{"id":2077,"date":"2024-10-10T09:53:50","date_gmt":"2024-10-10T09:53:50","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/thec100.org\/staging\/staging\/?post_type=the-news-detail&#038;p=2077"},"modified":"2024-12-05T07:12:08","modified_gmt":"2024-12-05T07:12:08","slug":"get-to-know-the-charter-members-who-joined-in-2021","status":"publish","type":"the-news-detail","link":"https:\/\/thec100.org\/staging\/blog-posts\/get-to-know-the-charter-members-who-joined-in-2021\/","title":{"rendered":"Get to Know the Charter Members Who Joined in 2021"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Who is a C100 Charter Member you ask? In short, they are some of the most exceptional senior leaders in tech who not only have demonstrated remarkable leadership and accomplishments in their respective fields but who also hail from the Great White North. That\u2019s Canada if that wasn\u2019t obvious.<\/p>\n<p>Get to know the seven Charter Members who joined C100 in 2021 <strong>David Baga <\/strong>(CEO, Even), <strong>Jen Lee Koss <\/strong>(Founding Partner, Springbank Collective), <strong>Andrew Lindsay<\/strong> (SVP Corporate and Business Development, HubSpot), <strong>Jack Newton<\/strong> (Founder &amp; CEO, Clio), <strong>Michele Romanow<\/strong> (Co-Founder &amp; President, Clearco), <strong>Joanna Lee Shevelenko <\/strong>(General Partner, f7 Ventures), and Benji Shomair.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"w-richtext-align-floatleft\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.prod.website-files.com\/61f30e0cfa7aa909a4edaa65\/61f30e0cfa7aa95b90edb3f7_1*RIzW44nNzustHlLv0zDdhg.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>David Baga<\/h2>\n<h4><strong>CEO at Even<br \/><\/strong><em>San Francisco Bay Area<br \/><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/davidbaga\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/justbaga?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Originally from:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>Surry, B.C.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Favourite Canadian activity:<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>skiing in any of the BC mountain ranges.<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Canadian leadership in one word: <br \/>\u200d<\/em><\/strong>Gracious.<strong><em>\u200d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The piece of advice that drastically shifted your perspective: <\/strong> when I learned the idea of mission-driven businesses. You can have a business that is a net positive on society and that also is a great business.<a href=\"https:\/\/c100.createsend1.com\/t\/j-i-fkjxll-l-b\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>\u200d<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/c100.createsend1.com\/t\/j-i-fkjxll-l-b\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>David Baga<\/strong><\/a> joined Even as CEO in March 2021. Even is an \u201con-demand pay\u201d startup that \u2018evens\u2019 out paychecks for workers to give them financial stability and flexibility. His career spans enterprise and consumer businesses at all stages, from ideation to billion-dollar run rates all the way through to IPO. Prior to joining Even, David was COO at Lightspeed Venture Partners, which he joined in 2019 as Chief Operating Officer. Before Lightspeed, David was Chief Business Officer at Lyft where he built the strategy and division responsible for winning enterprise customers, strategic partners, and city partnerships which grew to be over a quarter of the overall Lyft business. David was Chief Revenue Officer at RocketLawyer and spent seven years at Oracle where he built sales teams that delivered record-setting results.<\/p>\n<p><strong>What do you feel is the most important element for prospective candidates to evaluate when debating on joining a particular startup? How did you come to join Even, RocketLawyer, or Lyft?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We spend so many of our waking hours at work and sometimes that can come at the expense of other important elements of our lives, especially time with the people we deeply care about. Our time at work simply has to be worth it, and the definition of being \u2018worth it\u2019 is different for us all.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>For me, it\u2019s about impact. At Rocket Lawyer, our mission was to make legal services more affordable to all Americans, especially small businesses. At Lyft, our mission was to provide people with the world\u2019s best transportation and improve their access to opportunities. At Even, our mission is to help 25 million people get out of the red by 2025. Each of these companies has a mission that is relatable to me. I could empathize with the people in which the mission was trying to serve, whether it was my parents being small business owners and feeling somewhat shut out of the legal system, or at Lyft where I was looking for alternative transportation and opportunities. I have been in the position of living check-to-check, wondering how I was going to fill the tank, get home, then get back to work each day.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>We live in an abundant place and time in this world, and I can almost guarantee that there is an interesting company working on a problem you deeply care about and the time has never been better with remote work.