Bump to Business Owner
S3 E3: "Lean into the chaos" with Saasha Celestial-One, Co-Founder & COO of OLIO app
Published: 15 February 2024 at 02:00 UTC
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Episode notes
Like so many women with corporate careers, Saasha Celestial-One decided during mat leave that it just wasn’t worth the sacrifices it required. Instead, inspired by her mat leave experience, she created London’s first pay-as-you-go nursery.
Fiercely ambitious, Saasha and her friend and now co-founder Tessa, wanted to create a business that contributed meaningfully to the environment, and Olio was born: a mere 5 months after their initial ‘A-ha’ moment!
As a solo founder, I am fascinated by co-founder relationships, even more so when you’re working with your best friend. It was so interesting to hear Saasha’s perspective on her relationship with Tessa and the commitment it creates.
Olio raised £50 million in fundraising rounds, it’s in the top 10 in the UK in terms of capital raised by female founders. It's easy to think it was a straightforward, effortless process, but Saasha makes a really clear distinction between how fundraising felt, and how it appeared. And, the darker side of ‘growth, growth, growth’.
They bootstrapped Olio, and we hear the details of how, the flyering, the knocking on doors, the magic of Facebook groups and how they created such a beautiful, engaged and supportive community: the lifeblood of the business.
It was also really refreshing to hear Saasha talk about her founder peer group, who are now in the young children phase of family and finally ‘get it’, and leaning into the chaos of parenthood - wearing it like a badge of honour.
Links:
Website: www.bumptobusinessowner.com
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/bumptobusinessowner/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/carolinepooley/
About Saasha Celestial-One
Saasha is the Co-Founder & COO of OLIO, a free app harnessing the power of mobile technology and the sharing economy to provide a revolutionary solution to the problem of waste.
OLIO is growing quickly, empowered by 100k+ volunteers. Since 2016,7m OLIOers have successfully shared over 130m portions of food and 10m household items with each other in 62 countries.
Before OLIO, Saasha founded London’s first pay-as-you-go high street childcare provider, and prior to that she spent 13yrs at Morgan Stanley, McKinsey and American Express.
Not only was Saasha was named one of the UK’s “Coolest Female Founders” by Business Insider but she also has an MBA from Stanford, is a mum to 11-year-old Nolan, and is the proud daughter of hippy entrepreneurs.
Saasha Celestial-One’s Links:
Website: https://olioapp.com/en/
LinkedIn (Saasha): https://www.linkedin.com/in/saasha-celestial-one-929390/
LinkedIn (OLIO): https://www.linkedin.com/company/olio-share-more-waste-less/
Instagram (Saasha): https://www.instagram.com/saashacone/
Instagram (OLIO): https://www.instagram.com/olio.app/
