Genevieve Ryan Bellaire | Realworld
GENEVIEVE RYAN BELLAIRE
CEO & Founder of Realworld, a platform, marketplace, and community to navigate adulthood and important life moments.
What Is Realworld? Tell Us About What You Do, Who Your Target Audience Is, And What Your Mission Is.
Realworld is a first-of-its-kind platform simplifying adulthood for the next generation. Our education-first mobile application and website offer expertly-sourced, personalized, step-by-step guidance, teaching Gen-Z how to make informed decisions when it comes to their finances, health, and work life. Our signature “playbooks” cover big life moments (moving, starting a new job), and everyday events (budgeting, credit cards, going to the dentist), in an easy to follow, achievement-oriented way.
What Is Your Background? What Led You To Starting Your Own Company, And How Did You End Up In This Space.
I’m a lawyer by background and started my career in the financial services industry. After I graduated from college, I went directly to graduate school, which meant that I entered the ‘real world’ later than most of my peers. It wasn’t until I started working full-time that I realized that despite being blessed with amazing educational opportunities, I was actually underprepared for many decisions around my finances, health care, taxes, and living situation that I faced after graduation. I began talking about the problem with colleagues, friends, and family and learned that I wasn’t alone in experiencing the pain points of ‘adulting.’
I got obsessed with this problem space and realized there wasn’t a company focused on helping onboard young adults into life in the “real world” so I conducted extensive customer discovery by talking to over 1000 people (recent graduates, parents, college administrators, employers, and more) to confirm my hypothesis. The pattern was clear: everyone I spoke to was just muddling through these different life decisions and could benefit from a platform that helped them navigate day-to-day adulting decisions and big life moments. I decided to launch Realworld as the solution. Even today, we’re constantly hearing “I wish I had this when I was younger” which demonstrates the reality that even people a few years into the workforce could use this type of solution!
What Have Been Both Your Favorite And Least-liked Parts Of Your Entrepreneurial Journey? What Have Been Your Most Challenging And Most Exciting Moments For You And The Company?
My favorite part of this journey is definitely the impact - seeing young people take action on what they learn on the Realworld platform motivates me and our team to keep building and improving our product. Whether a member did something simple like remember to pay a bill on time, or something huge like sign up for an IRA - taking action (and understanding why they’re doing it) is a HUGE win.
One of the newer challenges has been hiring - it’s a hyper competitive talent market right now as so many people reevaluate what work looks like post-pandemic, and finding the right people for each role has been a time consuming process. That being said, building an amazing team has been one of the most exciting parts of this journey and critical to our success as a company. Each new hire brings fresh energy and enthusiasm for the problem we’re solving and brings a fresh expertise to the table to solve it and propel the company forward to the next milestone.
What Was The Fundraising Process Like For You? Tell Us About Your Investors And How You Use The Funds You’ve Raised.
We closed our seed round of $3.4M in March! The process was modified due to the pandemic (lots of meetings on Zoom) but we were fortunate to end up working with investors who have followed our journey since the earliest days and understand how big our vision is. VC funding has helped us accelerate the speed at which we can build and improve our product, hire a world-class team, and establish Realworld as the leading company in the adulting space. We’ve tripled our team in the last few months and we’re still hiring -- if you’re a stellar Head of Growth Marketing or a Fullstack Engineer who wants to make an impact at a seed-stage, mission-driven startup, reach out to team@realworld.co! More on our investors here:
Who Are Your Co-Founders Or People Who You Work Very Closely With? How Do Their Skills Supplement Yours?
Our earliest hires were our Head of Brand, Gillian Katz and our Head of Product, Rebecca Abramson. While my role demands big picture, visionary thinking, Rebecca is able to provide a tactical, structured plan of execution. Gillian is responsible for speaking to the emotional side of the user experience, making sure our platform is fun, visually delightful, and resonates with our member. I think big, Rebecca thinks tactically, and Gillian thinks creatively - without each in harmony, Realworld would not be nearly as impactful as it is today.
