Meet our CEO and co-founder, Emma Heap

Transitioning from working for Groupon to starting a business aimed at getting the world to move more, we delve into the realm of Emma's experiences to gain a deeper understanding of the CEO behind Sudor. Expect some advice on how you can achieve whatever you set your mind to, because as Emma says “If you are consistent with moving your body every day, the things you can achieve are quite powerful.”

What work did you do before starting Sudor?

Ever since graduating, I have worked in tech startups. I joined Groupon in their first year in the UK. I started off as an account manager before I moved into product management. That gave me direct experience of Silicon Valley as we built a global Groupon Merchant Center. That was super cool with all the tech learning experience, especially how to build products and manage an engineering team. I moved to South Africa on a secondment to help turnaround Groupon South Africa. It’s when I fell in love with South Africa. After that, I moved to Singapore to run foodpanda Singapore. That was an incredible experience as we took the company from negative NPS, to +50 NPS and grew order volume 10X in under two years.

How did you meet your co-founder, Marc?

I came back for a holiday to Cape Town where I got introduced to Marc. He convinced me to join a fintech - 10X Investments in the sales team. He moved onto the board, and we worked together for two years prior to deciding to build a company together. For me - there are a couple of really important elements in a good founder relationship; trust, communication, complementary skills, and shared values. For us it was a no-brainer that we would work well together as founders. This was my final piece in the puzzle since I didn't really have any sales experience. I had account, product and operational knowledge from Groupon and then partnerships and logistics in Singapore. So there was definitely a deliberate effort to make sure I'd had experience in a lot of different things, to prepare myself for having my own company.

So, was being an entrepreneur always on the cards for you?

I think looking back, I started off young. In the UK there is a Young Enterprise program at schools where you, as a group of friends or classmates, create your own business. We created a series of children's storybooks - Japanese style Anime illustrations with the main character being a girl called Mimi. We designed a series of books for five year olds where ‘Mimi goes to the park’ and books for a slightly older reader with titles such as ‘Mimi goes to Paris’. My dad also ran his own company, so I guess I was exposed to entrepreneurship from a young age. However, when I was at school we still had dial up internet, Google and Facebook were fledgling businesses and building a tech startup was not on my radar at all. I do however remember one moment at Groupon when I realised how important it was to understand how technology worked to run a tech business effectively - and I remember thinking at the time, when I start a company, I want to understand how that works.

What was your inspiration for starting a company within fitness?

After working in tech for 10 years, I got to the point of wanting to build my own thing. Almost serendipitously, around the same time Marc reached out and asked if I wanted to do something together. Initially we looked at launching a boutique studio concept in London (this was 2019) - we even made offers on spaces - but as we got deeper into the business model, we found ourselves asking “how do we scale outside the studio?”. So we started looking for solutions that would help us do this. That’s how we first stumbled across the idea for Sudor- it was really born out of a need we had. It was also really important for us to do something that we were both passionate about. With Sudor - the combination of a platform that helps aspiring businesses, whilst being a product that if you use it as a customer, you'd actually be better off for using it - ticked all our boxes.

Why the name Sudor?

Well, it means sweat in Spanish. At the beginning it was a holding name, but it ended up sticking. We were looking for a word that meant something in fitness, but in a different language, preferably one that was widely used across the world given our global ambitions. Spanish is one of the most commonly spoken languages in the world.

What does the future hold for Sudor?

We are thinking quite seriously about how we can expand into other verticals - so if you’re reading this as a creator outside of fitness- please do reach out as we would love to chat with you! We've also launched our affiliate scheme as a way of rewarding creators who are sending us referrals organically. This stage is about growth for us, and we are really excited to see where the future takes us.

Moving away from business and more about yourself, have you always been into fitness?

Fitness has always been something in my life that I've prioritised. I used to run home from work when I lived in London, Berlin and Singapore. I’d put all my things in a pouch in my hand and run home. I also used to play hockey and did a half Ironman years ago. But to be honest - I didn’t enjoy that, the training was very rigid, and I like doing a few different things. That experience inspired our first version of the app where we focused on empowering our customers to take ownership of their own fitness journey. I genuinely believe that if you are consistent with moving your body every day, the stuff that you can do is quite powerful - and to be honest you’re more likely to achieve this if you do movement you enjoy. For me personally, I’m much more effective if I run in the morning - it clears my head, makes me focused, and puts me in a good mood.

How do you keep yourself motivated in your personal and professional life?

It’s understanding my own body and mind and what works for me and actually being honest with myself. Like what's gonna get me in the best mindset possible and what does my body need today. Another important one is my support network. Surrounding myself with people that I trust who I can go to for help, especially those that are going through the same journey (fellow entrepreneurs) - as they really understand the rollercoaster journey of founding a business!

Do you have any words of wisdom for other women starting their own company?

I think the biggest piece of advice I can give to other people starting out is that good things take time. It’s the same for building a business as starting a fitness program. You see “overnight success stories” on the news or social media, and that warps your expectations. You have to be mentally prepared that building a successful business will take longer than you expect it to, because otherwise you are gonna think you have failed and you're gonna give up. It's about setting reasonable goals, and being able to celebrate when you hit those small goals. If you’re consistent and stick with something you enjoy, you’ll succeed. Give yourself time, keep going and surround yourself with good people. And don’t be a perfectionist.