Last month, Seeing Hands became one of the very first Armenian startups to take part in the Global Entrepreneurship Summit (#GES). The founder and brains behind Seeing Hands, Mariam Dilbandyan, trains and employs the visually impaired as massage therapists. In a recent interview, we asked some questions to Mariam about her experience at the GES.

What was it like to be the first Armenian startup ever to participate in the GES?

Meeting investors, participating in workshops, meeting partners from 170 countries was a lot. I met Mark Zuckerberg, I met with the founder of Air BNB, and I met the founder of Uber. On the first day, I didn’t understand what was going on. We were in Stanford, where we had numerous networking dinners and coffee breaks followed by workshops, classes, and meetings. To be honest, I was overwhelmed. Where should I go? Who should I talk to? Who’s more important to see? But on the second day, I said to myself: “just concentrate on how to talk with investors”.

The most important connection I made at the GES was when I met with a young group of crowdfunding specialists. In Armenia, crowdfunding is often misunderstood as charity. Usually Armenians will ask the diaspora for money for a school or a hospital, but that isn’t sustainable – when you ask for money you have to invest it in something that is self-sustaining. Everybody is ready to put down money for a good idea, especially one that has clear social implications.

In what ways have you benefited from the GES?

Mentors, Mentors, Mentors! We don’t have mentors here. But as a startup, you need a mentor.  I found out I have a lot of doubts in myself because I live in a small country and I didn’t feel comfortable talking freely about asking money from investors.. When talking with my Armenian counterparts they often told me “No, I am too proud to ask them for money”, but I said to myself: “I’ve come half way around the world to find investors and network. I have to say hello, I’m Mariam and I need money”.

I met loads of investors and all of them were really interested in my idea. I think what made Seeing Hands such a hit was the simple fact that in the US there isn’t any idea like it. Besides, training blind people in the US would be too expensive. One of the investors I met told me, if I brought the masseuses there, he would push them directly onto the market.

What’s it going to take to take your idea to the next level? 

Firstly, I will do a crowdfunding campaign over the next six months. I see two aspects in my project: social and business. Investors are not ready to give money for blind people’s education, but they are ready to give money for running a business.  Currently, together with the crowdfunding specialists I met at Stanford, we’re in the production stage of a promotional video on who we are and what our strategy is. This is our current strategy for growth.

How has Kolba Lab supported you along your path?

A lot of advice, a lot of networking, a lot of connections and workshops.

At first I trained massage therapists to send them to healthcare institutions. I didn’t want to start a business, and I didn’t have a business background. I was simply investing in their education, but afterwards I quickly realized that nobody would hire blind massage therapists because of a stigma that exists in Armenia.  I realized the only way forward was for me to start my own business; I applied to Kolba Lab and they gave me enough money to start my own business.

My idea entered their incubation period, which was a three-month crash course in business. Financial accountants and business developers provided feedback that helped me to understand their business.

What would you say is the most important ingredient to making a successful startup?

I love failures. I’m so good  at it! You learn a lot when you fail.

It’s important to understand and not be afraid of failure. Something I see in Armenia is a fear of failure, the notion that an idea has to be perfect; this thinking stops them from being entrepreneurial. Here people think that ideas are black or white, good or bad. That’s never the case – good ideas usually need to be refined and perfected.

What were your biggest failures? And how did you learn from them?

At first I couldn’t motivate blind people to learn. I was being too kind, too lenient, they are used to a charity-receiving attitude, and being kind simply reinforced that. What I did was to make them understand that no one will pay them simply because they were blind, but rather because they have skills and can give good massages. I had to get them out of the mindset of being victims.

Convincing them to practice not only during the lessons but also at home was difficult. To exercise their fingers and body, because to be a massage therapist you have to be very strong physically, and most of them had never done any physical exercise.

What was the impact of your change in the attitude of your trainees?

There was a professional change, but the more profound change was on how they viewed themselves and their role in society. For the first time in their life they’re now fully integrated into society.  Before Seeing Hands, all they did was sit at home. Suddenly they realize that they can earn a living and have a family. One of my employees is getting married and now he has a baby. Most importantly, they feel more useful – knowing that what they once thought of as a weakness is actually an incredible strength. Quite simply they are the best at what they do because they are blind.

Where do you see Seeing Hands in the future?

I see Seeing Hands as becoming more established in US and Russian market. Today I have five massage therapists. I see Seeing Hands having 30 massage therapists, all around the world. I want to create a business concept out of how you can share this massage experience with every country. Russia, Georgia, European countries – t his is the kind of concept that you can use in every country. There are no cultural differences, or market differences. The concept is applicable everywhere.