SDH 111: Finding Solutions With Shanna Tellerman

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Have you woken up in the middle of the night thinking about a solution to a problem that you need to solve? Maybe your degree has nothing to do with the problem, but you are determined to be the one to fix it? However, there may have and may still be some hurdles in the way. Perhaps you have a minimal support system, didn't anticipate how hard the hiring process would be and don't know what to do when you have been pushed to the max?

Today's guest, Shanna Tellerman, is not new to these problems faced in the startup world. She is the founder of her second startup Modsy and shares some valuable insight for all entrepreneurs. 

In this episode you will...

  • Gather some lessons Shanna learned from her job at Google Ventures

  • Identify 3 things Shanna looks for in a company and entrepreneur

  • Learn what to do when you have a minimal support system

  • Know about hiring during first stages of startup

  • Manage your life and business with Shanna's fav apps

Resources:

She Did It Her Way Podcast

She Did It Her Way Twitter

She Did It Her Way Facebook

Shanna's LinkedIn

Shanna's Twitter

Modsy

Gusto

Zenefits

Slack

INSIGHTS:

“There was just this point where I woke up one morning, I had been thinking about it all night and I was still thinking about it in the morning, and I was like ‘ I need to go do this. The time is now.”-Shanna Tellerman

“An investor and venture capitalist, they also have a goal. They also have a way that they are being evaluated, which is primarily return on their investment.”-Shanna Tellerman

“You are going to do this for many years; you’re going to put your heart and soul into it and many, many hours. The problem has to matter and you have to be excited for that problem everyday. That passion has to be obvious.”-Shanna Tellerman

“You are pushed to the max all the time, but when you really care, and it’s your company and you care about the thing that you’re building and you really want to see it happen in the world, there is kind of no end.”-Shanna Tellerman

“The idea of ‘quit’ is just not in my vocabulary and hasn’t been for either of my companies.”-Shanna Tellerman

“I try to just take care of myself physically, which I think means that my energy levels don’t fluctuate too hugely. It tends to only fluctuate when I overwhelm myself with too much going on and I can easily correct that in like a week.”-Shanna Tellerman

“There’s a confidence level around knowing that even when things don’t work out, you’re going to figure something out, that only gets gained after seeing how many things go wrong and how often you are wrong, then correcting it and everything being maybe different than you had planned, but still fine.”-Shanna Tellerman

“Don’t be so hard on yourself, at any given point don’t take it too, too seriously.”-Shanna Tellerman

“Overthinking it, being too worried, being too stressed out, is going to have impacts both on your own health, on your potential to take the leap and on the people that you work with.”-Shanna Tellerman