Nwanyinma Dike
Okay, welcome everyone. This is the Atlanta Startup Podcast, where we are the voice of founders and the venture ecosystem in Atlanta and the South in general. I’m super excited today to have Dena Lewis of Running Mate. She’s incredible. She’s one of the recent winners at the last 25th showcase of Startup Runway. My name is Nwanyinma Dike, I am the Managing Director of Startup Runway, where our mission is to introduce founders to their first investors. And so welcome, Dena.
Dena Lewis
Thank you. It’s great to be here. Thanks.
Nwanyinma Dike
I’m so glad you’re here. I think it would be best from coming from your voice to hear more about what Running Mate is, and essentially, what you’re building and what the problem you’re trying to solve.
Dena Lewis
First, thanks for having me. Running Mate is a real-time on-demand app, and we match verified safe mates with runners. So when the runner is ready to go, think of a sort of Uber for runners. I’ve been a runner for 20 years, long distance for about 10. And over the course of that time, like a lot of women, I’ve been harassed countless numbers of times, the catcalls, the horn hogs, the unwarranted behaviors. I’ve actually been physically assaulted twice. So I started in 2020 on a venture to try to find a more proactive approach to providing safety for women, whether they’re walking or running, or just outside in general. And so that’s where Running Mate came about.
Nwanyinma Dike
Incredible use case, an incredible solution to a real problem. I cannot say that I am a runner, but I know one of the barriers that I’ve had to even explore that as a fitness option is being afraid that I could go out there and be able to do it in a safe way without having to deal with all the issues that you’ve mentioned. I’m really believing what you’re building here. So one question that I have is a sense of any feedback that you’ve gotten from the folks that have been able to utilize your platform. What are they saying about the new experience of running they’re having with Running Mate?
Dena Lewis
One of the things that we’ve heard the most is that we’re building a community. I don’t think I expected that to be so strong in the beginning. If you think of Uber, everyone knows what Uber is. So I go back to the app because it’s easy to kind of understand, but my mission was to just make sure we were providing a safe partner for people to run with, male or female, doesn’t matter, anyone can be on our platform. Our target market is women because 92% of women don’t feel safe when they run. The statistics for women who are harassed are over 50%. So the number is higher for women, but men go through their different forms, whether they feel like they could get lost, they might be in a city they are unfamiliar with, or men have told us about situations they’ve had, where they’ve actually had assault on themselves when they’ve been exercising. So our feedback has been that we are truly building this community and that, for me, is the most positive feedback we could get, which also kind of helped me shift a little bit about how we targeted our users. Because in building an app, I think a lot of people think you just build an app, and you throw it out there and they will come. That is definitely not the case. There’s a lot of money building an app and if it’s not something that people can use, or want to use, then you’ve basically wasted money. Building that market, especially a two-channel market was new to me. I did not realize how complicated it can be to create a market for our mates and our runners. But because we’re building that community, it’s actually brought people on the platform. Besides feeling safe, people tell us that they actually really enjoy having someone that they’ve never met before, but they know they’re safe because of the steps we take to actually be there with them while they’re running. People have talked about training together. I had this one lady who has never run a 5k and she wanted to start training for 5k. She was in our beta test, and she utilized one of our mates. He happened to be a running coach. He gave her some great tips, she successfully finished her 5k. She’s signed up for a half marathon. So it’s things like that, and we’ve just had a lot of people reach out to us and give us information of what the app has done for them just from a confidence perspective as well. So again, that’s all the feedback that we’ve been really happy to hear, and excited to see what’s happening.
Nwanyinma Dike
I love to hear that. It’s incredible that you’re seeing this feedback and you’re being able to incorporate it in the way that you build out the service behind the app, the value behind the app. And it’s not a mistake, of course, that you’re using Uber. Uber shifted the game around how we thought about what it would look like to share a ride. Maybe 20 years ago, somebody mentioned that service, I’d be like, why the hell would I get in a car with a random? It seems like you’re being able to create an additional shift and how the people might partner up in the running process.
Dena Lewis
I think it really is because you’re right, Uber did kind of change the way we thought about things. But I sometimes go a step further, because it is still weird for people, especially women. Because we always have these thought bubbles around us, even if we’re getting in an Uber or whatever it may be, okay, is this going to be safe? Am I going to make it to my destination? I know I think about that a lot. I’ve traveled my whole career and when Uber first came out, I thought there’s no way I’m getting in a car with a random person. And then the first time I did it, it became more of a habit. I think the really big difference between us and Uber, though, is that we really want to make sure that people have a personal connection with their mates because it is a little more personal to exercise with somebody. And also for women in general, we tend to have this level of confidence, when we’re exercising, that we’re either not going to be good enough, or there’s this like judgment that goes along with it. Even though I’ve run long distances, I still face that. If I go to a running club, sometimes I think, okay, I’ve got to do the whole social thing. I got to keep up with somebody, can they keep up with me? Who am I going to pair up with? This weird awkwardness, but with us, you get to pick who you run with and you’re paying them to run with you so they have to run at your pace. You don’t even have to talk to them. We put things in place where people don’t even have to communicate if they don’t want to. So we just kind of tried to take it a little bit further.
