in life!

This post was created by Raine Dalton, WIM’s editorial and community innovation intern. Raine is passionate about finding creative ways to empower women globally through tech. In addition to WIM, Raine has written, tweeted, and posted for the Global Banking Alliance for Women, WITNESS, and 90.7 WFUV News. You can find her work at www.rainedalton.com or get in touch with her through Twitter @rainedalton, or by emailing raine@wim.co.