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Sháá Wasmund
Founder
Smarta
A graduate of The London School of Economics, Sháá's entrepreneurial career had an unusual start. Having won a competition to write for Cosmopolitan magazine, she interviewed World Champion Boxer, Chris Eubank; by the end of the interview he offered her a job promoting his next fight. At just 22 Sháá became responsible for promoting and organising the biggest fight to ever take place in this country; with a live audience of 48,000 and a further 18 million people watching it from home.
In 1994, she set up her first business, a PR and Marketing company. James Dyson was one of her first clients and her role in establishing Dyson as one of the best known brands in the UK won her numerous awards including Cosmopolitan Business Woman of the Year. 5 years later with Dyson now a household name, Sháá was ready for a new challenge.
In late 1999, a chance meeting with Sir Bob Geldof ignited her contagious passion for the internet and all the possibilities that it holds. As one of the founding directors of his travel company, http://www.deckchair.com/ Sháá found herself at the heart of the internet revolution. A year later, Sháá decided to pursue her own venture and in 2000, raised substantial funds to launch http://www.mykindaplace.com/. The company was recently sold to BSkyB.
In 2007 Shaa established a formidable partnership with fellow entrepreneur Dan Wagner to launch Bright Station Ventures, a unique investment vehicle with $100 million of capital dedicated to investing in internally generated ideas and seeding young companies that use information technology in innovative ways to create high growth business opportunities.
Shaa was selected as one of Management Today's 35 Under 35 - their list of the brightest females of 2007 and in the same year, was named a "Young Gun" (entrepreneurs who are 35 or under and set to make big waves in the business world) by Growing Business.
Sháá is an intrinsic part of the new wave of UK Entrepreneurs combining real entrepreneurial drive and experience with a genuine desire to encourage and inspire others. Her latest venture is living proof. Smarta.com launched in January 2009 and is an innovative business platform providing free advice, networking and tools for entrepreneurs and business owners. Bringing business people together for support and inspiration, Smarta has hundreds of entrepreneur videos and bite-size guides on overcoming business challenges. Users can access free advice from business experts and find unique tools designed to take the pain out of everyday business tasks. Smarta has the support of leading UK entrepreneurs such as Theo Paphitis, Deborah Meaden and Michael Birch.
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