About Zara
CTO and one of the Co-founders of Overwatch Data - a company that helps users make more informed decisions leveraging business intelligence across news, social media, the dark-web and natural disasters
Awarded Forbes 30 Under 30 in 2023
Passionate about the intersection of AI and Cybersecurity - previously worked at Google’s Threat Analysis Group
Key takeaways that made us go ‘a-ha’
Past experiences are ‘gems’ - successful or not, reflect and document your learnings from them
“[from my previous grocery business], I learnt how to appreciate the importance of operations. It made me realise that I need to have the passion for it, and do it in a way it needs to be done. So, I learnt that I needed to work with people who bring different strengths to the table. ”
The more you try, the faster you will find the intersection of your interests, which can direct you towards your business idea
“I tried everything from grocery delivery to urban gardening projects, and along the way I found that I am super passionate about the intersection of AI and cybersecurity”
Pick the right people to work with - it affects a huge part of your entrepreneurial experience
“People with no ego, no thinking about credit…everyone was really bought into the vision but also thinking about all the right things. You need people who you can bounce ideas off of, but also people who bring specific expertise”
“Think about co-founder relationships as intentionally as you would in a marriage…I asked the questions early on e.g. what are use cases where you think it’s not worth the money, these are all worth discussing earlier so that you understand their ways of thinking”
Your customer set will evolve as you grow. Think about what you want to test first and with who - typically, the best way to go is to test the core with customers who care most about the product
“Our initial delivery was not the most glamorous, and the first few customers to this day are our biggest investors and believers, because they cared most about the functionality and technology. That was so game-changing to get that feedback. Then over time, you improve and find newer types of customers - who have different sets of problems”
Think about how fast you need to move in the present to grow your business, when deciding on funding decisions.
“We did Y-Combinator and raised after that…we have smaller investors on our cap table as well…for us, there was a lot of backend work to digest all the data. Bootstrapping wouldn’t work so we wanted to raise funds to grow our team faster to manage the data…it’s given us enough time and space to build the foundational technology that we needed”
Strive for progress over perfection. There is no perfect destination for a business, it will always be a journey - so go easy on yourself!
“With the startup, there are always list on the things that you are not doing…so it’s fundamentally never perfect”
Zara’s advice to women who want to start businesses on their own terms
“It’s really difficult, and it’s one of the most exciting experiences. Regardless of the amount of work, I highly recommend this to everyone. When I started, people often asked me why I am qualified to do this (a question women get asked a lot!)…I am sure there are many other people out there would would be more qualified to start a business, but if you look at those who are successful, no one ever had the perfect qualification. So, just do it!”
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