April 15, 2025 • 19 mins
Anya Cheng, founder and CEO of Taelor, and a former Head of Product for Meta, eBay, Target, and McDonalds, shares the absolutely insanely tenacious path of networking to her first job, getting to Silicon Valley by accepting a job in Minnesota, an eye-opening story about the prejudices that still exist in the startup world, how to turn office busywork into project management, how to amplify yourself by amplifying others, the value in finding out that your business may actually have a different clientele than you imagined (and why that's OK), and the TRUE way to eat oatmeal in Japan.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Anya Cheng (00:00):
This is Anya from here in Silicon Valley. I'm
(00:04):
running AI companies, and soexcited to share more. And
before that, I led the Ecommerce team for Meta, eBay and
(00:34):
Target.
Stephanie Maas (00:35):
Wow, I wish you had an impressive background.
Anya Cheng (00:38):
haha, just a lot of big tech companies. Facebook
shopping, was head of productfor eBay's new business in the
US and new market in LatinAmerica, Africa, Asia, helped
McDonald's to build a fulldelivery business when Uber eat
just started, and helped Targetto move its tech office here in
Silicon Valley. But my personalentrepreneurship journey just
(00:58):
started less than three yearsago in the AI spaces.
Stephanie Maas (01:02):
Absolutely. Well, I want to start with, if
you don't mind, let's go backjust a smidge, because you do
have an interesting background.Just walk us through where did
this love for tech, all thingse, if you will, related. Where
did that begin for you?
Anya Cheng (01:18):
Yeah, so maybe I share a little bit. I came to
the US in 2007 went toNorthwestern University for my
master degree in marketing. WhenI graduated, it happened to be
right after Lehman brothers,went bankrupt. So there was no
job anywhere. I remembered I waswaiting outside of other
departments building to, as soonas the interviewer came out of
(01:41):
building, I was, hey, this is myresume. I am not even student of
these departments, but peoplesay that, you know, Anya, this
is dumb, job searching is aboutnetworking, you shouldn't be
cold calling or ambush people.So I realized that I don't have
much connection. But that's nottrue. I do know professors, no?
(02:01):
I was a student, right? So Iknock on the door of every
departments professor, I say,I'm a student here. This is my
resume. Please connect me tosomeone on LinkedIn who I
already researched. This guytalked to you on LinkedIn, so I
want to talk to him or her. Andthen one day there was a
professor say, I don't know you,I cannot connect you to anybody,
but tomorrow, I have a panel,and you are welcome to come as
(02:25):
students and to listen to thepanel. By the way, we need more
students. Can you bring 10 morepeople? And so I went. I my
English was so bad I didn'tunderstand anything in the in
the speech. But after that, Iwent out and talked to the
speaker. Hi, I'm Anya great job.Really good on the speech. I
have no clue what she wastalking about, and this is my
resume. Can I talk to someone inyour company running department
(02:48):
on digital? And she said, Yes.So I went on job interview. I
thought it was perfect,everything they were looking
for. A few weeks went by. Nobodycontact me. I follow up with a
recruiter. The recruiter pick upphone. Asked me, please do not
call me anymore, because I waslayed off. So the recruiter was
layed off from the company. So Isaid, Okay, you have nothing to
(03:09):
do? Do you want to come out forcoffee? She said, Okay, why not?
So we had a coffee. She told mea lot going on about the
company, who is a decisionmaker, what's the challenge of
the company? And she also gaveme an idea. Anya, Chicago is the
third largest city in the US. Doyou want to go to New York? And
LA, they are bigger city therefor probably more jobs. So I
(03:31):
went and I printed out 2,000alumni from Northwestern
University. I started coldcalling each of them. I said,
I'm coming to New York. I'm astudent. Can I meet you for
coffee. And with that, I metwith a lot of people, but
everyone say that I am nothiring. So I call a company in
Taiwan, a magazine. I say, Hey,do you want to cover these
(03:52):
amazing conferences for storiesin New York? They say, yes. I
say, I can be a reporter forfree. And I call the conference
say, Hey, I'm a reporter fromTaiwan. Can you give me a press
ticket? And I got into aconference, and end up I met
with a lot of people, so Icalled the companies, the
magazine company CEO again, Isaid, I learned a lot from your
(04:13):
competitor, and do you want toknow what they are working on?
