She built India's largest career engagement platform for women | Ft. Neha Bagaria, CEO of HerKey

[00:00:00] Thanks, Meha for being a part of our show Wiping Out The Norm. It's about women who have

[00:00:11] done something different and wiped out the norm in their own fields. You've created

[00:00:16] India's first platform for women who want to restart their careers and get into something

[00:00:22] and I know that how much confidence comes when you are working for yourself independently,

[00:00:27] so you've given confidence to many women through your platform, Hopey. So I want to know your

[00:00:33] journey as to what triggered you to start a platform like this in the first place. Radhika,

[00:00:39] thank you for having me. It's always a pleasure to really share this journey and this story

[00:00:45] because there are so many women out there who are in the scene here that I was in when I took

[00:00:50] a break in my own career for three and a half years when my kids were born. And it was a completely

[00:00:56] unplanned break. I like to see a baby gave birth to another and when I became a mom, I suddenly

[00:01:03] was like, oh my God, I don't think I can get back to work and I didn't even know if I would.

[00:01:09] Luckily for me, my second son when he came into my life, I was forced to shift my attention

[00:01:15] from my first one. Radhika, nothing else could have done that. And I realize that the heavens didn't fall

[00:01:20] down and he's fine. In fact, it might be better for him that he doesn't have this helicopter

[00:01:26] move on his own side all the time. And that's a prompted me to get back to work. And when I

[00:01:32] started my career, it was just such a positive experience that I was like questioning all the women

[00:01:37] around me. Okay. But why aren't you getting back to work? Why aren't you getting back to work? And

[00:01:40] I'm sure you know so many women who are extremely qualified, ambitious, capable, experienced,

[00:01:46] and they drop the ball of their careers and they just don't get back. So when I started figuring out

[00:01:52] all the challenges that they were going through to get back to work, that's what prompted me to start.

[00:01:56] It was called jobs for her and now her key. What do you think are the challenges with

[00:02:01] stop women from getting back to work? So many, right? And I like to say that you know so I did a

[00:02:07] business degree from Wharton but I feel like it's a whole different business degree to be able to

[00:02:13] manage these four things. Right? It's time management. Okay, so you just don't know how to

[00:02:21] you know make sure that you're balancing your time between your work and your family.

[00:02:24] When you've taken that break in your full time, second is a lot of fear management.

[00:02:30] You know so you actually are worried about will you be judged? And will you be able to manage?

[00:02:36] Will you become a bad mother or bad wife? I thought I know. Third is a lot of guilt management

[00:02:44] you know and that's something that always stays right at the back of your head. That

[00:02:48] you know either when you're at work, you feel guilty or not at home. When you're at home,

[00:02:52] you feel guilty or not at work. Yeah and then there's biases management and there are lots of

[00:02:56] biases all around us. You know it could be amongst people we know well, they could be the

[00:03:00] largest society but could be at the workplace. Yeah so these are four big things that really

[00:03:06] stop women to be able to get back to work and do well at work. Yeah. But the biggest biggest

[00:03:11] challenge that all women in a break go through is a loss of confidence. You know it's because of all

[00:03:17] of this. Yeah but did you think that you had faced some of these issues when you were on a break?

[00:03:25] Of course all of them. Yeah. How did you overcome them? And not just when I was on a break even

[00:03:30] when I got back to work, I think took a couple of years. Yeah and luckily I found it something like

[00:03:35] job service. I was always meeting very inspirational women. Yeah and that helped me so much in

[00:03:40] overcoming my own fears and you know guilt and all of that. And you learn there lots of tips and

[00:03:47] tricks that you know get you by but one thing very very important is to have really positive people

[00:03:53] around you. Yeah yeah and it's kind of that support system that you start building and of people

[00:04:00] who will start pushing you up and then pulling you down. Right but tell me that when you started

[00:04:05] jobs for her did you like any start of founder to really looks at the time, so many what not so

[00:04:10] many terms are there. Did you think of all of those or was it just a purpose that got you started?

[00:04:17] No sir it was definitely a purpose but frankly before I read lean in by Cheryl Samberg I thought

[00:04:23] that this problem was just mine or my friends. When I read lean in I was like oh my god one second

[00:04:29] if the CEO of Facebook feels like this then I'm sure there lots of women out there. Yeah

[00:04:34] you know who are not being able to succeed in their careers because of all these problems.

[00:04:38] And that's what I did do the research. Yeah and when I did the research I was shocked.

[00:04:42] I found out there are a hundred college grants in India today. Yeah 40 of them are women

[00:04:46] and that's incredible. Yeah that's the work our mother's generation has done. Yeah but those 40

[00:04:51] women only eight even start their careers. Okay and then out of those eight four of them drop out

[00:04:57] within three years which means only 10% of our qualified educated women base are pursuing long-term

[00:05:04] careers in India. So for me that was a time because it was so obvious that if we can fix that ratio

[00:05:11] I mean it would be so good for that woman there would be so good for companies and it would be so

[00:05:16] good for all society and an economy. Yeah but why do you think like after graduation itself people

[00:05:23] don't pursue their work again it's a lot of biases right so if you really think about it now

[00:05:29] you know fathers are educating the daughters to find themselves a good husband and let's say

[00:05:34] a good job. Yeah many girls are brought up thinking that the beyond an end all of life is to find

[00:05:40] that good husband and once we found that good husband that's it right and they don't need to work.

[00:05:44] So many people think they don't need to work. Second there's still a lot of girls who are not

[00:05:50] allowed to work. Yeah they're not allowed to especially go to another office and work from somewhere

[00:05:56] and third it's almost like after you get married it's like a status symbol yeah where

[00:06:01] if your wife is working are you not earning enough? So it's actually it is absolutely not a

[00:06:07] skewed problem. It's a cultural problem that we face but I think you'll take time to break this

[00:06:13] culture. Yeah but it's already changing you know and I mean the even in the last eight years

[00:06:21] of Jopsoh's journey and now her keys the kind of change that we have seen is amazing you know

[00:06:27] like when I started so many companies told me that we don't want to hire women attorneys we don't

[00:06:33] want to hire women we don't want to hire mothers and it was because they used to keep looking at

[00:06:39] this break as a big handicap and the biggest thing that this change in mindset we've been able to

[00:06:44] do is starting to make companies realize that you know what this is a talent pool a very valuable

[00:06:50] talent pool because it's a talent pool of experience qualified capable women who have a fire in the

[00:06:56] bellies to prove themselves and the journey and all those are spirit. So I think changing the mindset

[00:07:03] okay changing the narrative it can do wonders in terms of changing the status quo right but tell me how

[00:07:10] did you you know start by yourself I'm sure you must have had some co-team members initially to get

[00:07:18] you know Jopsoh her started so tell me about that first few people that you hired so that you could

[00:07:24] bring your ideas into reality yeah sure in fact I'm very happy to tell you that I didn't just have

[00:07:30] co-team members and I just started our employees number one two and three are still with us wow

[00:07:34] we're into half years yeah and five are employing number one guy three she always completes her

[00:07:39] milestone before even Jopsoh completes it's milestone because she joined even before the company launched

