Radically Yours by Radhika

“𝑰 𝒓𝒂𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒍 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝑨𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒏𝒂 𝑻𝒆𝒄𝒉 II 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝑵𝒆𝒘 𝒀𝒐𝒓𝒌 𝑺𝒕𝒐𝒄𝒌 𝑬𝒙𝒄𝒉𝒂𝒏𝒈𝒆. M𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒎 𝒋𝒐𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒅 𝒐𝒗𝒆𝒓 𝒁𝒐𝒐𝒎. 𝑺𝒐 𝒉𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒆 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆, 𝒎𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒎 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒔𝒉 her 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍 education, 𝒂𝒍𝒐𝒏𝒈 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒅𝒂𝒖𝒈𝒉𝒕𝒆𝒓 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒈𝒓𝒂𝒏𝒅𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒍𝒅𝒓𝒆𝒏 𝒘𝒉𝒐 𝒘𝒆𝒓𝒆 𝒐𝒏 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒐𝒅𝒊𝒖𝒎. T𝒉𝒊𝒔 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒐𝒏𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒑𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒅𝒆𝒔𝒕 𝒎𝒐𝒎𝒆𝒏𝒕𝒔 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒎𝒆.”

Meet Kirthiga Reddy, founder of Virtualness, and former Managing Director of Facebook in India. She has been featured in Fortune's "Most Powerful Women'' list from 2011 to 2016 and as Fast Company’s Most Creative People in Business in 2013..

In this interview episode of ‘Wiping Out the Norm’, Kirthiga shares with us her inspiring journey from a small town called Nanded, to working at top US-based tech companies, leading the Facebook India team as their first employee and Managing Director and being the First Female Investment Partner at SoftBank Vision Fund, one of the largest tech funds in the world with $130B under management

After completing her Engineering in Computer Science in Nanded, Kirthiga climbed the academic and career ladder by pursuing further education in the US, completing an M.S. in Computer Engineering from Syracuse University and an MBA at Stanford, where she graduated as an Arjay Miller Scholar.

From a student at Stanford, with her exceptional technical expertise and leadership skills, she went on to serve as Chair of the Stanford Business Management Board.

Balancing ambition with familial dedication, Kirthiga spoke about the pause she took in her career to prioritize her daughters and how it helped her to connect with new opportunities. In our conversation, Kirthiga highlighted 

“𝑴𝒚 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅𝒏’𝒕 𝒄𝒐𝒎𝒑𝒍𝒆𝒕𝒆 𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒉𝒊𝒈𝒉 𝒔𝒄𝒉𝒐𝒐𝒍. She𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒏𝒍𝒚 𝒕𝒉𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒚𝒐𝒖 𝒏𝒆𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒐 𝒌𝒏𝒐𝒘 𝒊𝒔 𝒃𝒂𝒔𝒊𝒄 𝒎𝒂𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒐 𝒅𝒐 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒐𝒄𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒃𝒊𝒍𝒍𝒔”. Despite coming from a background where her mother couldn’t finish her education, Kirthiga shattered glass ceilings and redefined what's possible for women in tech.

Watch our full conversation with Kirthiga as she shared with us many more learnings from her career.

Youtube: https://youtu.be/sC40BkqPPYE

“𝑰𝒎𝒂𝒈𝒊𝒏𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒍𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒆𝒙𝒊𝒔𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒑𝒐𝒓𝒕𝒖𝒏𝒊𝒕𝒚 𝒕𝒐 𝒄𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕, 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒘𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒈𝒐𝒕 𝒎𝒆 𝒕𝒐 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒄𝒉”

Meet Paroma Chatterjee, CEO of Revolut India, a woman known for her groundbreaking innovations and visionary endeavours in the field of banking and fintech.

A graduate of the esteemed IIM-Lucknow, she has worked with companies like airtel, Kotak Mahindra Bank, Flipkart, Lendingkart.

Back in 2010, it was marked as the start of the fintech wave in India. This was the point of Paroma’s entry into fintech. It was an era with rudimentary technology for communication as compared to today. It was the time of Nokia cell phones, with limited features. 

She shared her journey when she joined Airtel to work on developing a payments bank. They got the first prepaid mobile license from Reserve Bank of India (RBI), which was a pivotal point in the history of telecom in India where a telecom company ventured into payments. Paroma was a witness and a part of this revolution.

Before joining Airtel, Paroma worked with Kotak bank to establish their cards business. During her initial seven years in the banking industry, she made substantial contributions to prominent brands like ICICI Bank and Kotak Mahindra Bank.

