Meet the Founder: Suzanne Nicholas, Zanitee
This month we chat with Suzanne Nicholas founder of Zanitee about how they’re making gift giving simple.
Suzanne was a part of the Atto Accelerator 2020 cohort and has joined the monthly Atto Academy membership community.
Learn more about Suzanne and Zanitee below.
Where did you get the idea for Zanitee?
One fateful day, I attended a chat-bot course and met my fabulous co-founder, Ingrid. We were assigned to work on a problem together. It was close to December, so Christmas gifts were on our minds. We designed a chat-bot to provide gift solutions to family and friends. We both loved the idea and enjoyed working with each other. And so, from that moment on, a new business idea and a new business relationship was born! We have pivoted from our original idea of a chat-bot gift giving tool, to an app for gift management, and are super excited to see where it goes.
What problem is Zanitee solving?
Gift-giving can be very stressful. From remembering who to buy for and when, to deciding what to buy (keeping ideas new, fresh and relevant for each recipient), to keeping on budget. We are developing a tool which will take all the hard work out of it, and make gift-giving fun and easy!
What were you doing prior to starting your business? Did you start it as a side project or did you go all-in from the get-go?
Prior to starting the business, I was working as an Accountant part-time and also a Mum to school-aged kiddos.
I moved back home to Australia in 2017 after 11 years living in the US and for the most part was a stay-at-home Mum, although I did do a bunch of fun things in the USA, like become a latin dance teacher, and got involved in an alternative school/model of education.
Returning to Australia felt like a new beginning, and jumping into starting a business has been exciting and a fantastic way to meet a diverse range of interesting people.
It was a side project for a while. But there came a time when I realised I had too many distractions that were holding up progress, therefore I decided to reduce my working hours and focus.
Since then, things have been moving at a solid pace. I wouldn’t say lightening speed, but at just the right pace for myself and my co-founder, as we both still have other commitments.
What was the first thing you did to get Zanitee up and running?
One of the very first things Ingrid and I did was to join the pre-accelerator, Atto! We learnt so much at the early pre-business stage, that has really informed our approach.
At the point of joining Atto, we had an idea, and from talking to friends and family it was an idea worth pursuing. However, we didn’t know what we didn’t know.
After the Atto program, we were armed with knowledge, and resources, and a community of fellow founders to connect with.
Was being a startup founder always part of your career plan? If not, what was?
I have always wanted to start my own business, and dabbled in a few projects in the past, such as a home-based chocolate business, which was a lot of fun, (except I ate too much of the inventory!).
The appeal of starting my own business is flexibility, independence and creativity. It is important to me that I am available to my family, and I would like my business to support this priority.
What would be the one piece of advice you’d give to other female founders looking to take the leap?
Find supportive people, and when those feelings of doubt or frustration, or complete inadequacy creep in - call them. You know that friend. Perhaps it is the friend who has started their own business in the past, and therefore understands exactly the insecurities you are feeling, or maybe it's just your biggest supporter. But you do need them, and you do need to call them.
Because the difference between letting those seeds of self-doubt grow into something bigger, could be the difference between your business becoming a reality, or remaining a ‘I-wonder-what-could-have-been’ thought in your mind.
What’s been your biggest lesson so far?
That self-doubt is the biggest hurdle to overcome.
Mindset is everything.
As a founder you get to drive so much from the tone of your brand to what should be worked on at any one moment.
At first it felt like a heavy burden, but Ingrid and I have both landed on the idea of fun. If we aren’t having fun building a product that itself is supposed to be fun, then why are we even doing this?! It has helped frame our brand and also given us perspective. This mindset does a lot to overcome self-doubt, because by being playful there is scope for creativity and mistakes, which are pretty much guaranteed when doing something for the first time.
What’s been the biggest win so far?
Developing a strong co-founder relationship is the biggest win so far. I feel so lucky to have found someone who is equally invested in the idea and comes at the problem from a different perspective than I do. Together we can make a better product than we could individually.
It’s also so much more fun sharing wins and challenges with another person! We have developed our own little celebratory rituals, and we are very deliberate about acknowledging all the small wins along the way (which usually involve wine!)
What’s next for Zanitee?
Our soft launch will be in October 2021. We have spent a lot of time thinking and mapping out features that would be most useful to people who buy gifts. We are starting with the most essential features so we can share with our initial users and get their feedback. All our updates will then be based on what they want. Ultimately though, gift-giving without going crazy at Christmas is our goal!
How has Atto helped you with the Zanitee journey?
Atto has been instrumental in our journey. From the beginning, the Atto Accelerator helped us refine our idea into what it is today.
More recently, the Atto Academy Mastermind’s have propelled our progress even faster.
For me, one of the biggest challenges moving from an employee to a founder is the feeling of being ungrounded. In other words, there are too many floating pieces and too many options to consider which resulted in overwhelm and lack of momentum. Atto provided a place to be grounded.
Each week, I know I have to be somewhere and hold myself accountable to my peers.
It is a supportive environment mentally and practically, with vetted resources and a community of members who actively seek to assist each other.
I still feel incredibly lucky to have discovered Atto at such an early stage of our journey.
Find out more about Zanitee here.