07 May Venture Capitalist and Company Builder Rachel Stillman to Bring both VC and Entrepreneurs’ Perspective to IU Ventures Summit
In the start-up ecosystem you often hear about product-market fit—or the degree to which a product satisfies a strong market demand. And, while product-market fit is essential for the success of an early-stage start up, Rachel Stillman, IU alum and venture capitalist, believes that founder-market fit can be just as important.
“In my experience, founder-market fit (which is a term I learned from the Partners at my firm, 7wireVentures) means a company is more likely to be successful,” she explained when asked about the advice she would give to a prospective entrepreneur. “If you don’t feel like this is the number one problem you should be solving, pause before deciding to contribute a big part of your life to this. You want to solve a problem you are deeply passionate about, and it will probably take you longer than you think. Being an entrepreneur means signing up for a job and identity that can last a few years, a decade, or longer.”
On Friday, May 17th, as part of the IU Ventures Founder & Funders Network Venture Summit, Stillman will participate in a panel discussion “When the Going Gets Tough” regarding tips, strategies and inspiration for startup founders to manage through a VC funding downturn. Stillman currently serves as Chief of Staff at Transcarent, a healthcare technology benefit solution offering employees and their families easy access to high-quality affordable health and care. Previously, she served as Vice President at 7wire Ventures, where she focused on investments in digital healthcare and technology. She is a graduate of IU’s Journalism school (now the Media School).
Registration for the Summit, which is limited to 250 attendees, is now open on the IU Ventures website. Registration is $100 and includes all Summit programming and networking opportunities.
“My perspective is largely shaped by stepping into one of our companies,” she said. “The title, ‘when the going gets tough,’ alludes to market contraction and accessing funds. But I think that it is less about access to capital and more about rises and pitfalls of building companies. Good board members and good VCs, can help provide support during those tough times.”
“Most of my commentary will be on resilience, agility, and pivoting when necessary,” she explained. “A lot of companies we know well have gone through major pivots. I want to bring both a VC and entrepreneur’s perspective to the conversation. Access to capital is one piece of the story— a very public piece of the story—but what matters is how you climb out of the challenging moments, like the valley of death, to build a successful company. And, how VC investors in the audience should think about standing behind their companies during these tough moments.”
About a year ago, Rachel transitioned from her role as Vice President at 7wireVentures to building and growing Transcarent. She started at 7wireVentures as an intern and never imagined her initial 3-month internship resulting in her becoming a vice president 6 years later.
“What I think is so special about 7wireVentures is that the partners all have lived and breathed growing companies—and can provide tangible hands-on support,” she said. “I was interested in building businesses and wanted to have the ability to walk in the shoes of an entrepreneur and have tactical roles. As chief of staff, most of my time is spent looking at the organization horizontally, spending time on M&A, solving problems, engaging with our investors/board, and supporting fundraising—it has been really enlightening.
While Stillman believes that one day she may return to the VC world, she is enjoying being an operator today and deeply values the experience of building a business.
“This has been a really critical experience for me,” she said. “I think back at some of the recommendations I gave as an early investor and how some of my perspectives have changed now that I have a real-world understanding for the problems that a startup is trying to solve.”
As Transcarent’s chief of staff, Stillman feels like she is constantly learning. When asked about what lessons she expects to take away from her time building a company she references three: the importance of people, selling and speed.
“Companies are made up of people and what you are learning is to help people operate efficiently, creatively and consistently,” she said. “Selling is something you learn best by doing—and when investing in early-stage growth companies, selling is the name of the game. The last piece is about speed, one of the key competitive differentiators for a startup. It is easy to say ‘move quickly’ as a board member, but the practicalities of getting an organization to move quickly, especially as the company grows and scales, is different.”
This will be Stillman’s first time attending the Venture Summit and she is most excited about meeting promising entrepreneurs, bringing awareness and capital to the IU ecosystem, and being around college students.
“There is such a collective joy and optimism that comes with being a college student,” she said. “And that optimism and enthusiasm is contagious. I want to learn what they want to do, and hopefully I can be fortunate enough to accelerate that path for them. Everyone has a story of the person who unlocked the next phase of their professional journey and I hope I can be that for someone.”
Registration for the Summit, which is limited to 250 attendees, is now open on the IU Ventures website. Registration is $100 and includes all Summit programming and networking opportunities.