Introduction
Part six of the Founder's Playbook tackles the operational mechanics of startup execution: launching a business with zero capital, mastering the naming process from brand positioning through domain strategy, developing fluency with industry tools like Moz and Ahrefs, and understanding the pre-seed fundraising landscape and pitch requirements.
The launch cluster addresses the fundamental question: what is the absolute minimum you need to start a business? These answers focus on founder leverage through sweat equity, free tools, and bootstrapped growth rather than assuming capital availability.
The naming cluster expands previous treatment with deeper focus on SEO implications of company names, brand positioning through naming, and the intersection of memorability with searchability. Your company name compounds over years; getting this decision right matters disproportionately.
The tools cluster covers interpreting and maximizing specific platforms that founders rely on daily. Rather than introductory tutorials, these answers assume you have basic familiarity and focus on deeper strategies and optimization patterns within each tool.
The fundraising cluster addresses pre-seed and seed stage funding specifically, including pitch mechanics, preparation, timing, and what investors actually evaluate at these stages. Pre-seed funding is increasingly available; founders need clarity on what makes a fundable pre-seed company.
Check out the Complete "How to" Series:
🔗 1000 Startup How-To Questions Part 1: Startup Strategy, Funding and Business Fundamentals
🔗 1000 Startup How-To Questions Part 2: SEO, Naming, and Competitive Analysis
🔗 1000 Startup How-To Questions Part 3: Content, Business Models, and Growth
🔗 1000 Startup How-To Questions Part 4: Finding Customers, Funding, and Keywords
🔗 1000 Startup How-To Questions Part 5: Backlinks, Funding, Growth, and AI Visibility
🔗 1000 Startup How-To Questions Part 6: Launching, Naming, Tools, and Fundraising
🔗 1000 Startup How-To Questions Part 7: Costs, Funding, Naming, and Starting Up
🔗 1000 Startup How-To Questions Part 8: Tech Startups, Tools, AI, and Keyword Research
🔗 1000 Startup How-To Questions Part 9: SEO Tools, Schema Markup, and AI Optimization
🔗 1000 Startup How-To Questions Part 10: 2026 Trends, AI, and Future Opportunities
How to Kickstart a Business With Zero Money
Leverage your founder skills for early revenue through freelance or consulting, presell your product before building it, use no-code platforms to minimize development cost, and reinvest early revenue into product. Most founder constraints are capital; solve customer problems first.
How to Know Competitor Keyword
Enter competitor domain in Ahrefs Site Explorer or Semrush Domain Analytics, view Organic Keywords report showing all keywords they rank for, sort by traffic to identify their revenue generating keywords, and note which you are missing from your own keyword list.
How to Know Competitors Keywords
All methods converge to the same answer: use Ahrefs, Semrush, Moz, or similar competitive analysis tools to extract their ranking keyword lists, then compare against your own keywords. Free alternatives include studying their content and meta data manually.
How to Know Competitors Keywords Free YouTube
Use YouTube autocomplete to see keyword variations people search, analyze competitor video titles and tags for keyword patterns, check which competitor videos get engagement, and note recurring keywords across their top performing content. Free methods require more manual analysis than paid tools.
How to Know Keyword Search Volume
Use Google Keyword Planner for free estimates, Ahrefs or Semrush for more granular data, filter by country and language, and treat volumes as ranges for relative comparison. Compare volumes across related keywords to prioritize your content strategy.
How to Know Search Volume
All keyword tools provide search volume: Google Keyword Planner, Ahrefs, Semrush, Ubersuggest, or SEMrush free tier. Select your target location and language and record the monthly search volume range for your keywords.
How to Know the Search Volume of a Keyword
Enter any single keyword into a keyword tool, select geography and language, and read the average monthly searches. Cross reference multiple tools if making major strategic decisions.
How to Launch a Meme Coin
This is a blockchain and cryptocurrency question outside startup founder scope. Consult blockchain developers and legal advisors regarding crypto token launches and regulatory compliance.
How to Launch a Startup
Identify a problem, validate that customers care, build a minimum viable product, sell to early customers, and iterate based on feedback. Most successful startups launch rough products, not perfect ones.
