Episode Summary

In this episode, you'll hear the inspiring story of two women in tech who successfully sold their startup. Introducing Bernardine Wu and Cynthia Kounaris, lifelong friends and business partners, who met on Wall Street many years ago and later became co-founders of a retail technology consulting company.

Bernardine and Cynthia discuss how they arrived at the idea for their company and how they worked tirelessly to turn their vision into a reality. They also share the challenges they faced in the early days of the business and the process they followed to ultimately sell their company.

You'll learn how Bernardine & Cynthia's core leadership values set them apart from their competition, and why race and gender representation matters when it comes to business.

Overall, this episode offers an inspiring look at the journey of two women leaders who overcame obstacles despite the odds and achieved their dreams of building and selling a successful company.

In this episode you’ll learn:

3:56 How Bernardine & Cynthia met working on Wall Street

14:07 Bernardine & Cynthia's core leadership styles and values

18:02 Why they started a retail consulting company

22:35 Going from an idea to an actual business

25:07 Mistakes made & lessons learned

27:06 The importance of a business partner

32:36 The best part of having a business

37:00 On competing with the big consulting companies

42:10 How they decided to sell the company

45:27 The process to sell the company

47:46 What's changed being part of a larger company

53:03 Final entrepreneurial lessons learned

54:49 What owning a business has cost Bernardine & Cynthia

1:00:02 Why women first entered eCommerce

1:04:29 What allyship & representation means in the workplace

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Connect with my guests:

• Bernardine Wu
• Cynthia Kounaris