Latest / Fractional Frequency / Systems, Supply, and the Side Hustle: Bootstrapping a Language Learning Marketplace
Transcript
- Billie Tienda: Today we're joined by Ike Waba, an accomplished product marketing executive, founder and entrepreneur, whose career has spanned leadership roles at Autodesk, AT<unk>T, Cisco, and Armor, before taking the leap to build something of his own. As the co-founder of Basilingo, Ike is on a mission to make language learning more engaging by connecting children with native speakers who teach through activities they already love, from music and sports to art and dance. In this episode, we'll explore what it takes to transition from leading global marketing organizations to launching a startup from the ground up. And Ike shares a story behind Basilingo, why he chose to bootstrap the business, the realities of building a two sided marketplace, and the leadership principles guiding the company through its earliest stages. We hope this will be a thoughtful conversation about entrepreneurship, product strategy, and creating meaningful impact by solving a deeply personal problem. Welcome, Ike. Hey, thank you, Erin. Excited to be here. Excited to share more about Basilingo. I am so excited to learn in our discovery call I was just enthralled by the idea, the concept, and it's been a little while and so excited to catch up on on your build. So before we get into all of that, let's start with your origin story. What inspired the idea for Basilingo? Yeah, definitely. So just ⁓ when we look at Basilingo, it actually started five years ago. ⁓ so five years ago we my oldest at the time just was wrapping up an all immersive ⁓ pre-K that we've been doing with her for her for the last three or four years. So she knew Spanish, she was fluent in Spanish. And so she was transitioning over to kinder. The school in our area did not have a a fully immersive program that she can continue to learn the language. And so ⁓ that's really where the advent of the idea came about. We thought to ourselves, hey, there's a lot of other solutions out there that's video based or just maybe conversations online or listening to podcasts, watching shows, but we wanted something more sustainable, less screen time. And so we thought about the idea and the concept of we already pay for activities for kids. We are for our kids, so piano, dance, music, you name it, sports. Also, we don't want our kids necessarily to be online all the time. And so We and we also knew that immersion was the best way to learn a language, given I was already speaking a third language to my kids and they were already learning it. And so we thought about the idea of combining immersion activity space and and language learning. ⁓ so fast forward five years later, ⁓ I got laid off from my more recent job and my wife and I just threw processing through our next steps, praying through it, trying to understand what our next steps will look like. we thought, hey, this is the right time for us to jump in. Fortunately, my brother at that time was also available to jump in with us. And so he was on the more on the technical side to develop at the marketplace. And so we've been going at it ever since. So it's been a year since then and it's been a lot of building for us as as a business. That's an incredible story. And I have to ask you a follow up on that. I think it's one thing to take the leap. It's another to stick with the roller coaster that is building a startup in the early days. High points, really low points for a lot of founders. And so tell me a little bit about, you know, as you've weathered those challenges, what kind of draws you to continue to lean in and press forward rather than maybe going back to the corporate world when it's probably the easier choice. Yeah, for sure. And so to your point, having a startup, building a startup, it's no easy feat, right? It's a roller coaster. And so ⁓ again, as I mentioned, my wife and I, as we were processing through it, praying through it, thinking through what that next steps look like. ⁓ basically what we decided is, hey, let's take this a year at a time. Right. And so we ⁓ we were fortunate in where we were. But as again, as you mentioned, roller coaster, we have three kiddos that we have mouths to feed, health insurance, all these things that we have to contend with. But just having that North Star in mind of like there's a reason and a purpose why we're building this. We have a passion for this. And we believe based on feedback, based on having conversations with providers and then also parents that they desire a solution like this. And so we've just continually remembered why we're building what we're building. There are some days that I'm like, hey, are we actually doing the right thing? But so haven't getting that encouragement from my wife and others around me as well. But overall it's been Linear, right. We we have a target. We know what we're looking or and going after. And so we've just really been focused on really pursuing that. I think it's a smart strategy. You know, we're taking this a year at a time. It it sort of, you know, it doesn't mean you don't need to have Be lifted up from time to time to have encouragement along the way. But it I think helps to get through those moments of we're not gonna re-assess this every other week or every other month when something hard comes our way. Tell me a little bit about your decision to bootstrap the business