Create & Cultivate 100: STEM: Ayah Bdeir
THE CREATOR.
THE CREATOR.
Join her current.
Ayah Bdeir is the founder and CEO of littleBits, an open source library of modular electronics that snap together with magnets. It is an award-winning platform of easy-to-use electronic building blocks that empowers kids everywhere to create inventions, large and small. What does that mean?
The company she founded in 2011 makes technology accessible across all ages. It sells a library of modular electronic units that can be easily connected for projects from night lights to sound machines to droids. (These are the droids you're looking for.)
Electronic building blocks are color-coded, magnetic, and reusable. Ayah designed everything herself to all fit together magnetically, so that the circuits always join correctly. Currently there are over 400k possible inventions with the littleBits starter kit. It's like your childhood erector set on Bulletproof-- to put it mildly.
She is an engineer, interactive artist and one of the leaders of the open source hardware movement.
More from Ayah below.
Where did your passion for creative technology start?
When I was growing up I was very good at math and science and I spent a lot of time taking things apart and putting them back together. I studied engineering in college and I didn’t feel like there was any room for creativity. After I graduated and discovered MIT I was introduced to the power of engineering when you pair it with creativity.
What inspired your mission behind littleBits?
My mission was to figure out how to bring this access to technology to people who were outside of engineering like designers, artists, kids. I wanted to find out how we could make technology easy, accessible and fun. littleBits is a platform of easy to use electronic building blocks for people creating inventions without a background in engineering. The world is changing constantly and for kids, we need to prepare them for careers that haven’t been invented yet.
The world is changing constantly and for kids, we need to prepare them for careers that haven’t been invented yet.
You’ve raised over 60 million for your company, how did you get to this point?
It wasn’t easy at all to raise the money in the early days. I think being a woman played a part in that but I got a lot of good advice from other entrepreneurs to make my pitches better. I learned that women tend to speak in questions marks so I practiced speak in more direct sentences. I also realized that women tend to overcompensate in their pitches with data when in reality the investors are looking for vision.
How do get your inspiration for new bits?
Early in the business I used to get a lot of inspiration from reading customer service tickets. I used to read almost every ticket and see what people were asking and get new ideas from those. Not so much anymore though, now I get inspiration from other things. When new pieces of technology come out I ask my team how can we make this fun and more accessible? Sometimes other fields.
"You can’t let things break you."
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What advice would you give someone who is looking to follow in your footsteps?
If you want to start a company, I’d advise that you do that only with an idea that you’re obsessed with. It’s every minute of your life and every single day. If you have a really strong belief in that mission of what you’re trying to achieve, it will carry you through the ups and downs. My second piece of advice is ask people for help. People are generally very willing to help someone who has drive. When they see someone with drive for a mission they want to get behind it.
What would you credit your success to?
The fact that I’m not afraid to ask when I don’t know something. Also, the understanding that I am a work in progress as a Founder and as a CEO I am constantly trying to work on myself. Tenacity is definitely a big part of being an entrepreneur. We have to have thick skin and you can’t let things break you.
This interview has been edited and condensed from multiple sources.
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Meet the Latinas in STEM Inspiring the Next Generation
These 5 MIT grads took matters into their own hands.
Jazlyn Carvajal, Diana Albarrán Chicas, Cecilia Fernández, Kimberly Gonzales, Joanna Gonzalez, Desiree Lassiter, Maribel Mendoza, and Nidia Trejo make up the Latinas in STEM Board of Directors, an organization founded by 5 MIT alumnae looking to formalize the service work they were doing in their respective communities.
The founders of the organization are all first generation American women who have been the first in their families to attend college. They have careers in industry with a long track record of community service. The current board consists of professional Latina women who are interested in providing Latinas with mentorship, resources, and access to careers in STEM.
The stats around women in STEM aren’t great. And the barriers to entry for women of color are compounded. A lack of role models, lagging outreach, and overall limited parental awareness, leads to dismal numbers. So you’ve heard.
But with organizations like Latinas in STEM, founded in 2013, there is hope. And not only on the horizon.
Their goals include: inspiring young women to consider STEM careers, increasing the number of Latina women pursuing STEM careers, and creating a network that enables women in STEM to survive. Their programs include K-12 student and parent outreach, college student support, and professional development that enables their network to grow and reach more students.
It’s vital work that serves the community and world.
More from the Board of Directors below.
What is the most important step you took to get here?
The most important step was starting a dialogue among friends about the need in our communities and our desires to help our communities in a more formal matter. It was a simple Facebook group message sent among friends that eventually led to the formal organization of Latinas in STEM.
What are some challenges you’ve encountered along the way?
There have been many challenges for us as a group. To begin, the group is currently completely volunteer run, meaning that we all have day jobs as STEM professionals. As such, one of the challenges has been carving sufficient time to help our organization progress along the way. Luckily, we have had a lot of support from our networks and other organizations who have similar goals.
What keeps you going?
Knowing that we can encourage Latinas whose shoes we were once in -- to do well in math and science subjects, get good grades to enter college, and follow a career path of their dreams.
Who are the people you consider your mentors or influences and why?
Our first mentors and influences for many of us were our families. We have all had various mentors throughout our careers including each other.
What is the best piece of "real talk" advice you've received?
Stay humble. Know that your career path and your goals may change over time, but stay true to yourself along the way.
What is your favorite life advice?
One of the greatest things we can have as women is education. Our knowledge and opinions are valuable to share with the world to help make it better.
Is there a time in your lives when you've thought, 'I can't do this anymore?'
We’ve all overcome a lot of adversity in our lives. We move forward and make opportunities by being proactive.
What’s next? What are the five year goals?
Next, we plan to expand the organization, and hire full-time administrators to help us continue the work that we are doing. As we mentioned, currently we are 100% volunteer run, but we want to expand our work by reaching out to more people nationwide. We need more woman power, and so we hope to formalize the group even more.
What is a habit or routine you swear by?
Share your big goals with others- it makes you accountable and also may open new doors.
"Share your big goals with others- it makes you accountable."
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How have your relationships to your careers changed in the last five years?
Embracing the idea that mentoring the next generation of STEM experts outside of our individual, professional work is an important part of our career journeys.
How have your personal relationships changed in the last five years?
We encourage one another to embrace failures and share these stories with our Latina members. It’s important for our members to know about our successes as Latinas in STEM, and it is equally important to tell our stories of roadblocks and lessons learned. Although it can be difficult to think back on difficult situations, our stories can be what inspires our members to continue pursuing and thriving in STEM fields.
What does female empowerment mean to you?
It means supporting and mentoring one another to achieve our goals. It means being critical of each other in a way that helps build other women up, and not tear them down. It means helping other women achieve their dreams.
