Ep 36 | Minnie Ingersoll
Are You Dreaming Big Enough?
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Minnie Ingersoll is an investor, co-founder, and former COO of Shift, an online marketplace for used cars.
After 12 years at Google, working as a product manager and later principal with Google.org, she co-founded Shift in 2013 while she was on maternity leave. Minnie shares that she never thought she’d be a founder and in the used car industry, but the opportunity to build a business from scratch was exciting to her.
Minnie took Shift from an idea to over $100 million dollars in revenue and has seen continued success with the company going public last year. After 5 years at Shift, Minnie decided to change her career once again and empower entrepreneurs as an early-stage investor at TenOneTen Ventures.
We’ll chat with Minnie about how she built her emotional resilience in tough times, why communication & people are your biggest assets at work, and what truly makes a good founder when it comes to starting your own company.
Show Notes:
Minnie shares what it was like growing up in an academic family & why she was always considered the black sheep [2:30]
Why Minnie decided to drop out of college after her first semester [4:59]
What drove Minnie to go to business school after the dot.com burst & what helped her gain confidence [8:02]
Minnie discusses her experience as an early Google employee & key learnings [11:16]
What prompted Minnie to leave her stable job during maternity leave & become a cofounder at Shift [13:58]
What motivated Minnie to start a used car business despite not being particularly interested in the industry [16:56]
Minnie talks about the early days of raising money and the initial steps the business took to prove its concept [20:46]
Why business needs to be more friendly & inclusive and how the Zoom culture we’re right now can benefit us [26:03]
Advice when it comes to interviewing based on Minnie’s experience taking Shift from 0 to 200 employees in only two years [28:15]
How to deal with difficult and uncomfortable conversations in business [34:02]
Minnie shares why burn out happens when you’re not fulfilled in your job [39:15]
The advice Minnie would give to her younger self: just chill out [41:12]
Why Minnie decided to leave Shift, move to LA and change her career once again [43:01]
As a partner at the venture capital firm, TenOneTen, Minnie shares her advice on what makes a good founder & how to think through your pitch to investors [48:15]
Follow Minnie:
Shift Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/driveshiftcars/
TenOneTen Ventures: https://www.instagram.com/ten.one.ten/
Shift Website: https://shift.com/
TenOneTen Ventures: https://www.tenoneten.net/
