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How Losing Her Job Led to Building a Global Women's Community · Behind the Founders

• Carmen: Hi everyone, my name is Carmen Duvat and I will be hosting today's episode of Behind the Founders. And today I will be sitting down interviewing Liz Rivas. Liz, welcome. Can you introduce yourself? Liz Rivas: Hi everybody, I'm Liz Rivas. I'm the founder of Rome Circle and I'm so excited to be here today. Carmen: Liz, it's really to have you here. ⁓ to get us started, could you share with the audience, the listeners out there, what inspired you to start Rome Circle? Liz Rivas: Yeah, so long story short, last year I traveled solo to about 13 different countries. was digital nomading, solo traveling, ⁓ a lot of that time, you know, spending time alone, it got very lonely. ⁓ a lot of people that solo travel sometimes go on dating apps, sometimes to find people to hang out with. there's different Facebook groups, there's WhatsApp groups, there's meetup, there's all these different fragmented ways to to find people in community. But I didn't find one specific place that was especially for a female solo traveler or nomad or an expat or somebody that's new in a city. And I was doing, you know, I'm searching, I'm looking, and I found out that it didn't exist. ⁓ you know, ⁓ as a ⁓ never thought I would be a founder, but I'm like, ⁓ my God, that's my idea to create. And I just kind of went full steam ahead because I noticed that there was a problem and I wanted to fix it. And, know, I I ⁓ did it. know, it's yeah, it's it's still it's still pretty new, but ⁓ you know, that I think that's, you know, there's problem, solve it. Someone has to do it and someone has to be crazy enough to do it. Carmen: Yeah. Hmm. Yeah, for sure. Yeah, I'm just taking a look at your LinkedIn profile because you mentioned that this is also like your first experience founding your own business and you've been around for almost a year with Rome Circle and in your previous experiences, you know, I see that you were ⁓ you are working as like a global account-based marketing manager at Quantum Metrics, Senior Account-based Marketing Manager and Scaled Agile, Senior Enterprise Account-based Marketing Manager, Master Control. So what made you decide to take that leap of faith to go into the founders world? Liz Rivas: Yeah, so it was actually by accident and I think I never was like, ⁓ I'm gonna be an entrepreneur. ⁓ I and basically I have been working on Rome Circle full time and working at my corporate job full time, which is something that I know a lot of founders do. It's kind of like your nine to five is your first investor. I never thought I wanted to be an entrepreneur until I knew that there was a problem that I wanted to solve. Carmen: Okay, yeah. Liz Rivas: And you know, like I have an MBA in marketing, like that is what that's for, is you have all of these skills. I've been just waste not wasting time because obviously I'm, you know, grateful for my corporate career and all the things that I learned, but I have all of these skills already. So why not apply it into something that belongs to me? and honestly, I know a lot of founders deal with burnout when they don't have two jobs. Carmen: Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: ⁓ so that's been ⁓ you know, a real treat. But I'm actually just recently have been all in on Rome Circle. So that's been pretty exciting. so yeah. ⁓ Carmen: Yeah. Yeah, for sure. I think that's kind of like the scary part of it, right? Is that if you go all in into the full-time entrepreneur life, you know, you have to think a lot about navigating uncertainty. You have to think a lot about the finances because going from having the sense of stability, you know, in the corporate world to this is a little bit ⁓ it does require that leap of faith, right? So I'd love to know from how you ⁓ able to transition into that. Liz Rivas: Well, the universe made that choice for me. ⁓ about a month and a half month and a half ago. Yeah. So a month about a month and a half ago, I was impacted by a large layoff. And my first instinct, you know, like I've been impacted by layoffs many times. I'm like, right away, LinkedIn ro you know, job applications and blah, blah, blah. And like within the first week, I was interviewing on a competitive level because I'm an insane person. I put a hundred percent in everything that I do. Carmen: Okay. Yeah, let's talk about that. Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: I was having like five interviews a day. I was going full steam ahead and putting my all into these interviews. And what I started to notice as I was going, like, I did not care. I was interviewing for damn anything. I'm like, you need a pilot. I got you. You need me to clean them toilets. I got you. Like B2B SAS. I got you. And obviously that came across in the interviews because before, you know, my interviews, I was on ChatGPT. I'm like, what does this company do? Carmen: Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: ⁓ and why am I a perfect fit? And you know, going in the interview, just kind of reading off my screen. I made it to final round for a couple of for a couple of opportunities. and you know, like final round, like you're you're with the the CEO, you're with the CMO, like you have a presentation, and I'm just kind of going