Quote: “Do it and ask for forgiveness later.”

In this episode of the Ignite Podcast, Michael Waitze is joined by Shannon Kalayanamitr, a partner at Gobi Partners, a venture capital and private equity firm dedicated to supporting entrepreneurs in emerging markets. They discussed how Shannon went from playing a character of a businesswoman in high school to playing in the real business field, finding her true direction and her very real and raw experiences in the early stages of her career. 

Daydreaming to Reality

“I envisioned flying up across the world doing business, didn’t know what kind of business, with different people from across the world,” said Shannon. It had always been clear in her head that she wanted to have a career in business, and she had never been afraid of the distance between her dreams and reality. 

Knowing that her passion was in business from a very early stage meant she had always been ready for her journey, but she also knew that making these dreams a reality was going to take hard work, perseverance and maybe a few tears. 

In this podcast, Shannon shared how she overcame several obstacles in her life, from the early stages of her finance career to her transition into entrepreneurship and then the tech industry. 

The Waves of Change

In waves of change we find our true direction, and that’s what happened with Shannon. 

In 2004 when the tsunami hit Phuket, Shannon flew down to help, doing everything from rescuing corpses to setting up scholarships and community funds. Shannon experienced managing money, finding partners and more. She explained that it was during this devastating turn of events where she got her real stance on entrepreneurship. 

Finding Your Ship

“I always played the same person in my highschool skits... I’d bring my dad’s suits to wear along with his briefcase. Little did I know that his briefcase would become a laptop,” said Shannon. 

Being late to even setting up an email, Shannon hadn’t expected that this wave of change was also going to lead her down a path into the tech industry. Shannon explained to Michael what she experienced as an older woman going into tech and the intimidation she felt, the struggle to increase Thailand’s internet penetration to create more opportunities, and the dizzying world of tech acronyms. 

Not Always Smooth Sailing

Shannon’s journey wasn’t always easy. When you first start off in a new industry, sometimes you’re afraid to speak up or share what you think, but the truer you can be yourself the more you flourish - in both your personal and professional life. 

After some tough back and forth conversations between her boss, Shannon found herself in a situation she did not wish to be in anymore and made the choice to stop the conflict and move on. Shannon then told Michael about the conversion with her boss that led her to put her foot down and said to herself that “boot camp was over.” 

To learn more about Shannon Kalayanamitr and her experience in banking, entrepreneurship, and tech, listen to this episode of Ignite today.