SV032: From 200 Rejections to Raising $4.2 Million with Roybi Robot Founder Elnaz Sarraf

On today's show, we sit down with Elnaz Sarraf, who is a serial entrepreneur with over 15 years of experience in technology, business, sales, and marketing. She is currently the CEO and Founder of ROYBI; an investor backed EdTech company focusing on early childhood education, that recently raised $4.2 million in its seed round. Before starting ROYBI, Elnaz co-founded and led a consumer electronics/IoT company, iBaby, serving as the company's President. 

As an immigrant and female founder, Elnaz has made worthy accomplishments in a short duration living in the US. Honors include being selected as Nasdaq Entrepreneurial Center Milestone Maker 2018, named the Woman of Influence through Silicon Valley Business Journal in 2016 and Entrepreneur of The Year in 2016 in Silicon Valley. She has been a speaker at several conferences such as the Mobile World Congress, ASU GSV Summit, Consumer Technology Association, and more. 

In this episode, you’ll learn:

• How many pitch events or investor meeting might it take to raise capital?
• What is it like to raise $4.2 million on just an idea?
• Growing a hardware company, what are the struggles one might have to face?
• What are some of the limits to Artificial Intelligence and how the collection of data help improve user experiences?

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BOOKS AND RESOURCES

• Download your free audiobook at Audible.
• Find the best job candidate at Ziprecruiter.
• Capital One. This is Banking Reimagined.
• Roybi website
• Elnaz Sarraf on LinkedIn
• Email Elnaz Sarraf
• Capital One. This is Banking Reimagined.
• Experience a real estate investing platform that is powered by an investor-first model with Fundrise. 
• Make your money work harder with Wealthsimple.
• Affordable, private online counseling. Anytime, anywhere with Betterhelp.

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