She has also been a part of Flipkart’s team. During mega sales like Big Billion Days on Flipkart, sellers were ready to be a part of it but faced the issue of procuring working capital. She realized a gap in capital for small businesses and MSMEs. She joined the team of Lendingkart, which provided loans to these smaller businesses. 

Paroma's transformative vision blossomed from a critical insight at Flipkart. Driven by the need for readily available finance for small businesses, she shifted to Lendingkart, where her efforts fuelled the growth of countless MSMEs.

Currently, she is working as the CEO of Revolut, a global neo-bank and financial technology company based in the UK that offers banking services, with a valuation of $33 billion.

“𝑰 𝒉𝒂𝒗𝒆 𝒈𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒕 𝒗𝒊𝒔𝒊𝒐𝒏 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒖𝒕𝒖𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝑹𝒆𝒗𝒐𝒍𝒖𝒕 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒘𝒆 𝒂𝒓𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒕𝒐 𝒂𝒄𝒉𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒎.”

In this conversation with Radhika Bajoria, she shared her learnings from a long career in banking and fintech and her vision of her company’s future.

Watch the full video- https://youtu.be/Imy9EB2BU0U

𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐝𝐞𝐜𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐨 𝐪𝐮𝐢𝐭 𝐦𝐲 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐫𝐭 𝐚 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐦𝐲 𝐨𝐰𝐧, 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐭𝐨𝐥𝐝 𝐦𝐞 𝐈 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐛𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐭 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐯𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐞𝐝 𝐣𝐨𝐛. 𝐓𝐨𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐰𝐞 𝐬𝐞𝐥𝐥 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐝𝐮𝐜𝐭𝐬 𝐚𝐜𝐫𝐨𝐬𝐬 𝐀𝐮𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐚, 𝐔𝐒𝐀, 𝐂𝐚𝐧𝐚𝐝𝐚 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐔𝐊, 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐥𝐞 𝐛𝐞𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐚 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲 𝐛𝐨𝐨𝐭𝐬𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐩 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬”.

Meet Lauren Dovey, founder of Heat Healer, a company that creates luxurious next-generation sauna and wellness products. Her products are recognized for the quality and loved by celebrities like Kim Kardashian. 

In the conversation, Lauren shared her journey of creating a wellness brand that crafts high-quality products and fosters meaningful experiences.

“I did my degree in economics and worked as an accountant for 3 years and worked for a startup for 7 years leading marketing and sales role”, Lauren shared her journey before she stepped into entrepreneurship.

While having a secured job, she had a passion for creativity which later paved the path for her business venture. A steady paycheck couldn't quench her thirst for design. Fueled by creativity, she dared to build her dream.

After giving birth to twins, she got time to think and recalibrate her career path, and she chose to venture into the self-care and wellness industry. 

While managing her children and trying to balance responsibilities with health, she came across the concept of a sauna blanket, she ordered it online but was not impressed with the quality and material of the product.

Partnering with an engineering firm, she spent two years meticulously crafting a top-notch product. From choosing the right material to working with the engineering team to create the perfect product.

She launched her first product – A sauna blanket, quite an unpopular and less known product, but was sold out within 2 weeks.

She shared her journey on the treacherous path of entrepreneurship, where at times she found herself battling with self-doubt, but her undeterred passion and commitment to creating her own business helped her find a path amidst all the hurdles.

“Initial marketing and publicity of our products was driven by word of mouth, and marketing via Facebook and Instagram. Our product were also endorsed by influencers who were impressed by the product”.

In the conversation, she also shared the challenges she faced in her entrepreneurial journey, her experience of dealing with competitors, scaling the business and managing a team.

Watch the full video- https://youtu.be/dNjI2TDq5AY

“𝑰 𝒘𝒂𝒔 𝒊𝒏 𝒂𝒏 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘 𝒓𝒐𝒖𝒏𝒅 𝒇𝒐𝒓 𝒂 𝒇𝒖𝒏𝒅, 𝒂𝒏𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒕𝒐𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒆 𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒆𝒏𝒅 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒊𝒏𝒕𝒆𝒓𝒗𝒊𝒆𝒘, 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒚 𝒅𝒊𝒅 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒃𝒆𝒍𝒊𝒆𝒗𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝑰, 𝒃𝒆𝒊𝒏𝒈 𝒂 𝒎𝒐𝒕𝒉𝒆𝒓 𝒘𝒊𝒕𝒉 𝒕𝒘𝒐 𝒔𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒍 𝒌𝒊𝒅𝒔 𝒄𝒐𝒖𝒍𝒅 𝒎𝒂𝒏𝒂𝒈𝒆 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌”.

