Diva Tech Talk hosted creative entrepreneur, Natalia Petraszczuk, founder/CEO of new venture, VizBe (www.vizbe.com).  Natalia calls herself “a product of the Ukrainian community” in metropolitan Detroit, Michigan. Her undergraduate degree, from Michigan State University, was in International Relations.  Along the way, she worked with lobbying groups, on behalf of nonprofit organizations. Then “the political arena shifted a lot for me. I became less and less interested in that line of work,”  Natalia said.  In college, she took some basic computer skills courses, “because I wanted to stay competent” but “in a million years did not foresee myself in technology.”  

Natalia fed her own entrepreneurial urge through observation: “As I got older, I began to see more and more examples of people taking the plunge,” she said. “My father always said: ‘When it comes to capitalism, you have to find a need and fill it’.  So, I kept my eyes open for opportunities.”    From her mid-twenties to mid-thirties, Natalia realized that “there was a big gap with technology as it related to self-development.” She learned three progressive lessons:

• “The answer is always within you.”  
• “You (your mind) are your biggest obstacle. Create a habit of focusing on the positive.”
• Then “Take time to truly connect with the best version of yourself.”  

Practically, Natalia endorses meditation, envisioning a future ideal, journaling, and creating a vision board, to focus on long-time goals.

Taking it further, Natalia founded VizBe, which “has pivoted a few times,” she said, “totally normal in the startup space.”    VizBe’s first product concepts were Web-based and mobile applications for the individual, to facilitate vision board creation and an eCommerce extension “where you could print the vision board to a whole host of products --- like your coffee mug, or your journal cover.” Then she determined her best audience for these products was companies and organizations, who could use VizBe solutions to enhance the lives of their employees. So VizBe launched as a “software and services company that helps engage employees through a goal setting program.”    

As the non-technical founder of a technology-centered company, Natalia had some revelations. “All technology’s not the same, all coding and development is not the same” and “the biggest challenge with technology is that it is always changing.” VizBe eventually outsourced development to bigger firms to scale solutions to meet the needs of the B-to-B market and engaged in constant competitive analysis.

“We work with employers to have their employees set goals for the next 10 years of their lives --- not just professional goals, but goals for their ‘whole selves’.  The platform helps draw out their answers, and helps create action plans and accountability within the workplace. It creates relationship-building; it creates loyalty to the company, and it results in tremendous loyalty, and retention, as well as higher productivity.”  In summing up VizBe’s value proposition, “ultimately what it comes down to is truly adding value to people’s lives,” she said.  Moving forward, Natalia’s goal is for VizBe to be acquired by a bigger entity, in the future.

She commented on being a woman in the startup world. “It’s clear that there’s a ‘gender gap’,” in the entrepreneurial community,” according to Natalia.  “I end up working with mostly men. I try not to take it, personally. I choose to focus on what’s important to me and just persevere”.  To nourish women-led startups, Natalia recommended regional programs for budding women entrepreneurs, including those offered by Inforum (https://inforummichigan.org/), and The Michigan Women’s Foundation (www.miwf.org).

Natalia’s advice for other women leaders is “keeping focused and simplifying is a key part of success.”  And remember to persist. “There are days you are not going to want to get out of bed, but there will be other days when it will be the best day of your life.”

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