Happy Sunday!
Welcome back to Founders Feature, a weekly newsletter all about the journeys of young startup founders.
For this week's edition, I interviewed Phoebe Yao, Founder & CEO of Pareto, a virtual data analyst platform based in the US.
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Here’s what Pareto is all about:
🏠 The Basics
The Problem:
Early-stage startups are short on resources and there are a lot of manual tasks, such as data collection and lead generation that can be outsourced. However, many founders don't know which of these tasks can be outsourced, how to find a trusted provider, and how to manage an outsourced workforce.
The Solution:
We are building a virtual data analyst for growing businesses, by supercharging a team of data experts with powerful software to offer immediately actionable data for sales, marketing, and recruiting pipelines. We’re on a mission to democratise access to quality data while empowering work-at-home moms around the world. Our data operations team is 100% women-operated, and we’re building world-class training and mentorship along with flexible remote work opportunities for them to be part of a supportive community of peers.
The Team:
We have 11 core team members and about 80 women working with us in the data operations team, and we are always looking for great people to join the team. My background is originally in music. I was born in China and emigrated to the US when I was 5. I then studied classical viola and got into Stanford for Musical Performance. At Stanford, I pivoted my major to Computer Science when I got introduced to Tech. I eventually dropped out of Stanford to start Pareto as a Thiel Fellow.
🚀 The Journey
How did you come up with your startup/solution?
I first found my way into tech during my second year at Stanford because I met a woman mentor who basically said to me: Doesn’t it suck that everything in the world has been built by men, and don’t you just want to create something of power in the world to bring more women into the loop? And I thought: Yes! Yes, I do.
Shortly after, I decided to take a gap year from college, during which I travelled to China, India, and the UK, and eventually spent some time at Microsoft Research, where I was introduced to the gig economy and the future of virtual work. While I was in India I noticed that most people don’t realise that it’s actually quite easy to make money on the internet through small gigs on Upwork or Fiverr. And it’s not that most people don’t have access to these sources, but rather that they don’t know how to market themselves on the internet. This got me excited about the possibility of creating an engine for socio-economic empowerment by training people to access online work and have the confidence to navigate the space.
After that year I decided to build an outsourced workforce for entrepreneurs, bringing in people from around the world and training them to work at startups. We started off training virtual assistants but eventually pivoted to focus more on data projects, as this was the largest source of customer requests.
Why is this the right time for this problem to be solved?
The pandemic has accelerated the pace of transitioning businesses to remote, virtual workflows. More and more businesses are outsourcing the non-core operations of their business, and more people are interested in delegating to virtual assistants. However, they often don’t know how to go about finding these people, how to manage them effectively, or even know what projects they can delegate. We are helping first-time founders and entrepreneurs figure out what projects to delegate to supercharge their operations for their team.
What is a recent success you are proud of?
The recent success I am most proud of is a very personal one. Recently, I had to spend many hours late into the night resolving an issue that came up for our data operations team, where they weren’t feeling heard, and I’m very proud of the way I handled that. I realised that I hadn’t been as aware of the issues and concerns coming up in the operations team, so that event was really just the culmination of this. In response, we decided on several systems and structures that would help us maintain that line of communication between our data operations and core team, and I think those solutions were very satisfactory for everyone. It was a great lesson in leadership.
What is a recent challenge you have faced?
Our current challenge is figuring out how to hire the right people, which I see mainly as a prioritisation problem. There are pressing needs, and there are slow and growing needs that take time but can end up being a big issue if not sorted out early enough. So, I approach it as a matter of really understanding where the business is at and where the gaps are on our team. It’s something I’m certainly still thinking about.
What do you wish you knew before you started and is there anything you would have done differently in hindsight?
I would have raised more money sooner. I raised a very conservative $600k for our pre-seed, which I thought would last at least a year, but it really didn’t. I think it came down to me not understanding just how much I don’t know. I definitely took this into consideration for our seed round which we recently raised.
🧠 The Lessons
What is the best advice you have been given recently?
Building a startup is like a series of mini-games. While it might seem like founding is just an abyss of challenges, really a lot of the challenges come in a sequential series.
For example, first, you figure out your idea and what you truly want to work on. This takes a lot of self-reflection. Then, you figure out what that MVP could look like to prove your idea. Then, it’s figuring out how to pitch and grow your team. It’s a series of challenges that will just come your way. And instead of charging into them blindly, take a step back and reflect on who in your network might have faced these challenges before, and ask them for advice.
What advice would you give to other young founders?
Don’t ever think you’re not enough. Plenty of people who founded companies have been in a place with less than you and they have figured it out. As long as you know what’s right for you and what you want to be working on, don’t let anyone else tell you that you can't. There’s always a way to figure it out.
What is the biggest lesson you have learned so far?
Always be talking to people and always be asking questions. Don’t let yourself be siloed as a founder with a vision with no connection to what works and what is happening. You can always be learning from the people around you.
✨ The Inspiration
Who inspires you?
Allyson, the program manager of the Thiel fellowship. She inspires me because she trusts her intuition deeply and it’s led her to make incredible decisions. I learn from her every time I get to talk to her.
What book do you think everyone should read?
The Great CEO Within - Matt Mochary