Her experience underscores the urgent need to address the outdated mindsets that hold women back, especially in male-dominated fields.

Meet, Doerte Hirschberg, an investor and advisor for climate tech companies at Climentum Capital, encouraging innovation and advancements toward sustainability and climate change mitigation.

In the conversation, Doerte shared her journey in the field of investing, her experiences, along with many other interesting insights

She started her career as a consultant at McKinsey, and later led the global HR team as well as the incubation program at ‘Rocket Internet’ and started her journey in investing.

“𝑾𝒉𝒆𝒏 𝑰 𝒔𝒕𝒂𝒓𝒕𝒆𝒅 𝒘𝒐𝒓𝒌𝒊𝒏𝒈, 𝑰 𝒓𝒆𝒂𝒍𝒊𝒛𝒆𝒅 𝒕𝒉𝒂𝒕 𝒏𝒐𝒕 𝒋𝒖𝒔𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒐𝒑𝒆𝒓𝒂𝒕𝒊𝒐𝒏𝒂𝒍 𝒃𝒖𝒕 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒇𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒄𝒊𝒂𝒍 𝒔𝒊𝒅𝒆 𝒐𝒇 𝒕𝒉𝒆 𝒃𝒖𝒔𝒊𝒏𝒆𝒔𝒔 𝒊𝒔 𝒂𝒍𝒔𝒐 𝒗𝒆𝒓𝒚 𝒎𝒂𝒍𝒆 𝒅𝒐𝒎𝒊𝒏𝒂𝒏𝒕”.

She started her climate impact-based fund called Climentum Capital, which has a team of 2 female and 3 male members.

In the conversation, she shared the challenges she faced while navigating the investment world as a woman. From juggling travel, meetings, and managing workload, to maintaining crucial networking channels, while shouldering the invisible burden of family and childcare.

It's a marathon with endless hurdles, further magnified by the stark underrepresentation of women in a historically male-dominated field.

Despite increasing efforts, the number of women founders and investors remains low in the startup and investing scene, alongside the capital they secure. While sectoral choices play a role, underlying factors like unconscious bias and limited access to networks likely contribute more significantly.

Through her conversation, she shared her journey navigating the climate tech funding landscape. Her fund invests in impactful startups across various sectors, including food tech, energy, and mobility, each playing a crucial role in her mission to mitigate climate change.

The fund plays a pivotal role in amplifying the voices of climate warriors like Continuum, who are revolutionizing wind turbine recycling. With their support, One. Five is another startup developing sustainable paper-based solutions to replace plastic packaging. These are just a few examples of how the fund empowers startups across sectors to make a measurable difference in curbing climate change.

Investing is a field with less female representation, but women like Doerte are paving a path toward gender inclusion and are role models for other women to look up to.

Watch the full video-
https://lnkd.in/dgj9Ahs6

“𝐈𝐧 𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐕𝐂 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐰𝐞 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐭𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐬 𝐭𝐨 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐟𝐢𝐞𝐥𝐝, 𝐭𝐨 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐝𝐨𝐨𝐫 𝐰𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐫 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐧 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲𝐨𝐧𝐞 𝐢𝐬 𝐰𝐞𝐥𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞”. 
Meet Cindy Padnos, founder of Illuminate Ventures, a seed and early-stage venture capital firm based out of Oakland that invests exclusively in enterprise/B2B software companies. 

In this interview episode of ‘Wiping Out the Norm,’ Cindy shares her journey in Venture Capital with our founder Radhika Bajoria. 
Cindy started her career by working with a large corporation, then did management consulting within the tech sector and soon founded her own startup in B2B software which she eventually exited and built a VC fund to invest in B2B SaaS sector. 

After working in the VC world, she conducted many researches to understand what helps startups and founders to become successful. She shared many of her valuable insights in the conversation like,

“𝐌𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐜𝐡 𝐝𝐢𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐥𝐲. 𝐌𝐞𝐧 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐢𝐧 ‘𝐟𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐦𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐢𝐭’ 𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐜𝐞𝐩𝐭, 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐠𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐢𝐜 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐮𝐚𝐥, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐝𝐨 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐦𝐢𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐧’𝐭 𝐚𝐜𝐡𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐝”. 

In the conversation, Cindy revealed many other observations from her interesting research like,

“𝐈𝐧 𝐦𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐞𝐚𝐫𝐜𝐡 𝐰𝐡𝐢𝐜𝐡 𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐯𝐞𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐡𝐮𝐧𝐝𝐫𝐞𝐝𝐬 𝐨𝐟 𝐄𝐧𝐭𝐫𝐞𝐩𝐫𝐞𝐧𝐞𝐮𝐫𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐕𝐂𝐬, 𝐕𝐂𝐬 𝐬𝐡𝐨𝐜𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠𝐥𝐲 𝐫𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐥𝐢𝐞𝐯𝐞 𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐩𝐥𝐚𝐲𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐞 𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐬𝐬 𝐚𝐭𝐭𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐮𝐭𝐞𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧.” She highlighted the subtle but unintentional biases that women face. 

