👋🏽 This is for the builders.
The how-to manual for founders who don't fit the conventional mold but have bold futures to build, who are always, a work in progress.
Hi there - my name is Avni. I’m a founder of a tech start-up, Milo, that’s working on making everyday parenting lighter. Before that I founded Poppy, a company whose mission was to build the modern village for every family.
The past 6+ years have been a journey in leaving a successful corporate career to start over in tech, the challenges of building a tech company as a female, solo, non-technical founder (pretty much all the things conventional Silicon Valley will say is the kiss of death), the heartache of building and growing and shutting down a company and then, of starting again. Of being dismissed by investors, of being funded by Y Combinator (twice), of recruiting the right team and finding the right investors.
Through all this, I’ve learned so much - about fundraising and solving problems, about building products and building teams. Throughout it all, I’ve been passionate about enabling more female and underrepresented founders to become the builders of the solutions to their own damn problems.
And, throughout it all, one of the most gratifying experiences has been the opportunities to pays it forward. In the hundreds of conversations I’ve had through YC founder chats or HBS EIR office hours or female founder mentorship, I’ve realized 2 things:
The themes of the questions are the same - so I want to figure out a way to share what I’ve learned to not just the few that I end up being able to talk to, but the many that have the same questions and worries and challenges and might be in every far flung corner of the world.
We don’t have enough voices talking about how female founders or underrepresented founders go about building. Especially mamas. Especially non-technical folks. Especially those that don’t live in SF. Outsiders. We need voices from the outside to balance the cacophony from the inside.
I want to be super clear - these thoughts are just a reflection of my experience and my point of view, which by definition is narrow and specific. I share them to give you something to consider. Frameworks to evolve your own thinking, your own gut and instinct.
Where you net out might end up being very different from where I do. It’s your vision, your company, your call. Above all, I hope you remember this, in the face of all the doubters, the “experts”, and the rest.
None of what I share is meant to be the or even a right answer. There is never a right answer in entrepreneurship or any creative endeavour. Hell, I’ll even go so far as to caveat that I reserve the right to change or evolve my own POV on any of these things as I learn more.
What I want to say to you: I see your ambition and your conviction and your fierceness. This is just a bit of what I learned in my journey and I hope I can pay it forward by sharing to founders of the future like you.
Let’s go build the futures we want to live in 💪🏽.
-avni