Being a Woman CEO

by Sandhya Iyer

Geek Girl Careers, the startup I currently lead, was founded by my father when I was starting off at Syracuse University. In high school, I’d had many interests — writing, fashion, travel. I loved meeting new people. But I had a hard time figuring out how to turn those interests into a college major, and eventually a career path. I ended up majoring in public relations and marketing at SU, but my dad wanted to build a platform that would make it easier for other young women like myself to discover careers that aligned with their passions, skills and personality.

And that’s how Geek Girl Careers was born. Today, the platform has helped over 300 young women find careers in tech where they can gain and contribute the most value. With our unique personality assessment, network of industry experts and job/internship opportunities, we’re working to broaden the definition of “tech” and bring more representation into the industry.

I wrote blog posts for Geek Girl Careers when I was in college, but the moment I graduated (this May) and got the chance to take over the company full-time, I knew I had to do it. I’ve only been the CEO for four months, but I’ve already learned a ton. Here are some of my biggest takeaways so far:

1)Stop Seeking Perfection

This was especially hard for me. I’ve always been a perfectionist, and I was reluctant to start marketing the GGC platform publicly when I knew it could be improved. But that’s the nature of tech and startups. Nothing will ever be perfect, so once your product works, you send it out and continuously improve it.

2) Everyone’s Schedule is Different

I used to feel guilty when reading about leaders who seem to work without breaks or late into the night on a regular basis, when I sometimes take my mornings slow or set aside time to unwind. But everyone works differently — productivity isn’t measured by the number of hours you put in, but rather by how efficiently you allocate your time.

3) You Can’t Do It Without a Team

There are always 10,000 things that need to get done, and you can’t do it alone. Having a team is SO important, but make sure you recruit people who are passionate about your company’s mission and are willing to put in the time to make it successful.

4) Share Your Accomplishments

I’m not one to post frequently on social media, so I hesitated to regularly share Geek Girl Careers updates. But I realized that my team was putting a ton of time and effort into making these big things happen for our company, and we were so proud of the work that was being done, that we had to share it. If you don’t broadcast the work your company is doing and impact it is making, who else will?