Contact
  • HOME
  • / MEDIA /
  • How This CEO and Co-Founder of Insurance Company Raised $25M During Her Pregnancy

Stories

December 6, 2022

SHARE:

Founding a business startup and starting a family simultaneously was proved possible by the CEO and co-founder Hanna Wu of Amplify Life Insurance, a life insurance platform focused on helping people build wealth.

Wu first realized the importance of insurance policy when her 20-year-long best friend lost his father and financial backbone at the same time after the latter’s father died of cancer.

Upon knowing more than a year ago that she was pregnant, it gave her mixed emotions as a 16-hour working woman who travels from here and there.

Trying to sort out the situation, she researched articles on early-stage founders as moms but failed to find ones that fit.

As a BIPOC member, she sought a community from the same race who are also women founders only to find out that barely 7% of the global fintech community are women and that they only receive 2.4% of the total capital invested for startups.

Finding no one, Wu felt alone and wondered how others balanced the various startup stages while starting a family.

The journey was never easy for Wu but truly, hard work, goal orientation, and perseverance make everything achievable.

Wu started to plan everything before and after her delivery and how she would be able to raise funds for her business considering the time when the market dropped so low.

While thinking about getting a nanny and how the set-up would be after her delivery, Wu engaged in lower-stakes conversations to test investor sentiments, and fortunately, she was able to secure a large reinsurer’s venture arm.

Wu also woke up early in the morning daily to study for her investment adviser exam and everything else she did with her impending delivery as motivation.

Three days before finally giving birth, they signed the term sheet for the company.

In the 9-month time of pregnancy and struggle towards establishing the business, Wu raised over $25 million in investments and thereafter hired a full leadership team, kicked off their RIA status, signed several significant partnership contracts, and grew their revenue four times: everything planned in her to-do list.

With her success, she shares in Quartz 5 work strategies to prepare for parenthood:

Sort your parental leave plan. It’s harder for early-stage founders to take leave, but preparing your care plan and naming what’s important to you.

Consider your travel schedule. Prioritize travel by business needs, and don’t be afraid to break from the way it “should be” done.

Become an expert on roles and responsibilities at home. You, your co-parents, and caregivers must become experts on the roles and responsibilities at home. Stay connected to the right people and in the right ways. 

Plan for everything and expect failure. Be easy on yourself when mistakes happen, or roadblocks pop up.

You don’t have to choose. We don’t have to choose between our careers and families. It’s not easy, it will be far from perfect, and undoubtedly you’ll need a lot of support, but you can have it all if that’s what you want.

Related Articles

Image Source: Zen Sekizawa

Stories

Linda Lindas: What Life Is Like For Teenage Students Who Are Also In A Punk Rock Band

How does one balance their passions for creativity and artistic expression with maintaining an everyday life? This seems to be one of the hardest things to do when not everyone appreciates your creativity. Perhaps it may be possible, but very few people have been able to pull it off.

Meet the punk rock band Linda Lindas who are all still teenagers and are concentrating on their studies while on stage. They never go out to clubs after their concerts, instead, they do homework.

The Linda Lindas are comprised of the four members Lucia and Mila de la Garza, ages 15 and 12, respectively, their cousin Eloise Wong, age 14, and their friend Bela Salazar, age 17. They hail from Los Angeles and identify as both Asian American and Latinx. 

Linda Lindas didn’t grow up thinking they would be a musician. The fact that Mila and Lucia de la Garza’s father is a Grammy-winning producer had no impact on their future goals. Wong always wanted to study paleontology, while Salazar dreamed of becoming a doctor. Youngest and most gregarious of the bunch, Mila de la Garza always looked up to the character of Olaf from “Frozen.”

In 2018, Kristin Kontrol invited local girls to perform with her at a concert titled Girlschool L.A., marking the debut of Linda Lindas with the Dum Dum Girls. The band’s reputation grew as they continued to perform in Chinatown. They have supported Bikini Kill, Alice Bag, Money Mark, the Dils, and the Alley Cats, among others. Amy Poehler reached out to them to have them perform a medley of “Rebel Girl” by Bikini Kill and “Big Mouth” by The Muffs for her film “Moxie.”

They say they do their homework in the backstage area, on the plane, or during another downtime. They are convinced they are not yet adults, but they would still like to give their full attention to schoolwork. The band’s debut album, titled “Growing Up,” is centered around progress and ongoing education.

  • 2 min read
Image Source: Mark Ezzer Ligan Facebook

Stories

Filipino Entrepreneur Cultivates Family’s Land With A Goal Of Providing Food For Every Family’s Table

The Philippines, like many countries around the world, is dealing with skyrocketing food inflation due to supply issues and high fuel costs. 

