Podcast: COO Lilian Chen on She Conquers Capital Podcast
Our co-founder and COO Lilian Chen joined Stefanie Diaz of Zane VC on She Conquers Capital to discuss how to instill trust in your remote team, fundraising strategy as an early-stage profitable company, and seeking out investors who are in it with you for the long-haul. Listen to the podcast here on Apple podcast or here on Spotify.
Culture and connectivity impacts productivity
While productivity levels haven’t been impacted with remote work, employee morale has been extremely hard to manage. As employee morale decays, this will have direct implications on the quality of work over time. Focusing on culture is a must and even more important in the remote world! Instead of having every single meeting on your calendar focused on work-related agendas, create a space for co-workers to check in on each other in an informal setting. This can mean a fun game that includes space for small chat (such as Bar None Games!) or a virtual coffee chat.
The decision to focus on growth and scaling before raising outside funding
With Lilian’s previous background in venture capital and her co-founder Spencer Fertig’s background working at many venture capital-backed companies such as Uber and Great Jones, thinking about raising venture capital funding for Bar None Games was a natural consideration as Lilian and Spencer built the company. Ultimately, Lilian has observed many companies raise venture capital funding at valuations that are outsized relative to where they are from a revenue or profits standpoint, which can have negative long-term impacts on the company. They’ve chosen to focus on continuing to build a product that customers love and grow and scale the company to get to metrics that justify the valuation they desire.
Finding investors who are the right fit for you
When fundraising, trust is also an important characteristic to look for in your relationship with your investors. The investors who are the right fit are buying into the founders, and even if you are navigating an ever-changing industry, the investors should trust that the founders are able to adjust and respond to the industry dynamics.