through the motions and like ⁓ I been very grateful that I worked for so many companies and I very passionate about the companies that I worked for. But I never was working for another company and building something on my own. And I think a lot of the interviewers kind of got that energy from me that I was just kind of like, just give me a damn job. because I obviously, you know, I I live in Miami. I have a high-rise apartment. It's just like I need to pay my rent so I can work on my business. I don't care. Like I'm very skilled at ABM marketing. Like I could do that with my eyes turned off, I mean, closed. but also in corporate people want. Carmen: Hm. Liz Rivas: A players. They want people that are hungry. They want people that are. And that came across in my interviews. And then I took a little bit of time off. I was traveling around Paris. And I had, you know, I was just kind of like, you know what? If I don't get these jobs, I don't know what I'm gonna do. Like I went into a very dark place. And then I was the opportunity that one of my friends was like, Hey, like, why don't you just come stay here with for the summer and just build your business? And I'm like, wait. Carmen: Mm-hmm. Okay. Liz Rivas: Yeah, let me do that. ⁓ so this is actually a really interesting time. I'm in the process of all my things and moving to Paris for the summer and working on Rome Circle full time and traveling ⁓ doing collaborations and doing community ⁓ events for women. so it's kind of interesting that ⁓ I kind of have like the runway now, but it wasn't Carmen: Yeah. Liz Rivas: an a no-brainer. At first I was like, nope, like I have to do both things, but I think there comes a time with a when a founder realizes that they have to they have to choose. Carmen: Yeah, for sure. And that's the way for them to take that step to be able to fully commit and just build and find a way to solve the problem that you were observing, which is what you mentioned, right? And what really drove you was, you know, having the need to solve that particular problem. And I would love to, you know, dive a little bit more about that as well. because you mentioned that you have been traveling right to like 13 countries you mentioned. And then that kind of was giving you this inspiration to ⁓ start this app, to be able to build this online community to connect with a lot of female solo travelers, ex-bac community. so mean it it's definitely very, a very interesting concept, I would say, because I think is ⁓ Two sides when it comes to traveling, right? There's also one element of like, ⁓ it's so empowering to travel alone. But there's also this element, especially as women, we have to think about safety, right? So I'd love to hear from your experience about do you think this is like a really big challenge or problem when it comes to like building connections, community, and so on. Liz Rivas: Yeah, I mean, in a world of AI, ⁓ I think the the coolest thing about it is how, you know, we have we're in such a digital age and you know, things are feel so easy and so connected. But you've I'm sure you've heard this a million times of the loneliness epidemic and community is becoming some somewhat of a luxury. ⁓ that's honestly something that I don't think AI can ever take away from us. Carmen: Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: is community, is that human connection, it's friendship. and then the travel part, the culture. and also as, you know, when I'm I've been doing, you know, all my investor outreach and doing my, you know, pitch decks and stuff like that. This is a like an eight ⁓ eight ⁓ hundred dollar industry, ⁓ which is absolutely insane. especially the ⁓ having the ⁓ economy and so many people that have the luxury to do it. ⁓ and also the people that want to that are just like, wait, I wish, you know, I had so many people say, like, wow, like you're you've really encouraged me to to travel solo. ⁓ and it's it's such a it's such a huge gap. And then also what I've been doing ⁓ with Rome Circle is partnering with large women communities in all of my pillar cities. So that's how I've been basically growing the app ⁓ and getting kind of density in my cities. Is finding like, okay, like there's a girls group in Lisbon, that's for nomads. There's a girl there's a girls group in Mexico City that's for, you know, nomads, and then bringing them onto the app and kind of having that visibility layer. So it's not like, I mean, I have, you know, my grassroots community that I'm growing, but I also give women the option, I'm like, this is a vetted community that I vetted myself that also like has ⁓ of events, ⁓ you know, throughout the year where you could actually meet other women. ⁓ and then creating kind of a network effect through that as well. So it's just not like, it's it's just my ab. I'm just like, I want to bring those resources together for women so they know that they have community. Carmen: Mm-hmm. Course. Yeah, of course. So could you tell the listeners a little bit how does ⁓ app work? Is it like a meetup where you have all these different events or you're able to find people who are currently live in the locations that you are in? ⁓ how does it work? What kind of features do they have? Liz Rivas: Yeah. Yeah, so basically it's like a bumble BFF with events and ⁓ trips. So basically like you can make a profile, you can connect and chat or see what events are in that region. And then also whatever group trips are happening globally, you can join as well. so that's basically when I originally had it, I was just like, ⁓ I just want to do it kind of like a like a bumble BFF feature. See, see who's there, connect, chat, meetup. Carmen: Okay, cool. