She Built an App That Sends Drinks to Strangers: Now It’s Going Global

0:00Today's guest, she is so special. She is a business woman, like, a real boss I'd like to follow. I just give you one name. Like Madonna, you're like, for that kind of. I love it, but let's talk about what everybody wants now. That's a very good question because people ask that all the time. It's not a dating app because we see the date of the users. So it's in the US, it's in Dubai. For US, Dubai, Mexico City. If you're growing organically, then adding the marketing piece is just going to be a plus to your business, which isn't correct. And we know what we're looking for because if you start throwing everything at marketing and you don't understand what is your playbook of growth and your distribution channel, it doesn't mean that it will go well. That is absolutely incredible. Welcome back to the build spot where authenticity trumps authority. Now, today's guest, she is so special.

1:00She is the founder and CEO of an app called Dion. I'm sure you guys all know what it is. She's defying all odds, breaking barriers. She is a business woman, like, a real boss. I'd like to follow. She has her hands in hospitality. She has her hands in tech. Yes, hot, stolly, and tech. I don't know how they go together. But welcome to the build pod. Welcome, Rebecca. She is crushing it. Welcome, girl. Thank you so much. Thank you for having me. It's my pleasure to be here. Well, I am so excited. I didn't want to butcher your last name. So we're just going to, like, I just give you one name. Like Madonna, you're like, for that. I love that. So you have been featured, which is like really exciting and 30 under 30, which is like, I don't know if you know, but what an honor. I'm trying to get in there for like 50 and no, I'm just saying. I'm sure I would love to be in there. But it really is such an honor to be in 30 under 30. But we're going to first talk about what you're doing, where you're going, why this is important to you. So we'll take it slow.

2:01But let's talk about what everybody wants to know. You created an app that starts with, like, basically a simple gesture, right? Of giving a drink. And it's really, is it a dating app? Is that what you would define it? That's a very good question because people ask less that all the time. So it's not a dating app because we see the date of the users. And even if it started as a way for us to invent the first digital move, soon we realize that people use it not only to break the eyes with someone they want to meet or date or network, but also to give friends to reconnect with, you know, people they made to us and they want to be a deeper relationship. So we see people using it because they want to date someone, which is very obvious. So you know, I see you on the app. I want to break the eyes with you. Instead of sending you a DM or a swipe or a zero cost action, it's actually, I send you something that has value and it's very intentional.

3:03So I buy you essentially your favorite drink at your favorite place. Which is cool. And we have many people that use it for networking, especially now we're going viral in NYU because we had the student and intern and she joined beyond and she saw people from the companies that she wants to work with after graduation. So she started sending them coffees and she was like, I would love to connect. I want to get an internship with your company. And because it's so intentional and it's meaningful, they start to reply to her and meeting here for a coffee. So see, you know, spread the world around and everyone wants to join the on to find her next job. Like, did she LinkedIn? The on is the way to actually get that interview. And we have friends. I mean, we have many people that use it for gift. It's a very easy way to give, to remember birthdays, to send them a nice book of wine or something on the favorite way. Nice. So it's like a social app. I just social, like a social owner at your sassal.

4:05So, but let me ask you, what if you have like really nice tastes like, I like Class A of Zwei. I think people send me Class A of Zwei. I'm sorry, you can't put your favorite drink. You know, you put your favorite drink in your favorite place. So if not, this is the people you usually actually send that because they want the key to your heart. Yeah, whatever. That's it. That's the key to my art. Where did this idea come from? Because you have a background in engineering, right? Yes. I'm a software engineer by training. So I used to be in tech my whole life. Before that, I used to work at Bloomberg, which was an amazing company that had such a great experience. And it really taught me all the foundation, how you read systems that's case, how you actually become a proper engineer, how you read teams, how you make him part. But I really wanted to do something on consumer. I'm one of those people that I love socializing. I love meeting people. I love learning the story and I love connecting. And they feel that even if we live in the most connected generation, it's the longest one.

