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Before You Join That Accelerator: What Founders Need to Know (And What No One Tells You About the Exit) · Serious Lady Business

• LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (00:03) Hey there, I'm Leslie Youngblood and this is Serious Lady Business, the podcast where we get real about what it takes to build a business as a woman today. From late night Google searches and client curveballs to the wins that make it all worth it, I'm talking about the stuff no one puts in the highlight reel. Each week, I'm bringing you honest conversations, lessons learned and stories from women who are out here doing the work. Messy, meaningful and unapologetically bold. Whether you're just dreaming about starting a business or deep in the grind, this podcast is your space to feel seen, supported, and fired up. Because let's be honest, this journey is hard, hilarious, and absolutely worth it. So let's dive in. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (00:51) Welcome back to Serious Lady Business. I'm Leslie Youngblood, your host, feminist, and fellow founder of Youngblood MMC, a marketing media and content agency. With us today is Tania Kottoor. Tania is a first generation Indian American, a creative visionary, and the tech forward founder and CEO of West by East. Now Tania has effectively married tradition with innovation. This venture-backed startup is the world's first AI-powered, cutting-edge 3D configurator. Customers can personalize their garments with precision and ease. She really truly has reimagined the process of shopping. In 2020, Tania conceptualized, designed and produced 75 custom outfits in Antigua, Guatemala for an award-winning wedding. Amazing! She's garnered the attention of Brides Today India, Over the Moon by Vogue and Brides. After receiving a double degree in business at St. Louis University, she then attended the Condé Nast College of Fashion and Design. She was selected as one of their next leaders in luxury fashion, which was very smart on their part. They were very right about that. After graduating, Tania entered the fashion world by storm by helping small fashion labels grow to the next level, one of which is now sold in Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue, and Revolt. She's also the 2024 Brooks Brothers Gold Prize winner. She's recently rebranded and launched her brand on the Times Square billboard. Amazing. I definitely want to touch on what it was like seeing your brand in Times Square. She's immersed herself and her brand into the startup ecosystem, which has allowed her to participate in multiple accelerated programs and fellowships, including Tory Burch and Vital Voices Fellowships. She's raised over half a million dollars in venture capital and grant money from pitch competitions. Her mission is to elevate cultural expression. Tania, I'm so excited to have you here today on Serious Lady Business. Welcome. Of course. Now, so a lot of what we just shared with your bio is very pertinent to today's conversation. that our topic is before you join that accelerator, what founders need to know and what no one tells you about the exit. Now, most founders and first timers see accelerator programs as a golden ticket. Tania Kottoor (02:40) Thank you for having me. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (02:59) But we are going to dive into what happens after demo day. What should you really expect going in? And with you Tania, I'd love to start at the beginning. What initially drew you to join your first accelerator and what were you hoping to gain from that? Tania Kottoor (03:11) I come from fashion and I started business. I realized the fashion industry runs on dogma. Innovation meets resistance. Anytime I asked why, I'm that kid I always like, why, but why? I would ask why something couldn't change and the answer was that's how it's always been done. So I looked, yeah, I hate it. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (03:13) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mmm, I hate that. Tania Kottoor (03:37) And yeah, I looked outside into the startup ecosystem in New York, which was a completely foreign space to me for new ways of solving old problems. And Accelerators felt like a gateway, access to people, capital, and ways of thinking that fashion had long ignored. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (03:47) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mmm. Yes, for sure. So you mentioned and we touched upon it. You worked in fashion. You worked in New York City. Did that inspire you to want to start your own brand? And then how did, you know, tell us a little bit about West by East and how it came to be. And then we can talk more about how like you found accelerators within the space. Tania Kottoor (04:16) Yeah, I actually want to quote from a pitch competition I did a few weeks ago in Iowa. Afterwards, this woman who helped run the competition came up to me and she said, Tania, you are disrupting with AI within your own community and you're the first to do it. You're building a community that doesn't wait for permission, testing innovation with the people it's meant to serve. So I'm testing the boundaries outside of fashion. It's also within a cultural lens. For so long, sourcing cultural clothing requires a trip back to the motherland, which is very difficult nowadays. And that takes so much of your time and money just to do that. yeah, I would ask why isn't there an easier option? And that's when I kind of came up with the concept of my studies. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (04:46) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I love it. And so how long after starting West by East did you seek out an accelerator program or how did you stumble on? Did you stumble onto it? Tell us a bit about that journey. Tania Kottoor (05:17) Yeah, so I moved to New York in 2015 without my parents' blessings and I couch surfed slept on the floor of a Brooklyn apartment. My parents are... LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (05:21) no. Tania Kottoor (05:26) conservative Catholic folks who, know, being something in the health field or engineering is safe bets for them and what they expected me to do. So I guess I went against the grain and 2018, 2019 is when the concept came about and there was a lot of R &D and we were testing it out on a family and friends. were growing, we were getting customers. Then 2020 launched the I officially launched a company with my wedding as a PR play. Yeah, then the pandemic hit us out of nowhere, 2020, 2021. I think I had PTSD from it. ⁓ But I did a crowdfunding campaign in 2021. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (05:59) Perfect. you Tania Kottoor (06:09) and that gave me the courage to raise funding, but I felt like I didn't have all the skillsets to know how to build a business as a first time founder. Also how to raise funding, I've never done it. So I just felt like this is like the best case scenario, like join and learn the most and go out there afterwards. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (06:12) Mm-hmm. Yeah. I'm in. Gotcha. What platform did you use for crowdfunding when you did your first crowdfunding? Tania Kottoor (06:32) iFund Woman who just got acquired and the founder and CEO, Karen Kahn, was my first investor. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (06:38) Wow, that's amazing. Did that teach you that like, wow, people want to contribute to this or this is even more needed than I expected in the marketplace? Would you recommend with anybody that has an idea and is needing funding to look to a crowdfunding platform like that? Tania Kottoor (06:55) Yes, because it's a great way to get like a proof of concept out there and recognize that there's an actual need and customers, they will come to you if you provide it. ⁓ So it was a great testing platform, I would say. To know that, yeah, I have product market fit and now I need funding to scale it. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (06:58) you Thank you. Yeah. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Gotcha. And then did you, did that funding need draw you to that first accelerator and what was that first accelerator that you found? Tania Kottoor (07:25) The first X-O-I, I don't even remember because I've done multiple. Well, I've done Visible Hands Accelerator, have done Mass Challenge, I've done Gold House Ventures. Then I've done multiple fellowships like Tory Burch Fellowship, Vital Voice, Ladies Who Launch. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (07:27) Sure. How many have you done by now, Tania? Do you know? I'm Birch. ⁓ So you've almost done like double digits in the accelerator space, which I think is fantastic. What is something that they all had in common that really worked for you as a founder, Tania? Tania Kottoor (07:42) Okay. Yeah. Yes. Yeah. I think they all did try to create in-person experiences. I think founders need community, not just Slack threads and Zoom check-ins. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (07:58) Mm. and Tania Kottoor (08:07) And when you're in the trenches, peer mentorship becomes everything. I think that's how I survived this long. Otherwise, as a solo founder, it gets really hard. And we share resources, intros, real-time advice. It's the difference between going it out alone and having a support system. But majority of the Accelerator programs were virtual. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (08:13) Hmm. I think that's really... Hmm. Tania Kottoor (08:32) But I think the in-person sessions were the highlights. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (08:35) best ones for you out of all of the ones was it the in-person ones and I think though that's great it's so are you based in New York still right now Tania? Tania Kottoor (08:37) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm in Brooklyn. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (08:45) So, but I want to just mention that because you don't have to be in a big city to have a community startup space or even an accelerator program. feel like, and I would love to hear your thoughts on this too. In the past 10 years, I feel like accelerator programs have accelerated the opportunity and the availability of accelerator programs. Whether you are in the Midwest, the South or a urban Mecca like New York City, there are accelerator programs and there are communities for founders. for people to take advantage of and I do feel like it is because of the power of that community and like you said that in-person connection and it is so hard to be a founder day in and day out and to just be able to have people that are there that are going through the same thing that understand and that you can ping ideas off of that you can get support from the assistance, like all the things, mentorship, right, is so critical. So I think that's really something that's been fantastic to watch as we see all the accelerator programs, should I do it, should I not do it? But there are some really basic things that no matter where you are or how good or not good a program is, it still has those powerful benefits for a founder. Tania Kottoor (09:53) Yeah. And the other thing is these accelerator programs, if they bring high caliber speakers, the best programs bring in seasoned operators, like C-level executives, industry veterans, not entry level folks reading off slides because that's happened in the past too. And I want to walk. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (09:58) Thank Mm-hmm. Tania Kottoor (10:11) out of those sessions with tangible next steps, and ideally a warm intro or a direct follow-up to have a one-on-one with those speakers. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (10:14) Yeah. Yeah, that's powerful, right? Because where, in what other opportunity or space would you get to be in a room with those new connections? And truly, your network can be your net worth, especially when you're a small business owner that's looking to grow in scale and all those little... little intricate networks that you can then take advantage of and just get in, again, face to face in the room, not just on a Zoom, like you said. What do you think the biggest misconception founders have going into accelerators, Tania? Tania Kottoor (10:40) Yeah. So founders I've spoken to and I'm like, recommend all these accelerates and fellowships. I was like, hey, I'll put in an internal referral. They always question the term sheet and the valuation. feel like they're going to these accelerator programs low ball you on the valuation which I mean, it's true. But you've already got. But if you already have investors with signed term sheets, you can absolutely negotiate. And I don't think most founders know that. You can ask to match it. And if your pre-seed or still at an idea stage, LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (11:17) Mmm. Tania Kottoor (11:22) That equity is buying you a real world MBA course. You're learning at a warp speed in context and take the deal, do the work and implement like hell. I think at the end of the day, it is worth it. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (11:26) Mmm. Yeah. I love that quote, take the deal and implement like hell. It's like fantastic. Because right, they think some people, anytime you do something new, something different, something that puts you out of your comfort zone as a business owner, you're gonna be nervous or you're gonna have misconceptions, right? It's just the name of the game or somebody might be chirping in your ear, somebody had a different experience than you, but. There's no bad thing that can come of it, right? at the very least, you're just going through it and getting the information, like what comes out of it at the end. Tania Kottoor (12:07) Exactly. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (12:07) You know my night, right? It's not like you're being bought in or invested in or gonna meet Oprah or Sarah Blakely or whomever, right? But you're still gonna get so much value from that and like you said, dig in and just take the utmost advantage of it is probably the most powerful thing. And I really probably feel like too for you, one of the reasons why they worked so well for you and for West by East. Tania Kottoor (12:29) The question? Is this a question? Yeah. Yeah. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (12:29) just that like you took full advantage of those opportunities and like dug in and immersed yourself in everything they offered. Tania Kottoor (12:37) Yeah, mean, the Accelerators, they, I got an advisor out of it and like a super operator who's helped me throughout everything that went on the past five years. I, like, I was able to hire talent through introductions. I obviously raised funding. And I learned to better, I learned to be a better leader through these programs. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (12:51) Mm-hmm. amazing. Tania Kottoor (12:59) and having confidence in myself that I have value, I know what I'm doing, I have all these people surrounding me, supporting me. Yeah, there's nothing wrong with these programs. It's like what you give is what you're gonna get. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (13:03) Thank you. Mm-hmm. Right, Sure, right, like with anything. Was there ever a moment in an accelerator, Tania, that you thought, wait, this isn't what I expected? Tania Kottoor (13:20) Some programs don't vet startups well. It becomes a numbers game for them. I've been in cohorts where it was clear some founders weren't taking it seriously. guess what? Most of those startups shut down within a few years, two to three years. The ones that lasted, we were... LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (13:35) Hmm... Hmm... Tania Kottoor (13:40) the ones still showing up to all those sessions asking for help, giving help and staying scrappy and not blowing through 100K in like a year. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (13:44) Mmm. Mmm. wow, wouldn't that be nice? Or obviously not nice, but I mean, that really, like you said, it speaks to the outcome, the effort that they put in is obviously like, begets that specific outcome. For female founders, Tania, that are considering an accelerator, what should they really be evaluating when choosing the right program? And I would love to know what you consider, like, what's a green flag they should look for and what's a red flag they should look for? Tania Kottoor (13:53) Yeah. Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. Green flag programs specifically investing in women, like the Tory Burch Fellowship, Vital Voice Fellowship. They're not accelerators, but they're communities. ⁓ Red flag, lack of follow-up, flaky programming or speakers dropping out last minute. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (14:26) Mm-hmm. Mm. you Tania Kottoor (14:36) that signals they don't have it together and do some back-channeling. Reach out to other female founders who've done these fellowships and accelerators and ask them, hey, was it worth it? Do you think I should apply? What should I avoid? How should I apply? Just ask around. Do your due diligence. Yeah. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (14:40) Mm. Mm-hmm. Right, yeah, for sure. Do you think that with accelerators, they promise connections and investor access. Do you feel that that's realistic, a realistic promise, or is that maybe something that's over-promised with accelerators? Tania Kottoor (15:10) Sometimes, but you have to be ready. your pitch deck needs to be tight, data room ready, know your numbers and narrative because when that intro hits your inbox, you might only get one shot. That said, some accelerators do gatekeep investor access, especially if they don't think you're ready. And that's tough. I've done the more... LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (15:13) Mm. Yeah. Mmm. Tania Kottoor (15:35) I haven't done the more established accelerator programs like YC, Techstars, 500 Startups, but I've heard some founders in those programs close rounds before demo day. Yeah. I haven't done those accelerators, but I heard they're pretty, they're solid. yeah. ⁓ LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (15:39) Mm. Sure. with those, I are the big three. And when it comes to accelerator programs, you don't have to go after those big three. There's lots of accelerator programs around. But I would imagine, and I'm not familiar with their application process, but have you looked into their application process? Or is it much more involved in depth for established startups, per se? Tania Kottoor (15:55) Yeah. they're more focused on making sure you have a CTO. You need a tech lead. And so the other accelerator programs I applied to, I've never had a tech lead until now. I think now I would be ready, but I'm at a growth stage now. But that was, they needed to make sure you had a CTO. Otherwise, I didn't qualify for it, yeah. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (16:28) Mm-hmm. Fascinating. Fascinating. That's good to know, especially for everyone listening right now. So let's talk about after the program ends, like what happens after that demo day, right? What surprised you the most about that transition period after the programs that you've been part of ended? Tania Kottoor (16:50) Honestly, it's like you've been in founder school and suddenly you're on your own. It's game time and it's not easy. No holding hands, no real support. You have to hustle it out. You're given everything beforehand. You learn the skill sets. You know who to reach out to. You know how to reach out to those folks. You're kind of on your own. Obviously, you can still lean on your... LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (16:55) Sure. Mm-hmm. Tania Kottoor (17:12) your network, the folks that you know, your advisors and some folks at TechSelwer programs, but it's really on you. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (17:13) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. It's funny. It kind of reminds me and I know you're a mom now too tiny at where it's like when they send you home from the hospital with your kids and you're like, wait what? I have to go do this on my own now? Like, are you sure I'm not ready? I don't know anything. That must be it. Tania Kottoor (17:28) Yeah. Yes. Yeah, correct. Yeah. Yeah. Well, you kind of know, instinctively, you know, you know, but yeah, correct. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (17:36) Right? Yeah. You know, you'll be fine. You got this. But you're still like, well, are you sure? Are you sure I'm good? Are you sure? This seems like a big deal. And it is. It's like another big responsibility and creating something and nurturing something. Tania Kottoor (17:50) Exactly. Yeah, because you as a founder and the CEO, you're the only one who can close that term sheet, like that deal. It's on you. can't, no one else is going to come in the pitch during the, like the pitch and pitch for you. It's you, you gotta, you gotta, you have to have self belief and you have to believe in your business. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (17:58) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Yeah, for sure. Now I want to pivot a little bit. Previously we talked about this, Tania, and we discussed that accelerators rarely prepare you for an exit. So first I want to have you define what an exit is for listeners, and then also why do you think that's such a blind spot in some of these programs? Tania Kottoor (18:28) So an expert could be an acquisition, full out, you're gone. Maybe you can stay on as an advisor. It could be an acquirer, so you join a bigger team that has more resources and funding and you continue to help grow whatever you built. It could be the brand, could be the tech. You could be a completely new ownership in terms of a new CEO. You could IPO. I think, yeah, in these accelerator programs, no one really teaches. You have one slide called exit, but that's kind of like a maybe this will happen and you don't really like, it's like the, it's an important slide, but also not the most important slide. ⁓ People wanna know what's like your next. