Female Founders: Tracie Wagman Of ColdVentures On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder

An Interview With Vanessa Morcom

Perfectionism can be the enemy of progress for entrepreneurs. You can get so bogged down in the pursuit of making things 100% perfect and mitigating every possible risk that you fail to actually ship anything and achieve forward momentum.

As a part of our series about Women Founders, we had the pleasure of interviewing Tracie Wagman, CEO and co-founder of ColdVest.

With over 25 years of corporate experience, Tracie Wagman is an entrepreneurial executive who has founded, bought, built and exited numerous businesses internationally across digital, retail and media sectors. She previously launched major brands like Hendrick’s Gin and was CEO of the women’s app TWRL before its acquisition. Most recently, Wagman has mentored founders while serving as a CXO-in-residence at Columbia University Tech Ventures.

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’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit and I’ve never been afraid to take risks or pivot when a new and exciting opportunity presents itself. While I started my career in more traditional corporate roles in telecom and consumer marketing, I had a calling to work with products and services that could positively impact people’s lives, like the TWRL app for young women. The pull towards innovative consumer products is what led me to create and launch ColdVest, the only portable heat stroke treatment. I saw an opportunity to apply my experience to a product that can prevent heat stroke, a potentially fatal medical condition that affects millions globally each year, and I knew that this was something that I had to be part of.

Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?

It’s eye-opening to learn just how widespread and dangerous the issue of heat stroke really is. While we tend to think of it as an acute risk in certain situations like athletic events or for the elderly, the data actually shows that it affects people of all ages and backgrounds more frequently than most realize. And with climate change, the problem is rapidly growing worse each year. Seemingly routine activities like yard work and being outdoors can quickly turn hazardous. Hearing first-hand accounts from people who have experienced heat stroke themselves or had loved ones suffer serious consequences has really driven home the urgency around getting preventative products like ColdVest to market quickly.

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?

Early on, we got a bit overexcited about potential ancillary markets and use cases beyond our core human heat stroke prevention focus. For example, we explored developing a version for canine heat stroke, which is legitimately an issue for military and police dogs. But we quickly realized it would be a huge detour that could distract us from our main mission. It taught me an important lesson about not chasing every possible opportunity and remaining laser-focused, at least initially, on executing your primary plan. Trying to be all things to all people is a common pitfall for startups. There will be time for expansion later, but first you must nail your original value proposition.

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’ve been incredibly fortunate to work with the same core group of talented, supportive colleagues for many years now across various ventures. We’ve been through the startup grind together before, and there’s no substitute for having that shared experience and bond of trust. Entrepreneurship can be an emotional rollercoaster, so having a rock-solid team around you is invaluable. We know each other’s strengths and can be brutally honest, but also pick each other up after setbacks. At this stage in our careers and lives, we chose to work together on ColdVest because we deeply believe in the mission, but also because we just genuinely enjoy the chemistry and dynamic we’ve developed. That positive team energy is a huge motivator day-to-day.

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?

While it’s an oversimplification, unconscious bias from predominantly male investors undoubtedly hinders women founders, rooted in cultural norms discouraging their entrepreneurial ambitions. Even when starting companies, women face uphill battles accessing male-dominated funding, networks and resources. Investors subconsciously evaluate opportunities differently, asking women more defensive risk-mitigation questions.

The solution isn’t telling women to change, but for investors to address their own biases through training, accountability, elevating women partners and reevaluating how they source and support diverse founders. Getting outside insular networks to identify the best ideas regardless of gender unlocks valuable innovations. Facilitating more women entrepreneurs requires long-term, concerted effort — both ethically right and good business.

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?

New regulations help, but proving financial success is the most persuasive. Individuals should actively champion women entrepreneurs through investments, introductions and elevating their stories. Investors must implement comprehensive bias training, recruit women as decision-makers and reexamine pattern-matching approaches that exclude non-male founders. Visible role models inspire future generations, so media framing and entrepreneurial education curricula are impactful. Governments can direct capital, resources and supportive policies around issues like childcare. Ultimately, maximizing women’s entrepreneurial potential requires a sustained, holistic effort driven by consistent advocacy, reallocating resources and highlighting proof cases over the long marathon.

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 possess many valuable qualities that are well-suited for entrepreneurship and they tend to be strong leaders adept at fostering loyalty, negotiating skillfully and building cohesive team environments — all vital founder skills. Having an ownership stake allows women to create their own trajectories somewhat outside traditional corporate hierarchies. It’s an avenue to amplify their voices and realize bold visions by captaining their own ships. Seeing more women founders also means more diverse perspectives, experiences and problem-solving approaches flowing into the entrepreneurial ecosystem, breeding innovation. With perseverance and the right support structures, increasing female entrepreneurship unlocks tremendous creative and economic potential.

What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?

A major myth is that founders live a glamorous life of independence and control. In reality, entrepreneurship is an extreme grind requiring immense sacrifices. The emotional highs are intense, but the lows can crush your spirit. And we’re far from being our own boss — we’re beholden to investors, customers, employees and the intense pressures of keeping the business afloat. Autonomy is overstated — we answer to everyone with a stake in the company. The truth is founding companies demands resilience, humility and experience across all ages.

