Latest / Women Disrupting Tech / The Startup Operator’s Playbook: Turning Founder Vision into Reality with Eliza Moore | Ep 148

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The Startup Operator’s Playbook: Turning Founder Vision into Reality with Eliza Moore | Ep 148 · Women Disrupting Tech

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What I've learned is that scale doesn't always come from
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necessarily saying yes and all the time and doing more.
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I think it comes from deciding more clearly and sometimes
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actually saying no. And but I think the biggest
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thing with that is that credibility is built through
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follow through. And I think that is what we
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always try to do with our clients.
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If we say we're going to do something, we follow through on
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that and then we try to clearly communicate if it's not
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something that we can do. And I think that's really where
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trust is built. Hey, welcome back to Women
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Disrupting Tech, and thank you for tuning into episode 148.
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I'm your host, dear Keanukas, and this is the podcast that
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closes the funding gap in venture capital by amplifying
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the stories of female founders and their investors.
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When we talk about startups, we often think about founders and
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investors as the people who make these companies successful.
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But there's a third group of people that is really critical
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in making this happen. Operators are the people who
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join in the early stages and who help build companies alongside
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founders. And one of those operators is my
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guest today. Eliza Moore is the EVP of Client
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Experience and Operations at Price Out.
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And Price Out is a New York based advertising and financial
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technology firm that helps banks, credit unions and
1:40
marketplaces to put money back into their customers pockets.
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Eliza shares her journey from working in traditional financial
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services to help him to build a fast growing fintech startup in
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the New York ecosystem. Our conversation covers the
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founder, operator dynamic, how vision turns into Rd. maps and
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ownership and execution, and how to grow by saying no by focus
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and following through on your promises.
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Build to trust and credibility with customers you need to
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succeed. You'll also hear why credit
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unions are becoming a surprising hub for innovation and female
2:17
leadership. And you'll discover a mental
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model that can help you move from raw data to impactful
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business decisions. So when you're ready to discover
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how operators turn founder visions into reality, here's my
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conversation with Eliza Moore. Eliza Moore, welcome to women
2:36
disrupting tech. Good to have you.
2:39
Let's start with a bit of background.
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How did you get into your current position as an EVP of
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Operations at Price Out? Absolutely.
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So I'm originally from Indiana, so I moved to New York to work
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in financial services. I really enjoyed it.
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I was working with hedge funds in both equity research and on
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the sale side, and kind of what I learned through doing a lot of
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that is what I really loved was diving into companies and
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understanding really why they make decisions and if their
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business decisions led to the hypotheses coming true that we
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would create around those companies.
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I also love doing research. It was fun to just dive in and
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try to find something that other folks were not seeing.
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But ultimately I really wanted to get into the company side.
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And a lot of the research that I had done in my prior roles was
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around tech and consumer companies.
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So I started looking at technology companies both big
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and small. You know, when you haven't
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worked in, in those before, you're not quite sure what, what
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those look at. But I, on one of the startup
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websites that I was looking at, I got connected with our CEO
3:58
here at Prize out and I love the people.
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I didn't quite know what the position would be, but it
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sounded like they had some really interesting challenges to
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work on. And so ultimately, I joined
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Prize Out as our Chief of Staff for a number of years.
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OK, cool. And now you're the EVP of
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operations and maybe, maybe explain what that is, what you
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do. Yeah.
4:27
So it can mean so many different things at different companies
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here at Prize Out. Over time, because my background
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is working with a lot of clients, it's evolved into I
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lead all things on the client side.
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So anything post sale from account management to partner
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marketing to success, really being the voice of the client
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internally. And then in addition to that, I
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do a bunch of general business operations.
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So I still kind of run HR for prize out, do some corporate
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stuff. So really whenever there's kind
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of a new challenge and and there's not really a clear
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person who will own it necessarily, I often start with
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it and then kind of help dictate where that goes.
5:15
OK, that's, that sounds cool. So I want to go back to
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something you said earlier, which is that you worked in
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financial services before in one of the firms, if I'm not
5:27
mistaken was Coburn Ventures. How, how does that having been
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on the other side of let's say the startup ecosystem, So on the
5:40
on the investor side, how does it help you in your current job?
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Yeah, absolutely. So Coburn Ventures was a unique
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place to start my career. So it was a hedge fund, but also
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our primary business was providing a lot of research to
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institutional clients across the US and Europe.
