Maria Sipka

Current

CEO, Founder at Linqia
Founder, Board Member at Starfish Community Group S.L.
Founder at The Moderator Community

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Past

Area Director at Entrepreneur Organization
Director of Community Building at XING
Chief Operations Officer at XING

Founder, CEO at Cherry Group

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1 more...

Education

University of Newcastle

Recommended

21 people have recommended Maria

Connections

500+ connections

Industry

Internet

Websites

Maria Sipka’s Summary

Maria is the CEO and founder of Linqia - an online marketplace connecting key decision makers of social networks to commercial partners.

At the age of 18 Maria set a goal to become financially independent by 30. She built four businesses over 10 years including a property portfolio of more than 35 properties. By the time Maria was 28 she realized that life wasn’t just about making money. She set out to go in search of her life purpose and embark on the next chapter - a life rich with meaning and inspiration. She joined the Young Entrepreneur Organization, traveled the world and met 100’s of entrepreneurs including founders of XING, who invited Maria to become an 'entrepreneur in residence'. Here is where she experience her Eureka moment .

Maria's personal vision

My personal vision is to play a key role in connecting community leaders in developing countries to community leaders in developed countries online. Linqia's marketplace will be the platform to fulfill on this vision bridging knowledge, opportunities and connection to one another.

Inspired by the work of The Hunger Project - empowering hungry people to change their mindset, forming social circles and dramatically improving their situation to end their own hunger.

Online community specialist

Experienced marketing/communication strategist
For 10 years I specialized in customer acquisition and retention programs for B2B clients. The core of my work was understanding the psychology of how people make purchasing decisions and their experience after they had made a transaction. This entailed a full service marketing/communication agency with in-house strategists, copywriters, designers and photographers.

Over the last five years I have adapted these skills and experience to social networks specifically in the area of building, launching and maintaining online communities. The two key areas of focus are optimization and monetization of the community to meet the needs of the members.

Maria Sipka’s Specialties:

Online communities, online groups, online networks, monetizing, optimizing, marketplace, member acquisition and retention, customer acquisition and retention, databases, membership, activity, search,

Maria Sipka’s Experience

CEO, Founder

Linqia

(Privately Held; Computer Software industry)

April 2007 — Present (2 years 8 months)

An online marketplace connecting key decision makers (execs) at Social Networks to Commercial Partners (brands, advertisers, content creators, sponsors, service operators).
Founder, Board Member

Starfish Community Group S.L.

(Internet industry)

2007 — Present (2 years )

Pioneering services and solutions in the online community and social media arena. Our vision is to facilitate connections and transactions between commercial partners to key decision makers of online social networks, communities and groups.
Founder

The Moderator Community

(Internet industry)

April 2007 — Present (2 years 8 months)

A resource rich gateway helping online community managers and group moderators share their experiences and learn how to build more engaging online discussions.
Area Director

Entrepreneur Organization

(Non-Profit Organization Management industry)

August 2006 — June 2008 (1 year 11 months)
Director of Community Building

XING

(Public Company; 51-200 employees; Internet industry)

April 2006 — April 2007 (1 year 1 month)

- Created & defined business model for premium group product
- Designed & implemented education and training for premium group operators
- Proved premium paying rates to be 42-80% in premium groups compared to 13% across general platform
- Design & implemented member acquisition program to acquire significant databases into premium groups
- Founded Global Business Women community attracting over 9,000 professional women
- Initiated and launched premium groups on platform including dropping knowledge, Victress, Netweaving International, Round Table Group, Amazing Dreamers
Chief Operations Officer

XING

(Public Company; O1BC; Internet industry)

August 2005 — April 2006 (9 months)

- Advised the CEO in the reorganization of the operations & established scalable processes
- Lead international country management team to increase new member intake
- Spokesperson & liaison at international industry events (ETRE, CeBIT, House of Lords London)
Founder, CEO

Cherry Group

(Privately Held; 1-10 employees; Marketing and Advertising industry)

January 1995 — September 2005 (10 years 9 months)

Acquisition and retention of customers for business to business customers throughout Australia

Maria Sipka’s Education

University of Newcastle

BA , Communications , 1993 — 1995

Activities and Societies:

Journalism, Public Relations, Film Studies, Radio

Additional Information

Maria Sipka’s Websites:

Maria Sipka’s Interests:

LIVING & EXPERIENCING LIFE TO THE FULLEST!!! including traveling, fine food, jogging, swimming, film, foreign films, paris, Barcelona, books, boxing, learning, conversation, therapy, life coaching, mentoring, chocolate, networking, skiing, diving, music, business, gardens, laughing, cooking, art, painting, opera, meditating, Buddhism, zen, vipassana, intuition, non-profit, The Hunger Project, love, energy Beliefs • Who you become in 5 years will depend on the books that you read and the people you meet • We are experiencing a ‘networked information economy’ • Social networks bring traditional databases to life • Content inspires meaningful dialog • Relationships are formed and deepened in social networks • Social networks form a person or groups identity • The future of communities is one of being interconnected • Online communities are a mirror of how humans behave in the offline world • Humans strive for social connectedness, a sense of belonging.

Maria Sipka’s Groups:

• Member of the Entrepreneur Organization (EO) since 2005
• Various leadership roles within EO including Area Director of Eastern Europe (current), Committee Member International Learning (2006), Membership Chair Sydney Chapter (2006), Learning Chair Sydney Chapter (2005)
• Public speaker on the topic of social networks including House of Lords, London, IESE Women’s Club, IBM.
• Senior consultant on community building for YPO, EO, IBM, ISIC, IESE, Active Capital Partners.
• Investor and activist for The Hunger Project (www.thp.org)
• Passionate about entrepreneurialism in the developing world, social networks, mentoring, philosophy, reading, traveling, film, skiing, hiking, XING