Living Entrepreneurship Blog / Babson Entrepreneurs

Entrepreneurial Journey of SVP Alum Joanna Meiseles M’12

On June 3rd, Summer Venture Program alum Joanna Meiseles M’12 visited the 2014 cohort to share her entrepreneurial journey. Meiseles is founder of Snip-its, the largest chain of children’s hair salons in the US, and is now Senior Director of Programs and Operations at MassChallenge, the largest start-up accelerator and competition in the world.

The idea of founding children’s hair salons popped up from Meiseles’ own experience of taking her child to get a haircut. The quality of the haircut was okay but she did not like the experience. Focusing on that problem, Meiseles decided to open a hair salon for children. Because Meiseles did not have resources at the moment, she asked her family and friends how she can make the idea possible. By using her network and connecting to the right people, she was able to learn how to write a business plan and get investors. Meiseles wrote a business plan and met few investors to pitch her idea. She finally was ready to construct the first Snip-its store. In order to make the idea into a real business, Meiseles emphasized that these ideas need a producer, a visionary person who can plan and see what it will be look like before making it.

To expand her horizon and grow as a leader, Meiseles decided to get an MBA from Babson. From Babson, Meiseles met lots of people and found value in sharing and developing ideas with others. A professor introduced Meiseles to MassChallenge, and she started to participate in the program to help other entrepreneurs.

Listening to Meiseles’ entrepreneurial journey, the key takeaways were connecting to the right people, having a vision and having passion for the idea. Whether you have the idea right now or not, start networking not only with people who can provide help in your venture’s future, but also connect with people that you can assist.