This week on the Business Beyond Borders podcast, I interviewed Alicia Navarro - CEO and Co-Founder of London-based Skimlinks.
Skimlinks is a content monetization platform, that helps online publishers make money and gain insights from their commerce-related content. Alicia launched her company in 2006 under a different guise - it began as a social decision-making tool, and evolved several times before it became Skimlinks.
Tune in to my interview with Alicia to find out:
• Her experience moving to London as a penniless entrepreneur to work on her startup idea
• How she pivoted her business three times before arriving at the idea of Skimlinks
• How her product management background helped her to pitch her business idea countless times and improve it everytime she was rejected
• How she managed to raise a seed round in the midst of the 2008 financial crisis
• How Skimlinks now facilitates more than $1 billion in sales for its publishing clients every year
• How Skimlinks leveraged its existing client based to win new clients and expand into the US
• The decision-making process that Alicia used to set up an office in San Francisco and then eventually move it to New York
• How Skimlinks’ company culture began organically, and the steps Alicia took to codify and embed it more deeply into the business over time
I’d describe Alicia as a super-smart, super personable, “geek girl” and born serial entrepreneur. She won a university medal in computing, but instead of becoming a corporate gun, she started her own thing …. A number of times.
She’s fast-paced, she’s flexible and she’s resilient. When things get tough Alicia takes a different direction, but she never gives up. And she doesn’t see being female as any kind of impediment to her success.
I was inspired and humbled to hear Alicia talk about building her company - starting while she was living out of a suitcase in London,and where she has taken Skimlinks from there.
There are so many relevant and pithy bits to this interview - it’s essential listening for anyone, male or female who’s on the entrepreneurial journey.
If you’re a female entrepreneur thinking of taking the next step and launching your business on the international stage, check out our Girls Going Global campaign. We’re awarding one lucky winner a full scholarship to the International Business Accelerator.
Applications close Friday 20 April - get yours in today!
www.internationalbusinessaccelerator.com/girls-going-global
