Women Love Tech sat down with Jess Mah, Forbes 30 under 30 inductee and founder of various companies including inDinero, who is aiming to update the current Venture Capitalist model by investing in second-time entrepreneurs.
Q: Tell us about your latest company Mahway?
Mahway, a mission-driven venture builder that provides resources for industry-changing, billion dollar businesses across the world. We are shaking things up by partnering with just three startups a year to ensure a much higher success rate than traditional VC investing and are investing in second-time entrepreneurs who have built inspiring and innovative companies.
Q: Why did you launch it?
At Mahway, we’re not just trying to pump out companies. The companies my team works with are ones that inspire us because we think they are going to solve big problems for individuals or an industry as a whole. I also didn’t want to be a CEO anymore, so myself and the Mahway partners came together after all separately building many successful companies and found a way for us all to continue being founders and builders at a greater scale.
Q: What is your vision?
Our vision for Mahway is to build great companies and have fun doing it. A natural byproduct of being able to create companies ourselves instead of choosing to invest in other peoples’ ideas, is that we can make sure all of our ventures also have an impact on the world – which in turn makes it even more fun!
Q: How will it make an impact?
Mahway creates companies that will impact people through democratizing resources that most wouldn’t normally have access to, inspiring people to take charge of their own lives, and hopefully even saving the lives of those who are ill… and those are just the byproducts of our first three companies.
Q: Who are your ideal co-founder targets?
Mahway co-founds with proven startup executives with deep domain and industry knowledge, have built and run high-performance organizations, have worked in the industry for decades and have a network to tap when building their core team.
Q: What’s next for you?
Since I was in high school I have been laser focused on success. But it has come at a large cost. I am still devoted to building companies, backing great founders and creating wealth for everyone involved. But I am also trying to find balance. There are a lot of lows that come with the highs and it is all about balance. But balance takes practice and work as well! So I’m working on continuing to be a great friend, girlfriend and business partner.