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We really focused on studying what we called monumental change
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as an investment philosophy. And what that really meant is
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that we had a lot of mental models that we would lie to how
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we assess companies and if they or the industries that they were
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in, we're kind of experiencing what we decided was monumental
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change. I think really what it taught me
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a lot of different things, but it taught me to approach
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problems with a certain way of thinking where I would assess
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like all the downstream effects of different things.
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Now, I would say it's a blessing and a curse.
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I'm very good at all of the details.
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Sometimes I have to bring myself back from those details.
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But it also taught me to look for patterns.
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So we would assess companies that were, you know, in
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completely different industries, but maybe they would have some
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sort of pattern that would allow us to kind of look at that and
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apply. I always think back to that
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experience. We would take people from
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unrelated industries and actually apply what they did to
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investing. So to give you an example, we
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worked with a sports psychologist who worked with
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professional golfers, actually one who had won the Masters a
7:25
couple times. And he would use a model about
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how his golfers actually practice and how a lot of what
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they do is about routine and how it's such a mental game and what
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that means to have that routine so that you can actually deliver
7:43
over and over again and not let your emotions get the best of
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you. And so that was actually applied
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to investing because a lot of investors need to have that.
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The stock market can kind of be all over the place.
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If you're an investor investing in startups, it's very
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unpredictable. But being able to actually have
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that pattern recognition, I think is something that I always
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think back to and still use day-to-day now.
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Yeah. And, and I think that's really
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important because it's sort of, I can imagine that it sort of
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keeps you sane when things go like really wild.
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Yes, absolutely. Absolutely.
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That's it. And that also benefits the
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company then, because if there's like at least someone who can
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keep her head cool, it gets takes better the gives better
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decisions, I suppose. Yeah, and I would say that
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pattern recognition is not always just about company
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decisions. I think it's also about people.
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Like people can be different levels, like whether they're at
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your clients or internally. And I think you can take what
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you've learned from working with people in different ways.
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I personally am not a parent right now, but I do know like a
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lot of my colleagues who are parents, they take a lot of
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things that they learn from being a parent and you know, use
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that when working with people. So I love just looking at
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different patterns and learning things about my friends who work
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in completely different industries, using some of how
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they think about those problems and what I do on a day-to-day
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basis. OK.
9:22
So let's switch switch gears to Price Out and maybe start.
9:29
Let's start with what Price Out does, because it's a Fintech,
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but it's a very specific one. Yeah, absolutely.
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So I'll tell you a little bit about how prized out has evolved
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over time. So we actually started in the
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gaming space. So we had a product.
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Let's say you're working with a company where you've won some
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money online. Typically you would be able to
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take that money via a check or maybe you could use like a Venmo
10:01
or a PayPal with prize out. You would be able to get a
10:05
digital gift card and you would get bonus on it.
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So let's say you won $100, you could get $110.00 gift card to 1
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brand or $120.00 to another brand.
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And the way that we're able to do that is on the back end,
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we're an ad tech company. So all those brands are running
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campaigns in order to get customer acquisition.
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At the same time, we would give our partners, the gaming company
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in this example, a revenue share.
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So they were turning something that was an expense payment
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processing into a source of revenue.
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And we were also giving the consumer that bonus and
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delivering it faster than they would get with alternative
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methods. So really a win, win, win.
10:50
Yes, exactly. Yes, you took the words out of
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my mouth. So that was great.
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We expanded into a bunch of different industries and we did
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some like vaccine incentive programs during COVID where
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people were getting digital gift cards as incentives.
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We have worked with gig economy companies pretty much anywhere
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there were withdrawals or disbursements.
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And then a few years ago, we actually got connected within
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the financial institution space, specifically with credit unions.
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And credit unions were very interested in kind of what we
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did, especially because a lot of their members are debit card
11:38
users and they often wouldn't get rewarded for their debit
11:42
card spend. We were able to create something
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where we're able to deliver rewards programs kind of across
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the board, but for debit card users and for all of their
11:55
members kind of in general. And I can certainly go deeper
11:58
into that, but at a high level that is kind of where our focus
12:02
is now and we also work with a lot of other industries as well.
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Maybe, maybe for context of let's say non-us listeners, what
12:13
is a credit union and you work with cash back and rewards
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programs, what do they look like?
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Yeah, that's a great question. So credit unions are nonprofit
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and member owned. And so when I say members,
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credit unions refer to all their customers as members.
