Who Said Moms Can't CEO?

Something incredible happened last week – and no, I’m not referring to the ‘Friends’ reunion announcement. Geekwire named me STARTUP CEO OF THE YEAR. I feel incredibly honored to be recognized by the PNW startup community with this award. Sharing Geekwire’s (virtual) awards stage with such amazing leaders as Kieran Snyder, Leslie Feinzaig, Maria Colacurcio and Stephanie Strong was an inspiring and humbling experience.

The event charged me with energy and confidence, which I will use to power through many more milestones this year. I’d like to take a moment to share this energy with any budding entrepreneurs out there who are wondering if they can succeed, and especially with women who worry that they can’t. 

Don’t let anybody, including yourself, tell you that you can’t:

Tackle a difficult, industry-changing problem.

Build a technical team as a female CEO.

Start a company and a family at the same time.

Yes you can! I am the CEO of WhyLabs, a company whose mission is to build the interface between humans and AI applications. Together with my team and co-founders, I built WhyLabs during a pandemic, while pregnant, and now while raising a newborn. In just 18 months, WhyLabs went from a desire to fill a critical gap in the tech industry to a company that now offers every AI builder tools for operating AI with certainty. 

These past 18 months have been the most challenging and rewarding time of my life. As I reflect on my journey so far and look forward to the journey ahead, I can offer three hard-won insights based on what got me through the highs and lows of each day: 

Choose a mission you really believe in. Building and running a company is stressful even on the best of days. But what makes me jump out of bed every morning ready to build is my firm belief in what my company is creating. We started WhyLabs because the tech industry lacks tools to operate AI technology in a robust and responsible manner. As AI is being incorporated into every part of our daily life and work, solving this problem is of paramount importance, since we are all impacted by this technology. This is a big and complex problem—a problem that might take a lifetime to solve—and I am thrilled to dedicate my career to solving it. 

Build a team that thinks big and steps up. Every person at WhyLabs cares deeply about the problem we are solving, about the customers we are serving, and about the company we are building. We benefit from a self-organizing structure and a high sense of ownership among all team members. Thanks to this, I was able to take maternity leave without jeopardizing the momentum of the company. 

Lean on family and friends. I wouldn’t be able to do what I do without my family and friends who believe in me, support me, and help me every step of the way. Don’t be shy about asking the people close to you for help or for a shoulder to lean on, because there will be plenty of such moments. In sum, put aside your feelings of self doubt and go out and pursue your goals! But remember, you can’t always do it alone. It often takes a village, so surround yourself with supportive people. 

In closing, I would like to thank the “village” that has been supporting me on this journey so far: my rock-star team and my co-founders Maria Karaivanova, Andy Dang, & Sam Gracie; our amazing investor partners Tim Porter, Neil Sequeira, & Bryan Hale; and mentors Luis Ceze, Oren Erzioni, Dan Weld, & Ted Kummert! Special thanks as well to the entire Madrona team, AI2 team, the UW Foster MS Entre team, and the Geekwire team for nurturing the Seattle startup community and entrepreneurs like me.