In Conversation with the CEO of Zingeroo, Zoë Barry — Joya Dass
Zoë Barry is a young serial entrepreneur and business mentor who is set to change the world with her entrepreneurial skills. She is the founder and CEO of Zingeroo, a company that started over a sibling rivalry. It is not her first and only successful venture that has sparked the interest of a massive audience in her business strategies.
She is the also founder of ZappRx, which is like the “Amazon” of specialty medication. Here is her detailed story.
ZappRx, The Beginning of Zoë’s Business Empire
Zoë Barry founded ZappRx because of a pain point. One of her family members suffered from a rare medical condition that required specialty drugs. These medicines can go up to a hundred thousand dollars a patient per therapy each year. Not only that, it could take six months to get access to these medicines and start therapy.
This issue disturbed Zoë to a great extent, as the patient should get access to medication right away. So she started looking for any technology systems that would make getting these drugs a lot easier and quicker. While doing so, she realized that there was a huge gap in the market.
The biggest gap she found was the lack of online availability of these drugs. Instead, people had to call, fax or voicemail the companies to get the drugs, causing months and months of delay. It was when the idea of a company that worked like the “Amazon Prime for $100K/year specialty medication” came into existence.
Her main focus was to deliver these drugs within 24 hours. Little did she know starting a business was not an easy feat, especially in the healthcare industry. She took small but calculated steps to raise the money, create awareness about her service, and get the certifications required to run the business.
She then sold the data to AllScripts, a company with a massive healthcare footprint. This step was necessary to help spread her product to as many hospitals and clinics as possible.
Zingeroo, The Social Competitive Trading App
Just like her previous business, Zingeroo also came into existence to solve a problem in the family. This time, the problem was an argument with her siblings. Zoë describes that one Christmas eve she had a debate with her brother about which direction the stock market was headed.
She decided to give her brothers a competitive, social trading experience for Christmas but found that there wasn’t any to begin with. The app she and her brothers signed up for has no means to track and share their performance.
Since the whole debate was about who was the best investor or trader, they had to share the progress with each other. Unfortunately, they could only do it by taking screenshots and sending them to a group chat. However, this soon became hectic and unpleasant.
Just like we can chat with our Uber driver or Instacart shoppers, Zoë wanted a way for traders to communicate within the app and share their portfolios with their co-traders. This idea paved the way for an app designed to keep all the trader’s requirements in mind.
Zingeroo is a social, competitive trading app that allows traders to build a portfolio and share their progress and even techniques with fellow traders.
Bullpen, A Unique Feature of the Zingeroo App
This app has a feature named Bullpen, which allows the trader to share their trading techniques with their friends. She also noticed the amount of unnecessary and false information shared on trading groups and forums online that could easily scam traders. Therefore, she decided to add the Bullpen feature to her app that focused mainly on socializing while trading.
With this feature, traders can share their trade secrets with real-time screen captures. Moreover, since the traders on the app have gone through the KYC and AML process, it ensures that they are not supporting money laundering.
After a complete verification process, the traders can have only one account on the app. It means you cannot sway trades and show fake progress. They also have a trading card that allows you to make trades through Zingeroo, and only then can you share your trade in the Bullpen.
Sharing information and education about trade is the base element of the Zingeroo app, which sets it apart from the other trading apps. Discussing macro trends and other changes in the market and how they affect trade has been a few drivers of discussion.
It is also a game-changer for novice traders as it helps them grow their skills with the help of trusted information. Zingeroo also provides a high level of transparency to its users, something you don’t find in conventional trading apps.
The basic idea Zoë had was to create a safe space for traders where they could share information, ideas, and their portfolio without worrying about scams. In some apps, you find a “wall” where you can share information using hashtags, but that does not give enough freedom for discussions.
Healthy Competition
With features like Leaderboard and Zone, you can compete with your close friends and family members. You can also participate in broader, community-wide competitions in the zone and see how your peers are performing. It keeps trading fun and interesting.
Zingeroo is a commission-free trading app if you sign up for the data package. However, there is a small commission on equities, fractional equities, ETFs, and options. The current edition of cryptocurrency has also allowed the younger generation to take an interest in trading through this app.
Valuable Lessons
Leadership, education, and competition are the true essences of this platform which also describes the personality of Zoë Barry quite well. She urges everyone, especially women, to take competitive roles in life and never be afraid to try.
She acknowledges that women feel compelled to have every detail ready before starting a new venture, but that mindset can keep them from getting their vision off the ground. In this era, women need to explore their options and invest in companies they believe in, and find the confidence to jump into the marketplace with their ideas.
Originally published at https://www.joyadass.com.