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Liz Rivas: ⁓ but the community aspect came into it later on when I was like, wait a minute, there's all these groups that already exist. Why not also bring them onto the app? So it's not like so, especially for women that are traveling solo, maybe you don't want to just meet a random person for lunch or whatever. It's like I maybe I wanna do like a girls brunch or a girls hike or you know, some type of a retreat or something. Carmen: Okay. Liz Rivas: where I could meet other women and not just, you know, but for me personally, ⁓ when I was making the app, I was going to dinner by myself all the time and traveling. I'm just like, I wish I had somebody to go to dinner with or have somebody like to go like to the club with or something like that. And like, that's originally why I made it. And then recently I expanded into group travel because also how I got into travel, my father's been a travel agent for 40 years. Carmen: Yeah, of course. Yeah. Liz Rivas: Travel's always always been my passion. And then I just somehow fell into B2B SaaS marketing. and you know, and doing all that that tech stuff. ⁓ but I'm like, wait a minute, I have my father's agency. He ha Ayata and ARC, all the all the accreditations, all the back end. So I'm also been modernizing his business because his business is in like the stone age. Like they're just like, Hi, like, would you like to go on vacation? Like, there's no like, you know, so I'm working on Carmen: ⁓ okay. Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: modernizing his business also through my business as well and kind of bring bridging those two gaps. So it's been pretty cool to kind of see that it's becoming more than just an app, but like a community and then a travel influ like infrastructure at the same time. I'm like, ⁓ like this is pretty cool. Carmen: Yeah, definitely very cool as well. And this app, how many countries is it available? Is it available worldwide? Can anybody all over the world use it? What does it look like in terms of statistics? Where do you think most of the users are coming from? Liz Rivas: So I'm live in 12 cities globally. and but my biggest cities are Lisbon, Mexico City, Barcelona, and Paris. and then I'm also ⁓ expanding right now to Bali and to Thailand because those are huge nomad hubs. ⁓ I also have a pretty big community in Costa Rica that's growing as well, because that's also a pretty large nomad hub. So I'll be focusing a lot ⁓ on building my European community this year. ⁓ I mean this summer, since I'll be there. ⁓ but and then later in the fall, growing a little bit more in ⁓ like South America and Southeast Asia and stuff like that. And the best part about not having a corporate job anymore is like I don't have to wait for my two weeks of vacation. Like, and 'cause also I was I was yeah, I was I was digital nomading, but also was working in a kind of a regulated industry. Carmen: Okay. true. Liz Rivas: And then I found out about a year into my solo travels that like you're actually not allowed to do that. They're like, Yeah, you can work remote from your house. I'm like, I'm like, what do you mean I can't work ⁓ from mountain in Costa Rica? Like that's ⁓ feels home to me. ⁓ Carmen: Yeah. Yeah. I mean, at the end of the day, right, home is not necessarily like ⁓ physical space. It's also like this emotional safety as well, right? ⁓ and I think, you know, when it comes to the definition of home, there's a lot of like nuances. It's like it's such an umbrella term, especially when you live that digital nomad lifestyle, right? You're gonna end up also having ⁓ Your heart is going to be scattered all over the world. You're going have people all over the world. ⁓ so this is also something that I relate to. And I think what you're working on, it's it's really great. It's really empowering. I think I wanted to kind of like go back to what we mentioned earlier about, you know, community is now seen more as a luxury, whereas before it's like it's kind of essential for the human survival as well. ⁓ it's interesting that. Liz Rivas: Yes. Carmen: ⁓ now with all this technology and AI, that ideally it's supposed to foster and build really meaningful connections, but it seems that it's also getting really it's it's also really it's also like much harder as well. you think that in terms of the use of AI it it hinders or kind like fosters connections? Like what are your thoughts around that? Liz Rivas: I think people are more hungry than ever for things that AI could not recreate. I cause even just like as a content creator and a marketer, when I'm seeing the things that are performing from a marketing perspective or things that are going viral, it is not these overly edited videos or anything. It is not the age of the influencer is slowly kind of dying because all of these AI videos are being recreated and all this AI slop. Carmen: Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: A lot of the things that are have been really going viral is like the very