Leap Academy with Ilana Golan - Former Managing Director of Facebook India, Kirthiga Reddy: How to Seize Life-Changing Opportunities

Episode Date: January 14, 2025

Kirthiga Reddy’s legacy is built on bold decisions and breaking barriers. Defying cultural norms, she became a top engineering graduate in a society where her mother was denied an education. After moving to the U.S., her career soared, until she took a 40% pay cut to join a startup. That gamble led her to become Facebook’s first employee in India, scaling revenues to millions. She later made history as SoftBank Investment Advisers’ first female partner. Now, as CEO of web3 startup Virtualness, she proves that reinvention and boldness drive transformative growth. In this episode, Kirthiga joins Ilana to reflect on her career transitions and the power of embracing challenging ventures. Kirthiga Reddy is a technology leader and growth-stage investor with over 20 years of experience. She was the first female Investing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers and served as Managing Director of Facebook India. In this episode, Ilana and Kirthiga will discuss: (00:00) Introduction  (02:01) Excelling Academically Despite Limited College Options (03:37) Turning Gender Bias Into a Drive for Tech Empowerment (05:37) Moving from India to the US to Further Her Education (07:58) Landing a Job in Silicon Valley (10:24) Choosing a 40% Pay Cut for the Big Picture (15:21) Joining Facebook India as Its First Employee (18:40) How Kirthiga Helped Drive Facebook’s Global Expansion (23:13) The Transition from Facebook Exec to Venture Capitalist (30:33) Transforming WeWork Into a Profitable Business (32:12) Redefining Digital Verifications with Verix (35:57) Living by a “No Regrets” Policy (38:15) Kirthiga’s Relentless Drive for Growth (40:16) Why Bold Career Moves Are Worth the Risk (42:20) How to Get 100 Free Verix-Verified Certifications (44:11) The Power of Lifting Others as You Rise Kirthiga Reddy is a technology leader and growth-stage investor with over 20 years of experience. She is the CEO of Virtualness, an AI-powered blockchain platform, and served on the Board of Directors for WeWork. Kirthiga was the first female Investing Partner at SoftBank Investment Advisers, managing a portfolio of over $5 billion. She also served as Managing Director of Facebook India, scaling operations across South Asia and emerging markets. Connect with Kirthiga: Kirthiga’s Website: https://kirthigareddy.com/  Kirthiga’s LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kirthiga  Resources Mentioned: Verix’s Website: www.verix.io  Leap Academy: Ready to make the LEAP in your career? There is a NEW way for professionals to Advance Their Careers & Make 5-6 figures of EXTRA INCOME in Record Time. Check out our free training today at leapacademy.com/training

Be curious, be bold, be hungry and explore different opportunities. Kirtika Reddy, she was the first employee from MetaIndia and managing director for India and South Asia. Facebook was really important as a stepping stone. I had the opportunity to build one of their four global operations centers that now serves their 3 billion plus users. She was also the first female investment partner at SoftBank, where she led 1 billion of new investments. A lot of people think you need to have a really big bank balance to be able to do

investing. I've had people who invested $3,000. And now you're the founder of Virtual Nest and AI powered blockchain platform. A lot of people in Anna asked me, how do you know when is the right time for the next thing? And my answer is actually pretty simple. The VC world is not easy to break, especially sorry as women. How did you break in? Today we have a story about many firsts. Kirtika Reddy, she was the first employee from Meta India and Managing Director for India and South Asia, in the heart of the country, going digital and mobile, like incredible.

She was also the first female investment partner at the 130 billion Softbank Vision Fund, where she led 1 billion of new investments. And now you're the founder of Virtual Nest and AI powered blockchain platform, which we will talk about. But Kirtika, you grew up in India. Tell us more about your family, your life there. Take us back in time, if you will. Sure. Elana is so excited to be here and so excited to connect with your wonderful audience.

