Penina First, Swifto
LinkedIn Swifto is creating a marketplace for things you need now.
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Penina First | Cartier Women's Initiative Awards Swifto is a mobile web-based marketplace for instant local services and needs...... a way to find temporary workers in a flash ..... ‘You can book restaurants and airplanes at the last minute,’ says Penina First, the start-up’s 23 year-old founder and CEO, ‘yet so many simple needs go unmet when friends or word of mouth can’t help.’ In Penina’s mind, the world is slow and old-fashioned about finding people to do odd jobs. ‘You don’t need to read a CV to hire a drive-shoveller or a party-helper! Just mutual trust and their desire to work.’ ...... ‘almost any need! ...... The whole process takes on average 12 minutes, which is the beauty of the concept. A proprietary algorithm gives preference to replies in the direct vicinity, for speed is the essence in Penina’s business plan to trump time and get people not just what they need, but right when they need it. Helpers can be paid via a PayPal account ....... In Israel, the original site generated 3,000 to 4,000 jobs each month for the 19,000 workers on its books. ‘It’s not rocket science!’ says Penina. ‘We just leverage the speed and use of mobile and smartphone technology, so we’re much more dynamic.’ ...... ‘I had over 30 temporary jobs as a student!’ She also has entrepreneurial mettle: ‘when I was 16, I started writing ideas down in a book. I called it Making Products More Efficient and Better! The first idea was for a talcum powder in the form of a spray.’ She may not need to develop that one just yet, since her original idea quickly drummed up seed funding and won Israel’s Prime Minister Award for Innovation, quite a coup for a young girl now heading a full-time staff of 15. What does her family think of her success? ‘They’re amazed that people want to invest in my project! Perhaps it’s because I’m young, I just don’t see the risk.’ In fact, Penina sees Swifto as pure common sense and would have been the first to use her own service.
The Next Women: Penina First, Founder Swifto, on Her Billion Dollar Goal grew up .... in the heart of Jerusalem ..... Even though she received a Masters in Biotechnology, she was always thinking of ways to start a business. As soon as she graduated, she won the Exit09 competition, a prestigious award sponsored by companies like IBM and Google. She used the $100,000 prize and mentorship opportunity to start a company called TodayJob, which helped connect employers with potential employees. ...... After the success of her TodayJob, and at the age of only 24, Penina is excited to launch Swifto, an evolution of her first company, which helps people get what they need in a hurry through the Internet. ...... we'll work our magic and find people who can help you out ...... An online and mobile marketplace for instant needs solved by the people nearby. ...... and I decided that there must be a solution for the sort of problem where you need someone now ..... everything we've achieved is only a beginning ........ Our company's goal is to reach a 1 billion dollar valuation by 2013 ...... Generally I never felt real discrimination against me as a woman or as a young woman either. It may even be an advantage; people remember me because there aren't many women founders out there. ..... Just do it. Don't overthink it.
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Israel21c: The CEO who wants to help New Yorkers get help At just 24, an energetic Jerusalemite is winning prizes for her ambitious company, Swifto, which enables New Yorkers to find helpers in minutes. ...... She has degrees in chemistry and biology, and she loves extreme sports. ..... Never one to be timid, she quickly branched out from Israel and set her sights on New York. ...... Need someone to shovel your driveway before work? Fix your bike in a hurry? Take your cat to the vet? Find a laptop cable in time for tomorrow's business meeting? Swifto can help. ...... goes beyond the Craig's List concept to bring you what you need when you need it. ...... First likes to jet-ski, skydive, swim and play tennis. ...... Since founding her company two years ago, First has built up a staff of 13 in her Herzliya offices. She recently returned from Paris, where she was a finalist in the Cartier Women's Initiative Awards. ...... Born and raised in Jerusalem by American immigrant parents, First has never let a good opportunity pass her by. ...... "I sold chocolates in school, and I bought a coffee machine and sold coffee to kids in older grades. I always knew I wanted to start an innovative company." At 16, she started scribbling down product ideas such as talcum powder in spray form. ...... last November received the Prime Minister's Award for Young Entrepreneurship. ...... generates thousands of jobs each month for about 20,000 registrants. ..... Profits will come from premium rate SMS notification or a percentage of the overall rate. ...... First hired an outside software company to do the initial programming but later took it in-house and currently employs six software developers. ..... "We went through a couple of iterations and will go through more, as we gain an understanding of what the product is and change it according to what people request," she says. "Every day it's something new." ..... "I enjoyed the field of science, but there's a lot of bureaucracy and things happen slowly in biotech," she says. ..... That just wouldn't do for this energetic thrill-seeker who cites Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg as her role model. ..... An award-winning tae kwon do martial artist, First plays tennis and squash, swims, bowls and skydives. She and her husband, who took her last name upon their marriage four years ago, are learning how to surf in the Mediterranean. ...... "The perfect day for me would be waking up very early and going on a jet ski, then swimming from one end of the Kinneret [Sea of Galilee] to the other, then horseback riding," she says.
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