Nwanyinma Dike
Welcome to the Atlanta Startup Podcast. I am Nwanyinma Dike, the Managing Director of Startup Runway Foundation, which is the leading platform linking underrepresented founders to capital and investors.
Today, I am really, really excited to meet—well, we’ve talked before—but I’m truly excited to have Jillian Anderson of HeRide on our show. I’ll let her share more, but I wanted to mention that HeRide is reimagining ride-sharing with a mission to provide safer and more inclusive transportation options for women, while also creating opportunities for women drivers.
She will do a much better job than me of explaining more about HeRide, but I did want to highlight that she recently won the Empower Her Award, which was presented by the NCR Foundation at the 28th Startup Runway Showcase.
So, without further ado, Jillian, thank you for joining us today!
Jillian Anderson
Thank you for having me. I appreciate it. It’s an honor to be here. It’s an honor to be a recipient of the Empower Her Award, and this is just a blessing to run on her ride. So, I’m just happy to have this conversation. So, what do you want me to start? Do you want to just hop right into it and let everybody…
Nwanyinma Dike
Always on to it. Yes, please tell us more about our ride and the problem you’re solving with this space.
Jillian Anderson
HeRide is a female-friendly ride-share app. We are based out of Atlanta. We are ride-share made for women, by women. And our model is simple. We just want to help women choose to be unbothered. We want to help women get from point A to point B without having to worry about whether somebody is going to disrupt them on that journey. That’s our goal: to make ride-sharing simple.
We’ve been doing pretty well here in Atlanta. My goal right now is to get us to 1,000 drivers doing 10 rides a week. That’s my goal, that’s my mission, and I love what I do.
What made me get into ride-sharing and even the ride-sharing industry is that I started driving for ride-share when I first moved to Atlanta. I was actually trying to go pro for basketball. I’m a student-athlete by trade, and doing gig work actually worked out best with my workout schedule. That’s when I started driving for ride-share heavily and began noticing that, mainly at night, most women were telling me they were canceling rides until they got a woman or they were trying to pay me using cash—just all different types of things.
I noticed that this was a problem women kept facing, so I decided to be the solution to that problem. And five years later, here we are.
Nwanyinma Dike
Absolutely! I love that. I love that you highlight a couple of things: the problem became super apparent to you while you were pursuing other things or other passions, and it kind of just nudged you. So, with what you’ve built with HeRide, how are you guys able to ensure safety for both the passengers and the drivers? And ultimately, what makes HeRide different from what’s traditionally out there?
Jillian Anderson
Yeah, so what makes us different is our features. We were the first ride-share company to introduce rider verification and identity verification for both passengers and drivers. We put a feature on our platform where customers had to take a live photo of themselves before booking a ride. This photo couldn’t come from your photo library. We can’t prevent crime, but what we can do is put features in place to keep people who want to commit crimes on these platforms at bay and make them want to stay away.
When I was in high school, I had a couple of friends who got into shoplifting. I vividly remember them telling me they stayed away from Target. I asked them, “Why Target?” And they explained how seriously Target took shoplifting, how they prosecuted shoplifters to the fullest extent of the law. I thought, “I want our business to be looked at like that. I want criminals to look at our business and think, ‘You know what? I’m going to stay away from that one.'”
Nwanyinma Dike
Don’t play. I love that. I love that. So it’s the safety built in. Yeah, built in. So can you share a bit about some of the challenges you’ve had in launching and continuing to grow HeRide and how you’ve overcome them?
Jillian Anderson
The biggest challenge I had with launching was the timing. I decided to launch in March of 2020, which was a terrible time to launch a ride share. Yes, that was during COVID. So, for an entire year, I couldn’t really even give rides.
But outside of timing, the biggest challenge would probably be access to capital, which is why I applied for the Startup Runway grant. Access to capital has been our hardest thing to gain. Everybody tells us all the time how great our idea is, comparing us to unicorn companies and all these good things, but when it comes to actually putting something down on a term sheet or making an actual investment, people aren’t interested in buying into HeRide. They just want to buy me. And so, I’m not trying to be bought out right now. I am trying to work my business. I do want to work it. I do feel like I am one of the best to lead this company, and so I think that’s been our biggest struggle: just trying to secure funding. That’s what made me seek alternative funding through grants and pitch competitions.
Nwanyinma Dike
I like that. And one thing—I’m going slightly off script—but I’ve noted, for your journey so far, that you crush pitch competitions. You’re like, “Let me add them. I’m going to get on the stage, and they will see why they need to fund me.” And so I just want to give you some flowers there, because you’ve really been able to clean up when it comes to pitch competitions.
And so, actually, that’s a good segue to your view on how founders should be looking at pursuing other capital. How can they set themselves up to do well in a pitch environment, where maybe there is some non-dilutive grant money out there for them to win?
