Sonia Sahney Nagar Helps You Create Your Custom Magazine With New Trends in Social Media (VIDEO)

March 25, 2013

Sonia Sahney Nagar is the co-founder & CEO of Pickie.  Pickie is the world's first shopping magazine for iPad that curates new & noteworthy products picked by your friends, people you follow, and the brands you love.  Pickie has been featured in TechCrunch, Mashable, Cool Mom Tech and is rated as one of the '10 Essential Apps' by Apple in the Catalogs category.  Sonia shares with bSmart members how she raised $1 million and founded Pickie - your personalized shopping magazine app for iPad.

Pickie uses the data found in Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter to identify the best products that are most relevant and interesting for you.

 Read the interview below to learn how Sonia Raised $1 Million to create Pickie  - Your Personalized Shopping App

Be Pickie when you shop 

Here's How Pickie Works:

 

You can find us on the web at Pickie.com or download us from the Apple App store here.  The first thing you’re going to do is to login with Facebook and that allows us to immediately kick-off some data processing in the background where we’re looking at the things your friends are talking about on Facebook and Twitter, as well as mapping you to your Pinterest profile and able to look at what your friends are talking about on Pinterest and see new trends from your profile.  

 

The next step is for you to tell us which categories you’re most interested in – whether it’s fashion, best gadgets, or beauty to name a few.  Select your categories and then hit the Next button.  Now you’re in your Pickie catalogue and you’ll see the categories you’ve selected.  

 

 

If you click on those categories, we’re going to ask you for your brand preferences.  Then we do all of the work finding new trends for your custom magazine.  We kick-off a process everyday that scans your social networks and finds the products that your friends are talking about or influences – people you follow.  For the brands you’ve told us you care about, we’ll also find the most trending products on the web for those brands.

 

 

Here's What Pickie Does For You:

 

Whether it’s Facebook, Twitter, or Pinterest, people are talking about products all over the web.  Pickie uses the data found in Facebook, Pinterest, and Twitter to identify the best products that are most relevant and interesting for you.  Right now if you wanted to shop based on those recommendations that your friends or influencers are making it’s hard because none of the social networks are designed to parse them and find only the books your friends have mentioned or only the dresses your favorite bloggers are talking about.  What Pickie does is make your social network shopable with new trends.

 

How can Pickie help bSmart members be smart with their shopping?

 

There are 2 things you can do:  

 

1) First download Pickie here.  You will receive product recommendations that are relevant to the brands you care about and recommendations from the people you care about.

 

2) We also have a gift recommender tool we launched in December.  Go to Pickie.com/Gifts.  You can look at the things your friends ‘Liked’ on Facebook or ‘Pinned’ on Pinterest and give you personalized gift recommendations based on their products they care about and they like.

 

What products have surprised you the most in terms of trending?

 

1) Printstagram Tinybooks - Tiny photo books made from your instagram feed - 3 for $10.

2) Livescribe Smart Pen - Write as you normally would and this smart pen creates a digital version of your notes and records audio. I wish I had it when I was in school! - $170.

3) iPhone Photo Printer - If you still love having photos in frames around your home, this compact photo printer for your iPhone makes it easy to print your fave photos at your convenience - $160.

4) Sleepy Music Headband - A headband with built-in headphones so you can listen to music while you fall asleep... so simple, so useful... I'm surprised no one thought of it before - $50.

1. Click here to buy Printstagram Tinybooks / 2. Click here to buy Livescribe Smart Pen / 3. Click here to buy iPhone Photo Printer / 4. Click here to buy Sleepy Music Headband

1) Liquid Black Eyeliner - I never leave the house without it on. My beauty routine is pretty low maintenance, but I take my eyeliner very seriously. 

2) Herb Saver Pods - If you love to cook w/ fresh herbs, these pods will extend the life of your herbs by 3x! I gave this as a Xmas gift to anyone I know who loves to cook. ($30)

3) J. Crew Blazer - I'm obsessed with J. Crew blazers. You really can't go wrong with a J. Crew blazer & jeans... it's perfect for work or play, and I'm always cold so I'm a big fan of rocking a blazer as an extra layer. 