[00:07:45] oh how you tell me that story well I mean she joined so that we could launch the company right

[00:07:50] yeah and no I met a guy three through an online platform with that more I think it was no

[00:07:57] pre-emonstration because of it wasn't launched but yeah and you met a good copy shop because I

[00:08:04] didn't have an office I'm I told her about the whole thing she was in a break too she had to

[00:08:09] get a break because of my motherhood and her if at her son was around the same age as mine and

[00:08:15] we met and I told her what I want to do and she said you know what sure let me think about it

[00:08:20] let me talk to my family get back to you and later found out that it's her husband who really pushed

[00:08:27] I don't take this chance yeah take a shot because I mean imagine it was a completely random person who's

[00:08:33] on a break telling her I want to solve this problem for other women on a break yeah she took it she

[00:08:37] took that shot and then she helped me employ my next set of people okay so guy three today by the way

[00:08:45] heads are entire delivery team yeah okay right after that we hired punkager okay who was there to

[00:08:53] handle the admin okay of jobs for even today or even address is still admin at jobs for a dot wow

[00:09:00] and the third person we hired us Pritha okay and we got Pritha on board again all by the way women

[00:09:05] returning yeah punkager had taken a break right after getting married Pritha taken a break because

[00:09:12] of medical reasons and relocating to Bangalore yeah from Delhi so I met Pritha that time we were

[00:09:18] by then Ghatri and I had found a great place to work from okay which was social at church street

[00:09:27] okay social the upstairs part of social have converted into co-working stays during the day yeah

[00:09:33] and the deal was just too good to say no to okay so we said okay fine let's do it more from here

[00:09:38] so we when I interviewed Pritha at social she just walked into social and she was like if this is

[00:09:43] where I'm going to work I'm on and Pritha who now by the way today heads are entire sales team

[00:09:51] the first whole year of jobs her her definition of sales was calling up companies and convincing them

[00:09:58] that please come on the platform list your job openings for free of course but hire these women

[00:10:03] who are on a break and not because you should because it's good for society you should because it's

[00:10:09] good for your bottom line yeah so yeah these were some of the very key people when we started

[00:10:15] another two other people joined us as well Shunali who came in as a returning intern she was an

[00:10:21] impression of what to do when I found out that she had majored in women's studies and creative

[00:10:27] writing from the Knox College USA I was like do you want to try out writing I wasn't looking for

[00:10:32] writer yeah and then Shunali went on to build out our entire creative content team in the company

[00:10:38] and Somia who came in to handle our marketing okay how did you find her so by the time I had

[00:10:45] so Shunali I found by then jobs her social media had gone wild and she saw one of her social media

[00:10:52] posts and reached out to me and Somia by the time she joined jobs herself was launched yeah

[00:10:58] and in fact Somia's application had come in for another company okay and you know this is the

[00:11:02] early days of jobs alright every application that came to the platform hit mine and Gaitri's

[00:11:08] inbox first we went through the application yeah and then forwarded it on to the company when I

[00:11:14] saw Somia's application at her Gaitri doon send us out yeah wow that's quite interesting so how long

[00:11:24] was this process until the jobs for her was launched so Gaitri joined in I think December of Jan

[00:11:32] of 2015 and that International Women's Day March 8th we were like no we literally gave

[00:11:39] ourselves like a month and a half a couple of months to put together a basic MVP and that's

[00:11:44] all we needed because again the whole idea was you put together very low frills low functionality

[00:11:52] platform okay doesn't have to be a platform but some sort of an MVP that will actually test the

[00:11:59] market yeah it will test all the hypothesis and the theories that we had in our own heads to see

[00:12:04] well it actually works yeah so when I launched this in March 2015 we had 20 companies on the platform

[00:12:12] we were only providing job listings okay for women on a break and our website said this is only

[00:12:18] for women returning in Bangalore oh that is literally how we started okay by the time my year was over

[00:12:25] those we had about 1000 companies wow those come new those companies were paying us to put

[00:12:31] us in touch with these women and the number of women that are coming to our website our website

[00:12:37] was crashing every week but how did you get the virality for the first time through your platform tell

[00:12:46] me about that so we used social media marketing and content marketing really well okay yeah and we

[00:12:52] knew that look finally first we'll be tried a lot of different things yeah and we knew that we finally

[00:12:59] have to go to weather women up okay that's the one-on-one marketing and we knew that women were

[00:13:06] heavy social media users so we used all the social media platforms you know but we really owned it

[00:13:14] on Facebook at that time yeah because at that time Facebook was really good and we did a lot of

[00:13:21] viral campaigns on Facebook you know so which again had to do with a lot of the emotion yeah that

[00:13:27] you struggle with when you're on a break or you want to get back and it and it had a lot to do

[00:13:33] with changing mindsets okay we also had a very strong ambassador community okay these ambassadors

[00:13:40] were basically our extended family days to work with their local communities you know and help

[00:13:44] them through the process get them close to platform you know evangelize yeah the whole concept

[00:13:49] of getting back to work and what would they get in return they would get a great network of other

[00:13:54] ambassadors okay these two are not so that was in fact the first community that we started yeah which

[00:14:00] was an ambassador's network so we had a lot of ambassador specific events that we carried out

[00:14:05] we had a lot of learning events for them a lot of networking events for them and of course the

[00:14:10] ambassador badge yeah so they worked like as a world interior with you absolutely wow I mean I'm

[00:14:17] just thinking that how much your purpose can bind together people yeah and they don't even need

[00:14:23] money to get started you know some people just work for money but it's so interesting to see how

[00:14:28] women especially work for an impact given purpose because there's also things that when you know

[00:14:34] especially when you've been through it yourself you know that were the leaders yeah

[00:14:41] and all of our ambassadors or other women on a break too yeah all the women who had actually

[00:14:46] recently gotten back to work yeah all taken a break at some point in the life they want to help

[00:14:51] yeah but how many women were there in India such who were on a career break and who wanted

[00:14:56] to give that no absolutely official statistics on it but one of the studies that were conducted

[00:15:03] said that there were 20 million women in India who were looking to restart the careers

[00:15:07] and about 80 percent of them felt that they wouldn't be able to okay yeah that's that those are

[00:15:15] the kind of numbers that are flying around when I started jobs and how is it now well today if

[00:15:20] you look at it right I mean the number of attorney programs that we've been able to get companies

[00:15:26] to launch yeah especially for women returning to is it returning to work in tech it's the opposite

[00:15:34] problem okay these women returning are sitting at four five job offers yeah and we're being

[00:15:41] moved by the companies yeah so yeah the the the the plane has shifted quite a lot but there's still

[00:15:49] a long way to go right but tell me how was it to convince companies initially because you said

[00:15:56] right that many companies wouldn't even see why is it needed for women who are on a career break

[00:16:02] break to come back to work yeah so tell me some stories where you had a tough time dealing with

[00:16:08] companies you know because I mean success is everybody talks about and of course when they see

[00:16:13] a problem they will of course get to it but when they didn't see a problem how did you make them see

[00:16:17] it yeah no I mean the lots of anecdotes for example I personally met with the head of