5:05You know, you have access to everyone. You say that you are six connections away from anyone in the world, but they are not meaningful relationships. And even if you have access and you send that message or you send that the request, people don't reply. So the fatigue that comes with that was something that really annoyed me. And the how moment came like fun enough. I used to live in London. And I was traveling. And it was my best friend's birthday. So she was celebrating at the back to one of our favorite venues in London. And I couldn't be there. So I called the place which I've done in the past. And I said, look, I would love to send you a favorite psyche. So, you know, I'm there as a gift even if I'm like, I cannot make it. So I did the whole process. And it's like a very tedious one. You have to put your card down. It's like a long process. I called here the day after. I was like, how was the birth date? So I was like, it was boring. You were amazed. Nothing happened. Did you get my gift? What gift? What are you talking about? So

6:09for this frustration, I was like, okay, let's actually take one behavior that already exists in our social culture, bind someone and drink. No one has never digitized it. Let's use it to actually break the ice and help people connect. So we thought it was a very fun and intentional thing. And then it actually grew to everything that's happening now, which is so much more than that. That is absolutely because I'm just thinking in my head, you know, many times I've done that, like call for a friend's birthday, called and now they don't know how hard it is. It's just a pain in the ass because then you got to make sure they're open it because if the restaurant's not open, then you have to call that. And then you have to hold that. It just went through. You know, whoever was on shift that time to get it over to whoever's going to be on shift for the night that the person is having their birthday. So yeah, yeah, you're absolutely right. I never thought about it. It is something it's a need. It's a niche and it's a need for people that want us to say thank you. Yeah. I love that. So how many years has this app been going like so in the beginning,

7:10we've been so launched in Dubai. We wanted, you know, to test everything. And especially if you are doing the new category, it's very important to get user feedback. We were doing partnerships with Venus. So we started there last year, but officially we launched a beginning of June, a 2025 in the US. So it's been less than a year now. So it's in the US that's in Dubai and work for your OS to buy Mexico City. But now in the next two or three months, we're going to launch a couple of cities. Next week we are launching a lake. It's I'm very excited about. I love a lake. Yeah. Then it's such a great market for everyone. That is absolutely incredible. So you took a need and then you capitalized on it. And now you're running this incredible company. How many people do you have running company? Now we are all together. Almost 17 people. 17 people are running almost because one is part of time. So it's 16 and a half. That and then obviously you have like a marketer and something that gets all of this stuff.

8:14That's a very good point. We do not have as high as I know. I come from engineering. So my first instinct was let's be an amazing engineering team. Let's build an amazing product, the great UI, great UX and a team that can escape. So we have a very strong foundation there. And then we have the community reps and general managers in its of the city's willons. But we realized that we don't have anyone but it's very marketing. So it's my co-founder and I and both of us don't understand marketing. I mean, I created a TikTok account like some months ago. I was like, oh, a TikTok. Let's see what this is. I'm like very technical but not very in the marketing mix. But actually it has been growing very, very well. So now we are hired. Which is great. Because if you're growing organically, this then adding the marketing piece is just going to be a plus to your business, which isn't quite good. And we know what we're looking for. Because if you start throwing everything at marketing and you don't understand what is your playbook of growth and your distribution channel, it doesn't mean that it will go well.

9:18You know, many consumer apps face that that, you know, you spend millions in marketing and nothing happens. Right. So we took actually our time to understand with our resources. Okay, where do we see the results? What does what drives engagement and user? So now we're in the place to say, look, we double down on that and make this thing go global. Well, I love that it's a multi faceted app too. It's not just for dating, right? That's right. God. That's what that was. But then I mean, it took you, you're taking a one step further. It's for social connection. It's for remembering, you know, your friend's birthday or trying to get that job, which is great. Now I'm going to use that when my daughter goes and applies for a job, you tell her to find me. I mean, it's, I mean, it's brilliant. It is absolutely brilliant in your mind. And this that you are a woman CEO, you know, and owner, this says, I mean, this is a lot for young women. So I would say like, what would you say to young entrepreneurial women? I know we were talking just a little bit about sacrifice. And I know you didn't really want to talk about it. And you're like, is it going to be negative? But I think it's important to know because this

10:21generation is so unintentional. And I hate to say it. They're, they're so lazy. There's no grit. I don't see it anymore. Any grit or grind, but you've sacrificed a lot. That's true. Look, it's also the journey. I mean, you have days that nothing is working. So these days are the lows. And the lows are low. You know, you can't sleep. You think about what should I do? What's the next move? There is so much uncertainty. There are days that, you know, you're on top of the world. The highs are so high. So a half days that I'll call, let's say, my family or a close friend. I'll be like, we are killing it. This is it. It's the best day in my life. I cannot believe that this happened some other days. I'm not great. That's why we're discussing that before. It's a journey. The most important thing that I found helped me tremendously is taking it one step at a time. Yeah. So in the past, when I started, I needed to see the end game. I was like, okay, I need to do this. I need to have, but I don't know, raise that much money, have that many