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?

Not everyone is necessarily suited to be a founder — it requires a very specific psychological profile and skill set. Key traits include a high risk tolerance, resilience in the face of frequent setbacks, comfort with ambiguity and a never-ending font of determination. Successful founders don’t let their egos get in the way of making tough decisions or seeking help to counterbalance their weaknesses. Those who thrive on routine, avoiding stress or need constant reassurance may find the extreme uncertainties of entrepreneurship too psychologically taxing. Those lacking vision, inability to inspire a team and an overcommitment to initial ideas tend to struggle. Self-awareness about strengths, mindset fit and knowing when to pivot or defer to others better suited for certain roles is crucial.

What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why?

1. Coming from a background primarily in software/tech, I severely underestimated the challenges of manufacturing a physical product like ColdVest. Things I took for granted like seamless iteration, quick updates and digital distribution went out the window. Manufacturing involves navigating complex supply chains, sourcing physical raw materials, managing quality control, inventory logistics and more. Like many companies, we started production in China to reduce costs. However, we quickly ran into major hurdles around communications barriers, delays, compliance issues and lack of transparency in the supply chain. After struggling for months, we made the difficult decision to reshore manufacturing to the U.S. While more expensive, it allowed us to find the right long-term partners we could develop close working relationships with and have much tighter control over every aspect of production. It was a hard lesson, but vital for ensuring product quality and our ability to scale.
2. As a founder, you have to overcome the instinct to try doing absolutely everything yourself. Early on, I stubbornly tried building our website and digital presence solo, thinking I could save money. But I quickly got in over my head — it was taking forever, looked amateurish, and conversions were painful. Finally, I had the self-awareness to accept that I was out of my depth on web design/development and needed to find professional help. Your time and energy as a founder is precious. You have to be ruthless about identifying which tasks are mission-critical for you to own and which non-core activities can be responsibly offloaded to specialists. Trying to be a renaissance person who wears every hat is a surefire path to burnout and suboptimal results.
3. Perfectionism can be the enemy of progress for entrepreneurs. You can get so bogged down in the pursuit of making things 100% perfect and mitigating every possible risk that you fail to actually ship anything and achieve forward momentum. The 80/20 rule — “ when you may be able to launch at only 80% completion “ — has been invaluable for me. Of course, there are areas like product safety where cutting corners is unacceptable. But for most business activities, releasing a “minimum viable” iteration and getting real user feedback to improve upon is far better than overengineering something in a vacuum that nobody wants. Done is better than perfect. You have to be willing to put imperfect prototypes and drafts out into the world.
4. No matter what role or scenario, you are always selling as an entrepreneur. To your board. To investors while fundraising. To potential customers, partners and employees. To the media and general public shaping perceptions of your brand. The ability to lucidly articulate and evangelize your company’s vision and value proposition is a make-or-break skill. If you cannot compellingly convey why your idea matters and deserves people’s time/money/mindshare, it will be impossible to acquire the resources to fulfill that vision. Entrepreneurship requires relentless salesmanship every single day.
5. Despite the immense progress made, there is still a lot of work to be done in dismantling systemic barriers and unconscious biases that disproportionately hold back women entrepreneurs and founders. From the investment community to business cultural norms, the deck is often unintentionally stacked against women in ways that can be easy for men to overlook or dismiss. Things that may seem innocuous like patterns of speech, ways of asserting themselves or promotional efforts can be evaluated differently through an unconscious male lens in a way that undercuts women’s credibility and ambition. As both an ethical imperative and a way to unleash valuable innovations, we must be intentional about creating more inclusive playing fields.

How have you used your success to make the world a better place?

At its core, ColdVest embodies my entrepreneurial spirit. I recognized an untapped potential to leverage my background in consumer-centric innovation for a vital cause and ColdVest emerged as more than just a product — it became a conduit for impactful change. ColdVest is driven by a fundamental goal: to save lives. Heat stroke, a condition entirely avoidable with timely intervention, remains a key concern. Our focus lies in ensuring that our solution reaches as many people as possible, reducing avoidable fatalities.

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.

If I could catalyze a movement, it would revolve around fostering empathy and understanding in our interactions. Too often, our responses to differences are driven by fear, leading to conflict and division. By promoting the idea that reactivity often stems from underlying fears, we can encourage individuals to approach disagreements with compassion and curiosity. This shift in perspective has the power to transform how we engage with one another, fostering empathy and building bridges instead of barriers. Through education, dialogue and intentional efforts to understand each other’s fears, we can cultivate a more harmonious and inclusive society.

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.

I admire Melinda Gates, Mackenzie Bezos and Laurene Powell Jobs for their compassionate leadership and genuine desire to make a difference. Their female perspective and use of their resources as mentors inspire many women. They leverage their socioeconomic status to advance causes with empathy, making meaningful impacts on the world and I think we can learn from each of them.

Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.

About The Interviewer: Vanessa Morcom is a millennial mom of three and founder of Morcom Media, a performance PR shop for thought leaders. She earned her degree in journalism and worked for Canada’s largest social enterprise. She can be reached at vanessa@morcom.media.