Indiana Gregg, Founder and CEO of WeDo discusses personal success and rise to becoming a CEO/Entrepreneur
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Speaking engagement featuring Indiana Gregg discussing WeDo
Indiana Gregg is the founder and CEO of WeDo, a new app that simplifies work for freelancers, gig workers, and small business owners. Gregg created WeDo during the pandemic and the great resignation because of the number of people quitting their jobs and moving into freelance. Today, it’s projected that one in four people will quit their jobs in 2022. In Gregg’s app, users can connect, make and receive payments and network within their community. The app is live now with thousands of users.
Can you tell our readers about your background?
Mother necessity can be a powerful motivator. My debut in tech was really more a result of ‘needs must’. I started out in the creative industries as a musician and digital artist in the 90s. As a musician, there is always someone in the band who needs to build the website, program the keyboards, and learn digital skills in photography and design, as well as play in the band. I have always loved to learn new skills, so I was the one who performed those tasks. The deeper I dove into creating in tech, the more I loved doing it. As a creator, building tech, websites, applications, and businesses is something I love to do. But I started out because I needed to get the job done, so I learned by doing. That’s part of why I named the company Wedo.
At Wedo, we believe in building a fair playing field for all and likewise leaving the world better than we found it. We are constantly creating ideas that we believe can contribute to sustainability and positive social impact and what you see right now is only a starting point in our roadmap to come. We believe that banking and fintech should be built to add incredible value for the businesses and the people they serve rather than taking fees and holding people to ransom. We believe that people should have a fully accessible set of tools that allows them to run their businesses and communicate with a fair exchange and without the exploitation of their data. We want to help bridge the disparity gap and provide meaningful tools to empower the individual, whether they want to build a solopreneur or freelance business or start a company and build their team and client base. The independent economy is a $4 trillion global market and we believe we can help that market by creating a fair environment with tools that save people time, and money and help them to leverage their network for positive impact. Out of all the things people lose when they are down and out, the one light they keep on is their mobile phone. We believe that if you have a talent, knowledge, skill or product, you should be able to use Wedo to build your business.
What inspired you to start your business?
When I see a problem, it's impossible to “unsee” it. The trigger point for me to take action was when I found out that a dear friend of mine - who is extraordinarily talented - was living rough. It only takes three months in some countries to find yourself homeless and impoverished and that’s not the way that people who have been productive in society should end up. If I see a problem that I know can be solved, it’s kind of impossible not to try to fix the problem. There is a gap in society due to a lack of meaningful jobs, a lack of infrastructure. Sometimes the only thing that can fix these types of problems is technology. And for me, the minute I took the decision to create Wedo was the moment of ‘no turning back’. Banks have stopped delivering value, so the gig economy and the freelance economy are being taken for a ride. We’re treating our most talented people like buskers. Big technology companies and social networks in many cases seem to be taking their customers for granted – they are using the people who produce high-quality content and paying them pennies. Billions of man-hours are being consumed with very little return for the individual. We need to create technologies that empower people. We need to create tech that helps the individual leverage their own data and helps them run their business. We need to help more people help more people. Charity and government alone won’t solve the problem of homeless or impoverished people. We need to create technologies that help people get back on their feet and enable people to fill the disparity gap. If you have talent, knowledge or skills that you can offer to society, you should be empowered by Wedo.
Where is your business based?
We're based in the USA, UK and Europe.
How did you start your business? What were the first steps you took?
The first thing I did was create a roadmap for the business and work on the business model to see if the tech I wanted to build made sense. Then I began interviewing people in the gig and freelance economy to see if they saw the same pain points that I saw. I wanted to know if the problem I wanted to solve was big enough to tackle. After that, I spent several months building a prototype and iterating upon that. It was just me and I wanted to show people my idea with something tangible that would get them excited so that they would want to join my team. I wanted to attract the very best people from the collection of amazing humans I had worked with over the years. I formed a company and then spent a lot of time on market research and creating the beginnings of a brand. The next step was to show people what I wanted to do. It seemed like everyone I asked was interested, so putting a brilliant team together wasn’t too difficult. Now the company has grown to 30 people in a short period of time.
What has been the most effective way of raising awareness for your business?
Television, radio, PR and word-of-mouth marketing.
What have been your biggest challenges and how did you overcome them?
It’s not easy to be a woman in tech. I’ve had plenty of meetings where it’s been assumed that I wasn’t part of the tech team because I was the only female in the room. The statistics don't lie. It’s even more difficult to raise capital for a startup as a female founder, with only 2% of total VC investments going to female-founded companies. The challenges, however, are the same for anyone, and you only lose if you give up. That sounds cliché, but it’s certainly true and so is the reality of facing adversity or failure. The line about what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger really means that even though some things can be very difficult to go through, the audacity to take on challenges in the first place means you can be vulnerable. But that same vulnerability makes you human and gives you courage to keep going.