11:25users, et cetera. Now I keep the goals, but I really break it down. So every morning that I wake up, I'm like, okay, these are the five things that are going to move the need for the all. And I'm focusing on them because you otherwise, it's so vague that you cannot get a sense of achievement and purpose. And you're just getting drawn and lost. So I do that. So my advice goes, you ask is that I feel you should do something that you really love. And you're so passionate about it that you cannot exist without building it. So for me, building it on is super important. I love it. I can, there is nothing in life at this point that takes higher priority than this. And this is because if you really don't love it, there is no way that you will be able to go through it because it's a hard journey. It's not easy. You lose your friends, you shrink your social circle. And you sacrifice a lot. So every time you have to make a decision, you're like, what do I do? Do I go, I don't know, having drinks with my girlfriends or

12:28get another thing done, get this, I don't know, wireframe, get this design document, get this marketing material out, whatever that is. So usually the decision is like, oh, let's get something more done because if I do this, maybe I'll be in a better place. So I think it's very important to do something that you love. And it's also very important to remember that it's a long game. Yeah. And you have to find ways to cope with that. So you cannot run 100% every day. And I try to remind myself as well that I need to take a good get off. I need to go to my non-negotiable, I go to the gym six out of seven. I need all seven out of seven with working if I don't like, I don't know what three happened. Yeah, you need something to take your mind off. That's funny. That's my non-negotiable. Everybody knows this about me. I do not start my day without going to the gym. Otherwise, I'm not. Yeah, I do it early in the morning. I do it at five a.m. No, I have to because I'm like a kid. I have to. But I do like it and I've gotten a lot of feedback

13:30from this that people don't believe that the gym and being successful are synonymous and they are. You are 100% synonymous. And I'm assuming that you're probably very similar to me, your results are driven. So and you're probably zero to 100. And then when it doesn't go to 100, like for at least for me, when I like when I have a goal, the goal is going to happen. It's going to happen no matter what I have to sacrifice in order to get there. And I like what you said is that, you know, you take the goal and the goal always be there. But you can also start peeling back the layers to start doing it little by little because that the same thing happens for me. I have to remember that room wasn't built in a day. You know, so the goal will always be there. But once you start taking a step by step little by little, you're getting one percent closer to where you need to be. So I mean, what you completely said resonates with my entire life and like where I want to go. And then for one of the interesting points that I've seen myself is that when you start, you're in all of these success stories. And I thought, you know, I read the

14:34oh, you have an amazing idea. You are going to work hard on me and you're successful in like six months. And it's not the reality now. So it's a very long journey. And the thing is with human mind, but when you actually get to a point that the, you know, things are good and you're successful, you have this cope in mechanism that you tend to forget the difficult situation and everything that happened before. So even now you ask me, I'm like, yes, the only success we're growing so much, we have such a great momentum. If you ask me, yeah, go out with cry. You know, I would like, this is never going to work. That's the things that people don't try it out. Yeah. Of those are the things that people, you know, had you, what are the people asking me? If I knew then what I know now, you know, what would I do different? I wouldn't do anything different, but the thing that people don't talk about about the journey of success is the anxiety at night, right? The anxiety where your mind bones stop or the amount of times that you're crying silently, and at least for me like, no, what can see me cry? Or, you know, the amount of doubt, self-doubt that you put in your head, is it this going to work? You know, in like, I'm always living in

15:37this like, oh my god, is the rug going to be pulled out from underneath me any time? So those are all the things they don't warn us about success at all. You know, or the, you know, or you're right, they look at the stories, they're like, they're just so successful. Well, how many failures did you have in order to, but you forget, I forgot about mine. I'm like, everything is great. The only such a good, it's such a success. We have a moment, but you forget that you didn't feel like that, because you enjoy the moment, and you know, you get away, but the thing that's important to say that it's a long journey. And for me, the most important thing, even what I advise every, you know, entrepreneur I met is I meet, is do it with a co-founder. It's a very long journey, and long journey. You need to have people that, you know, you can actually share everything, because your family, your friends, except if they are in the same business, yes, they are great, and they support you, and it's so important, you know, and I'm very grateful. But the can not, there's, they cannot understand what you are going through. You need people that are actually have skin in the game,

16:39whether they are actually going through what you're going. Now, your co-founder, is it like a friend of yours, or is it somebody that made me met the Monday? No, is it a, after would be the off? Yeah. Where, like, how did you, how did you interact with your co-founder? So, we met socially, many years ago, and we started working in a site project, they were like five co-founders, which was an amazing experience, because when you work with many people, you realize that there's never, I don't know, it's so hard to make a company work with five co-founders, too many cooks, but you also can understand who are the people that you've been actually, you know, get along together and work together. So, I went in because another friend introduced us, and I realized, in this friend of mine, we were starting a site business, a site tech platform together, but they realized that they cannot work with them, because the work ethic was nothing to do, you know, like mine, but my co-founders work ethic was exactly the same, and we were super