“VCs do not want to invest in companies where husband and wife are running the company together, but we invested in such a company, and made massive returns”. 

There are many such preconceived notions in the mind of VCs and avoid investing in companies that are different from the ‘norm’. 

In addition to women, she found that people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, those from other nationalities, and even those with different accents were frequently impacted by prejudices and biases. 

In her VC fund, they have focused on inclusion, and also shared that half of the companies in their portfolio have at least one female co-founder. Along with conducting researches, she has been involved in a number of nonprofits supporting women entrepreneurship for 20 years. 

Watch our full conversation with Cindy as she shared with us many more learnings from her researches and experiences in the VC world. 
Watch the full video- https://lnkd.in/dK-kzJ2U

#VentureCapital #WomenInTech #VCJourney #WipingOutTheNorm #IlluminateVentures #TechSector #B2B

“𝐈 𝐰𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐡𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐭𝐨 𝐒𝐨𝐮𝐭𝐡 𝐀𝐦𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐚, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐨𝐮𝐠𝐡𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐢𝐦𝐞 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐚𝐧𝐭 𝐭𝐨 𝐝𝐨 𝐢𝐧 𝐥𝐢𝐟𝐞. 𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐨𝐧 𝐚 𝐟𝐚𝐫𝐦 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐚𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐚 𝐲𝐞𝐚𝐫 𝐭𝐨 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐚𝐦 𝐩𝐚𝐬𝐬𝐢𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐞𝐝 𝐢𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐚𝐠𝐫𝐢𝐜𝐮𝐥𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐬𝐲𝐬𝐭𝐞𝐦𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐜𝐥𝐢𝐦𝐚𝐭𝐞 𝐜𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐠𝐞 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦.”

Meet Sarah Nolet, Co-founder and General Partner of Tenacious Ventures, Australia’s first agri-food tech VC fund.

In conversation with our founder Radhika Bajoria, Sarah shared about how she created an impact-based fund to fuel innovation and technological advancements that create an impact towards sustainability and climate change mitigation.

She has invested in innovative agri-food tech startups like,

1. azaneo - it has developed an appliance that uses pulsed electrification to manage weeds without any chemical inputs

2. GOTERRA - an organic waste management solution that uses insects to process food waste

3. Vow Food Co., ltd. - they are reinventing food by creating delicious meat from cultivated cells

4. RapidAIM Pty Ltd - provides accurate region-to-farm pest detection and forecast in real-time

Sarah also shared her journey of finding a co-founder, and how choosing the right co-founder helps to grow a business exponentially.

“𝐖𝐞 𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐤 𝐟𝐫𝐨𝐦 𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐡𝐨𝐰 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐜𝐨𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐥𝐬𝐨 𝐞𝐧𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐞𝐧𝐯𝐢𝐫𝐨𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭 𝐰𝐞 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞.”  Sarah explained to us how they are managing to get returns from the impact-led businesses they invest in while also keeping in mind the foundational principles of sustainability.

Sarah and her fund are not just investing in startups but also investing in a future where food and resources are abundant, sustainable, and accessible to all. 𝐓𝐡𝐞𝐢𝐫 𝐩𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐟𝐨𝐥𝐢𝐨 𝐢𝐬𝐧'𝐭 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐚𝐧𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐫𝐞𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐧𝐬; 𝐢𝐭'𝐬 𝐚𝐛𝐨𝐮𝐭 𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐞𝐚𝐬𝐮𝐫𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐞 𝐢𝐦𝐩𝐚𝐜𝐭!

If you are a startup founder building in the climate and sustainability space, you must reach out to Tenacious Ventures!

Link to our conversation with Sarah: https://lnkd.in/djdvs8-k

#SustainableFarming #ImpactInvesting #FutureOfFood #SustainabilityLeaders #MeasurableImpact #womenleader #womenentrepreneurs

"𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝟏𝟓,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟐 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐕𝐏𝐬".

Meet Sara Brand, Ph.D., Founding General Partner of True Wealth Ventures, an early-stage VC fund investing in women-led businesses in consumer, health & sustainability

 In this interview episode of ‘Wiping Out the Norm’, Sara shares her inspiring journey from mechanical engineering to venture capital and co-founding (512) Brewing, the largest self-distributing microbrewery in the US. She said,

"I have worked in a career dominated by men, from studying mechanical engineering to working in management consulting and later in a venture capital fund."

