006: Rejection, Creation, and Building a Unicorn Company with Suneera Madhani
Oct 5, 2023
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Suneera Madhani, founder of Stax Payments, discusses building a billion-dollar business, women's empowerment, and facing rejection. She emphasizes the importance of perseverance and execution in achieving success as a creator or business owner.
Breaking down big goals into small steps is crucial for achieving success.
Women entrepreneurs face significant challenges when raising capital due to biases and systemic issues.
Overcoming rejection and embracing the numbers game are essential in building a business.
Deep dives
Building a Business with Small Steps
The podcast episode emphasizes the importance of breaking down big goals into small steps. It suggests that instead of trying to go from point A to point Z, creators should focus on going from A to B and then from B to C. This approach highlights the significance of taking small, achievable actions that eventually lead to big goals being accomplished. It encourages creators to be patient and persistent in their journey, knowing that big goals are made up of small steps.
The Challenges of Raising Capital for Women Entrepreneurs
The podcast episode sheds light on the struggles women entrepreneurs face when raising capital. It highlights the disparities in funding opportunities between men and women, with less than 2.3% of venture capital investments going to women founders. It discusses the biases and systemic issues that contribute to this inequality, making it harder for women to secure funding for their business ideas. Despite these challenges, the episode encourages women entrepreneurs to persist, to showcase their revenue, customer base, and the potential of their businesses to overcome the gender-based obstacles.
Overcoming Rejection and Playing the Numbers Game
The podcast episode emphasizes the importance of overcoming rejection and embracing the numbers game when building a business. It encourages creators to seek out rejection and use it as an opportunity to learn and improve their strategies. By getting comfortable with rejection, creators can push through and ultimately turn rejections into yeses. The episode also highlights the need for creators to connect with their audience and customers personally, through events, calls, and meaningful interactions, in order to gain valuable feedback and insights.
Navigating the Journey of Exiting a Business
The podcast episode explores the challenges and emotions involved in the process of exiting a business. It touches on the decision-making involved in walking away from a business that was built from the ground up, highlighting the hard work, passion, and dedication that goes into building a successful company. The episode also emphasizes the importance of understanding the different exit paths available, and the need to plan and strategize for the eventual exit of a business. It encourages entrepreneurs to study the industry, competitors, and potential exit options to ensure a smooth and successful transition.
Building a Business as an Asset
The podcast episode discusses the importance of viewing a business as an asset that can be built and eventually exited. The speaker emphasizes the need to think beyond the present and consider the long-term sustainability and value of a business. They highlight the potential consequences of not treating a business as an asset, such as losing value when the owner no longer wants to be involved. The episode also shares personal experiences of the speaker, who sold a majority stake in their business to private equity, highlighting how they still had obligations to the business even after taking some chips off the table.
Building a Community and Balancing Priorities
The podcast episode explores the journey of building an audience and community, starting from sharing personal experiences on Instagram and evolving into a podcast. The speaker discusses the challenges they faced when their online presence was seen as a distraction by investors and others. They share the importance of building meaningful relationships and valuing currencies beyond tangible money, such as time and the impact on others. The episode also touches upon the speaker's relationship with money and the struggle to balance personal values with financial decisions. Overall, the episode emphasizes the importance of consistency and perseverance in building a business and making an impact.
Discover what it really takes to build a unicorn company with another dope creator, Suneera Madhani. Suneera started Stax Payments from nothing, scaling it to become the fastest-growing fintech company in America, before exiting at over $1 billion in revenue, and 500 employees. Suneera’s all about women’s empowerment and showing that People of Color can build billion-dollar businesses, and she loves sharing her story so others like her can see what’s really possible for them.