[00:16:26] HR of a large pharmaceutical company in India and when I told her about the fact that you know she'll

[00:16:32] be able to access the school of women returning on the platform she said no no I don't want to be part

[00:16:37] even I was like they're not to be part even yeah they are all women who've taken a break because

[00:16:44] of family reasons yeah so it's not like they were not even working yeah we're just doing other work

[00:16:49] right yeah and they all have a fire to prove themselves and they wouldn't get back to work

[00:16:53] but at this moment these women who are not working and they obviously don't care about the money

[00:16:57] and I want to hire women who care about the money so it took a while to convince her about the

[00:17:05] pro and again these women was another woman yeah she was like I never took a break in my career

[00:17:11] she that was another woman actually another company that this was a MMC company I want to

[00:17:17] told her to the concert and she she told me you know what I've never taken a break in my career

[00:17:22] and there were two other women in the room she said they haven't taken a break in their careers

[00:17:26] so if these women decided to take a break in their careers what should we give them a second chance

[00:17:30] oh shit okay another male head of HR on one conversation that I was having a conversation with

[00:17:37] this large company so there were multiple people on the call and there was somebody from TAA

[00:17:43] and somebody from ploy branding you know and somebody from HR on the call and when I gave

[00:17:48] them my entire pitch they said why have you reached out to us you should be talking to the CSR

[00:17:53] department of our company and I was like why should I talk to CSR because this can come out

[00:17:59] of a CSR budget because this is for social good what other reason could there be two hire a woman

[00:18:05] on a break oh good yeah so I've gone through lots of conversations and I'm sure I still will

[00:18:13] yeah yeah I just think I think it was change now people are a little bit more careful about

[00:18:18] both things you get accurate I mean at the beginning remember somebody told me at that point

[00:18:23] of course there was no holes bar right people were very comfortable saying that they don't want

[00:18:27] a hire mother is it been saying that they don't want a hire mother one person told me you know what I

[00:18:31] have figured out the right age to hire a woman you know because if you hire her right after she's

[00:18:37] graduated she'll get married and she'll leave you if you hire her just when she's got married then

[00:18:43] she'll have a kid if you have to force it she'll have a second kid then she'll have very little kids

[00:18:48] yeah now if you hire a little bit too late then her kids will be going through their ICC exams

[00:18:55] it's a bold exam so then she'll take a break and then she's much older than her in laws

[00:18:59] why it won't be well so she'll take a break so there's this particular window during which

[00:19:04] you should hire women I said please you don't hire women yeah so many marries oh god so

[00:19:12] so I said there's been a lot of sensitization that has been required yeah of hugely from the

[00:19:17] company's point of view but also from the women point of view yeah but which sector in particular

[00:19:23] did you see was more welcoming in terms of appreciating or totally tech yeah okay okay so actually

[00:19:31] it's whichever sector has a very high demand for talent it's really simple yeah because at

[00:19:37] the end of the day it's all economics you know if you have a very high demand for talent yeah

[00:19:42] you will need to widen your access to talent you will need to consider every pool of talent that

[00:19:49] is available out there yeah if you want to win the war for talent and at that time tech was huge

[00:19:55] yeah it was growing huge right and also tech skills or something that you can very easily update

[00:20:01] yourself you know if you have your foundations anyway technology is changing so rapidly yeah

[00:20:06] you just leapfrog into the latest technology yeah that's true and tell me that you know how

[00:20:12] what do you on which we like initially when you started and how has it changed over the course

[00:20:18] because you also learn while practicing it you know when you're the other parties perception

[00:20:23] you're like okay this is what I should be speaking now from the next meeting to get more conviction

[00:20:28] on my point so how was it when you just started out like what would you say to those people no you

[00:20:34] know frankly Radhika this is something that we really got right yeah which is that like I remember

[00:20:41] the first slide that I had even back then was a report by McKinsey that showed there are a

[00:20:48] eye of hiring more women okay yeah and it talked about how having more women at executive levels in

[00:20:57] your company yeah increase your bottom line it increases your performance it increases employee

[00:21:02] satisfaction yeah okay what has changed over time is not what we spoke about for women attorneys

[00:21:10] yeah that is very much clear in fact today the beauty is that you don't need to do that

[00:21:15] explanation that convincing and yeah usually a story sold when we knock on the door yeah because

[00:21:21] people like the kind of inbound interest that we get of companies that get us more women attorneys

[00:21:27] you want to have them attorneys it's incredible yeah and that's where me much changes happen yeah

[00:21:32] now what we've also realized is that it can't be just for getting women into the workplace

[00:21:37] we also need to talk to them about how are they working and getting women to stay in the workplace

[00:21:41] yeah and rise in their careers yeah and that was a big shift that we did in 2019 now we will change

[00:21:47] our tagline from ready set restart to start restart rise okay because if we really want to shift

[00:21:55] the diversity need you need to do everything they have on all those three facets yeah absolutely

[00:22:00] that's true you said that very important and nice point that you know women contribute much more

[00:22:06] to the bottom line of companies so if you could no if the companies with more women had a

[00:22:14] better bottom line overall right yeah standard subset yeah or or

[00:22:20] or ubiquitous companies they saw that yeah how is that because again and that's that's what we

[00:22:25] hopped on yeah hopped on actually the benefits of diversity correct because when you have more diversity

[00:22:29] in your organization you have more diverse capability yeah you have more diverse perspectives

[00:22:34] and when your consumer basis diverse yeah your employee base should also mirror that you know it's

[00:22:39] like saying like for example FMCG companies 85% of their consumer base are women yeah and 85%

[00:22:48] of the employee base for men okay it doesn't make sense exactly doesn't make sense you should have

[00:22:54] more women would be able to figure out what kind of products you should come up with yeah you know

[00:22:58] what kind of marketing should you do to those women what kind of sales channels should you be using yeah

[00:23:04] it's it's a no pre norm yeah yeah that is how diversity impacts the bottom line

[00:23:09] not because it makes you look good in public yeah exactly but also tell me that you know

[00:23:16] when you started of course lot of people get carried away by the greed and the demand pull factor

[00:23:22] that they're getting so how did you cut the noise and you know tell your team as well then let's

[00:23:27] just focus on the women return ease because that's the niche we've chosen and not focus on going

[00:23:33] everywhere like to you know make every women of every nature get a job yeah well today I mean

[00:23:40] so I think at different phases of scaling we've had these conversations and yeah and again I think

[00:23:46] the answer lies in first of all the alignment of that expansion that you want to do with the

[00:23:52] current base yeah and second whether it aligns with a north star or not okay that's very important

[00:23:59] so for example in 2019 by 2019 we realized that the women who were getting back to work through

[00:24:05] the platform they were still using up that one okay and even though our platform set very clearly

[00:24:11] this is for women returning only women who are currently working also using up that one okay

[00:24:17] so at that point we said okay if this is what the market is saying yeah let's go and understand why

[00:24:23] yeah so it became a very organic expansion yeah at that point of view and we did a lot of focus

[00:24:28] groups and a lot of surveys and sorry understanding one of the challenges that women are facing when

