Success requires knowing who you are and what you want, being willing to take risks, and adapting. At least, that’s what I deduced after chatting with Women’s Venture Capital Fund Co-founder Monica Dodi. In this Interviews with Influential Women, we discuss the key components leading to Monica’s success that are critical for other female entrepreneurs. We also discuss the much-needed focus for successful women to play a bigger role investing in their counterparts.
Please give my readers a short background on your personal journey that brought you to today.
I was born and raised in New York City by immigrant parents. I always helped my mom in her beauty salon and dad in his restaurant. It was this entrepreneurial spirit that influenced just about every job I’ve had (even my first one at eleven years old). After attending Georgetown University, I joined a start-up, providing a service similar to Lexus Nexus (only for engineering). I was fortunate enough to be involved with one that was a big hit, and it enabled me to ride the wave. In five years, we sold out to a German conglomerate, which was when I went back for my MBA at Harvard. Soon after that, I worked for MTV, as their number two person in Europe. From MTV, I ran Disney’s Consumer Products in Europe, Africa and the Middle East. I left Disney to start my own private company as a Disney licensee. When I finally came back to the states, I moved on to Warner Brothers and American Online (AOL)—working within start-up divisions. Now, I’m on the other side of the start-up world—the funding side as a venture capitalist, helping entrepreneurs.
What are the most important things you do (or did) that contribute to your success?
While launching MTV Music Television in Europe across 16 countries, I learned some big lessons. I ran the business side of things dealing with revenue and distribution. Every country in Europe had different ways of doing things. Cable television was just starting there. We broke even after a year, but only by breaking through a lot of barriers.
Advertisers were accustomed to budgeting on a country-by-country basis. Even though many Fortune 500 companies (such as Coca-Cola) were natural advertisers for the MTV market of young adults 18 to 34, we could not get advertising deals because they would not commit on a pan-European level. We almost packed up and left. However, I ended up going to the headquarters of companies like these, bypassing the advertising agencies—which were none-to-pleased. This fearlessness to break the rules has been my number one key to success.
I also learned that opportunities are not always in the place you first look, so your willingness to stay open and jump when you see an opportunity is critical. When I joined Disney, they were looking to break up into various parts. Usually, that’s when people often leave, but I joined anyway. It was at that time Roy Disney brought in Michael Eisner and Frank Wells to turn it around, which began the era of The Little Mermaid, The Lion King, Beauty and the Beast and so forth. It was fun to be part of it. We restructured and reorganized the whole business in Europe.
Being part of Disney during that time, I witnessed licensees making a lot of money, so I jumped from Disney and started a paper products company mainly in greeting cards. I sold my products to major retailers and later cashed out to American Greetings. This is another component of entrepreneurial success—figure out what your exit is because that’s how you really make your money. Selling to American Greetings was an opportunity to get the return on my investment.
What are the most important things women need to do or consider when charting their next chapter of life, whenever that may be for them?
The most important thing to remember is the only sure thing is change. You have to be flexible if you are going to be successful.
I had a job at Warner Brothers when I first returned to the States. A merger with Turner stopped their entry in the market I had been hired for, which looked bad but led me to becoming CEO of brands at AOL—a much better job. While at AOL, they merged with Time Warner and moved their entire operations to the east coast. I did not want to uproot my kids again, so I stayed in California, which got me involved in the venture capital arena.
None of these changes were in my plans, and sometimes they didn’t look good at first sight. However, each one has led to amazing opportunities.
When I first entered the venture capital world with Software Technology Ventures, I found out that less than 7% of venture capital goes to teams that have women as part of the founding team. This is despite all the research showing gender diversity results in higher productivity, profitability and return on investment. These studies and more are linked on our website, Women’s Venture Capital Fund. Any woman looking to raise money should become familiar with these statistics, so she can sell herself better.
Wanting to change the amount of capital available to women entrepreneurs, I started my own venture capital firm with Edith Dorsen, who brought fiduciary rigor. and discipline to balance my entrepreneurial spirit. This is something all entrepreneurs must recognize—know your strengths and weaknesses and surround yourself with good people who do well the things you don’t.
We raised our first stage money from our close network of friends and family—a step many female entrepreneurs see as a detriment—then we started fundraising. This was during the depth of the recession, so it was challenging. Really challenging. There were many times that we thought that we should just pack up our bags, but we stuck to it. Many are not prepared to stick it out during tough times, but that’s what being an entrepreneur is all about.
As of now, we have invested in five companies and plan to invest in two to three more in the coming year. Our goal is to raise another fund that’s bigger, better and faster, but in this stratified environment of venture capital, we will have to prove our investment track record as a team especially because of our focus on women-led companies.
