10 reasons moms are the new Tech Bro College Drop-outs of CEOs

This is not a pity piece to cheer on women in tech. It is an important message to VCs that if they are not taking women, and especially moms, seriously as investable founders, they are missing out. And also a message to all those mom CEOs and aspiring CEOs out there, that there is tremendous value in the things that may sometimes feel like weaknesses.

My start-up founder journey started seven years ago. I’ve been in five accelerator programs- for emerging market start-ups, for African start-ups, for impact start-ups, for female founders, and one for any start-up (interestingly the only one that resulted in a successful fundraising round).

I was on a call with a mother CEOs meet-up group organized by Unreasonable Ventures, a group I have valued being a part of for years now. The women on the call ranged from sleep-deprived new moms to moms of school-aged kids in the midst of screen-time battles to moms wondering how they will pay for their kids’ college tuition on a founder’s salary. Regardless of the different stages our kids or our businesses were in, many of the same questions, doubts, and frustrations came up. Not enough time in the day. Guilt for not giving enough to their kids, or their business.

But what also consistently shined through was a common sense of resilience, extreme ownership, and humility.

I sat there and thought to myself– but this is exactly what makes these women amazing CEOs.

1. Ability to delegate

My fellow mom CEOs talk a lot about having to delegate, not because we wanted to, but because we have had to– in life and at work. It is the only way to get everything done. Show me a mom CEO and I will show you a shepherd, a coach, a mentor, a cheerleader. We can make sure we get to where we need to get as a family and a team. Delegation is our force multiplier. We delegate like our life depends on it, because it does.

2. No fear

Moms have seen it all. Anyone who has had a child has experienced raw fear at one point or another. Even if it was just a few minutes of losing your kid in a crowded market. Are my kids ok? OK. Then anything I need to do or anything that might come my way in start-up land cannot really scare me. We have been trained by life to have a high threshold for fear. But it does not mean we are reckless. I get nervous. I dislike contentious situations. But as a CEO I will lay it all on the line if I need to. I have nothing left to be afraid of.

3. Extreme ownership

Quite a few of us mom CEOs describe our businesses as our other baby. We have raised it. We feel fully and wholly responsible for its success or failure. We know what it is like to carry the weight of raising a little human, and we pattern match that to raising a business. If something goes wrong or sideways, we will do everything in our power to right the ship. We don’t have time to waste or space in our minds to try to blame others or make excuses for ourselves, just as we would for our own children.

4. Productivity

You have never met a more productive person than a working mom. Enough said.

5. Perspective

There was a new mom on our whatsapp group who shared how she had just pitched to a VC with breastmilk on her shirt. We all gave her words of support and empathy. During the best moments of success or while staring straight off the cliff into the abyss, moms have the ability to sigh, laugh, cry, scream, and then quickly pick themselves up and keep it moving because they have bigger fish to fry. Moms have a sense of priorities and perspective, and for her it is not an option to get distracted by the small things.

6. Energy moderation

We know about managing energy levels. We at least have an awareness of self-care, even if we do not practice it. In the early days of Zindi I hardly slept. I worried about Zindi 24/7. During the tough times, I gave everything that was needed of myself. But I also had self-awareness about what this was doing to me and my family. I would pull back at the right moments, pop my head up, enjoy my kids, go for a run, have dinner with my family. As Zindi is starting to hit a different stride, I am still pushing, but in a different way. Growing a start-up business is neither a sprint nor a marathon. It is both. And moms are ready for it.

7. Humility/Comfortable with losing (control)

In the mom CEOs group, my peers are taking what I consider to be hard steps, like deciding to step down as CEO of her company or to take maternity leave and hand operations over to a young colleague. These stories merge with the stories of accepting help at home and coming to peace with the fact that things will not be done their way. For all parents, raising kids is a lesson in accepting that you are no longer in the driver seat. This makes for a more realistic, humble leader, who accepts that things will not always go her way, even sometimes at her own behest. We can make those difficult decisions that are not always in our own personal interest and do not feed our ego, but are in the interest of our family or our company.

8. Integrity

While personal ambition drives us all, we are also driven by our ambition to set a good example for our kids, to be a good role model. Many of the lessons and experiences I have as a CEO get filtered in some way down to my kids. When they do, I am conscious of what they are taking away from what they see and hear. My seven year old daughter once called me out for being fake nice on a call with a potential investor! Every day I need to reckon with the questions: Are the things I am saying true? Are my decisions fair? Am I doing the right thing? Moms are constantly holding up a mirror to themselves, but wanting to look good is not out of vanity, it is out of a deep sense of responsibility to the ones watching and learning.

9. Mom vibes

One of the most heart-warming moments for me running Zindi was when our ambassador from Malawi said to me on a community livestream, “You are all of our mother, what advice do you have for us?” That was the moment I realized that my experience and identity as a mother had actually shaped Zindi as a brand and business. Zindi is intentionally a nurturing, safe environment for young people of all backgrounds to build their skills in data science and AI. One of our values is that community comes first, a reflection on the saying “it takes a village to raise a child.” These values are what has differentiated Zindi from the competition, especially as far as AI companies go. It is Zindi’s unique value proposition. It has made Zindi stand out and has led to brand loyalty.

10. Perseverance

For a mom to found and be the CEO of a company, you can assume she has persevered through many challenges. This role was not given to her on a silver platter. She has had to prove herself many times over. She has had to work hard all night and smile through the day. A mom founder and CEO has gotten knocked down many times, believe me, and you will probably never know it. But the fact that she is still standing says it all, and that is the type of person you want on your side.

I was once generously prompted to reflect on my home life as a mom in a job interview when I couldn’t come up with an answer to a question about my leadership style. The interviewer was a father of three. He was acknowledging that the skills you hone as a mom are in fact leadership skills. The experiences shape you in ways that don’t end at home. And the most shocking logical leap– in ways that can benefit a company. 

This is not to say that moms don’t have their own shortcomings as CEOs. They simply have less time and energy to give to work. They have “hard stops” at random times for school pick-ups, doctors appointments, and playdates. I acknowledge that sometimes we are not successful. Sometimes we can’t handle it all and we quit. But the same can be said for our tech bro counterparts.

The start-up world can be flippant. It is an industry that values bravado, trades in parties, pulling all-nighters, and exaggerations on the brink of lies. In this world, it is the calculated trade-offs, the fire, hustle, and exhaustion, the ability to dig deep in the face of a challenge and solve unsolvable problems that make moms such special CEO material. As one of my investors told me (before he subsequently decided I was an emotionally triggered woman with bad judgement), “Celina, you are the most backable CEO I know.” I agree.

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About Celina

Celina is the CEO and co-founder of Zindi, the largest professional network for AI practitioners in developing and emerging markets. Over 90,000 users across 190 countries come to Zindi to build their skills while solving some of the world's most pressing problems using AI. An advocate for diversity in AI, Celina works to ensure that AI development is inclusive globally. Originally from San Francisco, Celina has lived and worked in Latin America, Asia, and Africa. Celina holds a Bachelors of Science in Applied Mathematics with a minor in Computer Science and a Masters degree in International Affairs from Columbia University.

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