Co-Founder & CEO of Tech Will Save Us, Bethany Koby is featuring in our Inspirational Women in Business series this week. Her business is tranforming the way children play and how parents’ experience toy shopping; they are creating digital and physical toys which promote STEAM education and technology. Bethany has previously sat as Creative Director for Wolff Olins and has featured on several lists for Influential Women in Technology.
1. Best piece of advice you’ve been given?
Raising a family and balancing a career is a challenging, but rewarding process. Just like parenthood, owning your own business is full of challenges and unexpected opportunities. A fellow female entrepreneur, Debbie Wosskow, co-founder of Allbright, a club and community that celebrates and connects women at work, told me the most transformational thing on a trip to San francisco. She said as a mom, entrepreneur and passionate individual you need to “outsource anything that is not core”… What she meant was you need to decide what is core and what you care about the most as a parent. Do you love bedtime, do you love morning breakfasts, do you love picking up from school? Decide really what is important to you and do that well! Everything else you outsource – this can be to your partner or a family member. These words literally transformed the way I felt about how I was balancing all of these areas of my life and helped me to feel confident, clear and happy with my choices.
2. Worst piece of advice you’ve been given?
I’m fortunate enough to have never been given bad advice but I have witnessed other founders and entrepreneurs making mistakes along the way. It’s a reminder that none of us are infallible and to trust your instincts.
3. What would you tell your younger self?
Always remember that life is a journey, not a destination. Failure is inevitable on your journey so don’t let fear hold you back and always keep learning.
4. What excites you most about the future of your industry?
We are literally reimagining what it means to be a toy business, from the products themselves to how they are distributed to the relationship we have with the whole family. And by doing this, we hope to inspire the next generation of makers, coders and designers. By handing kids the right knowledge and tools today, they will create the technology that will save tomorrow.
5. Who or what is your biggest inspiration?
There are so many inspirational women in the technology sphere who are leading the way. Sharmadean Reid, founder of Wah nails, beauty stack and general icon of entrepreneurship, motherhood and beauty; Emma Sinclair for her fearlesness in fundraising in her terms and for being one of the backbones of the female entrepreneur community in London and Sherry Coutu for her outstanding work in education and young people among many things. These women are all supporting and connecting other women in the industry, and are inspiring role models.
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