Female Founders: Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall of QuickHire On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
You will never feel like “you’ve made it” — there’s always going to be so much more you’ll want to achieve. That doesn’t mean you can’t inspire others with how far you’ve already come.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall, co-founders of QuickHire.
Deborah and Angela are the co-founders of QuickHire, a career discovery marketplace for the service economy. QuickHire helps service workers find the right career and advancement opportunities. The children of African immigrants, Deborah and Angela are the first African American women in Kansas to raise over $1M in venture funding.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
It was during my time as an educational and career advisor when the idea for QuickHire was born. One day, a student came into my office expressing her challenges with finding a part-time job. With several paper applications in hand, it was then that I realized finding an entry level job should be simplified. So when COVID hit and millions lost their jobs, Deborah and I agreed it was time to bring this idea to fruition. (FROM ANGELA)
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
One of the most interesting experiences was when Angela and I sat on a panel in front of high school students shortly after we released the app. There was a young black girl who asked us a question and then ended by saying “you two have inspired me to major in computer science and pursue a career in tech.” This was the first time I realized QuickHire is bigger than us. Not only are we helping underserved workers, we’re also helping underserved communities and founders by being an example of what’s possible. (FROM DEBORAH)
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
I think the funniest thing we did starting out was launching without a go-to market strategy. When we finished building the platform, we were like “okay, let’s send it out!” But we quickly learned that wasn’t the way to do it. We had businesses we couldn’t help, no jobs available for job seekers. It’s quite funny now looking back. But hey, that’s how you learn! (FROM DEBORAH)
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
We’re both extremely grateful to our parents. Our parents left their home country, struggled, worked minimum wage jobs, raised kids through grad school, and more, all to provide better opportunities for us. I doubt we’d even be half the people we are today if it wasn’t for our parents’ sacrifice. (FROM ANGELA)
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
I don’t think it’s a matter of women starting companies, it’s a matter of women-led companies being funded. Period. There are endless women-led companies, but you don’t hear of them because very few get funded enough to grow. Only about 12% of decision makers at VC firms are women and most firms don’t have a single female partner. We’re never going to see a difference if there isn’t more representation at the table. (FROM DEBORAH)
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
We need to take a look at who is deciding who gets funded. Whether that’s through VC firms, grants, small business loans, etc. We need to make sure there’s representation there. And once that’s done, we need to do a better job of providing access to this funding. We had no clue what venture funding was. We had to learn the hard way, but that shouldn’t be the case for people looking to launch or grow a business. (FROM ANGELA)
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
There are many reasons, but for me it all comes back to the fact that you get to set the bar. As women, we’re conditioned to fit within society’s standards and expectations. We have to figure out how to meet deadlines, but still pick up our kids from school. We have to rush back from maternity leaves because our employers only offer a few weeks. We have to convince our boss that we deserve the promotion over our male counterparts. The list goes on. Being a founder is so empowering because YOU get to set that bar now. YOU get to establish the company culture, policies and ways your employees will be treated. (FROM DEBORAH)
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
The biggest myth is that people will invest in you with just an idea on a napkin or a powerpoint. Do those deals happen? Yes, if you’re already connected or lucky. But for the majority of us, this isn’t going to happen. You likely won’t get investment until you have some proof of concept or traction. So, the best thing you can do starting out is just focus on building and getting customers. The rest will then come later. (FROM ANGELA)
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
I don’t know if I’m qualified to say who should or shouldn’t be an entrepreneur. Because honestly, I didn’t think I was cut out to be one myself. I will say though that entrepreneurship is kind of like parenting — it’s the hardest, but most rewarding job you’ll ever have. It’s difficult. There will be days you’ll want to quit. But it’s not always about being the best — sometimes it just comes down to outlasting your competition. In order to be a founder, you have to have a relentless pursuit of “I’m going to figure it out!” (FROM DEBORAH)
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
- That running a business is complicated — the bigger you get, the more complex things like accounting, taxes, legal, etc get. Hire someone to help you.
- Accelerators are your friend — I had no idea what accelerators were. We found out quite a bit later after starting the company. Accelerators are a great way to get early capital and support for your business.
- Don’t count on anyone to write you a check — I spent way too much time in the beginning pitching investors who were never going to write me a check. I wish I would’ve spent that time building the business.
- You will never be satisfied with your product — you will never feel like your product is good enough. It’s your baby. That doesn’t mean it can’t add value to someone else.
- You will never feel like “you’ve made it” — there’s always going to be so much more you’ll want to achieve. That doesn’t mean you can’t inspire others with how far you’ve already come.
(FROM DEBORAH)
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
We’re still working on being a “success story,” but we’re definitely trying to give back along the way. We’re big on speaking to young minorities as well as partnering with folks in our community to put Wichita, Kansas on the map! (FROM ANGELA)
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
It would definitely be to help build underdeveloped countries. (FROM DEBORAH)
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Sara Blakely. I don’t think we need to explain why. She’s a freakin BOSS!
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Female Founders: Deborah Gladney and Angela Muhwezi-Hall of QuickHire On The Five Things You Need… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.