simple talking to camera, like very little editing, like super raw, real people talking about all the stuff that's going on in their lives. That's not pretty. It's it's no longer kind of like the aesthetic. And people really want that rawness ⁓ and that connection because I think kind of what brought, you know, what separated us before was just like, Carmen: Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: You know, like we're all so different in all these different lifestyle, and I'll never be like that. but now it's just like, nope, like let's go meet up, let's go to the park and have a picnic. And ⁓ actually ⁓ the one of the really cool things I think about also with AI is that we are able to to work on things, you know, like leave Claude in the background doing menial tasks, and now we can go outside and get some fresh air. And I think that's what the good ⁓ Carmen: Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: you know, the good thing about AI is is that people really are craving that realness, ⁓ and that rawness that AI will never be able to recreate. But it's giving us time to be like, wait a minute, like we could do this now. Let's let's let's let's go, you know, let's have a potluck, you know, let's go, let's go to the beach, especially now that it's summertime. Like let's travel, like let's, Carmen: Hmm. Liz Rivas: You know, and all this crazy stuff that's going on in the world and people are like, I don't have that much time left, or I don't know what's going on. Let's let's go on a trip. Let's do something. Carmen: Yeah, yeah. No, I think that's quite an interesting ⁓ and also really refreshing perspective what you offer as well. You know, like you mentioned a lot about the the rawness, the vulnerability aspect of like it really does come down to the simple things when we are creating content that is helpful for our business, helpful for our media, it's really about you know, having that sense of connection rather than comparison because you know nowadays, especially when you go on social media, it's so easy for you to compare yourself, especially when you look really put together the all the aesthetics as well. So I think it's refreshing to hear that, you know, when you use AI and all the social media correctly, it could transform into something that would actually bring people closer together too. Liz Rivas: Yeah, absolutely. Especially like I live in Miami now and it's just like everybody's in rent rented cars and a apartments that they can't afford and flexing all this stuff. I'm like, Ain't nobody got it. I don't got it, you know. I'm like, girl, I'm playing for my life. Carmen: Yeah. Yeah. Of course. Yeah, yeah, of course. At the end the day, we're just doing like the best that we can, right? Yeah. Liz, I actually want to hear a little bit about the story behind the name Rome Circle. So how did that name come to life? Liz Rivas: Yeah. so this is actually a very funny story. ⁓ so ⁓ day that I had this idea, I was actually in the airport ⁓ from New York where I my family's from on my way to Miami. I was going on a solo trip to Lisbon. ⁓ and I was like, you know what? Like I have a l friends there that I've known and stuff, but like ⁓ how am I gonna meet people and blah, blah, blah. And this is when I actually had the aha moment and then bringing it to AI when I was like, ⁓ my God, like I have this really good idea. Carmen: Okay. Liz Rivas: Hey, Chat GPT, like let's, you know, like I have this really cool idea, and I'm and you know, I'm like, let's think of names. and that that's kind of how the name Rome Circle is just like me riffing with with Chat GPT. And first it was like tribe vibe, but like there's so many things that are tribe. There's so many nomad names and all of this stuff. ⁓ Rome Circle. Carmen: Mm-hmm. Yeah. Liz Rivas: The reason that the name really resonated with me is like I'm a roamer. Like my ⁓ my dad calls me like a gitana, which in Spanish is gypsy. You know, I like to roam around. ⁓ and then circle, community. So I really wanted it to to that anywhere that you are roaming, you can find your circle and you can find your community because I really want it to be. Carmen: Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: that anywhere that you are in the world, if you open Rome Circle, you're gonna find ⁓ you know, fret authentic friendships or community. so I I felt really resonating with that name. Carmen: Yeah, okay. What does ⁓ community mean to you? Liz Rivas: Community means everything to me. and it it's not something that I've ever did on purpose, but I've always loved to host. I always, you know, love to bring people together. ⁓ when I first moved to Miami about five years ago, I didn't know anybody here. ⁓ I actually, since I'm in the process of moving ⁓ you know, for now to to to do, you know, my thing in Paris, you know, kind of looking back at the last five years, I'm like, I hadn't did not know a single soul here. Carmen: Yeah. Liz Rivas: ⁓ and a lot of these, you know, women groups, for instance, there's this group called New Miami Girls, which was started by just the shyest girl ever. ⁓ that now it is like a 50,000 strong women community here that she literally just started on Facebook because she was new and wanted to make friends. And that community made so many friends for me. And then, like, then I'm part of the Yelp community