🇮🇹Giulia Iannucci, CEO and Founder of KnowThyBrand Women uses branding to champion gender equality
Giulia Iannucci is a social entrepreneur and owner of KnowThyBrand Women. KnowThyBrand Women is committed to promoting gender equality in business by helping companies to attract, retain and champion their female talent and helping women to find their inner superpower and to communicate it in a way that creates new opportunities.
She is an expert on how to build and communicate your personal brand in a way that aligns with your values and helps you achieve your goals. Giulia is also a mother of three sons and a rugby coach for children under 8. She believes in the power of physical activity to positively impact one’s life.
Hi Giulia! Welcome to the Business Observer24 “Featured Founder” session. Can you briefly introduce yourself and describe your journey as an entrepreneur?
My name is Giulia, I was born in Italy but left it in 2000 and since then I have lived and worked in different countries such as Spain, Belgium, Australia, Singapore, the UK and now Luxembourg.
What made you take the plunge into entrepreneurship and what have been some of the most important milestones along the way?
When I was living in Singapore, after the birth of my sons, I decided to leave the corporate world and find a more flexible life-work balance by working as a self-employed person. Shortly after, I opened my company, KnowThyBrand Women. Then I moved KnowThyBrand Women to London and recently to Luxembourg, where I decided to transform it into a social enterprise dedicated to championing gender inclusion in business, using branding as my secret sauce.
Having an idea is not enough. You need to understand what you want to achieve with your business idea.
Looking back on your entrepreneurial career, what are the three most important lessons you have learned that you think every aspiring entrepreneur should know?
- Having an idea is not enough. You need to understand what you want to achieve with your business idea, make sure there is a market for your product/service, and understand the market you want to enter.
- You need to have a clear picture of your success. This picture will help you not to give up when things go wrong, and to celebrate the small wins that we often overlook but that actually brings us one step closer to the vision
- Be realistic, but also passionate. You must love what you are doing!
Starting a business often means taking risks. How do you assess the risks in your ventures and how do you handle them? What advice do you have for entrepreneurs on how to deal with unpredictability?
Do a lot of market research! Get clear on the market niche you are targeting, how much interest there actually is in your offering, what competitors there are, what the obstacles are and what you can do about them.
Get clear on the market niche you are targeting.
Also, give yourself a window of opportunity for success. Calculate how much money you can invest and how long you can wait until your business is financially viable.
Building a strong network is critical for entrepreneurs. How has networking contributed to your success?
Networking has been critical to my business and has always been a priority when I moved my business. In fact, networking is my biggest investment, especially when starting out in a new country. It’s important to know who your audience is and where you can meet them.
Networking is my biggest investment.
What strategies have you used throughout your career to build meaningful connections and partnerships?
It’s important that I do not go to networking with the expectation of being able to sell something. I go there to build real relationships, I am curious and interested in the people I meet. That’s the only way you can build a meaningful network.
One of the challenges for many entrepreneurs is finding the right balance between innovation and market demand. How do you approach that balance and what steps do you take to ensure your products/services are aligned with market needs?
By engaging with my audience, learning from them what they are looking for, and avoiding making assumptions as much as possible.
Avoiding making assumptions as much as possible
At the same time, I also believe we need to use our judgment and make decisions that may seem controversial. For example, when the first smartphones came out, Nokia did a market study that showed that people only needed the phone to make calls and not for all these weird apps… we all know how that story turned out. So listening is important, but ultimately you have to read the market and decide.
Scaling a business requires effective leadership and team management. What leadership skills do you think are essential to leading a successful team, and how do you foster a positive work culture in your company?
I believe empathy, honesty, and vision are 3 of the most important skills required.
Empathy allows us to see, understand and appreciate other points of view and we all know that diversity is essential for business growth.
Empathy allows us to see, understand and appreciate other points of view.
Honesty, in the sense of honest communication. I learned this the hard way when I held back on sharing some issues with my team for fear of upsetting them, and then when we addressed them, relationships were affected. I recommend being open and respectful in your discussions with your team.
A vision is essential. You need to clearly show the team where you are going, why, and how they will contribute to that vision.
In your experience, what are the most effective marketing and branding strategies for early-stage startups? How can entrepreneurs make the most of their limited resources to gain visibility and attract customers?
The 2 most important things to do are to invest time in proper brand positioning (who you are, what you want to achieve, why, how and what your values are) and to treat marketing as a comprehensive strategy, not just a few tactics here and there.
Once you have done that, content marketing and community engagement are the most cost-effective, high-value tactics I’d recommend.
Financial management is critical to a company’s sustainability and growth. What financial practices or strategies have you found most useful in managing cash flow, securing financing, and making sound financial decisions?
The most important thing is to find a competent and dedicated accountant. It doesn’t need to be expensive. Just invest time to find the right one for your needs before signing a contract.
Do not to try to do everything yourself to save money.
The second recommendation is not to try to do everything yourself to save money. There are tasks in running a business that are better done by specialists. If you do not outsource these tasks, you will save cash, but the time it takes and the risk of mistakes could end up costing you a lot more.
Many entrepreneurs experience setbacks and failures along the way. Can you give a specific example where you encountered a major challenge or failure and how you overcame it?
When I moved my business to London, I accepted to lower my prices significantly in order to rebuild a customer base in the new country, but then I realized that I was targeting the wrong audience and that I was losing profits even though I was working incredibly hard.
What lessons did you learn from that experience?
What I learned is that you need to study your target audience very carefully to understand where their needs meet with your offering and to make sure that the right fit is actually profitable. Also, lowering the price at the beginning can be a tactic, but it is critical that you are very transparent with the customer and explain that this is just a one-time promotion and that you are trying to get some kind of compensation for the lost profit, such as through reviews and referrals.
It is critical that you are very transparent with the customer.
As an experienced entrepreneur, what advice would you give to someone who is just starting their entrepreneurial journey? What are the key factors or habits that contribute to long-term success in the business world?
Keep a positive attitude and focus on your vision. The life of an entrepreneur is not easy, it’s a real roller coaster, with big ups and big downs, but as long as you do not lose sight of your goal, it’s an amazing journey!
Technology and digital transformation have revolutionized various industries. How have you leveraged technology in your business and what new trends do you think business owners should keep an eye on in the coming years?
It’s pretty obvious, but I would say definitely AI and Web 3. A lot of people are scared of embracing them but the way I see it is that they are here to stay, so let us make sure we use them to the best of our ability to simplify our work and make our efforts more effective
Finally, could you tell us about any recommended resources such as books, websites, or communities that have been useful to you as an entrepreneur? How do you keep up with industry trends and continue to learn and develop?
Podcasts are definitely my main source of staying up-to-date. From marketing to business development, gender inclusion to global economics – you can find so much knowledge there!
Podcasts are definitely my main source of staying up-to-date.
One book I would definitely recommend is Rebel Ideas by Matthew Syed, a must-read for everyone.
These questions aim to capture the experiences and best practices of seasoned entrepreneurs and offer valuable insights to aspiring entrepreneurs as they embark on their own entrepreneurial journey.
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📢 Giulia is a Founder of KnowThyBrand Women and a social entrepreneur and personal branding expert who will be sharing her knowledge with fellow entrepreneurs at this year’s Pirate Summit in Köln, Germany. She will speak in a session titled “Personal Branding”. She’ll be explaining what personal branding is (and what it isn’t), why it’s important, and how you can build and communicate your personal brand in a way that aligns with your values and helps you achieve your goals.
👉Readers of Business Observer24 get a 20% discount on Pirate Summit tickets. Discount code “Marko20” can be redeemed on the site of Pirate Summit HERE!