[00:24:32] they're currently working yeah now for example we've realized that you know it's not just about

[00:24:40] getting women a job right it is also about attention advancement yeah now with their what women

[00:24:46] in leadership require is very different from what a woman in a junior management level might require

[00:24:52] yeah so we'll also have unique solutions for women in leadership so for example we have a

[00:24:57] separate hockey gold club which is a networking club for women leaders okay because at that level

[00:25:02] what's very important and what is lacking is that women just don't professionally network enough

[00:25:06] right and that's the only way to really advance in your career yeah so as we scale and grow

[00:25:12] yeah I think it's very important to figure out what are other adjacencies but also adjacent problems

[00:25:18] yeah it's important to crack correct along with your core one but of course the women returning

[00:25:24] problem will always take part once yeah but like today for example a lot of people ask us why

[00:25:29] don't we get into other areas of diversity yeah which could be LGBT yeah seniors or handicapped

[00:25:35] or you know racial all of that but for us our core is changing and again our why was very clear

[00:25:45] right it was that India's labor force women labor force participation rate is 20% yeah in urban

[00:25:51] India it's 15% China is at 60% and the USA is at 55% well that is our north-stop yeah how do we

[00:26:02] increase the female labor force participation rates in India for that expanding into women

[00:26:08] who are currently working women in leadership women in tech need all sense yeah but expanding

[00:26:14] into other forms of diversity today doesn't yeah well I'm sure you recently raised a good round

[00:26:21] of funding about four million dollars but did you ever get questioned by investors

[00:26:27] and that you know if you don't expand into different categories you might shut down your revenue

[00:26:32] streams and as a company you might grow 10x but you will only grow 5x if you focus only on women

[00:26:39] so how do you really tackle with those things I mean for all those investors who feel like the women

[00:26:44] space and there's so many women now in tech running fempty companies and they face the same problem

[00:26:50] where investors feel this is a niche space we're about 50% of the global population yeah

[00:26:57] something that serves 50% of the global population is not niche yeah okay so yes and that too when

[00:27:04] it's untapped and it's underserved okay the amount of potential that is in femptyk is huge

[00:27:11] because it's so untapped and underserved and it serves 50% of the population so there is more

[00:27:17] than enough growth but yeah just from the women space in fact tomorrow like growth income

[00:27:22] geographically too yeah because the same problem is faced by women yeah so many different jobs

[00:27:27] that's true so I think it's very important to understand what is the core problem that you're trying

[00:27:30] to sell and sometimes saying no is more important than seniors yeah yeah so tell me about how did you

[00:27:37] bag your investment from Calary and the formerly IISL group yeah absolutely well so

[00:27:44] I first of all I realized that I have to go to all the female leases for sure yeah

[00:27:51] and we see the top of the nurtures money correct you know and luckily for me

[00:27:57] money has actually been my mentor as well okay over many years so she really understood how did

[00:28:02] you mean you're part of the first time well this is a very less known story but so I had founded

[00:28:09] the company 2015 and in 2016 I found out about a startup girls challenge that Calary was hosting

[00:28:16] okay and you know I signed up for it because I thought it was a challenge and you would think

[00:28:20] I think 80 thousand dollars in Facebook credits okay and 100 thousand dollars in cash and I was like

[00:28:26] oh my god you know I went all in yeah went through multiple rounds of the pictures and you know

[00:28:32] worked really hard very very small team then very small company and we won it oh and I was delighted

[00:28:39] and what was the competition about it was basically this right if I was startup girls like

[00:28:44] you know they would choose like they had lots of women entrepreneurs only for women entrepreneurs

[00:28:48] okay to pitch and get selected so I thought one the competition and I thought it's a cash prize

[00:28:56] and then a turp sheet game oh is it yes wow and I wasn't expecting it because I wasn't fundraising

[00:29:03] huh point um and so I had to turn it down okay and of course a lot of people thought I was crazy

[00:29:10] why did you do that because I I wasn't ready and my company wasn't ready okay yeah and as a

[00:29:16] finance student I knew that you shouldn't sell yourself too or leave because the new sell yourself too

[00:29:21] cheap yeah so I turned it down but because of that I thought to meet Vani yeah and I got to really

[00:29:32] I requested them to be able to like explain to her why I said no and when I met her for that coffee

[00:29:38] you know she asked me to make sure that I never let the fear of failure come in my way

[00:29:44] now and I looked at her and I told her Vani right now it's the fear of success

[00:29:48] okay because at that time my kids were really really little yeah and that is why I wasn't

[00:29:52] these money yeah because I wasn't sure I like I told you took me a couple of years yeah

[00:29:56] for the time I could get through my own guilt telling my my fear management and all of that um

[00:30:01] and I think something like conversation just got her to decide to mentor me through this process oh

[00:30:06] yeah and she did so through this entire journey of scaling up becoming profitable finally deciding

[00:30:13] so when I finally decided to go out there and raise money obviously she was the first door and

[00:30:17] all wow that's such a lovely story yeah I get goosebumps fell hearing it yeah and by then Vani

[00:30:25] and Vani has always been a big believer in women right actually started the CXO community specifically

[00:30:30] for that like put together you know a panel of investors put together you know all these LPs

[00:30:38] and all of that specifically to meet you know women entrepreneurs are getting funded correct

[00:30:42] so it was just the like a perfect match yeah yeah but when you say that you know she became a mentor

[00:30:48] to you lot of people look for mentors but still do not understand who can be the right mentor for them

[00:30:55] so what is mentorship really for you and how is Vani's mentorship you know helpful for you personally

[00:31:02] sure absolutely well I don't I believe very very strongly mentorship yeah so when I decided to start

[00:31:09] jobs to her I pretty much he shot everybody I knew for like 20 minutes of the time you know okay

[00:31:15] I had a little black book in which I took the super snow I did take that with me everywhere yeah

[00:31:21] I should go and that and there's no online meetings yeah so I just go from like office to office

[00:31:25] and I should go to their office and ask them just for 20 30 minutes of the time and I used to just

[00:31:30] ask them how do you start and you know what works what doesn't work about how did they do it

[00:31:36] and as I said reaching out to these people there's certain people for who literally clicked right

[00:31:43] like that relationship really click yeah love what I wanted to do I loved the kind of inside they were

[00:31:48] giving me so I asked for another meeting and then another meeting and you build that relationship

[00:31:53] with them yeah so like for example my two advisors I met like that right in the beginning before

[00:31:58] jobs are named jobs of her okay their Drupshino and Shobhakar Karne and Krivan today in the

[00:32:04] half years later there's still my advisors okay and they were out here on my board another on my

[00:32:09] board wow so Drupshino used to run monster in the Gulf area oh so he really understood what it

[00:32:16] would be like to build a marketplace for women attorneys right and Shobhakar used to be the HR

[00:32:22] head of HP and AXA so she really understood what HR folks are looking for yeah and over time she

[00:32:29] helps me hugely with my internal HR yeah as we scaled up our team correct so these are two great

[00:32:35] examples you know and over time I've developed and mentorship is something that has to be developed

