Ayesha Curry Embraces Technology To Scale Homemade - Forbes

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More than 11.6 million businesses in the U.S. are owned by women, but 88% of these businesses generate less than $100,000 in annual revenue. Much of this disconnect can be attributed to the industries in which these businesses operate, with few being considered high growth technology ventures.

But the changing nature of work and tech is enabling more small-and-women-owned businesses to leverage technology in their marketing, sales and operations, potentially unleashing them to grow even faster in the coming years.

Ayesha Curry is one small business owner betting on technology to help scale her business and unlock its enormous potential. We caught up over Mother’s Day weekend for a conversation about how and why other women should be tapping the power of tech to make their own mark.

Curry has been enamored by food her entire life, but never thought of making it a profession until she had her first child. The birth of her daughter focused her on quality ingredients, a passion that she funneled into a blog and YouTube channel to share her thoughts and discoveries regarding food.

Of course, her marriage to NBA player Stephen Curry undoubtedly helped provide her with a readymade platform and online following – a fact she acknowledges – but it did not ensure her success. She had to endure the early ups and downs of launching a new venture just like any other business owner. But that passion for food – perhaps pre-ordained by her sharing a last name with a popular spice – kept her committed and helped her quickly build the Homemade brand into a powerhouse.

That brand and business has been powered by a savvy use of technology. Even just ten years ago, Curry says she would have likely launched Homemade as a traditional storefront in the real world. Instead, Curry recognized the power of social media to create reach and engagement for an online brand.

Forsaking physical real estate for a web presence, she quickly expanded her online following using clever social media campaigns supported by insightful information and engaging content. The result has been the growth of Homemade from a personal passion into a one-stop shop for everything from foodstuffs to bedding to parenting advice and tools.

Curry understands that much of this growth can be attributed to the relationship she has fostered with the Homemade community. Technology allows her to tap into a constant, real-time feedback loop and then respond in kind. This direct engagement also enables her to steer the business in new directions more accurately and quickly than would have been possible using just gut intuition or focus groups.

While Curry says that a career in food has always seemed like a natural progression, one built using technology does not. She calls herself tech challenged and is self-taught when it comes to many of the tools she uses today. In the early days of Homemade, it was just Curry, learning on the fly how to use social media, back office solutions, and more. Even as the business grew, she realized technology required constant education. She continues to take online business courses to supplement her knowledge and seeks out new tech that can help her grow the company.

Curry says this same hunger for tech is critical in order for other female entrepreneurs to build high growth businesses. The number of women-owned businesses in the U.S. has grown 114% since 1998, and women are far more likely than men to start a businesses. But those startups must embrace technology and the Internet to become scalable enterprises generating revenues far beyond the $100,000 threshold of most of their peers.

Curry stressed that if you are not using technology to reach new customers, build a community, and communicate your vision then you are leaving potential on the table. Speaking directly to the 60% of very small business owners that do not even have a website, she said that the importance of being online has been her single most valuable lesson as a business owner. A statement she recently put into practice by partnering with GoDaddy to emphasize the ease and importance of building a website using modern tech tools.

Another arena in which Curry is vocal about the power of technology is balancing work and life demands. She acknowledged that it can often be challenging for female business owners to find this balance. For her, technology has helped – providing her with shortcuts and resources that save time. She also shared the example of her own mother, who owns a hair salon, and just recently began using a GoDaddy online appointment tool that saves her time and hassle by allowing clients to schedule their own appointments and sync calendars.

Ultimately, Curry said it’s still hard to build a business while raising a family, a challenge shared by millions of other women entrepreneurs – most of whom do not have Curry’s personal resources. But even for Curry, she had to learn to the power of delegating as her business grew and when to ask for help.

She reminded me that it truly does take a village, one that needs to be even broader for women business owners. And technology is certainly part of that village.

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