Women Who Build

In a world where we are bombarded by stories of wars and recessions, if we practice an abundance mindset, we can still grow! This practice helps us to focus on the future rather than the past. Kate Henningsen is one of the few leaders I have met who swear by this practice, and I am excited to share the latest episode of Women Who Build with her.  Kate is the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer...

It is often said that the most successful businesspeople follow their curiosity. Blending that with personal experience or association with the problem is a bonus! What is even better is to fight through every logistical hurdle to build towards your dream. I am so inspired by  Natalie Rens ’ life and her vision to build human settlements on Mars through  Astrea ! Astrea is currently building self-...

As investors, we are constantly looking for how we can add value to portfolio companies. While focus is important in company building, thinking systemically about your company can unlock opportunities like never before. And this practice has become increasingly relevant in today's world where different stakeholder types have the potential to influence your company's trajectory. Joanna Lichter at E...

Companies are made of teams, and these teams not only comprise founders and investors, but also operators, policy makers, and so many other stakeholders. And it is in hard problems like climate change and education that all have to come together to make a difference.    Yin Lu loves mobilizing people with the community that she has built over the course of her career. Yin is a Partner at MCJ Colle...

The global health and wellness foods market is poised to grow at 6.1% to $1,495bn by 2032. However, purchasing healthy food is complex - sometimes we buy new food types and find it hard to incorporate them into our daily diets and sometimes the food we buy is just not tasty. Monica is solving exactly these two problems through Equii, where her first product is sliced bread that gives 10gm of prote...

Companies are built by people, and when investing in companies, it is vital to bring out the human in you to be the best partner to their people. Sarah Hinkfuss brings humanness and trust to her investments at Bain Capital Ventures. Sarah is a Partner at the fund and works with growth-stage founders across application software and fintech. She started her career at Applied Predictive Technologies,...

When people think about building, startups come to mind. We often forget that building a new investment firm takes a similar amount of blood and sweat, and most importantly, commitment! In this episode of Women who Build, Emma Silverman shares her journey of building TMV along with her most amazing partners, Soraya Dorabi and Marina Hadjipateras. From creative writing in school to now communicatin...

There is a nuance to building companies and products for low-income communities. In this episode of Women who Build, Amie Patel covers how she is helping entrepreneurs build for exactly these communities at Elevar Equity. Amie describes herself as a “Motel Patel”, which until now I thought was a made-up term from Bollywood! Growing up in Florida as part of a traditional Gujarati family, Amie was f...

This episode is really close to my heart as I speak with Ashley Aydin who is working to bring more diversity to the world of entrepreneurship and venture capital through her work at Vamos. Ashley represents the true spirit of Women who Build and is one of the most helpful people I know in the New York startup ecosystem. She is also the go-to person for everything consumer and healthcare for founde...

Global decarbonization efforts over the next three decades will require a $100tn investment, generating a massive opportunity for private capital to deploy and drive the energy transition. And Monica Varman sits at the forefront of this. Monica is a Partner at G2 Venture Partners. She was most recently a core member of the sustainability practice at McKinsey & Company, where she advised senior...

Over the last two seasons of Women who Build and two waves of the pandemic, we know when it comes to company building, a few things matters for sure -  Building for the long-term from early on Learning from what is happening around the world, sectors, and stages  Focusing on personal lives and how that influences who we are as a leader So in the third season of Women who Build, we have s...

We are often asked by our dear ones to build a career around what we “love” doing. What is not talked about is how to find what we love, and this process requires a LOT of reflection. Abhilasha Sinha is one of the few individuals who have done the hard work to ultimately find what she loves and been transparent about it! In this episode of Women who Build, Abhilasha talks about how she was fortuna...

Many of us who start our careers in investment banking get drawn towards startup investing. But there are several stages to this investing - early, growth, and late. Kanika Mayar brings her unique experience of investment banking at Goldman Sachs and startup investing across all stages at IFC and now at Vertex Ventures. Some of her notable investments include Proactive for Her, Karkhana.io , and K...