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Even is the fourth organization that you have joined, entering at a C-Suite level position to a rising company. When you first join an organization, what are some of the most important first steps that you take for a seamless transition?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>When you\u2019re entering a company at any sort of senior level, it\u2019s all about listening and learning. It\u2019s important to create enough time and space to establish trust with people. I take a lot of time to try and understand the things that matter most. Only then do I reevaluate what needs to be added, edited, or removed. For example, if that is culture, there are elements that may be strong and have served the company really well for the phrase that they were at, but how do you add value to that culture moving forward? How do you preserve what is required and what made it special while adding in ingredients that ready the team for the next stage of the journey?<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>One of the characteristics of the best teams is how fast they go through learnings loops. In order to do that, you begin setting expectations for what you might be considering and what the timing might look like. By making changes that are symbolically large but in actuality are micro-adjustments, you are starting to prepping the team for a larger set of changes. These small signals are like mini down payments on future changes that you\u2019re going to make and that eases the fear, uncertainty, and doubt that teams will naturally have when there is a new leader in the building.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"w-richtext-align-floatleft\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.prod.website-files.com\/61f30e0cfa7aa909a4edaa65\/61f30e0cfa7aa92452edb3f8_1*_znhrap9jMEFGL4WN7gcHQ.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Jen Lee Koss<\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Founding Partner, Springbank Collective<br \/><\/strong><em>Norway<br \/><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/davidbaga\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/justbaga?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Originally from:<em> <\/em><\/strong>New Jersey <\/p>\n<p><strong>Favourite Canadian destination or activity: <\/strong>Stoney Lake (where we have a cottage) &amp; playing in a women\u2019s hockey league<\/p>\n<p><strong>Canadian leadership in one word: <br \/>\u200d<\/strong>Balanced<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>The piece of advice that drastically shifted your perspective:<\/em><\/strong><em> <\/em>Be in it for the long game<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jennifer-lee-koss-771a10\/?originalSubdomain=no\"><strong>Jennifer Lee Koss<\/strong><\/a> is an entrepreneur and investor, passionate about supporting, uplifting, and making a change in the lives of entrepreneurs and working families. A founding partner of Springbank Collective, an organization that invests in early-stage companies that are re-imagining work, building the care infrastructure, and creating solutions for working families\u200a\u2014\u200awith a goal of a more inclusive future.<\/p>\n<p>In 2012, Jen co-founded BRIKA, an innovative retail agency focused on creating innovative, curated retail experiences. Previous to BRIKA, she worked in the management consulting, investment banking and private equity. She serves as a board member of both public and private companies in North America and Europe, and in addition, is a Julliard-trained cellist, mother of 4 young children and a graduate of Harvard University, Oxford University, and Harvard Business School.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Springbank collective is focused on \u201cearly-stage investments that focus on the infrastructure that supports women and working families\u201d. Can you share with us more about the origin story of Springbank Collective and how this particular vertical came to be the focus of Springbank\u2019s investments?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I have known Courtney [Leimkuhler] since we were 18 years old and played together on the Harvard lacrosse team, and I\u2019ve known Elana [Berkowitz] since our first day at HBS. In 2018, Courtney and I started talking about the fact that despite an increasing focus on gender lens investing and backing female founders, there seemed to be huge untapped white space when it came to investing in the needs of women and working families in the real economy. As she\u2019s prone to do, Courtney of course did a giant strategy paper on the subject and found some compelling research suggesting there was literally trillions of dollars of opportunity being overlooked. We started calling it the infrastructure to close the gender gap. We realized that our infrastructure thesis was deeply rooted in viewing the gender gap not as a women\u2019s issue per se, but as a systems problem that touched so many different areas from work, to care to home and beyond. Elana is the BEST systems thinker I know and so I reached out to her and found that she was also spending a lot of time thinking about how to use her experience in the policy and impact world to mobilize more innovation in the private sector that would benefit women.