Everyone wants to achieve their highest potential. And resilience is one of the most important ingredients to achieve that. Many of us know Sylvia Acevedo as the CEO of The Girl Scouts of the USA, a Board Member of Qualcomm, and the Presidential Commissioner who drove President Obama’s initiative for Educational Excellence for Hispanics in early childhood leadership. However, what makes her special is her trait of never taking NO for an answer! At every point in her career, she did not see many people who looked like her. So, she identified her superpowers and how they fit into the larger company goals, to make a career that many of us dream of! Oh, and she is also the first male or female Hispanic to get a graduate engineering degree at Stanford! Key takeaways from Episode 1, Season 4 of Women Who Build are: Never walk away from a sale until you hear a NO at least thrice To progress in your professional life, identify opportunities/niches for yourself and pitch to the person who cares Building focus while pursuing diverse interests: Don’t major in the minors! Board Memberships (Private and Public): How to become a board member? First, think about the why, then redo your CV by fleshing out your value-add, network, get in touch with executive search teams, and make BOLD moves! Being on boards of private (Early-stage) companies means heavily focusing on the product and helping founders with introductions. With public companies, a board member should have some expertise Follow: Women Who Build on Instagram at women.who.build.wwb Sylvia Acevedo at https://www.linkedin.com/in/sylviaacevedo/
As investors, we are constantly looking for how we can add value to portfolio companies. While focus is important in company building, thinking systemically about your company can unlock opportunities like never before. And this practice has become increasingly relevant in today's world where different stakeholder types have the potential to influence your company's trajectory. Joanna Lichter at Emerson Collective helps founders with systemic thinking! Joanna is an Associate Director on Emerson Collective’s early-stage venture investing team where she focuses on impact-driven companies across Sustainability, Healthcare, and Financial Inclusion. Prior to Emerson, Joanna was an investor at Founder Collective. Before venture, Joanna worked at Via Transportation, a global mobility and transit startup, where she led operations and strategy in Chicago. Joanna graduated with her MBA from MIT Sloan and received her BA from Duke University. Follow Joanna on Twitter @joannalichter, LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/in/joannalichter/ Women who Build on Twitter @TheWomenWhoBui1, LinkedIn at https://bit.ly/3Kx0xY4
Global decarbonization efforts over the next three decades will require a $100tn investment, generating a massive opportunity for private capital to deploy and drive the energy transition. And Monica Varman sits at the forefront of this. Monica is a Partner at G2 Venture Partners. She was most recently a core member of the sustainability practice at McKinsey & Company, where she advised senior executives in the energy and infrastructure sectors on decarbonization and growth strategies. At G2, Monica focuses on investments in the circular economy, grid resilience, and food/agriculture sectors. Monica was previously part of the business operations team at Tesla, where she helped scale Model S manufacturing. She also worked at off-grid solar company Zola Electric, where she developed its distribution and logistics strategy in Tanzania and Rwanda. Monica spent a year as a researcher with the Program on Energy Security and Climate Change at the Council on Foreign Relations and worked on the sustainable seafood program at the World Wildlife Fund. Monica holds a BA degree in Economics-Mathematics and Sustainable Development from Columbia University, where she graduated Phi Beta Kappa. She also holds an MBA from Harvard Business School. To get more such stories of inspiring women around you, follow us on LinkedIn at https://www.linkedin.com/company/women-who-build-podcast/ or on Twitter at @TheWomenWhoBui1.
Over the last two seasons of Women who Build and two waves of the pandemic, we know when it comes to company building, a few things matters for sure - Building for the long-term from early on Learning from what is happening around the world, sectors, and stages Focusing on personal lives and how that influences who we are as a leader So in the third season of Women who Build, we have something special for you - We will learn about new business models, cultures, and sectors in a new geography - the United States Women involved in the growth and late stages of companies will share their perspectives and learnings, so you always build for the long term We will dig deeper into who our guests are beyond the professional titles they hold, so you can make work a part of life, just like family and friends We hope that with every episode of the third season, you are filled with more ambition to build enduring and meaningful companies in the world!