Whenever we think of startup financing, venture capital comes to mind. Coming from investment banking, I realize that there are other ways to fund your company based on your goals and situations. Venture debt is one such instrument and Tarana Lalwani is leading the way in India when it comes to that. It is a special episode for me as I have been fortunate to get to know her closely in the past few...

If schools, a disproportionate amount of focus is put into cognitive skills. A high achiever is defined as the person scoring the “highest” in Math and Science. But as we grow up, we realize that the most successful people possess strong non-cognitive skills like confidence and collaboration and are able to connect the dots amongst several disciplines. But make no mistake, building these skills ta...

As consumers, we always see finished products - from our favourite cars to favourite soaps. One of the most important sectors that impacts what we get in our hands is the manufacturing sector. This episode of Women who Build is extremely special for me as Sonam is probably the only startup founder I know from my hometown Gwalior. Also, she has a way of always following very “different” paths and i...

As Indians, most of us have had this day where we decided to buy an insurance plan and by the end of the exercise, felt hopeless and clueless. Some of us have had to pay extraordinarily large sums for ourselves or our family members, which has often left us wondering why we did not avail healthcare service in time! Infact, India has one-of-the highest levels of Out-Of-Pocket Expenditures (OOPE) on...

Neuroscience confirms that to be truly happy, human beings will always need something more. To seek this “more”, we must ensure that our bodies and brains exhibit their peak performance, and what we eat clearly defines this performance. In India, while we like our Samosas and Chola Bhaturas, we have now acquired a taste for health and wellness. And COVID has only accelerated the trend. Jo Pattabir...

Most of us look forward to the wedding of a relative or a friend where we can dance and eat! For some of us, our weddings got planned by our parents and relatives right after we entered college. Because apparently, it takes a LOT of time and effort to organize one. In this episode of Women who Build, I talk to Sanna Vohra who is making it easier to plan weddings through her company, The Wedding Br...

We have seen 2, 3, 4, 5 women investment partners at venture capital firms. Have we seen firms where all three investment partners are women? Not too many! I am so excited about today’s podcast with Enzia Ventures. The team at Enzia has been an early supporter of Women who Build. Enzia is an early-stage investment firm in India that invests in education, health, and the environment.  So let us get...

Whenever I complained about “bad luck”, my mom always said that success is about what you make out of a situation, good or bad. Shruti, Founder and CEO of ApnaKlub is a true personification of this. I am so happy to do this episode of Women who Build with her, as I have personally followed her journey and am so proud of how she is impacting the lives of thousands of small businessmen/women through...

Most of you who know me, know that my niece inspired me to start Women who Build. She is a 14-year-old baker who wants to launch her bakery business and wants to learn how. And now, my listeners encourage me to keep it going (see image). In the first edition of Women who Build, we launched >10 episodes, talked to women worldwide, and were fortunate to have been called the “Best Podcast” by a fe...

I was in middle school when Paula Mariwala gauged the potential of the Indian startup ecosystem and started investing through Seedfund. Paula is the Managing Director of Seedfund Advisors, a venture capital firm, which invests in early-stage companies in India, and the Co-Founder and President of Stanford Angels & Entrepreneurs India. Some of her key investments include Unacademy, redBus, and...

I still remember how my sister and I used to play Mario Bros and the Jungle Book as kids. The thing that fascinated us the most about these games was discovering the unknown with every new level we entered. Storytelling was important to us. 20 years later, my nieces seek the same stories. I went a step ahead to figure out how many games in the market actually cater to their needs. I spoke to Salon...

I am so excited to launch today’s episode as it speaks to the core of Women who Build, which is to encourage women founders and investors to take that one leap of faith that can make all the difference! I spoke to some of my favorite people from the startup world around ‘Women as an Opportunity’ from their experiences in both India and the US -Jesse Draper, Founding Partner, Halogen VC and Host an...