Aru Anavekar, CEO and Founder of Botsplash, spoke to several students, including those in the Middle School Social Entrepreneurship, Upper School Social Entrepreneurship, and Middle School Personal Finance classes in the Providence Day IDEAS Xchange area. Anavekar talked about her experience creating and maintaining Botsplash, after years of working for companies in the corporate world.
Botsplash, a software as a service (SaaS) provider, is a centralized, unified, and highly cross-compatible platform specifically designed to manage engagement and communication between sales agents and new, potential customers via text messaging, Facebook Messenger, and web chat.
Originally from India, Anavekar came to the United States in 2004 as a student to get her masters in computer science at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro. She then began climbing the corporate ladder at Wachovia (now Wells Fargo) and Lending Tree, sometimes taking lateral promotions so that she could learn different aspects of the business.
“You either invest in learning, or you invest in taking the salary” was a key takeaway from today’s talk. She views investing in learning as key to her success. “If I don’t know or understand something, I get a book or talk to a coworker. Always get help. The more time you take to teach yourself, the better you will become.”
Anavekar moved to Charlotte and, in 2009, started working at Lending Tree in technology and project management. When she took maternity leave, she was itching to return to work and went back four weeks early. While working at Lending Tree, she decided it was time to stop working and get her MBA, saying, “I needed to learn and know more about business.”
“I am a big believer for someone in their early 20s to ‘job hop.’ I change employers after 18 months. You can learn your job in six months. For the next six months, network with people in your department. Ask them, ‘What are you doing? How is your department impacting the company?’ The final three months, ‘how do I get myself in a role that tells me about more roles in the company, like knowing basic HR rules.’”
While in the process of getting her MBA, she realized the value of working while going to school. It hadn’t been that long since Anavaker had left Lending Tree when she returned asking for a contract position while working towards her MBA. “Always maintain relationships. They are very important.”
Speaking about gender inequality in the working world, Anavekar said, “You learn to do negotiations while getting your MBA. You learn how you can best come up with a win-win situation. There is a lot of discrimination out there. No one is going to talk to you if you dress down. I am not tall, and I cannot change that. You’ve got to draw attention to yourself. Societal pressure is very evident. Females have social stigmas to overcome.”
In 2017, Anavekar started Botsplash without any investors. She didn’t want them. “I love making my own decisions without anyone asking questions. I always entertain investors; I just don’t take them on. I like going home and not having to answer to investors. It’s not free money.”
“It’s an opportunity but also an obligation to have investors. They want to see a return on investment. It’s their money. An investor is not your friend. You cannot say, “I’m lost. I need help.” They are betting on you, and you have to figure it out.
Anavekar has two important rules. First, clearly understand your profits and losses no matter where you are in life, what are its strengths and weaknesses, and what is keeping that business running. And second, to address the question of “hire/fire,” meaning if you hire someone that is not a good fit, part ways. Hire slow, fire fast.
Dr. Edge asked, “How does being an entrepreneur affect your parenting? How does your business interact with family.”
She explained to the group the impact of societal pressure and how that stigma can start to eat away at you. “My child was five years old and knew I had to make choices. You’re constantly deciding how you want to spend your time with your family. We don’t have a very adventurous life. Weekends are not planned out.” Anavekar remarked that she still makes time for simple pleasures and that when balancing the two, it is about finding your own way.