Nwanyinma Dike
I love that. It says a lot. I actually wanted to segue to the point that you actually won at Startup Runway, the last edition, the most investable venture of the finalists that we chose. I wanted for folks to get a little bit of a view into what preparation and experience brought you to that point where one, we’ve talked about the value, but that people on the other side of the stage were able to receive it and then you be able to get awarded for that pitch.
Dena Lewis
First of all, I was super excited. Because it was an event that kind of came up and to be a finalist, as a founder, that’s just one of those things. It’s almost like your gratification or your validation that your company has made it to be able to present at something like that. I’ve had the luxury or not the luxury, but I’ve had the history, I’ve been in corporate America most of my life. I presented a lot. But I will say having your own business and presenting your company is probably the hardest thing I’ve ever had to do. Because in your mind, you know what you want to say, but sometimes it doesn’t always come out that way. And also, when it’s your company, you think everybody’s gonna love it, it’s like your baby. I went through some coaching to be able to help me get to a point where I could express those feelings. I hope it’s okay if I mentioned, but there’s Kat Weaver & Katie Dunn who run a company called Power To Pitch. I’ve partnered with them for very specific reasons. They were women, they believe in women and female founders. For me, that was super important. They were successful themselves. So I felt like there were a lot of resources out there, but I felt like if I was going to partner with somebody in a resource, I needed to make sure that we had mutual expectations or that we aligned basically with our goals. They were really good at helping me figure out the best way to put my company on inwards, presentation and go from there, and also to be factually correct. I mean, again, I think as founders, we get very emotional about our business and we tend not to get where we need to be sometimes whether it be with our financials or our traction or what’s going to present the best in order for us to be able to take that idea and grow with it. They helped me a lot. And then just really digging deep in my market, doing market validation. I think the biggest thing that has prepared me is that I’ve actually been in the market with my customers, figuring out and building what they want, not just what I think is a good idea and that has given me a level of confidence to be able to present my company, because I know my company, and I know what my customers want. It’s not because I’m just Googling it or paying a lot of money for research, I’m physically out there with them, hearing what they say, taking that feedback, and then trying to put it into the business to give them the best outcome.
Nwanyinma Dike
I love that. What I’m hearing and what you said is that you’ve invested, you’ve invested in two ways. One, is the obvious building of a product and being in the market so that you can have that experience, you know exactly what you’re presenting and what you built on, not to say that others who haven’t done that work, don’t have the element of confidence, but you’ve doubled down in that space. And then the other investment is more on the personal and executive development space of communicating about what you’ve built. I think that’s an incredible takeaway for our listeners, especially if they’re founders and thinking about going this path, like making that investment on both sides. It’s really, really good. Actually, I would want to learn more about your experience pitching, particularly your experience at Startup Runway. How did you find your time there? I’m sure there are folks who might be listening who want to know, okay, what is that environment like? I would love to hear a bit about your experience of the day.
Dena Lewis
It was actually really neat. I had never done a mock board meeting setup like that. Quite honestly, I was really nervous about how it’s gonna go. But I really loved it. For me, it was valuable, because it was the chance to take some things that we’re working on within the company, and put them out there for suggestions as if I were having a board meeting. I mean, there’s a lot of us that we might not have these really big, huge companies with these big boards and all these advisors and I try to keep that as real as possible. When you’re a startup, you have to be scrappy, and you can only do so much with the resources that you have. And so for me, I loved that, because I had the chance to meet with some people. There were four different people that I spoke to and they all had very different perspectives. I could take that information, I could take that feedback, and do something with it. So that means really valuable. The pitching, again, super nervous. You’re sitting there, and I think I was either a third, I was like second to last. I had to sit and watch all these people. I’m thinking wow, there are some really good companies out here. So that was a little bit nerve-wracking but then at the same time, it was good. Because I think, again, everything, I try to be very, very methodical in the things that I do that if it’s not helping the business, I don’t need to spend the time doing it, because I’m trying to grow a company. For me, it was valuable, because as you listen to everybody, you always need to be trying to take something away from it. Everyone who pitched had really good ideas, they had really great presentations, and you can learn from that by sitting there and listening to everybody. And then, of course, being able to win is nice. Honestly, I will say this too, because I’ve told a couple of people that the judges and the feedback were very sincere. I’ve done a couple of events where people talk to you afterward and then when you try to follow up with them, there’s nothing. For me, there’s been more feedback, both positive and negative. I tried to take the negative and again, learn from it. It’s been very good to see the level and the quality of people that you all have attending those events.
Nwanyinma Dike
I asked that question, one to just continue to validate it. It’s also really encouraging to see that our intention is actually being realized by the folks we’re trying to serve. Particularly with the mock board meeting, because we try and do as we say they come for the checks, but we want to sprinkle in there something that will distinguish our event from others, something like regardless of whether or not they get that check, there’s something valuable and some insights, some connection that they can walk out of the room with. So I’m glad to hear that.
