Finding Business and Love

A DC entrepreneur raised $30k on Kickstarter this week to make a docu-series on her mission to start a company in 90 days and find love at the same time.

The series, called Love & Business, 90 Days To Launch, will start releasing episodes this summer and could be distributed online or through a “major" network, says Giadha Aguirre De Carcer. She's also deciding which of three businesses to launch during the filming. The ideas include: an app to visualize how a large furniture piece would look in a room with a drag and drop function; a behind-the-scenes look at producing Love & Business, which has expansion plans (more on that below); and selling market data and analytics on the cannabis industry. So why also tackle love? Giadha says single-female entrepreneurs can relate to the challenge of balancing a startup with a personal life.

Giadha, who has advisors like Fortify VC and StartupLand producer Jonathon Perelli (pictured) and Priceline cofounder Jeff Hoffman, says she was inspired to do the series from her own experiences with gender discrimination and seeing the disparity between funding for male-vs female-led startups. Giadha, who came to the US during high school after growing up in Italy, Spain, and France, says she doesn't want the series to come across as male hating because she thinks they're just as confused about gender roles. Her plan is to continue the docu-series to feature female entrepreneurs globally and start a seed fund for female entrepreneurs with proceeds from the docu-series.

Giadha, at the recent Love & Business launch party, worked in investment banking and then launched GNI International in 2007. The company's wireless solution monitored driving behavior for safety and efficiency. It couldn't afford to renew its patent and Progressive Car Insurance came out with a comparable version two weeks after GNI's patent pending expired. Since then she has been consulting US companies that want to expand to emerging markets and running a nonprofit that helps female entrepreneurs. She also launched Venture Camp, a live/work incubator for startups. She moved to DC after 9/11 to pursue a master's. She was the only person from her former investment banking team in New York to survive the terrorist attacks.