Sarah E. Brown - Lead Upwards: How Startup Joiners Can Impact New Ventures, Build Amazing Careers, and Inspire Great Teams

SARAH E. BROWN

Copyright 2022 by Sarah E. Brown. All rights reserved.

Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.

Published simultaneously in Canada.

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Library of Congress CataloginginPublication Data is Available:

ISBN 9781119833352 (Hardback)

ISBN 9781119833376 (ePDF)

ISBN 9781119833369 (ePub)

Cover Design: PAUL MCCARTHY

Dedicated to Erin Rand, Colleen Blake, and Matt Harada, whose tremendous leadership examples, support, and friendship have profoundly impacted my career trajectory. Also, in memory of my late grandmother Zelda Lipman, who taught me the power of lifelong learning and unconditionally believing in people, including oneself.

So, why haven't you been an executive before? It looks like you were qualified years ago.

The venture capitalist's remarks were part of his due diligence in determining whether the earlystage startup he invested in should hire me for a marketing leadership role. But upon hearing his backhanded compliment, my heart sank. While I was grateful for his affirmation that I was qualified to be considered for the position we were discussing, it made me wonder: why had I waited when my resume suggested I had enough experience for a startup executive position years earlier?

Fast forward several years later, and I'm a vice president of marketing at an earlystage venturea startup executive. That conversation with the VC was a wakeup call, motivating me to learn how to transition from midlevel manager to department leader, which I have done thanks in great part to the support of my executive coach, friends, my CEO, and peer network.

In hindsight, I didn't aspire to become a startup executive earlier in my career because I didn't know it was possible. I didn't understand what qualifications were required or which skill gaps I might need to address. I knew that there was a startup leadership tier I wasn't yet part of, but I didn't know how to reach it. I was also unable to picture myself as a startup executive, with so few role models in the industry who were like me, an openly LGBTQ+ woman. Lack of visibility does make a difference and can be a selfperpetuating cycle.

Although we've seen progress in recent years, the technology industry is still overwhelmingly homogeneous at the leadership level. At the time of publishing, nearly half of all startups don't have a single woman on their executive teams.

Within tech, people of color are fewer and egregiously rare in startup leadership. According to a study conducted by the Ascend Foundation, numbers of Black women in tech declined by 13 percent from 2003 to 2017. Note: for a book specifically focused on the challenges women of color in tech face that includes fantastic resources; I highly recommend Susanne Tedrick's book Women of Color in Tech: A Blueprint for Inspiring and Mentoring the Next Generation of Technology Innovators.

The information technology industry is one of the crucial drivers of economic prosperity worldwide. It is a multitrillion dollar industry. In 2021, the global cloud computing market alone was worth $270 billion. The tremendous wealth and opportunity in technology have been unevenly distributed. Inclusivity at all levels of startups drives economic equality.

I didn't have a great response for the investor all those years ago, but if I could go back in time, I would share these statistics with him (and my younger self), about systemic challenges that historically have led to capable, qualified people from underrepresented backgrounds being underrepresented in startup leadership. I would have also thanked him for inadvertently pushing me to see myself as the kind of startup leader I'd always wanted to be but didn't believe was possible.

Early in my career, I developed a passion for B2B SaaS and the cloud and its promise to provide tremendous value to businesses and users across the ecosystem. I've been a B2B SaaS marketer ever since. More than a decade later, I still love the space and feel grateful to be a part of it. At the time of publishing, I've had the privilege of being a marketing leader at five startups that have been sold for more than $300 million combined.

Along the way, I became interested in improving diversity and inclusion throughout our startup ecosystem. I founded an LGBTQ+ technology group called Flatirons Tech in Boulder, CO, which is part of the NCWIT Affinity Group Alliance and partners with startups and global technology companies like Google, Splunk, Twilio, Twitter, Workday, and other technology companies to increase tech inclusion across the Front Range and beyond. I've also become a mentor at Techstars, a global accelerator with more than $19 billion in market cap, and Backstage Capital, which funds and champions founders from underrepresented backgrounds. Both organizations aim to increase inclusion within the startup landscape. I've discovered a calling supporting joiners from underrepresented backgrounds, and helping us achieve our best careers and lives possible within the startup ecosystem.