My journey growing up in India, I actually moved every few years. My father was not in the army, not in the Navy. He was with the same company for 30 years. My mom thinks he has a travel bug. My husband thinks I inherited the travel bug. But what that did was, as one of my business

school professors said, it might be a brutal childhood, but makes for wonderfully adaptable adults. And that I'm bringing really gave me a lot, Elana. I remember when I was applying for my engineering degree, my parents said, if there is an engineering university in the neighborhood, that is where the girl child would go to. And when I wept and said, but why can't I apply to some of the higher rated universities? My father said, Ketika, you can go to an incredible university and do nothing with that opportunity, or you can make the best of what you have. And Ilana, fast forward, I actually graduated with the second rank in the university,

which included some of these other colleges that I could not have applied to because they were far away. And that was a very important tenet of making the most of the life of the cards given to you, making opportunities there. They might almost seem that opportunities don't exist, Ilana. So create your own luck, basically.

Be all in and create whatever you can from what you have. And I think this is a theme in your life, which we see again. Again, we'll talk about that. Do you know where the hints of leadership and entrepreneurship started coming up for you? I would have to say, sticking to the childhood theme, when I saw the rise of what was happening in computing and I began to see the digital divide between people who have access and who do not have access

to a knowledge of technology, I started a computer users club in my college days, where, so this was in my undergraduate days, where we used to go out and teach people who did not have the digital skills so that they could partake in the digital economy. And Elana, that divide, unfortunately, just continues to exist and continues to grow,

even in the midst of this AI revolution that we are in right now. I think a lot about people who even in the midst of this AI revolution that we are in right now, I think a lot about people who are in the midst of AI and how is it that we can also make sure that the larger ecosystem, people across socioeconomic strata, across demographics can make use of the wonderful advancements in technology. So I think it goes back there.

And a big driver of what I do, Elana is also looking at my mother's journey and that of mine. My mother did not have the opportunity to finish her high school degree because her parents said, you only need enough math to do the grocery bill. And by the way, her brother finished

her postgraduate degree. So it wasn't that they didn't understand the value of education. And there was a clear gender divide in India at that time. And still many parts is a very patriarchal society. And my mother is wiser and smarter than I ever will be to see the opportunities that were denied to her makes me even more appreciative of the opportunities that I have had. And to be here in one generation where she was denied the opportunity and for me to be on this podcast with you, Elana, gives me a lot of hope and makes

me a huge optimist about the change one can drive. Such a beautiful, inspiring story. And you decide at some point to go across the ocean to do your masters here. First of all, that's a very bold move and it's not easy. Take us a little bit, what came with that? How did you move to the US? How did you get along? Growing up, I was told that I had many career options. I could be an engineer, a doctor, or a total failure. That was what

society... Me too. You know, luckily, I loved engineering and I loved being able to see a problem statement and see how I could apply technology to solve it, which led to my undergraduate degree in computer science and engineering. And then I wanted to pursue my master's, fascinated with the kind of research that was being done in the United States and some of the really fine institutions here. And I decided I wanted to do my master's in the United States.

I went to my parents, said this is what I wanted to do. My father beamed and said, it will be a matter of pride for the family, the first person in the family to go abroad. I will figure out finances and I will figure out how we make it happen. My mother beamed and said, very supportive, but just one condition, get married and then do whatever you want to do. Then started to search for the perfect groom, well-educated, good family in the United States. Ours was actually an arranged marriage. In that process, I found my soulmate, my companion. He happened to be at Syracuse. So I applied to Syracuse, was delighted to be able to be admitted there. My first port of entry into the United States was at Syracuse. I just came

back last week from joining the board of trustees at Syracuse University. And so it was a huge full circle moment again, to think about my entry as a wide-eyed 20 year old, 22 year old, and coming full circle back to the journey that I've been through, the opportunities that have come my way and that I've created and to be there on stage with an incredible group being inducted into the board of trustees. I love when those circles come along and you can kind of force to see the past and your journey through that past. So you take this bold move, take us a little bit because that's not again, I remember moving here, maybe slightly older than you, but suddenly all my advantages suddenly become disadvantages. I'm just like, oh my God, like I used to, you know, I was so proud of all the things

that I achieved and suddenly, you know, it wasn't that a big deal. My English wasn't great. My network isn't there. Take us a little bit landing here, starting your education here. What was the experience like? On one hand, Ilana, there were a lot of new things. I saw snow for the first time, all nine inches, in one hour. This is Syracuse.

