I think there's a lot of power in community and power in talking to people who are also going through the same struggle or the same experience as you.
Our favorite quote
I think there's a lot of power in community and power in talking to people who are also going through the same struggle or the same experience as you.
Our favorite quote
How She Started: Being a founder is risky. How did you decide to start Chezie?
Dumebi Egbuna: Chezie is a management tool for Employee Resource Groups. Before Chezie, we had a different idea of making something like Glassdoor for minorities.
We wanted to give minorities insight into what their experience might be like at a company before they get there. We tried that approach for about a year but it didn’t scale the way we thought it would. We then pivoted to focus on ERGs in October of ‘21. We kept our jobs until we saved enough money to work on Chezie full-time.
HSS: Many people struggle to raise money. How were you able to raise that amount of money, and how did you decide how much equity to get?
DE: We've always gone back and forth in terms of if we wanted to raise. I feel like once you get on that wheel, you have to stay on that wheel. Our first initial funding was all through grants and non-dilutive funding. That was able to sustain us for about a year. Then last fall, we opened up our pre-seed round which was $775K for 12.9%.
We are very mindful of how much equity we give up. My brother and I want to make sure that we stay in control or in that driver's seat. We had discussions about How much are we willing to give up? What is the valuation that we see that we see is fair? What gives us enough room if we were to go back for a second round of funding?
HSS: How did you acquire your first customers and what did customer discovery look like?
DE: Much of our customer discovery was talking to all the stakeholders that would be involved with Chezie. That meant talking to ERG members in terms of how they like to interact with their ERGs and what their current experience with ERGs is like. We spoke to ERG leaders to learn more about their pain points with managing an ERG and some of their motivations behind even being an ERG leader.
We spoke to ERG program managers and heads of DEI to learn about the data that they're looking to collect. We spoke to CPOs (Chief People Officers) to understand who the main decision-makers are when it comes to signing a contract. We made sure that we had a comprehensive view of everyone's wants and needs.
In terms of getting our initial customers, many have come to us because of the content that we create. Our go-to-market strategy was to offer things like free templates that you can download off our website. We also host monthly webinars around DEI best practices. We have a strong platform, so we are able to get a lot of referrals as well.
How do you retain your customers?
DE: We just implemented a product advisory board which is a group of 12 of our customers. Listening to their feedback has been key. We have our base product which is what we went to market with, but the feedback we get from the board definitely helps us with improvements. They help us create our road map for the next 6 months, 12 months, etc.
HSS: How did you handle the competition? How were you able to scale?
DE: For handling the competition we found our niche. We are focused on data which I think is our largest point of differentiation. We can clearly show what ROI looks like for your ERGs, whereas some of our competitors are more focused on either management or making ERGs easier. Chezie is a combination of we can make your ERGs easier and also give you data to justify your ERGs.
With our scaling process scaling we’re still iterating. We have our first 20 customers, but how do we go get the next 100? We are looking at a couple of different things like partnerships, referral relationships, and diving deeper into our niche of data. On the data side, we look at other data we can provide and what other integrations we can offer.
HSS: Was there a point where you saw Chezie catapult to the mainstream?
DE: When we started to get a contract signed monthly, we saw that Chezie was sustainable. We saw the number of people that were engaging with our content as validation that we are meeting a need in the market Usage doesn't speak directly to having a contract signed, but I do think that if you can find a need or a want for whatever you're building, it makes sense to move forward with it.
HSS: What were your lessons learned?
I knew that being in the DEI space was going to be tough. I think especially from a raising money standpoint, there's a layer of having to educate investors on why DEI is important, and then we needed to educate them on why Chezie is important. I can't just go into a meeting with the benefit of the doubt of my space is cared about. It's not always something that people are investing in, and people are excited about it.
I learned about myself in terms of terms of trusting that I am capable of what I'm doing. I think I struggle with impostor syndrome a lot, especially when I first quit my job. I'm owning sales and I'm owning sales and marketing, and I had to convince myself that I can do this.
HSS: When was being a female an advantage for you?
DE: I think in sales it's been an advantage for me because people believe that I am passionate about Chezie. They can see that passion because they know that we created Chezie from lived experiences. It makes it easier for them to buy into what we're building.
HSS: Do you have any additional advice for female-founded businesses?
DE: Network with other women who are also in your space. I think there's a lot of power in community and power in talking to people who are also going through the same struggle or the same experience as you. I'd also say follow your dreams but be cautious. Sometimes there’s messaging of you have this idea quit your job and pursue it. That could work for some people, but it doesn't work for all. I'm of the mindset that you need to take care of yourself. If that means still working, your 9 to 5 while keeping your 5-9 for self-care . Lastly, I would say make sure that you're prioritizing your mental health, because entrepreneurship is tough.
- Insight: Don’t be afraid to pivot.
- Insight: When raising money come prepared for negotiations and prioritize what matters most to you. In Dumebi’s case she wanted to keep control of the company.
- Insight:Offer something of value to potential customers before they buy your solution. In Dumebi’s case, she offered free templates and webinars.
- Insight: Advisory boards are a great way to get honest feedback.
- Insight: Ensure your product is differentiated so that you stand out from competitors.
- Insight: Making it easy for your customers to see and calculate ROI increases buy-in from the organization’s leadership team.
- Insight: Use multiple KPIs to gauge the health of your business.
- Insight: When raising money you need to be able to influence investors on why your solution is important and why yours is the best.
- Insight: Make sure that when you are pitching to investors they can see your passion.
- Insight: Use your network to build community.
I messaged Dumebi and we set up a call over email.
I've always been passionate about women helping other women. I created this blog to tell stories of successful female-founded businesses. Hopefully, these stories will help inspire more women to found their own businesses.