and all of these things. And I would just show up and by myself and make friends. And now looking back at all the friends that I've made in the city, I'm like, wow, I've really you came in from zero and really built a really strong community. I've connected people, I've networked, and I think community is so important because that's community is so important because That's what I that's your circle. That's your support. ⁓ and also from a networking perspective, like your network is your net worth. I've had so many business opportunities, collaboration opp opportunities for just putting yourself out there. And I think that's actually one of the scariest things because everybody wants like this quote, it's ⁓ you know, I'm sure you've heard it, the everybody wants a village, but nobody wants to be a villager. Carmen: Yeah. Liz Rivas: your is your net worth. I've had so many business opportunities, collaboration opportunities for just putting yourself out there. And I think that's actually one of the scariest things everybody wants a village, but nobody wants to be a villager. Carmen: Absolutely. Liz Rivas: And being a villager is you have to show up. You have to be uncomfortable. You have to do stuff that's not necessarily in your comfort zone to make friends. And obviously, I'm creating ⁓ you know, like a technology infrastructure so people people can find those things, but you still have to show up, you know, like when people invite you, when when you make a connection, you know, here in Miami, people follow each other on Instagram, you're like, let's we should hang out and like never hang out. Carmen: Yes. Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: Hey, maybe make the first step. Maybe be like, hey, let's go to coffee. Let's go take a walk. Let's do something. It's uncomfortable, but that is how you build community is showing up. somebody invites you to their birthday, show up. it's on a weekday, it's inconvenient for you. Sorry. Like, you know, community isn't always convenient. So ⁓ that's how you know you you show up. If someone's like, hey, I need ⁓ I'd your help, like. Carmen: Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: ⁓ that's annoying. I hate that, but I'll do it anyway. You know, obviously have your boundaries, but I think it's important for people if you want people to show up for you, you have to show up. Carmen: Yeah, yeah, that's for sure as well. I feel like sometimes I think I don't know what it is, but I would love your thoughts on this. But I feel like somehow I also came across this this this post or quote on social media how like for some we reason that adult friendships are just so much harder than they were, right? In college and school. Because you know, there you don't have to put as much effort in terms of making the act of choice. when you want to show up, where you want to show up, because you're all moving at the same pace. You're all going through the same experiences in class, but especially as adults, especially in that, especially as women, or especially when you move into another country, it's really hard because like you mentioned, you have to start from zero. and sometimes people just ⁓ they're surviving, they're trying to start from scratch and maybe they want to show up, but sometimes they don't have the capacity to ⁓ but at the same time they ⁓ ⁓ they want to have those connection and community, but it's like a vicious cycle if that makes sense. I mean, what are your thoughts on that? Yeah. Liz Rivas: Yeah. I mean, living in Miami, Miami's known for being one of the flakiest cities. ⁓ so you know, there's a lot of there's a lot of times I've invited people and they'll be like, yeah, I'll be there, and they don't show up. But also, I think it's very important not to take things personally ⁓ because ⁓ we're going through something. Everybody obviously wants connection, but you don't know what people are going through. So that's I think one one thing that's really important for community. Carmen: ⁓ Yeah. Liz Rivas: is to not take things super personally. also when I talk to other community builders and other ⁓ you know, in other cities. For instance, in Costa Rica, I had this this woman who was an expat and she's been hosting brunches ⁓ for for women and like from from 30 to 50 year olds. And she's like, ⁓ like I'll be making these reservations for dinner. And then people don't show up and then I have to call the restaurant and do all this. And you know, it's it's it's also difficult for the person that is building community. And then obviously it's like, and man, I put all this effort into it. And I've been there so many times and I'm like, you know, I have a party and I throw a brunch and I buy all this food and then people don't show up. And I'm like, okay, but it's like the people that do show up, like those are your people, you know? And it's also like, yeah, but like don't take it too personally if somebody can't make it. Carmen: Mm. For sure. It's tough. Yeah, that's for sure. Liz Rivas: You know, like still be like, hey, maybe, you know, maybe they're going through something. ⁓ but it's like if you invite them again and they don't come, it's just like, ⁓ maybe, you know, like let's I'll I'll let the first one slide. But it's like if you say you're coming and you don't and then don't have a reason for not, then it's kind of like, you