The Day We Launched

After talking about what was to become Nanz Inc.Com for the past three years with my business partner, Theresa, 18 September finally came and we let it go live.

In those three years, we had discussed the endless possibilities of our business: print magazines, self-help booklets… till one year ago, we decided to do this online. Our vision was to create a website to help women live better lives in many ways.

We knew we had a great message, and we wanted every woman across Asia to gain access to our site, to share, to learn with us, at a cost as close to nothing as possible! We wanted women sitting at Starbucks with their latte, having Nanz Inc.Com for company.

Theresa, Eric (more about him next round — he’s the techie who’s fun and creative) and I were counting down to the day. Our emails bore subject headers like “9 Days To Go” and “5 More Days”. It was kind of intense and it seemed we were online at all kinds of hours (and still are).

Though it seemed as if the day would never come, our soft-launch finally happened. Oddly enough, thanks to the F1 weekend, we had to submit our Insing.Com column early. We borrowed a Volkswagen Golf GTI for the story, and had a rollicking time driving out for a shoot. Pity the rain came!

After the shoot, Theresa and I, both being perfectionist in our own ways, continued giving that final touch to our site. Until finally, at 5pm, Nanz Inc.Com went live!

It was like, “We did it!!!”, “The baby is out!”, “Quick, SMS and ping friends!”, “Tell clients!”

For me the best part was coming home late that night after a long day to a beautiful vase of flowers waiting for me on the dining table. With it came a card from my home team, my husband and my three children: “Congratulations! You did it, and you did it good!” Inside, my daughter Zara had written: “Happy Launch! We love you!”

That was such a genuine touch! I have never run an online business before this, and I don’t know if people send congratulatory bouquets for internet businesses — unlike retail stores. But this was so cool — I was very touched!

I am sure this story will go into my next book , probably under the chapter “Entrepreneurs Need Moral Support From Their Family”. If you have a family member doing something new, even though it may be unproven, give them a thumbs up!

Nanz