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So they really are a part of the credit union.
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They're very community oriented. A lot of credit unions were
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started by by different groups. So there's companies that had
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their own credit unions and we had, we work with a large credit
12:47
union in Florida that was started by a group of teachers
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because they couldn't get a loan.
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And so I think what makes credit unions really different from
12:58
banks is that they give all those profits back to the
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members in different ways. So it could be lower rates, it
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could be dividends, it could be a bunch of different things that
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they deliver with their services.
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And I think because of that, they're very ingrained in their
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communities as well. And so even just anecdotally,
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when I have been traveling and visiting some of our partners,
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I've unrelatedly run into members who tell me such amazing
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things about their own personal experiences with the credit
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unions. And I think that's really
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unique. Yeah.
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And how does that talking to those members, because then
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you're talking to, for lack of a better word, customer of the
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customer. How does that help you in
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instead of helping credit unions develop products and and cash
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back and rewards programs? That's a great question.
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It is very helpful to talk to members.
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It is very helpful to talk to all their employees because a
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lot of their employees are members as well.
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I love trying to get into the brain of our users and our our
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members because it's really all about their experience.
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And it really does shape how we think about our products and how
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we deliver service to our clients.
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Because sometimes there's members that think differently
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from the folks that work at the credit unions.
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But I think that's also something that's really unique
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that I didn't mention about the credit unions.
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Many of the employees have been there for 2020 plus years.
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So there a lot of the executives actually started out as tellers
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at the credit union and they've worked there for many, many
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years. And I think that's really unique
14:50
in today's world to to hear that.
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And so I think just understanding the different
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communities that the credit unions serve and understanding
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the the members in those communities is super important
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with how we think about the product and how we deliver those
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rewards programs because people feel loyalty and they feel
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special in different ways. So understanding that is
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important. Yeah, for sure.
15:19
So you work with the credit unions on their, on their
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products on, on, let's say, retain products that retain
15:28
customers and reward customers. How does it work in, in, in
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terms of roles and responsibilities?
15:36
Because you want to, and also in terms of of profitability,
15:41
because you want to develop a product that is profitably
15:45
profitable for you As for price out, but also for them, but also
15:50
for the customers. But how does that work in terms
15:54
of roles and responsibilities? Who does what?
16:00
Absolutely. So we have a product called Cash
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Back Plus and that is our rewards program.
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And so members can actually earn cash back in a variety of
16:10
different ways. So they're able to similar to
16:13
that product I described before, they're able to purchase digital
16:17
gift cards and earn cash back from different brands by doing
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so. So that was kind of the the core
16:24
product that we started with. And from there a lot of our
16:26
programs have evolved. So we also do relationship
16:30
oriented configurable rewards program.
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So let's say a credit union wanted to onboard a new member
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and they wanted them to complete a certain set of actions,
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whether it's opting into E statements or setting up direct
16:45
deposit or doing a certain number of debit card swipes.
16:49
Those types of things feed into being able to earn a certain
16:53
amount out of cash back as well. And then we also have recently
16:58
launched the, what we say is one of the biggest pieces of the
17:02
rewards ecosystem that a lot of folks are familiar with, which
17:06
is credit card rewards. So folks, yeah, because that is
17:10
where traditionally cash back comes in.
17:13
Exactly. And so all of that feeds into
17:16
one central balance within that is integrated right with an
17:20
online banking where members can actually see, hey, this is
17:25
awesome. This is like everything I am
17:26
earning from being a member of the credit union.
17:29
And so they truly see that loyalty.
17:33
But back to your question about roles and responsibilities, we
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work super closely with all of our credit union partners.
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I would say that we have met at some of our partners, most of
17:44
their employees from the executives who helped plan out
17:49
the program and kind of what they're interested in and it's
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configurable. So how they want to configure it
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to digital and payments teams, to their training teams to get
18:01
their employees excited about the program because they're
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often the ones speaking to the members and the communities.
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And so in terms of what our role and responsibilities are with
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the credit union, we want to be the best partner that they have.
18:16
And that is truly what we are trying to do with keeping in
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mind what you said, it has to be a win win for everyone.
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It has to be a win their members for them and for us as well.
18:26
Yeah. But that's I think how you
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describe the cash back program just a little while ago.
18:32
That's also how it's set up because it actually rewards
18:35
customers for showing the behaviors that are profitable
18:39
for the bank. Exactly.