 She revealed that women make 85% of all consumer purchase decisions and 80% of all healthcare decisions but only 2-3% of investment decision-making VCs are women, and a mere 1.9% of VC funding goes to women-led startups

“𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐕𝐂”, with this statement, Sara highlights the scarcity of women in VC and the gender funding gap.

Despite being one of about a dozen female VPs in a 15,000-employee organization, Sara took on the role of Executive Sponsor for the Global Women’s Forum, determined to influence change. Adding further she said, “𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥”.

 This stark reality prompted her to start her own fund to achieve greater gender balance and that’s how True Wealth Ventures came into existence

Sara's groundbreaking VC fund for women secured more than $19 million in two years, and is now at $60M under management and reshaping the landscape for women entrepreneurs.

In our conversation, Sara highlights an incident where a female startup founder pitched a tampon that could help detect ovarian cancer. And a male investor asked, “Can we use this for men too?”
 
 Sara also served on the advisory board of mechanical engineering at UC Berkley and UT Austin’s College of Engineering, and emphasized on how to attract and retain more women in the department.
 
Inspired by Sara's work, the tide is turning in the VC world, with investors increasingly recognizing the incredible potential of women-led businesses.

Watch our full conversation with Sara as she shared with us many more incidents from her journey of overcoming challenges and turning rejections into a record-breaking achievement.

 Link to the interview: https://lnkd.in/dJ26As5P

Welcome to our latest podcast episode! 🎙️ In this edition, we sit down with Neha Motwani, the co-founder of Fitternity. Join us as Neha shares insights into her journey in the fitness industry and the strategic decisions that led to the establishment of Fitternity.

Discover how Fitternity became an integral part of the market, and gain valuable insights into the challenges Neha faced, particularly during the challenging times of the Covid-19 pandemic.

Neha candidly discusses the hurdles she overcame and sheds light on the innovative strategies adopted by Fitternity during its emergence. Curious about the pivotal role played by one-pass and free trials in Fitternity's success story? Look no further!

Tune in to the full podcast with Radhika Bajoria featuring Neha Motwani for an in-depth exploration of the fitness industry, entrepreneurship, and the unique journey of Fitternity. 👉 Don't miss out on this engaging conversation—hit play now and gain insights that could shape your perspective on business and fitness!

Watch the full video here- https://lnkd.in/dmnQGSHQ

Shivani Bhasin is the Founder and CEO of India Alternatives, boasting more than 15 years of private equity experience in the USA and India. 🏢Her career has included pivotal roles at renowned private equity firms like IDFC Private Equity, Lightyear Capital, and GE Equity, where she oversaw the entire deal lifecycle, from sourcing to execution and post-investment monitoring across diverse sectors. 🥇Shivani made a significant move from the USA to India, establishing India Alternatives and becoming one of the first female fund managers in the country. 📚Her academic credentials include an MBA from Wharton and a BA from Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, underscoring her well-rounded and impressive background in the world of private equity and strategic leadership.

🗣️In our conversation with her, she talks about: ✔️Being one of the first woman fund managers in India ✔️How persistence helped her in achieving success ✔️The gender biases that women face ✔️How she established India Alternatives ✔️What investors look for in founders and much more!

Follow us on:

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3i763oF

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3CiF5RM

Website: https://bit.ly/3WYkrOP

Join our exclusive women's community here: https://bit.ly/3CfVTJi

🏫Sheena S. Iyengar is the S.T. Lee Professor of Business at the Columbia Business School. She graduated with a B.S. in Economics from the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania and received her Ph.D. in Social Psychology from Stanford University.

She was voted among the Top 50 most influential business thinkers by Thinkers50 and rated one of the world's best B-School Professors by Poets and Quants. Her best selling book The Art of Choosing received a one of six Financial Times and Goldman Sachs Business Books of the Year 2010 awards, and was ranked #3 on the Amazon.com Best Business and Investing Books of 2010. 📺

🗣️In our conversation with her, she talks about: ✔️What inspired her to write her books ✔️The benefits of taking a break sometimes ✔️How to stand strong while dealing with difficult times ✔️The reasons behind the biases women face and much more!

 Follow us on:

Instagram: https://bit.ly/3i763oF

LinkedIn: https://bit.ly/3CiF5RM

Website: https://bit.ly/3WYkrOP

Join our exclusive women's community here: https://bit.ly/3CfVTJi