We are often asked by our dear ones to build a career around what we “love” doing. What is not talked about is how to find what we love, and this process requires a LOT of reflection. Abhilasha Sinha is one of the few individuals who have done the hard work to ultimately find what she loves and been transparent about it! In this episode of Women who Build, Abhilasha talks about how she was fortunate to have been admitted to Harvard Business School’s 2+2 program, as that equipped her with the risk appetite to embark on a journey of career exploration. She started her career in education at Avanti, went on to consult with large companies on disruption at Innosight (a firm started by Prof. Clayton Christensen), streamlined operations at a biotech company, Elucidata, joined the digital revolution in India as the Chief of Staff at Hike, and is now “un-junking” food at Open Secret. In the process, Abhilasha has reflected deeply on the impact that she wants to have in the world, which makes her every day very deliberate. In this episode of Women who Build, we will learn - Abhilasha’s journey - from growing up in Delhi to making products at Open Secret Innovation in the interview process of a company started by Clay Christensen - peer to peer interviews How can large companies and executives prepare for disruptions in their industries? Processes to build, teams to form, the timing of disruption Platform as a Service - balancing personalization and automation: a case on Elucidata Building processes for a company that is amidst a business model transition Gaining the trust of team members as a generalist/Chief of Staff Power of spirituality, community, and coaching in business success There was so much to learn from Abhilasha's journey - this is by far the longest episode we have done!
Many of us who start our careers in investment banking get drawn towards startup investing. But there are several stages to this investing - early, growth, and late. Kanika Mayar brings her unique experience of investment banking at Goldman Sachs and startup investing across all stages at IFC and now at Vertex Ventures. Some of her notable investments include Proactive for Her, Karkhana.io, and Kapiva, amongst others. Kanika is a Senior Executive Director at Vertex. Prior to this, at IFC, she focused on investing in early-stage technology, telecom, renewable energy, and infrastructure companies across India and South Asia. At Goldman Sachs, she covered transactions in natural resources in Europe. Kanika holds a Bachelor in Economics from the Lady Shri Ram College, Delhi University and an MBA from the Indian Institute of Management, Ahmedabad. In this episode of Women who Build, we will learn - From late-stage to early-stage investing - how to identify what you like? Deep markets - what they are and identifying companies in these markets. Identifying category creators within sectors. Differentiating between different agritech models and white spaces in the sector. Market of D2C enablers. How to get answers to questions - why rank of a person does/should not matter?! Inspiring young founders of today!
If schools, a disproportionate amount of focus is put into cognitive skills. A high achiever is defined as the person scoring the “highest” in Math and Science. But as we grow up, we realize that the most successful people possess strong non-cognitive skills like confidence and collaboration and are able to connect the dots amongst several disciplines. But make no mistake, building these skills takes time! Through Early Steps Academy, Sneha Biswas wants kids aged 8-18 years to build exactly these skills. Early Steps Academy conducts small-group online live sessions on real-world topics such as entrepreneurship, climate change. These sessions are structured in a way that they impart 4 critical skills - Communication, Critical Thinking, Collaboration, and Creativity. ESA has raised money from the likes of Whiteboard Capital and BEENEXT. Sneha is one of the most passionate education entrepreneurs I have spoken to. And why not? Education has played the biggest role in her career. Sneha hails from Jamshedpur and has always been a great student - she pursued her engineering at IIT Kharagpur and general management at HBS. She has worked across 4 continents, running small and large teams, and (massive) P&Ls at Schlumberger, and has consulted at Bain. But despite her full-time roles, she was always in classrooms, teaching students of various age groups and backgrounds! So glad to finally share Sneha’s story with the world. In this podcast of Women who Build, we will learn - How to build products for kids? How to think about gamification? Why and when an R&D team is important for an edtech company? Customers becoming team members. Recruiting Growth and Strategy team - skills to look for and the process. Measuring customer love. Thinking about your careers as building a legacy - what will be yours? How to identify? Sneha’s decision-making process + how to manage stakeholder expectations while making decisions?
