#18: What founders can learn from an outsider-turned-investor - Maria Dramalioti-Taylor
Founders and investors alike should be excellent signal processors. But what if you are navigating an environment that your ‘sensors’ are not attuned to? You can adjust those sensors and blaze a trail. You can transform your drawbacks into unfair competitive advantages.
A woman, a foreigner, and an engineer, Maria Dramalioti-Taylor, shares her story of breaking into the venture capital industry. Maria is the founding partner of Beacon Capital, a London venture capital firm.
What you need to learn and unlearn to become a VC investor
Coming to the UK back in 1993 from Greece to pursue post-graduate studies in mechanical engineering, Maria made several career moves and landed in the venture capital industry. She explained what helped her to enter the investment space and how she turned her experience and personal skills into advantages to find her place in this industry. While learning from British people how to give space for doubts and rely on her intuition Maria also needed to unlearn the engineering mindset principles she had from her education.
“In my interactions, I don’t mess about the topic. I don’t like the other people to do it either. Someone said once to me, ‘you go straight to the jugular girl, be careful.”
Being an outsider in a new culture
Being a founder in a new country and especially in a new culture, you have an advantage and a disadvantage. Your advantage - nobody knows you, and nobody will judge you; you can start from a blank slate. And what is your disadvantage? Surprisingly, it’s exactly the same - nobody knows you.
How fencing makes you a better founder and investor
Maria used to fence, and this hobby shaped her as a person. The first lesson from fencing is the economy of movement: you need to move efficiently, otherwise, you will be hit. The second lesson is pretending to do one thing and doing something different at the end. And the last one is discipline. Do you think these lessons can help in the VC industry? Listen to the episode and learn more.
More about Maria Dramalioti-Taylor
Maria has led numerous investment rounds syndicating with angels, micro funds and large VCs across Europe and the US, creating $900m+ in enterprise value. As an investor, she works with founders to build global, category-defining businesses. She is on the board of several portfolio companies and serves on the Chairs in Emerging Technologies Committee and the Enterprise Committee of The Royal Academy of Engineering.