1. Click here to buy Liquid Black Eyeliner / 2. Click here to buy Herb Saver Pods / 3. Click here to buy J. Crew Blazer

I have a background in engineering.  I studied mechanical engineering at The University of Michigan.    My first job was programming (writing code) for an aerospace and defense company called Smiths Industries Aerospace & Defense Systems.  After that I went to work for General Motors in their Advance Engineering group.  Then I decided I wasn’t necessarily passionate about cars, so I went back to school to Harvard to get my MBA.  After Harvard I went to work for Amazon in Seattle.

What do you consider to be your greatest accomplishment?

 

My greatest accomplishment thus far has been founding Pickie, building a great team, and launching Pickie in the iPad app store last October.  

 

What are your greatest lessons learned in building your company as a woman in business?

 

The hardest part about building any company, especially a tech company, is deciding what to build and more importantly, what not to build.  So being able to prioritize the things you want to get done because there are always going to be more things you want to do than there are hours in the day.  But figuring out the most important things you and your team need to accomplish is the most important thing I’ve learned thus far.

 

How did your background prepare you to create Pickie and run your own company?

 

I think my engineering background gave me a strong understanding of technology and how things work which helped me a lot when it was time to recruit engineers and inspire people to work with me. My business background helped me to communicate better.  A lot of what you do as the CEO of a company is presenting at conferences and pitch to investors.  My business background was instrumental in helping me create a business plan and share my story and share with investors what we’re building.  Those two things were instrumental in figuring out how to navigate starting my own company.  

 

Tell us a little about the TechStars program.

 

TechStars in an accelerated program for start-ups. You apply with a little bit of information about your team and idea.  You’re accepted to the program after a series of interviews.  In the program you receive apprenticeship and access to advice, as well as a network of peer companies (there are 13 companies in each class) that you can use for receiving advice and having conversations as you’re building your company, which was super valuable for me.  One of the best things that came out of the TechStars program was a network of other CEOs who are in a similar stage that I can reach out to if I have a fundraising question or a question about how to create a compensation package to questions about recruiting an engineer.  Over a three-month period you’re given the opportunity to meet with mentors and hone your business idea and make really meaningful connections with people who might be investors or help you get that deal done.  The program culminates in a demo day with a six-minute pitch of your idea to a group of 600 investors and tech press.  The idea is to launch your company and this is the launch pad helping you build your business faster.

 

My greatest accomplishment thus far has been founding Pickie, building a great team, and launching Pickie in the iPad app store last October.  

 

What is the most important lesson you learned from TechStars?

 

During the Tech Stars program one of the areas I actively sought out mentorship was fundraising.  My team came in with an objective of raising a million dollars out of the TechStars program.  One of the most important lessons I learned was that confidence is the number thing that will drive your ability to close a deal when you’re raising venture financing especially at the seed stage.  I found that if you are able to convey confidence and authenticity in your meetings you are more likely to close.

 

What advice do you have for finding the right partners and hiring the right people?

 

The most important thing is to make sure the people you’re talking to have the same values as you, they’re hard workers, and they have the right skill set you’re looking for.  One thing we’ve found to be really effective is that we put everyone we hire through a trial period for two weeks.  We give them a real project in a real life setting that helps us evaluate quickly whether someone is able to work the extra hours much more so than if you’re in a one-hour long interview when trying to determine if someone is a good fit for your company.  I definitely recommend putting anyone you work with through a contract or trial period before you extend a full-time offer.

 

You recently raised $1 MM in seed funding.  What is your vision for Pickie 5 years from now?

 

For Pickie we would love to be the default go-to source for shopping recommendations based on social data.  We want to continue to grow not only the content piece of our operations, but become better and better at using your social data and to help make better product recommendations for you.

 

What advice would you give your younger self for being a woman in business?

 

When I was younger I always thought I needed to have a lot of experience before I could possibly start my own company.  What I’ve realized is that the best way to start a start-up company or any type of business is really to just throw yourself into it.  I waited until I had my MBA and worked for Amazon before starting my own start-up.  In hindsight, I probably could have jumped right into it a lot earlier and been just fine.  So my advice is don’t wait and jump right into it.

 

What do you want all bSmart members to know about your story that would help them bSmart too?

 

I think anybody can create a start-up.  The key is for you to throw yourself into it full-force and try and find the right partners.  Having the right partners will help you get through the hard days and make the most of the best days.

 

Add Sonia to your network by clicking on her picture to learn more about her, add her as a bSmart friend, join her Spotlight, or message her through bSmart!

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