As consumers, we always see finished products - from our favourite cars to favourite soaps. One of the most important sectors that impacts what we get in our hands is the manufacturing sector. This episode of Women who Build is extremely special for me as Sonam is probably the only startup founder I know from my hometown Gwalior. Also, she has a way of always following very “different” paths and is an incredible human being. Sonam Motwani is the founder of Karkhana.io, a digital platform that simplifies manufacturing for businesses of all sizes so that new products can go from prototypes to production at blazing fast speed. Before starting Karkhana.io, she worked with Procter & Gamble in engineering and manufacturing roles across different business units. She is an Aerospace Engineer from IIT Bombay. She enjoys conversations around technology, building teams, leadership, and decision making. In this episode of Women who Build, we will learn - Manufacturing in India - stakeholders and inefficiency in processes Budgeting/modelling your finances before starting up (for everyone who loves maintaining excel sheets!) Hiring and fundraising in an unconventional sector - timelines, messaging, external support, standing out Category creation and creativity when working on “different” things Having honest conversations with yourself Finding inspiration from regular things
Neuroscience confirms that to be truly happy, human beings will always need something more. To seek this “more”, we must ensure that our bodies and brains exhibit their peak performance, and what we eat clearly defines this performance. In India, while we like our Samosas and Chola Bhaturas, we have now acquired a taste for health and wellness. And COVID has only accelerated the trend. Jo Pattabiraman, CEO and Founder of Grow Fit recognized the potential of healthy foods in India early on, as she founded Grow Fit in 2015. Grow Fit is one of India’s leading result-oriented health food companies that provides everything ranging from expert consultations to medically-proven food on its website and our daily go-tos such as Zomato, Swiggy, and Amazon. Jo is an internet and mobile maven, having spent her career on the frontlines of internet businesses. Starting her career at payments pioneer Cybercash (later acquired by Paypal), she has played leadership roles at marquee companies like Oracle, eBay and Yahoo in Silicon Valley during their growth phases. She went on to play key roles at venture-funded companies backed by the likes of Kleiner Perkins and Menlo Ventures before moving to India in 2008. Back home in Bangalore, Jyotsna has helped build businesses at scale, such as OnMobile and Knowlarity (Sequoia-funded). She is active in the startup world as a panelist, writer and speaker. Her work has been covered at the Wall Street Journal, Femina, CNBC, Outlook and other prominent publications. What intrigued me about Jo is how she exhibits this constant state of awareness, which makes her flexible and allows her to follows her curiosity. I hope you all are able to capture this from our conversation. In this episode, we will learn - Jo’s journey of starting Grow Fit - follow your curiosity Identifying the right market timing Wizard of Oz model for product development Habits of a premium and aware Indian consumer The role of distribution in food tech and when should you partner with third-party distributors such as Zomato and Swiggy Cloud kitchens - building teams and tracking metrics of success Impact of COVID and common leadership/customer themes observed across startups Being a single founder Importance of meditation in one’s life
Most of us look forward to the wedding of a relative or a friend where we can dance and eat! For some of us, our weddings got planned by our parents and relatives right after we entered college. Because apparently, it takes a LOT of time and effort to organize one. In this episode of Women who Build, I talk to Sanna Vohra who is making it easier to plan weddings through her company, The Wedding Brigade. The Wedding Brigade is an online portal where users can discover the best wedding content and buy curated wedding fashion. The highlight for me was her belief in the power of NOW. Sanna was elected to Forbes Asia’s 30 Under 30 List of 2018, and The Wedding Brigade was recognized as one of the Top 50 Ventures in India by the Smart CEO-Startup50 2017 Awards, in the consumer brand category. Prior to The Wedding Brigade, Sanna worked in investment banking at Morgan Stanley in New York, and at the advertising agency Saatchi and Saatchi X. She discovered her passion for building businesses at Brown University when she co-founded the largest student-run business at the time. Together, we will learn about - Sanna’s love for weddings and the beginning of the Wedding Brigade Online vs offline wedding markets, and creating adoption for online wedding shopping How the Wedding Brigade got >1 million social media followers Building a team for social media - freelancers vs full-time, hire per what the content demands Identifying transient vs lasting social media trend Curating supply-side on marketplaces - volume vs quality Different preferences of regional brides Why the “number of days to delivery” is important COVID challenges and learnings The Power of Now