18:41
So you use the incentive to reward customer for doing the
18:45
things that they are that the credit union wants them to do.
18:53
Yeah, exactly. And ultimately we we kind of see
18:56
it as however they spend, we want them to be getting rewarded
19:00
for that. So I even didn't mention one
19:04
product that we have. We also have an app that enables
19:07
them to be able to pay with digital gift cards when they're
19:11
at the point of sale. And so whether they're they're
19:15
shopping with digital gift cards, whether they're using
19:17
their debit card, whether they're using their credit card,
19:20
we want them to be getting cash back for that.
19:22
And we want them to be reminded that their credit union is
19:26
giving that to them and enabling that for them.
19:30
And so they can really build that trust and loyalty with that
19:33
credit union. And that's what we have the
19:35
credit union do. Yeah.
19:36
So, so maybe also for the for the listeners here to to
19:40
understand how does price out then earn money because for the
19:44
customer it's clear for the bank, it's clear.
19:47
How does that fit into Price Out?
19:50
Yeah, absolutely. So we do have a cost to the
19:54
credit union. So they do pay some fees for for
19:59
having this program that are ongoing.
20:01
Additionally, we also make some money on the brand side, but we
20:07
do pay our partners a revenue share for every digital gift
20:11
card that is purchased. So they are able to offset some
20:14
of those fees as well. OK.
20:18
I want to move to the part where you're an operator of the of the
20:23
company and not the founder. When we spoke before, you told
20:28
me you didn't want to be a founder.
20:31
Yes. Is that is that after having
20:33
been with the company for a while, is that still the case?
20:37
Yes. So I wouldn't necessarily say
20:39
founder, I could one day be a Co founder, but I think being the
20:44
ultimate founder is a really hard job.
20:49
As I mentioned earlier, I was our chief of staff for a number
20:53
of years, so worked extremely closely with our founder and CEO
20:59
and I was really able to get a first hand kind of glimpse of
21:03
how hard that job is. And I really respect everything
21:08
that he does. But I think that I know myself
21:12
and I think I am an awesome right hand and that is kind of
21:17
what I see kind of going forward.
21:19
OK, So what was the first moment you realized this for yourself
21:24
that you were like, OK, well maybe not be a founder, but
21:30
being a right hand is is where my strength is.
21:34
I guess I would say never necessarily thought about being
21:38
a founder until I worked in technology.
21:42
I would say that everyone has kind of their different
21:46
strengths. I see our, as I partnered with
21:50
our CEO, he is dealing with all the people at the company.
21:56
I would say the board, the investors, he is accountable for
21:59
every single thing that goes on at the company.
22:04
And I would say that what I really prefer is kind of
22:08
collaborating. The one thing about him as well,
22:11
he's a visionary and I think ultimately, I don't know, you
22:14
know, I don't necessarily seek to be the visionary.
22:19
I think I also don't necessarily seek like spotlight of a lot of
22:23
the things that I'm doing, but I want to enable visionaries to
22:29
like execute and shine. And in terms of when I realized
22:33
that, I think that was just kind of working through different
22:37
things and kind of understanding like who you are as a person and
22:42
like what makes you happiest. And I think I'm happiest when I
22:48
can help enable that for others. Yeah.
22:51
So, so maybe help us understand what it means in practice.
22:57
Because your founder is a visionary, does that mean this
23:02
is a question? He's less good at the execution
23:06
side and that is where you come in.
23:09
Yeah. I wouldn't necessarily say he's
23:11
not good at that, but I would say that what he's really
23:15
focused on is the why and the what.
23:18
And like high level he is telling the story and why we're
23:22
doing all this and what we're working towards.
23:24
I think operators are really focused on the how and like how
23:28
we turn that vision into a reality.
23:32
I think, I think a lot about all the promises that we have and
23:37
how we can translate that into deliverable programs as well as
23:42
things that scale. So I'm really focused on deeply
23:47
thinking about the client experience like we talked about
23:50
the member impact, the employee enablement.
23:54
He cares deeply about those things.
23:58
It's like he can't be in all those places with all of the
24:01
other things that I mentioned. And that's where I love spending
24:05
my time. I love being around people.
24:07
I love having those conversations.
24:10
And I think the setup of being an operator and it allows you to
24:15
allows you to do that. OK.