26-year-old Mark Ezzer Ligan, from Bacolod, Philippines, has learned how to start and sustain his farm by producing vegetables such as okra, eggplant, soursop, and coconut in his family’s 3-hectare plot of land called MBL Integrated Farm. He also raises imported goats from Australia, cows, carabaos, and chickens.

Mark continues to cultivate the land and raise livestock to increase community production. He ensures sufficient supplies from eggs to vegetables and corn to fresh milk for the general public. As a farmer, he believes it is his responsibility to ensure that everyone has enough to eat.

More than 80% of Filipinos eat goat meat, but there are only two major commercial goat farms in the Philippines. The opportunity for growth for goat farmers is also substantial in light of this booming market.

Even more importantly, he benefits financially from their crop yields. Mark worked so hard that the provincial government of Negros Occidental recognized him as the 2019 Oustanding Young Animal Raiser. His success hasn’t hindered him from his commitment to his main goal of providing food, especially during the pandemic.

  • 2 min read
Image Source: ©Studio Ghibli

News

World’s First Studio Ghibli Park In Japan Features Iconic Settings And Characters Animation

It’s the perfect time to visit Kyoto, Japan, as Ghibli Park opened less than an hour away from the city last November 1st. The new Park features some of your favorite animated scenes and characters from Studio Ghibli films.

During an event a few days before the park’s official opening, Studio Ghibli Co. chairman and president Koji Hoshino said that the start of the park has a significant meaning for them that surpasses almost three years of the pandemic.

Overall, the final design for Ghibli Park encompassed some 17.5 acres and was split into five distinct areas. Ghibli’s Grand Warehouse, the park’s centerpiece, is a huge indoor “town” with streets, displays, and reproductions of Studio Ghibli’s “Totoro” and “The Catbus from Outer Space” sets. The Ghibli Museum’s theater shows special short films to visitors of the new park and Tokyo’s Ghibli Museum.

There are also two restaurants, a souvenir shop, a vintage shopping district with lanes, and a play area for children. The “Hill of Youth” antique shop from “Whisper of the Heart” and “The Cat Returns” is the second tourist attraction. The park can be seen in its entirety from this vantage point.

The third and newest section of the park is the Dondoko Forest, which is themed after the anime film “My Neighbor Totoro.” Both the bouncy house and a Totoro-themed playground can be found there.

Valley of Witches will feature elements from “Howl’s Moving Castle,” about a young milliner who accidentally gets caught up in a war, and “Kiki’s Delivery Service,” about an earnest and hardworking young witch. 

According to the director and son of Studio Ghibli co-founder Hayao Goro Miyazaki, the park was conceived with the local community in mind. Miyazaki’s original intention for the site was to be a park, not a typical theme park with rides and attractions. He desires that the people of Aichi share his passion for their gardens, as he believes parks are primarily for the local community.

Check out their official website for ticket and booking information.

  • 2 min read
Image Source: Dominic Lorrimer/ Australian Financial Review

News

Australian Logistics Tech Firm Shippit Procures Singapore Startup Luwjistik for $11M

Shippit has announced that it will pay $18 million to buy the logistics SaaS platform Luwjistik, based in Singapore. 

Founded by longtime friends William On and Rob Hango-Zada in 2014, with a mission to improve shipping for small businesses, as they have personally experienced the drawbacks of online shopping.

After two years of operations in the region for the Sydney-based company, the Australian logistics tech company co-founder and co-CEO William On has relocated to Singapore to lead the new expansion and manage the existing 50-person Luwjistik team.

This comes after the company raised $65 million in Series B2 funding, which helped operations in Southeast Asia, and almost seven months after it bought the last mile logistics tech platform Premonition.

Shippit’s inclusion of Luwjistik’s co-founders, who bring extensive industry experience and connections to the table, is expected to revolutionize the company’s approach. The acquisition of Luwjistik will also enable the company to provide tailored solutions for the Southeast Asian market. Therefore, Shippit can be the best option for many who manage their warehouse or search for a logistics partner.

The startup works with carriers such as Ninja Van, J&T Express, and JNE Express, as well as logistics companies such as Maersk, POS Malaysia, Lion Parcel, and Summer International.

Within a month of launching Luwjistik, the duo raised US$1.1 million (AUD$1.7 million) in a seed round led by East Ventures, including MDI-Arise Finches and Global Founders Capital.

William anticipated a significant increase in e-commerce in Southeastern Asia, which will continue if Shippit and Luwjistik join forces. Currently, they can provide a one-stop platform for enterprises and the expanding SME segment, particularly in Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, and Thailand.

More than 40 million deliveries were booked via the Shippit platform in the fiscal year 2022. Since its inception in 2014, Sydney-based Shippit has fulfilled e-commerce orders worth $5.5 billion for more than 3,500 retailers.

“I strongly believe that by combining our strengths, we can continuously innovate and offer the most impactful, reliable, and relevant solutions to a fast-changing, dynamic market.” – William shared with Business News Australia.

  • 2 min read