Business
From Selling Raincoats In Student Events To Investing In Global Startups, A Founder’s Story with Anna Sholina

The Founder’s Story interview started as an audio interview and now has been listened to seven million times! We interview incredible entrepreneurs who are thought leaders within their industry. In today’s publication, we interviewed Anna Sholina, known as the co-founder of SOLYANKA.
Anna has an incredible story and is truly making a name for herself in the business industry. She has a passion for helping others and it shows. Let’s dive deeper and read her interview.
Anna Sholina is a serial entrepreneur, Co-founder of the communication agency SOLYANKA, Partner & Head of Community of the EMERGE Conference, and General Partner at JOINT JOURNEY VC invested more than $25M in startups, mentor and coach. Anna has broad expertise in acceleration processes and start-up global development, ventures, innovations, and technology.
Tell us about your childhood and where you grew up?
I grow up in Nizhniy Novgorod city, Russia. I have a twin sister, and, probably, our constant competition for attention in the family determined my character, which always pushed me to grow and develop. In addition to that, I always wanted to have more than I have. And the only way was to achieve everything you wanted on your own. I think it is the reason why I started making my own money and building a business in my teenage years. My student period was especially active. I took part in a large number of initiatives, and international projects, and consciously spent a lot of time and effort on these activities. The main thing in this activity for me was the search for a supportive community that was formed around these duties.
How did you get started as an entrepreneur?
I became an entrepreneur in my student years when I started my duties as the chairman of the student council. My first business project was supplying raincoats to a student event and selling them. Then I began to organize parties and rock concerts which brought to me rather good money and the most important thing – a great experience. For the first time, I became the CEO of my own startup, which was engaged in the development of mobile applications and games. Then the startup grew into a training company, and after that into the SOLYANKA agency, which is still successfully operating.
What is one business lesson you would tell a startup founder?
Believe in yourself, rely only on yourself, and do not forget to rest.

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