How Has COVID-19 Impacted Your Growth And Operation Over The Last Year?
COVID-19 presented challenges for every company. We launched our new web app in April 2020, and while launch did not look like we had initially planned, our resources were actually more critical than ever, as the Classes of 2020 and 2021 learned to navigate the evolving workplace ecosystem. We created an entirely new vertical of content around unemployment, furlough, and the impacts of COVID on student loans, leasing, and more.
Can You Tell Us About Some Of Your Numbers? How Has Growth Been Over The Past Couple Of Years?
Before this Spring, Realworld worked directly with universities and colleges to provide resources to their seniors and recent graduates. Throughout the last year, especially due to the impacts on this population during COVID, we decided to pivot to offer our platform for free to anyone regardless of their affiliation with a partner school. Not only did this model make more sense for the release of our mobile application and our community’s growth, but it was completely in-line with our mission to provide equitable access to resources to anyone navigating adulting.
What Was The Inspiration Behind The Company Name?
The company was founded with the name Realworld Playbook - it tells you exactly what we are, a playbook for life in the real world. When we focused our attention on creating a consumer-driven experience, we shortened the name to Realworld. The platform covers everything you need to know about life in the ‘real world’ from personal finances, to taxes, to health insurance, to employer paperwork, etc. Our goal is to become the “real world” company.
Tell Us About Your Daily Routine.
I wake up around 6am and exercise, then take the subway down to our office in SoHo. I am a big “breakfast person”, so I pick up something on the way in (I'm loyal to the local deli).
That’s about where the routine stops, as every day is truly different and I never know what to expect. From working on product direction, to checking in on growth, to connecting with investors, new talent, and others in our network - every day brings a new challenge and a new exciting opportunity for Realworld.
What Are The Top Qualities or Skills You Believe Entrepreneurs Need In Order To Be Successful? Also, What Advice Do You Have For Entrepreneurs Who Are Just Starting Out?
I’ve learned that the most important traits to have when starting a business can be summed up in the “3 Rs” - Resilient, Resourceful, and Relentless. You have to be able to bounce back from (constant) adversity, operate with little resources across time, talent, and treasure, and to persevere through the many challenges that starting a company brings. Hearing ‘No’ is par for the course when it comes to entrepreneurship - so facing that head-on with a scrappy, flexible, and optimistic mindset is a huge part of striving for success. Just keep going.
As far as advice, I’d tell new entrepreneurs to build a network of other founders, funders, operators, and advocates who they can turn to for advice at every turn. There’s no way to know what to do at every stage of a company’s lifecycle, so it’s key to have a personal board of people who have been there before and who have either been successful at it or who have made mistakes they can protect you from making in your own business.
If You Can Have A One-Hour Meeting With Someone Famous Who Is Alive, Who Would It Be?
Lin-Manuel Miranda - he’s so creative and has defined a new genre. As someone working to build a category-creating company, it would be inspiring to hear about how he’s created new spaces for innovation and what process he uses to think outside of the box. As an American History buff, I’d also love to talk to him about Alexander Hamilton!
What Does Success Mean To You?
To me, success is three-fold: 1. Building a company that has a meaningful impact on the next generation, 2. Building a company that people want to work at, and 3. Creating quality jobs for people.
When building a mission-driven company it always comes back to impact - having an impact on our users and their experience is what drives me and my team, and that’s ultimately how we measure the success of Realworld.
Genevieve Ryan Bellaire’s Favorites Stack:
Books:
1. No Rules Rules by Reed Hastings
2. Get Together by Bailey Richardson
3. A Separate Peace by John Knowles
Health & Fitness:
1. Daily Harvest
2. Equinox
3. Alo Yoga
Brands:
2. Glossier
Products:
1. Remarkable Tablet
2. AirPods
Newsletters & Podcasts:
1. StrictlyVC Newsletter
2. How I Built This with Guy Raz
Upcoming Vacation Spots:
1. Morocco
2. South Africa
3. Chile
