We had the good fortune of connecting with Dr Linda Hansen and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Dr Linda, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
My daughter, Jasmine Hansen Toomalatai, and I are cofounders of our disruptive technology company, Fund Duel Inc. The inspiration behind this company came from my research and our mutual desire to make the greatest impact for good on a global scale with a new gamified fundraising platform. Jasmine and I recognized that there has been a ten year lag in innovation in the crowdfunding space and no ideal platform for organizations to raise money for good causes. From my research on the neurochemical and psychological motivation system, I realized we could create a magnificent platform that incorporated eight different motivational tools to encourage engagement and donations. The result…. we created Fund Duel with team-based competition and fun photo and video based challenges that have been the perfect solution for virtual fundraising and live and live-streamed fundraising events. After a soft launch in March of 2020, we raised over 1.2 million for St Jude Research Hospital after many of their events canceled and became the sought after solution of many other major organizations including corporations such as Disney that wanted to raise money for a charity by creating a competition and challenge that engaged their customers and employees. In 2022 we are expanding onto an international stage.

What should our readers know about your business?
We are on the verge of some of the most exciting and breathtaking global events that will take our company Fund Duel onto the world stage in magnificent ways in 2022. We are putting together a global Nelson Mandela concert with one of the top producers and talent in the industry. How did this stellar opportunity come about? It was because of our passion and commitment to develop projects that have a massive scale and sustainable impact on initiatives around the world and our ability to network with amazing visionaries, artists, and entrepreneurs who have the same outlook and purpose. Our Fund Duel family has grown through our commitment and the success of our gamified platform in garnering more donors, views, and participation via challenges that are instantly shared on social media.

Has this journey been easy as a female founded company? Not at all! The barriers to obtaining capital and partnerships in the incestous circles of Silicon Valley are real and unmistakable. The most discouraging fact is that many organizations run by females that are supposedly designed to assist female founded companies are often artificial and useless. I found that the best thing for us was to work on our product and self fund and ignore all the nay-sayers and put no effort into pitching to VCs.

Let’s say your best friend was visiting the area and you wanted to show them the best time ever. Where would you take them? Give us a little itinerary – say it was a week long trip, where would you eat, drink, visit, hang out, etc.
Great Question!! We live in one of the most beautiful parts of the world in Northern Colorado. I would take my best friends to Estes Park and go on an amazing hike in the Rocky Mountain National Park, or take a road trip up to a ranch we formerly owned near Vail, Colorado called Piney River Ranch. There we would take a canoe out onto the lake and view the Gore Range with its spectacular peaks. We might see some moose or elk come down to the water’s edge to munch on lake grass or sip some water. After our canoe trip on the quiet lake, we would would go on horseback ride up a trail to Lost Lake and finish our day sitting by a fire and eating a nice barbecue dinner from the restaurant that we used to run. We would see the stars emerge from a perfect night sky and tell stories and maybe even roast some marshmallows.

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?
My daughter and cofounder Jasmine Toomalatai was my major inspiration as this was a shared idea that we brought to life together. Also, our two other cofounders Matthew Julander and Weston Cann were the tech and design geniuses that created one of the sleekest and easiest to use crowd-funding platforms. My husband Dana has been the greatest support and has jumped right in to assist our growth and expanded our connections. Of course, we have to thank visionaries that are bringing Fund Duel to Brazil and Canada. Getro Silva has engaged professional soccer leagues, government officials, myriads of charities (including hospitals), and Brazilian celebrities to raise money on the Fund Duel Platform. Emmet Dunlap Jr has championed our gamified platform in Canada and believes that we are the greatest concept and technology to come forth in a decade.

My father Melvin L Prueitt is my greatest inspiration. He was a product of the depression and had a dream to become a scientist. He is a self-made success story and as a Nuclear Scientist he invented computer graphics and has 27 patents in renewable energy. He showed me that you can accomplish anything and at any age.

Website: www.fundduel.com

Instagram: fundduel

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/linda-hansen-phd-35016a65

Twitter: fundduel

Facebook: fundduel

Youtube: fundduel

Other: https://www.fundduel.com/index.php/duel/565 https://www.fundduel.com/index.php/duel/642

Image Credits
Rocco Ceselin

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