[00:32:40] you know it's a very important give and take relationship between a mentor and a mentee yeah for

[00:32:45] the mentors it's important for them to see that the mentees actually following up and doing what

[00:32:51] they discussed you know and I've noticed that there are a lot of people out there who are willing to

[00:32:55] help yeah especially if they feel very aligned to the vision yeah and you know they they vibe well

[00:33:03] with the mentee they're more than willing to take the time and help and with Vani that was a case

[00:33:10] yeah I really felt like she was very aligned with what we were trying to do and she must have

[00:33:15] seen some spark but yeah this girl will be able to get over all her fears and be able to achieve and

[00:33:23] I'll make sure that she does yeah so once and again it's not like Vani I was very

[00:33:29] free for me to meet her on a daily basis or weekly basis or monthly basis even right yeah once a quarter

[00:33:34] once in six months I made sure I reached out to her and checked whether she was available for

[00:33:39] about 20 minutes yeah to give her a quick update wow and how did I feel coming as well

[00:33:44] I've had of course came in I will I so when you're pitching for your first time you pitch with

[00:33:50] every part yeah and like I fell was actually usually invested larger checks in larger startups

[00:33:58] yeah but you know from multiple rounds of discussion the manager convinced him that he

[00:34:04] the best time to get in is getting early yeah yeah and then watch us grow so it was great to have

[00:34:09] them on board also in fact again over there coincidentally and this time it was coincident okay

[00:34:14] the woman needing the there was a woman who was eating the conversation

[00:34:17] and okay no Nadi Kumar okay yeah and now she's on our board so now board right now by the way the man

[00:34:24] there's only one man okay and roof and we are four women so he's the diversity yeah

[00:34:33] for a board and then once I had the deal locked in with so Kallari led it yeah and then I also

[00:34:40] pull it then I've managed to convince him to keep a million dollars aside to open it up to other

[00:34:46] engines okay and the kind of engines that we got were really incredible right like we had Zia Modi

[00:34:53] we had Vellabansali we had Promew Zaveiri Puneetal Mia Ranjan Pai you know other Tien Shachikotari so

[00:35:01] all these people were getting passionate about what feelings and how did you reach out to them

[00:35:08] through every possible like give me one example any possible network right like I mean

[00:35:14] people who was you know how second connections and third connections and all of them like

[00:35:19] you know my pen and alumni network my family network my advisors networks my investors networks

[00:35:26] you know my company's networks like all how long did you take to fundraise well we had the

[00:35:33] fortune of fundraising during funding winter oh my god yeah so that was quite a quite fun time

[00:35:41] I think from when I started pitching to when finding money hit the bank it took a whole year

[00:35:48] I was a year of complete roller coaster ride ups and downs you know so many times thinking that

[00:35:56] you know just forget all of it because as a founder you're running two jobs right when you're

[00:36:00] fundraising okay you can't take your pedal off with what you're doing yeah yeah and then you

[00:36:06] gonna make sure that this is happening but yeah and then finally despite it's just nevertheless

[00:36:14] she persisted yeah yeah yeah I'm finally managed to close it yeah when you know after it started well

[00:36:21] now and this was the first time so due diligence also took like three months because he did

[00:36:26] due diligence of the entire seven year history yeah you know I turned she negotiation took two months

[00:36:31] or like SHA and SSA the first time I was seeing an SHA and SSA that took so long so and it was a

[00:36:37] rookie team yeah entire team was a rookie team right you know the person who handles my accounts

[00:36:43] hmm and by the way she's been at the company for seven years okay so she knew everything

[00:36:48] well about our accounts but she was an accounts profession yeah she handled the entire due diligence

[00:36:54] okay yeah so you're rookies try to figure it out and manage to do it yeah that's what entrepreneurship

[00:37:00] is all about as well just figure it out on the go yeah I know but why didn't you raise any time before

[00:37:06] in these seven years because one I also I really always wanted to make sure that I raised money

[00:37:12] once I've got my ureteconomic right yeah you could either raise for the growth stage or the

[00:37:18] discovery stage and I had enough fortune to be able to fund the discovery stage myself yeah it was

[00:37:27] during the pandemic that we became profitable it was during the pandemic with suddenly the market

[00:37:31] opened up like crazy yeah because the demand for talent soared and the biggest barrier for women's

[00:37:37] careers which is flexibility wasn't a barrier anymore correct yeah because until then that's always

[00:37:42] been the biggest barrier right so suddenly with the pandemic I saw that the tide has turned you know

[00:37:47] and we were on top of the wave and that's when I was like this is now I think the company's ready

[00:37:53] for us to raise money and move from a discovery phase to the growth phase nice yeah that's a very

[00:37:59] conscious call that you've taken because in that funding frenzy people just ride on to any way

[00:38:06] then yeah no that can't be good for the company yeah the company's not ready for it it can actually

[00:38:12] be the worst thing that happens if you flush it with money yeah and grow it when you haven't figured out

[00:38:17] the unit economics yeah so how was the revenue model like when you started and what is it like now

[00:38:23] so our revenue model has always been B2B yeah which is a company's pay us to list the job

[00:38:30] to list their jobs or to brand themselves or to engage with our women okay yeah um and

[00:38:36] the other thing who are recruited do you all also take cut out of that so we never actually we never

[00:38:41] operate it like a placement agency okay it was again it was very clear that that model wasn't

[00:38:45] a product led model it was a people led model yeah and we were definitely in the business of creating

[00:38:51] us strong scalable product to service this need um over time we've actually built a very

[00:38:58] scalable subscription model yeah it's called our bay packages our bay plans yeah which is

[00:39:03] branding engagement and recruitment well and the company's opt for different bay plans by which

[00:39:09] we brand themselves so that you know they put put out there to our women yeah talent pool they engage

[00:39:17] with the women through a lot of different webinars mask class etc okay and finally the recruitment

[00:39:22] happens to a lot of hiring dries and job listings on your platform so again on our channels also we use

[00:39:29] our platform so we today we get about eight lakh MAU on the platform we have about four million

[00:39:36] registered on the platform we use our email database of these four million women we use social

[00:39:42] media on social media we have a 15 million monthly social media range and we use a lot of our offline

[00:39:48] events the small scale medium scale all large scale as well okay so it's it's actually on me channel

[00:39:55] that's nice so it started as B2B and it still is that it's very much B2B and you also talked about

[00:40:00] the gold membership that you all have recently launched so I'm telling you more about that

[00:40:05] absolutely so that was actually a first foray in terms of charging women for subscription models as

[00:40:11] well and that's very well so again it's a very very niche play yeah because this is specifically

[00:40:15] for women leaders women leaders there's niche correct because we are very very very

[00:40:20] fortunate actually going up the ladder I'm hoping one day it won't be niche yeah that's our aim but

[00:40:26] with the gold club women are actually it's biological only so only a woman who is at a

[00:40:33] senior management aspiring leadership level she's eligible for the gold club and then the payers

[00:40:39] or annual subscription fee to be part of the club okay which is how much which is about 15,000

[00:40:44] rupees for a year oh that's it exactly and with that we become part of our lens program okay so

