I think if you're out there trying to raise capital, and you're a woman, and you're in tech, I think what you need to do is find people to work with who know you and believe in you.
Failure is ultimately very liberating. Once you come out the other side of it, you just might have faced one of your biggest fears and lived. The other side of failure is a big elimination of fear of failure. Trust me, that is an amazing gift.
Investors do not like losing money. They do not like companies that fail. They do not like entrepreneurs that fail. There is not a culture of celebrating failure in Silicon Valley or anyplace else. That is a myth. Recognize this, and if you start another business, get it to a successful point before approaching outside investors again.
I had never created my own business before. I had always been the gun to hire... But I had to finally say, nobody is going to give me my dream job, so I better figure it out myself.
That is the beauty of doing something when you're older. It doesn't matter what anyone else says because you're not doing it to build credibility.
I always had a deep respect for people who started businesses, but now I cherish them. There's a lot of anxiety and blood, sweat, and tears that goes into this, and I love it.
When I turned 50, I truly felt I was too old to work in Silicon Valley. No one said anything to my face, but when you can be the mother of some of the people you're interviewing with, that says it all.
You have a big playbook when you know something is really a win.
When I started in e-commerce, there was not a lot of clutter because there were not a lot of companies. Nowadays, you have to have a pretty serious moat around your business to compete with Amazon, Wal-Mart, and even Alibaba online.
I said the only way I would join Pets.com was if I could get Amazon to invest, and I did. I knew that anything that could be sourced externally, Amazon could do better and cheaper than anyone else except Walmart. It was really obvious to me.
Silicon Valley's definition of luxury is a Tesla in every garage.
I think going public is a really smart thing to do.
The reason we went into jewelry was we were trying to cater to our consigner base, who was saying, 'Can you sell this for me? Can you sell that?' And we said, 'You can bring in your jewelry and watches; we have a gemology and a watch expert on site.' And it just exploded our business.
The truth is, Silicon Valley doesn't like people who are older, and they're not that much of a friend of the woman. I certainly was a woman, and I was older.
If you get a no, your best bet is to find out why. The more concrete your business gets, the more you'll get yeses.
I came from a family that loved what they did every day, and they never stopped.
I thought to myself, 'What can I do that Amazon can't replicate?' I wanted to do something Amazon couldn't do, and something that I absolutely loved.
When you fail, things get real. In fact, they get real real. If your success was a high profile success, then your failure will be a high profile failure. Opportunities and 'friendships' will evaporate. Failure shines a bright light on all relationships. The ones that last are pure and true, which is a true gift.
Some people will be quite happy you have failed and will find a way to tell you so directly and indirectly. Yep, that is life. Do not let their insecurities impact you.
Do not wallow in your failure. Spend some time grieving, learn from it, and then move on. Constantly replaying what went wrong will not benefit you. Get involved in another company, another cause, another relationship.