How to Launch a Tech Startup in Romani
Research the Romanian startup ecosystem and available programs, understand local labor and tax laws, consider whether Bucharest or Cluj offers the best network for your sector, and identify local mentors and advisors. Romania has a growing tech community with lower operating costs than Western Europe.
How to Launch Your Startup
Begin with problem validation through customer interviews, build an MVP using available tools and skills, launch to a narrow beachhead market, and iterate based on real user feedback. Speed beats perfection in startup launch.
How to Learn SEO in Moz
Explore Moz Learning Center with free SEO guides and videos, use MozBar on real SERPs to understand metrics, set up a test Rank Tracker campaign to understand how rankings work, and read Moz blog posts on algorithm changes. Learning SEO through tool usage beats theoretical study.
How to Look at Improvements in Rank SEO Moz
In Moz Rank Tracker, set up a campaign with your target keywords, monitor positions monthly or weekly, use the historical ranking data to see which content or link building actions moved rankings, and segment by keyword difficulty to understand improvement patterns. Tracking alongside your actions proves what works.
How to Look for Keywords on Chrome
Use Chrome extensions like SEO QuakeBar or MozBar to see keyword data directly on Google search results, install Keyword Highlighter to identify keywords in competitor content, and use Chrome DevTools to inspect website code for keyword and schema usage. Chrome extensions surface SEO data without leaving the browser.
How to Look Up Search Volume in Your City Moz
In Moz Keyword Explorer, search your keyword, then filter by location to your specific city. Moz shows volume by geography so you can understand keyword demand in your local market.
How to Make a Brand Name
Define your positioning and unique value, brainstorm names that communicate that positioning, test candidates with target customers, verify domain and trademark availability, and sit with your choice before announcing. Brand names compound over time; invest in getting this right.
How to Make a Business Model
Start with customer segments and their jobs to be done, add your value proposition addressing those jobs, document how you reach customers and capture revenue, identify resources and activities you need, and articulate your cost structure. Document all nine BMC elements.
How to Make a Business Model Canvas
Use the official Business Model Canvas template with nine boxes, fill in each section based on your current assumptions, validate each section through customer conversations, and update as you learn. Treat BMC as working document, not static deliverable.
How to Make a Business Model Canvas in Word
Create a nine box grid in Word, label each box for the nine BMC components, fill in your current assumptions, and share with advisors for feedback. Word is functional but purpose built templates in Miro or Figma are easier to collaborate on.
How to Make a Business Model for a Startup
Identify your customer, understand their specific problem and willingness to pay, document how you deliver value, describe your revenue and cost model, and iterate based on customer feedback. Business model refinement happens through execution, not planning.
How to Make a Business Name
Brainstorm at least 50 candidates using different frameworks, narrow to ten finalists based on availability and relevance, test with target customers, verify domain and trademark availability, and decide. Document your naming decision so you can explain it authentically.
How to Make a Business Name Your Own
Once you have chosen your name, register the domain immediately, secure social media handles across all major platforms, file for trademark protection, and start using it consistently in all communications. Consistency and usage establish ownership.
How to Make a Catchy Name
Focus on clarity and memorability over trying to be clever, test names with target customers for genuine recall, avoid inside jokes or trends that will feel dated, and ensure pronunciation is obvious. The most catchy names are those that feel inevitable in retrospect.
How to Make a Checklist Online
Use tools like Todoist, Microsoft To Do, or Notion for personal checklists, use Google Forms or Typeform for collaborative checklists, or build custom checklists in Coda. Online checklists enable sharing and tracking across teams.
How to Make a Company Name
Follow naming best practices: brainstorm widely, filter by criteria such as memorability and availability, test with customers, verify legal availability, and document your final choice. Company naming is strategic; treat it accordingly.
How to Make a Good Company Name
Ensure it is easy to spell and pronounce, relevant to your business without being generic, available as a domain and across social platforms, and defensible as a trademark. Test with 20 customers and pick the name that generates strongest recall.