24:16
So going back to Coburn, how does how did that prepare you
24:21
for this particular job? I think I had also another
24:25
visionary leader there as well. And so it, it was similar in
24:31
that way. And that we, you know, we would
24:33
do, I would do a lot of research and preparation and talking to
24:37
folks and then he was often telling the, the story.
24:41
So I think I I have been kind of used to the way I've always
24:47
operated in that way, maybe without even realizing it.
24:52
But again, I Orient myself to the people, the delivery and
24:58
helping, helping get done what needs to get done to deliver on
25:01
the vision. OK.
25:03
So is there is there a sort of easy split that people can make
25:08
in their minds between what a founder does, especially if
25:12
they're visionary versus what a operator does?
25:16
Yeah, I don't think there's one exact way to do it.
25:19
I think it also depends because founders can be really, really
25:23
different. Some founders could be super
25:26
technical and that's where they gravitate towards.
25:29
Others might be more on the sales side.
25:33
So I think it really depends and there's no specific way, but I
25:38
would say ultimately typically what I've seen from other
25:41
founders is they often set the vision, they're pitching the
25:45
story, they're making high level decisions really quickly.
25:49
And where the operators kind of come into play is they're
25:52
turning a lot of that vision into concrete plans.
25:56
So whether that's road map, timelines, owners, they're often
26:00
working really closely. Like sometimes the operator has
26:04
to step in and some of those storytelling moments.
26:07
But I think that's where the strong relationship helps a lot
26:11
and helps helps you get to that point with whoever you're
26:15
working with. OK, so I think your founder,
26:21
David Metz, I think his name is, is also one of your mentors.
26:26
What did he teach you? Oh.
26:28
That is, that is a. Except for maybe some some
26:32
practical stuff about what you're doing.
26:34
Yes, very broad question. I have learned so much from
26:38
David over the six years that I've kind of been here.
26:43
I would say he is always willing to roll up his sleeves.
26:47
That is something that I respected about him.
26:50
One of my first days working out prize out.
26:53
And this is a little story, but I remember him stocking the
26:56
fridge the first day when I walked into the office and I was
27:01
so confused that he would be doing that.
27:04
But I think that is just a testament to who he is.
27:07
He's always willing to roll up his sleeves and that's really
27:10
what I want to embody as well. In terms of other things that
27:15
I've learned from him, he is very good under pressure and I
27:20
aspire to be that way. But I think a lot of that comes
27:23
to come comes from what I mentioned earlier where it's
27:27
always good to be prepared and to plan.
27:31
And I think he's really good at doing that.
27:33
Not even where I always see the preparation, but I know that's
27:37
what he's doing in the background so that when anything
27:40
comes up, he is very great at handling that under pressure.
27:44
So I think that's one of the biggest things I've learned from
27:47
him. Yeah.
27:49
One of the things that you mentioned about yourself is that
27:52
you're good at pattern recognition, which I find
27:56
personally is is a great tool also to be prepared.
28:01
Yes. Do you see that as well?
28:05
I do, absolutely. I think it's also important to
28:09
kind of build time in your schedule to be able to think
28:12
through some of those 'cause I think sometimes it's really easy
28:16
with the quick day-to-day to get lost and to be able to think
28:22
about the pattern recognition that you're seeing and be able
28:24
to think back on your time. I think even talking with you
28:29
and thinking about my time in some of my previous moments in
28:34
my career has been really great and thinking about some of the
28:37
patterns. So absolutely, I think it's
28:40
super important to build in some of that time to think about
28:43
those patterns. Out of curiosity, do you use AI
28:46
for that? Yes I I definitely use AIA lot.
28:52
I find AI very useful. There have been times where I
28:57
think some people take advantage of it.
28:59
So we've gotten resumes sometimes where it's very clear
29:02
that they just copied the job description and didn't update
29:07
their resume for it. But I think AI is extremely
29:10
helpful when you are having some thoughts and it helps you work
29:14
through those. And it certainly helps you do
29:16
research a lot faster. And that's coming from someone
29:20
who used to do research. And so I think from that
29:23
perspective, it's super helpful and I definitely use it for
29:26
that. Yeah.
29:28
Do you also use it as part of the, let's say the business so
29:32
to build products etcetera and or to maybe also recognize
29:37
patterns in customer behavior that maybe you wouldn't see
29:41
otherwise? Yeah, absolutely.
