#WIB – Q&A With Rachelle Best Founder & CEO Of FYI Play It Safe
1. Can you please tell us more about your business?
A. FYI play it safe is an app that helps parents protect their children from online harm and potential physical danger.
Practically, what FYI play it safe does is it monitors the actual content of children’s communication and online activity and then informs parents of any potentially harmful situations, regardless of the application the child uses.
While tweens and teenagers are focused on having fun and meeting new friends online, parents need to balance the tension between respecting their children’s online privacy and navigating the risks presented by social media platforms, online gaming, and other chat apps.
FYI play it safe benefits parents by alerting them of potentially harmful events, such as cyberbullying, depression, self-harm, suicidal ideation, if they talk to potential online predators, or when they engage in adult content.
In turn, it benefits children by giving them privacy in that their parents don’t have to read through all their messages and go through all their social media content.
2. When, how and why did you start your business?
A. To start with, I’m the mom of a teenage daughter. She’s 15 years old, which means that I understand the challenges of parenting in the digital world too well.
She is mainly the reason we started developing FYI play it safe.
When I started thinking about giving her a mobile phone, I did research on apps that could help protect her online, but I couldn’t find anything that was quite good enough. I also couldn’t find anything that would tell me what was really going on, and that would warn me if she was exposed to any harmful situations. At the same time, I wanted her to feel that I respect her privacy and that I trust her. Hence, apps that would give me full access to her messages were out of the question.
I realised that other parents may struggle with the same questions and lack of answers, and embarked on a research study in 2018. My hypotheses were correct in that 99% of parents who participated in the study were worried about the dangers associated with social media platforms and the open world of the internet, but none knew how to deal with it in a way that would provide them with the right level of comfort.
And that’s how FYI play it safe was born. I wanted to develop an app that would protect our children online, alert parents when there is something to worry about, but at the same time respect our children’s privacy.
We launched our first prototype at the beginning of 2020 but quickly realised that we needed to change the technology completely and officially launched FYI play it safe in May 2021.
3. What is your role in the business?
A. I am the founder and CEO of FYI play it safe. I’m also the Chief Innovator who works with our development team to bring new ideas to life.
4. Where did you study and what did you study?
A. I studied part-time, through UNISA to become a Chartered Accountant, and joined one of the big-4 accounting firms as an undergraduate in their technology risk team. This fuelled my curiosity into the bigger technology field.
When I finished my studies and qualified as a CA(SA), I wanted to expand my horizons and completed a degree in Industrial and Organisational Psychology, also part-time through UNISA.
5. How did you finance your business?
A. Finding adequate funding to grow the business following its launch to market is still difficult. The costs for doing proper PR, marketing, and setting up operations can be significant and if you don’t have adequate capital, this may be a showstopper.
We are still in the process of finding the right partner, but I’m very fortunate to have had good mentors to guide me along the way.
6. Describe your average workday, if such a thing exists.
A. An average workday doesn’t exist. As such, I find that proper planning is key to getting through the day with a busy diary and a packed to-do list.
My most creative time is early mornings so I start working at 5 am every day and focus on any tasks that need the most creative energy. The rest of the household wakes up at 6:30 am, and then my breakfast and school run duties start.
My days are mostly filled with meetings, but I book out time where I can work on bigger deliverables and answer emails. I try to plan any webinars (either presenting or attending) for only once a week, so I can spend time with my family.
7. How do you balance your home life and your work life?
A. I have a strict rule to stop working at 18:00 every day at the absolute latest. This means that I will rather get up earlier in the morning and spend some time when it’s quiet to get things done. Evenings are prioritised as sacred family-time, having dinner, catching up with each other, listening to music with a glass of wine, or watching a movie.
When I’m either needed to present or attend a webinar, I try to limit this to one evening per week. I work from home, so had to put hard boundaries in place as there will always be something that has to be done.
Obviously, there are exceptions, but these don’t occur more than twice a month.
8. What drives you and inspires you?
A. Doing work that has an impact on children’s lives is a very humbling experience. I’m driven by every discussion with a parent on how to protect their children better.
I am very fortunate in that I have found my purpose and passion in creating this app, that has the ability to help parents build a better relationship with their children, as well as save children from potentially harmful situations.
9. Where and when do you have your best ideas?
A. Mostly, either over a cup of tea early morning when I start working, or while we’re hiking in the mountains. Hiking is good time for my partner and I to catch up. For me, thoughts create more thoughts and through discussions, we come up with practical ideas that we can implement.
10. Where and how do you market/advertise your business for sales leads?
A. Currently, we have a number of partnerships and affiliations, who we work with. From a direct marketing perspective, we use Google ads together with Facebook and Instagram marketing.
11. What is next for your business?
A. Most importantly, to educate as many parents as we can to ensure through FYI play it safe, that we help them protect their children online.
We would also like to make FYI play it safe available on other platforms so we can protect more children on different pieces of technology. We are planning to expand to Apple, Windows-based laptops, and Chromebooks at this stage.
12. What advice would you give to female entrepreneurs hoping to start their own business?
A. Firstly, be brave. In the words of Brené Brown, even if someone else has done it before, it’s never been done by you.
Secondly, starting a business from scratch is not easy, there is a lot of competition, and you will encounter hurdles along the way. Keep going and from the start find like-minded women to collaborate with. Making big things happen, especially in technology goes quicker and much easier if you work with people with shared values and a shared purpose.
Thirdly, when you’re an innovator, don’t be scared to talk about your idea. If you’re going to make it happen, no-one else will steal it, and talking about it stimulates more thoughts and ideas to help you build-out the solution.
Contact Information
E-mail: rachelle@fyiplayitsafe.com
Instagram: @rachellebest – https://www.instagram.com/rachellebest/
Facebook: @rachelle.best – https://www.facebook.com/rachelle.best
Twitter: @rachelle_best – https://twitter.com/rachelle_best
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/rachelle-best/
FYI play it safe:
+27 82 576 1131
admin@fyiplayitsafe.com
Facebook: @FYIplayitsafe – https://www.facebook.com/FYIplayitsafe/
Instagram: @fyiplayitsafe – https://www.instagram.com/fyiplayitsafe/