Boss lady Tech CEOs who have taken their privacy-optimised companies Public & to Billion dollar valuations

Sarah Friar. Anjali Sud.?

Two names over the past 12 months or so that have constantly popped up in my Tech news or Linkedin Feed, who have eventually become hard to ignore. These are two proficient, super-talented women with a world-class resume to go along with their starling qualities. Although they originate from very diverse backgrounds, yet have both over-achieved in their respective companies: NextDoor, a Tech Unicorn which is essentially “Facebook for Neighbourhoods”, and Vimeo, a company now focused on being “a provider of all-in-one video software solutions”.

As a SaaS / Tech and Startup enthusiast, I couldn’t help but obsess over how well they have fared in their respective roles as CEOs in their companies but also admire how they have turned around the fortunes of these businesses. We often hear about a lot of successful female entrepreneurs, but how often can be we inspired by the remarkable efforts of female C-Level executive leaders of Enterprise companies?

Here’s a little bit about what makes these two stand out for me:

The Midas Touch

It seems whatever companies Sarah and Anjali have been involved in, they have turned them to gold! Sarah played a pivotal role in getting Jack Dorsey’s Square to go public, has had great success at Goldman Sachs and McKinsey, and even sits on the board of Slack and Walmart, which are other public companies. Anjali, likewise, has had great success at Time Warner and Amazon, whilst respectively has held up designated roles at the likes of Dolby Labs and The World Economic Forum.?

Forces to be reckoned with

Sarah has been referred to as ”one of the most powerful women in the Silicon Valley Tech Scene”, whilst Sud was named #14 on Fortune's "2018 40 Under 40 list

Took their companies to the promised land with great entrepreneurial thinking

Anjali’s turning point came when she was promoted to CEO from General Manager/ Head of Marketing at Vimeo, and pivoted Vimeo from a Video Streaming Company like YouTube, to more of a SaaS company for Video Creators, similar to Canva. The credit behind this move was to the acquisition of Livestream and video editing app Magisto, making it possible to integrate this technology directly into Vimeo. She led Vimeo to a record breaking year at the end of 2020. Vimeo eventually made an IPO in 2021 thanks to Anjali.?

On the other hand, Sarah’s story at Nextdoor is a little less fairytale, but certainly comes with the?finesse. Since she joined as CEO in late 2018, she has managed to more than 2x the profits of the NextDoor neighbourhood-focused platform, and the company is set to go public in late 2021.?

Prestigious educational background

Sarah’s educational background consists of Oxford University in England, and Stanford University in the USA, whilst Anjali attended Harvard Business School and Wharton School.

Which CEO do you relate to the most?

Adrian is a SaaS ( Software-as-a-service) professional with six years experience in the industry. He currently works for a software subscription company,?iubenda, which focuses on helping over 80,0000 enterprise businesses and SMEs websites and apps stay compliant with the law across multiple countries and legislations with their 360 solutions. He also consults and has experience in the EdTech, Podcasting and Startup industry.