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>We started testing our hypothesis and investing together in mid-2019. In May 2020 we launched an investor collective which has grown to about 100 operator \/ angels who invest with us via SPVs deal by deal. In total we\u2019ve invested in 24 companies across the infrastructure themes of care, career and consumer.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>We are also passionate about the ecosystem building work we are doing around gender parity\u200a\u2014\u200awhich includes, for example, building and maintaining the first and only founder network for nearly 200 young companies building solutions in the category of family technology or FamTech.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>What advice do you have for founders (especially women) who are both building great companies while raising a family?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Involve your kids in the madness. I think being really open with your kids about what you are doing is the best way for them to understand the reasons for why you do what you do!<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"w-richtext-align-floatleft\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.prod.website-files.com\/61f30e0cfa7aa909a4edaa65\/61f30e0cfa7aa98dededb3fc_1*7hpqk6-M6r_b-HsEbul6Aw.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Andrew Lindsay<\/h2>\n<h4><strong>SVP, Corporate and Business Development at HubSpot<\/strong><em><br \/>San Francisco Bay Area<\/em><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/andrewmlindsay\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Originally from:<em><br \/><\/em><\/strong>Toronto, ON<\/p>\n<p><strong>Favourite Canadian destination or activity: <\/strong>There\u2019s nothing more exciting than a sporting event that unites the country like the Olympics or the Raptors in the playoffs. I went to Vancouver for the 2010 Olympics when Canada was facing the US in the hockey final and it was an incredible moment of national pride. Similarly, I returned to Toronto when the Raptors were facing the Warriors in the NBA finals in 2019 and it was a week to remember!<\/p>\n<p><strong>Canadian leadership in one word:<\/strong> Conscientious<\/p>\n<p><strong>The piece of advice that drastically shifted your perspective:<\/strong> \u201cThe best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago. The second best time is now.\u201d It resonates as both a call for urgency and as an admonishment against dwelling on regrets.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/c100.createsend1.com\/t\/j-i-fukijhd-l-i\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Andrew Lindsay<\/strong><\/a> serves as HubSpot\u2019s SVP of Corporate and Business Development and is responsible for the company\u2019s acquisitions, investments, and strategic partnerships. He leads HubSpot Ventures, the company\u2019s venture capital organization. Prior to joining HubSpot, Andrew was the VP of Corporate Development at Jawbone. He was previously a consultant with McKinsey &amp; Company and an investment banker with Merrill Lynch.<\/p>\n<p>Andrew is based in San Francisco, CA, chairs the city\u2019s TechSF workforce investment group, and is a Board Member of Asana. He is the Founding Chair of the Center for Digital Business at Howard University. He graduated from Harvard Law School and Harvard Business School with a JD and an MBA and completed an undergraduate BS degree at Howard University.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Last year, you launched the $100M HubSpot Venture CRM Platform Fund, an extension of the HubSpot Ventures Fund launched in 2018. Can you share with us more about this fund and how it came to be?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>It was immediately clear to me when I joined HubSpot in 2018 that venture investing is a natural extension of our mission of helping millions of businesses grow better. Helping scaling companies grow is at the very core of everything we do at HubSpot, starting with our CRM Platform. We launched the first venture fund in 2018 to do equity investments across all stages in customer-focused B2B startups that share this commitment and participate in our ecosystem. That fund was a major success and we doubled-down last year by launching this second fund to increase our size and pace of investments. We invested in sixteen exceptional companies last year that range from seed to pre-IPO and I\u2019m immensely proud of the impact they and all the companies in our portfolio are having on our shared customers\u2019 success.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Last year, you were appointed to the Board of Directors at Asana. What advice do you have for those who are considering joining a BoD, especially for the first time?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>Joining a public company Board is a major commitment and anyone considering it should do deep diligence first. First, ensure that the company shares your view of the future and your values. You\u2019ll inevitably disagree on some issues with the executive team and with other directors\u200a\u2014\u200arobust and respectful debate is essential\u200a\u2014\u200abut you\u2019ll be most effective if you\u2019re all excited about a shared vision for the business and the culture being developed. Second, consider what value you would bring to the Board. Will you bring a new expertise or perspective that\u2019s otherwise absent? Third, have clarity about what you will gain from joining.