How to Make a Moat
Identify what will be hardest for competitors to replicate such as proprietary data, strong brand, or network effects. Invest disproportionately in building and maintaining that defensibility.
How to Make a Pitch Deck: Tips and Tricks for Crafting an Effective Presentation
Structure your deck: problem, solution, market size, business model, traction, team, ask. Use visuals over text, tell a story rather than listing facts, and practice presenting until it is conversational. Most investors care more about founder credibility and market size than deck aesthetics.
How to Make a Problem Statement
Describe the problem specifically, quantify who experiences it and how often, explain current workarounds or consequences, and articulate why your angle is different. Strong problem statements make solutions feel obvious.
How to Make AI Face Swap Video
This question is outside startup guidance scope; consult AI video generation tools and resources. Not relevant to founder development.
How to Make an SEO Business Moz
Identify underserved SEO niches where you can establish authority, use Moz tools to build client case studies, offer services aligned with Moz Keyword Explorer and Rank Tracker capabilities, and certify in Moz to establish credibility. Many SEO agencies build around specific tool expertise.
How to Make Business Model
All business model approaches converge: identify customer, understand their problem and payment, document value delivery and revenue mechanics, and iterate based on customer feedback. Business models are proven through execution.
How to Make Business Model Canvas
Use a nine-box template, fill in your assumptions across customer, value, channels, revenue, resources, activities, partnerships, and costs, then validate each element with customers. Update quarterly as you learn.
How to Make Business Model Canvas in Word
Create a simple grid structure in Word, add labels for each BMC section, populate with your current assumptions, and export as PDF to share. Word templates work but dedicated tools like Miro are easier for collaboration.
How to Make Business Model for Startup
Start with who you serve and their specific problem, describe your solution and revenue model, document costs and unit economics, and test with real customers. Business models evolve through execution.
How to Make Business Name
Repeat the systematic naming process: brainstorm, filter, test, verify availability, and decide. Investment in naming quality pays compounding returns.
How to Make Creatives in 2026 Top Tools and Tips for Webmasters
This appears to be an outsourced content question rather than founder guidance. Use design tools like Canva, Figma, or Adobe Creative Cloud for creative production. For webmasters, focus on content quality and SEO over creative production.
How to Make Habit Forming Products
Design products around a trigger, action, variable reward, and investment cycle where users return because they see immediate value and reasons to come back. Track retention cohorts and optimize onboarding until new users naturally return.
How to Make Logo in Canva
Open Canva, search for Logo template, select a template, customize colors and text to match your brand, and download as PNG or SVG. Canva templates jump start logo creation for founders without design skills.
How to Make Money From Home 2026
Sell your expertise as a freelancer or consultant, create digital products or courses, build and monetize an audience through content, or run an online business. Remote work enables geographic arbitrage and flexible lifestyle.
How to Make MozBar Work
Download MozBar extension from Moz website, install in your browser, log into your Moz account through the extension, and it displays page metrics on Google results. MozBar requires Moz account; free tier shows limited metrics.
How to Make Problem Statement
Write the problem clearly and specifically, quantify scope and impact, identify affected customers, and distinguish from competitor framing. Clarity on the problem predates effective solutions.
How to Make Revenue Model for Startup
Identify your customer segments and their payment capacity, document pricing structure and payment frequency, calculate unit economics and customer lifetime value, and test pricing through early sales. Revenue models evolve as you understand customer preferences.
How to Make Your Own AI Business but for Free
Use free AI APIs like Hugging Face, build a UI in Bubble or Webflow, serve a narrow use case where you outcompete paid tools, and plan to monetize once you reach scale. Free AI business require sweat equity to offset missing capital.
How to Market to Different Generations
Understand generational media consumption: Gen Z prefers TikTok and Instagram, millennials engage on Facebook and LinkedIn, Gen X and boomers use traditional media. Tailor messaging and platforms to where each generation actually spends time.
How to Meet AI Startup Founders in NYC
Attend AI focused conferences and pitch competitions, join NYC founder communities like Reforge or Indie Hackers local groups, network at tech events and venture dinners, and connect through founder friends. Most relationships start with warm introductions.
