#11 Sarah Dusek - on becoming an entrepreneur who thinks BIG, and a VC who helps African women think BIGGER

#11 Sarah Dusek - on becoming an entrepreneur who thinks BIG, and a venture capitalist who helps African women think BIGGER - an insider's guide to scaling and pitching your business.

Take a wild entrepreneurial ride with Sarah Dusek, entrepreneur, venture capitalist and author of Thinking Bigger, a powerful guide to growing a business, scaling a business and pitching a business for more money than most women dare to imagine.

In this episode, Sarah shares tactical advice on the shift in mindset that is required to grow big businesses as a female entrepreneur, and candidly speaks about how she had to come unstuck from outdated notions on motherhood and a woman's traditional 'helper' role in order to build her business - which she sold for a whopping $100 million ten years after she launched it.

In her book, Sarah highlights the fact that currently less than 2 percent of women-owned businesses do more than $1 million in revenue annually and only 2 percent of all venture capital dollars yearly goes towards funding female entrepreneurs. The book, and this interview, are part of Sarah's mission to demystify the world of fundraising and the basic building blocks needed to systematically and tenaciously pivot and push until a minimum viable product is created that can ultimately scale.

If you read one entrepreneur book this year, let it be Thinking Bigger, and if you only listen to one entrepreneur's intrepid and inspiring journey, let it be this episode. Sarah masterfully weaves her thoughts on why female entrepreneurs play too small, with practical advice on how to draft a winning pitch deck for something big, all the while sharing her personal success story of growing a business from four tents on a family farm to an international luxury lifestyle brand known for pioneering glamping.

For more information on Sarah Dusek, visit her page on the AfricanOptimist website, where you can find her bio, show notes and episode transcript.

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Time Stamps

00:00 Introduction to the AfricanOptimist Podcast

01:18 Sarah Dusek's Journey: From Zimbabwe to Montana

06:00 The Birth of Under Canvas

09:57 Challenges and Pivots in Entrepreneurship

20:16 Overcoming Doubts and Embracing Risks

29:24 The Tent Rental Business

33:10 Creating a Tented Hotel Experience

36:57 Overcoming Initial Challenges

37:48 Living Conditions and Staff Dynamics

38:37 Realizing the Business Potential that Can Scale

41:14 Understanding Venture Capital

42:47 Shifting Mindsets and Building Value

49:56 The Importance of a Pitch Deck

54:44 Facing the VC World

01:02:02 Embracing Thoughtful Capitalism

01:05:41 Empowering Female Entrepreneurs

01:11:58 Conclusion