I discovered a stack of letters that we were exchanging between friends back there, and we were marveling at things like, oh my God, there's hot water that comes from the tap all day long. It was the monologue about things that a lot of people take for granted, and it's a reminder about what we might think is little things that you don't take for granted. I truly loved the educational environment and I threw myself into the educational environment. It was hard at first to be 3,000

miles away from the country and home as I know it, but very quickly developed friends. And the power of community is so powerful. And anytime that I've given to community, I only get back more. That was what led me to an incredibly enriching educational environment. And I graduated and then promptly came to the Bay Area, which was the place to be for computer roles. It was at Syracuse that we had Silicon Graphics come with their magic bus. Silicon Graphics at that time was what OpenAI is today and the heart of everything exciting going on, the Human Genome Project, the making of Jurassic Park, the landing on Mars.

So I was delighted to be offered a role there. And that was what led to my transition to the Bay Area and Silicon Valley where I've had most of my career. If I remember correctly, you do Silicon Graphics, you work in Motorola, and at some point, you somehow get an opportunity to start Facebook in India. Huge deal in 2010. Take us back there.

How did you even land this? For our listeners, I think a lot of them are very high achiever, very driven, and they're waiting for this like, dream opportunity to fall on their lap. Ketika, what would you say to them? Tell us the story. Two stories there.

One, go back to California. I did a seven year stint on the engineering side, rose very rapidly. One piece of advice that my first manager gave me, Elana, was, Kirtika, focus on the success of the clients that you serve, the organization that you're part of, and the team you're with, and your success as a byproduct. I would say that that framework was extraordinarily helpful for me because suddenly I had a formula for how I could be more successful. I had to make my clients more successful,

I had to make my organization more successful, my team more successful, in that way, my success. So that was a big part of my rapid growth on the engineering side. Then loved the business decisions that I was beginning to make as I was growing in my engineering career, decided to hone on that and then got my MBA at Stanford, which then led to the move to the business side. After business school, again, another important pivot point, Elana, that led to the Facebook role, where I decided to go to a startup on the product management side. Now, when one graduates from one of the top business schools in the world,

the natural path is to get a title race, a job race. Well, I went from being a director of engineering at Silicon Graphics, which was then 9,000 people company, $2 billion, to being an individual contributor, product manager at a startup. That wasn't an easy transition there because I really wanted to go to product management. I really wanted to go to a startup. And by the way, I took a 40% pay cut because this was a startup, which based on the equity side versus on the compensation side. And I remember agonizing moments where I said,

is this going to look really bad on my resume? I was a director of engineering. I went to Stanford and then I'm an individual contributor. When I spoke to my community, and I especially remember talking to Jenna Rich, who runs Rich Talent Group, where she said, if this is a short term move, don't do this. But if this is a company you believe in,

this is a function that you really are passionate about and a space that you're excited about, what you have done will help you rise quickly and it will not matter. And sure enough, Alana, if you look at my LinkedIn, you will read Director of Engineering and then you will see Director of Product Management because I did rise very quickly. But what you will not see is a zigzag. And so I think it's really important for leaders to know that life is not necessarily this corporate ladder. It truly can be a jungle gym and enjoy the moment and think about the long term versus the short

term. I think this is such an important point. Sometimes when we only look at the titles, only look at the pay, we forget the big picture of what are we actually trying to create? What are we trying to leap into? What is the big picture? What do we believe in? I just talked to Howard Beer, the ex-president of Starbucks, and he said the same thing like he needed to start, you know, from moving from leading thousands of people to starting, you know, a site that then suddenly became like the president of Starbucks. We talked about traveling and I want to go there for a second. Before we go back to your career, we talked about Everest Base Camp and we love traveling. We both love mountains, I think, you know, And again, never climbed Everest, only saw some movies,

got to the base camp, that was enough for me. But in Everest, you actually go up to base one, go back down, base two, go back down. So you actually need to go back down to be stronger and be able to go higher up. And I think in our career many times times we're so afraid of going back that we forget that that actually where some of the opportunities may rely. So Kirtika, I love that.

