Carlotta is an award-winning leader building lasting partnerships in her role as EMEA Strategic Alliances Lead at Spotify. A UN Women UK delegate and Bloom UK mentor, she joined the Connectd network to help support startups on the platform and to learn more about entering the investment world.
I have loved working with the startups that have been introduced to me by Connectd. There have been a huge variety with very different tech, objectives and goals, and at different stages as well. It's been incredibly rewarding understanding where they all sit, what they need, and really figuring out how I can help them.
The experience with Connectd so far has been incredibly positive, not only from the perspective of the introductions I received to the startups, but also because of the actual hands-on knowledge I've learned, thanks to all the staff and the meetups that have been organised, and the one-to-ones that I've had the chance to have. I’ve really learned more about my role as non-executive director and more about what investing means, as I'm dipping my toes into that side of things.
The main reason for me to join Connectd was actually because I started as a fresh 20 year old in Silicon Valley, and I didn't quite know what it meant being on a board even though I was surrounded by boards and startups and investments. But I didn't quite understand what it meant to be a VC or be involved in those types of networks. I really wanted to get a grasp for how I could be impactful as a non-executive director, and eventually, as an investor as well, as I'm looking to learn more about that side of things.
Connectd has helped me from a personal and professional development perspective, thanks to the introductions, I've had to many different startups at various stages. I've really started to fully understand what it means going for a seed investment, for example - versus series A, B, C - which are all concepts that initially I didn't quite understand. It also helped me understand at what stage I want to actually get involved as an advisor, as a non-executive director, and having a full understanding of each single stage and the whole landscape of where each startup sits. That really helped me understand where I can add most value.
My next steps, my growth plan as a member, is definitely to dip my toes in the investment side of things. It's something that I've always wanted to do and something I wanted to learn more about. It’s something that I actually want to be comfortable about and Connectd has really given me the tools, the knowledge, understanding and contacts to start approaching that side of things. I'm really looking forward to taking that next step.
I have loved working with the startups that have been introduced to me by Connectd. There have been a huge variety of startups, with very different tech, very different objectives and goals, and different stages as well. It's been incredibly rewarding understanding where they all sit, what they need, and really figuring out how I can help them? Can I add something to their journey? And I think that's probably one of the most valuable things I've taken away.
Attending Connectd events has been incredibly useful to understand the other people who are part of the network, at this stage. It's been so interesting for me to see how there is a focus to try and increase the number of women involved, the effort that’s actually happening behind the scenes to recruit more female investors and non-executive directors and seeing how these events are structured. That has given me the motivation to really be part of the network as much as I can, and ensure that I can also be part of an active part of Connectd to help bring more women into the network.
One word I thought about was effective. Effective because there's so much hands on stuff, it's not just talking about things in theory, there's actually hands on resources, and one-to-ones that allow you to ask questions that you might potentially think are a little dumb but actually, as you are learning about all these things, they're not - people are there to help you.
Changemakers is the second word I thought about because I saw so many of these networks in the past. When I was in Silicon Valley, they were always very male-dominated and here I feel like there is a hunger to diversify the network and bring on different talents, not just from a startup perspective, but also from a non-executive director perspective and investor perspective.
Connectd is effective, a change maker, and absolutely genius. It's run by millennials, and this traditionally is a field that sits with the older demographic. This means that it's going to attract more and more people, more and more millennials into this side of things, which I think can only bring good things, diversifying the demographic behind all these roles.
