S04 E02 Dora Palfi on entrepreneurship, EdTech & girls education with imagiLabs.

EdTech | imagiLabs | Girls Education | STEM | Entrepreneurship | Coding for Future | Creators with technology |

Dora Palfi is the co-founder & CEO of imagiLabs, an ed-tech company making products that empower girls with the skills, confidence, and community to create with technology.

Dora worked as a developer at Morgan Stanley and as a UX Designer at Cisco, and has substantial experience teaching programming to children and teenagers as well as advocating for women in technology. Originally from Hungary, and true to her fictional namesake Dora the Explorer, she has lived, studied, and worked in 10 countries across four continents. In addition to her work to bring technology closer to girls, she is also a yoga instructor, bringing mindfulness closer to engineers.

Dora has been recognized on the Forbes 30 Under 30 2021 list as one of Europe’s leading social entrepreneurs and as a Cartier Women’s Initiative Fellow in 2020.

In our interview, we discuss the role of technology in shaping the future for women and girls. Dora co-founded imagiLabs with the wish to empower young women to pursue a career in STEM. The interests of both boys and girls in technology, math, and science are similar until the age of 12 years old. After that age, it seems that gender stereotypes play an important role in how teenagers see their life options and this shapes their choices in their careers as well. 

imagiLabs' mission: To build diversity among technology's creators so it can benefit everyone. Incredibly, women still make up less than 25% of the tech workforce in Europe. 

We give coding superpowers to girls and nonbinary kids so that the next generation is equally equipped to use technology to shape the future. How do we do it? image has worked with hundreds of young people to make learning Python fun and relevant. 

Our team is building the only mobile-first community targeting 300 million pre-teen girls worldwide with the goal of encouraging them to start coding. The imagi apps introduce Python programming through a visual and gamified learning journey, where colorful designs can be created + shared. We also made a programmable accessory, the imagiCharm, which enhances the learning experience by making code projects more tangible and easy to show off!

Follow Dora Palfi on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dorapalfi/

Read more about imagiLabs:  https://imagilabs.com/

Episode Timeline:

02:30 Tell us more about imagiLabs and where are you now in your entrepreneurial journey?
05:05 What product does imagiLabs sell?
06:28 How many users do imagiLabs have now, and what engagement do you see?
08:29 When did you decide to become an entrepreneur?
11:15 How did you find the confidence to start your start-up, and how did you get started?
13:33 What is the target group of imagiLabs and how do you target parents as part of your business strategy?
17: 37 What do you think is the key to success when putting together a team? Tell us more about your team setup.
21:04 How do you tackle scaling your business? What piece of advice do you want to share for those looking for investments?
23:05 What is your experience pitching your business and any advice worth sharing?
25:07 How does your day look like as a co-founder and CEO?
26:55 What is next for imagiLabs?
29:45 As an entrepreneur, how do you take care of yourself and your mental health?
32:40 Looking back, is there something you would have done differently?
33:40 What is one final thought you want to share with the listeners?
34:56 Final 5 Fire Questions.

Chapters

• 2:30 Tell us more about ImagiLabs and where are you now in your entrepreneurial journey?
• 5:05 What product does ImagiLabs sell?
• 6:28 How many users do ImagiLabs have now, and what engagement do you see?
• 8:29 When did you decide to become an entrepreneur?
• 11:15 How did you find the confidence to start your start-up, and how did you get started?
• 13:33 What is the target group of ImagiLabs and how do you target parents as part of your business strategy?
• 17:37 What do you think is the key to success when putting together a team? Tell us more about your team setup.
• 21:04 How do you tackle scaling your business? What piece of advice do you want to share for those looking for investments?
• 23:05 What is your experience pitching your business and any advice worth sharing?
• 25:07 How does your day look like as a co-founder and CEO?
• 26:55 What is next for ImagiLabs?
• 29:45 As an entrepreneur, how do you take care of yourself and your mental health?
• 32:40 Looking back, is there something you would have done differently?
• 33:40 What is one final thought you want to share with the listeners?
• 34:56 Final 5 Fire Questions.