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote><p>Joining the Board of a public company is a major investment of energy and time and comes with potential liability, so you should make sure you\u2019re comfortable with the benefits in return. It can be immensely rewarding.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"w-richtext-align-floatleft\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.prod.website-files.com\/61f30e0cfa7aa909a4edaa65\/61f30e0cfa7aa9b00eedb3fa_1*bstru1lZLfPkd9mEeBA6Aw.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Jack Newton<\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Founder &amp; CEO, Clio<br \/><\/strong><em>Vancouver, B.C.<br \/><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jackbnewton\/?originalSubdomain=ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/jack_newton?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Originally from:<br \/><\/strong>Toronto, ON<\/p>\n<p><strong>Favourite Canadian destination:<br \/>\u200d<\/strong>Tofino<\/p>\n<p><strong>Canadian leadership in one word:<\/strong> Humble<strong>\u200d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The piece of advice that drastically shifted your perspective:<\/strong><br \/>Steven Blank\u2019s \u201cFour Steps to the Epiphany\u201d and the concept of shifting from a product development perspective to a customer development perspective was truly transformational for me in the early days of Clio.<\/p>\n<p>As the CEO and Co-founder of Clio and a pioneer in cloud-based legal technology, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/jackbnewton\/?originalSubdomain=ca\"><strong>Jack Newton <\/strong><\/a>has spearheaded efforts to educate the legal community on the security, ethics, privacy considerations, and benefits of running a law firm from the cloud. Under his leadership, Clio is bettering the lives and businesses of lawyers while making legal services more accessible and equitable for all through cloud-based and client-centered technology. Jack is also the author of The Client-Centered Law Firm, a #1 bestseller that\u2019s helping law firms thrive in today\u2019s experience-driven era.<\/p>\n<p>Jack is also the host of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.clio.com\/podcast\/season\/daily-matters\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Daily Matters<\/a>, a podcast dedicated to hearing from legal professionals, industry leaders, and subject matter experts about the future of law. In Daily Matters, he explores where the legal industry is headed, how legal practice is changing, and what legal professionals can do to position themselves for success.<\/p>\n<p><strong>When you become one of Canada\u2019s tech darlings (following Clio\u2019s $1B valuation last April), what do you turn your focus to next? How does the game change for you as a Founder &amp; CEO?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I have always had my sights set on building a 100 year, enduring company in Clio. The recognition of being one of Canada\u2019s leading tech companies is a rewarding and humbling acknowledgements of progress we\u2019re making on that path, but we have such a long way to go. One of the most energizing things for me is that my job is changing and evolving every day, so even though I\u2019ve been running Clio for 13 years, I feel like I\u2019ve got a constantly evolving set of challenges and opportunities ahead of me.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>Love that your bio says Juggling four startups: Clio, Ian, Patrick and Isla. It\u2019s a safe guess to say that you are a family man\u200a\u2014\u200ahow do you balance personal\/family life with a rapidly growing company with big ambitions?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I had my first child, Ian, the same year I founded Clio, so raising kids has felt like an inextricable part of my journey of growing Clio. I had a lot of hesitation around having kids at the same time as embarking on the very risky venture of launching a startup, and thought the energy required by both would be all-consuming, and therefore incompatible. However, my amazing wife, Tonia, asked a question that helped settle the matter, which was \u201cif not now, when?\u201d So we went ahead and had Ian, and not long after Patrick and then Isla, and I\u2019ve always found that I get so much energy and renewal from them. I wouldn\u2019t do it any other way.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"w-richtext-align-floatleft\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.prod.website-files.com\/61f30e0cfa7aa909a4edaa65\/61f30e0cfa7aa988c4edb3fd_1*4VaVNMd3_cLRXyOb4th7EQ.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Michele Romanow<\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Co-Founder &amp; President, Clearco<\/strong><br \/><em>Toronto, ON<\/em><br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/micheleromanow\/?originalSubdomain=ca\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a> | <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/micheleromanow\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Twitter<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Originally from:<br \/><\/strong>Calgary, A.B.