Ashleigh Hinde: How Waldo Contact Lenses Cracked the US

In this episode we met with Ashleigh Hinde, founder and CEO of Waldo contact lenses. Waldo was created to give contact lense wearers more control over their purchasing while also reducing the cost. It’s a great company, run fantastically, and after a successful first year in England, Ashleigh expanded the company to America, opening up an office in New York, and even moving there herself. She talks us through how her business works, and explains what her experience was like moving Waldo to America. "You need to make sure you have the capital and the plan in place to launch in the US.” - Ashleigh Hinde Time Stamps: 01:13 - Who Waldo are and what they do. 01:41 - Why Ashleigh started the business. 02:58 - What makes using Waldo different. 04:30 - How much people spend on contact lenses. 05:21 - How Waldo makes sure customers are getting the right lenses. 05:48 - Launching the business in the UK and expanding to the US. 07:06 - Why Ashleigh decided to expand to the US. 08:29 - Opening an office in New York. 09:02 - What makes New York an attractive city to have a business in. 09:55 - The reason for having a presence in America. 10:44 - Where the contacts lenses are made and stored. 11:43 - How marketing stays similar in both England and America. 12:57 - Why customers choose to use Waldo. 14:04 - The importance of being flexible. 14:56 - The logistics involved in setting a business up in the US. 16:18 - How having previous experience of the city made the move easier. 17:08 - Why Ashleigh moved herself to New York. 20:12 - The network of founders and how they help. 21:14 - Common challenges that come up. 23:40 - The male dominance within industries. 25:46 - Finding investors in the US compared to the UK. 29:10 - The different regulations in America and England. 32:12 - Tips for companies looking to expand to America. 33:33 - What Ashleigh would do differently looking back. 35:04 - Expanding into Europe. Resources: Foundr www.hiwaldo.com www.mtbonnell.com Episode Transcript Connect with Ashleigh Hinde: LinkedIn Connect with Sebastian Sauerborn: Website Connect with Nastaran Tavakoli-Far: LinkedIn Email us at – [email protected] Twitter – @mtbonnell