Bucking the status quo is one way some brands are using their influence to shape society around them.
- Female entrepreneurs Laura Modi and Cindy Eckert shared their secrets for successful businesses at the Inc. 5000 Conference & Gala in Phoenix.
- Both women have used their brand to shape the conversation around previously controversial or difficult topics.
- Through their “disruptive” business practices, the entrepreneurs not only created successful businesses but changed the conversation around important social topics.
Why it’s news
Eckert is known for pushing her product, known as “female Viagra,” through a difficult FDA approval process. She helped Modi on her journey to get approval for her organic infant formula company.
Modi’s company, Bobbie, is now among the first European infant formula makers to meet FDA requirements.
Among the typical challenges an entrepreneur faces, Modi found that the male investors she pitched to didn’t understand what her product was. In response, Modi developed MotherLode, an educational tool for mothers.
Eckert herself has founded Pink Ceiling, a North Carolina-based business incubator specifically for women building businesses in healthcare. She has also sold two companies valuing $1 billion each.
Both women say that disrupting the current system is about reinventing the existing structure. Eckert says disruption is about changing the cultural conversation around a meaningful subject.
“Sometimes you have to be determined to break the existing system,” Modi says.
Eckert encourages entrepreneurs to keep pushing forward, even in the face of opposition.
“The best entrepreneurs are certain in the face of uncertainty. When you start your business, people tell you that you can’t do it and you don’t have the background. If you are certain that your product, your service, what you’re bringing into this world will make society better, then it will create an impact,” Eckert says.
Eckert also encouraged entrepreneurs to choose investors that shared the mission.
Source: Cosmo Politian
