Kwiri Yang_E34: Elevating Startup Founders [8/15/2021]

posi2ive

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posi2ive

3 min readAug 15, 2021

Kwiri Yang, Founder at Second Time Founders in San Francisco [8/15/2021]

Note: References with links are listed at the end of the show notes.

https://anchor.fm/posi2ive/episodes/Kwiri-Yang_E34-Elevating-Startup-Founders-8152021-e15vf6q

INTRO:

1:00 Shares her background as a Founder, and growing up in Vanuatu. She also shares her Founder journey as a young person, starting a candy venture. She also shares her ambitions to be a professional Equestrian. She shares more about her early experiences growing up in a place with plenty, and how it affected her impact journey. Also shares her experience immigrating to the US, and motivation for starting a company in sustainable-tech.

SECTION1: Founder Journey

17:00 Talks about building 5 companies, and how she looked for purpose in her serial entrepreneur journey. She shares how there wasn’t a great support system for her as an early Founder — e.g. staying healthy. She also talks about wanting to do more for impact, and realizing her own potential.

20:00 We talk about self-awareness, and her personal discoveries running a non-profit and exiting two startups she founded. She shares the failure of a blitz-scaled startup she was working with. And discusses nuances surrounding personal foundational needs, while her former startup was growing. She points at OKRs creating a focus away from self-awareness, in the experience. We talk about the experience of burnout in this startup’s shut down.

SECTION2: The Coalition

27:30 Shares the origin story of Second Time Founders — creating transparency and sharing tribal knowledge through peer sharing. Shares ideas around idealism and creating positive impact, and how education platforms have not changed in the traditional education space. Shares the experience moving to Silicon Valley, and how many resources are available. And talks about the dinner series she hosted, which led to her current venture.

32:00 Talks about exclusive versus inclusive communities, and how her organization focuses on experience as a deciding factor of people invited to join. Shares details of the exited Founders they support, and how challenge-sharing and peer support can be great for leveling up to scale with personal balance.

SECTION3: Summit and Retreat

36:00 Shares details about how Founders meet in a safe-container — and how Executive Coaches help in building a constructive environment. Talks about Conscious Leadership and personal growth, with a focus on Entrepreneurs who have led before.

37:00 Discusses how first-time Founders are in a war zone. There’s a discussion around giving away power to investors, and where expectation may misalign — creating through curiosity rather than through fear. Talks about the difference between how tactics are taught, versus what actually is. She shares the attachment of self-identity to startup success, as one of the core aspects of misalignment in newer Founders.

SOURCES:

-Kwiri Yang: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kwiriy/

-SECOND TIME FOUNDERS: https://secondtimefounders.com/

-Vanuatu: https://www.britannica.com/place/Vanuatu

-Happy Planet Index: http://happyplanetindex.org/

-Vanuatu: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vanuatu

-Blitz-scaling: https://www.blitzscaling.com/

-Entrepreneurs’ Organization: https://hub.eonetwork.org/

-YPO: https://www.ypo.org/

-Instructions for Doing “The Work” (Byron Katie): https://conscious.is/excercises-guides/instructions-for-doing-the-work-byron-katie

-The Work (Byron Katie): https://thework.com/faqs/

-Dianna Chapman (Executive Coach): https://conscious.is/team/diana-chapman