17:41alike. So, we had these five people founders call, but they're both fighting, we couldn't make a decision, and the two of us would call each other after, we're like, yeah, they don't know what they're doing, this is how we should do it. So, at some point, we're like, look, let's read something that we're both very passionate about, and this is how it started, and then my CPU came in, if you was also, you know, it's the three of us essentially. That amazing, and then, and you've been in business together for how long. Now, the three of us, it's been like three years, three, three and a half years. Has there ever been a moment where you're like, I don't know at all, has there ever been a moment where you thought to yourself, like, how am I going to get through this? Can I impulse off? Yes, yes. But I have this thing, but I will think, I will have this thought, but they will never entertain them. So, I'll never be, you know, someone, this is me,

18:42every person, everyone is different, but I've never crying or saying what I'm going to do, or complaining, I just put the hour scene. So, when we move, when I move to Dubai, I move to Dubai to launch the onter, it was a very difficult market, you know, it's a great city and great people, but it's very, it's a very close community. And, you know, US is like insane. There is a reason why most of the startups happen here, because they're first movers, they love technology, they love trying new things, they're very passionate advocate of innovating. In Dubai, it's not exactly like that, or like, you know, in Europe as well, but Dubai is almost there. So, I was trying to launch something that has never existed before. People, even now, cannot necessarily understand what is the thesis of the on, what we're trying to do, or how is it going to work? I have, I had people, okay, but how does this work? Does the waiter come to me, they bring the drink to my house? What does this mean? How does that work? Exactly. So, it's like a gift map. So,

19:46essentially, I see you in the app, and if I want to connect with you, the only way is if I send you your favorite drink at your favorite place. So, you can unlock it. So, in order to unlock it, you have to send me a message. And if you do, when it's like a gift, you have 30 days to go to, I don't know, Starbucks, to Starbucks to get your match a lot. So, this is it, but it's very new, you know, so people, it wasn't very easy to understand. So, I moved there, and in order for the on to work, I had to sign venue partnerships. So, the venues had to be aware that, you know, if you go there and say, hi, I haven't drink, by the way, it's treated by the on, they will actually serve it to you. So, I was going around to the venues, and no one was signing. They were like, interesting, but no, we don't understand how this work, you know, we don't love it, and they would throw me, you know, they would like, oh, speak with this guy, speak with the others, speak with the on-ride, speak with the managers, speak with the beverage suit is very hard. I remember

20:49I had the worst, I was kidding. Yeah, I thought I was trying and trying and trying, but I've reached the point, like, maybe this will never work out, because no one will ever sign. And it got worse, because I managed to find someone like that is running a big company there with a couple of yet, with many venues, influential as well. And she laughed, just like, guys, I love it, let's do it. I was so excited. I was like, this has happened, the adivis is it. So, I started doing the whole training, because now the owner has changed, but in the past we had to do a training to onboard the venue to explain how it worked, so many steps. So, I did everything, I prepared the treating menus, I did the sales training material, whatever, and we were ready to go live. I remember Steve a date, I was out speaking with another venue owner for drinks, like 7 pm. And I see in me, maybe one day before we go live, saying, we're so sorry, the other founder of the company sold the app,

21:52and they cannot be, and we don't want our brand to be associated with payments up. He was never payment up. So, I don't know how this happened. So, we are not going through all the best. I still remember it, I lost my seed for like five days, but as everything's life, I continue, I didn't stop. For me, if something like that happens, I just say, yeah, I have to try more. Yeah, it'll rain less, you know, you get your break, and everything works. Yeah, it was a learning lesson, what you learned from it. I learned that you have to work hard. No, for me, it's always the same learning lesson that I take away from every failure, that at this point, maybe this seems like the worst thing that has ever happened to you, and you don't seem necessarily the way out, but it's a small thing in the scheme of every day. So, you cannot let it affect you or you know, if there is something that you need to learn, for example, if they were telling me, this cannot work because

