Having worked in private banking for more than 13 years, Taryn Andersen created Pluribus United Foundations in 2011, along with 15 private foundations, with the aim of creating synergies between them. After that, I decided to leave banking to pursue a career as an entrepreneur. She has served as a mentor at Startup-Bootcamp since then, as well as the Investor Relations Director at THCAP Venture Capital since 2016. Taryn co-founded Impulse4Women to combine her love for mentorship and investing. She became aware of the challenges that many female entrepreneurs have when it comes to obtaining funding and wanted to address this issue in order to positively affect their future.
Below are highlights of the interview:
Tell us more about impulse4women.
An international non-profit organization, Impulse4Women was born in 2017 as a business-matching and startup investing platform for female-led startups and social impact projects. Our mission is to connect female lead tech founders and social impact entrepreneurs (both male and female) with investors who can help their businesses grow and thrive. Our matchmaking platform depends on sector, maturity, geographical location, and economic need. We believe that a focus on business investments promoting gender diversity and social impact will lead to superior investment performance. Operating both online and offline, Impulse4Women offers Webinar Sessions, Podcasts, Mentoring Sessions, Pitching Sessions, Online and Offline Events, and Grants Communications. Our services are completely free for startups, and we support startups at every life stage, from MVP to IPO, in order to equip them with the tools and skills they need to take their businesses to the next level and successfully secure investment opportunities.
Why did you choose to become an entrepreneurship expert?
I didn’t choose to become an entrepreneur at a particular moment. I was very comfortable in my position as an investor, and when we decided to start with Impulse4Women as an NPO, we didn’t expect to grow so quickly. We were really covering a need in the market and were giving support to so many startups. We only started by doing this from a financial perspective. Since my co-founders and I came from an investment background, we knew it was easy for us to support lead female tech entrepreneurs and target both their strengths and weaknesses in order to help them access investment opportunities. In this way, Impulse4Women was born out of serendipity.
What are your responsibilities as the founder of the company?
As CEO at Impulse4Women, I have to make decisions on a daily basis, think about business strategies, and work out how to implement them to ensure the best chance of success for our projects. The key is to identify the criteria of what we are doing, how we are doing it, and how it works. I set clear short-term objectives in order to understand the direction of the company and how we can progress in our entrepreneurial journey, looking into the future. I ensure I am aligned with my team and always support them. As a team, we work in tandem and make decisions together in order to achieve company objectives and be successful in our projects. In addition, I make sure that our business model is working as best it can, ready to make any changes and adapt if necessary. By learning from mistakes and remaining professional and competent, we can make it happen and, ultimately, succeed.
What have you failed at and how do you overcome challenges?
When I moved from the private banking sector, I became a partner in a horse racing betting company, where we owned a racetrack in Sevilla. I really failed with my partners and never did due diligence with them. It was a real disaster because no one knew exactly what their role was, and the company didn’t make anything at all. I started to move to the technology sector, where I was able to see which startups were adding value to our racetrack and betting company. This is when I began to curate and scout for those technologies that could help us. There I met some people in venture capital and decided to work for THCAP VC. I liked that they were investing in the United States with European investors/LPs.I really enjoyed the team, structure, mindset, and fun strategy. Today we have a track record that you can evaluate how far we’ve come.
Kindly describe how you will specifically know what success looks like for you. And what has been the best recognition that you have received as a professional?
For me, the most important thing is that success is not based on an individual but a community and a team. Businesses cannot achieve anything without a good team. A team made up of open-minded, motivated, and respectful individuals is central to success. I always think that a diverse team is the most successful team. Realizing that it is impossible to know everything makes you understand the power of your team’s success. When it comes to success in entrepreneurship, this stems from knowing when something is working and when it is necessary to take steps to pivot and make crucial changes. Successful people overcome obstacles and use them to their advantage, thriving when things are difficult.
My best recognition started when we were developing Impulse4Women and I was asking people for their time and knowledge. All those supporting Impulse on our advisory board are amazing, with very high value-added professional careers and backgrounds. They all wanted to be part of our venture, give their time and knowledge, and share their own experiences in order to encourage female entrepreneurs and social impact projects. That, for me, was a really important recognition.
What advice would you give to the next generation of leaders?
Before you kickstart your startup, it is important that you identify the real needs of your client and the problem you’re solving for them, so as not to waste time and money. This means you have a clear idea of what your aims and goals are when selling your product or service to customers. You should also make sure your business has room to grow and develop. Networking and having good business relations and a supportive team is crucial to growing a company. Everyone needs to believe in the project for it to succeed. Above all, you should believe in yourself, take risks, and seize opportunities. Bravery, resilience, and adaptability are essential.
What are your future plans to sustain the company’s and your success?
We are in a technological revolution, so we need to remain adaptable and up to date if we want to stay successful. Our industry is experiencing exponential growth, so we also need to stay ahead of our competitors. Currently there are more than 11,000 startups registered on our platform. We have a goal to reach 22,000 startups by the end of 2022. In the near future, we want to have more mentoring sessions in different sectors from blockchain and health to foodtech. We are also preparing academic courses on our website for females aspiring to become investors. We aim to grow our platform on both sides, so we have an even more diverse network of startups and investors and increase success rates. In doing this, we can be positioned as a reference in the market for female lead tech entrepreneurs and social impact projects. Above all, we need financial support so we can grow our team and technology and continue to offer our educational services to help and empower startups.
Website: www.impulse4women.org