I didn't want to stop you, but I thought that's really important for our listeners to understand and really absorb. So yeah, take us there then. And it's such a beautiful analogy of the mountain. It is a zigzag as you go to your P. I often say, Elana, as I look at jumping back into the startup with Verix, which we will get to as well, there might be people who say, Oh, she had such a big role at Softbank and now she's going back and she's

starting again. Like what is she doing? And I often say that's a question many might have. Three years from now, they'll say, ah, I know what she was doing and I know what she was building. Five years from now, they'll say, oh my God, she was total genius. And that is the path one has to go through while you do what you do and you keep your long-term vision in mind. But take us still to Facebook because I think it's just still fascinating.

I went to the startup after business school. The startup got acquired by Motorola and it was with Motorola that I had the opportunity to go back to India to run one of their divisions there. At Motorola and at my previous startup, I was able to go to India almost every quarter because we had a team in India. I saw how quickly the country was growing. The thought that would come by my mind was, oh, there are so much happening there. Is there a way to contribute to the nation building on that side of the ocean? So when I got this opportunity with Motorola, it was the best way to do it.

A company that I love, people that I love, a product that I deeply cared about. Made the transition across the ocean with my wonderfully supportive husband and two young girls who were three and five. Loved being back in India. We thought we were going for a year and a half assignment, but as these stories go, wanted to stay on longer. Then as we get to creating opportunities, I then reached out to Cheryl Sandberg, the chief operating officer at Facebook through a business school classmate. I shared my love for Facebook, my love for India, because Facebook had become the primary way that I reconnected with my friends back in India, kept in touch with my community back in the United States. So I shared with her my passion for the opportunity to build Facebook in India.

We explored a few different roles then decided to keep in touch. It was almost a year later, Ilana, that Facebook announces intention to open its office in India. When I spoke to Cheryl, they did not have a physical presence in India. So we started the conversation. There was a brutal interview process where it felt that everyone, their brother, their sister, everyone wanted that role because it is an incredible opportunity. And I was really humbled to be offered the role to be the first employee for Facebook in India and the managing director for India and South Asia.

And we talked about creating your own luck. Like you literally, you know, created your own path with this. You were not afraid to hustle. You were not afraid to hustle. You were not afraid to make it. And I think together with that, there's an element of patience that is also needed. And I think sometimes as high achievers, really driven, we don't want to be patient. We want everything yesterday. Right. But you're not realizing that the patience is what's actually going to eventually work.

Again, you're not going to procrastinate. You're still going to push. You're still going to do things. But the patience is a bliss, right? Like a lot of things happen after a while. And these are the connections that you create. I love that, Kritika. 100% in terms of patience.

Often it's a matter of how much you want it, how much you're willing to work for it. You always want it six months a year before it actually happens, but just staying the course gets you there. And if it's something that you're truly passionate about and are willing to put in the work to do it, just stay the course. I so agree. So you have this big success on Facebook. I would love to hear a little bit of how do you then jump to the VC world, right?

Like for me, the VC world is such a closed environment. It's not easy to break, especially sorry, as women. How did you break in? So the career journey with Facebook was really important as a stepping stone to my transition to investing because at Facebook I had the opportunity to build one of their four global operations centers that now serves their 3 billion plus users, had the opportunity to build India revenue, Asia-Pacific revenue, grew that to several hundred million dollars. And Ilana, in that too is a story,

and I'll come back to your question on Softbank, on when I started with Facebook, the role was to run an operations organizations. And there are two stories in there. So one, a lot of people ask me, oh, you come from a product background and an engineering background. Typically, we see people making a move from the operations side to the product side, but you're going from the product side to the operations side.

Why would you do that? To which I said, for a company like Facebook and the mission of giving people the power to share and making the world more open and connected, I would do any role that is the most critical role for them. So not being fixated on this is the role was also important. And equivalently, I appreciate the fact that the other side took a bet on me. I'd never really built a large operations organization

before, but they recognized the talent, the hustle, the drive, the ambition, and the ability to learn. And they took that chance. So I think a lot about that in terms of, again, we as leaders, who are we taking a chance on and who are we taking a bet on, which is a really important thing for us to keep in mind. I want to stop here for a second. I think this is such an important piece. I, as a leader, will always prioritize hunger and drive versus skills. Like I always believe that in most cases you can teach the skills, but if you don't have the hunger and drive, you can't instill that.

