Jabeen Zaidi

I attribute my success to actually being in the real world and listening to my target audience and users and mentors and advisors. Obviously, there's tons of noise out there, and a lot of people give a lot of opinions that don't really actually benefit you, but my core focus has been on solving real problems and then getting that validated in the real world. I wasn't willing to go to any investor or any client until I actually proved this to myself, so I would go in the field, standing 7 hours at an event with a device and checking that this is working on every type of face and body shape and makeup and dresses, and seeing how the technology is working. I did all the grunt work myself to make sure it's working, and then I was like, now I can tell people about it, now I can actually promote it, because I believe in it. It's really just being able to not just hypothesize and promise and do these kinds of empty visionary things that people sometimes get stuck on. You have to prove it with a real use case. That's the only way you can get to success that you want, because it's actually a real success, not like you're just planning for it. Measurement is the biggest part of what this is. It's about measuring the data and the actual accuracy.

The best advice I ever received was from my angel investor when I was pitching. I had 4 minutes and was specifically told not to pitch, just be clear, but it was a lot of things that were a little bit murky. I had to present in front of some really important people, but I couldn't say I was pitching, I just had to say what I need. She told me, just give them a little dose of what you're doing, and just let them ask the questions. She said, just tickle them. And it was so good, because that's what I did. I made a really impactful, powerful kind of story, and then I just said, okay, and then we did it, and this is how it works, and there we go, this is a success. And then, boom, ended it, and then they were just like, wait a minute, tell me more! It was so good. I kind of left it hanging and made them want to know more instead of overwhelming them with everything upfront.

If you're building a solution, it would have to be, first of all, questioning exactly why. What is that pain point that you're solving? Is it for themselves, for others that they're deeply connected to? And then, do they qualify for that expertise to solve that? Like, have they been in this legal field, or wherever, whichever field they're trying to build a solution for? And then talk to those specific people and understand deeply, what are those gaps and pain points and things that already exist. That's where you get that golden nugget, and you'll find that opportunity inside the pain points, inside the struggles that people are facing. Where's the gap, and then how can you fill it? That's for anything, but specifically if you're building something new that doesn't exist yet, like a product or app or a company or whatever, it has to really fill something that is needed, and not just a nice-to-have and a fun thing. Then it's not viable. You want something that's actually going to make an impact and be able to measure something against that.

The biggest challenge in my field right now is that since I'm in AI technology, there's a lot of variables that are constantly changing, moving, and evolving. Maintaining being up to speed with everything and ensuring that our platform is sustainable for growth and drastic market shifts is challenging. It's like navigating a ship on very rocky water. Keeping that foundational structure so that it won't shake if something were to happen is important. What's the worst case if something that we were dependent on were to change? Being very proactive about that takes effort, but it's worth it in the end rather than having any type of failure happen. Just having to always think ahead is a challenge that every founder really has.

The most important values to me are balance. Sometimes it does get a lot of overload of meetings and priorities and things, and what I was forced to do, because I have two small kids, is take breaks and set boundaries. I have to be at family time and be in the moment with them, actually be present with them, and then it gives my brain a little bit of a break. When I'm in my very non-active thinking state and subconsciously doing a chore, that's when your best ideas actually come, because in the background, your brain is still continuing to solve something that you may have left unfinished. There's an actual word for it, like subconscious problem solving, where your brain will automatically just come to you, almost like an epiphany. And you weren't even trying to get there a few hours ago, but it just comes to you naturally. That's the benefit of taking breaks and balancing out, because if you're constantly doing that, you'll get burnt out. And then honestly, build real relationships with people, but then also be guardful about being too open. I've struggled with being a bit too open or too welcoming, and my personality comes off that way, and then people are trying to take things from you more than you're willing to give. So having that boundary set in place when you are networking or looking for people that you want to bring onto your team is important. Establish some boundaries so that everyone has their own role.