Monica Eaton, Founder and CEO of Chargebacks911 and Women In Tech Judge, Explains What She’s Looking for From Entrants

Hey Monica, tell us about yourself

I’m the Founder and CEO of Chargebacks911, a technology platform provider for end-to-end chargeback and dispute management and prevention.

It’s been an interesting journey to getting to where I am today: originally, I set up an eCommerce company in the early 2000s. We were growing fast, and our customers liked our products, but chargebacks were seriously cutting into our business. I went to market to search for a viable chargeback management solution but I couldn’t find anything that sufficiently met our needs. So, I decided to create one. Today, Chargebacks911 has grown to support more than 2.5 million merchants in 87 countries.

As well as an international entrepreneur, I’m a regular speaker on the industry circuit, an author and payments thought leader. Beyond the corporate world, I’m always looking for ways to give back to the community. I founded Paid for Grades–a student incentive programme that provides literacy tutoring services, career-planning lessons, and general life-skill acquisition.

Finally, I’m a strong advocate for women who want to succeed at the highest levels within fintech. I created LIFT: Elevating Women in Fintech, a micro-mentoring programme to encourage women in STEM globally to seek guidance to seek professional advice, career guidance and industry insight from an impressive list of female C-suite executives within the fintech and payments industries.

What are you looking for from this year’s Women in Tech and Startup entrants?

I’m looking for inspiring leaders that have shown evidence of overcoming challenges and taking advantage of opportunities, in order to establish their successful start-ups.

I’m also looking for exciting examples women who may have paved the way to inspire others around them. I firmly believe if you are in a position to be a mentor, then you should do so. It’s not just about telling women that they can do things, but it’s about showing them how. This will provide women entering the space with a guiding light and help them forge a successful career.

What advice would you give to entrants wanting to stand out from the crowd?

My advice is to be authentic and tell your story with passion.

My foremost guiding principle for generating great ideas is to ensure your product or service solves a critical issue for your target market. Therefore, seeing examples where entrants have focused on the problem they are solving and shown a deep understanding of this will help them stand out among their peers.