This year’s Women’s Global Leadership Conference focused on the highs and lows of the entrepreneurial experience. The second panel at the event, From Scale to Sale: Behind the Scenes of Startup Success and Strategic Exits, took a look at how to scale up a business from a startup and what it takes to sell your business afterwards, as well as what you as an entrepreneur need to do to exit successfully.
The panelists were Jewel Burks Solomon, the managing partner for Collab Capital, Owner of 310 Studios, and the Former Head of Google for Startups in the United States; Jessica Owens, a graduate of the Agnes Scott Class of ’98 and the Co-Founder of Grail; and Sanjay Parekh, the Co-Founder of Mirage Data. Each panelist brought a unique perspective to the questions surrounding startups and exits based on their personal experiences as Founders and people deeply invested in the venture capital community.
When it comes to startup success, Jewel believes that the key is to work with people you know and do everything you can to build up networks that you can support and that can support you. One of the ways that she did this during her own startup process was to email the people she met while networking and kept them updated on what she was doing. Her thought process is that people want to be around and work with people who “make them proud”, saying one of the best ways to build and develop relationships is, “collecting the people that you meet, doing quarterly or annual updates to let them know how you’re progressing. I gave the people who were my mentors a reason to want to work with me,” so keeping your network updated on your successes, and even on your failures, helps them to know you as a person and as an entrepreneur and will keep them invested in the relationship.
The other panelists also agreed on the importance of strong networks. Sanjay spoke on how when he was working to get his first startup off the ground in 1999, there really was not an Atlanta community to support him, so he ran events to meet investors and other people who would help him develop these relationships. One of his main pieces of advice when it comes to building successful networks is to know your network. An example he gave was that he makes an effort to know everyone in his circle’s birthdays. He reaches out to them on their birthday to celebrate his peers and help keep their relationships strong since as he mentioned during the panel, nobody likes it when someone you have not spoken to in years comes out of the woodwork asking for help. Sanjay also discussed how when you are working to build a network, it is easy to forget people so he utilizes various tools including Dex, a website that helps manage professional relationships, to keep track of everyone he knows and to remind himself to reach out and be present in his relationships. Jessica is a similar proponent of networks, saying “People don’t give money to people they don’t know. People don’t help people they don’t know.” Her best networking advice is to keep reaching out to people who help you further your career; if someone helps you secure a job opportunity, keep in touch with them and let them know you are grateful and update them on your successes, saying, “When you land that job, let people who helped you know where you landed.”
The other advice given by the panelists surrounded building up your business and eventually, exiting it. When it comes to building up your business, it is undeniably the little things that matter. For example, Sanjay discussed how he would pack a lunch everyday at work so that he could be present with his coworkers. He also explained how his job was not to separate the employees from the “boss,” but to facilitate their relationships by combining an inverted -pyramid structure with an effort to deal with the problems of your employees and letting them work with customers. Jewel talked about always wearing orange, since that was her company’s color, so that people she networked with would associate the business with her. She also talked about the importance of mentors since it is important to be “in community with people who have done it before.”
Jessica outlined a common way that the exit from a company works, specifically surrounding the founder’s control over the company and the acquisition process. She talked about how when you have investors in your company, you lose control little by little, and how in the mind of the investor, the function of the company is to build one successful enough to either get acquired, go public, or, in the case of failure, go out of business. In her own experience, she was not given a choice in the matter because her investor board had more control over her business, which is the reason that Jewel warned budding entrepreneurs to always be on board with your investors.
Before the Q&A, the panelists also talked about what it was like after exiting their companies. For Sanjay, it was weird because several years later he returned to the company to visit and the current employees did not know who he was, which was difficult because so much of his life had been given to building the company. Jessica had a similar experience, but she said that it was easier for her to overcome because of how much she enjoys the process of building a business with a lasting impact. Jewel also struggled with identity following her exit from her business because she started it very young, at only twenty-three, and spent so long doing things like always wearing orange or introducing herself with her title within her company that when she left it, she did not really know who she was and had to work to find that out again, which is something she has turned into a lesson and is one of the reasons the investment firm she has started provides therapy to the employees of the businesses they invest in.
The Q&A session brought up several meaningful questions, focusing specifically on what to do when you hear the word “no” and what sacrifices have to be made to grow your business. When it comes to hearing “no,” the panelists had varied but similar answers. Jessica believes that you should always expect to hear “no” and remain thick-skinned; remember, the “no” is not personal. Jewel reminds us to remain gracious to the “no” and not hold on to grudges against people who have rejected you in the past because you might be burning a bridge that you could need in the future. Sanjay wants us to open up and be able to take advice, even from someone who has rejected you, because it gives you a chance to grow as an individual and as an entrepreneur.
On the topic of sacrifice, the panelists discussed how they all gave up substantial things to build their business. Jewel gave up her twenties, Jessica gave up time with her newborn, Sanjay gave up weekends, and they all sacrificed interpersonal relationships outside of work. Jewel’s advice is to check in with yourself and make sure what level of sacrifice you are willing to make. She explained that while her business grew, her relationships outside of her business suffered and after exiting she had to go on an “apology tour” to mend those connections. Jessica said that she loved what she was doing, it did not feel like work and it is important to really love what you are doing at least as much as you love what you are sacrificing. Sanjay warns that it is crucial to figure out how to piece yourself back together afterwards and do your best to find balance between your work and your life outside it.
Scale to Sale provided invaluable information to future Scottie entrepreneurs on what it is like to start a business, how to network, how to exit a business, and how to cope with career changes and the balance of work and life. We at the profile cannot wait to see what the Agnes community does with all they have to offer and are excited to attend next year’s annual Women’s Global Leadership Conference.
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