She said, Yes. Before I go, Iput together a business plan,
because I remember I met with arecruiter who was layed off. So
I went on interview there. Youneed someone who knows a little
bit marketing, a little bitdigital, ideally, not very
expensive, just out of college?And I know someone: me! So she
(04:35):
asked me, Do you want to be acontractor? Anyway, that's how I
got my first job.
Stephanie Maas (04:42):
Absolutely, incredible. What an incredible
story. And I've just got to goback and pick out a couple of
nuggets of things that I thinkreally speak to your creativity,
your insatiable work efforts anddesire for the outcome. I mean,
you're a masters student atNorthwestern, that should be
(05:04):
enough to get you a job, but toyour point where, you know, we
just launched the financialcrisis of '07, '08, '09, you
take your time. You went face toface asking for researched
LinkedIn connectionintroductions. Do you know that
has got to put you in the like0.01% of the population that
(05:26):
uses LinkedIn?
Anya Cheng (05:27):
In fact, what I found most effective during the
search was actually one time Iwas rejected again. I walk out
the building. I was in anewsstand, so I saw there were
newspapers. And on thenewspaper, what do you say? It
say publisher name, so and so,if you want advertise, call this
(05:48):
number. So I bought all thenewspaper, and then I start
calling each of them. Andsomehow, for some reason, I was
able to actually get on and talkto New York Times, CEO senior
and VP and SVP, of like ESPN,all of those companies.
Stephanie Maas (06:04):
That is incredible. Talk about
determination. Holy Hannah. Sothen, did I hear you say you
printed out a list of 2,000alumni and started calling them
all?
Anya Cheng (06:15):
Yeah. And then my English was so bad I didn't know
even how to talk to them. So Iwent to a senior care center
near campus, and I practiced myinterview with those seniors,
because you can... no one willjudge your English. You spend
time with them. So that's how Idid my interview practice. My 93
(06:35):
years old. Her name is Connie.She's from Japan, and I still
remember she will put the soysauce into the oatmeal because
she said that's how she eatbreakfast back in Japan.
Stephanie Maas (06:45):
So okay, so if you learn nothing else, if you
want to, you know, be like atrue Japanese oatmeal eater,
you're going to want to put soysauce in that. Got it, check.
So your first job is with thismagazine. Take me on your
journey from there.
Anya Cheng (07:00):
Yeah, so I was there for a few years, and I was
mostly focused on digital partof a business. At that time, I
didn't know what that means,like product manager. Then I
joined Sears, and Sears waslooking for someone who helped
on deciding where to buy ondigitally. So with my magazine
background, they feel like, Oh,great. Then you have the media
(07:21):
side the background. Now you canbe the buyer side the background
to see, help us to evaluatewhere you would you buy media.
And while I was doing thatquickly, we discovered the most
effective way of buying media isusing data. And after I doing
that for a few, for a year ortwo, they say, Hey, Anya, when
they come to my website, thehomepage. It doesn't make sense.
(07:42):
Would you like to come and helpus to personalize our homepage
and websites? And that's how Istarted my career in product
management. And from there,Target hired me. I remember that
they they asked me if I want tomove to Minnesota. I didn't want
to, but I say...
Stephanie Maas (08:00):
No, actually, I have no desire to go to
Minnesota. Thank you. Yeah.
