#StartupsEverywhere Profile: Kathryn Rose, Founder, getWise
This profile is part of #StartupsEverywhere, an ongoing series highlighting startup leaders in ecosystems across the country. This interview has been edited for length, content, and clarity.
Easily-Accessible Expert Advice and Training
getWise is an online platform that offers affordable access to exclusive video tips and training from vetted and trusted experts. When major life events forced her to restart her career, founder Kathryn Rose used the power of her professional network and crafted a vision for getWise. We spoke with her about her arduous fundraising journey, navigating numerous privacy frameworks, and the need for resources for women entrepreneurs.
Tell us about your background. What led you to create getWise?
My background is mostly in financial services. I worked on Wall Street for a number of years, and after the mortgage market melted down, I left my job and found myself eight-and-a-half months pregnant taking care of my paraplegic mom—a caretaking position that a lot of women entrepreneurs find themselves in. A full-time job wasn’t feasible so I knew I had to do something else. Lots of the brokerages I used to work with wanted to make sure their website came up on the first page of search results, and I thought I could do that for people. To get started freelancing around search engine optimization, I needed to talk to someone who knew about the space. I grew that into a large consultancy before taking a break, but eventually found myself back in consulting focused on building women’s small businesses. I had amassed a large professional network by then and was constantly being asked to make connections. I started getWise to offer business owners and career-focused individuals fast, synchronous communication as a way to solve business challenges and get professional advice.
What is the work you all are doing at getWise?
Small businesses and startups are constantly seeking help with business planning, finance, HR, sales, and marketing. I’ve learned companies could really benefit from services like pitch deck review, for example, or social media management, or support with any other issue they have at their current stage.
Our users can book consulting calls with experts in multiple issue areas, through video or over the phone on our platform. We record the conversations for quality assurance and compliance purposes as well as so the attendees don’t have to take notes. If they’d like to revisit or replay the conversations later, they can. An upcoming iteration of the platform will include a content hub where all of our experts will be able to list articles, educational materials, and quick videos for any interested members of the community.
You spoke about some of the barriers women founders face raising capital during our recent Innovation For All roundtable. What did fundraising look like for you, and how can policymakers help make capital more accessible to women and other underrepresented founders?
I spent about a year fundraising for getWise and spoke with around 100 potential investors but only received three term sheets. In June, when people became nervous about the economy and venture capital started to dry up, our valuation was cut in half, which means I would have had to give up basically half my company. As an alternative, we looked to obtain some government grants, but I quickly realized that if you don’t have a grant writer, applying for them is like taking on another full-time job.
Raising capital is generally a soul-sucking process; if you don't have an Ivy League degree and a background that includes and exit from a previous startup for example, it is even more challenging. Statistic-wise, women founders have been moving backwards because access to capital is still a major issue for us. Government programs have seemed to focus on supporting women, but the reality is that the money is not reaching those who need it and it is not having a big impact as a result.
For example, around ten years ago, before getWise, I worked with many women business owners and was involved in a great deal of women business support services. T In those days, there were roughly 10 million women-owned businesses—88 percent were under $100,000 in revenue, and 90 percent were solo entrepreneurs. Fast forward about a decade and we have around 14 million women-owned businesses, but the revenue stats are exactly the same. Today, 88 percent are under $100,000 in revenue, which is the figure before they account for expenses. And the vast majority of them are still solo entrepreneurs. This is a huge issue.
How have you approached navigating compliance with multiple privacy frameworks, and what tools do you use to maintain your customers’ data privacy?
We’re generally compliant when it comes to privacy. We don’t collect that much data to begin with, we have the right language in our privacy policies, and we have the ability to do things like delete data when someone requests it. Ultimately, though, unless you have a role dedicated to it like a Chief Information Security Officer there's just no way that you can keep up with every single privacy rule that's out there, and that's just not possible for startups. Streamlining privacy rules would be helpful for startups like us to know what’s expected of us.
Another outgrowth of the volume of privacy rules are barriers to getting contracts with enterprise customers. When you sell to an enterprise or even just want to set up a pilot, the next piece of the puzzle is dealing with their third-party risk management. Understandably, their job is to verify our compliance with the law and protect their company from data privacy risks, but they can create real barriers and slow things down, especially for small and young companies which might not even meet the same legal thresholds as the enterprise buyer. I’m pretty assertive and have been around the block a few times so I’ve been able to successfully navigate these processes by getting them to meet us where we are and asking for help when we need it. But I know for other small businesses and startups it can be a prohibitive barrier, as many don’t even realize that it’s an option to work collaboratively or ask for help. However, that approach won’t work forever, especially as we grow and continue to work with enterprises. Folks will want us to have voluntary certifications like SOC 2. That will present us with a huge barrier since I’ve been quoted a minimum of $30,000 for certification which is money that we don’t have to spend right now.
Are there any other issues that you think should receive more attention from policymakers?
The timelines on which enterprise and government customers settle accounts is a pretty big issue for lots of startups and small players. Some of the companies I'm working with are net 90 days, or even net 120—which means that they may take up to 90 or 120 days to pay us. As a startup, that timeline is a big burden. We have expenses to meet and people to pay—and it’s not realistic to make someone wait 120 days for their paycheck, for example. If companies agree to give us better pricing terms, we might be able to get to the next level. But we won’t get there without that.
This issue has diversity implications as well. Someone at the Small Business Administration told me that zero companies have met their supplier diversity goals in the last 30 years. The reported reason for this is because they can't find women and minority-owned companies that fit the level of criteria that they need. Large enterprises want to minimize the number of vendors they have. Startups might not fit that scale at the outset, and even if they could, few can labor under the net 90 or net 120 terms of payment. Supplier diversity goals are noble efforts, but governments and enterprises should work to ensure they’re actually meeting those metrics by taking into account the abilities and resources of startups and small businesses. Right now, we don’t have the up-front capital that would allow us to have the capacity to service people at these higher levels.
What are your goals for getWise moving forward?
In the future, we’re launching a sister expert network called channelWise. It’s specifically targeted to the IT channel, where I have a lot of contacts. Short term, we’re working on building out our enterprise and getting access to more capital because we need marketing help. I have a very small team, and I do a lot of work myself, which can be a lot. It would be really nice if there was an easier route to capital for us, but for now, I might try applying for an SBA loan since we have consistent revenue.tinue driving change in our community and making a positive impact in the lives of the people we serve.
All of the information in this profile was accurate at the date and time of publication.
Engine works to ensure that policymakers look for insight from the startup ecosystem when they are considering programs and legislation that affect entrepreneurs. Together, our voice is louder and more effective. Many of our lawmakers do not have first-hand experience with the country's thriving startup ecosystem, so it’s our job to amplify that perspective. To nominate a person, company, or organization to be featured in our #StartupsEverywhere series, email advocacy@engine.is.