How to Mentor a Startup
Share specific advice based on your experience, ask questions to help founders think through problems rather than giving answers, introduce founders to relevant contacts and resources, and maintain consistent small interactions. Mentorship compounds through repeated engagement.
How to Merge Videos in InShot
Open InShot, create a new project, import multiple videos, arrange them in order, add transitions between clips, and export. InShot handles basic video editing but desktop tools offer more control for complex edits.
How to Monetize a Blog With Affiliate Marketing
Identify affiliate programs relevant to your blog content, recommend products you genuinely use and believe in, disclose affiliate relationships transparently, and track which recommendations drive revenue. Affiliate revenue grows as your audience and authority increase.
How to Monitor Brand Mentions in AI-Generated Answers Effectively
Track your brand appearance in ChatGPT, Perplexity, and Claude responses by running test queries in these platforms, monitor search volume for branded terms, check news and media mentions of your company, and analyze citation sources. Monitor competitors similarly to understand relative AI visibility.
How to Name Creative Business
Use the systematic naming process: brainstorm names reflecting creativity and your specific specialty, test with target customers, verify availability, and choose based on brand recall and searchability. Creative business names should communicate the type of creativity you offer.
How to Name SEO Company
Choose names that signal SEO expertise such as including keywords like Search, Growth, or Rank, or use metaphorical names like Compass or Pathfinder. Test with potential SEO clients to ensure name clarity and domain availability.
How to Name Your Company for SEO
Include keyword relevance if natural and not forced, prioritize brand memorability and pronounceability, and accept that SEO is declining factor in company naming. Do not sacrifice brand quality for keyword stuffing in company names.
How to Name Your SEO Company
Same as naming SEO company: balance keyword relevance with brand strength, ensure domain availability, and test with potential clients for clarity and recall.
How to Navigate the Coda Interface
Explore Coda's main sections: docs for workspace organization, buttons for automation triggers, forms for data collection, and databases for structured information. Start with a simple template then build custom workflows.
How to Obtain Backlinks
Create valuable content relevant to high authority sites, identify sites where your content fits their audience, reach out with personalized pitches, and build ongoing relationships. Backlinks come from value alignment, not transactions.
How to Open a Company in Sweden
Register through Swedish Companies Registration Office, set up a Swedish bank account, understand employment and tax laws, and consider Stockholm or Gothenburg for startup ecosystem access. Sweden has strong founder friendly policies but higher operating costs.
How to Optimize AdWords Keywords
Start with high intent keywords indicating purchase readiness, segment campaigns by keyword intent, test match types and measure conversion rate not just clicks, and adjust bids to reflect actual revenue per conversion. AdWords optimization is ongoing testing.
How to Optimize Keywords in AdWords
Use long tail keywords with clear intent before competing on broad terms, structure campaigns by keyword theme, set bids based on conversion value not search volume, and monitor quality score to identify irrelevant keywords. Optimization requires continuous iteration.
How to Organize Keywords for AdWords
Group keywords by intent: awareness campaigns target informational keywords, consideration campaigns target comparison keywords, and conversion campaigns target commercial keywords. Separate exact match, phrase match, and broad match for cost control.
How to Overcome Mental Health
This is outside startup founder scope; consult mental health professionals and support services. Startup stress is real; do not hesitate to seek help.
How to Overcome Mental Illness
This is outside startup founder scope; consult qualified mental health professionals. Building a startup is stressful; prioritize your wellbeing.
How to Perform Startup Competitive Landscape Analysis
Map competitors across positioning, pricing, and customer segments, analyze their technology and go-to-market strategies, research their funding and financial position, and identify gaps where you can differentiate. Competitive analysis informs positioning, not strategy copying.
How to Pick a Business Name
Brainstorm at least 50 names across different frameworks, narrow to ten finalists, test with target customers, verify domain and trademark availability, and decide. Treat business naming as significant strategic decision.
How to Pick a Company Name
Follow systematic naming process: brainstorm, filter by criteria such as memorability and availability, test with customers, verify legal clearance, and choose. Your company name compounds over years; quality matters.