29:43
Like I said, I think on the research side, it's very
29:46
helpful. And then I think, you know, I
29:49
think it's very easy to use when you're talking to clients and
29:54
making sure that you have all the context that you need.
29:58
So we definitely use it for that.
30:00
OK, cool. So one of the things that stood
30:04
out to me when we spoke before and also when I did a bit more
30:08
research is that you tech is a really male dominated space.
30:15
I would say it's becoming less don't male dominated, at least
30:20
that's how I see it. But it's still like I spoke to
30:25
AVC who told me like the split between founders, it's like 8020
30:30
to 80% men and 20% women still. And I think finance is also
30:35
really male dominated. How is that in your in your job?
30:43
Is it also really male dominated or is there also a little female
30:47
talent maybe that you work with? Yes.
30:50
So I worked in finance like we discussed, I worked on a trading
30:55
floor prior to to prize out and that was definitely true.
30:59
I was a a double major, but one of my majors in college was
31:03
finance and definitely male dominated.
31:08
What has been really fun though is that credit unions are not
31:11
necessarily male dominated. So we have AQ cell which we have
31:18
some credit unions that we've 21 partners within our Q.
31:22
So that are kind of founding members of that Q.
31:24
So that are all. OK, so, so maybe tell people
31:28
what the Q cell is. So CU is probably credit union,
31:32
but. Yes.
31:34
So it's a credit union service organization and we have some
31:40
credit unions that have invested in that.
31:42
So 21 partners, a couple of those are credit union
31:47
organizations. And so we they work really
31:50
closely with us in terms of product development.
31:54
They also have their own board. And then we work with a large
32:00
number of financial institutions that go through like the
32:03
contracting and all of that goes through the Q So, but ultimately
32:10
on that board, a large majority of our board members are
32:13
actually female executives from credit unions, which is really
32:17
cool. I've learned a ton from them.
32:22
And when we work with credit unions themselves, there are a
32:25
ton of females represented. And I think a testament to that
32:30
is that, like I mentioned, a lot of folks work at the credit
32:33
unions for a number of years. I think they make it possible
32:36
for females to have those long careers at the credit unions,
32:41
even if there's things, you know, that come up in your
32:43
personal lives, they're able to still advance and have that.
32:47
And so I think that is that has been really cool for me just
32:51
having them as clientele and partners that we work with
32:56
because it is a little bit different with.
32:59
City and it's not what you generally hear that like there's
33:03
a huge drop to the top once for women, which usually happens
33:09
like mid career when people get married, get children, get more
33:15
children, have to take care of two children instead of the
33:19
husbands, etcetera. Yes, exactly.
33:22
So why Yeah, but it's cool then that you get to see how it can
33:26
be done. Is that something you would that
33:30
helps you sort of also in your current job like shape how price
33:35
Out is operating? Absolutely.
33:38
I definitely aspire to be a leader for the females that work
33:43
at Prize Out as well as just those that we work with.
33:47
Our partners, I think really important regardless of gender,
33:51
but I think we all have to empower those that we work with
33:57
and I think it's really important to kind of create
33:59
those opportunities. So I'm always, it's really
34:02
important to me to give opportunities to my team, to
34:06
give opportunities to those at the company and to give some of
34:10
that exposure. I've been very fortunate that
34:14
the people that I have worked with on our leadership team at
34:18
previous companies enabled me to have a lot of that exposure and
34:22
I certainly think it's important to continue that.
34:26
Yeah, and also to pay it forward, if I hear you
34:28
correctly. Exactly, Yeah.
34:31
So I want to go back to to something you told me at the
34:35
beginning. You work with founders at Price
34:38
Out. What is the biggest thing you've
34:41
learned, or the biggest lesson maybe you've learned along the
34:44
way? I would say that over time we
34:48
have been always trying to be a really good partner to our
34:53
partners. But I think what I've learned is
34:56
that scale doesn't always come from necessarily saying yes and
35:00
all the time and doing more. I think it comes from deciding
35:04
more clearly and sometimes actually saying no.
35:07
And but I think the biggest thing with that is that
35:11
credibility is built through follow through.
35:15
And I think that is what we always try to do with our
35:18
clients. If we say we're going to do
35:20
something, we follow through on that and then we try to clearly
35:23
communicate if it's not something that we can do.
35:27
And I think that's really where trust is built.
35:30
And I've learned that with, I mean, that's not something that
35:33
I can deliver on by myself. That is something that I work
35:38
very closely with my team to deliver on.
