Selina Tobaccowala is President and Chief Technology Officer at SurveyMonkey. Previously she cofounded Evite, and she was Senior Vice President of Product and Technology at Ticketmaster's Europe division, where she managed the 200-person Product, Technology and Operations team. Selina has a BS in Computer Science from Stanford University.
Selina Tobaccowala
What does entrepreneurship mean to you, and what underlying characteristics do you see in successful entrepreneurs?
Selina: Entrepreneurship is more than just having an idea for a business. It's the ability to execute on that vision in order to bring it to life. You have to be willing to take a leap of faith.
Successful entrepreneurs are able to make decisions quickly. And they have to be ready to admit or at minimum realize when mistakes are happening. Even if your vision isn't perfect, you should be able to adjust along the way. You must have a higher tolerance for risk than most people.
What are you most proud of in your professional career? If you could do something over in your life, what would it be?
Selina: There are two things I'm very proud of. The first is building great teams who are passionate about the vision and mission of the company, not just collecting a paycheck. I did this at Evite and again at SurveyMonkey.
The second thing I'm proud of is my commitment to constant and deliberate learning. This is something my parents instilled in me at a young age - to seek opportunities where I will learn - and I've never lost sight of that.
What would I do over? I wish I knew back in middle school and high school that being different (tech-focused for me) is not only okay, but that there are always others like you out in the world. While I was part of the "nerd herd" in my younger years (thanks to my brother for the clever name!), I fit right in when I got to Stanford.
The final thing I wish I had done differently was to write down more of what I learned from Dave Goldberg. I assumed he would always be there for advice. I got the chance to work by his side for more than 5 1/2 years, and it was awesome.
Tell us about an instance where you had to go against the flow to realize your goal.
Selina: I really had to go against the flow right at the start of my career. I remember when all of the students at Stanford were interviewing for jobs in their senior year, and while I felt some pressure to do the same, I followed my gut and advice from my dad - and my dream - of starting my own company (Evite). I even remember when I skipped the career fair! It was a bold move for me at the time, but a move that led to some really great experiences.
When did you make a decision that was not 100% focused on your professional career?
Selina: In 2005, I made the decision to move to London. Professionally, it may have been better for me to stay in Silicon Valley, but I wanted to gain international experience. While I know I missed out on some of the Silicon Valley happenings, it turned out to be an awesome four years for me, both professionally and personally.
What drives you? How do you measure success for yourself?
Selina: I'm driven by creating products that impact people's lives in the real world.
I'm very explicit with my goal setting. Every year, I lay out what I want to learn in the year ahead. I ask myself what I learned last year, and what new skills and experiences I want to acquire.
To measure my success at work, I ask questions like "how many people touched what I'm working on, what's the growth of the product, and how satisfied is my team?" In my personal life, success to me is trying to raise two kind children.
If you were to give advice to your 22 year old self, what would it be?
Selina: First, I wish I had more patience with people back then. I've learned over the years that when you lose patience with people, it puts them on the defensive and you don't achieve your goal.
The other important lesson I've learned is that no matter what people of contemporary time tell you to do, you have to make sure you are building a good business with revenue tied to it. For me, it was 1999 and the middle of dotcom boom. I remember telling myself to enjoy it and learn as much as it could because it was a fantastic time. But, looking back, I would now tell my 22-year old self how much money a business really needs to raise in order to sustain success.
Follow Selina Toaccowala at @selinato, and check out the other interviews in Going Against the Flow series at http://www.huffingtonpost.com/charu-sharma/ and join the movement to empower 1 million female entrepreneurs at goagainsttheflow.com.