Laila Arain & Kyra Pahlen | How'd You Do It & Why Should I Care?

Laila Arain: 0:00

Hi everyone. Welcome to the next episode of the Bay Street capital holdings podcast titled “How’d You Do It and Why Should I Care?" This series aims to highlight women doing amazing work in various industries. So today we are so lucky to be joined by Kyra Pahlen who is CEO and founder of ZING Technologies Incorporated. Hi, Kyra. lovely to have you on the show.

Kyra Pahlen: 0:20

Hello, hello, it's Kyra.

Laila Arain: 0:23

My bad, I'll start from the beginning just to make sure I'm introducing it correctly as Kyra Pahlen.

Kyra Pahlen: 0:31

Kyra Pahlen, yes.

Laila Arain: 0:32

Yeah. Okay. I'll start from the beginning. My apologies. Everyone, welcome to the next episode of the Bay Street Capital Holdings podcast titled, “How’d You Do It and Why Should I Care?" This series aims to highlight women doing amazing work in various industries. So today, we are so lucky to be joined by Kyra Pahlen, who is CEO and founder at Singh Technologies Incorporated. Hi, Kyra. lovely to have you on the show.

Kyra Pahlen: 0:56

Lovely being here. Thank you for inviting me.

Laila Arain: 0:59

So I guess we could first start off with an introduction as to who you are, and possibly an answer to the question, which is how did you do it?

Kyra Pahlen: 1:08

That's a very good question. I think it's most because of the of my past where I was sat at every seat around the publishing media, IP, and sales world. I started as a film distributor, then I produced the picture. Then I wrote scripts, and I wrote the book. All of those have to do with understanding what people want symbology sales and the power of technology with content, because cinema is the same thing. VOD, all the different stages of expression what they allowed. And, well, how did I do it? I mixed together all the components that I was skilled at. And when the opportunity arose, and technology, my knowledge, my education, and understanding media all came together, then it became clear to me that a product like lingo sang would be fantastic for the world to use as an educational tool that is engaging.

Laila Arain: 2:32

That's awesome. So for those of our listeners who are not familiar with your company, could you possibly give a quick pitch about what lingo Singh is?

Kyra Pahlen: 2:42

With greatest pleasures? It's my baby. So inclusing is the first and only app that uses graphic novels, comic books, picture books, interactively, sound and visual. So you can hear each character's speak, in a way to educate and teach languages, but we use branded comic books, all subjects, all levels, all ages, so everyone can find something that they can empathize with, engages them, and which helps them retain

Laila Arain: 3:19

the true really such an awesome idea. So my next question to you is, how did you come up with this idea of what inspired you to start your own company?

Kyra Pahlen: 3:28

When I grew up, many around me, were using comic books to learn languages, and not necessarily with the goal to learn a language, but it became an automatic byproduct, because you would be in a foreign country, you look at the images, the images convey a story, so it kind of becomes intuitive learning process. And I myself read a lot of graphic novels and comic books, and the only Latin I can remember can come from aesthetics. And I think most people that read as Greeks know five words of Latin because of aesthetics. And later on, you see a lot of you see great many people that learned languages, looking at films and TV, but that goes too fast, but you have the sound. So on one side, you have too fast mobile, and sometimes badly translated. And on the other side, you have static with no sound. So you take the section of the tube, make it interactive and fun. And you have something that works and I and I conceived it as something that worked as a result of this educational path.

Laila Arain: 4:50

Oh, that's really awesome. And following on from that, obviously, becoming an entrepreneur and starting your own company is a bit daunting, because, you know, you can't learn all of the entrepreneurship techniques in a book and it's obviously a bit risky, but what were the best resources that helped you along the way.

Kyra Pahlen: 5:08

The fact that I lived in many countries and spoke many languages that I was aware of things such as in France, comic books is considered the ninth art. So I knew that going there to begin with to get their support would be a faster thing, then the states were still considered pop culture. Now the transition is could be is going much, much faster. And I also have a fantastic tool, which is my phonebook and I know who to call to help. Because needless to say, as a founder you are confronted with, I now had to be the goddess Kylie, I have to somehow be the CMO, the technology that the financial do this, do that. So it is essential to try to find the right people as quickly as possible to in whom you can trust that can slowly but surely take over these arms so that you can concentrate on the vision and on advancing you.