And I think it's just really important for our listeners to understand that, like, if you show up energetic, hungry, driven, it's amazing what's possible for you. I mean, this is just such an important point. But on the hunger drive passion and just showing up, the other story that comes to mind is, I had the opportunity to join the board of Stanford Business School

and shared the Stanford Business School Management Board. And similarly, I've had people come up to me and say, so how does that work? How does one get to being the chair of Stanford Business School Management Board? And I tell them, it all started with me having to organize chips and salsa for three people. And it is a very true story because I volunteered to be the chapter chair for Stanford Business School in Bangalore. We had seven alums there, and so at any one point of time, three people would show up. By the way, I then decided if I'm doing all this effort, I'm going to do a top MBA mixer.

Some of the friends that I met from that time are still some of my closest friends today are investors in my company. It's just beautiful how that comes together. But as part of that, what happened was when the Dean of Stanford Business School visited India, given my volunteer leadership role, I had an opportunity to spend a lot of time with him, which eventually led him to invite me to join the board and then led me to be the chair. So what you just said, it is about showing up for things that you're passionate about. When I started, I certainly didn't have any idea

that that is what it would lead to. It was that pure passion that drove me. So sometimes, especially for an over-optimizer like myself, where I think about, oh, every minute, am I making the most of my time? Sometimes you just have to go with the flow, coward space for things that it's your heart's calling and, you know, dots connect in the hindsight.

So another important part of my life's journey. So did that came back to the United States. When my girls were starting high school and middle school, we said as much fun as we were having in India, if we ever had to come back, that was the right time to come back. By the way, both my girls told us that we are ruining their lives by bringing them from India to the United States. So parents in the audience, that happens too. Five years later, they don't tell me that. Maybe five years from now, they'll thank us, but I'm

not holding my breath for that. So came back to headquarters, did an emerging markets role with Facebook here and worked with Brazil, Mexico, South Africa, Indonesia, the Middle East, loved every single day of my time there. And then as I came up to that two-year mark after I came back, I really recognized that I was missing the building, the growing and scaling. A lot of people in Anna asked me, how do you know when is the right time for the next thing? And my answer is actually pretty simple.

When I am thinking of something more often than not over the week, where I'm thinking, ah, I miss this, I miss this, I miss this, I just use that as a signal to listen to myself and say, what am I going to do about it? All of us have passing thoughts. Oh, do we want to do this? Do we want to do that?

Many, many passing thoughts. But when something becomes a recurring theme and it gets louder and louder, it's time for one to look at that. So two things happen. So one, I was missing the building and growing. Two, it was at a meta conference that someone was talking about augmented reality, virtual

reality, and they said, in the United States, 95% of your FaceTime with your child is done by the time they leave for college, and hence you need augmented reality and virtual reality. My heart stopped at the first part of that sentence, which was 95% of your FaceTime with your child is done by the time they go to college. And I realized that I had two years more with my older daughter. And that stat kept playing on my mind as well, but I woke up every day saying, oh my God, like one day less, one day less.

So Elana, what I decided to do was to actually take an all life, no work break. Anyone who called me after Facebook, I said, I'm taking a break. I actually thought that I was going to go be a CEO, CEO of an early-stage startup after Facebook. This is important from why did I then go to the investing side? Because when I left Facebook, that was what I had in mind. I fully endorse for people in their journeys to take these mini-career breaks because it gives you time to think, to explore, to also spend time in different areas that you might not have the opportunity to when you're so hard-core, deep down, working on a specific role.

So after Facebook, during my all-life, no-work break, I actually did start a seed fund with six other female Facebook executives. A lot of people think about that as a mystery. They think you need to have a really big bank balance to be able to do investing. I've had people, Alana, invest in my company who invested $3,000. I did in my current company and it was an oversubscribed 8 million raise. So the 3,000 didn't make a difference, but this was someone who was a first-time investor up and coming, and I wanted to make sure that

she has a seat on my cap table. So, I would encourage people to start that journey in investing and know that you don't need to have enormous means to be able to participate in company building. Part of that journey and the relationships that I've built over my Facebook stint was what led me to, actually as I was having conversations with investors on portfolio companies, where a few of them asked me whether I would consider investing full-time.