[00:40:53] we have also the program for our women is called the lens program what is it and that's learning

[00:40:58] engagement networking and showcasing her content team was really done

[00:41:04] naming these programs

[00:41:10] so learning piece of it again very tailored to what is holding women back you know so these are all

[00:41:15] career builder themes yeah it could be about owning a vision it could be about managing time it

[00:41:21] could be about financial investments engagement piece is making sure that women are engaging with one

[00:41:28] another true a lot of different discussions that constantly are being hosted by by themselves yeah

[00:41:35] and it could be across any topic it could be about how to handle menstrual health yeah during

[00:41:41] crazy office timings yeah the networking is to ensure that we have a lot of offline and online

[00:41:46] networking that's happening which is you know so that they can build that professional network and

[00:41:51] the showcasing it's something that women just don't do enough of you know to be sure that we actually

[00:41:56] show getting these women to showcase their skills brag about them and share their achievements through

[00:42:02] our social media platforms okay you should be part of it as well yeah how many members do we have

[00:42:10] so at any given point of time we make sure that we limited to about 200 members okay yeah

[00:42:16] and we keep it extremely exclusive you know so that it can be a very deeply engaging yeah okay

[00:42:24] that's that's quite a nice idea why did you think of starting this was it to build the professional

[00:42:30] networks of women on the top you know we thought of starting this because one we mainly because

[00:42:37] we realized that till we don't get more women at leadership levels of companies we can't have

[00:42:43] the sweeping change that is required within companies to be able to get more women yeah let me say

[00:42:49] it's seen this trend right the more whenever we spoke to a company where there were a lot of women at

[00:42:54] the top that the way the company was structured in terms of its policies in terms of its culture

[00:43:01] in terms of its the programs and initiatives they were running for women who's completely different

[00:43:06] yeah and so in order to get more women at the top we started figuring out what is it what will help

[00:43:13] I realized that can't be jobs first of course yeah that has to be networking first correct

[00:43:18] understood and how did this whole piece of rebranding come into picture tell us that story well

[00:43:23] so jobs are actually outdone its name for a while you know we started off with the most key problem

[00:43:31] which was the job and once we have cracked that one's there enough companies coming and posting

[00:43:36] their jobs you know by the hundreds every week we realize that okay we also need to figure out how do

[00:43:43] we get women to restill themselves you know and that's when we had launched learning and mentorship

[00:43:48] on the platform okay and then over time we realized that we also need to make sure that women are

[00:43:54] we're not just connecting women with employers and experts but we're also connecting women

[00:43:58] with each other yeah and that's where the community space came out yeah so at this we had

[00:44:04] reached a stage now where we realized that actually the community space of it is the most important

[00:44:10] yeah because no matter what stage of your career you're at that community will be able to help you

[00:44:17] tie that path yeah yeah um and that is when we moved from jobs out to herky so that women don't

[00:44:24] think that the only 10 they should come to us as well for a job yeah or for a job because that's

[00:44:28] just that's a transaction to think about yeah and that's just if you're a restarter getting the job

[00:44:34] is a start of the journey yeah there's a much more that is going to come yeah and that's two of

[00:44:39] every stage got it also from a company point of view we didn't want to work with company only for

[00:44:44] recruitment yeah we wanted to work with them for recruitment retention and advancement and that's

[00:44:49] why we took that tough call that we're going to change the name of an 80-year-old brand yeah

[00:44:54] and we timed it we actually delayed a funding announcement okay so there'll be a time it with

[00:44:59] the name change from jobs out of herky yeah herky is like the key to her success absolutely that can

[00:45:07] be a tagline thank you for that I will have my content you know right but you know tell me one

[00:45:16] you said that you also help companies engage and retain the employees so do you all have certain

[00:45:21] programs for them in place or how does that yes absolutely so again we use a lens program for that

[00:45:26] yeah okay everything that we learned when it came to working with the herky gold club we're actually

[00:45:31] taking it to companies so there are a lot of companies networks and resources groups ERGs

[00:45:37] also there will be nettles that we are running now for them okay um and ensuring that their women

[00:45:43] you know stay with them as well as go in the careers understood but when somebody asked

[00:45:49] have somebody asked you that why should be I should be be a part of your platform and not some other

[00:45:55] job listing platform or other competitors uh you know player in the industry now that we have

[00:46:01] so many of them so how do you really tell them what's your unique proposition like well it's very

[00:46:06] simple right if you look at any it's like going to our um dentist was a video not a don't test yeah

[00:46:12] when you need braces or dentist is not going to be able to help you yeah yeah sure that is my

[00:46:18] no about it but they're not built for it yeah yeah um if you need women talent you need to go to the

[00:46:25] experts of women talent yeah because we will know how what kind of job descriptions you should

[00:46:31] be writing yeah we will know what kind of outreach you should be doing you know how to really engage

[00:46:35] with the women talent and we will know finally what and sensitization recruiters need so that they

[00:46:40] will actually recruit more women yeah yeah yeah um even with the women yeah if you go to a platform

[00:46:46] like LinkedIn you know you'll see and it has a reason why you know LinkedIn will has such no participation

[00:46:52] of women in the user base you know it's big to be about 15 to 20 percent yeah it's because as a

[00:46:58] woman you go to LinkedIn and we know we've got so many surveys and focus groups about it you feel

[00:47:03] overwhelmed you feel it's rated yeah and especially if you're on a break then it's the most

[00:47:09] the coldest place in the universe for you uh so if we want to solve their problems and their

[00:47:16] challenges it has to be in a unique way yeah yeah um and that is why this exists yeah that's true

[00:47:24] so what are your future plans now let's go tell me did you always have this vision of going

[00:47:29] product first and not people first when you started always from the beginning and why to achieve

[00:47:34] the scale well again because of another mentor of mine okay my younger brother okay so he was

[00:47:41] running a tech startup as well when I started my journey he's a founder of dream 11 yes

[00:47:47] your real brother is he my younger brother is it okay I know of him okay yeah now everybody knows of

[00:47:55] him when I was starting out so much he had a you were also a struggling tech founder at the time

[00:48:01] your son names are different no because I'm married oh yes okay yeah this is the beauty of being a

[00:48:08] woman right wow okay so you were in Bombay yeah yeah yeah yeah that's like I visit Bombay

[00:48:17] operator where you never came in my life I'm not my kids are in Bombay right now

[00:48:22] it's really like a parents and so yeah oh god yeah yeah you should have also come

[00:48:28] is just too much work happened so that is why I said I told my parents I said my kids at least

[00:48:32] I can't come by myself my kids at least yeah that's nice yeah so he's one actually and I was

[00:48:39] a complete non-techy yeah I'm a finance grad from morning you know that's what I get I did

[00:48:46] finance and marketing yeah and when I decided to start this season one was happy then it said you

[00:48:52] have to build a tech startup to solve this problem and I'm crazy and it's like look you're gonna

[00:49:00] I know you're gonna work really really hard either you can work really really hard and impact the

[00:49:05] lives of thousands or you can impact the lives of millions yeah which one do you want to do

[00:49:10] yeah and that is why from the beginning you were product first okay like last many times in the

