Alexa Von Tobel Quotes

Being women behind a massively growing business is not an easy task, and the journey to find the right investors and to secure true partners has proven that.

After I met my partner, Mr. Protherow, we decided to start a banking project, and at the same time we started to think already about a business on a bigger scale. At the very beginning we thought more about gaining money, to have a normal life with our families, etc.

We've had this program for a number of years now, called 10,000 Small Businesses, where Goldman Sachs has convened a group of partners to basically give business education to small business owners.

VC has always been this high-touch, in-your-face-type business.

You need to begin to network with angels and VCs while you are still ideating. It is easier to ask someone you know for funding than a stranger. Build your financial network by attending as many industry functions and reaching out for advice from experts online.

I am a big advocate of female entrepreneurs. I do what I can to advise and help them along in their careers.

Confidence, capital, and credit fuel entrepreneurship and economic expansion.

I started a production company - all female led, actually - called Freckle Films.

The most significant barrier to female leadership is the actual lack of females in leadership. The best advice I can give to women is to go out and start something, ideally their own businesses. If you can't see a path for leadership within your own company, go blaze a trail of your own.

My guiding principle and motivation was that I wanted to retire by the time I turned 35. There actually are two books that I bought and still have - Paul Terhost's 'Cashing In On the American Dream: How to Retire at 35' and Andrew Tobias's 'The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need' - that were my personal financial road map.

Most entrepreneurs come up with a product, or they come up with an idea and they think they can be successful with it. But if they don't know the financial side of their business and understand credit and working capital and what it takes money-wise, you can't be successful. The product is just a product.

If I had taken money from, say, venture capital, they would have wanted a certain return in a certain time period. McDonald's, on the other hand, seemed very interested in my passion about creating this brand. I trusted them, and they did not really interfere with the brand.

Clearly, there is a gender imbalance when it comes to venture capital and entrepreneurship.

I don't know the venture fund terms. I don't know what a seed round is. I want nothing to do with it.

As a serial investor who has raised hundreds of millions of dollars for startups, I know that the business plans coming out of incubators tend to be vetted and more thoroughly validated. The incubator's input into your business plan will make you look far more polished and experienced - even if you have never run a business before.

In the earlier years of my career, I made my own attempts to fit in and be accepted as one of the tribe of Sand Hill Road guys.

I won't say that 'shotgun' is the word I'd prefer to use, but we certainly do a lot of investments.

It's very important to me to have a female venture capitalist.

As a serial entrepreneur, angel investor and public company CEO, nothing irks me more than when a startup founder talks about wanting to cash in with an initial public offering.

If I had a do over, I'd indubitably start investing in startups earlier in life!

There is a big difference between using V.C. money that you blow and spending your own personal money.

Women are doing wonders as entrepreneurs.

Our partnership with the American Warren Buffett, from my perspective, is aimed at creating more jobs.

I don't love it when people come in and say, 'We need a woman on our board,' or 'Can you invest in this new shopping app because you like to shop?' But whatever gets me in the deal.

After serving as a U.S. Navy SEAL, I started a business. In four years, it failed incredibly, but I learned a lot about business, raising equity, and choosing partners.