35:40
I may sometimes be the messenger of that, but my team works
35:44
really closely to help us deliver on that.
35:48
How do you split that? Because that was a question I
35:51
had that popped into my mind earlier as well.
35:54
How do you decide for people in your team what you don't do
36:01
yourself, but let's say give another person the ability to or
36:07
a possibility to shine? How do you, how do you decide
36:10
that? What?
36:10
What do you look at? Yeah, I'm always working on
36:14
that. I think my default is to jump in
36:17
and roll up my sleeves and I'll figure it out.
36:20
But I think building trust with my team is where and just
36:25
constantly keeping that question in mind, is this something I
36:28
need to do? Or can I give this to someone
36:30
else and help them deliver? And I'm always trying to, I
36:35
think I have a standard in my head a lot of times around what
36:38
things could be. But you have to be OK with
36:40
that's not how everybody thinks about something.
36:43
And it can still be done a different way.
36:46
And so I think it's really important to have that
36:48
conversation with your team and like, hey, how do you think
36:51
about this and give them those opportunities when they come up.
36:56
So I think it's just being very proactive in terms of thinking
37:01
about that is how I've handled it.
37:04
But. Also talking to your team then.
37:06
Yes, exactly. Talking to your team and under
37:10
and being just very transparent and honest on both sides.
37:14
I try to be very transparent and honest and and communicate and
37:17
that's kind of what I hope my team does as well.
37:20
Yeah. So, so take us through the how
37:24
that process works in if you're developing a new project or a
37:29
new product, sorry, how do you decide as So what, what is the
37:34
sequence? You first have a discussion
37:36
internally where is this about a new product, and then you decide
37:42
who's going to lead that initiative.
37:44
Or, but yeah, so I'll take you through the recent program that
37:48
we launched, which which is our Credit Card Rewards.
37:51
So how this kind of came about is we actually had a round table
37:56
maybe a year ago with our clients.
37:59
So we actually brought them all to New York where we're
38:04
headquartered and we would discuss kind of the issues and
38:08
pain points that they would see with their current programs.
38:12
Credit Card Rewards is not new as as we mentioned and there's
38:17
tons of things in the market, but there's a lot of pain points
38:20
around it. And so the credit unions,
38:23
because they're trusted partners shared a lot of those things
38:27
with us. And what we were able to do was
38:30
really take that back. And in terms of ownership, it
38:36
was across the board like the leadership team works on it.
38:39
The product team would help develop what is the member
38:42
experience going to look like. Our sales team would discuss
38:47
some of that with some of the partners that were interested.
38:50
We would talk to current partners about it and it would
38:55
really, it really shaped what the product is and also what it
39:01
will be. And that's always an ongoing
39:04
conversation with our partners. And so in terms of the
39:08
development of that, we would, we got our first few kind of on
39:12
boarded and the IT was a collaborative effort between our
39:18
sales team, my team and the integrations team to kind of get
39:22
them launched. And then from there, the success
39:26
of that does often fit with my team, it fits with the product
39:30
team and the tech team. So really it's a, it's a shared,
39:35
shared methodology, at least for us kind of across the board in
39:38
terms of bringing those products to life.
39:41
A really team effort. Exactly.
39:44
So that's that's yeah, that's beautiful.
39:48
Just before we we close when someone listens to this episode
39:52
you've you've been talking about your career about price out
39:56
about what you do and especially also how you do it how you
39:59
operationalize things that are the vision of the founder if.
40:08
People, listen to this episode. What's the one thing that you
40:11
want them to take away? So the one thing I would want
40:14
them to take away is for many operators, not just me, but I'm
40:19
sure and other companies as well, sometimes the work is
40:22
often invisible and that's OK. That's actually a good thing.
40:27
A lot of times what we say, if we don't hear from folks on it,
40:30
then it's not broken. That can be a good thing.
40:34
But I think what is still really important to understand is that
40:38
just because you don't see the work, it can still have a huge
40:43
impact. And I think it's a very
40:47
important role, whether it's at my company or other places,
40:51
because the operators are really turning ideas into plans and
40:55
they're often creating clarity when there's ambiguity.
40:59
And I think that is kind of a unique skill.
41:03
And it's really important to understand and develop trust
41:07
with the people that you work with in order to do that.
41:10
Yeah. Is that some?
41:11
Is that? Is that a special skill that
41:14
people have to have when they start working early?