Anya Cheng (08:04):
Yeah, thank you. But, yes, my career goal at the
time was coming to SiliconValley. So I was looking for a
job in Silicon Valley, butTarget came to me and they say,
Hey, Target is cooler than Searsand Kmart, so you should come
join Target. So I accept theoffer. I went to Minnesota. They
call me. Anya, I remember yousay you don't want to come to
(08:26):
Minnesota. I said, Yes, yes,yes. They say, You know your
managers role was opening. Butnow I found a guy, but the guy
should be based in SanFrancisco, and he doesn't want
to move to Minnesota. But now,since you have a manager there,
you can actually work there. Andthat's how I actually moved to
the Bay Area, by saying yes tosomething that wasn't relevant
(08:46):
to the Bay Area yet at all. Andfrom there, I help Target to
build their tech office here inthe Bay Area. McDonalds come to
me, they say, it's amazing. Youlaunch your tech office here in
for Target, you launch yourapps. You won 11 a word Best App
of the Year by Apple. Can you dothe same for our E commerce
team? We want to launchsomething for food delivery
(09:10):
globally, and you will be ableto do similar things and help us
launch office here. And that'swhat I did. And then eBay came
to me. So I joined Ebay. Ihelped them to focus on product
for Africa. And then eventuallythe Meta came to me. They say,
Hey, you have experience inAfrica. Do you want to go to
(09:30):
places in Africa that does nothave internet? So, Nigeria,
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda? Thatwas my job. When I joined Meta,
helped bring internet to countrydoes not have internet. But then
during that time, I realizedthat social commerce is big
game, live streaming and Tiktokshopping, and everyone is
(09:50):
talking about social commerce,shopping on social media. And I
realized that I did have a lotof E commerce experience from
eBay and McDonalds and Target.So they're like, Hey, why don't
you come and help just to buildFacebook shopping. And that was
how I ended up my last job inbig corporate was Facebook
shopping.
Stephanie Maas (10:10):
Okay, so just for some of our listeners, can
you just share with us what weresome of the ways that you
overcame the challenges of beingfemale, of being Taiwanese, the
language barrier, the stereotypebarrier, the prejudices that we
just know are out there,intentional or unintentional,
other than just incredibledetermination and work, how were
(10:34):
some of the ways you were ableto come overcome some of those
challenges?
Anya Cheng (10:37):
I actually feel a little bit less of that before I
became a startup founder, butit's actually a lot more. You
can tell a lot more afterbecoming startup founder. In
the startup world today, in theUS, there are 30% of us
businesses were founded byfemale. Where female, at least
one of the founding membersfemale. In the US, 15% and in
(11:01):
the Bay Area, for techcompanies, 30%. However, for VC
backed company, for VC money,only 1.8% goes to female founded
company, 1.8% it's actually downfrom two years ago, 2.1%. I
remember a month ago, I went ona startup competition, and one
(11:22):
of the finalists, she wasactually really nice and she got
her hair up. So she was on thestage with 1000s of people, and
then I said, Wow, nice dress,nice hair. And I also love your
accessories. This is an amazingring, like giant diamond ring.
And she was like, you know, I'mnot married, and I wear this
(11:44):
because research shows women whoare married, people trust them
more because someone truststhem. That's why I wear the ring
going on competition. I wastotally in shock. And she is
white woman who has 15 years ofcareer, very, very successful,
even she will have to put on thering for the competition. So at
(12:05):
the beginning, I felt prettydisappointed. And then one day,
I thought of, you know, what, ifpeople the world only give me
opportunity because I'm aminority, if only minority will
give me an opportunity, then Igo or go find minority
investors. So I start talking topeople who are Nigerians and
(12:25):
Kenyans and Italians and Spanishand from Mexico and from
different part of the world, andParis and Singapore and Taiwans
and Japan. If I can combineevery minority investors to be
my investor, I have more thanenough. I am majority, right?
