Ep 133 | Suneera Madhani

Written By Yasmin Nouri

From Self-Doubt & Imposter Syndrome to Building a Billion-Dollar Business

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Suneera Madhani is the co-founder and CEO of Stax, an innovative tech company that radically simplifies the payment ecosystem.

After graduating from college, Suneera decided to work at a consumer goods company and after three years she realized that the corporate world wasn’t for her. She was later recruited by a payment-processing company, and it was then she realized she wanted to do someone on her own.

At age 26, without money, an MBA or any corporate leadership experience…and after being laughed out of her then boss’s office, Suneera began building her now billion-dollar company inside her parents’ Orlando home.

Flash forward 8 years, after raising $245M in venture capital, Suneera now leads a team of 300+ employees and is committed to helping fellow women and minorities reach similar milestones in the business world. She also is also the founder of CEO School, which is a podcast and an 8-week program that helps women become entrepreneurs & CEOs – and is on the mission to change the fact that less than 2% of female founders hit $1 million in revenue… and less than 18% ever hit 6 figures. This needs to change!

Suneera gives us the scoop on what it was like to take the leap from a stable corporate job into the uncertainties of entrepreneurship and shares how she manages the ever-looming imposter syndrome to show up as her best self every day.

We explore time management and Suneera’s approach to finding work-life integration, rather than balance, and how she manages running her billion-dollar business while still spending quality time with her two young kids. We also talk about what is missing in the business world: practical advocacy for women’s success, and what she believes is required to change that. Join us to hear a wealth of practical advice and wisdom from Suneera’s story of unlikely success and breaking free of the expectations of others to find fulfillment in living a life that's true to you.

Show Notes:

  • Breaking free of the expectations of others and living according to who we are instead. [4:03]

  • How Suneera’s experience as the child of immigrants shaped her approach to business. [6:58]

  • What led her to use her analytical and creative skills to start Stax at the age of 24. [11:00]

  • How Stax grew from 5 million in payments the first year to 23 billion in payments per year. [17:36]

  • Dealing with imposter syndrome in the early days of launching a business. [22:40]

  • Working to keep your psyche in check and show up as your best self as a CEO. [25:33]

  • Building habits by repeating activities, and improving with experience. [27:29]

  • Combatting perfectionism with the philosophy that ‘done is better than perfect’. [30:33]

  • Suneera’s belief in work life integration when managing family life and her company. [37:08]

  • The three areas she spends her time on: what she loves, her family, and making an impact. [40:32]

  • How she manages her time, starting with what she calls Sunday Zoom Out. [42:18]

  • What sparked Suneera’s idea to start CEO School during the pandemic. [45:38]

  • The statistic that changed the game for Suneera: only 2% of female founders are breaking a million-dollar revenue. [47:45]

  • What is missing in the business world: action in advocating for women. [49:57]

  • Why you should subscribe to the CEO School podcast. [51:38]

  • Calling listeners to support the female business owners in their lives. [53:38]

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Yasmin Nouri
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