41:18
Well, let's say early stage in a?
41:21
Compact I I definitely think that a lot of folks who
41:25
gravitate to the really early stage companies are often
41:28
generalists. Like they're willing to roll up
41:30
their sleeves, they're willing to dive in, they're willing to
41:33
figure those things out. And as you scale, you bring in
41:37
more specialists, people who are really good at very particular
41:41
things. So that's what I would say to
41:45
people who are looking at different types of companies,
41:48
thinking about who they are. And it's OK either way.
41:52
You know, no matter, just kind of knowing yourself is
41:54
important. And I think you're able to find
41:57
a career that is more suited to you when you kind of learn those
42:01
things about yourself. Yeah, definitely.
42:05
I have two more questions to go. One is my standard sort of
42:09
closing question. So I'm developing an AI based
42:13
funding coach to connect female founders and investors and to
42:16
help them close the funding gap. You talked talked early on about
42:21
mental models. So I was wondering what is a
42:26
mental motto motto that I should incorporate in the funding
42:31
coach? That's a great question.
42:34
We had so many at my company. One of my favorites is called
42:38
the data chain. Have you ever heard of that one
42:40
before? So it basically is, I believe a
42:46
seven step model that kind of enables you to, you can apply it
42:52
to decision making. So it's about how you turn data
42:56
into insights. And it's cool because one of the
43:00
examples that we often used is how a doctor would then what a
43:06
patient is saying and hear about it.
43:08
And that's data that they're collecting.
43:10
And because of the skills that they have, they're able to
43:13
convert that into insights. They also can pick up on other
43:17
data points because there may be things that you're not saying,
43:21
but because they're a doctor and they know these things, they can
43:23
pick it up. So I would definitely recommend
43:26
checking out that mental model. That is a great one.
43:29
OK, so that's the data chain. The data chain, yes.
43:33
Cool, well, I'll be sure to check it out and to to see how I
43:37
can incorporate it in funding coach dot AI.
43:42
So Eliza Moore, thank you very much for this conversation.
43:46
Really appreciate all the time you you gave us.
43:51
If people want to connect with you or learn more about Price
43:54
Out, where would you like to send them?
43:56
Absolutely, I really appreciate you having me and making the
43:59
time and I appreciate anyone who listens to this podcast and I'm
44:04
really excited to connect with you.
44:06
I am on LinkedIn, so definitely reach out to me.
44:09
They're always happy to have a chat.
44:12
And then additionally, you can find more information about
44:15
prize out on our LinkedIn and we have some open positions as
44:19
well, so check those. Yeah, especially and those are
44:23
in in office or hybrid or even remote.
44:28
Yes, it mostly in office, some hybrid, but mostly in office in
44:32
New York. OK, so that's New York, at least
44:36
if you're in New York and you want to work for a cool start
44:38
up, check out the links in the show notes because what we will
44:43
put all those links in the show notes.
44:45
Eliza Moore, thank you very much for this conversation.
44:48
This nurse. Thank you very much for
44:50
listening. And until the next episode, as
44:52
always, keep being awesome. Well, that's it.
45:06
Thank you for listening to episode 148 of Women Disrupting
45:10
Tech titled The Startup Operators Playbook, Turning
45:14
Founder Vision into Reality with Eliza Moore.
45:18
Eliza, and I hope you found your conversation as practical and
45:21
informative as we intended it to be.
45:23
And special thanks to Andrea Holland for her help in putting
45:27
this episode together. If you have any questions for
45:30
Eliza, please leave them in the comments section on YouTube,
45:34
Spotify, or Apple Podcasts. I do read all the comments and
45:38
I'll make sure you get an answer.
45:40
If you want to connect with Eliza or learn more about Price
45:44
Out, including your open positions, you can do so via the
45:47
links in the show notes. As usual, you can find the show
45:50
notes at Women Disrupting Tech, O'clock and on My Sub Stack via
45:54
the links in the caption. Both the caption and the show
45:57
notes contain a link to the data chain model that was mentioned
46:01
in the episode. If you found this episode
46:04
useful, please take a moment to rate and review the show on
46:06
Spotify, Apple Podcast, or YouTube.
46:09
And if you don't follow us yet, please hit the follow or
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subscribe button so you never miss a future episode.
46:16
Once again, thank you for listening.
46:18
I hope to see you in the next episode, and until then, as
46:22
always, keep being awesome.