Meet Joe Feminella | Founder and CEO

We had the good fortune of connecting with Joe Feminella and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Joe, what was your thought process behind starting your own business?
I think everyone has a dream of starting their own business, but a lot of people either think it is unrealistic or are too afraid of actually starting the process. From a very young age I realized that I did not want to live a conventional life and I had very big dreams, as you get older those dreams may change, but you should always keep that drive and motivation to maximize your potential. After college I got a job in corporate America and it just didn’t seem right, I felt like there was more to life and I was always a big risk taker, I wanted to gamble on myself. A big thing that stuck in my head and helped give me the courage to start my own business was that I didn’t want to look back on my life in 10 years or 50 years and think what if. Young entrepreneurs should always have the mentality of not taking their ideas to the grave and they shouldn’t be afraid to fail. Life is much more satisfying when you say you gave an idea everything you had and it didn’t work out instead of having the regret of not starting the idea in the first place.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Our business is a dating app that helps human beings act like human beings again, today’s world is so fast, people’s attention spans are so short and we are not as connected as we need to be with each other. In the dating app world users inboxes are filled with connections and conversations and we lose track of who we are ever talking to, it is all about the next best thing. With First Round’s On Me we want to users to take a second to breath and to actually put value on the people they are trying to match with, we built the app in a way where users can really only talk and get to know each other in person, which is how people should get to know each other. Users will find someone they are interested in and send them an actual date, they will pick a drink a time and a place and then send that to another user, once the receiver accepts the date requests the two users will only be able to chat 4 hours before their date and then the chat box will close once the date time hits. This kind of forces the users to actually go on a date to keep talking, we also only allow one date (connection) per day, so users can’t keep matching and sending date requests to everyone trying to find the next best thing. You never know what can happen if you are actually present with someone and feel their energy. I am proud to help humans connect and stop relying on technology, it is kind of combing the new school and the old school. To get where I am today I learned that the more you believe in yourself the easier it is to actually put your ideas to work, and it has not been easy at all, there are so many challenges but you have to take small wins and never give up until you exercise every option. if you truly believe in your idea you need to give it all you have, I listen to a lot of motivational podcasts and how so may people have gone through journeys that are 100 times harder than mine. Along the way I have learned that you shouldn’t think you are less intelligent or less successful than anyone else, everyone has a different path and a different journey and all you can do is be the best version of yourself, try not to compare yourself to everyone else. I want my brand to be known as way for being to comfortable and confident in themselves and to not be afraid of taking chances and getting to know new people.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
This is interesting because my brother Vincent is in town this week and I have been his personal tour guide. First thing is to get them close to the beach so they can take in some fresh air and get a little glimpse of the relaxing side of LA, show them the Santa Monica Pier, maybe have a been at Venice Ale house. Then take a drive through Beverly Hills, look at Rodeo drive, some mansion browsing in the hills. After that we drove up to the Griffith Observatory to see the Hollywood sign. Lunch in Malibu is a must, depending on your budget you can do Nobu Malibu (not our budget haha), our speed was more Duke’s and Moonshadows, such an amazing atmosphere. We are big sports fans, so getting to Cryto.com center is a must for a basketball game. Drive down Sunset blvd. have a drink in WeHo. A sunset dinner in Manhattan beach is always a great idea. As the week is winding down and they are about to head back home, you should give them one last big night out in Abbot Kinney, hit up all the bars and have a late night snack. I think that would be a pretty fun filled week and they would have a great time.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
This is a very easy one for me, literally everything you mentioned as far as support, mentorship, love and encouragement is exactly what my parents gave me growing up. I think that I am very lucky in the fact that I grew up genuinely believing that I can do anything thanks to them. There were so many times that I would approach my parents with a new idea, and of course they would address certain concerns, but they would always support my ideas. And I have had so many of them, from being in the NBA to going to acting school to starting a t shirt company and finally to starting this app. If they didn’t encourage me to try and take these risks I would have never progressed as an entrepreneur and I would have felt very discouraged every time I failed without having a great support system. My parents sacrificed a lot of their dreams because all they wanted to do was have a family and allow my brothers and I to fulfill our dreams, so in a way I feel obligated to make something of myself so that their sacrifice doesn’t go to waste. That has carried into my adult life as well, my girlfriend Hannah is the most thoughtful and supportive person I have every met and she believes in everything I do. I am grateful for the people around me.

Website: www.firstroundsonme.co

Instagram: firstroundsonme

Other: firstroundsonjoe

Image Credits
@_tijianavukovic_