Maëlle Gavet is the CEO of Techstars (@techstarsglobal), a pre-seed investor focused on early-stage entrepreneurs. It boasts a market cap of $111.6 billion, and supports founders in programs that span from Tokyo to Lagos to Alabama. Maëlle champions hard work, gratitude, and a questioning nature, qualities her grandfather imparted while she was growing up in France. She has carried her curiosity through a wide-ranging international career, in start-ups and scaled corporations. We hear lessons drawn from her vast experience, including the transformation of Ozon — the “Amazon of Russia” — in the early 2010s, to leadership roles in global travel and real estate. And we get a sample of the advice she often shares with Techstars’ founders, about how to balance their values and the needs of their company, always with an optimism about entrepreneurship as a force for good.
Chapters:
00:00 Early e-commerce innovations
00:42 Becoming CEO of Russian e-commerce pioneer Ozon
13:01 When CEOs should take a position on a social issue
25:40 Lessons from the Priceline Group/Booking Holdings
32:57 How to preserve the start-up spirit
41:16 Why Maëlle Gavet joined Techstars
47:44 Lessons from Compass and Robert Reffkin