Dena Lewis
It was very good. As a matter of fact, there are some connections that I made. I’ll be doing an event tonight and they’re going to come just so we can connect. We’re still having conversations.
Nwanyinma Dike
Exactly. The mission is we’re getting more first checks for underrepresented founders. It’s happening. Well, this has been an awesome conversation. I want to want to give you a chance to share anything else that you would want listeners to hear about either from the founder’s perspective or other investors. A lot of investors listen to our podcasts, like what you have coming up, what you would need from our audience in terms of engagement, or in development, and anything that you want to share with the audience on behalf of Running Mate.
Dena Lewis
I think first of all, one thing I would share with founders is that everyone knows this isn’t easy. No one sets out to say, okay, I’m gonna do the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my life and do it day after day after day. And then the rejection, that is definitely something that can get very hard. You kind of start to go through this where you’re thinking, okay, am I doing the right thing? But I know when you build a company, or you find a product, or develop a product, or whatever it might be, in order to really be super successful is that there has to be a story. There has to be a problem you’re solving and you have to validate that problem. For me, I knew it was a problem. But did I know if it was a problem for other women? It wasn’t until I got out there to validate that, that I realized, wow, it’s a bigger problem than I thought it was. I think first and foremost before people spend a lot of money, you’ve got to validate it, and you’ve got to figure out, is it truly a problem that other people are facing? And then if it really is, is it going to generate enough revenue for it to be a viable product? So that’s one of the things I’ve learned is that and I still face it, I’m a marketplace. Right now we’re B2C, we’re working on a B2B model, which is going to generate more revenue. But even though our total addressable market is huge, is it going to be something that’s scalable? And that is something else I think a lot of founders kind of forget about and I know I did in the beginning. I wasn’t really focusing on how scalable is this, that’s super important. Are you really fixing a problem? And how scalable is it if you’re going to raise money? And then from the investor perspective, I just think it’s so hard to raise money, right? Being a female, it’s even harder. I appreciate what y’all are doing because there are those of us out there who genuinely need to be able to raise in order to keep things moving forward and the fact that you’re here gives us a voice that we really wouldn’t have otherwise. I’m very grateful for that. I have a lot of female friends who are founders that say that. It’s the common theme of the conversation is I feel like there are a lot of companies out there that say they want to help females, but then when it really gets down to it, if you look at their portfolio, they still have a pretty large male population that they invest in. I mean, that means they’ve got great products, but we need that representation. So from the investor perspective, please keep thinking about us women tend to have more successful companies. Just statistically, it’s there. We can juggle multiple things. Just because we have a family, that doesn’t mean we can’t do it. We probably have more endurance to do it. Take a gamble on us. For me, that’s huge. There just needs to be more.
Nwanyinma Dike
Absolutely. And I love that you said it, we like to say around here is that if you really want to say your backing the best, you need to be seeing everyone. And if your investment portfolio isn’t looking more like the cross-section of the United States, then can you really say that you’re seeing everyone and really backing the best? So I love that you mentioned that, that is part of the passion that drives what we do here at Startup Runway, through the podcast, and through the work that Valor Ventures does. We want to make sure that we’re truly backing the best and so we want to make sure we shed light on incredible founders like you. So thank you for that. How can our listeners find you if they want to reach out?
Dena Lewis
We are @getrunningmate, it’s our Instagram. We’re on LinkedIn, running mate. Honestly, if someone wants to email us, they can do that, too. hello@getrunningmate.com @getrunningmate, it’s pretty much everything for us. Follow us on Instagram. We are on Facebook and TikTok but we mostly post on Instagram. Most of our followers are on Instagram. They can follow us. And then our website is https://getrunningmate.com/. Everything on our website will take you somewhere whether it’s a QR code, we actually have submission forms on our website that people can go and sign up as either a mate or a runner. And one other thing that we did do that I just want to shout out real fast, I started something called The Female Runners Safety Summit and that’s also housed on our website. Basically what that is, is it’s a group of companies that have come together. We all have the mission of female runner safety as our mission. We do events together. So whether it’s attending races, traveling the universities, and educating women. At Running Mate, we think we’re one of the tools, we’re a big tool. But there are a lot of other tools you could have in your bag as well to keep yourself safe. We try to partner with as many of those companies as possible so that it’s a full bag for women to be able to have different things to choose from. We travel around and talk about that. That’s also on our website.
Nwanyinma Dike
I love that. And I think in general, we get better, more impactful innovation through collaboration. I love that you’ve obviously seen that as an avenue to grow what you’re doing at Running Mate by partnering with folks who are doing something similar. Awesome. So great talking to you.
Dena Lewis
Thanks for having me. This is fun.
Nwanyinma Dike
Glad you came through the office. We got to do this live. So to the audience, thank you for listening. Have a great rest of your day.
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