But throughout my career, incorporate, there are some tips
(12:45):
to share to people. For example,people tend to assign
miscellaneous work to woman, andthe best way is not actually
saying no, because people hateyou, like you're like, hey,
Anya, can you order lunch for ustomorrow? Can you host the
holiday party for the office?It's kind of hard to say no, but
what you can do is you say yes,but then you start putting
(13:06):
together a rotation plan, yes,yes. I will help. But then,
okay, week one is this person,okay, you will do this. Week two
is this person will do this.Week three, you're organizing,
but you don't do it yourself.You're organizing. So you plan
as project management, or, forexample, people hate woman to
promote themselves, so alwaysamplify each other. And this
(13:27):
when you are in the meetings andyou say, okay, great, just
Stephanie, I really agree, and Iwant to echo Stephanie's point
of view. You help her, she willhelp you. And then amplify
people don't want to hear youpromote yourself, but they will
listen to you when you promoteothers. And also, for example,
you can at a certain event thatyou know they are very few
(13:48):
women, and you can organizing itin a way that they will stay.
For example, you know that thisis the tech competition that
usually less women participate.But then before that, you have a
company all hands, and in theend, you say, Okay, we have this
tech event right after. Iencourage everybody to stay so
create an environment that'seasy for women or minority to be
(14:10):
able to participate. And also,you know, guys, they actually
hang out with co workers onweekend, while women tend to
hang out with people who arenothing to do with their work on
weekends, you know the looseties will help. So next week,
find someone who you are notvery familiar with. Ask them for
lunch. Just a simple step, theloose tie will be able to give
(14:34):
you insights and secrets in theoffice or industry that can help
you. So invite someone who youare not very familiar with next
week for lunch.
Stephanie Maas (14:43):
Very tactical, super practical. So now let's
talk about where you're attoday, owning your own business,
working with AI, share with us alittle bit about that journey.
Anya Cheng (14:55):
Yeah, I'm now running an AI company called
Taelor, and it's a company weuse AI to pick clothes for men.
I actually constantly feel alittle bit impostor syndrome. I
was the only few female leaderin tech that didn't come from
engineering background, but leadlarge technology teams. So I
want to look great, and I trysome subscription boxes, but you
(15:16):
have to buy and I didn't want toown that much stuff. And I don't
have fashion sense. I don't knowwhich one looks good. I have to
decide, because it's a new item.So I have to think, can I buy
this in some other places thatwill be cheaper? And then I
also, if I buy it, I will haveto do laundry and ironings, and
I don't want to do any of thosethings, so I try some rental
company, but most of themrequire you to browse through
(15:39):
1000s of items. It was a hardmoment that I realized most of
fashion companies are designedfor people who are into fashion.
They're not for people like me.I'm just a lazy person or busy
person who need to do good, wantto be successful, but does not
care about fashion. I need to dogood for my job, for my day, for
my work. I do not care if I wearred or blue. All I care is that
(16:01):
I am successful in the nextmeeting. I close the deal. I do
well in the social events. I didwell in my TED Talks. So I start
wondering is, are there peoplelike me? Hate shopping, hate
laundry, but very purposeful andneed to look good? Yes, they are
busy men. They have no idea howto look good, but they need to
(16:24):
look good. And turns out that weare a menswear business, but to
serve them, you need service.You need to pick clothes for
them. But before Gen AI, itwasn't feasible. You have to
hire someone, spend hours and1000s of dollars and buy the
clothes and someone style you,but now with AI three seconds.
AI can pick perfect outfits andbecome your personal stylist,
(16:46):
and that's how we started.
Stephanie Maas (16:48):
That is so cool. Okay, anything that we haven't
talked about that you werehoping to address in our time
today?
Anya Cheng (16:57):
Yeah, I think it's just for people who want to try
something a little bit more likelooking good and saving time and
feel confident, if you are alsoa business, who have something
that you can partner with us, wewould love to see what we can do
with each other. For example, wepartner with dating sites, we
(17:18):
partner with coaches, and wealso partner with fitness
centers and people losingweight. And you don't need to
buy large, medium, smallclothes. And you can actually
just rent the clothes during thejourney, and eventually buy the
clothes or look great after youwork out and you dress up. So if
you are any of those business,feel free to reach out. And I'm
(17:40):
at anya@taelor.ai that's a, n,y, a, at, T, A, E, L, O, R, dot,
a, i, and we would love to workwith you and help to save the
environment.
Stephanie Maas (17:50):
Thank you so much for being here with us.