Jillian Anderson
I like this because I’ve been getting this question a lot. I’ve been telling people that you have to show your personality in a pitch competition. You cannot be monotone, you cannot be dry, you cannot be boring. If you have a personality, show it—especially at the early stage of a business, because that’s what investors are investing in. They’re investing in the founder, and you need to be likable. If you’re not likable, if people do not like you, they’re more than likely not going to believe in what you’re building.
So, I tell people, always bring your personality to the pitch competition. Don’t ever try to be super professional with it. If you have a personality, bring it out. And if that’s just not you, then you need to find somebody who can do it.
Nwanyinma Dike
I love that. And you’re definitely, definitely, um, don’t have any issues showing your personality. That’s really good. Can you tell a bit about some of the success stories you’ve had and milestones you’ve reached so far with HeRide?
Jillian Anderson
HeRide? Yeah, okay, so I think one of my biggest milestones, my greatest success story, would be us being approved at Atlanta’s airport. That was a year-long process. We’re the third ride-share company to do it, and the only other two before us were Uber and Lyft. A lot of people have been scratching their heads, wondering how this girl from Georgia got into the busiest airport in the world. And it’s quite simple—I followed the directions, I followed the application, and I did what they asked. But no, that is probably one of my greatest milestones.
I think another great milestone that I would like to highlight is that we have over 50,000 downloads. We have over 26,000 people who have signed up on the customer side and made accounts, and we haven’t spent any money on marketing. I really want to praise my co-founder for that. My co-founder is the master of marketing, DeVynne Starks. She is incredible. She knows exactly how to get eyes on a product or get attention on us without having to spend money, and she’s been able to do an incredible job of that.
What my job has been is trying to find money so that she can actually have a real marketing budget to work off of, so we can really start doing some real marketing campaigns. But those are the top two things that I like to highlight: we’ve done a lot with nothing. So, with just a little fuel to the fire, we can really accelerate things. But we’ve really done a lot with nothing, and I’m really, really proud of what we’ve done.
Nwanyinma Dike
I love that, and I think this is also slightly off script, but I think it’ll be important for you to take this opportunity, because we do have investors that listen in. There are folks who are angel investors, folks who are thinking about where smart places to place their money—even though this year’s a little funny and how people are deploying capital, just to be frank. But what would you want folks to hear and understand about what you’re building and why you, particularly, are investable?
Jillian Anderson
I think I want people to understand that HeRide is a movement, not just a business. The two other big companies already exist. People are choosing and wanting to choose HeRide for a very specific reason, and investors need to make sure they’re listening to that. We’ve listened to those consumers. We know exactly what it is that they want, and we’re trying to bring them exactly what they’re asking for.
So, when it comes to any investors interested in investing in HeRide, like I said, HeRide will never be Uber because Uber already exists. Her Ride will never be Lyft because Lyft already exists. If you are planning on investing in HeRide, understand what type of company you’re investing in and what type of movement this is. This is a company that truly cares about the safety of women, and we don’t plan on changing that or diluting that at all. I do not want to do any of that. I want to make sure that everything we have set in place right now in Georgia is able to be replicated in any other state we go to. It doesn’t matter how fast we want to scale or where we want to scale; the process and the system will still remain the same.
Nwanyinma Dike
That mission-minded, that sense of purpose, the reason why HeRide exists, is very specific. And what I hear in the undertones of what you’re saying is that there might be a push for folks to be like, “Well, Uber is doing this, and Lyft is doing that. Why aren’t you doing X, Y, and Z?” What I hear is that, respectfully, there’s a reason why we have a place in the market. We can’t just look at what others are doing and use that as a benchmark. We have to be aware of what these other folks are doing, but we can’t necessarily use those as benchmarks because…
Jillian Anderson
But we’re in transportation, and transportation is a profitable industry. So understand, if you invest in HeRide, you will be investing in a profitable venture.
Nwanyinma Dike
Company. Mm-hmm, absolutely, absolutely. So, I will switch gears. I would love for you to share a bit about your experience at the showcase. Again, congratulations! You won the Empower Her Award at the 20th showcase we did. So, what was your experience like?
Jillian Anderson
My experience great. The application process was dope. It wasn’t too intense, it wasn’t too long. I really enjoyed that. The pitch competitions, the companies that you guys picked, were incredible. I’m not gonna lie, I was a little worried. I was like, “I don’t know if I’m going to place,” but the competition was really, really fierce. I was really impressed with, honestly, everybody’s pitch deck, so much so to the point that I actually changed mine. I actually redid my pitch deck since I pitched because I was like, “Yeah, my pitch deck is not good enough. We have got to step it up.” But, the process—everything was streamlined. It was great communication, even the setup was great. The pitch, like I said, the pitch competition was incredible, and I really appreciate it. And again, even the resources after, I honestly use them. I’m signed up for you guys’ newsletters, and I’m always checking when you guys post grants or anything, and I’m actively applying. So yeah, I love it!