How to Pick a Good Business Name
Ensure memorability, relevance without genericism, available domain and social handles, unique relative to competitors, and that you genuinely like saying it. Sleep on finalists before deciding.
How to Pick a Name for a Business
Repeat naming best practices: brainstorm widely, test finalists with customers, verify availability, and decide deliberately. Good naming decisions require investment of time and thought.
How to Pick a Name for My Business
Brainstorm at least 100 names, narrow to 20 finalists, test with customers, verify domain availability, and pick one. Avoid overthinking after you have decided; move forward.
How to Pick a Name for Your Business
All naming guidance converges: systematic brainstorming, customer testing, domain verification, and deliberate decision making. Quality naming compounds.
How to Pick a Name for Your Company
Same as business naming: brainstorm, filter, test, verify, and decide. Company names carry long term weight; invest accordingly.
How to Pick a SEO Company Name
Ensure it signals SEO expertise to potential clients, include keywords naturally if possible, avoid generic names, and verify domain availability. SEO clients will research your name; ensure it builds credibility.
How to Pick Business Name
Repeat systematic process: brainstorm, test, verify availability, and commit. Overthinking leads to decision paralysis; decide and move forward.
How to Pick Company Name
All company naming processes converge: brainstorm widely, test with market, verify availability, and decide. Most regret comes from not committing, not from the name itself.
How to Pick Keywords Moz
In Moz Keyword Explorer, identify keywords with high priority score balancing volume, difficulty, and opportunity. Pick keywords where you have realistic chance of ranking within 3 to 6 months.
How to Pitch for Pre-Seed Funding
Build a concise deck focused on problem, solution, and team, demonstrate customer traction through conversations and presales, network actively with angels and micro VCs, and leverage warm introductions. Pre-seed investors bet on founders more than products.
How to Pitch Moz
This question likely refers to pitching with Moz data; use Rank Tracker results to show competitive positioning, Keyword Explorer to demonstrate market opportunity, and MozBar data to show authority metrics. Moz data provides evidence for your market thesis.
How to Podcast From Different Locations
Use recording software that captures quality audio remotely such as Riverside or SquadCast, invest in a portable USB microphone and windscreen, find quiet locations for recording, and plan travel days around recording schedules. Remote podcasting requires minimal equipment now.
How to Prepare Business Model
Document your customer segments, value proposition, revenue model, and cost structure, validate each assumption through customer conversations, iterate based on feedback, and refine your unit economics. Preparation is ongoing; business models are refined through execution.
How to Prepare for Seed Funding
Build to clear product-market fit with paying customers, demonstrate repeatable unit economics, prepare a compelling founder narrative, collect customer testimonials and case studies, and network with seed stage investors. Seed fundraising requires traction.
How to Promote Startup Solo
Leverage your founder network for awareness, create content that attracts your target customer, engage genuinely in communities where your customer congregates, ask customers for referrals and introductions, and build in public. Solo promotion requires authenticity and consistency.
How to Raise a Pre Seed Round
Network actively with angels and micro VCs in your space, demonstrate customer problem validation through interviews and presales, showcase your team and execution capability, and secure warm introductions for meetings. Pre-seed is relationship-driven funding.
How to Raise Funds for AI Startup 2026
Show actual product traction with real customers, demonstrate AI defensibility beyond using GPT-4, target AI-specialized investors, and prepare for competitive fundraising landscape. AI startup funding is increasingly available but selection is fierce.
How to Raise Pre Seed Funding
Build genuine relationships with angels and micro VCs, demonstrate problem-solution fit through customer conversations, show ability to execute with limited capital, and be transparent about what you do not know. Pre-seed investors invest in founders.
How to Raise Pre-Seed Funding
Same process: network in founder communities, demonstrate customer traction, show strong execution team, and leverage warm introductions. Pre-seed capital is available; quality relationships matter most.
How to Rank Keywords Like Moz
Use Moz Rank Tracker to understand ranking mechanics, analyze top ranking pages in Moz SERP results, build content that exceeds current top results, earn backlinks using Moz backlink suggestions, and monitor rankings over time. Ranking keywords requires sustained effort.