rather than go and seek investor funding. Yeah. So ⁓ that that's a great question as well. So as we are looking at, there's two routes to this, right? You can go the investor route, pursue investment and ⁓ of course you'll get the capital that you need to really hit it and go hard and fast. ⁓ whereas when we look at what we're building, right, one of some of the core tenants and one of the some of the core things that we're looking to do and achieve is lifestyle as well. Right. So as you're in corporate, right? So things that happen when you're in corporate, you're traveling all the time, you're working twenty four seven. And of course for startups, it's it's the input, what you put in is what you get out. So we're actually working a lot as well. But we are able to control some of the ⁓ some of our quote unquote destiny, what we're building, how we're building it. And so right now our desire is that we want to be able to manage the direction of the business. ⁓ we want to manage the requirements. ⁓ and then of course, as I I've worked with clients on the consultant side, right? You see some of these early stage startups when you have the board that you have to report to, you may be focused on reports. Be being able to focus on some of those things that don't necessarily help you get to the root of the business that you're looking to build. And so for us, we just really want to be really heads down, focused, and build this business the way that we believe it should be built. Mm-hmm. Yeah. I think that makes a ton of sense to me. I think and some of the headspace too, right? That you capture back from where you would have otherwise maybe been spending time, you know, building the report or polishing the deck. You're Instead coming up with the next best idea. Road shows all these things, right? So for us, let's let's double down. We are able to fortunately again, we have the capital ⁓ to be able to pursue what we're pursuing now. And so we'll continue as it is. And if things change, we'll reevaluate it. But right now this is the best path for us as an organization. Yeah, makes sense. Makes total sense. And so let's talk a little bit about the product. I'm excited to get into this. You've got this marketplace concept. It's two sided. So you've got ⁓ you know, the the suppliers ⁓ and then you've got the users. As you dove in to sort of understand the priorities and motivations of those two audience segments, what maybe surprised you about one or or both? Yeah, for sure. So It's interesting when you start any business, right? You it's important to validate it, to market test it, right? So that you're not doubling down on all the all your capital and all these and find out that the things that you built are not usable. Right. And so we started off with an idea, just that initial concept of activities-based learning, immersive based learning. ⁓ and then we said, let's go test it out, let's go ask questions. But it's interesting, some of our earlier hypotheses have actually changed over time. So small things like On the provider side, on the supply side, we believe that there was a specific demographic or ICP or you know ⁓ customers that will be ripe providers. ⁓ but w that's actually changed significantly. So initially we thought college students, gig economy, those are the folks that are, you know, interested, will be interested in this. But as we've been doing our homework and as we've been getting providers that have raised their hand interested in what we're building. What we found is that there are, of course, the college kids or the early career folks that are looking for additional income. But then we've also found others. We've found older adults, right? Stay at home moms that have flexibility, maybe time their kids may all be in school. ⁓ or we've actually seen retirees that are interested in ⁓ being providers as well, which blew our minds of like, man, this, you know, small scope, it's now enlarged, which is great. And then on the parent side, ⁓ for my wife and I, right? So we had no we're conversational in Spanish, but we're not fluent in Spanish as an example. But and so our premise was that parents would be folks that may not have deep language experience or expertise, whether it's Hindi, whether it's French, whether it's Arabic, whatever it may be the language that you're trying to learn. But what we found is that there's actually a spectrum of parents. So we've seen ⁓ parents with no language experience. We've seen parents that have one parent that knows the language versus others. And then we've seen other parents that both into the house, they know the language, but as their kids go off to school, they're only learning English. And so they need a opportunity to reinforce it outside of the home. And so again, hypothesis, we've tested it and it's expanded as we've had conversations ⁓ with parents and providers. Yeah. And you have to be open to changing your mind about those assumptions. I mean, imagine if you weren't, you'd be missing out on these huge populations of potential users or providers that are excited about the tool. Exactly. I I a hundred percent agree with you. Yeah. It probably the most important thing as a founder is being willing to admit that you didn't have it all. Yes. Yes. I think that's the thing with the your team, with the folks that you talk to. It's it's sometimes what happens as a founder, it this is my idea. I want to keep it. you know, organic and