In this episode of the ‘Retaining WIT’ Podcast Jossie Haines and Jordanna Kwok chat with Maria Kazandijeva, co-Founder at Graft, a new company that strives to make AI more accessible for small companies without large teams. Maria shares her insights on becoming a co-founder and building a company from scratch, the differences between early startup life and corporate life, and building a culture and team that is inclusive from day one.

Key Insights:

Maria makes a refreshing point that in spite of degrees and titles she is  another approachable human being figuring out what’s next. She’s always loved working with data and decided to go for it when a friend came to her about starting Graft. Being open to opportunities as they come by, is her actionable advice for proactive change. She shares that building a company from the ground up entails learning all of the invisible, non-glamorous jobs, and providing value, context, and appreciation to the team.

“Creating a culture of respect and collaboration is super important.” To create a diverse, and effective team, you have to work hard and smart, and invest in extra time and energy for networking and interviewing extra people. If you are a manager, you already know how to retain men, you can likewise support and retain women. People know how to retain others in tech… we just aren’t doing so with equal energy. Put the energy where it needs to be, and collaborate, network, and be resilient in tech together!

Resources:

You can connect with Jordanna on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordannakwok/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/jordeewok

You can connect with Jossie on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jossiemann/ and on Twitter: https://twitter.com/JossieHaines   Jossie offers free discovery calls to engineering leaders interested in building inclusive high performing teams, be sure to DM her on LinkedIn for more info!