gotta be a villager. And then it's like, you know. Carmen: Yeah. Yeah. Mm. Absolutely. Yeah. And I think at the end of the day, it's also a lot easier to use that as data to see, okay, who can be considered as part of my village, you know, because then you can be a little bit more selective or intentional of who has access to your village, you know, or who has access to your time and energy as well. I I think it's really inspiring that with the app that you're building, it will also help to guide through that as well to connect people too. Liz Rivas: Mm. Carmen: ⁓ I'd love to like talk a little bit about your, you know, your your team setup. Do you have people supporting you? What does it look like? Who is building the apps? Who is programming the algorithms? ⁓ tell the listeners a little bit more about that. Liz Rivas: Yeah. So I first tried to build the app by myself when I first had this idea. This was back this was around last summer before all the, you know, clawed code and everything was taken over. So I was kind of like, let me find like something to build an app and blah blah blah. And I tried to build it myself. But then I'm like, I don't want to do this. Like that's not this this is not fun. Like I I made the front end and I made it cute how I wanted. And then I found a really talented developer to help me do that. Carmen: Okay. Yeah. Liz Rivas: ⁓ but I first was looking around and I found like, you know, different websites like Contra and all these things. And it's kind of like you don't really know what you're getting. And also like I you know, I am a marketer. I'm not I'm not a tech person. So ⁓ decided to offload that right away and focus on the things that I know that I'm good at, which is marketing, partnerships, ⁓ kind of that big picture CEO, blah, blah, blah, mission. And then get a nerd to do the nerdy stuff. And I think I think that's really important to have like a technical person to support you if that's not who you are. and then also delegating things that were taking extra time. For instance, I have ⁓ somebody that supports me with putting, you know, the events together ⁓ you know talking to different ⁓ hosts in different cities. Carmen: Mm-hmm. Liz Rivas: And she helps coordinate the, you know, the landing page for the event and the back end and the ticketing and putting the things on the app and kind of the stuff that I also don't want to do. and as I grow, obviously that's kind of what I want to do is continue to offload things, like eventually have like UGC creators or and ⁓ you know, different people like that. But I now that I have the time, I'm really I've Carmen: Yes. Liz Rivas: really found that I actually kind of enjoy content creation. I also use like my my personal page and my whole personal brand is just unhinged like ⁓ but it's been it's working because it's real and authentic. And then I have the Rome Circle page is very community travel and kind of trying to bridge those gaps. So I found within this process of what I knew that I was good at and what I knew that I should delegate. And obviously as I continue to grow, I'll be ⁓ having my sister who's a CPA helping more with the finances and things like that. Cause I also don't like that. And I think any founder advice that I have for anybody is don't try to do everything by yourself. I that's how you it leads to burnout. And I and I notice now that I'm in the entrepreneur community that it's very common for everyone to want to do things themselves. And it's, you know, it's it's not that you end up not enjoying what you're doing. And I I want to love what I'm doing. Carmen: Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's for sure. And I think the way you approach it is, you know, delegating things that are, I would say, really ⁓ that take up a lot of time or things that you don't really enjoy doing so that you can really put all your attention and energy on, you know, doing things that you love, like you mentioned, you know, content creation and so on. Do you still feel like there are some operational challenges that you are still dealing right now that you're like, okay, I want to hand this over to someone else to take care of? Liz Rivas: Yeah. Yeah, of course. I mean, the app development part too, 'cause I have a my person who created my app, like he's helping me ⁓ a more more like a favor type of thing. So he's also a talented developer and, you know, has his own business to run and a family to feed. So s a lot of things take a lot longer than I would hope, obviously, because they don't, you know, they don't work for me exactly. So That's why I'm working really hard to get like investors and things like that. Cause I I really do need more of that ⁓ support operationally ⁓ and automating certain certain things. ⁓ the operation side of things is not super easy for me. Like I am a marketer, I'm a full stack marketer. So I have you know, I I know how to operate the systems and how to connect all the stuff, but I don't enjoy that either. And like, The coding, the website stuff, and SEO. so that's kind of been like pulling teeth. But also I think it's important to to know as a CEO to know how everything works and how the sausage is made, even if it's not fun. So it's like, all right, let's let's learn how to do this, I guess. ⁓ Carmen: Mm-hmm. Yeah, I can imagine it's also like a really huge learning