[bctt tweet=”“You can take the entrepreneur out of the start up hustle, but you can’t take the start up hustle out of the entrepreneur.””]
Jessica Kim is the co-founder/CEO of ianacare on a mission to equip, educate, and empower family caregivers to navigate long-term care for loved ones. Her drive to create solutions for the millions of people navigating this complex journey comes from her own experience of caring for her mom who fought a seven-year battle with pancreatic cancer. At the age of 19, she started Jessica’s Wonders, a baked goods company, out of her college dorm room. She raised $1M in funding her senior year (with braces) and grew it to national distribution. She then went to work at Kraft Foods in brand management. In 2008, Jessica founded BabbaCo to invest in the future of parenting by helping families spend quality time together through subscription activity boxes. BabbaCo was acquired in 2014 by Barefoot Books, where she served as President for two years before becoming an Entrepreneur-in-Residence at CRV (Charles River Ventures). Jessica was honored as Crain’s Top 40 under 40 and currently serves as a Venture Partner at Praxis Labs, the inaugural EIR at Brown University, and an advisor to several startups. Jessica graduated from Brown University and received her MBA from Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management. She lives in Boston with her three young children and husband, Peter, where they are actively involved in their Highrock church community.
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Shareable Insights
From Podcast Action Journal
Jessica gives the following advice to new entrepreneurs:
When it comes to your vision, you don’t need to have a background or a ton of experience. Sometimes all you need is someone who knows a bit more than you. We often think it must be a famous expert to move forward, but that’s not the case.
It’s also important to find people who believe in your vision just as much as you do.
(10:25-12:18)
When it comes to your vision, you don’t need to have a background or a ton of experience. Sometimes all you need is someone who knows a bit more than you. We often think it must be a famous expert to move forward, but that’s not the case.
It’s also important to find people who believe in your vision just as much as you do.
(10:25-12:18)
What advice would you recommend to new entrepreneurs?
How important is it to have others who believe in your vision?
When it comes to conversations about women, or any kind of minority group, in leadership, every single person involved needs to be invited to the table. Many times in women’s leadership discussions, women are only speaking to other women. That is not how culture is changed.
There are men and women involved, and the conversation needs to happen between both groups, working together to come up with solutions and listening to each other’s input. Assumptions are made when you don’t know the other side.
(33:12-34:19)
There are men and women involved, and the conversation needs to happen between both groups, working together to come up with solutions and listening to each other’s input. Assumptions are made when you don’t know the other side.
(33:12-34:19)
Do you agree with Jessica’s opinion about minorities in leadership?
