An EMBA at London's Cass Business School has been key to the success of Talia Geberovich's digital start-up.
Talia Geberovich is a mother and EMBA with a successful career as a marketing executive in the media industry. Now she is a start-up entrepreneur, working out of London where her online venture, Do It For Mummy, is helping parents to book home visits from trustworthy and experienced specialists for their new-borns.From lactation and sleep consultants to nutritionists and pilates instructors, the business has received an inflow of requests from specialists to sign up. 40 are registered in total. The site covers Greater London but Talia hopes to expand. The business takes commission on bookings made through the platform.
A graduate of London’s Cass Business School, an EMBA has been key to Talia’s success. She took myriad entrepreneurial courses at Cass to hone her start-up skills, and was inspired by her classmates’ ventures.
Prior to the EMBA she worked as a marketing manager at Dow Jones, the media group, for more than three years. Before that, she was a marketing specialist at FXall, a foreign exchange platform of Thomson Reuters, the media and information firm.
The female founder faces competition from online retailer Amazon, which recently launched childcare services. But she has ambitious growth targets, expecting up to 200 appointments made via her site each week.
The concept came about after you finished your EMBA and had a baby. Tell us more about this.
I graduated in July 2013 and my little boy was born last May. I thought the EMBA was tough, but I hadn't seen anything. Boy, was I in for a shock!
We needed a lactation and a sleep consultant to come to the house. I didn't have a clue how to find the right, qualified specialists that could come and see us at home. That was when I had the idea.
Ever since I worked at a start-up in 2007 - 2009, I had dreams of returning to the start-up world. Since then I've worked at large corporates but I really missed the fast-paced, exciting and challenging nature of the start-up.
During my Executive MBA I took electives in New Venture Creation, New Product Development and Innovation, and Strategies for Fast-Track Venturing.
In your opinion, is a lack of childcare support and other relevant services holding more women back from becoming entrepreneurs?
No, I would say that the opposite is true: I think that one of the reasons that there is such a high percentage of women entrepreneurs is because self-employment enables a more flexible work-life balance, which a corporate position may not accommodate.
What challenges have you faced running a start-up as a mother? What are the main challenges Do It For Mummy faces?
When I was doing market research on the idea, I had to make phone calls which made my little boy extremely jealous. I had Reuben in my left arm and the phone under my chin and a pen in my right hand – not advisable. Things are much easier [now]; Reuben is in childcare part-time.
Another challenge is that similar services are quickly entering this arena. Do It For Mummy is the first of its kind but Amazon just launched a home visits service, offering nannies. This is obviously a bit worrying, although at the same time it tells me that I'm on to something. Luckily nannies are not one of our services.
How does the company currently, or how will it in future, generate revenue?
At the moment we take commission from all bookings through the platform, but we may introduce other revenue streams, depending on how the business develops. We have a few ideas in the pipeline.
How do customers know that they and their families are safe using your specialists?
We check every specialist's identity, insurance and qualifications to ensure that parents can feel confident that they are in safe hands. We also test as many of them as possible by consulting them for our own baby.
You come from a marketing background. How has this experience come into use for Do It For Mummy?
It's been very useful, since marketing, when done properly, is about understanding the needs of the target audience and helping them find services and products they genuinely need.
Becoming a parent is a very special experience and one you’re not really ready for until you become one; being trained to help people find an answer to their needs is proving to be key in this enterprise.
People question the value of MBAs and EMBAs for entrepreneurs. How beneficial has an EMBA been for you and your start-up?
The Executive MBA has been instrumental in my quest to start this venture – I met some amazingly creative and motivated people, and I had the chance to partake in practical, entrepreneurial courses.
I also had a fantastic mentor during my BMP [Business Mastery Project] – Professor Vangelis Souitaris – who helped me understand how to assess a business plan. Some of my classmates have started their own ventures as well, and that really encouraged me.
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