Sue Heilbronner_ June 10th.
About the Guest(s):
Sue Heilbronner is a multifaceted professional with a diverse background spanning tech, academia, and legal sectors. She started her journey as a lawyer with the Justice Department’s Civil Rights Division before venturing into business with her first company, babyshowermall.com. Sue has experience transitioning from bootstrapped startups to being part of large conglomerates like Discovery Communications. She is recognized for co-founding the Merge Lane Fund, which initially began as an accelerator focused on women-led businesses before transitioning into an investment fund. Sue is now deeply involved in conscious leadership coaching and facilitation, and she is an author with a forthcoming book published by a big four publisher.
Episode Summary:
In this episode of Accelerator Insider, host Dominique engages in a riveting and insightful conversation with Sue Heilbronner, delving into the multifaceted world of incubators, accelerators, and studios. The episode offers a behind-the-scenes look at the journey of building businesses and explores the evolving landscape of accelerators including their shifting roles, goals, and operations within various ecosystems.
Engaging with Sue’s personal trajectory, the discussion covers the early days of e-commerce and the lessons learned from founding and running a tech company to the complexities of working within established organizations post-acquisition. The pair then pivot towards Sue’s experience in co-founding the Merge Lane accelerator, the motivation behind its inception, the challenges encountered, and the reasons behind its evolution into a venture fund.
Key Takeaways:
- Founder Industry Fit: The importance of aligning personal expertise and passion with the industry when starting a tech business.
- Growing a Business: Insights on how to scale businesses thoughtfully and attentively, rather than rushing expansion without proper strategic foundation.
- Venture Capital Misconceptions: A discussion on shed light on the over-glamorization of VC funding and the reality behind this investment type as an asset class.
- Accelerator Assessment: Understanding the key aspects that define a quality accelerator program, including the significance of the managing director and the surrounding network.
- Sales and Entrepreneurship: Emphasizing the criticality of founders being closely involved with sales in the early stages and viewing entrepreneurship as a tool for personal and spiritual evolution.
Notable Quotes:
- “There are always conversations about where cash is and figuring out strategically where the next opportunity might be for the next inflection point and how you might get there.” – Sue Heilbronner
- “I just think it’s critical now. I think you need to understand sales in a certain way. And this book is about the concept of what I call passionate ambivalence.” – Sue Heilbronner
- “…if you want to advance your soul quickly, become an entrepreneur.” – Dominique
- “If you can convey a sense of scale, not falsely, but like that, there’s a vision that’s big enough, again, without lying, that you are more likely, in my opinion, to get investors excited…” – Sue Heilbronner
Resources:
- Sue Heilbronner’s LinkedIn Profile
- Merge Lane Fund
- Techstars Accelerator Program
- Sue Heilbronner’s upcoming book on sales and entrepreneurship (title pending)
For those inspired by the blend of practical business sense and profound personal growth discussed in this episode, listening to the entire conversation with Sue Heilbronner will be invaluable. Stay tuned for more thought-provoking episodes from Accelerator Insider that shed light on the nuances of nurturing growth in the startup world.
Accelerator Insider Recording:
https://share.alivepodcastnetwork.com/sue-heilbronner-co-founder-of-merge-lane