curve as well, right? There's some things that ⁓ you you gotta learn, but it's not exactly like the most ⁓ it's not exactly like the funnest thing to do, but it's also like an important part, especially because you're overseeing everything as well. ⁓ I love to know like what is like your next goal right now? Like what do you plan to do with Rome Circle? Like, do you have like some ⁓ goals that you want to achieve, maybe expanding more locations or get ⁓ more ⁓ Liz Rivas: Mm-hmm. Carmen: app users or something like that. Liz Rivas: So right now what really working on ⁓ is modernizing my father's side of the business and integrating that with my with Rome Circle. ⁓ And the for that is that he has over a 40 year travel legacy ⁓ under his belt it's very antiquated. And I've also spoken to different advisors and they're like, You're the my Biggest differentiator is that I have the Iata, like that is not an easy thing to have, not an easy thing to get. so that is actually my competitive advantage here. ⁓ so having more of group travel, more solo travel. And now that I have ⁓ a network of women solo travelers and digital nomads, like there's basically an entire lead source there that I am going to now. ⁓ you know, bring onto the community because it's also community globally traveling. So that's that's my biggest thing this summer. now I have the time and I have you know, work trips that I'm working on. I'm learning all the systems now for the travel back end, which is completely new to me too. I have not been in this space at all. So I'm learning sabre and I'm getting into the like ensemble ⁓ travel consortium and ⁓ learning all like the bookings and becoming a travel advisor. And I'm like, ⁓ okay. Like that was never necessarily part of the original plan. But that is also then what really is going to power Rome Circle and bring it to not just a travel app, not just a community app, not just a, you know, like a friendship app, but actually like a global global travel and community infrastructure happening at the same time. ⁓ Carmen: Okay. Yeah, yeah. ⁓ that's really beautiful as well. how many users do you have at the moment? Okay. Liz Rivas: I currently have a thousand users. ⁓ and I haven't been really super promoting the app yet because I'm waiting for my developer to ⁓ have the subscription service set up and cause you know, girl, need some coin. ⁓ so currently the app is completely free. so basically anybody can join, connect, and chat and things like that, but Carmen: Yeah. Liz Rivas: Eventually I'm gonna have ⁓ like a premium version so people can see who's going to events, see who's going to different travel groups and people can have their own ⁓ community within the app. So if there's a travel group, people can talk to each other before, have more of that community, see who's going to different events, you know, see who's liked your profile before you've connected with them ⁓ just kind of that standard ⁓ you know, dating app kind of infrastructure and have that. part of the app. So those are also things that I'm working on right now. Carmen: Yeah. Well, Liz, that sounds very, very exciting as well. And I think this is gonna really leave a very ⁓ changing impact. because I can imagine, you know, right now we are Becoming more global, people are traveling more. And I think this is going to be something very useful because this is something that it's, I would say, an intrinsic need as humans as well, is to be able to build connections, foster relationships as well. So I'm pretty sure that this is gonna really take off as well. to close with a final question, Liz, if you could share a piece of advice from your experiences to someone who is thinking about starting a business and there may be a little bit hesitant or they have some reservations, what would it be? Liz Rivas: Just do it. I we only have one life. I think I am a very firm believer in you just need to go for it. because the longer you wait, ⁓ and I've said this multiple times to in different formats, but the longer you wait and then someone else has your idea, and then you're like, ⁓ my God, I had that idea years ago. And then it's then you get upset. It's like, ⁓ my God, like, why did someone do that? It's like, Cause you you had the opportunity to do it. and I think that the longer somebody waits, ⁓ there's a divine thing that happens, you get that ⁓ inspiration. not going to be easy, but it's gonna worth it. And every day I'm being challenged, every day I am being pushed in new fun and exciting ways. But I know in my heart that I'm in the right place and I'm doing the right thing. And I think every founder. ⁓ you know, you have to be a little crazy also. So I think if if you are somebody that is listening and you're like, Well, I'm not crazy, you know, maybe don't maybe don't start. But if you're like, I'm a little crazy, like, yeah, do it. Absolutely do it. Like, absolutely entrepreneurship is for you if you have something wrong with you, like, but it's worth it. ⁓ Carmen: Okay. Ha ha ha. Cool. Yeah, and there's nothing wrong with being crazy because through crazy it comes beautiful chaos as well. Awesome. Liz, well, thank you so much again for coming on and sharing your story about how you found the Rome Circle. This is Carmen Devat and Liz Rivas from Behind the Founders. Be sure to stay tuned for the next episode. Liz Rivas: Yes. Bye.