How to Rank on Google Moz
Use all Moz tools to inform strategy: Keyword Explorer to identify opportunities, Rank Tracker to monitor progress, MozBar to analyze SERPs, and backlink data to understand link requirements. Ranking requires holistic approach combining Moz insights.
How to Reach Startup Village
Startup Village is Kerala-based community; research their current programs, attend events if nearby, apply for residency if available, and join their online community. Startup Village provides founder community and resources.
How to Read a Natal Chart
This is outside startup founder scope; consult astrology resources or practitioners. Not relevant to founder development.
How to Read a Natal Chart Astrology
This is outside startup founder scope. Not relevant to founder education.
How to Read Ahrefs Tool
Start with Site Explorer for domain analysis, use Keyword Explorer for keyword research, analyze Backlink data for link opportunities, and track rankings via rank tracker. Ahrefs depth comes from combining multiple reports.
How to Read Bazi Chart
This is outside startup founder scope; consult bazi or Chinese astrology resources. Not relevant.
How to Read BMC
Read each of the nine sections: customer segments and their needs, value proposition, channels to reach customers, customer relationships, revenue streams, key resources, key activities, key partnerships, and cost structure. The value is in understanding how sections interconnect.
How to Read Business Model Canvas
Start with customer and problem on the left, move to your solution in the center, then distribution and revenue on the right. Read it as a story of how you create and capture value, not as isolated boxes.
How to Read MozBar
MozBar shows page authority and domain authority for any page in search results, highlights keyword usage, and shows link metrics. Use it to assess page strength and understand SERP difficulty at a glance.
How to Read Natal Chart Astrology
This is outside founder scope; consult astrology practitioners. Not relevant.
How to Read Transit Chart Astrology
This is outside startup scope; consult astrology resources. Not relevant to founder education.
How to Read Vedic Astrology Birth Chart
This is outside founder scope; consult vedic astrology resources. Not relevant.
How to Read Vedic Birth Chart
This is outside founder scope. Not relevant.
How to Really Use Moz
Combine multiple Moz tools in integrated strategy: use Keyword Explorer for opportunity identification, Rank Tracker to monitor progress, MozBar for real-time SERP analysis, and backlink data to understand link-building opportunities. Most founders under-leverage Moz by using tools in isolation.
About the Author
Violetta Bonenkamp, also known as MeanCEO, is an experienced startup founder with an impressive educational background including an MBA and four other higher education degrees. She has over 20 years of work experience across multiple countries, including 5 years as a solopreneur and serial entrepreneur. Throughout her startup experience she has applied for multiple startup grants at the EU level, in the Netherlands and Malta, and her startups received quite a few of those. She’s been living, studying and working in many countries around the globe and her extensive multicultural experience has influenced her immensely.
Violetta Bonenkamp's expertise in CAD sector, IP protection and blockchain
Violetta Bonenkamp is recognized as a multidisciplinary expert with significant achievements in the CAD sector, intellectual property (IP) protection, and blockchain technology.
CAD Sector:
- Violetta is the CEO and co-founder of CADChain, a deep tech startup focused on developing IP management software specifically for CAD (Computer-Aided Design) data. CADChain addresses the lack of industry standards for CAD data protection and sharing, using innovative technology to secure and manage design data.
- She has led the company since its inception in 2018, overseeing R&D, PR, and business development, and driving the creation of products for platforms such as Autodesk Inventor, Blender, and SolidWorks.
- Her leadership has been instrumental in scaling CADChain from a small team to a significant player in the deeptech space, with a diverse, international team.
IP Protection:
- Violetta has built deep expertise in intellectual property, combining academic training with practical startup experience. She has taken specialized courses in IP from institutions like WIPO and the EU IPO.
- She is known for sharing actionable strategies for startup IP protection, leveraging both legal and technological approaches, and has published guides and content on this topic for the entrepreneurial community.
- Her work at CADChain directly addresses the need for robust IP protection in the engineering and design industries, integrating cybersecurity and compliance measures to safeguard digital assets.
