Celebrating International Women's Day: Anna Anisin - The Architect of Exits Who Redefined Women in Tech
This International Women's Day, we spotlight a Miami-based mother, mentor, and serial entrepreneur who turned grassroots hustle into three multi-million-dollar exits—all before turning 30!
This International Women's Day, we spotlight a Miami-based mother, mentor, and serial entrepreneur who turned grassroots hustle into three multi-million-dollar exits—all before turning 30.
Here's how Anna Anisin built empires, broke ceilings, and rewrote the playbook for women in tech.
The Exit Playbook: 20 Years of Repeatable Strategy
Anna's journey began not in a boardroom, but in her teenage bedroom. At 16, she launched Baseball Beauties—a baseball lifestyle platform—using nothing but MySpace and sheer audacity. With zero marketing spend, she grew it to 250,000 users by partnering with AntiBride and Ustream. "I learned early that partnerships are oxygen for startups," she says. This lesson became her North Star.
By 22, she'd engineered her first exit. As CEO of 4sync, a cloud storage startup, Anna bypassed traditional growth playbooks. Instead of chasing VC cash, she embedded her platform into Samsung and Nokia devices, dominated CNET's charts for 17 weeks, and launched the first USB-to-cloud hardware kits. The result? 10 million users in 12 months, leading to a 2012 acquisition by TASS Russia.
But her next big idea came with Passare, a deathcare tech platform co-founded in 2012. While Silicon Valley obsessed over SaaS for the living, Anna saw opportunity in mortality. She built partnerships with Teleflora (flowers) and Travelocity (bereavement travel), turning funeral directors into unlikely SaaS evangelists. In two years, she scaled revenue from $0 to $2M ARR, culminating in a strategic acquisition.
Today, as founder of FormulatedBy and Data Science Salon, she's flipped the script again. Her secret? Community-driven growth. By repurposing 150+ AI conference talks into enterprise marketing campaigns, she's turned AWS and IBM into clients while scaling Data Science Salon into a 50,000-member movement.
The Woman Behind the Exits
Anna Anisin has been recognized as a Tech Industry Insider by CNN three years in a row6, a testament to her significant impact in the technology sector. Her entrepreneurial journey spans multiple successful ventures, including her role as CEO of 4Sync and VP of US Ops at 4Shared, which became the fastest growing cloud storage provider of 20126.
After stepping down from 4Sync, Anna co-founded Passare, which became the number one collaboration software in the funeral industry6. Her pattern of success continued when she joined the founding team at Domino Data Lab, helping to build "the most powerful enterprise data science management platform on the market"6.
Currently, Anna is running FormulatedBy, a boutique B2B marketing firm, and is the founder of Data Science Salon, a leading data science community and event series6. She's also recently launched the "I Want Her Shoes Podcast," which premiered on March 8, 2025, coinciding with International Women's Day8.
Empowering Women in Tech and Business
Anna's commitment to empowering women in technology is evident throughout her career. She's described as "an advocate of women in tech"6 and her new podcast aims to explore "the intricate connection between fashion, style, and business, providing a unique perspective on how our personal aesthetics influence both our professional and personal lives"8.
"We are fortunate to live in a time where women can pursue any path they desire—be it as engineers, business executives, or devoted mothers," Anna states. "Our podcast serves as a tribute to the multifaceted roles women embrace, presented in an energetic and engaging fashion."8
Q&A with Anna Anisin
Some timeless advice from Anna from my interview:
1. "As a mentor, what's your advice to women entering AI today?"
Focus on building a strong foundation in both technical and strategic thinking. AI isn’t just about coding—it’s about applying it to real-world problems. Surround yourself with mentors, engage in the right communities, and don’t be afraid to take up space in conversations. The industry is evolving fast, and diverse perspectives are needed more than ever.
2. "How do you balance community-building with FormulatedBy's profit goals?"
The key is alignment. FormulatedBy thrives because we provide real value to the AI and ML community while also delivering ROI for our clients. Community-building isn’t just about engagement; it’s about creating meaningful experiences that drive business results—whether through thought leadership, events, or strategic partnerships.
3. "At 4Sync, you onboarded 1,000 users manually through Nokia/Samsung partnerships before scaling. How do you balance patience with ambition when validating a concept?"
Patience is necessary, but so is calculated speed. Early traction comes from deep customer insights and doing unscalable things first. Once you prove demand, you systematize. The mistake many make is scaling too soon without validation, or waiting too long and missing momentum. The sweet spot is knowing when your data tells you it’s time to push.
4. "How did you get started with the Data Science Salon?"
I saw a gap—technical practitioners didn’t have a curated space for real conversations around AI and ML applications. I started with small meetups, focusing on quality over quantity. That grassroots approach built credibility, and over time, DSS became a leading community for AI and data professionals.
5. "Best career advice received?"
Never get too comfortable. The second you do, you stop growing. Push yourself to take on challenges that scare you, and always keep evolving.
6. "Favorite productivity tool?"
Google Suite and Monday for organizing projects, Slack for collaborating with the team and LinkedIn for networking on the go.
7. "Podcast guest you'd love to host?"
Sara Blakely, Bethenny Frankel, and Bobbi Brown—women who built powerhouse brands with authenticity, resilience, and vision. But my ultimate dream guests? Martha Stewart and Sarah Jessica Parker—because who wouldn’t want to learn from a lifestyle icon and the ultimate SATC queen?
In Anna's own words: "True innovation happens when you create spaces for authentic conversations." Whether she's building partnerships that become "oxygen for startups" or scaling communities that amplify human potential, her approach reminds us that technology's greatest power lies in its ability to connect people in meaningful ways.
Connect with Anna
In Anna's own words: "True innovation happens when you create spaces for authentic conversations." Whether she's building partnerships that become "oxygen for startups" or scaling communities that amplify human potential, her approach reminds us that technology's greatest power lies in its ability to connect people in meaningful ways.
Follow Anna's journey and insights:
I Want Her Shoes Podcast : https://iwanthershoes.com/
LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annaanisin
Data Science Salon: datascience.salon
FormulatedBy: formulatedby.com
As Anna continues to redefine success on her own terms, her story offers both inspiration and practical guidance for entrepreneurs—especially women navigating male-dominated tech spaces. Her revolutionary playbook emphasizes building community first, focusing on partnerships over funding, and recognizing opportunity where others don't.
Side note - Anna just made a huge announcement for her new venture for I want her shoes podcast
