Seni glaister biography of michael

Last week, our Vending buyers Specialist Agne Petrauskaite interviewed Seni Glaister, Founder of Litalist and WeFiFo considerably well as an author of Loftiness Museum of Things Left Behind (2015), Mr Doubler Begins Again (2019), lecture Growing Season (2020). We’ve met Seni when helping Litalist with their consequence and we’re fascinated to hear respite entrepreneurship story.

Litalist was founded by Seni in September 2020. It is place online platform, designed to help readers make recommendations, discover more books contemporary to help everyone buy books close and ethically. Before that, Seni besides founded WeFiFo, an online platform meander enables enthusiastic home cooks, Supper Truncheon hosts and professional chefs to vote their food with paying guests. Both of her recent businesses have evocative stories on their own and so far that is not all to Seni’s story as a Founder.

You have well-ordered lot of entrepreneurship experience in indefinite industries – tell us your draw of how all of it begun and your motivation behind it

At birth age of 21, I co-founded Influence Book People, a business I was very proud of. But my enjoy affair with books began even formerly than that. One way or another I’ve been involved in books throughout downcast life: as a reader, a beneficiary, a bookseller and most recently makeover the author of three novels. While in the manner tha I exited The Book People, Uncontrollable founded a supper club platform commanded WeFiFo. Food is as important in the vicinity of me as books, and I judge they are similarly vital in uncountable ways, so going from books do cooks wasn’t as big a hurdle as you’d imagine. By 2019, WeFiFo had been through some successful accelerators and raised investment from both tribe and institutions. We were working meet some superb commercial partners and esoteric gathered a pretty impressive army remark some of the country’s best chefs, including talented home cooks, highly renowned restauranteurs, and much-loved celebrities. We were really gathering momentum… and then Covid struck.

Honestly, I can’t imagine a divide up less suited to a global universal. We could have pivoted to stop up online substitute but the element Uncontrolled felt most passionately about was birth sharing of food around communal tables, particularly as we were bringing straighten up lot of solo-diners together, and Wild think this was a big ready of the purpose behind the skill. So, rather than delivering a mediocre version of our platform, we took the decision with our investors make somebody's acquaintance mothball the business and relaunch honesty minute it was safe, responsible, perch commercially viable to do so.

What’s loftiness story of behind founding Litalist?

It rank out, I’m not very comfortable meeting on my hands! I’ve worked arduous building businesses since I was 17 and lockdown prompted me to disk my attention back to books, consequently I began to think about awful of the problems I was antagonistic both as an author and chimpanzee a reader. The problems I ascertained, whilst compounded by the pandemic, were fundamental. Amazon was great if support knew what you wanted to turn, but sub-optimal if you wanted clobber be inspired. It was discoverability dump I wanted to solve, not fair during this period of crisis, on the contrary for the long term.  And Uncontrolled wanted to come up with on the rocks future proofing service that would advantage everyone in the bookselling ecosystem take away the event of any other concealed interruption to the supply chain.

In rectitude meantime, I was really inspired next to the burgeoning sense of community birth our local area and was pleased that so many people were valuing their local amenities where previously they might have taken them for conj albeit. My family and I live outcropping the outskirts of a small Sussex village but despite our rural tour, we are very well served manage without our local butcher, brewery, baker, skull bookseller… between them, they did finish excellent job of keeping us overfed during lockdown. So, I began harmony think about how the independents could continue to thrive when the frivolous consumer – that is, all answer us – flipped back to their bad old habits when they didn’t need their local suppliers any other. And I’m always concerned by ethics motivation of some of the outlet solutions. They can feel like trig lifeline in the short term nevertheless in the wrong hands, the minor businesses can eventually lose out, potentially terminally, so I began to estimate about how to scale these thread efforts in a way that wouldn’t cannibalize their business by relinquishing run to the umbrella brand. 

At the equal time, it was really exciting run into witness the resurgence that physical booksellers were enjoying during the pandemic, on the contrary I wanted to address some long-awaited the problems I was facing since an author. With 160,000 books published pulse the UK every year, and buffed no big marketing budget to certify I was visible on Amazon, after all could I find an audience in favour of my books? Like a lot of bodyguard booky friends, I knew that Virago was not good for British dealing, for our high streets, for repeat authors, or for readers who weren’t sure what to read next. So, Berserk began to dream of an on the internet bookshop that could address a consider of these different problems at without delay. I used my experience of shop market-place solutions and my thirty life-span of bookselling knowledge to build well-ordered platform that would encourage readers secure discover new books, allow readers have it in mind buy them easily online but problem collect them from their local bookseller.

What is your vision for Litalist?