my idea, but really you have to take those inputs and you have to be willing to pivot. So an initial idea may change. And as we launch, we may find that there are certain languages that resonate more than other languages, or we may find that there's certain activities that resonate more, or parents are looking for certain type of activities versus others. And so we're really open to that. But ultimately what we want to do is that we want to keep our ears to the ground. And keep listening to both our providers because we want to help support them and then also our parents because we want to help and support them in their kids' language learning journey. Yeah. Yeah. Absolutely. So I I'm catching it at a really exciting time because you're on the cusp of your initial go-to-market. And we talked previously, you mentioned that your go-to-market strategy was inspired by the Uber model, so to start regionally and expand. Maybe educate our listener base a little bit about what is the Uber model and how are you planning to leverage it in your go to market? Yeah, for sure. There's companies like Uber, there's Toro, there's Airbnb, all a lot these marketplaces, right? And so when we take a look, it's a supply and demand. We know that suppliers, which are providers, folks that know that an activity and know language that can speak to and teach kids those activities in that language. And then there's the demand side, which is the parent side. But What we're building is that it's the chicken and egg, right? Do we have enough providers so that when parents come on the platform, they can be able to find what they our need and what they need. And so the way that we're taking our product to market is that we provide and offer both an online version and then also we provide an in-person version. And so for online version, a provider can be anywhere in the US to provide the service. But when it comes to in person, because again, we believe in person experiences are are very powerful. And so this is something that we want to encourage. But at the same time, we want to make sure we have the right number of providers in the platform ready so that when a parent says, Hey, I want my kids to learn soccer or football from depending on where you're from, or I want my kids to learn piano, you and they want them to be in person. We want to ensure that we have enough providers to be able to say, Hey, I can come to you, you can come to me. We have a public place that we can provide the service for you. And so if we have that that base, then we will open up based on regions and cities and and we'll continue to open it up until we have enough mass or critical mass. So that's our plan. Virtual, it's open or it will be open, but then in person, we will have to make it regionally to ensure that we have enough providers to then open that that section up. And I'm just curious, which regions do you think will be first? Yeah, well, we're in Texas, right? So that's where we're based. So DFW will be our first region ⁓ for in person. But then of course as we get interest, we'll take a look and see how many providers based on the locations. We we have providers now that are in LA. We have providers that are in different Atlanta and different regions, but again it's virtually, but ⁓ just based on the But interest and people that are raising their hands, then we'll we'll take a look and at the best. Yeah. I think it's a great market to launch too. You know, just like a lot of lot of different perspectives, different people. That's right. I think, you know, that's a an exciting, exciting place to start. It is. Last sort of question. We're recording end of July. There'll be a little bit of lag before we ⁓ drop this episode, but ⁓ do you have a go live date? Yes. So I it's one of those things when you have technology, there's things that changes last minute, right? So right now what we're we're what we're targeting is for end of August. That's our target ⁓ to launch. ⁓ and then of course what we want to ensure that we do is that we open up to our providers on board and put in all their information, their profile. We have to do background checks for providers to ensure that given that they're working with kids, we want to make sure it's a safe platform, a trusted platform. And so we have to go through all that background check and then we will then open it up to parents. So the target now is End of August will be our go live date. Very exciting. We are so close. ⁓ it's gonna be here before before we know it. Exactly. Time flies so fast. It's crazy. Yeah. I wanna pick your brain Ike a little bit about leadership too. ⁓ we we love to spend a bit of time kind of getting to know the leader behind the idea in these conversations too. And you've got in your model a a diverse team, right? You've leveraged the expertise of family members, of interns, of more traditional subject matter experts that are just coming into the fold. And so as you've got this sort of growing and small but very mighty team of different perspectives, how do you intentionally design and build for the culture that you want long term at Boslingo? Yeah. And so when we started all this, we ⁓ sat down and said, Hey, what do we want as an organization to be known for? What do we want to strive for? Right. So different company cultures and varies, right? And so number one, and I'm actually looking at the note, it's up here on the board. Well basically what we said is