Shaa Wasmund: BrightStation Ventures

Shaa Wasmund, 35
Company: Brightstation Ventures, Osoyou, Miomi
Web: www.brightstation.com, www.osoyou.com, www.miomi.com

Serial entrepreneur Wasmund turned down the position of CEO at Bebo (and the sizeable equity stake that went with it) 18 months ago, after falling in “the business equivalent of love at first sight” with business partner Dan Wagner. They now manage the $100m Brightstation Ventures fund, along with fellow Young Gun Ben Way, have a 50% stake in Shiny Media, and have worked on a number of new ventures, including timeline history site Miomi. A shopping site for women, Osoyou, has just launched and her social enterprise project will be next.

2016 update:

After leaving Bright Station Ventures in 2008, Wasmund went on to found Smarta, an online platform offering tools to help small business owners manage and grow their businesses, the following year. She oversaw the site to profit, with around 4,000 paying customers and 500,000 monthly visitors before stepping down as CEO in December 2014. Since then she has been focused on working as an online educator with her website Shaa.com. The entrepreneur has released a number of books on business and entrepreneurship including Stop Talking, Start Doing – the best selling business book in WH Smith for 14 months in a row. Wasmund was awarded an MBE in the New Years Honours list 2015 for services to business and entrepreneurship.