What an incredible story andjourney. And I really love the
way that you're not just takingthis passion for business, but
you're also combining it withyour passion, as you said, for
sustainability, doing good inthe world. Just thank you so
much for being here.
Anya Cheng (18:07):
Thank you so much.
This is Anya from here in Silicon Valley. I'm
(00:04):
running AI companies, and soexcited to share more. And
before that, I led the Ecommerce team for Meta, eBay and
(00:34):
Target.
Stephanie Maas (00:35):
Wow, I wish you had an impressive background.
Anya Cheng (00:38):
haha, just a lot of big tech companies. Facebook
shopping, was head of productfor eBay's new business in the
US and new market in LatinAmerica, Africa, Asia, helped
McDonald's to build a fulldelivery business when Uber eat
just started, and helped Targetto move its tech office here in
Silicon Valley. But my personalentrepreneurship journey just
(00:58):
started less than three yearsago in the AI spaces.
Stephanie Maas (01:02):
Absolutely. Well, I want to start with, if
you don't mind, let's go backjust a smidge, because you do
have an interesting background.Just walk us through where did
this love for tech, all thingse, if you will, related. Where
did that begin for you?
Anya Cheng (01:18):
Yeah, so maybe I share a little bit. I came to
the US in 2007 went toNorthwestern University for my
master degree in marketing. WhenI graduated, it happened to be
right after Lehman brothers,went bankrupt. So there was no
job anywhere. I remembered I waswaiting outside of other
departments building to, as soonas the interviewer came out of
(01:41):
building, I was, hey, this is myresume. I am not even student of
these departments, but peoplesay that, you know, Anya, this
is dumb, job searching is aboutnetworking, you shouldn't be
cold calling or ambush people.So I realized that I don't have
much connection. But that's nottrue. I do know professors, no?
(02:01):
I was a student, right? So Iknock on the door of every
departments professor, I say,I'm a student here. This is my
resume. Please connect me tosomeone on LinkedIn who I
already researched. This guytalked to you on LinkedIn, so I
want to talk to him or her. Andthen one day there was a
professor say, I don't know you,I cannot connect you to anybody,
but tomorrow, I have a panel,and you are welcome to come as
(02:25):
students and to listen to thepanel. By the way, we need more
students. Can you bring 10 morepeople? And so I went. I my
English was so bad I didn'tunderstand anything in the in
the speech. But after that, Iwent out and talked to the
speaker. Hi, I'm Anya great job.Really good on the speech. I
have no clue what she wastalking about, and this is my
resume. Can I talk to someone inyour company running department
(02:48):
on digital? And she said, Yes.So I went on job interview. I
thought it was perfect,everything they were looking
for. A few weeks went by. Nobodycontact me. I follow up with a
recruiter. The recruiter pick upphone. Asked me, please do not
call me anymore, because I waslayed off. So the recruiter was
layed off from the company. So Isaid, Okay, you have nothing to
(03:09):
do? Do you want to come out forcoffee? She said, Okay, why not?
So we had a coffee. She told mea lot going on about the
company, who is a decisionmaker, what's the challenge of
the company? And she also gaveme an idea. Anya, Chicago is the
third largest city in the US. Doyou want to go to New York? And
LA, they are bigger city therefor probably more jobs. So I
(03:31):
went and I printed out 2,000alumni from Northwestern
University. I started coldcalling each of them. I said,
I'm coming to New York. I'm astudent. Can I meet you for
coffee. And with that, I metwith a lot of people, but
everyone say that I am nothiring. So I call a company in
Taiwan, a magazine. I say, Hey,do you want to cover these
(03:52):
amazing conferences for storiesin New York? They say, yes. I
say, I can be a reporter forfree. And I call the conference
say, Hey, I'm a reporter fromTaiwan. Can you give me a press
ticket? And I got into aconference, and end up I met
with a lot of people, so Icalled the companies, the
magazine company CEO again, Isaid, I learned a lot from your
(04:13):
competitor, and do you want toknow what they are working on?