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Favourite Canadian activity:<br \/>\u200d<\/strong>skiing in Whistler<\/p>\n<p><strong>Canadian leadership in one word: <\/strong>underestimated<strong>\u200d<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong>The piece of advice that drastically shifted your perspective:<\/strong><br \/>You\u2019re the only one who can find your superpower combination of what you\u2019re good at, what the world needs, and what people will pay for. And finding your superpower allows you to find great opportunities where you\u2019ll thrive.<\/p>\n<p>Tech titan <a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/micheleromanow\/?originalSubdomain=ca\"><strong>Michele Romanow<\/strong><\/a> is an engineer and a serial entrepreneur who started five companies before her 33rd birthday. A \u201cDragon\u201d on CBC\u2019s hit show Dragons\u2019 Den, Michele is the co-founder of Clearco, which gave entrepreneurs more than $100M in funding this year.<\/p>\n<p>She previously co-founded SnapSaves, which was acquired by Groupon. Michele was also the co-Founder of<a href=\"https:\/\/c100.createsend1.com\/t\/j-i-fittkjd-l-o\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Buytopia.ca<\/a>, which acquired ten competitors including<a href=\"https:\/\/c100.createsend1.com\/t\/j-i-fittkjd-l-b\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"> Shop.ca<\/a> and WagJag. She\u2019s ranked in WXN\u2019s \u201c100 Most Powerful in Canada\u201d and is the only Canadian on Forbes\u2019 \u201cMillennial on a Mission\u201d list. Michele is a prolific angel investor and the winner of Angel Investor of the Year award. Michele is a director for Vail Resorts, Freshii, League of Innovators, Queen\u2019s Business School and Shad Valley.<\/p>\n<p><strong>2021 was quite the year for the Clearco team, from being the first Canadian deal from Softbank\u2019s Vision Fund to a rebrand that was a testament to the widening product offering beyond capital. With this type of traction, what are you most looking forward to in 2022? <\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We\u2019re excited to meet more founders as we continue to expand across Europe and expand our reach internationally.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>You have been quite vocal about encouraging entrepreneurs to just go for it\u200a\u2014\u200athere is never the right time to start a business. That said, what do you feel is one of the biggest hurdles as to why people don\u2019t start that business and what can they do to overcome that?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>We all have a fear of failure that holds us back. But the quicker you start, the quicker you fail and that\u2019s where your biggest learnings come from. We have to stop thinking failure and success are polar opposites. I have yet to meet an entrepreneur who has not failed. Failure is a by-product of success.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"w-richtext-align-floatleft\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.prod.website-files.com\/61f30e0cfa7aa909a4edaa65\/61f30e0cfa7aa944cdedb3fb_1*D6vRtPyMQCKqDWa8sbPzMw.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2><strong>Joanna Lee Shevelenko<\/strong><\/h2>\n<h4><strong>General Partner, f7 Ventures<br \/><\/strong><em>San FRANCISCO BAy Area, CA<br \/><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/joannaleeshevelenko\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a> <\/h4>\n<p><strong>Originally from:<\/strong><br \/>Mississauga, ON<\/p>\n<p><strong>Favourite Canadian activity: <br \/>\u200d<\/strong>I went dogsledding last time I was home which was pretty fun! Although I have to say that favourite is really going home to my family.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Canadian leadership in one word:<\/strong> Honour<\/p>\n<p><strong>The piece of advice that drastically shifted your perspective:<\/strong> spend time on strengths (for yourself and bringing it out in others).<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/c100.createsend1.com\/t\/j-i-fkjxll-l-p\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\"><strong>Joanna Lee Shevelenko<\/strong><\/a> is currently Founder and General Partner at f7 Ventures, a venture capital firm focused on driving outsized returns by investing in underrepresented founders.<\/p>\n<p>Joanna has over 15 years of experience in the technology sector. She is an experienced Silicon Valley COO (Atrium Legal Technology Services and Premise Data) and one of the first 100 employees at Facebook. There, she built multiple teams from the ground up including user insights, site integrity and content moderation. She also started the Facebook India office and worked on the company\u2019s first e-commerce efforts, growth strategies, and partnerships. After her time at Facebook, she became the Chief Operating Officer of Premise Data (Series C) and later of Atrium (Series B). Joanna also serves on the Board of Directors for MPharma, a health tech company based in Ghana focused on improving access to medicine.<\/p>\n<p><strong>The seven women management team at F7 has collectively grown revenue from $0 to $15B+ throughout their careers; how did this dream team come together to form F7 Ventures?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The 7 of us have had long operating careers and met when we worked together at Facebook. Each of us have either been in investing roles or had started angel investing on our own when it was clear that a) there weren\u2019t many women on the funding side, and b) there were many lessons in our operating careers that could and should be shared with the next generation of builders. We decided that we could accelerate our impact by coming together and combining our skillset to form f7.