that we want our company to be full of integrity, a lot of fun, creative, diverse, with really smart. And so those are the qualities that we look for individuals. We're a small company and so we can't oversee everything people are doing. We need to move and move quickly. And so the folks that are on board, we want to ensure that they know their stuff and that they can go deliver without over management, micromanagement, whatever you want to call them, right? We want to empower them to be successful. ⁓ and then we also want to have fun as an organization. Our culture A, we're working with kids, but then our culture, we don't want to be suits, right? And that's another thing. It's like we don't want to our work will be seen as loose, not suits, approachable and really creative. And that's our desire. And so as we are working with individuals, it starts from the screening process, understanding who the person is, understanding what they value, understanding what drives and motivates them. And then as they come on board, it's empowering them and enable them to ensure that they understand the vision, understand the North Star. And then empowering them to continue. And then in between that we have fun, get to know one another and deliver great work for again our providers and also our parents. Yeah. I think you've you've hit on some of the most important things. You just bring smart, talented people together who have some, you know, common core values about doing the right thing and getting after really creative ideas and interesting work. And you've done something right already. Tell me a a little bit about like just the contrast, right? You've been in leadership positions in corporate, in the corporate world. You're in a leadership position in your startup now. What is different about those experiences? I think when you look at leadership ⁓ positions in the corporate world, right? There's a lot of processes and systems in place. A lot, especially when it's a larger organization, right? You have your quote unquote swim lane and you have your box of where you need to operate within, right? Given that again, it's a large organization, there's people in roles. And so in that, ⁓ when it comes to that, it's aligning. There's sometimes I've never loved politics, never played politics, but it's really aligning with all the different organizations to ensure that you're helping them achieve a common goal. Sometimes what happens is that the goal is when it comes down, it's missed, right? And so aligning back to the goal. Whereas when it comes to leadership of individuals, right, there's More constant check-ins that needs to take place. There's a there can be more handholding. Sometimes you inherit a team that you are not familiar with background, you know, just being able to coach them a little bit more. Now, when you're in a smaller organization like us, we're building from the ground up. We have a little bit more quote unquote, you can't control everything, but you have a little bit more control of the people that are with you, that are working with you, that are coming alongside you. Again. The big I think the biggest things for us as an organization is making sure our vision is clear, making sure that everyone has ownership of that vision and making sure that, you know, we are empowering them to achieve the vision. That should be the same in the corporate world as well, but there's a little bit more tripping around in the corporate world. ⁓ but on the swamp for us, it's ensuring that all those things are in place. Now, of course, we have interns that work with us. And so in that we are coming alongside them because we want to help them be successful. We're still a bootstrapped organization. So we're not going to we're not we're not able to pay them as much as a corporate organization for sure. Sure. But we want to ensure that they have ownership, but also we're coaching them to be helpful for them in their long term, whether it's with us or with another organization. But ultimately, though, they have a lot more responsibility. To go deliver it, right? Because we can't necessarily handhold them in everything that happens. We have to trust them to deliver. So long order will have answered. There's some unique differences between the two. Larger scale, bigger work, you know, but goals can be trickled down. It can be hard to understand ownership with us. You own you know what you are doing. You know what we have to do. You know what you have to deliver and you have to go and do it. I think there aren't many luxuries in the startup world, but maybe one that we have is in that you're not gonna have someone on your team because they're like, Well, I just got this job. Exactly. And I just target it, right? Yes, yes. They are inherently bought into the vision. Not only do they understand the vision, but they're excited about it. And there's just something about like that that feeling, that emotion that will pull people into, you know, I think greater achievements and greater impacts than is usually possible in a larger, more corporate setting. A hundred percent. And then also it's being willing to like for us, what we want to empower is that let's be creative, let's be, let's have fun, let's be all these things. So there's a lot more willingness to take risks. Right. And so of course it's calculated risk, but hey, let's go test it. If it doesn't work, let's pivot. But you can do it. You can also see