Stephanie Darvill, a co-founder and the COO of Aline, a learning experience platform aligning professional and personal development with corporate goals, has made significant strides in her career. Originally from London, U.K., she now resides in Malmo, Sweden. Stephanie is a talented and inquisitive communicator and leader who is passionate about lifelong learning, breaking the stigma around mental health, and promoting diversity, equity, and inclusion in entrepreneurship.
Stephanie’s accomplishments are noteworthy:
- In 2023, she was named the Professional & Personal Development Software Business Leader of the Year (Sweden) at the Acquisition International Influential Businesswoman Awards.
- The February 2023 edition of The CIO World recognized Stephanie as one of The 10 Most Inspiring Business Leaders to Watch in 2023.
- In 2022, Euclid Network honored her as one of the Top 100 Women in Social Enterprise.
- Stephanie was acknowledged by World’s Leaders Magazine in 2022 as one of the World’s Unstoppable Women Leaders to Look Out For.
- Success Pitchers celebrated her as one of the Top 10 Most Inspiring Women to Follow in 2022.
Before co-founding Aline, Stephanie held various roles, including project manager and senior consumer insights manager. She always emphasized gaining a deep understanding of industry trends and adapting business and product development accordingly. Stephanie boasts extensive experience in Business Strategy, Operations, Customer Experience & Consumer Insights, and Product Development. She has worked internationally in countries such as the U.K., Chile, Zambia, Austria, Spain, Germany, and Sweden. Additionally, she is a former Taekwondo competitor and currently serves as a kickboxing and fitness coach. Stephanie is also an accomplished public speaker.
Below are highlights of the interview:
Tell us about Aline and its mission. What inspired you to start this company?
In September 2020, I had the opportunity to participate in a 3-month program seeking potential entrepreneurs. I was between jobs at the time and decided to take a leap of faith. I thought the worst case would be to learn a lot and build out my professional network. The best case would be to find a mission I really believed in, find my cofounders, and create a startup. The best-case scenario happened.
I also figured that Stockholm is very good for startups; some of the biggest unicorns are coming out of here, so it would be a great place to start!
I met my two cofounders, Innocent and Emanuel, and it clicked straight away. Innocent had been building this idea for the last 2 years, and once he presented it to us, we started brainstorming and developed what is now Aline.
Aline is a learning platform that allows individuals to align their online activity with their learning goals and companies to align their employees’ desired learning with the company’s goals.
What strategies do you employ to ensure that Aline: Learn Better remains competitive in the market?
We need to really follow our own ethos, which is ‘you are never done learning, and we are not exempt from that. We regularly have ‘Learning Days, where you can take a break from your day-to-day tasks and instead
We are revolutionizing the way society validates learning. Many people miss out on key professional development opportunities simply because they do not have a formal education or because it is outdated. With The Great Resignation and The Great Reskilling, companies and individuals alike need to update their skillset and knowledge continuously, and our app makes that easier to do.
How do you foster a culture of innovation and adaptability within your organization, considering the rapidly changing landscape of the business industry?
As a company, we value curiosity, adaptability, and growth, and it is something we remind ourselves of daily by having the following values:
- Constant learning and curiosity: we aim to run learning sessions to share our knowledge, set our own learning goals (we call these objectives and learning needs), and then tie them to business objectives.
- Adaptability: willingness to change and adapt quickly; be prepared to kill your darlings; help each other out when necessary.
- Growth: make sure you’re always making progress; it doesn’t need to be in leaps, but 1% better each day leads to a huge amount of growth and development.
- Aligned autonomy: something we believe very strongly in is having aligned autonomy, which means the ability to own your own projects and run with them in the way you deem best, but be aligned on the same objectives and goals.
How do you prioritize customer satisfaction and ensure that the company provides exceptional service to its clients?
It sounds too simple to be true, but we listen to them. Like really listening to them. Too many companies hear their clients’ comments but don’t listen, and if they do listen, it is only to the points that prove their opinions or highlight why they are the best. We are quite egocentric at our core, so we look for evidence to prove our own biases. It is hard to move away from this, but I believe my experience within market research has helped me to do this. If a client gives negative feedback, they are not telling me personally that I am rubbish and unclear; it is simply that this feature isn’t clear to them. Ultimately, we are selling to them, not ourselves.
What steps do you take to attract and retain top talent in the industry, and how do you encourage professional growth and development within your organization?
I value people most when they challenge mine and the company’s ideas and business decisions. If they come with the reasons why they think it would be the wrong direction and a suggestion for how to improve it, I always say, Don’t just come with problems; come with solutions. I learn every single day; at no point in my life will I ever know everything, and that is the joy of it. It’s a journey I will continue. I think this attitude allows the team to come up with innovative ideas and not be tied to continuing to do ‘the same as always because management says so’.
How do you address the increasing importance of digitalization and technology in the sector, and how does it influence the company’s operations and customer experience?
To be honest, I wouldn’t say “increasing importance”; rather, “it’s digitize or die.” We no longer have a choice. It also helps that we started the company in 2020, so we started digital and remote first and built up from there. We never had to change to something as we started like that; it is a lot harder in larger companies with a long history.
As co-founder and COO of Aline: Learn Better, what is your overall vision for the company’s future, and how do you plan to achieve it?
My vision for Aline is to establish it as a leading global informal learning platform in the next 5 years. I believe that technology will play a crucial role in achieving this goal. I want to ensure that the company’s objectives are well-defined, clearly communicated, and supported by the entire team. To achieve this, I focus on being structured, organized, and effective in my approach to my work as COO. My aim is to keep the team motivated and simplify processes to achieve the company’s goals and vision.
What advice would you give to aspiring leaders or individuals looking to join the industry?
Before starting, be very clear about why you are starting this journey. If it is because you desire to make quick money and run a unicorn company, regardless of the industry or product, you will be bitterly disappointed. It’s a long and winding road. Stay true to your passions, and you will enjoy the journey. Don’t worry if you mess up; we all do, and it’s ok to make mistakes. Just don’t make the same mistake twice.
Be aware of your own boundaries and what you need to maintain and preserve your own energy (write these down at the beginning so you can go back and remind yourself!). Always remember why you started this mission—what is your cause? Your product will evolve over the years, but when you start to not be faithful to your original mission, you are starting to lose your integrity.
Please visit: https://www.alinebetter.com/