She said, Yes. Before I go, Iput together a business plan,
because I remember I met with arecruiter who was layed off. So
I went on interview there. Youneed someone who knows a little
bit marketing, a little bitdigital, ideally, not very
expensive, just out of college?And I know someone: me! So she
(04:35):
asked me, Do you want to be acontractor? Anyway, that's how I
got my first job.
Stephanie Maas (04:42):
Absolutely, incredible. What an incredible
story. And I've just got to goback and pick out a couple of
nuggets of things that I thinkreally speak to your creativity,
your insatiable work efforts anddesire for the outcome. I mean,
you're a masters student atNorthwestern, that should be
(05:04):
enough to get you a job, but toyour point where, you know, we
just launched the financialcrisis of '07, '08, '09, you
take your time. You went face toface asking for researched
LinkedIn connectionintroductions. Do you know that
has got to put you in the like0.01% of the population that
(05:26):
uses LinkedIn?
Anya Cheng (05:27):
In fact, what I found most effective during the
search was actually one time Iwas rejected again. I walk out
the building. I was in anewsstand, so I saw there were
newspapers. And on thenewspaper, what do you say? It
say publisher name, so and so,if you want advertise, call this
(05:48):
number. So I bought all thenewspaper, and then I start
calling each of them. Andsomehow, for some reason, I was
able to actually get on and talkto New York Times, CEO senior
and VP and SVP, of like ESPN,all of those companies.
Stephanie Maas (06:04):
That is incredible. Talk about
determination. Holy Hannah. Sothen, did I hear you say you
printed out a list of 2,000alumni and started calling them
all?
Anya Cheng (06:15):
Yeah. And then my English was so bad I didn't know
even how to talk to them. So Iwent to a senior care center
near campus, and I practiced myinterview with those seniors,
because you can... no one willjudge your English. You spend
time with them. So that's how Idid my interview practice. My 93
(06:35):
years old. Her name is Connie.She's from Japan, and I still
remember she will put the soysauce into the oatmeal because
she said that's how she eatbreakfast back in Japan.
Stephanie Maas (06:45):
So okay, so if you learn nothing else, if you
want to, you know, be like atrue Japanese oatmeal eater,
you're going to want to put soysauce in that. Got it, check.
So your first job is with thismagazine. Take me on your
journey from there.
Anya Cheng (07:00):
Yeah, so I was there for a few years, and I was
mostly focused on digital partof a business. At that time, I
didn't know what that means,like product manager. Then I
joined Sears, and Sears waslooking for someone who helped
on deciding where to buy ondigitally. So with my magazine
background, they feel like, Oh,great. Then you have the media
(07:21):
side the background. Now you canbe the buyer side the background
to see, help us to evaluatewhere you would you buy media.
And while I was doing thatquickly, we discovered the most
effective way of buying media isusing data. And after I doing
that for a few, for a year ortwo, they say, Hey, Anya, when
they come to my website, thehomepage. It doesn't make sense.
(07:42):
Would you like to come and helpus to personalize our homepage
and websites? And that's how Istarted my career in product
management. And from there,Target hired me. I remember that
they they asked me if I want tomove to Minnesota. I didn't want
to, but I say...
Stephanie Maas (08:00):
No, actually, I have no desire to go to
Minnesota. Thank you. Yeah.