[00:49:17] journey yeah right now I'm thanking you no but that's where having the right person by your side

[00:49:25] helps so much because you might not have all the answers and the insight you will never have

[00:49:30] all the answer the insights yeah at least standing on the shoulders of giants right and why wouldn't

[00:49:35] you you know I mean it's frankly life is too short to be able to make all your mistakes yourself

[00:49:43] I know the goal is learning from other people's mistakes yeah yeah that's right but you

[00:49:48] spoke about your childhood of being a bombé girl so tell me how has your childhood influenced

[00:49:54] you as a person that you are today well hugely I think you know because growing up first of all my

[00:50:00] parents never made a distinction between my brother yeah and like frankly if anything they expected

[00:50:05] me to achieve and do even better in studies than my brother did you know because I was the

[00:50:10] nerd of the family and even like I was the first girl in fact in my family who went to

[00:50:16] brought to study you know my cousin my cousin sister wasn't allowed to that time my older

[00:50:22] cousin sister and that time my dad made it very clear that he was gonna send his son and his daughter

[00:50:27] brought to study yeah so I think that gender equal upbringing definitely played a very important part

[00:50:36] yeah because my expectations for myself were always high then you know I didn't curtail my own

[00:50:42] self-expectations I didn't think that oh you know the golden life is just to find a good husband

[00:50:49] also so growing up you know I always saw all these successful people around me because I'm

[00:50:54] you know it's a typical Marvari family business kind of an idea so anytime somebody asks you what

[00:51:01] do you want to do when you grow up I always said to run my own business it was just an obvious thing

[00:51:07] yeah and that's how when I got back to work you know I constantly kept thinking about what is it

[00:51:13] that I want to run you know what is it that I want to found and third thing also was just I think

[00:51:21] the whole concept of impact and social entrepreneurship is something that really drew to me

[00:51:26] you know reading a lot of different autobiographies like which was Malalas, Nilsim Mantellas, Steve Jobs,

[00:51:36] now Jeff Bezos, Mati Makali yeah okay but a lot of the impact of an autobiography is really

[00:51:42] like called out to me I just I always felt that you know if you've been put in this world you might

[00:51:48] as a leave it a better place than you found it in whatever way and capacity you can right and especially

[00:51:53] if you're an India if like that was the reason why when I graduated and moved right back yeah because

[00:51:59] I felt like there is so much need and demand in India that is untapped yeah that you might as well

[00:52:07] come back here and do something yeah that is offered and it's so much easier to do something

[00:52:12] like that is a double bottom line in India yeah because so easy to create impact and

[00:52:17] yeah so much impact waiting to be happened yes yes that's right but like you said you always

[00:52:22] wanted to have a business of your own and this only came to you after your marriage and your kids

[00:52:27] well I did have my own venture right after I graduated oh yeah tell me about it

[00:52:33] yeah in fact during my last semester at college itself I started my first company

[00:52:37] was called Paragon okay and again it was to bring the advanced placement program back to India

[00:52:42] so the whole idea was so the APs are your American version of the IBs or A levels

[00:52:47] and when we had go on about a study we never got any credit for our HSC exams yeah

[00:52:52] we did the HSC correct so I decided I became the college board representative of India

[00:52:59] before I graduated yeah I'm brought it back to India right an educational center for two years

[00:53:05] and all the kids who are going to my training center yeah we were all you know getting incredible

[00:53:11] placements in American universities and getting credits by which they were saving six months to one

[00:53:16] year of undergraduate college experiences you know so I had that I had tasted the blood of social

[00:53:23] entrepreneurship before I got married oh so after I got married I joined my husband's family

[00:53:28] business which was in pharmaceutical manufacturing okay and that just it was a great experience from

[00:53:34] an M&E standpoint and from just understanding systems and processes in a large multinational

[00:53:42] but I can do that for the rest of my life okay and that is where the break helps also right

[00:53:46] when I took it break I got a chance to again reset and rethink you know what is it that I want

[00:53:51] to do when I get back yeah like when I got back it was very easy a jump back to Kimber yeah which

[00:53:57] was the family business but because I come back to work suddenly the opportunity cost of working

[00:54:02] was so high yeah you know when you have kids that you start wondering but is this really what I

[00:54:07] want to do for the rest of my life right and that's when you know I finally thought that you know

[00:54:11] I always wanted to get into social entrepreneurship why not now wow that's quite a story

[00:54:17] what happened to Paragon well that was in fact it was easy for me to like you know leave my

[00:54:23] family leave my city leave my friends I had to shut down my company why because it was the

[00:54:29] fleet offline center yeah that those people based full and that was completely people based exactly

[00:54:36] I mean I moved to Bangalore I tried to keep it all in Bombay yeah it was just very difficult because

[00:54:42] again I was the whole and soul of that company and when I moved out and that's the other thing I learned

[00:54:47] also right you learn so much from my way of entrepreneurship that I hadn't built a strong enough team

[00:54:52] under me so that's the first thing I had done when I said jobs I was to build that strong yeah

[00:54:56] I know I know but also tell me that you know when you said this up but did you know that it would

[00:55:04] grow to this level it has to be not at all absolutely not if I had known I might have been too

[00:55:09] scared to start it yeah when I started this I'm told me that you know think about where you'd

[00:55:14] be five years later and you know put down those numbers and I remember standing in front of a white

[00:55:20] board putting some numbers down so it'll give me seeing if he can get them five years yeah and we

[00:55:25] crossed that in one year surely yeah and I think that's important you know especially like for women

[00:55:34] we definitely don't think big enough yeah I remember when I went to Varney with my first plan

[00:55:43] she the only question to me was how far are you willing to throw the jargon okay because

[00:55:49] Nina Chopra had just one the gold okay and she was like are you really going for gold with this

[00:55:55] yeah and I think that's a big problem you know we actually don't dream big enough yeah because

[00:56:00] you think about what is achievable and you know and not what is dreamable yeah and I think

[00:56:07] we have to change that mindset yeah that's a common answer that I hear from a lot of women investors as

[00:56:14] who evaluate women founders that the field other pitch is quite conservative even though there's

[00:56:19] your sets aren't and that's a problem right because again another thing is that women would like to

[00:56:25] promise something they think they can achieve yeah but investors are used to hearing something which

[00:56:30] is way above what they're gonna achieve so they're gonna mark down mark their down by good like 40%

[00:56:36] yeah but women have come on the table with what we can achieve yeah as in with investors for the

[00:56:42] mark that down because that's what they're used to yeah so that's a different language yeah

[00:56:48] the women are seeking and the investors are hearing right right but this is such a good example of

[00:56:53] the javelin throw yeah yeah you said yeah it's really gonna be there by my mind yeah for you

[00:57:00] willing to throw the jargon yeah yeah it's quite a deep statement yeah it really provokes your thoughts

[00:57:07] and Mira Chokandir right who could have thought yeah and a little bit gold

[00:57:14] so you know we could constantly think about are we willing to go for gold yeah that's right but

[00:57:19] will come to the rapid fire out yeah tell me what would have been an alternative career for you

[00:57:25] yeah so suppose we rapid right yeah I think I would have been an education as a teacher no no no

[00:57:37] no it has to be in business okay oh that's like I said yeah I'm already blood yeah where would I

[00:57:46] have been in education like I mean it would have been in you know making sure that it's in ensuring

[00:57:53] that our next generation is ready for the future and not for the current yeah got it and who are

[00:57:58] some of the visionaries apart from one that you mentioned that you've met along your way

[00:58:03] of your professional career that have shaped the way you think well I mean Zia Mudi who I'm very

[00:58:08] proud to have on our board now how did you get to her she just again two different networks yeah

[00:58:16] and she's just but when I actually reached out to her I was just starting off jobs of her as well

[00:58:21] okay and I ran her through the idea and she called me she asked me to meet me at like 11 p.m.