22:56there is a structure or fundamental issue, go and fix it and try again. But if it's something like that, like, oh, we cannot use that because it's payment up, some, oh yeah, qr up, some that's not even the reality, they're like, okay, maybe this was not it. You keep pushing, and the results will come. I love that, you know, in the other important lesson, it's hard work going to be downtown every single time, and you know, it doesn't matter if you have one hurdle, it's just a test, you got to keep moving, which is incredible. Tell me about a mistake that ended up becoming an advantage for you. Personal or whatever, whole profession of life, any mistake, and maybe there hasn't been any. No, they have been many mistakes, but anything that turned out to be like an advantage, we're like, all right, well, worked out. I cannot think of something very, very obvious, but I can speak mainly about high. So there has been instances that,

23:58you know, you make some decisions about, so I have some examples in my mind from last year that, you know, you hire some people and maybe it doesn't work out. Right. And even if at the time, you're like, look, it made me it was a mistake to bring them in, or, you know, it wasn't a right feed for whatever reason. I feel it, it becomes an advantage because everyone, it's like a relationship. If it doesn't work out, it's not a mistake necessarily, but you learn more about yourself and you learn more about what you like and what you want. So this is the process that we're going through now. We are interviewing for the marketing and growth team. And this is what you do essentially. I mean, you see with your people, if I know that in the beginning, I was you can and different profits. So this was a mistake on my end because now as time goes by and things are not working now, either need the views or after. I know exactly what we're looking for. Yeah. And which makes total sense. It's exactly what you said when you're dating and, you know, you,

24:59you, it doesn't work out the guy at least, you know, this time, that's not the quality I want. So now, you know, exactly your, your avatar of person that you're looking for for your company, which is incredible. All right. We're going to do something called first move files. Okay. I'm going to give you real scenarios and you're going to tell me what a boss would do. Okay. Ready? I'm ready. All right. You're out of venue. You see someone you'd actually like to meet. Your brain says, don't what's the boss move? I hope you'll be on. I send them a drink. Easy. This is why we did it. So people don't have to actually welcome to other people. I like doing behind the screen. Someone says a drink, but you're not interested. What's the most respectful way to handle it? As a founder of the author, as a user of the art, because it's different. I know because because I found it, you can't, you can't unlock it, right? As a founder of rion, I unlock it. I send one back and if I'm not interested, and I asked them for the thing back, and how is their experience so far? Very simple. If a, if I'm a user and I'm not interested, you know,

26:03advise users not to unlock. Yeah, but you never know. I think it's very, because we curate the community so well, and it's, and everyone comes like from a referral. It's organic. They have very deep profiles about where they work and what they do. I feel if you actually give someone a chance, they will be a connection. Yeah. Either you fix for dating, professional, etc. So my advice is, you know, spend the time someone actually invest it on getting to know you. So do they do the same thing and you never know what is going to happen? That's a boss move, like, give them the respect, if they had enough time, and that's a weirdo. But I imagine that maybe there's something do you vet for weirdos? No, we have a very great community. So this is why we see a great unlock rates. So we have more than 53% engagement, like people unlocking a drink, a drink, and actually interacting and sending messages. And this is what it goes. People feel comfortable, you know, they know that someone waited for anyone who was here. All right. Your friend is chronically

27:05online and never shows up in real life. How do you coach them back to being a human? It's very hard to convince people sometimes that, you know, real connection happens outside of their screens. It's very easy to hide. And everyone does that. I mean, even mind the fault is like, okay, I'm going to wear, you know, my pajamas. I'm going to stay behind my computer. I'm going to code. I'm going to do the things that are easier. And we are more comfortable with it. Coding is easier for me. Max is your, let's do it. My husband loves HTML. Like, you don't know what that is. For read, super. You have a much easier, I prefer it. Yeah. But the important thing is, you know, to get out of there. So in this case, you know, I'll just get it out. This is how I do. You book something and you go to their house. You literally drag them out of the door. I had a leg tonight, you and me, one of the favorite things. So you can glue with them. There you go. All right. If Diane had a rule book for modern dating, what would be the three rules?

28:07Break the ice with a drink. So break the ice intentionally. And the other thing is, you know, don't spend so much time chatting, going online, going online. I'm sorry, doing physically meetings. And this is what we see. We see that most of the people that will actually say, oh, do you also want to grab this drink at this place? Fry the 83830. So skip the seats out, get to the point. And the third thing would be, you know, you never, be open. You never know who is the person that's going to change the course of your life. I love that. I'm absolutely, I got to get on this app and see maybe I can get, I don't know what I can get. I'm going to drink Yeah. I mean, I love making connections. All right. Let's turn this into sambasio for founders, creators, anyone building a community, what advice would you give and what metric system would you use? I think that each, as I said in the beginning, it's super important to do something that we are very passionate about. So it can actually guide you through the journey. It's very important

