About Diana
Founder of DMEM & Co, a company that provides CFO, COO, & CBO Fractional Executive services to Seed, Series A, & Series B companies in varying capacities
Founded five businesses which subsequently raised over $150M in venture capital financing; co-founding COO of three
Harvard Business School alum
Entrepreneurial investor and operator, focused on biotech, diagnostics and health-tech
Worked in operational, product, and, and financial roles across many Fortune 500, early stage companies, and venture firms
Key “a-ha” moments from this podcast
Often, business ideas have been in front of you for a long time - if you’re looking for inspiration, think about your past few years and what has brought you a lot of energy
“I’ve been doing DMEM & Co. for basically my entire life…if you think about when I have been advising entrepreneurs informally and preparing for job interviews, I had already been doing it…the reason I started it is to have more control over my time and who I work with, which you won’t always have the control of in jobs”
Time management as a founder is always tricky - you get into “rabbit holes” easily and you can get thrown off. Use your calendar and time management slush fund to overcome these challenges
“The luxury and demise of working for yourself is you can either work all the time, or not enough. I live by my calendar - client work is scheduled, and so is personal commitments like taking a walk, going to the gym, getting grocery. Then there is fun admin to take a week or two to reset”
“I also build a time management slush fund…we all have 24h in a day, we cannot buy time. It always takes more money and time than you think, so build up that slush fund. And always make time for networking!”
Networking is key as a founder - be curious about people around you, you never know where a conversation might lead. And don’t just network, also make time to regularly check-in with connections
“Everything in life is sales…someone has got to work with you, hire you, or partner with you. I’m naturally an extrovert, and I am always open to networking…sometimes you get on a networking stint and add to your networking bank, and I’ve had people call me back after a year to ask for help”
“I systematically reach out to people over time. It’s not contrived to say I need to talk to this person, I genuinely check in and nurture these relationships”
Learn to say NO to things or people who do not align with your values and ways of working
“I used to be a YES person, but I’ve recently started saying NO…you need to have some business boundaries to avoid over-servicing clients. Instead you could have used that time to talk to other valuable clients”
Building a business as a solopreneur can give you a lot of control and freedom over how you grow your company. Know what type of founder you want to be, and don’t steer away from that
“Once the shareholder is not just you, other people have say. Terms dictate eventually how that money gets spent and how that business is governed. Because I am developing my brand and network, those elements will get diminished if I bring other people into the flow”
Diana’s advice to women who want to start businesses on their own terms
“I had someone say this to me…you got to have bigger balls than a man, you have to be very tenacious. So I would say you have to work hard and it is a grind! It is a fact that women don’t raise as much VC money as men…Have enough money saved to self-fund your business until you know what direction you want to take your business, because once you take someone’s money, it’s no longer on your terms”
Diana Maichin, the solopreneur building a fractional executive services company