Sometimes a vision or idea is too early for the market to accept as well. Just because a model is better or more effective, that doesn’t necessarily mean that an industry is ready for it. Sometimes there is a critical window when a new technology can be introduced. It’s important to test how people will accept it prior to the build and that takes a lot of patience and discipline to really explore and ask potential customers if your ‘great idea’ is really that great or not. I think the most valuable lesson I’ve learned from building products in tech is to pay attention to the customer’s pain points and really home in on their needs and then work on how the product can be both innovative and at the same time not too far ahead into the future for people to wrap their heads around it.
How do you stay focused?
I’m a naturally focused person. So, the question is rather, “What gets you distracted?” When I have a goal, it’s impossible for me not to focus on it. And that can be a bit difficult on things like having a personal life, so I’ve learned to force myself to take time for doing other things besides work.
How do you differentiate your business from the competition?
The thing that matters most to me is to create tech that helps to promote a fairer society and has social impact. Wedo differentiates itself because we’ve removed the “Pay-to-Play" aspect that our competitors use as middlemen in the market. Pay-to-play creates a barrier to entry for aspiring entrepreneurs. I believe you can have socially conscious capitalism and create win/win/win situations with better business models and fairer technology practices. Doing this makes Wedo standout.
Aside from building a super easy to use and very powerful app, we believe in empowering the individual and that entrepreneurship should be a human right - meaning accessible to all. At Wedo, we’re building a fair playing field for all and likewise leaving the world better than how we found it.
We believe that banking and fintech should be built to add incredible value for the businesses and the people they serve rather than taking fees and holding people to ransom. We believe that people should have a fully accessible set of tools that allows them to run their businesses and communicate with a fair exchange and without the exploitation of their data.
We want to help bridge the disparity gap and provide meaningful tools to empower the individual, whether they want to build a solopreneur or freelance business or start a company and build their team and client base.
The independent economy is a $4 trillion global market and we believe we can help that market by creating a fair environment with tools that save people time, and money and help them leverage their network for positive impact. Out of all the things people lose when they are down and out, the one light they keep on is their mobile phone. We believe that if you have a talent, knowledge, skill or product, you should be able to use our services and get back onto the ladder of success. Right now is the time to support entrepreneurship and remove barriers for people.
What has been your most effective marketing strategy to grow your business?
Using radio, TV and press to get the word out so that people start talking about us, then engaging with people on social media, through events and growth hacking techniques has been very successful, as well as building communities with sticky content and great speakers who offer true value to our tribes.
What's your best piece of advice for aspiring and new entrepreneurs?
You have to be brave to face up to people who may try to dissuade you. Having the courage to show up every day can be hard. A lot of people don’t see the grit, the time, and the investment that goes into building a team, a product, a company. There are days when you feel like it’s an uphill climb because you’re pitching the same stuff and you get a ‘not right now’, or ‘this isn’t for me’, or whatever. If you are planning to be an entrepreneur, you must make a commitment to your idea and no matter who says ‘no’ or what goes wrong, you keep on keeping on.
What's your favorite app, blog, and book? Why?
Favorite app: Wedo : because it’s a communication network + life management + financial payments and banking tool all rolled into one and it makes business super easy.
Favorite blog: GatesNotes because Bill Gates reads amazing books and I love to see what he puts on his reading list.
Favorite book: Long Walk to Freedom by Nelson Mandela because he had so much resilience and he was prepared to die for what he believed in and he came out of it all and showed the world what can be done.
What's your favorite business tool or resource? Why?
Adobe Creative Cloud, because Adobe builds epic applications that give creators the power to create, iterate, and build cool stuff.
Who is your business role model? Why?
I like to follow a lot of people because I feel like you can draw from lots of role models and pick the things that work well for you and your company culture. At Wedo, we have a flexible work culture. For us, it's more about getting things done, and if you meet your goals, we don't mind if you take a day off, for example. For that, I think people like Simon Sinek and Arianna Huffington offer great advice. We also have a lot of mentors and advisors who I find to be super valuable to the company as experts in their lanes.
How do you balance work and life?
I don't believe there is such a thing as balancing work and life. I believe it's more about doing what works for you. If you enjoy what you're doing, it doesn't feel like work. If you love what you're doing, that is 'life'. It's more about how you feel than finding some sort of special formula that fits it all.
What’s your favorite way to decompress?
I love to read and go walk around in the grass listening to podcasts on topics that interest me.
What do you have planned for the next six months?
I'm working on raising our next round of funding, meeting our KPIs and business goals, and building out our phase two strategies, our product roadmap, and our member base over the next six months. We'll be launching in the USA this year and building out our people, product, and partnerships.
How can our readers connect with you?
You can connect with me on Wedo @indianagregg and follow wedo_hq on most of the usual socials with that same username. Check out https://getwedo.today and download Wedo on Apple and Android.