And I definitely think that the work that I did on the Seed Fund, my angel investing record had a role to play. When SoftBank asked me that, and in particular, Deep Nishar, who was a managing director at SoftBank, someone I'd known over the decades, admired a lot of decisions become about people. And this was someone that I really wanted to work with. And so it felt like yet another once in a lifetime opportunity,

and so started the journey at Softbank. I think there's two elements that you said that I think I want to make sure the listeners get it. In Leap Academy, we are huge on experimentation, right? Like we somehow experiment with startups, but we don't experiment with our careers. And I don't know why, and that should be a norm. So from time to time to run some experiments, check things out, takes a little bit of gaps, see what comes from you, invest a little bit,

see if you like it, join some boards, use some advisory. Like there's amount that you can learn from trying things, volunteering to things. Just the amount that you can learn about yourself, about what your passion, about what you want to do, is just so incredible. And then at the end of the day, it's all bound to relationship and being very strategic with your networking and how you build your brand. I love it. And I just want to make sure everybody understands these steps

because there's literally like engineered steps that to get the clarity, to build your network, to build that reputation, and to just keep on going. It's just beautiful to watch you. As I look back in hindsight, it actually wasn't that intentional, but what you see is so important is if you can then be intentional and just parse out what happened and what were those stepping stones. Again, it is so important.

And on networking, I often say, build relationships, and networking is those stepping stones. Again, it is so important. And on networking, I often say, build relationships and networking is a byproduct. Seek to give, and you just realize that you almost get back more than you give. It's all about people. And I have to ask you, so again, you somehow get this opportunity in SoftBank, which is, I mean, it's probably a dream for everybody, right?

I do want to tell a little bit how this experience was for you, but also if that's okay to touch it, because a lot of people know WeWork, seen maybe the Netflix movie about it. I wanna hear a little bit about your experience with a turnaround and getting into such an account that is so visible, that has a lot of. I personally love WeWork.

I think they did disrupt a big part of the market and how we see work. So I personally, I'm actually kind of a fan. I know that there is a lot of noise in the system and I, you know, not getting there. But I think what they created overall is a whole different experience that we didn't quite have as startup founders. But I do want to hear your take on getting into something so visible. Now we are a year and a half into my soft bank journey. With that, back to our first conversation of grit and hustle, it was a lot of learning.

It was probably the steepest learning curve in my career. And the fact that in a few decades into my career, I can still say that is something that I take great excitement in. And I hope I say that to you 10 years from now and 10 years from now, because I truly believe that my best is yet to come. A whole amount of learning where I'm going from social media advertising to the first few sectors that I looked at were quantum computing, additive manufacturing, mental wellness, and I led SoftBank's first investment in each one of these areas.

It was learning about the art and craft of investing everything from what does Harry Pasu mean, what does senior Lick Trev mean, and very, very grateful for my teammates, both within SoftBank as well as a whole tribe and communities like always, what they do to invest and build the next generation of diverse investors.

So tap into communities like that is also an advice. Tap into Leap Academy, tap into all of the other communities to help you make the transition into your career. So had seen investments, my seen companies go public, follow on investments and was approached by Marcelo Plore, who was a key part on the SoftBank side as SoftBank.

And we were working out these steps from the failed IPO transaction. And Marcelo and SoftBank invited me to be on the board because they wanted someone who had seen large scale, large brands, global operations, and wanted to tap into that part of my expertise for the business turnaround that was to come. I love the mission. I deeply appreciate the cultural elements, the work efficiency that WeWork provides to each of the clients that it serves. And having built many offices and opened seven offices when I was in India, if I had a WeWork then, it would have been so much faster.

So I resonated with the problem statement. The company brought on a new CEO, Sandeep Mathrani, who had had a history of turnarounds. So all of the ingredients of the turnaround were in place. And it was truly both to see that playbook at WeWork, as well as to see that the board, while they're coming together with that joint mission of the turnaround, was an incredible journey for two years. So I stayed on the board a year after I left SoftBank as well and and saw the company get to a bit of profitability

in that last quarter, as I then transitioned from the company. And it's still one of my favorite places to work at. And now you decided, and I'm sure that's not an easy decision, but to go to the complete other side and to actually become your own co-founder and CEO and virtualness. So talk to me about that transition because again, it's sometimes harder or easier, but I'm curious what you're going to say to jump or leap when you actually are very comfortable. You're in a comfortable place.