Blockchain:
- Violetta’s entry into the blockchain sector began with the founding of CADChain, which uses blockchain as a core technology for securing and managing CAD data.
- She holds several certifications in blockchain and has participated in major hackathons and policy forums, such as the OECD Global Blockchain Policy Forum.
- Her expertise extends to applying blockchain for IP management, ensuring data integrity, traceability, and secure sharing in the CAD industry.
Violetta is a true multiple specialist who has built expertise in Linguistics, Education, Business Management, Blockchain, Entrepreneurship, Intellectual Property, Game Design, AI, SEO, Digital Marketing, cyber security and zero code automations. Her extensive educational journey includes a Master of Arts in Linguistics and Education, an Advanced Master in Linguistics from Belgium (2006-2007), an MBA from Blekinge Institute of Technology in Sweden (2006-2008), and an Erasmus Mundus joint program European Master of Higher Education from universities in Norway, Finland, and Portugal (2009).
She is the founder of Fe/male Switch, a startup game that encourages women to enter STEM fields, and also leads CADChain, and multiple other projects like the Directory of 1,000 Startup Cities with a proprietary MeanCEO Index that ranks cities for female entrepreneurs. Violetta created the "gamepreneurship" methodology, which forms the scientific basis of her startup game. She also builds a lot of SEO tools for startups. Her achievements include being named one of the top 100 women in Europe by EU Startups in 2022 and being nominated for Impact Person of the year at the Dutch Blockchain Week. She is an author with Sifted and a speaker at different Universities. Recently she published a book on Startup Idea Validation the right way: from zero to first customers and beyond, launched a Directory of 1,500+ websites for startups to list themselves in order to gain traction and build backlinks and is building MELA AI to help local restaurants in Malta get more visibility online.
For the past several years Violetta has been living between the Netherlands and Malta, while also regularly traveling to different destinations around the globe, usually due to her entrepreneurial activities. This has led her to start writing about different locations and amenities from the POV of an entrepreneur. Here’s her recent article about the best hotels in Italy to work from.
Violetta likes to write about Startup News in Europe, Best startups of the year, Latest Startup News, Building your first startup, Startup News for Female Founders in Europe, News for Female Entrepreneurs and Engineering News
About the Publication
Fe/male Switch is an innovative startup platform designed to empower women entrepreneurs through an immersive, game-like experience. Founded in 2020 during the pandemic "without any funding and without any code," this non-profit initiative has evolved into a comprehensive educational tool for aspiring female entrepreneurs.The platform was co-founded by Violetta Shishkina-Bonenkamp, who serves as CEO and one of the lead authors of the Startup News branch.
Mission and Purpose
Fe/male Switch Foundation was created to address the gender gap in the tech and entrepreneurship space. The platform aims to skill-up future female tech leaders and empower them to create resilient and innovative tech startups through what they call "gamepreneurship". By putting players in a virtual startup village where they must survive and thrive, the startup game allows women to test their entrepreneurial abilities without financial risk.
Key Features
The platform offers a unique blend of news, resources,learning, networking, and practical application within a supportive, female-focused environment:
- Skill Lab: Micro-modules covering essential startup skills
- Virtual Startup Building: Create or join startups and tackle real-world challenges
- AI Co-founder (PlayPal): Guides users through the startup process
- SANDBOX: A testing environment for idea validation before launch
- Wellness Integration: Virtual activities to balance work and self-care
- Marketplace: Buy or sell expert sessions and tutorials
Impact and Growth
Since its inception, Fe/male Switch has shown impressive growth:
- 5,000+ female entrepreneurs in the community
- 100+ startup tools built
- 5,000+ pieces of articles and news written
- 1,000 unique business ideas for women created
Partnerships
Fe/male Switch has formed strategic partnerships to enhance its offerings. In January 2022, it teamed up with global website builder Tilda to provide free access to website building tools and mentorship services for Fe/male Switch participants.
Recognition
Fe/male Switch has received media attention for its innovative approach to closing the gender gap in tech entrepreneurship. The platform has been featured in various publications highlighting its unique "play to learn and earn" model.