[00:58:28] one of week because that's when she got done with her work yeah she's not too work-wise later

[00:58:34] and but she heard this she said this is fantastic and I must do it oh and you know and just shared

[00:58:42] with me and journeys of the women that she had seen you know at her law firm and the challenges

[00:58:47] that she had to go through yeah and that is where when I decided to raise money reached out to Zia

[00:58:52] well that's quite interesting how just you know reaching out to people without any hesitation

[00:58:59] to ask gives you so many things that's one thing that women still are coping up with yeah but tell

[00:59:07] me what is that one learning that you've had over these years by observing your customer base

[00:59:12] or women who are restarting their careers what one common pattern have you observed in them

[00:59:17] the biggest common pattern is lack of confidence yeah and that comes in a lot from our upbringing

[00:59:23] you know where boys are always forced to be risk-takers and girls are always forced to be careful

[00:59:31] you know or I mean boys are always encouraged to get out there and do stuff and girls are

[00:59:37] always encouraged to take care of the woman family yeah and I think that then that leads to a lot

[00:59:44] of under-confidence in the workplace because they don't feel like this is they don't feel like

[00:59:49] they're naturally belong there yeah and that's the one very complete common thing I've seen

[00:59:54] across women who have interacted with and stood and have you ever been questioned for being a

[01:00:00] solo female founder of the company or have you been given an advice to drop in a full founder

[01:00:07] of course how do you say it came nice to tell people when I you know when I graduated from Penn

[01:00:12] and came back and people used to ask me when are you going to get married when I go to get married

[01:00:16] it's always tell them when I found the right guy I mean yeah it's the same thing right like

[01:00:22] I will you know have a co-founder when I find the right person

[01:00:27] when are you looking for a founder well again I know I'm not out there

[01:00:36] there is a right person for the right rule yeah we will take it then like I don't believe in

[01:00:42] just having labels for the heck of her yeah it's very important that the need is there and the

[01:00:50] person is right for the job but I am always very very happy to have somebody to share the load

[01:01:00] because it's quite lonely journey so my next question is around this that in moments of stress

[01:01:08] and you know loneliness how do you cope up with that feeling and yet get back to work excitedly I

[01:01:15] know your team of course help you know about over here I have to say this is where being a mourner

[01:01:20] can be a really big strength okay because the amount of motherhood helps when it comes to something

[01:01:29] like this it's incredible yeah you know because one it makes you realize that there's no point of

[01:01:35] sweating the small stuff yeah like when you go back home and you have say your kids to get back

[01:01:42] to and you see that you're you know like that's the biggest stress master for the planet yeah

[01:01:48] then we can be stressed yeah give it as well but when things are really stressful at work it's

[01:01:55] like it's balance of that stress yeah second you realize that you know it gives a different

[01:02:00] perspective to life right you know I mean nothing no problem can ever seem bigger than the you

[01:02:06] know happiness and health of your children yeah you also realize that life you've got to see life

[01:02:11] on a longer continuum then just seeing that one problem today we need to think a little bit more

[01:02:17] from a future point of view and how small that problem will look like in the future so yeah I

[01:02:23] think it's it's actually it's a huge strength to be a mom for now because a lot of learnings

[01:02:30] you get from motherhood can I reply to entrepreneurship so since our show is based on people who have

[01:02:36] wiped out the norm I want to ask you one instance where you think you have wiped out the norm apart

[01:02:41] from of course creating a platform which is helping women what is one other incident that you

[01:02:47] remember where you actually thought you have broken the rules of the game I think getting

[01:02:57] VCs to very strongly evaluate our social entrepreneurship and impact first company was a big

[01:03:07] wiping out the norm yeah for VCs to to to for to realize also for investors to start realizing

[01:03:15] yeah that look just because we impact first doesn't mean that we will not give the kind of returns

[01:03:21] yeah the other companies would and that was a big change yeah yeah and that is why it also it

[01:03:27] was very important and I was very clear that when we raise money we will raise money from mainstream

[01:03:32] VCs yeah and not just from impact funds yeah because that message I think has to be sent

[01:03:38] a very loud and clear yeah I think about the biggest impact company in the world is actually Google

[01:03:44] yes correct and both are possible yeah yeah yeah of course no that's quite a mix that you've

[01:03:51] hosted because a lot of people are afraid of creating platforms like these given that they don't

[01:03:57] think there is enough support yeah but when they say people actually feel the need to downplay the

[01:04:01] impact yeah because otherwise they won't be taken seriously yeah but I truly believe both are

[01:04:07] possible you know and frankly this is the the the biggest best scalable most impactful profitable

[01:04:15] you know businesses that are possible yeah that's right and lastly what's the last thing that

[01:04:19] you did for the first time the last thing that I did for the first time wow that's really interesting

[01:04:31] and I'm going to be doing something for the first time okay which is going to be

[01:04:38] it's called swing bungee jumping what is that yeah so I've been tandem bungee jumping

[01:04:43] swing bungee jumping is literally when you know you're standing there and the floor comes out

[01:04:49] from underneath you and then you fall and then you swing okay so I'm going to be doing that for

[01:04:57] the first time and then just have a new seal it yeah okay I'm going to just pause wow

[01:05:03] I'm going to try diving again this happens how much above the I'm going to find out it's usually

[01:05:09] like off 100 feet yeah easily yeah I know for very high pressure yeah I'm going skydiving and oh

[01:05:14] and I will be going to skydiving for the first time with my kids I've been skydiving twice before

[01:05:19] without them yeah and I'll be the first time with them wow you're quite an adventurous person I

[01:05:27] I mean thinking about that swing only gives me adrenaline rush that how do you even do that

[01:05:33] yeah with nice but good speaking with you Neya thanks for sharing all those insights and giving

[01:05:39] your time thank you so much Radhika lovely talking to you too thank you

[01:05:49] thank you for listening to this conversation I hope it allowed you to dive deep into the

[01:05:53] mind of a senior woman leader we are hopeful to see more such women leaders in the future who have

[01:05:59] piped out the norm if you love this episode please share it with your friends who might be

[01:06:03] fundraising or building a business also tell us if you have any questions that you would like us

[01:06:08] to ask our women leaders till then stay tuned for our episodes where we speak with global women

[01:06:13] leaders from countries like Palestine, Argentina, Mexico, America, India and others