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>You have extensive experience in building teams from the ground up. What should be kept top of mind for leaders when building out a team that is often overlooked?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>The thing I always keep top of mind is to be endlessly curious. There isn\u2019t a perspective that should be overlooked or dismissed.\u201d If you are curious enough about why someone might have that perspective you either learn something new or you better understand someone on your team. New ideas, better communication, and better products are built out of curiosity.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<figure class=\"w-richtext-align-floatleft\">\n<div><img decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/cdn.prod.website-files.com\/61f30e0cfa7aa909a4edaa65\/61f30e0cfa7aa98c6bedb3f9_1*3gfcxJgWOACutsfxa7zEjw.png\" loading=\"lazy\" alt=\"\"><\/div>\n<\/figure>\n<h2>Benji Shomair<\/h2>\n<h4><strong>Vice President, Commerce Business and Go-To-Market, Facebook<br \/><\/strong><em>San FRANCISCO BAY Area, CA<br \/><\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bshomair\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">LinkedIn<\/a><\/h4>\n<p><strong>Originally from:<\/strong><br \/>Toronto, ON<\/p>\n<p><strong>Favourite Canadian destination or activity:<br \/>\u200d<\/strong>canoe trips in Algonquin Park<\/p>\n<p><strong>Canadian leadership in one word:<\/strong> Inclusive<\/p>\n<p><strong>The piece of advice that drastically shifted your perspective:<\/strong> \u201cYour life will be defined no only by the opportunities you pursue but also by the opportunities you turn down to prioritize what really matters to you\u201d<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/bshomair\/\"><strong>Benji Shomair<\/strong><\/a> leads the Go-To-Market teams for Commerce across Meta, including Facebook, Messenger, WhatsApp, and Instagram. Previously, he scaled the advertising business, leading teams globally across business operations, global partnerships, product monetization and marketing. \u200dFormerly a Principal at Bain &amp; Company, serving clients in Technology, Media and Telecom (TMT), Consumer\/Retail and Private Equity<\/p>\n<p><strong>A lot of changes have happened over 11 years at Meta, especially with new products being rolled out into the market. Are there 1\u20132 highlights that serve as a standout memory during your tenure at the technology giant?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I\u2019ve had the opportunity to help build 3 businesses at Meta\/Facebook\u200a\u2014\u200afirst the Ads business, then the Messaging business and currently the Commerce business. As someone who loves building, my highlights have been scaling organizations that didn\u2019t exist before and creating new products\u200a\u2014\u200athat proved to be valuable to people and businesses. Helping manage the transition to mobile ads as Facebook\u2019s user base shifted from desktop to mobile and initiating the Facebook Marketing Partner\/Ads API programs were both early experiences I had that taught for me how much fun it is to build things (especially at a global scale).<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p><strong>What \u201cCanadian qualities\u201d do you feel have benefited you throughout your career?<\/strong><\/p>\n<blockquote><p>I\u2019ve spent more than half my career in the US in global roles and in most places, people will assume I\u2019m American. Of course, I am actually a foreigner. I\u2019ve found the ability to be both \u201cNorth American\u201d and \u201cInternational\u201d at the same time and bridge between these two worldviews to be a powerful and unique perspective. It helps me lead in a more inclusive way, consider options that other might not and build for more global audiences. It also helps that everyone likes Canadians.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n<p>Interviews &amp; article by Lauren Howe, Marketing &amp; Communications manager at C100. Please direct any questions to <a href=\"http:\/\/lhowe@thec100.org\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">lhowe@thec100.org<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Who is a C100 Charter Member you ask? In short, they are some of the most exceptional senior leaders in tech who not only have demonstrated remarkable leadership and accomplishments in their respective fields but who also hail from the Great White North. That\u2019s Canada if that wasn\u2019t obvious. Get to know the seven Charter [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2078,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-2077","the-news-detail","type-the-news-detail","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-members"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.2 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Get to Know the Charter Members Who Joined in 2021 - C100<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/thec100.org\/staging\/blog-posts\/get-to-know-the-charter-members-who-joined-in-2021\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Get to Know the Charter Members Who Joined in 2021 - C100\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Who is a C100 Charter Member you ask? 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