We have seen 2, 3, 4, 5 women investment partners at venture capital firms. Have we seen firms where all three investment partners are women? Not too many! I am so excited about today’s podcast with Enzia Ventures. The team at Enzia has been an early supporter of Women who Build. Enzia is an early-stage investment firm in India that invests in education, health, and the environment. So let us get to know them - Namita is one of the most empathetic people I know in startups :) Namita pursued her undergraduate and master’s degrees in Electrical Engineering from IIT Bombay and an MBA from the Stanford GSB. Post business school, wanting to work at the grassroots, she joined Central Square Foundation where she helped establish and grow the Edtech team. Later, she went on to lead education investments at Omidyar Network India and has invested in the likes of WhiteHat Jr, amongst many others. Her love for entrepreneurship and working at early stages led her to join Enzia. Karuna Jain - Karuna has extensive experience and expertise in early-stage and growth investing in healthcare, skilling, and renewables. Prior to Enzia, she worked in the leadership teams at Acumen and Aditya Birla Group. At Acumen, she led healthcare investments globally, managed a portfolio of 25+ companies, and kickstarted investments in tech startups in healthcare, agriculture, and the environment. At Aditya Birla, Karuna handled multiple roles in finance, investing, and strategy. Jayshree Kanther Patodi - Jayshree has been both an operator and investor in healthcare space. Prior to Enzia, she has worked in leadership roles at IHH Healthcare Berhad, Asia’s largest hospital chain, and Khazanah Nasional, Malaysia, where she led their India division for Investment in Healthcare and Sustainable Development and played a key role in establishing their India office. Jayshree's portfolio companies include Apollo Hospitals, Dr. Reddy’s Laboratories, amongst others. In this episode, we will learn - Why and how did team Enzia come together? Why their focus is on investing in the most fundamental things in life - education, health, environment. How they work together for best outcomes. Learnings launching a new fund. What will define education and climate in the next decade? Many other inspiring stories!
Whenever I complained about “bad luck”, my mom always said that success is about what you make out of a situation, good or bad. Shruti, Founder and CEO of ApnaKlub is a true personification of this. I am so happy to do this episode of Women who Build with her, as I have personally followed her journey and am so proud of how she is impacting the lives of thousands of small businessmen/women through her company. She is also one of the very few founders who practices spirituality in her day-to-day, a trait that I feel builds up resilience like nothing else! Shruti built an entrepreneurial streak early on during her time at IIT Delhi, where she organized initiatives for her hostel, Himadri. Post her under-graduation, she worked at Bain and Omidyar Network India. It was during this time, giving founders advice to do x,y,z things, that she built conviction about starting up herself. She went to Harvard Business School to study business and is now back in India, building for the small businesses here. Apnaklub is a B2B social commerce platform. It digitizes and organizes the FMCG procurement market by connecting buyers and brands through a single platform. Despite a full transition from Sair to Sair Mall to Apnaklub, all during COVID, it has served over 5,000 partners across 6,000 pin codes in India and raised funds from the likes of Sequoia’s Surge, Blume Ventures, and Whiteboard Capital. In this episode, we will learn - Shruti’s journey of pivoting during COVID FMCG distribution and white spaces within WhatsApp as a tool for businesses and building teams to support WhatsApp Importance of generalists in a 0-1 journey Spirituality and entrepreneurship Impact that the words of great leaders can have on you Finally, I want to thank Azeez Gupta, Shruti’s partner, who was generous enough to share Shruti’s journey and growth as an individual and professional. You absolutely helped frame this.
