PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- It was while hanging out with friends in New York City that Ali Gorman says she came up with the idea that she now calls TruFaves.
She and her girlfriends were swapping recommendations on their favorite fitness classes, restaurants, books and podcasts. But, by the next morning, they were struggling to remember all of the ideas that had been shared.
Inevitably, information got lost but an idea was born to create a quick, easy and secure platform where you could share all of your favorite things with your most trusted inner circle and seek recommendations when you need them.
To make her dream a reality, Ali says she went down a rabbit hole of research, learning about startups, entrepreneurship and how to validate an idea.
She worked deep into the night, after working all day as a health reporter at 6abc. Then, when her now 3-year-old son Grayson came along, she would work on the app after he went to bed.
She bootstrapped to create a beta version, raised money from family, friends and angel investors and then got accepted into a tech accelerator program, chosen by serial techpreneurs Jared Yellin from more than 11,000 startup pitches.
Last month, Ali launched the TruFaves app. When she saw it approved on the Apple and Google Play stores, she says she literally got chills.
From a Navy nurse to a longtime TV news health reporter, Ali Gorman can now call herself a techpreneur, the founder of a company she can run from home, with Grayson by her side.