You have the prestige. You have the prestige. You have the status. And to some extent, you know, when we're founders, we're a little bit of a beggar versus, you know, the behemoth that can get anybody on board. So talk to me a little bit about that transition. I'm curious about it for you, Krithika. It goes back to my algorithm of if I'm thinking about something more often than not, I have

to pay attention to it. So now three years into the soft bank journey, having deployed a billion dollars, seeing companies like IonQ, which was a quantum computing company, go public, see companies that I've invested in, gotten strong follow-ons. And truly being around entrepreneurs all around me, every day, the entrepreneurial bug and the calling kept increasing. And as I saw what was happening in the world of AI, what was happening in blockchain, I felt that there was again, this massive technology transformation that I wanted to be on the building side of, which caused that jump and it's never easy. None of these decisions are easy. All of these decisions have come with

sleepless nights. So I think for everyone just knowing that that's part of the course, sleepless nights and not knowing that will always be the case. So getting comfortable with being uncomfortable and making your decision based on how you prioritize. I personally think, Ilana, sometimes I think about, what is the most difficult thing I haven't yet done? That's what draws me. Entrepreneurship, it was. We first started, my co-founder and I,

who I've known from my Facebook days. We go back over a decade. We met when we still had a business center office at Facebook. We have built a lot together. We have won together, lost together, had many challenges, opportunities. It was a perfect foundation for us to be building a company together. And so we first started with saying, can we solve the creator monetization problem, where creators get a lot of distribution on platforms like Facebook, like Instagram,

but how is it that we can also help amp up the monetization? And the bet we were making that with blockchain, you have for the very first time the ability to have an authenticated digital asset. So can we help that be the bridge to helping them monetize? And we had hundreds of creators who had 100 billion plus followers on the platform. What we saw very quickly was enterprises wanting the same kind of authentication verification that our AI powered blockchain platform would give. And so today, Elana, from that starting point, we have made our B2C business to consumer model to a B2B model shift.

And we serve the likes of everyone from a Netflix to an Amdocs to badging Guinness World Record members. And very, very excited about being that authentication verification layer for skills, accomplishments, products, and are excited about defining the future of verification. We want to be just like Intel inside was the standard. How is it that we can be the Verix verified standard for skills, accomplishments, work, education, and more? Can you share a very challenging moment? Because everything seems so easy for you, right? You just leap from one to another and you're just all successful.

So can you share a challenging moment that kind of like you needed to catch yourself and how did you get around it? So many challenging moments come to mind. Tell me one or two. I think the listeners would love to hear that. Elana, I would actually say while what all that I said felt easy, going from being director of engineering to being an individual contributor, taking a 40% pay card, it's actually not easy.

And there are several times that you second guess yourself and say, was this right? was this not right? It is not until things play out, now three, six years from that decision, whether it is right or not. That's one example. Two, my Facebook decision. If I rewind back during business school,

I remember I had the opportunity to interview with Google, and this was pre-IPO. And I went for the interview and I walked out saying, ah, how big can a search engine really be? So there are many missed opportunities along the way. So when the Facebook opportunity came about, I knew that I was seeing the same kind of signals and the engagement, and I

was going to go all out. My view of life is to have a no regrets policy. It's all about what you can learn from that and what you can do differently. So maybe that is part of what makes it seem so easy, but there are certainly, yes, I should have got that opportunity, but what can I do with it in the future? How is it that we can have a forward looking orientation and move forward? Some of the biggest challenges come from the parenting side, where Cheryl writes about it in her book, about how guilt management is just as important as time management. And the constant, am I giving enough time to my children, my work?