29:13to surround yourself with a right environment. And that depends. It could be even your support, you have in your family. But for me, it's also the friends. I think, you know, you are the some of the people that are around here. So if you want to be, then you want to actually get better at something, you have to find people that have the same trick. And because you, and it's also the same with the relationships. For me, it's much easier, you know, to be in a friendship or relationship with someone that we have the same mindset and goal. Otherwise, there is always conflict and it's not going to work. So for me, it's very important, you know, have your goals. Be very intentional about it. Have your vision. It has to be very authentic and something that you believe in. And surround yourself with the environment, the opportunities and the people that will help you get there. Yeah. Perth, I love that. I love exactly, you know, my husband is very different than me, but the two of us together, because I think it's important. I don't

30:15know if you have a significant other or you're married, but, you know, one thing that happened for me and my and my personal life is I married somebody that was very intentional and very driven like myself. And what happened for our income is we were both doing good independently, pretty good, but our income rose exponentially when we were together because our interests were aligned. And while we're so different, like our personalities, our end goal is the same. And that's really important. It's very important to have the support. And what the people that you hang out with, you know, everybody, if you're not aligned with people that don't have the same vision, it's not going to work in the end. It definitely says, I'll put someone's vision, we change. Yeah. And maybe that's you. So this is a problem. That's why that's a worse the first time. I love the butt. I'm just kidding. I'm not kidding. I mean, I actually, he has to be like my really good friend, but yeah, it's absolutely true. But you have to become part of it. It doesn't mean that one is right. No, you have to be aligned. Yeah, you have to be aligning your vision has to be the same. You know, my ex has been wanted to go play golf in kite surf. That's not

31:19what I want to do on me, too. Well, you know, I want to eat cake and, you know, in way 100 pads, but that's not possible. You know, I don't know. But yeah, absolutely, you have to be aligned when you're when you're doing anything in life and you're ever your partner as it's the same thing. What about for like, it's hard being a woman founder. It's very hard, especially. I'm not, I'm assuming because I don't know much about the tech world, but I'm assuming that the tech world is predominantly males. That's a very correct assumption. So how, what is that like for you as being a young female, beautiful young female and being in a male dominated world? You know, it's a point that you're so used to it because for me, it's very encouraging that has improved so much. I remember when I was studying, I studied computer science. So it was literally like, you know, 10 girls and I don't know, 200 mace. So that was more, that was hard actually. That was a lot. But now I feel everyone, you know, in the community, is trying a lot to be more inclusive and to

32:20actually support with young female entrepreneurs. It's still not there. You know, there is nothing as everything in life. There is not always equality. But I feel it's super important to also find the people that support you know. So for example, I have an amazing, I have some amazing female founders in New York. We have this group chat where it's like the four of us now. We were three, but now we became four and we really support each other. We're like, okay, what do you think I should do? I don't know, one of us is fundraising. Guys, can you please connect me within place? Those that really help us. So I think everything is possible, but it's super important to have people that will push you and support you. And for me, the most important thing you can do is actually give back because what I shade and I have seen in my life is the mindset that some people have like, oh, for me, it was really hard. So I have to be really tough on you because you also have to get through it and be hard. I'm like, no, for me, it was hard. And I remember all the times that

33:25I felt I didn't belong all the times that, you know, people would comment what is she doing here or all the times that I would feel and be excluded. Not because people were necessarily bad, but because you're different. So people are also afraid of this being someone different. They're like an alien sometimes. So I don't want anyone else to feel like that. So if, you know, I can help on anything. I've tried to and I keep trying through my career. I want to push you, you know, not give them back tough love. No, it's nice. You paved the way for other women, young women, to know that it's possible. And I'm sure it's hard as a woman trying to fundraise, trying to get buy-ins from other people, especially men. I mean, how do you overcome that? You're already pretty, you know, so in that, like, they always say you have a pretty privilege, but I feel like it's like a double edged. It's not. It's a double edged. It's like, yes, it's a double edged sword. They ain't no more without their love. And I mean, when I was going, you know, through sales my whole life, the whole goal, too, was like, you get sales because you have big boobs or you get

34:29sales because you're pretty, no, could it just be that I'm good. Like, why is that? So how do you deal with that, when you're, especially when you're fundraising and trying to get money from other men to fund a project or whatever fundraise from women? No. First of all, you get used to that. Yeah. After the years you're here, it has great grades because it's pretty or whatever. I feel it's a double edged sword. It's great, of course, and you are grateful. But it's also, you know, it's also harder because you have to convince people to take you seriously. Yeah. And you know, you are not just a pretty face or something. But I approach things in life all use the same attitude. Work hard and let your actions speak loud there in one of words. Because at the end of the day, it's up to you to make an impression. And if someone doesn't see something or seed for their own reasons, you know, it's on them, not you. They might have to continue. Yes, because there are so many people out there and so many investors, founders, colleagues that are amazing.

