Ritu Jha-
The covid pandemic may have thrown a wrench on many things, however, TiE Silicon Valley in 2021, were able to make significant progress on several fronts.
In its 2021 Annual Report, TiE SV President, AGK Karunakaran said that engagement, retention, and recruitment of Charter Members saw a steep rise.
“As of October 31, our retention rate for Charter Members is 87.8%. We recruited 43 new Charter Members in 2021, and brought back 15 tardy Charter Members from 2020. Charter Member participation at events was at 70%, and 44.3% of our Charter Members contributed through leading, speaking, investing, and mentoring roles,” he said.
In addition to that TiE SV was able to launch a new membership category called “Startup CXO Member” to support active entrepreneurs to leverage the TiE community.
Neha Mishra, the Executive Director of TiE SV said that in 2021 they have exceeded most of their yearly goals.
“This year will be remembered for many exciting milestones at TiE, achieved in a completely virtual environment and with the leanest TiE staff. True to our mission to foster entrepreneurship, we launched a record number of programs to encourage and nurture the next generation of entrepreneurs,” said Mishra in the report.
In an exclusive interview with indica, Mishra noted how the organization is constantly evolving with the times to address the issues of the present, support the budding entrepreneurs of the age, and the new trends in technology.
“Since October 2015, from the time I joined TiE SV, I have had the opportunity to work with many leaders at TiE. As this network of entrepreneurs grows, it further becomes a strong community and peer group to learn from,” said Mishra.
After she took on the role of Executive Director at TiE SV in December 2021, there were several new challenges she had to face. Starting with TiEcon, TiE’s annual flagship conference Mishra said “During the pandemic, our first challenge was to host a completely virtual TiEcon. With the strong support of dedicated volunteers, charter members, and the Board of Directors, we received more than 31,000 registrations from 100+ countries.”
She added, “We launched various programs for budding entrepreneurs, who really needed some hand-holding. Mini-MBA in Entrepreneurship, Finance & Legal Clinics, Startup Summit, Networking Mixers, and TiE Advisors Program were some of the new initiatives that were launched in 2021.”
Mishra also noted that their youth programs did phenomenally well with high school and university students. Along with that there were several revamps in discontinuing some programs and bringing some old programs back to life to suit the times.
Talking about their key initiatives of 2022, Mishra mentioned about the launch of the Startup CXO Member Program, which was initiated to support active entrepreneurs to leverage the TiE community.
When asked about the rise of women entrepreneurs and leaders across industries and in the organization, Mishra said the organization is thrilled about the incoming TiE SV President Anita Manwani, who will take over the reins starting next year.
“We are really thrilled that TiE’s 30th-year celebration coincides with the announcement of the first-ever woman President-Elect, Anita Manwani. Anita’s contribution to Silicon Valley as a strong woman leader both as a corporate executive and an entrepreneur is immense,” said Mishra.
“We are really lucky to be surrounded by such great men and women leaders and mentors.” Mishra talked about several leading businesswomen who are inspiring the next generation like Kirthiga Reddy, Mini Suri, and Dipty Desai. In addition, we have all-women TiE team.
“These are really exciting times at TiE as more and more women are coming forward as Track Chairs, Committee Leads, and bringing other women Charter Members to join the group and lead from the front,” she said.