Am I doing a disservice to all? Is also a challenge that one goes through. Absolutely true. Do you think that traveling or sports or whatever, do you think that helped you become the leader or the pusher, the driven person that you are today? Or how do you see the connection? I definitely think that the growing up, the moving different places and knowing

that it's all okay, as much as my, I would really miss my friends from the previous environment, knowing that, especially now with technology, it is so much more easier to even keep in touch with them as then I build on the new set of experiences is really important. And my drive comes also from seeing the Delta in that one generation where my mother did not have

the opportunity for education to me now being in this place where I have the opportunity to have this conversation with you, some of the clients that we get to work with, the kind of work that we get to do with them is quite phenomenal. From a challenges perspective, I would say the flip side of that, Elana, is just that over-optimizing side of things where every minute I'm questioning,

am I making the biggest impact that I can? Is this the best use of time? Just setting that voice to rest. No one asks me to do this, but for better or worse, I think about all female founders and feeling that I have to be successful for all female founders, even on the investing side, that, oh my God, I have to be successful for all female investors. Sometimes my coach says, okay, like give yourself a break there. So those are some of the challenges that one handles on a day to day. Thank you for being open about it, because it's never as easy as it looks.

I'm the first to admit it. And it's true that there's a little bit of a layer that sometimes we take on our shoulders more than we need to. We take the whole world on our shoulders. But if you look back, what would be an advice to your younger self? Would there be some kind of thing that you wish somebody told you earlier in your career? I would encourage people to explore, be open to new opportunities. The memory that comes to me is during my undergraduate days, I had the opportunity to go be an entrepreneur

and where someone had said, I need you to help us with the hospital management system. Can you help me with that? But that whole concept of entrepreneurship was so foreign at that time. My father worked for one company for 30 years. And the thought in my mind was, oh, I have to study. I have to finish my undergraduate education.

I have to go get a job. I often reflect back to, I should have been more open. And how is it, especially in these days, how can people really be open to different opportunities? And coming back to my entrepreneurial journey, now it's almost, it's never too late. Fine, I didn't do it in my undergrad days, I can do it now. So it almost comes full circle back.

So that's my advice is be curious, be bold, be hungry, and explore different opportunities. And stats say that Gen Z will have five to seven careers in their lifetime, not jobs, five to seven careers. I'm not Gen Z, but I've had the opportunity to have that engineering sales leader, operations leader, investor. And there are certainly people who are very focused on one function and love that function and we need them to be very successful, but give yourself the opportunity to explore different interests. A big thing that we're looking at in Leap Academy is

that people do reinvent themselves and leap to different function, different responsibilities, different industries, whatever it is, even within the same companies, but they still need to adapt all the time. So reinventing yourself and leaping is becoming one of the most important skills for the future of work. And you're going to need to do it again and again all the time. So I just love that you said that. Be curious and be bold. And you actually are offering first certifications on Verix for free.

Can you talk a little bit about it? So if our listeners are listening, like how did they get it? How did they jump on the wagon and how did they reach out to your company or to you? If you go to www.verix.io, you have a sign up form, and that, if you mention Leap Academy, we will make sure that we give you your first 100 certifications free that you can give to your organization. And by the way, these are not your old, boring, static, fakeable certificates. These are AI-powered blockchain certificates.

You can share it on LinkedIn. It can be globally verifiable with a click. Alana, when we do it for you, we'll make sure we have a message from you that is part of the certificate that becomes a part of that. Keep safe that people can look at a year from now, a 100 years from now, and know that they're already part of this very special experience. Please go to www.verix.com,

a very special offer just for the listeners here. If you're looking at your president's sales club, if you're looking at your employee of the year, there's so much that is not credentialized and as such has less value. And especially in this world of AI, more and more people are demanding proof of accomplishment. So do it for that.

If you offer courses, if you do awards, if you want to certify skills, come talk to us for that. You're amazing. I just love having you. I can probably chat with you about travels and Nepal and other things for hours, but thank you for coming and for sharing your incredible career journey. I mean, I know we're gonna see each other with very extend beyond, but I'm just rooting for you.

Alana, I'm very excited to be here. And I think a key message, what you do and what is so important, I think for both of us, among all of our other interests, is the lift as we rise concept. So pay it forward, build community. And even if I think about my journey at SoftBank on the investing side while I was the first female investment partner, not the last investment partner,

we had two others by the time I left. So ended a lot of as proud as I am of the investments. I'm just as proud of the work on the diversity side. So thank you for what you're doing to help all executives all across the globe. Your best.