Nwanyinma Dike
Awesome. I love to hear that. I love to hear that because we want to make sure that we are doing what we think we’re doing right. It’s good to hear. And so with that, you did talk a little bit about this, but just in general, what advice would you give to aspiring entrepreneurs—folks who are a few steps behind where you are? Whether that be, especially, particularly for women, given the work that you’re doing and the space you’re in as a woman founder, serving women in a two-sided market. I would love to hear your advice.
Jillian Anderson
I would say, pay attention to the times we’re in. I believe that right now, we’re in a very founder-friendly market in terms of a lot of people are buying into whatever corporation, brand, or company they decide to support. It’s really based on who the founder is and who the face of the company is. And I think, as women, we need to start using that to our advantage more. I think a lot of women are more likable when it comes to personalities and things like that. So, don’t be scared to put yourself as the face of your business. Don’t be scared to use that to your advantage. Because, in all honesty, when it comes to VC money, we’re not really seeing that. So, we do have to get creative in the ways that we raise our funding.
I’ve actually been entertaining crowdfunding lately. I’ve just been sorting through my different options on how I want to go about doing it, but I think I will have a very, very successful raise using crowdfunding. I was told by Jewel Burke to look into debt-equity financing. So, like, establishing relationships with different banks to leverage your credit and business credit in order to get proper loans. She also let me know about MOUs and LOIs that you can take to banks to get money for working capital or anything like that.
So yeah, just making sure that we’re always looking for other options, keeping your ears and eyes open to different lanes of funding. Because if you think you’re going to start a tech company in the United States and get a billion dollars in VC funding as a Black woman founder, I’m here to tell you… no, you’re not. We get less than 1% of that. So, keep your options open..
Nwanyinma Dike
Absolutely. I’m big on that. I mean, we know that those numbers have to change—that the percentage of women who are funded has to increase. But when I’m talking to founders on a day-to-day basis, you’re here right now, in this environment. So, what are the different angles you need to go to in order to fund what you’re building right now? And then, for some of us on the back end, trying to push back and make the environment more receptive for our founders, we will be doing that work. But we’ve got to make sure that you guys survive to the next stage and the stage after that.
Jillian Anderson
Put your job, you don’t have to. I have to work full time, don’t let the investors, don’t let none of these people scare you into the “Oh, you need to be working full time on your business.” I work full time on my business. There are 24 hours in a day. I work for my business, but I also have bills to pay. Do not let those people tell you to quit your job.
Jillian Anderson
Mmm-hmm.Yes, ma’am, yes, ma’am, you bet! How many gems did this woman just put down? She said, “Don’t quit your job.” She said, “Explore crowdfunding.” There’s debt financing out there and working capital money available. There are non-dilutive grants, like the competition we do—the Startup Runway Foundation competition. But there are plenty of others out there. There are grants you can write. There are multiple ways to get your business funded, especially if you know what you have is worth it. So, if you’re already putting your own blood, sweat, and tears into it, that’s already a big part of the indication that it’s worth investing in, beyond, of course, having customers who are breaking down your door to get your solution.
So, thank you, Jillian. I think this conversation was super, super rich. I wanted to ask if you had any final thoughts or any messages, or what you guys have coming up in the near future that you want to let the audience know before we wrap up?
Jillian Anderson
Off. Um, so I haven’t, I don’t have anything set in stone because we haven’t finalized those plans yet, so I don’t want to announce them yet. But I do want to encourage everybody, especially anyone that’s listening and thinking about starting an app. Um, the last gem that I forgot to tell you guys is: trademark your name. Trademark your name. Trademark your name. When it comes to apps and names, I mean the app game, the name is really the king. Most people know their apps by their names, not what they do. So, if you really believe in the name of your app or what it is you’re trying to create, trademark that name. I actually trademarked my app name before I even found a developer to develop the app.
Nwanyinma Dike
So smart. So, how can listeners stay connected with you? How can they follow up on you? Oh, yeah, what’s going on?
Jillian Anderson
So, you guys can keep up with me and everything that I’ve got going on via Twitter. My name on Twitter is @JillBGates, and then on IG, it’s @TheRealJillBGates. So, B, H, E, R, E, A, L, spelled exactly how it’s supposed to be spelled, no spaces, no underscores. If you want to keep up with everything that Her Ride is doing, we are @GetHerRide on all platforms. So, G, E, T, H, E, R, I, D, E, on any platform that you look us up on.
Nwanyinma Dike
I love it. I love it. Jillian, thank you so much, and best of luck. We’re definitely rooting for you and HeRide over here at Startup Runway.
Jillian Anderson
Thank you so much. I really appreciate it. No
Nwanyinma Dike
No problem. Thank you all for listening. Have a great rest of your day
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