your work. I've worked again at smaller companies and this was the case, but you're enabled to go take risks because there's less liability, right, if it fails, right. And so that's something that we're also seeing with our organization as well. Yeah. I've got a follow up on your interns, and I'm assuming that they're young people, you know, kind of just entering their career. Have they surprised you at all? Yeah. And if so, like how so? Yes, it's interesting to see that you can judge a book by its cover. And that's what we want to make sure we're not right. Sometimes what happens is that you hire people that are like you, think like you, talk like you, etc. Right. And so for us, there's specifically one particular intern that she's surprising us time and time over over and over again. She came on board a little bit not not shy, not timid, but just a little bit ⁓ shielded maybe. But just in talking with her seemed as though she understood the vision, had that personality. But time and time again, she's delivered, she's ⁓ fought outside of the box, she's so creative, she's smart, like all these things. And so it's just a reminder of hey, like. There are people that may not necessarily present well during interviews, right? And that's a coaching opportunity. But at the same time, if you give them that ability, then they're able to deliver. And one other thing to say too is like when we look at their international students in particular, right? There's different hierarchy of needs, ⁓ where there's a little cultural difference between how maybe from a different country or a different culture to an American culture. And so The understanding that that cultural difference may impact how people interview. And so again, being a willing and able to give someone an opportunity, man, you you you'll be surprised to see how much they can deliver. I think it's a good reminder that, you know, especially this generation coming up into the workforce, they were ⁓ completing, you know, kind of the final stages of their studies and and high school careers with masks over everyone's is yeah, trying to interact virtually ⁓ a lot of times for the first time. And ⁓ I commend them for making it that. I think if if we were all were to put ourselves at that age in those shoes, yeah, we would have struggled. And so at least I would have. No, it's so difficult. Yeah. I you know I think reminding like of course, you know, there's you know some gap to bridge for them of kind of catching up to, you know, communicating more effectively in the workforce and all those things. But And also a reminder for us as leaders to take a step back and give people a chance, look a little bit deeper as the surface level interview responses as you can. 100% agree with you on that. Yeah. ⁓ one more thought on leadership, and this will kind of step back away from the intern topic for a minute. But as you think about this go to market season ahead of you, ⁓ there are a lot to come, many challenges, but also like exciting times. What do you think your team needs from you as a leader during this phase? Yeah, a combination of things. The first, clear vision. Right. So clear vision and direction of here's what we're building, here's what is needed, and here's the metrics that are important for us, right? So there's a lot that we can be doing. It's the tyranny of the urgent. There's a lot of things that are urgent, but not everything is important. And so really understanding what's the most important things for us to really strive towards. So vision, metrics. And then being able to the willingness to roll up my sleeve and continue to do, right? So lead by example. This it's not just unique to us as a startup, but for any organization, a leader has to roll up their sleeves and work and show that they are able to ⁓ to deliver as well. ⁓ and then also just going back to culture, the way that I handle myself, the way that I lead out is going to be very critical to the culture of the organization. And so being able to empower the team to to to to lead and to take ownership of their work is gonna also very Yeah. Yeah. You mentioned there and I've heard you mention this before in in previous conversations, measuring success. I think this is probably one of your strong like strengths, right? Is is like centering to the right things and and measuring the the right signals. I wanna, you know, kind of dive into the last couple of things here, which are, you know, some advice. ⁓ sort of questions for you. As you consider a another bootstrapped founder who may be thinking about where they should be spending their time, you know, from a a success measure perspective, what would you suggest to them as like maybe one North Star or great metric that they should be paying attention to? Yeah, I think it all organizations are different. And so I can't necessarily give ⁓ one metric to, you know, blanket metrics for for the the startup Or at someone else in the same boat, but it's really evaluating what is the most critical and important for your business. So as an example for us, there's metrics that are maybe a little bit fluff metrics that yes, I'm secretly I I look at it, but it's not important. Like if you look at social media, number of followers, all those things are fluff, right? It doesn't necessarily mean anything. And so for us at this stage, Some of the metrics that we're looking at is we want to increase, we have a target for provider number. And