Laila Arain: 6:16

It's very interesting. And yeah, I would definitely reiterate the power of a network. And obviously, your network is your phonebook, which I think is so great. I think phone books should be brought back because there's just you can I used to flip through the yellow pages as a child and just look at all the opportunities that people you could call. So that's really great to hear.

Kyra Pahlen: 6:35

I mean, LinkedIn slash my phonebook.

Laila Arain: 6:37

Oh, gotcha. Well, that's even bigger network. So I'm very impressed. And as you mentioned before, obviously being a founder is a bit daunting sometimes. But thinking about your time as a founder, what would you say was your biggest failure? And what did you learn from it?

Kyra Pahlen: 6:53

I founded a company, the only other company that I founded, which was with Pierre Salinger, and Walter Cronkite, it had, it had a wonderful, brilliant idea, which was to do time capsules for all those who have influenced our lives, and keep them safeguard them in a way that absolutely nobody can see them until the person actually departs. And that is where I learned the importance of having the network and the importance of understanding not only your vision, but also the business aspect, and how to run a company, and how little one knows when one thinks when there was a lot more.

Laila Arain: 7:44

That's a very interesting point you bring up and obviously throughout our career, you've been dropping, great piece of advice. So following on from now, what would be one piece of advice you would give to somebody who is wanting to pursue a career similar to yours?

Kyra Pahlen: 8:00

It's really difficult. When you say career, it's hard because mine is cut in many different segments. It's hard to company like lingo thing, I would say have nerves of steel. Make sure you know the right people make sure you need the right people. And most importantly, if you're a seasoned entrepreneur, or a very intuitive person, and have common sense, very important, if you feel that somebody is going radically against what common sense dictates and what that ceiling is screening, this is wrong. Even if that person tells you Well, I've had 20 years of being a professional, and I'm going to do it my way. Fire first and do it rapidly before things go down. Because usually, yeah, and the cost will be much higher. And it's better to be without that person and somehow, what goes through until you find the right person.

Laila Arain: 9:04

Definitely. And obviously, as your time as an entrepreneur, you're probably very busy at the moment. But what have you read or listened to recently that's really inspired you.

Kyra Pahlen: 9:15

I'm going to answer that differently. Because it's not so much what I read and listen to that I pay attention to. What I pay attention to mostly is what people are doing, and what their values are. I'm more interested right now in looking at a person be a farmer, or a craftsman. Create somebody that decides to start studying pottery. And I'm saying this because I believe that there is so much emphasis on technology, so much emphasis on so many things that the earthworks are the crafts are being lost and that's what interests me more. So I'm actually looking at that that animals that reservation that were at the world at maintenance sustainability, those things. And it's the little people that when they talk that I find much more inspiring than whatever.

Laila Arain: 10:14

Oh, that's really great. And then who are three people in your life who have been most influential to you? I know you mentioned your phone book and LinkedIn earlier, but if you had a

Kyra Pahlen: 10:27

Facebook group Well, my parents, of course, they influenced me very much. And otherwise, you know, when I seek inspiration, I go to the classics. So it's not so much again, the living people, it's artists, classics, my parents and what I see around me.

Laila Arain: 10:51

Perfect. And then finally, to sort of round off our conversation, what is one piece of advice that you wish you gave yourself at any point in your life?

Kyra Pahlen: 11:04

Ah, think twice before going on a road to glory is not the right word to creating something enormous and think, as an alternative about having a normal life in a farm, taking care of animals. You're not as foolish as it may sound after all, because we will grow it up. You need to succeed you need to do this, you need to do that you need to take over the segment you need to take over the sector. And looking back, I wonder if that advice was with you that sound because some people, myself included, I think enjoy simple pleasures a lot more than they wish to confess.

Laila Arain: 11:51

Definitely. Yeah, I agree. And what a lovely note to end our conversation on so thank you so much, Kyra for taking the time to speak with me today. It was truly engaging to have this conversation.

Kyra Pahlen: 12:04

Thank you, and be in touch.

Laila Arain: 12:09

Yes, of course. Alright. Then bye bye.