35:33And, you know, they're super indifferent or super like professional and they will excel no matter what. And they are not going to be subjectize or so just something. Yeah, it would be on the other side as well. Absolutely. Yeah. I agree. I were going to switch gears real quick. Boss Ron can't overthink this. All right. First answers that comment. First answer that you can think of. Your personal power move when you walk into a room. I don't make eye contact. You know, I just go straight to the target. That's the power of this. No, I continue. You know, it's like, very fast. It's like, no, not it's like a catwalk. You just continue. You know, you walk like straight and then I start seizing around. I don't like people that enter a room and you know, they're big lost and sizing. What should I do? Who should I speak? That's a boss move. I think you need to say that you can tell when somebody feels like they don't belong in the room. I all look like. Yeah. The room will belong around. He absolutely. Yeah. You know who's in charge,

36:33right? Yeah. One belief you had to unlearn to become CEO and that you always have to do among of those people actually that I used to believe that if I want to get something done, I have to do it myself. And sometimes that's the case, unfortunately. So it's very hard. It was very hard for me to delegate because I would push myself a lot. So many times I would bring amazing results. So I was like, look, no, I want to do it myself because I'm going to do it by yeah, but it doesn't matter. The most important thing that I had to learn the hard way is to have people that are better than you and people and even if they are not and they we become better, it's better. You know, to have 10 people give 90% which is not the case. Sometimes people are and much better than you give 90% than you trying to do everything on your own. So now I'm focusing much more on, you know, hiring the right people and enable them to become the best versions of

37:35itself. So my belief is that everyone in the team has to be much better than me and I have to learn from them not the other way around. I absolutely love that statement. Like that, I you need to re-record that because it's so true. Like when you're CEO, you're not a manager, which is like that's not a term I even use. You're a leader and you want to empower your people and it's been a journey for me because I like to do everything myself because I don't think anyone could do it as bad as this is me. But what I find is when you do that, you take away other people's powers and they shrink at your table. I mean, if you are a good leader, then you're going to empower an uplift people. You don't have to give a hand out, but you can definitely give a hand up. I do accept I love what you said. Absolutely. Okay. A book idea that shaped how you build product. From zero to one, it's like a very classic software book that explains how you should start small. It talks about so many different things and I think there's no one but it's bringing a startup that has not read it. If they're not very crazy, we should. But one thing that changes

38:41and for me, it was a big change from the corporate world to the startup world was that in the corporate world, you have a very, you have a timeline. So you can see and you can plan six months down the line one year down the line. In the startup world, you cannot. So you have to release super fast. You have to get customers feedback and based on that feedback, you know, adapt everything and release again. So especially coming as an engineer engineers, I don't know to generalize, but we have these approach that we know better than the users. We know what they want. So you have to unlearn that. You have to understand that you have to let users guide you. Yeah. Okay. Next one. You're non-negotiable when it comes to partnerships in business and transparency and one. And I can, I really like you know, to be direct. I'm also great somewhere in direct, but don't eat me on. You know, either it's working or it's not working and

39:42this is why better we both know where we stand than actually, you know, not replying to my studies, letting things slide, sleep and I want to be efficient. I want to be this is it. We are doing it and we have not doing it. It's working because of that. It's not working because of that. Yeah. Don't sugarcoke. Just to see what it is. Yeah. Love it. What's more important being liked or being trusted? Being trusted. Best today in the world for meeting people. New York. I can't compare. There's nothing like New York. Okay. So anytime you build something around nightlife dating and human behavior, people project a lot onto it. Some people hear social club and assume it's shallow. What would you say? Like what's your opinion on that? You know, project on everything. Yeah. But I think the most important thing for us is the feedback

40:42we get from the users that actually use it. So if you never use something, how can you have an opinion? It's always my approach in life. If you don't know someone, let's say, how can you express an opinion? So for us, it's super empowering because we get constantly feedback from so many people for everything. Thank you so much. This is such an amazing idea. This is such an amazing app. It helped. I moved to a new city and it actually helped me create make friends or I guess it was like, look, I met my boyfriend. Now we're living together. I have people sending me the M's drinks, actually, and telling me, look, I wanted to join the startup. I applied to LinkedIn. They never got me. They never got back to me. But I found the founder here, sent him a coffee and we met and, you know, I got the interview and I got the job. So for me, this is why I love also consumer and I wanted to live to do streets because it's so meaningful. For me, the impact you can have, even if it's smaller, it's big to other people's life. Even if you make someone's