Anya Cheng (08:04):
Yeah, thank you. But, yes, my career goal at the
time was coming to SiliconValley. So I was looking for a
job in Silicon Valley, butTarget came to me and they say,
Hey, Target is cooler than Searsand Kmart, so you should come
join Target. So I accept theoffer. I went to Minnesota. They
call me. Anya, I remember yousay you don't want to come to
(08:26):
Minnesota. I said, Yes, yes,yes. They say, You know your
managers role was opening. Butnow I found a guy, but the guy
should be based in SanFrancisco, and he doesn't want
to move to Minnesota. But now,since you have a manager there,
you can actually work there. Andthat's how I actually moved to
the Bay Area, by saying yes tosomething that wasn't relevant
(08:46):
to the Bay Area yet at all. Andfrom there, I help Target to
build their tech office here inthe Bay Area. McDonalds come to
me, they say, it's amazing. Youlaunch your tech office here in
for Target, you launch yourapps. You won 11 a word Best App
of the Year by Apple. Can you dothe same for our E commerce
team? We want to launchsomething for food delivery
(09:10):
globally, and you will be ableto do similar things and help us
launch office here. And that'swhat I did. And then eBay came
to me. So I joined Ebay. Ihelped them to focus on product
for Africa. And then eventuallythe Meta came to me. They say,
Hey, you have experience inAfrica. Do you want to go to
(09:30):
places in Africa that does nothave internet? So, Nigeria,
Kenya, Tanzania, Uganda? Thatwas my job. When I joined Meta,
helped bring internet to countrydoes not have internet. But then
during that time, I realizedthat social commerce is big
game, live streaming and Tiktokshopping, and everyone is
(09:50):
talking about social commerce,shopping on social media. And I
realized that I did have a lotof E commerce experience from
eBay and McDonalds and Target.So they're like, Hey, why don't
you come and help just to buildFacebook shopping. And that was
how I ended up my last job inbig corporate was Facebook
shopping.
Stephanie Maas (10:10):
Okay, so just for some of our listeners, can
you just share with us what weresome of the ways that you
overcame the challenges of beingfemale, of being Taiwanese, the
language barrier, the stereotypebarrier, the prejudices that we
just know are out there,intentional or unintentional,
other than just incredibledetermination and work, how were
(10:34):
some of the ways you were ableto come overcome some of those
challenges?
Anya Cheng (10:37):
I actually feel a little bit less of that before I
became a startup founder, butit's actually a lot more. You
can tell a lot more afterbecoming startup founder. In
the startup world today, in theUS, there are 30% of us
businesses were founded byfemale. Where female, at least
one of the founding membersfemale. In the US, 15% and in
(11:01):
the Bay Area, for techcompanies, 30%. However, for VC
backed company, for VC money,only 1.8% goes to female founded
company, 1.8% it's actually downfrom two years ago, 2.1%. I
remember a month ago, I went ona startup competition, and one
(11:22):
of the finalists, she wasactually really nice and she got
her hair up. So she was on thestage with 1000s of people, and
then I said, Wow, nice dress,nice hair. And I also love your
accessories. This is an amazingring, like giant diamond ring.
And she was like, you know, I'mnot married, and I wear this
(11:44):
because research shows women whoare married, people trust them
more because someone truststhem. That's why I wear the ring
going on competition. I wastotally in shock. And she is
white woman who has 15 years ofcareer, very, very successful,
even she will have to put on thering for the competition. So at
(12:05):
the beginning, I felt prettydisappointed. And then one day,
I thought of, you know, what, ifpeople the world only give me
opportunity because I'm aminority, if only minority will
give me an opportunity, then Igo or go find minority
investors. So I start talking topeople who are Nigerians and
(12:25):
Kenyans and Italians and Spanishand from Mexico and from
different part of the world, andParis and Singapore and Taiwans
and Japan. If I can combineevery minority investors to be
my investor, I have more thanenough. I am majority, right?
But throughout my career, incorporate, there are some tips
(12:45):
to share to people. For example,people tend to assign
miscellaneous work to woman, andthe best way is not actually
saying no, because people hateyou, like you're like, hey,
Anya, can you order lunch for ustomorrow? Can you host the
holiday party for the office?It's kind of hard to say no, but
what you can do is you say yes,but then you start putting
(13:06):
together a rotation plan, yes,yes. I will help. But then,
okay, week one is this person,okay, you will do this. Week two
is this person will do this.Week three, you're organizing,
but you don't do it yourself.You're organizing. So you plan
as project management, or, forexample, people hate woman to
promote themselves, so alwaysamplify each other. And this
(13:27):
when you are in the meetings andyou say, okay, great, just
Stephanie, I really agree, and Iwant to echo Stephanie's point
of view. You help her, she willhelp you. And then amplify
people don't want to hear youpromote yourself, but they will
listen to you when you promoteothers. And also, for example,
you can at a certain event thatyou know they are very few
(13:48):
women, and you can organizing itin a way that they will stay.