then when we launch, we have ⁓ we will have metrics for number of activities ⁓ signed up, ⁓ number of activities signed up by our providers, number of activities signed up by parents, and then we will also look at the the the rate of growth in terms of parents on the demand side and also continue growth on the provider side. So that's our metrics right now, not revenue yet. For some people, right, depending on where they are, if they're investor backed or not, right, there's net re revenue, there it's MAUs, there are different types of metrics that are important. But for your organization, it's what will help you move the needle for the business ⁓ and what will help you ultimately achieve your goal and know knowing what your goal is is the critical piece for any any business. Yeah, yeah. That makes a lot of sense. Staying centered around what you're trying to achieve and and measure from there makes total sense. Exactly. I want to end on one point that is has a lot to do with courage. And you mentioned this earlier, but so many founders as they're talking about their journey, at least as I've received some of the messaging, is like, yeah, I just woke up one day and decided that my cushy, high paying corporate job just wasn't hitting it. And I was going to start something new. And I yeah, I think like that's sort of disingenuous a lot of the time, a lot of times Founder journeys include really tough challenges, whether it's ⁓ you know, being impacted by a reduction in force, losing your job, or or something else, like some sort of ⁓ you know, bad thing that happens to to you or to your family that sort of forces that inflection point. And I think it's really powerful when you see somebody who is, you know, upfront and honest about that as part of their story, but has also had the strength to take that moment and turn it into something. incredible and into an opportunity. And so as as you address ⁓ maybe members of the audience who are in a similar place themselves, maybe they've been impacted and they're in a spot that feels really negative. ⁓ right. You know, in this moment, what would you say to them in terms of ⁓ kind of shifting their mindset and considering how that could be a a real opportunity for them and for their career? Yeah, definitely. So I think every one of us goes Everyone goes through hardship, right? Layoff, reduction enforce, whatever you call it, right? It's very hard, right? And especially when it's your first time, it's that's happened to you. And so just in that, being able to remind yourself for for me at least, it was refreshing to understand, A, that I'm not alone. There's a lot of people that are going through it. It's not because of my ability or lack of my ability. You know, a lot of times when we look at the corporate world, it's happening over and over again. And so for us in our journey The la this past layoff was not my first layoff. The first time it hit was harder. The next time it was easier. This time, and not easier, right? It was still hard, right? And it shakes your confidence a little bit. But really understanding where your confidence is and what your ability, it's not tied to your job. And so in that, just encouraging folks to continue to hold fast, continue to reflect. It's a great reflection opportunity. When I got laid off the first time, second time, even now, my wife and I, we went back and reflected to say, hey, what are we working for? What is our purpose? What's our next step? Being able to reflect to really understand what gives me life, what is encouraging. And then so for everyone that's in that boat, I encourage you to do that. You know, I know there's that tendency of jumping in and looking for a lot of jobs is important. But make sure you take a time to reflect. And then the second thing is that as you are looking for jobs, it's hard. I know the economy right now may not be the easiest. ⁓ and so being able to start thinking to yourself, depending on their situation, we had three kids, mouths to feed, et cetera. So being able to think through what can I do now as I'm looking for a job long term. So whether it's starting something, whether it's looking for temporary work. ⁓ but at the same time, don't lose focus of where you want to go. Some people may want to jump back into corporate. Some people may say, Hey, I'm actually I have something I was doing before. I'm gonna start mute. And so just encouraging folks to look through holistically and just continue to just just continue to strive. It will work out at the end, but it may not be tomorrow, it may not be in a month, it may be a year or a couple of years later, but just continue to not lose focus of where you want to be and where you're going. Yeah. ⁓ patience reflection centering on purpose. I think that it's so easy when you're in a traditional job to maybe forget about purpose and or at minimum just not revisit it as often as maybe we should. And so love that ⁓ call to action. And I think like let's leave our listeners with that. I think it's a a great thing for anybody to consider regardless of where they're at in their journey. But Ike, thank you so much for the conversation today. I've really enjoyed picking your brain. I can't wait to take a look at the platform as it launches ⁓ at the end of August. And thank you so much again for sharing more about your journey and looking forward. Of course. Thank you so much, Erin. I really appreciate it. Thank you for the time.