Lead the C suite: women entrepreneurs

Presenters

Shea Tate-Di Donna Linda Maepa Marcella Jewell Danielle Strachman Elissa Shevinsky

Ellis a had been starting companies since 2008. She saw early on that all founders had more fun and took all the important decisions. Her take on startups is to just not give up. Her motto is to keep failing and moving up.

Linda has a background in engineering systems and info systems. She took on the managing role for r n d and they have had !Amy innovations.

Shae is from a. Small town in Pennsylvania. She had an opportunity that she couldn’t give up and found her way to the founders group. She wanted to raise the bar on what investors look for in startups. Her company now helps startups not fail.

When to start your own company:
Elissa-
You should start a company when you can’t help it. When you feel something about it in ur heart and u r willing to take the risk.

Linda-
Pencil out the idea when you can’t sleep because of it and are thinking about it all the time. Weigh the costs, efforts, how much you can charge for it.

She a-
Not all entrepreneurs are founders. You can be in a big company and starting out a small team. Making your own decisions is so something you ll face. Entrepreneurs learn best when they talk to one another.

Lean out concept of Elissa:
Elissa has a book in which she captures stories by other people experiences where they reached. A point where they had to just stop take a step back and question if what they were doing was the right thing. She believes in creating an accommodating environment rather than ask people to stick around for others daughters ( Sheryl Sandberg)

Ellen pow was mentioned, she has taken the whisper network and made it more open and outspoken.

All three recommend working for companies that are doing things right to understand how processes work.
Shea pints of that more than mentors you need sponsors. How do you find mentors- do the best job and put yourself out there, that’s how Elisa found her mentors.  Let people know you want introductions and when you get introduced to the right people take time to get to know j  jem as they would want to know you before helping you out.

Ellisa, and others nod to this, that having co founders is a risky business. You should co found if you back to but with people you really well.

On managing family with startups, Shea says, just do it. If you need a part time job, take it. If you have a burning desire don’t stop yourself.

Ellisa points out that investors have a bias towards startups that are further along on their development. So it makes sense to do part time until the startup is ready.

Takeaways-
Everyone has to think of themselves as entrepreneurs. Be the change that needs to be happening. See the world as an entrepreneur.

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