For example, you know that thisis the tech competition that
usually less women participate.But then before that, you have a
company all hands, and in theend, you say, Okay, we have this
tech event right after. Iencourage everybody to stay so
create an environment that'seasy for women or minority to be
(14:10):
able to participate. And also,you know, guys, they actually
hang out with co workers onweekend, while women tend to
hang out with people who arenothing to do with their work on
weekends, you know the looseties will help. So next week,
find someone who you are notvery familiar with. Ask them for
lunch. Just a simple step, theloose tie will be able to give
(14:34):
you insights and secrets in theoffice or industry that can help
you. So invite someone who youare not very familiar with next
week for lunch.
Stephanie Maas (14:43):
Very tactical, super practical. So now let's
talk about where you're attoday, owning your own business,
working with AI, share with us alittle bit about that journey.
Anya Cheng (14:55):
Yeah, I'm now running an AI company called
Taelor, and it's a company weuse AI to pick clothes for men.
I actually constantly feel alittle bit impostor syndrome. I
was the only few female leaderin tech that didn't come from
engineering background, but leadlarge technology teams. So I
want to look great, and I trysome subscription boxes, but you
(15:16):
have to buy and I didn't want toown that much stuff. And I don't
have fashion sense. I don't knowwhich one looks good. I have to
decide, because it's a new item.So I have to think, can I buy
this in some other places thatwill be cheaper? And then I
also, if I buy it, I will haveto do laundry and ironings, and
I don't want to do any of thosethings, so I try some rental
company, but most of themrequire you to browse through
(15:39):
1000s of items. It was a hardmoment that I realized most of
fashion companies are designedfor people who are into fashion.
They're not for people like me.I'm just a lazy person or busy
person who need to do good, wantto be successful, but does not
care about fashion. I need to dogood for my job, for my day, for
my work. I do not care if I wearred or blue. All I care is that
(16:01):
I am successful in the nextmeeting. I close the deal. I do
well in the social events. I didwell in my TED Talks. So I start
wondering is, are there peoplelike me? Hate shopping, hate
laundry, but very purposeful andneed to look good? Yes, they are
busy men. They have no idea howto look good, but they need to
(16:24):
look good. And turns out that weare a menswear business, but to
serve them, you need service.You need to pick clothes for
them. But before Gen AI, itwasn't feasible. You have to
hire someone, spend hours and1000s of dollars and buy the
clothes and someone style you,but now with AI three seconds.
AI can pick perfect outfits andbecome your personal stylist,
(16:46):
and that's how we started.
Stephanie Maas (16:48):
That is so cool. Okay, anything that we haven't
talked about that you werehoping to address in our time
today?
Anya Cheng (16:57):
Yeah, I think it's just for people who want to try
something a little bit more likelooking good and saving time and
feel confident, if you are alsoa business, who have something
that you can partner with us, wewould love to see what we can do
with each other. For example, wepartner with dating sites, we
(17:18):
partner with coaches, and wealso partner with fitness
centers and people losingweight. And you don't need to
buy large, medium, smallclothes. And you can actually
just rent the clothes during thejourney, and eventually buy the
clothes or look great after youwork out and you dress up. So if
you are any of those business,feel free to reach out. And I'm
(17:40):
at anya@taelor.ai that's a, n,y, a, at, T, A, E, L, O, R, dot,
a, i, and we would love to workwith you and help to save the
environment.
Stephanie Maas (17:50):
Thank you so much for being here with us.
What an incredible story andjourney. And I really love the
way that you're not just takingthis passion for business, but
you're also combining it withyour passion, as you said, for
sustainability, doing good inthe world. Just thank you so
much for being here.
Anya Cheng (18:07):
Thank you so much.
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