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (19:04) Hmm. Tania Kottoor (19:07) What's your plan for the next three years, five years? How are you going to scale the business? What's your revenue like? What's your metrics like? Those are the important questions. Do you have a team that's ready to do this? Are you serious about this? I think VCs, they focus on startups to become a unicorn. that's. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (19:09) I'm done. Right. Tania Kottoor (19:26) very little room for exit strategy conversations unless you bring it up. ⁓ And they just want you to keep pounding the pavement and pushing through and keep raising funding. And I wish someone had told me earlier to build a buyer pipeline or explore licensing options just to like, just to think about it. ⁓ Because it could happen anytime, right? And you want to be prepared and have options and maybe have a bidding war. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (19:31) Mmm. Right. Right. Yeah. Tania Kottoor (19:54) So you get the best outcome, yeah. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (19:56) Yeah, that'd be amazing. Well, I think that's so interesting because you can understand maybe not that like they don't want to get your hopes up or they feel like don't put the cart before the horse in a way, right? Like to get to an exit, you got so you got a long way to go. But I also think there's a lot to be said for demonstrating to new founders and growing founders what is possible, right? If they can see, hey, you keep doing all these little things that we're showing you in five years, you could have an exit. And this is what that could Tania Kottoor (20:06) Right. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (20:24) be like, right? And then you're like, okay. Like now I'm more committed or maybe some of those flakier participants might have been like, okay. Like actually we should really take this seriously. So that has to be frustrating. Tell us a little bit more about the conversations that you wish you'd had about exit strategies in your journey. Tania Kottoor (20:26) Yeah. Yeah. again, taking that exit slide a lot more seriously and then having plan A, B, C, like what if I go full on brand and I build an amazing community and that's really accelerating. What if I just focus on just the SaaS tool, the tech piece and that goes like insane. Or what if I sell one part of it and I keep the other part of it? There's just so many options and so many different potential buyers out there. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (20:55) Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Tania Kottoor (21:13) yeah, I just like, I'm, I'm kind of, doing that now and I just wish I, again, plant the seeds ahead of time and massaging those relationships or maintaining those relationships so that when I feel like I'm ready to let go or give it a new home, like I have that person on speed dial. ⁓ yeah. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (21:20) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, you're not starting from zero when you have that readiness. You're starting from 100 or 500 because you've already been thinking about it and been proactively planning for that. So that makes... Tania Kottoor (21:44) Correct. Yeah. Yeah, I guess you could be, you can be, the goal is to be proactive instead of reactive. Yeah. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (21:51) Right, sure. Which can be difficult as a founder because you're already doing so many things, whether you have a small team or a big team. And so it can be hard. think that is one of the tricks or something that's difficult, of course, about being an entrepreneur is you have to do all the things. You have to stay proactive instead of reactive. The best brands do and stay proactive, right? Because you're ahead of the game. You're on your... Tania Kottoor (22:00) Yeah. Mm-hmm. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (22:16) you're seeing, you're planning for the long term, but then sometimes it might just feel like, it's another thing that I have to add on to my long-term strategy list. I'm curious what your thoughts would even be like, even if you don't, you don't need to plan for this exit or look into this exit every week. Maybe it's just as you're doing your projection planning for like, what, like the next quarters or like the next year, or like just add it as part of like your, what, like three to five year plan. Tania Kottoor (22:24) Mm-hmm. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (22:44) would maybe be enough to just keep it top of mind? Like what are your thoughts on that, Tonya? Tania Kottoor (22:49) Yeah, like start with who wins if you win. What's an adjacent company that would be interested in this? Like what companies would benefit from what you're building? Track them, especially if it's another startup and they raise maybe a lot more than you have. Engage with them. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (22:52) Mmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. Tania Kottoor (23:11) Yeah, again, like what you said, even if it's five years away, keep warm connection and build your own buyer list. Just have it there. Yeah. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (23:15) Right. Yeah. Right, right, just even putting it out there, doing it a little bit, I feel like just drives that aspect a little forward. so you're not left, again, starting from zero when you're really feeling like, I might be ready to move on to the next thing or give this, right, like a new home. What advice would you give Tania to a founder who's currently in an accelerator and feeling overwhelmed by the pressure to scale fast? Tania Kottoor (23:32) Yeah. I think you know your company best. Tune out the noise. ⁓ Sometimes there's too many people in the round table with you telling you 100 different things. And if you need a sounding board, get real advisors who know your space, not just generalists. I really like to lean on former founders who've scaled and LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (23:47) Mmm. Tania Kottoor (24:04) successfully sold their company because they've been in the trenches. They know how to activate and they can almost foresee what's going to happen and help you prevent any major derails. ⁓ LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (24:09) Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm, yeah, I love that. And then we, there's that burnout, right, that founder burnout, especially within the accelerator grind, like it's like school, right, like you talked about your deep, like school, deep stuff for the business. How did you manage your energy and mental health through that? Tania Kottoor (24:30) Yeah. I didn't have a burnout during the accelerator. It's everything that comes afterwards. I raised the pre-seed round and I was in an accelerator program then. There was an in-person experience in Tulsa, Oklahoma through an accelerator literally weeks before I gave birth and I still showed up. My husband came with me because he was afraid I was going to give birth. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (24:47) you I'm nervous. Tania Kottoor (25:06) But I wanted to, again, I'm gonna show up. I don't half-ass anything. Then I had the baby. Then I a bit of a, I had a legal battle with the former co-founder and then my grandmother passed away all within months and it was just chaos. The best thing I ever did was I hired an executive coach. Every founder scaling quickly. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (25:12) Mm-hmm. Mmm. Tania Kottoor (25:29) knees one. It's like therapy meets strategy and you're just not meant to do this alone. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (25:32) Tour. ⁓ Yeah, how did you find that coach Tania? Tania Kottoor (25:38) There was a coaching platform called Sky. I think they got acquired. I asked a lot of other founders, who did you use? I put in the slack. I had conversations with multiple executive coaches until I found a really good fit, someone who just understood what I was going through and what I needed. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (25:43) Great! That's my laugh! Mmm. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I like that. Because it's like, don't just Google a business executive business coach and feel like you have to take the first one that you have a conversation with. I think that's really important, right? And you might feel anxious, like, I need somebody today. I need somebody today. I didn't really vibe, or I didn't really get the right feeling with this one. I'm just going to do it. But like, so I would love for you to talk more about that and like, why that's so important. Tania Kottoor (26:06) No. No. Exactly. Yeah, I I talked to like 10 executive coaches. I think I had like a list of questions. I asked the same questions to all of them. And I just kind of felt it out and vibed it out. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (26:23) I love that. Important. Tania Kottoor (26:31) They asked, like I would ask some very strategic questions and if they gave me really good answers, I was like, actually that's really great. I would do that. Basically free executive coaching on the spot. Then I'm like, you're the one, yeah. Instead of like basic, well, you could do this or that. I'm like, no, just tell me what to do exactly. You know my situation. How should I move forward? LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (26:39) Mmm. I don't know. Yeah. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. I love that. So if you could give a female founder out there one piece of honest, unfiltered advice about accelerators and exits, what would it be? Tania Kottoor (27:04) It's already in my bio, but build meaning for relationships. Always offer value, ask for introductions, but also give them, ⁓ share an article, connect to people, whatever you can. The best doors I've walked through were opened by people I helped first. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (27:08) Mmm. Mm. Mm-hmm. Mmm, I love that. And I think that just speaks so much to entrepreneurship as a community, like we were talking about earlier in the conversation where... you can't do it alone. Or maybe if you try, you'll just burn yourself to a crisp. And who wants to do that? But who wants to do anything alone, right? But I think especially, and what I always, I feel like every conversation, so much of every conversation that I have with female founders and founders in general is you need a community. It's about people, it's about connections, it's about providing value and that. And I think that's just so special, but just so important, like you said, to whether you're Tania Kottoor (27:38) Yeah. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (28:01) have just a tech product, how you get that tech product to where you need it to go is through human relationships and the connections and the network. So I think that's really, and like you said, anytime you have a question, you are going through something, there's somebody out there that has already gone through that too, right? Like we think, nobody's gone through this or nobody's... Nobody's had this problem before like I guarantee you like somebody has gone through that problem before and can help you and so to be able to have a Community to go to or a coach to go to to help you through that I think is just just so important for everyone to know nobody has the answers, right? And I think that's why with serious lady business. I was like why we started these conversations is Tania Kottoor (28:36) Mm-hmm. Correct. