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Isabelle Persson, Head of Investments and Partner, Expert DOJOIsabelle Persson is the Head of Investments and Partner at Expert DOJO, an international accelerator that helps the U.S. and non-U.S. market players scale quickly worldwide. Isabelle leads the investment domain at the company and knows the entire ecosystem of investors with whom she syndicates follow-on investments. She is responsible for finding the best strategy, building up syndicates, managing and developing scout programs, and looking for creative ways to bring investments into Expert DOJO. Isabelle collaborates closely with investors worldwide and supports startups in securing additional funding with them. She has built a rock-solid team of investment experts who assist her in running operations.
In an interview with magazine, Isabelle identifies the challenges women startup founders face in the market and how they can upskill and develop to mitigate it effectively.
What are the challenges pertaining to starting a company?
It all depends on the type of startup one is looking forward to starting. For the past year and a half, starting a company has not been problematic as founders successfully found investors to help them materialize their plans. The problem, however, lies in choosing the right and suitable investor, and it is much more problematic for women founders. They struggle the most in moving past the growth mode due to gender bias. At Expert DOJO, we are working hard to help women founders get going past the growth stage faster and add value to their journey towards success in the market.
What kind of role would technology play in helping startups succeed in the post-COVID world?
Technology is not the sole driver of success for startups. At Expert DOJO, when we look at companies to invest in, we focus on five qualities in the founder and her company that can help them succeed and become a unicorn. The qualities are execution power, good communication, domain expertise, a clear roadmap, and a recurring $10,000 monthly revenue. We invest in every kind of startup, be it pre-products or companies already generating revenue. We push them forward into getting hundreds of thousands or millions of dollars as monthly revenue. Once they reach that amount, they are very likely to become a unicorn. As a result, as far as success is concerned, none of the said points are associated with technology and innovations but instead developing one’s skills and ideas first.
What best strategies do Expert DOJO help startups with to up their game in the market, and how much of these strategies stem from your personal traits?
We start working with a startup that we invest in and develop a long-term relationship with them from day one. We coined “growth experts” instead of commonly calling Expert DOJO an accelerator. We always onboard startups through a seven-week growth program where highly experienced trainers like branding experts or marketing experts come in and give participants different themes to work on every week. For example, we tear down websites and business models to build them from the ground up into something more efficient. Furthermore, unlike our competitors who focus externally on generating revenue, we believe in building a company from within by providing founders with the latest expertise and insights.
"My past professional experience empowers me to curate the best growth strategies for startups"
After completing these fundamental steps, we start looking at external capital and adding investors interested in investing in these startups. We also have a 52-week growth packing program where we conduct weekly collaborations with the cohorts comprising over 150 companies. In addition, we also schedule a daily call with companies to discuss how to execute the strategies and move to the next stage.
My past professional experience empowers me to curate the best growth strategies for startups. Before being a part of the venture capital world, I have dipped my toes in every market, from real estate to sales. But after coming into this field, I realized it to be the one that fits me the best, and soon I also witnessed many other strong women joining hands with the organization to drive its mission forward. 70% of Expert DOJO’s employees are women, and we continue to bring strong women into our team who are not afraid of fighting gender bias in the venture capital field.
What is your opinion regarding the evolution of the startup culture in the next few years?
We will witness more and more unicorns coming from different parts of the world. We have several successful companies springing up from India and Africa. The U.S. will not be called the biggest hub to produce most unicorns, as another geography displaying a solid suit is Asia. I personally prefer countries like Bangladesh and Pakistan as they have immense potential to produce unicorns.
What advice would you give the women entrepreneurs coming into the venture capital space?
Every women entrepreneur should find themselves a good coach. I had a coach when I first came to the U.S. from Sweden, and it was with her that I shared my ideas. A coach does not have to be someone with expertise in a similar domain but someone who has what you lack and can help you and support you with those additional qualities. Furthermore, you can also be someone else’s mentor and share your knowledge and experience with them. I had recently conducted a program where 60 women investors were invited to our office and shared their experience and expertise for two hours, helping each other identify problems and find solutions. This unified approach is what women founders should seek in order to become successful in founding and running a startup.
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