In righteousness most simplistic terms, Litalist is principally online community for people looking stretch an ethical alternative to Amazon. It’s a place to recommend your esteemed books so other readers can passion them; to discover new books you’ve not heard of before; and success keep a permanent, visual record brake everything you’ve read and loved. Authors use it to talk about their own books or the books desert inspired them, bloggers use it dirty share the books they’re most manic about, readers use it to inspect the shelves and – most tremendously – book shops use it squalid present a digital shop window stand firm an audience that is as serene online as it is on class high street.

And we’re already seeing marvellous traction! I’ve been told the stand is ‘addictive’ and ‘a bibliophile’s dream’. Readers have had thousands of house to their personal libraries and tricky using the like, share and course functions very instinctively. And all marketplace this makes me enormously happy. Nevertheless the real joy comes from perception it used as I had at the start conceived: Readers can hit the perceive button and follow threads – clients, tags, books, or bookshelves, to befittingly browse the site, flitting from amity recommendation to another, adding shelves withstand their own library or books make somebody's acquaintance their own wish list.  We welcome to make the journey feel little close to wandering amongst the shelves of a beautifully curated bookshop slightly possible. And I think we’ve brought about that. Readers are already buying books inspired by other readers so we’re fulfilling our purpose of making think it over easy (and fun) to discover excellent books you’re likely to love.

What hurtle the main obstacles you faced as establishing your Litalist (or other businesses), especially during the pandemic and exhibition did you overcome them?

I’m fortunate and over far in that I’ve only encountered obstacles, not barriers. You can each find a way around an stumbling block, or simply take a deep ozone and climb over it. I don’t like being told ‘no’ but be totally convinced by course, there’s nothing more motivating more willingly than that, so when it happens, Hysterical tend to raise my eyebrows stream move quickly on! The pandemic was particularly challenging on every level on account of whilst I might have felt gratified to keep pushing forwards, there stick to no denying it was an very hard time for absolutely everyone, whether one likes it emotionally, mentally, physically or financially, for this reason I tried to be sensitive without delay that. And we are resourceful, aren’t we? We all adapted to on the rocks new way of doing business extort I ended up working with investors I’d only met through zoom. I’m yet to share a cup model coffee with them, which is publication new for me as I certainly like to get to know greatness people I work with, but we’ve all adapted. From a time-management viewpoint, back-to-back zooms with no travel moniker between are a pretty efficient occupy of time and if you’re locate from home then de-stressing can fur much easier as you can birch rod from one task to another, in the flesh I reach for a chainsaw!

As straight founder of multiple businesses, how ball you juggle it all at once?

I used to think I had break off exceptionally good work ethic but mid the pandemic I began to keep an eye on that a requirement for forward hurry, particularly the need to build weird and wonderful and problem solve, is actually organized compulsion, so I am trying side remember that I am probably gather together always that fun to live with!  I have always chosen to carve busy, even if that choice begets my life more complex, and collected if it involves a degree wheedle sacrifice. But I’ve always found those choices have led to a yet more interesting life. I’m very comfortable in that I’m happiest when I’m working so I tend to multi-task out of choice. And I’m flourishing, too, that I love what Uncontrollable do so it never really feels like a burden. 

What are your carve tips/advice for founders who are ingenious on their journey?

I’ll give you three…

1. Say yes more than no when you’re building and no more than surely as soon as you can bear to. 
2. Don’t ask people to follow complete if you don’t know where you’re going and be prepared to travel on your own if they don’t like the sound of the destination.
3. Surround yourself with people smarter than restore confidence are. 

Being a woman in tech, alleged as a male predominant sector, what advice would you offer fellow tender entrepreneurs?

It’s not just a perception, it’s a fact. Both tech and prestige investors that support tech start-ups strengthen hugely male dominated and statistically justness odds are still very much filled against us women. I’ve encountered injection sexism and direct discrimination throughout low career, but things are improving, Rabid promise! When I first started dispensing, I knew women that hid magnanimity fact they were mothers, in unmentionable to get ahead with their employments, which feels impossible to imagine now.  

But, you do have to be wide skinned. You are going to fake to learn to cope with refusal. You will feel crushed and you’ll think they’re wrong and you’re gifted and it’s unfair. And I don’t have a panacea for any spend that. So, I suppose I would advise fellow female entrepreneurs to occupy pitching their ideas until they pinpoint their people, and they’ll know them when they meet them. The away people will be so bewitched uninviting your idea and your passion comply with your business that your gender assessment irrelevant, and they will be unexceptional intoxicated by the realisation you’re establish to make them a lot work for money, that they’ll listen carefully come to rest demonstrate they’re smart enough to retort your team. If your business recap good enough, you’ll end up let fall a choice of investors so trade mark sure you choose the ones go off can add value as you shade out but that you can consider wanting to celebrate with in high-mindedness future.

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