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (28:43) I would see all these other men doing these great things and I would think before, wow, they must have it figured out. Or you see other people doing all these things. They're like, wow, they got it figured out. And then you realize they don't know shit. They have no idea what they're doing. They're just doing right. They just are doing it scared or they're just doing it and not knowing. And so, and that's the thing is you get people to help you that do know because you can't know all the things that all the time in your business, especially starting out, especially as you're going through these rich accelerator programs. Tania Kottoor (28:55) Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (29:13) that are just full of fantastic people and information to help you along the way or those wouldn't exist, you know? So I love that and I would love for you too Tania to share an example of a win from an accelerator experience that helped your business the most. Tania Kottoor (29:27) Yeah, so I did the Gold House Ventures X, Y, program. It's by Asians for Asians. And the contentuity, like they continue to foster the founders that were part of their cohort. So they had this program called the Jenny Jing Zhu Collective. I applied, got accepted. Jenny is the founder of Lush Decor. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (29:43) Mm-hmm. Thanks. Tania Kottoor (29:47) Her whole story is like from growing up in the village of China to running a hundred million dollar business. And we had executive coaching, but it was group coaching through the Grand. It's another startup. And it was just so real, raw conversations, mutual support, zero posturing. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (30:03) Mm. Mm. Tania Kottoor (30:06) That community gave me confidence, clarity, accountability, bi-weekly. I just looked forward to it every two weeks. And it was a sisterhood of overachieving female Asian founders who all had very similar sentiments and upbringings. So I thought that was, yeah, I thought that was one of the best programs I've ever done. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (30:10) Mm. Yeah. Mm-hmm. I love that. So I think that's kind of a great segue to my next question is what do you say to people who say that accelerators aren't relevant anymore or there's other better ways to scale outside of an accelerator? Tania Kottoor (30:41) I think it's still relevant, especially if you're early stage and in tech. They give you structure, tools and access that would take years to build alone. But if you're in CPG or service based industry, your real accelerator is community, loyal customers and repeatable revenue. I don't think it's for every business. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (30:45) Mmm. Mm-hmm. Yeah, that's great advice. And then, what is one thing that you would build differently if you were running an accelerator program yourself? Tania Kottoor (31:04) So keep that in mind. Every founder would get a dedicated business or executive coach from day one. It's not just about growing your startup. It's about growing as a leader, a better decision maker, stronger team, fewer breakdowns. Yeah. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (31:19) Good one, I love it. Mm-hmm. I love that. Nantania, as we wrap up here, tell us what is next for West by East. Tania Kottoor (31:39) Well, there's still so much vitality in the business. We're growing quickly. We're doing a few cool collabs. But I am entering a new chapter. I'm actively looking for the right home for the company. It's given me so much purpose and momentum. And now it's time for it to grow under a new umbrella. ⁓ And that idea genuinely excites me. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (32:02) Mm-hmm. Awesome, I love it. Now tell everybody where they can find you in West by East out there. Website, LinkedIn, all the good stuff. Tania Kottoor (32:12) Yeah, website, WestXEast. The X is pronounced as bi, so WestxEast.com. And then the same, it's the same name for all the social media accounts. And then you can follow me, my name, first name, last name, Tania Kottoor. LESLIE YOUNGBLOOD (32:16) What's my eat? ⁓ Well, thank you so much, Tania, for joining us today and digging into the details on accelerator programs and exits. It was a fantastic conversation. I learned so much. I know our listeners learned so much. We appreciate it and appreciate you. And can't wait to see where West by East goes next. Thank you. Bye. Tania Kottoor (32:43) Thank you. Bye. Leslie Youngblood (32:47) Thanks for tuning in to Serious Lady Business. If you loved this episode, be sure to follow or subscribe so you never miss a moment of the real, raw, and really wonderful sides of female entrepreneurship. And hey, please leave a review if you're feeling generous. It helps more amazing women find us and join the conversation. You can also connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at at Serious Lady Business and get all of the updates at SeriousLadyBusiness.com. Until next time, keep showing up, keep building, and keep being your seriously amazing self.