Female Founders: Jodi Daniels of Red Clover Advisors On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Doug Noll
Invest the time in clear communication to team members. The more time spent upfront explaining the task and goal at hand makes whatever end deliverable or project goal much simpler and smoother for everyone involved.
As a part of our series about Women Founders, we had the pleasure of interviewing Jodi Daniels.
Jodi Daniels is Founder and CEO of Red Clover Advisors, a privacy consultancy, that simplifies data privacy compliance, helps companies build trust with customers, and serves as the outsourced privacy officer for organizations. Jodi is a national keynote speaker, co-host of the top ranked She Said Privacy / He Said Security Podcast, co-author of Wall Street Journal & USA Today best selling book Data Reimagined: Building Trust One Byte at a Time.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
I started at Deloitte as a financial statement auditor and after 5 years decided I did not want to be an accountant anymore. The next decade I held multiple roles ranging from finance, strategy and targeted advertising at two very large companies. When a new self-regulatory framework came out in the online advertising industry, I was responsible for our compliance. I found it fascinating and was looking for something new to do and pivoted to privacy. At that time with no specific privacy laws in place, I became the company’s first full time person dedicated to privacy. After building their privacy program for three years, I switched to a large financial institution and focused on AI, privacy, and marketing in their digital activities.
After 19 years of various roles, I was still trying to figure out what fulfilled me and was looking for something with more flexibility. That’s when I decided it was time to venture out on my own. In 2017, I started Red Clover Advisors and began consulting with companies to help them comply with privacy laws such as GDPR, CCPA and as of this article now we have more than 14 state privacy laws passed. We’re just getting started with the growth of new AI laws that companies will also have to adhere to and privacy and AI are finding themselves at a significant intersection.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
My husband and I have survived co-authoring a best selling book, Data Reimagined: Building Trust One Byte At a Time and also co-hosting a weekly podcast, She Said Privacy/He Said Security. Many people think we work together as we do a lot of thought leadership including conferences and webinars but he is an attorney at a large law firm. Our dinner table conversations do center around privacy and security quite often! Just ask our kids about personal information and data breaches!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
Perhaps not the funniest but my kids do think its amusing that I commonly wear yoga pants and a fun top & jewelry matched with fuzzy socks as my feet are always cold. If I can work remotely why not be comfortable and presentable? Sometimes I’ve been known to show off my cute animal fuzzy socks on video calls.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
I really can’t pick just one person! I’ll lump family into one bucket as my parents taught me about believing in yourself to be an entrepreneur and the value of a strong work ethic to achieve my goals. My husband really encouraged me to start the business (we still refer back to “that dinner at Seasons 52”). He constantly reminds me on the really hard days that despite the challenges this is the best way for me to maximize my skills and the happiest I’ve ever been! I have had incredible mentors who supported me and have been willing to question my thinking.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
Starting a company is hard work and most do not earn revenue from day 1. A company needs to make investments in sales, marketing, inventory, and potentially R&D. Without savings or investment from an outside source, it can feel like an uphill climb to be successful. Sources of funding are limited to traditional banks, angel investors, venture capital (VC), or friends & family. All of those have various upside and downside risk and investors & VC money tend have a lower investment rate in women. Also those sources tend to like software companies so for any woman starting a business not in tech, there are less available sources. Knowledge of financial resources available is not widely known.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
Colleges & Universities should create alumni programs to support their women entrepreneurs. They can work alongside many of the companies in their community to provide mentorship and opportunities to partner on smaller projects. Companies should also create opportunities to support women owned organizations by enhancing their supplier diversity programs and partnering with organizations like WBENC.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
Women influence 70–80% of purchasing decisions. Women approach marketing, sales, product development, customer service, and building company culture differently than me. If companies more closely represent their customer, they build products, services and experiences that reflect their interests. Women founders can take advantage of this opportunity and fill the void in the market.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
Many people think that being a successful founder requires you to be in tech or have a product based business. There are plenty of very successful service based businesses that just do not receive as much media attention as the “hip & trendy” SaaS platforms.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
Being a founder requires significant resilience. It’s an emotional roller coaster of the highs and lows. Especially in the beginning, founders play just about every C-Suite role possible. As the company grows, now the founder has to find the right teammates and ensure the culture stays the same. Someone who loves the thrill of building something, no matter the challenge, will persevere because they believe in their mission so strongly.
