I was lucky enough to speak with QUEST alumna Shirley Qin from Cohort 18, who is now the Founder of 3 different startups: Initial Partners, Think Tools for Children International, and Cydeas. While the pandemic has posed some challenges, she has utilized her entrepreneurial mindset to adapt.
Shirley Qin
Before entering the startup realm, Shirley worked for Starbucks, gaining experience in different supply chain rounds including sourcing, general project management, product launching, and some strategy work. When I asked why she decided to pursue entrepreneurship following her time at Starbucks, she explained that she “wanted a new challenge and some room to fail.”
That’s when she decided to found Initial Partners in 2018, which is a startup that partners with micro-enterprises, providing consulting and training. Their overarching goal is to propel social mobility and economic development in frontier and emerging markets. Shirley said that the idea for this startup came as she started helping local businesses that were really small with “entrepreneurs that were passionate but didn’t have the business knowledge or background.”
In addition to Initial Partners, Shirley is also the founder of Think Tools for Children International, which is an NGO that aims to increase technology literacy in underprivileged communities. She was inspired to launch this startup when she visited a school in Bangladesh. They had a computer in the school, but the students did not know how to navigate a website or file systems or understand other fundamental computer skills. The goal of Think Tools for Children International is to develop the thinking process needed to navigate technology, rather than skills specific to certain computer programs. This is because technology is always evolving, and if students have the foundational “think tools,” they will be able to adapt to utilize new technology. Think Tools for Children International was started in 2019, and since then, Shirley has spent a good portion of that time developing the curriculum. In this process, she has made sure to incorporate input from professionals in education. Currently, COVID has put a strain on further development because many students are no longer in the classrooms, and e-learning is not as established. However, her team is now looking at teacher training guides, so that their impact on these communities can be sustainable.
Currently, Shirley is dedicating most of her energy to her startup Cydeas, which focuses on enterprise software. Cydeas was started because she believes that in entrepreneurship, there is a lot of emphasis on the idea, but she wanted to focus on the technology and how to scale that. Specifically, she explained that “instead of treating developers like they can be swapped, we do the opposite.” They work with large clients that can sponsor the development of products and then license it out. Cydeas has finished two products that are client-specific (and therefore cannot be disclosed). It’s been about a year since Shirley and her partner started Cydeas and now they have grown to 14 employees. They are currently looking for an intern in Product Management, so if you are interested, reach out to her at shirley@initial.partners!
When I asked how QUEST has helped her in her professional journey, she explained that it helped her “think in more efficient ways, ask important questions, and always seek to learn more.” Specifically, back in her role at Starbucks, she was at a big advantage, coming in knowing concepts such as Six Sigma and idealized design, which later allowed her to lead special projects so early in her career. For any QUEST students looking to go into entrepreneurship, Shirley’s advice is don’t be afraid to “try a million things, even if a million things will fail.”
In the startup realm, it is common for people to float between companies due to the nature of unpredictability. Because of this, one of her main goals is to provide stability for her teams. Additionally, she hopes to continue the impact of Initial Partners and Think Tools for Children International. While both of those startups may not be large in size, she acknowledges that any clients or students that she may help is still impactful. The entire QUEST community wishes the best of luck to Shirley as she continues to develop Initial Partners, Think Tools for Children International, and Cydeas!