How do you consume digital entertainment content? There’s a new gig in town, one that you may not have heard of, and one that offers something different than the “big players” on the digital content front. It’s an innovative and unique platform, and it just might be the perfect format for your busy lifestyle.
Stephanie Scapa is CEO and founder of WEYV, a platform that allows users to listen to music, read magazines, and soon, listen to podcasts – all in a single app experience. While competition is fierce with established brands like Spotify, Apple Music, and Amazon, Stephanie is on a mission to unite friends and family through shared access to all entertainment and quality content that binds them together. In this episode, Stephanie shares the benefits of an all-female led business team, how to talk about money as a woman in business, and how to be your own biggest advocate by building a bulletproof case using data. Stephanie gets personal in explaining why the surprising secret to a happy marriage might be allowing your career to take precedence over your personal life – at least for a time.
A nerdy girl
Stephanie grew up in Michigan as the third of four girls. She was always good at math and science, mostly because of her father’s influence on his daughters to love all things STEM. All four of them ended up in engineering or medical fields. Stephanie got her engineering degree from the University of Michigan, interning at American Express, and later working as an IT analyst. She recognized, however, that her passion was in interacting with people. It was her dad, Jim, the CEO of Altair, who helped her develop the initial concept for WEYV.
An idea, a patent, and a new platform
The original idea for WEYV came from Stephanie’s dad, who patented the idea way back in 1999 but never moved forward with it. When Stephanie created the WEYV team, the biggest focus was on having a multi-content destination where people could go to consume music, magazines, podcasts, ebooks, and videos – all in one place. She built a super clean user experience that’s family friendly and able to be used by up to 25 people in a group, depending on the level of simultaneous access that’s purchased.
Competing with the big names
WEYV is different from its competition in specific ways. Spotify doesn’t offer the same level of multi-content. Apple Music and Amazon offer multi-content, but not a business model that allows access to everything, but more of a “pick and choose” proposition. Amazon Prime may be the closest thing, but the catalog is limited unless you pay more. Having flexibility allows WEYV to offer more content.
Negotiating like a pro
Stephanie has learned how the money is distributed so that the right people get compensated for their work. The model makes sense for all kinds of content, including monetizing podcasts. Negotiating with content providers is also part of the process, and Stephanie has tips for making this part work well. She says you have to listen to the other side and ask questions. It’s important to understand the other person’s perspective. Stephanie shares a negative experience from negotiating with music labels, which is always challenging. She says the key is to understand how to help the other party and build a relationship together for success.
How to succeed as a woman in startup
The best thing is to be confident in who you are and what you can bring to the table as a woman. Women often underestimate their skills and downplay their assets, but a woman has to believe in herself, knowing that she’s earned that place as much as any other man or woman. Advocating for yourself means proving you are worth the salary increase you want. Stephanie shares a story of how this perspective has worked for her.
The biggest challenge
Who likes change? Not very many people do. WEYV just launched one short year ago, and they’ve already seen the need to make changes. The toughest moment is when you know change needs to happen and you have to move forward. It’s natural for us to not like change, and no one looks forward to having to make changes. A specific example is the charity aspect of WEYV that worked originally, but just never caught on and had to be shut down. It’s something Stephanie hopes to reinstitute at some later point.
Work-life balance
Stephanie thinks of it more as a “blend” than a balance. She’s planning her destination wedding in Mexico, just a few weeks from now. She and her fiancé were struggling in their relationship because they both worked so much. They had to come to an understanding and define why they even wanted to be together, and they decided that working a lot is ok for a period of time, with the hope that things will improve and shift over the next few years. One concrete agreement they put in place is that dinnertime together is a work-free zone.
An all-female team
WEYV just happens to have an all-female leadership team. It’s not something Stephanie set out to do, but as she focused on simply hiring and assembling the most qualified individuals, it ended up being a team of women. This offers a competitive advantage and helps them relate better to their target customers. The women of WEYV have a flexible time schedule that leads to high productivity, without strict and set office hours.
Highlights of this episode:
- 4:59 – Launching WEYV
- 6:56 – The big idea and focus of WEYV
- 9:31 – How the WEYV “currency” works
- 10:33 – A system to the madness of individual pricing
- 13:27 – The patented licensing model
- 16:54 – Negotiating with content providers
- 18:30 – An example of a negotiation
- 21:12 – The importance of listening
- 21:41 – How to be a confident woman
- 22:57 – Advocating for yourself
- 26:37 – Biggest challenges
- 31:27 – Work-life balance in a startup
- 37:59 – Stephanie’s recommendation for communicating clearly
- 39:16 – Stephanie’s upcoming wedding in Mexico
- 39:43 – The all-female leadership team at WEYV
- 42:35 – Fem Five
Resources Mentioned:
- www.weyv.com Sign up using the code “Next Fem” to get two months of WEYV free – no strings attached!
- Find Stephanie on LinkedIn
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
Fem Five:
1. Favorite book to recommend for women?
- How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie
2. Favorite self-care hack?
- “Reading before bed every night – to unwind.”
3. Best piece of advice and who gave it to you?
- “My father told me to start each day by identifying three things to be done that day, but not to sweat the things that don’t get done.”
4. Female CEO or thought leader you’re into right now?
- Mary Barra, CEO of General Motors
5. One piece of advice you’d give your five years younger self?
- “When something bad happens, it’s usually a matter of circumstance. People aren’t usually out to get you, so give them the benefit of the doubt.”
Last Time on The NextFem Podcast
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