What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?
1 . Growing is not a straight line. Sometimes companies need to pause on growth or even take what feels like a step back to focus on people, process, or technology. With that right foundation, then it can move forward. Sometimes the growing is in the maturing internal operations which doesn’t get as much glamour as increased revenue and people.
2 . Hire experts right away. Founders want to save as much money as possible and in the process take advice from friends or just dive into purchasing products or services without proper research. What seems like a cost savings in the beginning can cost thousands later. Expert services are worth the investment.
3 . Double the patience you think you need. Everything seems to take longer than as a founder, we want it to. Sharing the end goal with the team plus having more patience will minimize the frustration and still ensure a good outcome.
4 . Don’t let perfection get in the way of starting. As someone who cares so much about branding and the customer experience, do not risk perfection over putting something in the marketplace that can be improved over time. There is a good chance if you wait, your competition will put it out there instead.
5 . Invest the time in clear communication to team members. The more time spent upfront explaining the task and goal at hand makes whatever end deliverable or project goal much simpler and smoother for everyone involved.
YOUTUBE Video link: https://youtu.be/y8wzxt430Yg
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
Our world needs more kindness. In each action, our team is kind and respectful to all our clients and in each of their communities. I spend my free time active in the organizations that my kids are involved in to help raise kind, thoughtful and respectful people.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Teaching kids and adults what it means to be a thoughtful digital citizen including how to discern if information is accurate. Social media has encouraged people to share information without determining the harm it could cause to someone and if the information is accurate. We live in an era where information is created at an unprecedented rate and in which that information may or may not be true. With the rise of AI, the risk of perpetuating false information whether text, audio or video is even greater. We need to teach people how to be skeptical so they do not perpetuate inaccurate narratives. The next generation of kids will be incorporating AI into their daily lives and need to be taught the basics of what it means to be a digital citizen.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
Amy Porterfield! I have been admirer of her business, her content rich approach to making a complex topic simpler, and her friendly and helpful style. I been a longtime listener, recommend her podcast and content often, and would love the opportunity to connect with Amy.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
About the Interviewer: Douglas E. Noll, JD, MA was born nearly blind, crippled with club feet, partially deaf, and left-handed. He overcame all of these obstacles to become a successful civil trial lawyer. In 2000, he abandoned his law practice to become a peacemaker. His calling is to serve humanity, and he executes his calling at many levels. He is an award-winning author, teacher, and trainer. He is a highly experienced mediator. Doug’s work carries him from international work to helping people resolve deep interpersonal and ideological conflicts. Doug teaches his innovative de-escalation skill that calms any angry person in 90 seconds or less. With Laurel Kaufer, Doug founded Prison of Peace in 2009. The Prison of Peace project trains life and long terms incarcerated people to be powerful peacemakers and mediators. He has been deeply moved by inmates who have learned and applied deep, empathic listening skills, leadership skills, and problem-solving skills to reduce violence in their prison communities. Their dedication to learning, improving, and serving their communities motivates him to expand the principles of Prison of Peace so that every human wanting to learn the skills of peace may do so. Doug’s awards include California Lawyer Magazine Lawyer of the Year, Best Lawyers in America Lawyer of the Year, Purpose Prize Fellow, International Academy of Mediators Syd Leezak Award of Excellence, National Academy of Distinguished Neutrals Neutral of the Year. His four books have won a number of awards and commendations. Doug’s podcast, Listen With Leaders, is now accepting guests. Click on this link to learn more and apply.
