#101: Why Working Moms Make Great Entrepreneurs, Investors, and Employees with Sarah Lacy of Pando

This is episode 101 of Powderkeg: Igniting Startups, the show for entrepreneurs, leaders, and innovators building remarkable tech companies in areas outside of Silicon Valley. Today we’re revisiting an old episode where Matt spoke with Sarah Lacy. Sarah is a serial entrepreneur and a longtime journalist, founder of tech news site Pando Media, and founder of Chairman Mom, which launched in 2018. The interview is from March 2018, and we’re bringing it out of the archives because it’s one of our favorites. Let’s get to it! Let’s face it: In the tech world, motherhood is often viewed as something undesirable. Many employers and professional women think that having children will distract them from work, decrease their productivity, and make them less effective leaders. But what if the opposite is true? What if working moms actually make some of the very best entrepreneurs, investors, and employees? This is the opinion of Sarah Lacy, a Silicon Valley tech journalist turned entrepreneur. After writing and editorial stints at TechCrunch and Businessweek, Lacy launched PandoDaily, a web publication offering analysis and commentary on the Bay Area tech community, in 2012. She’s also the author of three books focusing on tech and entrepreneurship. Her most recent title, "A Uterus Is a Feature, Not a Bug," focuses on empowering professional women and proving through cold, hard data that working moms are often better at their jobs than their childless peers. Lacy flew out to the Powderkeg headquarters in Indianapolis, IN for this candid and inspiring interview. During our conversation, she shares her thoughts on the importance of good role models, evidence that working moms are some of the best people you can hire or invest in, and strategies for getting and keeping them on your team. She also shares some exciting behind-the-scenes info on her latest company, Chairman Mom, a guilt-free, judgment-free, and troll-free community for professional women and moms. In this episode with Sarah Lacy, you’ll learn: * How good role models inspire people to live up to their full potential (5:25) * Why Millennial women will be instrumental in driving workplace gender reform (16:10) * Research that proves working mothers actually outperform their peers (21:59) * Strategies for attracting working moms to your team and making them feel valued (30:05) * About Chairman Mom and its mission to support and empower women professionals (37:12**) Please enjoy this conversation with Sarah Lacy! If you like this episode, please subscribe and leave us a review on iTunes. You can also follow us on Soundcloud or Stitcher. We have an incredible lineup of interviews we’ll be releasing every Tuesday here on the Powderkeg Podcast. Check it out at powderkeg.com/itunes.