Imagine coming home from an epic birthday trip to find that your dog sitter had not followed your instructions. Then picture the dog sitter going to extreme lengths of faking her own death to avoid paying back your $150. For most, it seems like a one in a million chance that it would happen. Though, for Jenny Thompson the CEO and Founder of SafetyPIN Technologies, it was a reality she had to face a year ago.
Before the chaos, it was a time for celebration, as Thompson was celebrating her 50th birthday in Tahiti. Now 51, a year later, she was reminded that this vacation was after she left her job of 20 years in the dietary supplement industry, not sure what she’d do next. In her professional career, Thompson built a team of about 45 professionals, grown a business from $2 million to $70 million while she launched hundreds of health supplements and information projects. “It was incredibly exciting and incredibly scary at the same time,” she admitted. “It would have been very easy to stay there and just sail through and continue making money.” Instead, she took a leap of faith.
This is Jenny Thompson, CEO and Founder of SafetyPIN Technologies. (Photo courtesy of Jenny Thompson)
What seemed like a nightmare drove her to build SafetyPIN Technologies. SafetyPIN is a virtual trust badge that’s ideal for sharing in gig economies. “Many of us are using WAG to hire dog walkers or Care and Sittercity to find babysitters and we really don’t know enough about the people that we’re inviting into our home and around our children, around our pets, around our parents,” she explained. “So we developed this virtual trust badge.” Hiring paid services like babysitters, dog walkers, dog sitters, caretakers or electricians, for example, require time and patience.
SafetyPIN is slowly but surely growing as a business. Thompson has always been confident in her ability to run and grow a business but shared that there are some differences from the way she used to run things. “It’s very different going from being part of a private company that’s completely self-funded to seeking funding and having to do the fundraising and starting over as a female tech CEO at 51,” she explained. “It is a lot different. I’ve always had this philosophy when people don’t have to hunt for their food; they waste a lot more of it.”
Pictured above are Jenny's dogs, Lulu and Django. (Photo courtesy of Jenny Thompson)
One of many scarifies Thompson and members of her team made was giving up a salary or benefits for the growth and success of SafetyPIN. Though, what makes her different from a younger founder is her level of experience. In her pervious job, she led and worked with hundreds of people, but she also ended professional relationships.
“I’ve always had this philosophy when people don’t have to hunt for their food; they waste a lot more of it.”
Trying to find the right team to build a business with is harder than it looks and Thompson says she’s still learning as she moves along. “Just in the past year I’ve had two people in the COO role that both had to leave...and one was my co-founder, she related. “I’d say that we test drove each other but, we didn’t crash-test each other.” As a Founder and CEO, she has set rules and expectations for her COO, that makes the right leader. “In neither case did these people deceive me, but I think especially when you’re in a startup mode there’s a part of you that’s just grateful that somebody will come work for you especially if it’s at a discount or your not giving benefits or they’re working for no salary,” she explained. She encourages older and younger women that are looking to create their own business to set that mindset aside and realize what you’re building “is something amazing” and the team you build “get to be a part of it.”
Another failure that determined the success of SafetyPIN is not having an aggressive “go to market” strategy ready when the company was launched. Thompson had another wake-up call when she realized consumers weren’t waiting for their product. “My advice to anybody in this situation would be, be realistic when you launch,” she said. “Don’t let yourself get discouraged, but let yourself take the feedback and make the right decisions. Raise as much money as you can, raise early so you have the cash when you need it.”
Like a unicorn, Thompson is rare. She not only proved she could be a founder at 50 but also be able to work in a different field like tech and developed a successful virtual trust badge. In a generation where we use the Internet for everything – keep SafetyPIN in mind to make safe decisions on and offline.
WRITTEN BY
Chyna Inez Davis