41:47life like 10% better and you help them find that job, find love, find friends. For me, there's nothing else you can do. Nothing is mean. I am. So what's next for you? I mean, you have accomplished a lot at 30 under 30. Can you talk about that for a second? The 30 under 30 had like, where did that come from? Or you nominated? How did that happen? Yes. This was when I started, when I moved, when I left Bloomberg to start my own thing essentially. So it was always in tech. So my whole career has been in tech and this was it. It was a great stick, but I think there are so many things happening. And for me, you know, the things that are super impactful and meaningful are the things that I mentioned before when I get messages from people and they tell me how I'm, you know, Deon and the team have never one actually managed to help them. So for us, for me, the most important thing you've been forward is building Deon. We are now in a very, in an inflection point.

42:51We are releasing Deon to point all. So we're super excited about that. And we're changing the modern completely. So we are removing all of the venue's partnerships that we have and we are going into a completely new redemption method. So everything happens through Apple Pay. So we can be global with a push of a battle. Yeah. And we are also not moving evolving, I would say, to communities because we were creating essentially a heightened community, but there are so many communities out there that they don't have a digital space for the members to connect. So now, Deon is evolving around bringing, giving all these different communities digital space to the people, you know, to the round club, to the yoga club, to Wadano Griggs in New York, etc. So it becomes a very powerful ecosystem that connects individuals with individuals, communities between them and brands with individuals and communities. So this is something that is moving culture. And this is something that's so blended in our real life. So for me, at this point,

43:55life, Deon is like one thing. I'm lazy together. Amazing. You are really such an inspiration, especially to young women. What's next for you? Maybe personally, professionally. Big in Deon. Yes, building Deon is very important. And the next thing that is going to happen with some super excited is we're going to be launching major cities in the US and Europe. But actually, I think it's something that happens, you know, in parallel. You cannot say this is the only thing that is going on with me. So as you move through different cities and countries, you are meeting people, you are making new friends. And one thing that I'm super passionate about, I have fallen behind the last years, unfortunately, is traveling. But when I say traveling, I like to be in places that I've never been before. So I go there with friends. We have these annual trips at Christmas, during Christmas and Easter. And we always pick a place that we haven't been, which is like has a very unique culture. And we go there and try to, you know, learn as much as

45:02possible in explore. So this is something that I'm super passionate about. I'm counting the countries. Now it's 66. But the last years have been so stale because I don't have the time, but the fear, you know, I'm going to get back to it. Wait, what is Deon's damn for? Like we're even asking. Yeah, everyone asks. It's from Dionysus, who is the Greek god of going out and socializing and drinks and white. There you go. I love that. Okay. And if people want to find you and get connected with you, where would they find you? In team under my name, good luck, spelling it. Put it in the solid stuff about it. Or Instagram, like a pile. It's as easy. That is so exciting. And one last piece of advice for like a woman that's already a young woman, me one last piece of advice and thing. It's very important to know that you don't belong because of, you know, how you grew up or by privilege, but you end up belonging by your actions. So it's very important to have goats and work till you actually reach them. And if you put it there for it, if you put the time,

46:08no one's going to stop you. You know, it's just up to you. And this is what I say to myself all the time. It's like it's up to me what I'm going to make out of myself. Yeah. If it's not easy and who, you know, if it's not now and when, absolutely. Well, today's episode was absolutely incredible. For you ladies out there, I mean, just get outside of yourself. You know, you can, you really can do anything in this life that you want. You see Rebecca, she had a Rebecca, sorry, a survivor. You see Rebecca, she has been, I mean, a breath of fresh air just talking to her and breaking barriers, defying all odds. I love it. Mail dominated industry and just crushing the game. So if you like today's episode, go ahead, like, subscribe, tell friend. You don't like unsubscribe. I don't know. But if you want to see more bees, you know, don't, don't, don't, it's been absolutely, it's been so incredible just sitting here and talking to you. You're inspiring me. Like I don't have enough of my sleep. Now I want to do more things. Uh, but it has when it is an absolutely credible spending the afternoon with you. Thank you so much for coming on. It's been

47:12incredible. Thank you for having me. Sensible, isn't it?