Crib Sheet #23: Louise Zweben, CEO of SympathyTree.com

Louise Zweben created an entirely new forum to “celebrate the life of a loved one” on SympathyTree.com.  You may have even shared a memorial site.  Her interesting story will show you how momtrepreneurs really do make it happen–moving their ideas from “I need this” to “I did this.”

What business did you start up?

My online business is called SympathyTree.com.(memorial site)

What motivated you to do memorial site?

I am originally from Scotland and moved to California on assignment 14 years ago while working with Sun Microsystems. I met my future husband and decided to stay in the U.S. During that time there were  several deaths in my family in Scotland.  Being unable to join in all of the events surrounding funeral and related activities, I started to realize how important it is to be able to be with family and friends during this time…to physically comfort each other, share stories and memories about the deceased, grieve together with the community and start the healing process. In these days of families spread throughout the world, I started to think about how we could use the internet to somehow address this problem.

Initially SympathyTree.com was created to enable family and friends around the world to be instantly notified about all events relating to the death of a loved one but we quickly evolved into a community memorial site where each memorial is highly customizable.   The site enables people to honor their loved one by sharing their stories and memories, uploading photos and videos and allowing others to comments thereby starting a conversation about the deceased and creating a very rich highly interactive memorial community site for friends and family to visit for generations to come.

How many children do you have, and how old are they?

I have two beautiful daughters ages 9 and 5.

How long were/have you been running your memorial site business?

I started the planning and logistics of SympathyTree.com.com in early 2008 and officially launched the memorial site in December 2008.

How long did it take you to start becoming profitable and/or successful, however you choose to measure success?

It is so rewarding for me to receive so much feedback from the thousands of visitors to www.SympathyTree.com every week who are very appreciative of being able to participate in the death of a loved one.

How did your family react to you starting your own memorial site business?

We are very much an entrepreneurial family. This is my second start-up company and my husband has founded three start-up companies so we are comfortable with the challenges starting new companies brings. We are also very lucky to have a wonderful support network of website developers, marketing professionals, PR experts and much more.

Easiest part of your job?

There are several not just easy but gratifying aspects of my job as CEO of SympathyTree.com.  Working with families of the bereaved to help them create the richest memorial possible, working with my team to continually evolve SympathyTree.com.com by adding features based on feedback from families and experts in the areas of death, grieving and healing.

Hardest part of your job?

The hardest part of my job is reviewing all the beautiful memorials that are created and feeling the pain of those left behind. At the same time I am proud of how SympathyTree.com.com provides a way for them to honor their loved one through conversation, stories and memories.

What, if any, tools or advice do you wish you knew then that you know now?

Initially we assumed that most people who created a memorial in honor of a loved one would want to restrict access to close family and friends and therefore all memorials were kept private and only those people invited by the memorial creator were allowed to view and contribute to the memorial.  However, the nature and one of the key features of SympathyTree.com.com is the viral nature of it and how news can be spread in minutes, how a friend of the deceased can forward the memorial onto a group of friends that perhaps the creator the memorial did not know about. Based on customer feedback, we now offer the choice of making the memorial private or public. Approximately 95% of customers choose to make their memorial public. This has greatly increased the number of visitors to the memorials which, in turn, has resulted in many more stories and richer memorials.

Any people or other materials that you recommend for fellow momtrepreneurs to use/buy for their companies?

I have had the pleasure of working with an excellent web development company, called SolutionSet, who works with me continually to evolve our website. Additionally, Google Analytics provides an excellent tracking mechanism for monitoring site traffic and customer conversion.

Can you recommend 3 essential websites for moms in, or going into, business?

Women Entrepreneur
Inc.com
Working Mother Magazine