Most of you who know me, know that my niece inspired me to start Women who Build. She is a 14-year-old baker who wants to launch her bakery business and wants to learn how. And now, my listeners encourage me to keep it going (see image). In the first edition of Women who Build, we launched >10 episodes, talked to women worldwide, and were fortunate to have been called the “Best Podcast” by a few. Then, the second wave of COVID hit India and I took what I thought was the scariest decision of my life at the time. I quit my job and took some time off to pause and reflect. I spoke to more and more listeners and understood them better. Interestingly, during our cool-off period, we witnessed a 60% MoM growth in the number of listeners! On a macro level, the face of women's entrepreneurship was changing. In India for example, women entrepreneurs built back better. Only 6% of women did not make shifts to their business models. It is this grit and acumen that we think is important for today’s new-age entrepreneurs. Thus, in this second edition of Women who Build, we will enhance our conversations with 3 things, which will help our listeners improve their decision-making. ONLY 3 things - Intention - Why did you embark on this journey? We want to answer some of these questions for listeners to decide for themselves. Resilience - How do you continue growing, failing, and growing again? We want you to take the long-term lens while keeping yourself sane. Teams - Building the right internal team, choosing the right investors, building for customers. So if you have any interesting women founders, investors, operators, or even customers who would enjoy being a part of the podcast, hit me up and let us together help more and more women enter the startup ecosystem!
How we dress defines our personality in the eyes of others, but most importantly, in our own eyes! Our Women Who Build guest today, Elizabeth von der Goltz, has been at the forefront of building global fashion companies that dress us. Known for her sharp ability to spot the brands we wear and identify lasting trends, Elizabeth has also leveraged her Sixth sense and her business acumen to drive strategy and manage the P&L of major fashion enterprises. Most recently serving as the Chief Fashion and Merchandising Officer at FARFETCH, Elizabeth has spent decades shaping the high-end retail landscape. She began her career as an Assistant Buyer at Barneys New York and quickly rose through the ranks at Bergdorf Goodman, where she played a pivotal role in modernizing the store’s offerings and boosting sales for top brands. Later, as the Global Buying Director at YOOX NET-A-PORTER and Chief Commercial Officer at MATCHESFASHION. In this episode, Elizabeth shares exclusive insights on: - What to build in fashion today: Brand vs a tech enabled solution. - What does it take to build a fashion company: Supply chain, distribution, designer, short-term vs long-term trends. - How is the fashion sector evolving: Supply chain after Trump tariffs, why are sales of LVMH and Gucci going down but Ralph Lauren is stable? - Opportunities in the Indian luxury market. - Our favorite: Differences in fashion in New York City and London. If you liked this episode and want to hear more from us, subscribe to our channel and hit the notification bell to stay updated! #Businessgrowth #FARFETCH #Fashion #womenwhobuild #luxury
TikTok’s U.S. usage has surged dramatically, with over 21% of Americans now tuning in weekly. But what does it actually take to grow a brand into a TikTok sensation? We sit down with Neha Jogani Narang, former CMO of Roblox. Under her guidance, Roblox became one of TikTok’s largest brand presences in just two years! Before Roblox, Neha made her mark at Facebook (now Meta), where she transformed its F8 (now Connect) conference into a globally renowned tech event. In this episode, Neha dives deep into: - Disruptive Marketing: What does it mean? How did Neha use this technique to propel growth at TikTok and Facebook (Meta)? - What is Developer Marketing? Why are developers important to a tech company? Developers as influencers. - Company Events in Technology: Can only large companies host events/conferences? How to measure ROI? Founders/CEOs involvement at Company Events - Why is Risk-taking key to having an impactful career? - Requisite Infrastructure for a Modern Mom! :) Watch and learn! If you liked this episode and would like more content from us, please subscribe to the channel to get updates on what's new!