Who are your top 3 female role models, and what about each inspires you?
Ironically, one of my favorite role models is Lauren Bacall. Sadly, she passed away last year. When she first started, she did not experience much success. However, she got advice from some big shot (I believe, Samuel Goldwin) and became a woman that men respected. She gave them as much grief as she took—whether it was Humphrey Bogart or Jason Robards, Gary Cooper or Clark Gable. She had a robust sense of humor. She was a person of her own mind. She said what she thought. More importantly, she just didn’t take anything they said seriously.
Not taking things seriously has been my guiding principle. It’s not that I shrug off work, but I don’t let it consume me. You’re in control of your own work. You can’t let work control you. With my kids or work, I want to do it with pleasure and joy.
My second role model is Lucille Ball. You have to know your own mind. You really do. And Lucille Ball knew her own mind. She knew what she wanted to do and was the driving force of the I Love Lucy show.
Barbara Standwick would be my third. She was also a woman of her own mind. I love that. She set her mind on something and just got it done.
Don’t go for the “hat in hand / please help me” kind of attitude. In a business scenario, people won’t touch you (or your idea) with a 10-foot pole. If you exude more than just confidence (perhaps determination), you are likely to achieve whatever your goal is.
What challenge (s) did you face & overcome to get to where you are?
Every day has challenges. It’s often not the big stuff but the little things that trip us up.
Probably my biggest challenges have had to do with my children. That is where I have put my priority. My first boss always used to say, “The most fragile thing are people.” Money and resources can be manipulated, but people are fragile. If your child is having a difficult time, you have to take time to be there for them. Those challenges are the ones that keep me up late at night worrying, not the ones in business.
At work, the toughest feat is finding opportunities to find happiness in. I was really fortunate, and part of that happened by merely putting myself out there. I believe that if you make a move, the universe fills in the rest. I’ve really enjoyed myself. And when you’re having fun, you just perform better.
What do you consider the top issues women face today?
The problem is that on the other side of the table from women entrepreneurs—there are only men that invest. So I ask women, “Do you invest in startups?” There are many high net-worth women out there. Why not get in on it and start investing in them? It’s not just the fault of the men. Women need to step up and start writing checks.
If women with money set aside 10% for riskier assets as angel investors (like big portfolios do), it would help ENORMOUSLY in setting up a pool of money to invest in women and make a huge difference in the paradigm that we’re talking about. There are a lot of female entrepreneurs out there. There is no lack of that. There’s a lack of female investors.
We need to look for ways to change the way we look at where women are today and create solutions outside the box like the Women’s Venture Fund. We started this new fund by targeting women, rather than force change in the current private equity arena.
What are the biggest opportunities available to women today?
Women need to wake up to just how much power and influence we actually wield. Women control billions of dollars of assets. Women direct billions of dollars of consumer spending. Companies are starting to wake up to the market women represent, and if we step up, women could be influencing a great wave of innovation on the horizon.
Is there anything else you would like to share?
People will bend over backwards for you, as long as you make it fun and interesting (or if there’s a lot of money to be had). Yet, even if there’s a lot of money and you have an excellent business plan, things change. Investors, employees and suppliers entrust those with the ability to adapt. They want to know you’re not only going to survive but shine. That’s a characteristic that has no gender. Then again, in times of war throughout human history, it was women that kept civilization going.
—–
Monica Dodi is an international, entrepreneur. A visionary on the cutting edge of the high-tech landscape, she has founded four highly successful companies, spearheaded rapid turnarounds and negotiated numerous licensing deals with Fortune 500 companies.
As co-founder of MTV Europe and head of Business Development, Monica’s marketing expertise, operations and negotiating skills led to MTV becoming the fastest growing channel on the continent. She then joined Walt Disney where, as head of European Licensing, she was responsible for the successful turnaround of their Consumer Products business.
Returning to the U.S. to help Warner Bros. roll out television channels worldwide, Monica was recruited by Brandon Tartikoff to be CEO in charge of launching AOL’s Entertainment Asylum which soon became the fastest growing entertainment destination on the web.
At Softbank Technology Ventures, Monica focused on new media investments and served as the Fund’s Entrepreneur in Residence. She continues to be a sought-after advisor to and angel investor in new ventures spanning internet innovations, content creation and data technologies, mobile applications, and social media.
As Managing Director and Co-founder of the Women’s Venture Capital Fund, she spearheaded the formation of this fund focused on investments in new companies with gender diversity, an overlooked, yet high potential for growth, sector in venture capital.
