Are You Dreaming Big Enough? with Meenie Ingersoll, Co-Founder of Shift

Minnie Ingersoll is an investor, co-founder, and former COO of Shift, an online marketplace for used cars. After 12 years at Google, working as a product manager and later principal with Google.org, she co-founded Shift in 2013 while she was on maternity leave. Minnie shares that she never thought she’d be a founder and in the used car industry, but the opportunity to build a business from scratch was exciting to her. 

Minnie took Shift from an idea to over $100 million dollars in revenue and has seen continued success with the company going public last year. After 5 years at Shift, Minnie decided to change her career once again and empower entrepreneurs as an early-stage investor at TenOneTen Ventures. 

We’ll chat with Minnie about how she built her emotional resilience in tough times, why communication & people are your biggest assets at work, and what truly makes a good founder when it comes to starting your own company. 

In this episode, we’ll talk to Minnie about: 

* What it was like growing up in an academic family & why she was always considered the black sheep [2:30]

* Why Minnie decided to drop out of college after her first semester [4:59]

* What drove Minnie to go to business school after the dot.com burst & what helped her gain confidence [8:02]

* Minnie discusses her experience as an early Google employee & key learnings [11:16]

* What prompted Minnie to leave her stable job during maternity leave & become a cofounder at Shift [13:58]

* What motivated Minnie to start a used car business despite not being particularly interested in the industry [16:56]

* Minnie talks about the early days of raising money and the initial steps the business took to prove their concept [20:46]

* Why business needs to be more friendly & inclusive and how the Zoom culture we’re right now can benefit us [26:03]

* Advice when it comes to interviewing based on Minnie’s experience taking Shift from 0 to 200 employees in only two years [28:15]

* How to deal with difficult and uncomfortable conversations in business [34:02]

* Minnie shares why burn out happens when you’re not fulfilled in your job [39:15]

* The advice Minnie would give to her younger self: just chill out [41:12]

* Why Minnie decided to leave Shift, move to LA, and change her career once again [43:01] 

* As a partner at the venture capital firm, TenOneTen, Minnie shares her advice on what makes a good founder & how to think through your pitch to investors [48:15]

Follow Minnie:

* Shift Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/driveshiftcars/ 

* TenOneTen Ventures: https://www.instagram.com/ten.one.ten/ 

* Shift Website: https://shift.com/ 

* TenOneTen Ventures: https://www.tenoneten.net/ 

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* Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/yasminknouri/

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