Starting and scaling a business is one thing, but leading it through an acquisition is a whole new journey. 💡 Mariah Chase, who led the sale of ELOQUII to Walmart and her first company, Send the Trend to QVC, joins us on Women Who Build to share her insights. Beyond the big outcomes, she dives into the personal growth that comes with integrating a team into a larger company. In this episode, we discuss: When and how to think about exits The rise in bankruptcies among US consumer/retail companies Single vs. diversified target consumers Metrics for building a successful consumer/retail company Why merchandise matters more than you think If you want to build a large company (tech/non-tech) and want to learn from the best in business and technology, catch your favorite episode of Women Who Build by subscribing to the Spotify channel and joining the 15,000 other listeners across all our platforms. #WomenWhoBuild #personalgrowth #consumer #acquisition
Hedge funds are known to be one of the most sophisticated capital allocators. They operate multiple strategies. For example, Bridgewater Associates follows "macro" strategy and Citadel follows "global quantitative" strategy, in addition to others. To finance these hedge funds requires an understanding of these sophisticated strategies and the ability to match them with the largest institutions in the world. Join us on Women Who Build as we chat with BNP Paribas' Lindsay Costigan, Head of Prime Service Sales of the Western Region of the US. With nearly two decades of experience, Lindsay has grown up alongside the largest hedge funds in the Bay Area. Topics Discussed: Convergence/differences in the hedge fund/private equity strategies. Traits of successful hedge fund managers. US hedge fund flows and returns. Lindsay's experience on the Sohn San Francisco Investment Conference board. Lessons learned from legendary investor John Paulson. How Lindsay balances work with competing in Grand Prix-level Show Jumping! #WomenWhoBuild #Finance #leadership #HedgeFunds If you missed the last episode of Women Who Build and want to stay updated, please Subscribe to our Spotify channel by clicking on the Subscribe button below.
From Goldman Sachs to Gender-Lens Investing: Courtney Leimkuhler's Journey Join us on Women Who Build as we sit down with Courtney Leimkuhler, a trailblazer in high finance! With experience at Goldman Sachs, NYSE, and Marsh, Courtney is currently revolutionizing "gender-lens investing" at Springbank Collective, investing in companies building infrastructure that supports working families/women. Key topics of discussion: Learnings from NYSE restructuring events. Resource allocation in large companies and tips for startups aiming for scale. Demographics of the US and infrastructure needs of the same. Investing in companies with the Government as a client. Where are quality businesses getting built in AI? And so much more! Subscribe to our channel for more empowering stories from women who build! #WomenInFinance #Fintech #ArtificialIntelligence #Insurance #Capital #GenderLensInvesting #Entrepreneurship
Many of us live in cities for the convenient infrastructure that they give us access to: Buildings, energy, water, transportation, Citi Bikes. ;) Success and innovation in these areas require multiple stakeholders coming together. Sonam Velani and Laura Fox have dedicated their careers to doing exactly this in the urban climate infrastructure space, and now they are organizing their efforts to building Streetlife Ventures. Streetlife is a venture capital firm that helps founders building in climate-smart urban infrastructure in the earliest stages! In the podcast, Sonam and Laura cover the following topics: - City approach to investing in climate. - Capital Stack for climate infrastructure startups. - Financial statements of companies building in hard tech/infrastructure. - Decision-making at local and national levels of the government. - Are Citi Bank and Citi Bikes related? :) And so much more! If you liked the episode and want more from us, please subscribe and share your feedback! :)
A technology startup, just like any other company, needs financial solutions. The nature of these solutions may vary for it but that is exactly why a startup may need the sophistication and stability of a platform like JP Morgan to help navigate its financial needs. While JP Morgan is traditionally known to work with large corporate clients, it has made its presence felt in the startup world as well, engaging early on in a founder's journey through its initiatives like startup banking for Innovation Economy businesses, digital capital raising and networking through its Capital Connect platform, to name a few. But let's be clear: Not all founders have worked in investment banking before and therefore might find it hard to navigate a large platform like JP Morgan! So we have folks like Melina Bergkamp who help them with it. Melina is an Executive Director on JP Morgan's Venture Capital Relationship Team and is based in NYC. She has spent her career in the stakeholder management domain, with prior experience with the Venture & Corporate Relationships team at Silicon Valley Bank. In this Women Who Build podcast with Melina, we discuss: - How can startup founders navigate the JP Morgan platform? - Why is institutional stability key to growing a startup? - State of Venture Debt. - Building a career in Stakeholder Management If you liked the video, please subscribe to our channel and spread the good word! #technology #ventruedebt #jpmorganchase #venturecapital #growth