Learn from our community entrepreneurs! In this interview, Parnian Majd shares the story of building and growing Fibra inc. , located in Vaughan, Ontario, Canada.
Hi! Tell us about your business and what problem are you solving?
did you know that 80% of people trying for pregnancy fail every month? Shocking!! I’m Parnian, founder and CEO of Fibra and I came across this problem while I was studying for my master's in Biomedical Engineering at the University of Toronto. This is personal for everyone. It could be you, or your daughter, granddaughter, sister. But it's often private, so awareness is low and a lot of women/couples suffer in silence. But here is what we do know: Current solutions are insufficient.
We live in the 21st century and yet, women have to wake up every morning, pee or spit on a stick, or insert something into themselves to see if they are fertile today or not.
Introducing Fibra, the future of women's health. With our patent-pending smart underwear plus an app, we're leveraging data analytics to provide women with accurate and personalized fertility data, in the most automated, non-invasive and hassle-free manner helping them to conceive faster and easier!
How do you motivate yourself to keep going every day?
By reminding myself about the vision that I have for Fibra and how life-changing it will be for women.
What's your one biggest accomplishment as a business owner?
Expanding Fibra from 1 person (me) to a team of 12 by being very resourceful and sustaining the cash in the bank while making sure that we are hitting the milestones.
What’s your one biggest challenge you face and how do you overcome it?
Finding the time to getting everything and every task that I was supposed to do in one day is a bit challenging. As an entrepreneur, you are doing everything and managing everything. From product development to marketing to business development. The way that I overcome it is by having a very detailed schedule for every day and I had to learn time management.
What are your hiring strategies to build a successful business?
Being creative and resourceful is the key! My strategy is to do a lot of research as well as talk with the founders in my network to find programs and wage subsidies to be able to get high-quality individuals while making sure we have enough runway.
To anyone looking to start or grow a business today, what three tips would you give them?
1) Learn how to properly sell your vision and mission to anyone and get them excited. Whether it is a new hire, a customer, or an investor, getting them excited about the future that you have in mind for the company/the product is the key.
2) Business is all about people so learn how to communicate, interact and more importantly network with people. Attend every single networking event. The more people you know, the more doors will open for you.
3) Have a thick skin and be ok with hearing no and getting rejected because you will hear it a lot!