Eileen Carey and Lauren Mosenthal make networking as painless as swiping right on Tinder. The San Francisco-based entrepreneurs, both 29, came up with the idea for Glassbreakers, their peer mentoring firm, over a bottle of wine. As soon as an investor cut them a $5,000 check, they quit their jobs (Mosenthal worked in tech at an ad agency while Carey did communications at a healthcare firm). Glassbreakers’ site, which launched in August, is only open to women in tech for now but will expand to a new vertical -- likely media -- in a few months.
What do you actually do all day in your job?
E: As a startup CEO, I do whatever needs to get done that day. Mostly managing all of our marketing, operations, fundraising, legal, HR and communications. I’m basically applying everything I learned during my MBA all the time.
L: In the morning, I read emails from users, organize my Trello board and then skim Hacker News. From there, my day consists of coding, connecting with users, making updates, collaborating with designers and tracking analytics. On Mondays, I plan what I want to accomplish that week and on Fridays, I take a step back and think of the future of the product and research possibilities that I will incorporate into next week’s goals.
How many hours do you sleep?
E: 7
L: 6
What do you eat for breakfast?
E: Yogurt & berries
L: Cold brew coffee from Galvanize’s gCafe, yogurt with blueberries and a spoon of unsalted almond butter.
If you could pitch to one person, who would it be?
E: Sheryl Sandberg -- we lean in every day!
L: Gloria Steinem.
What’s on your home screen?
E: The view from my friend’s house in Big Sur, it’s my favorite place to zen out.
L: I have it automatically change every half hour with images from the Fox is Black’s wallpaper project.
How often do you exercise?
E: I walk about three miles a day. I live in Pacific Heights and we work out of Galvanize so the walk to and from work, up and down those hills, is all the exercise I need. Lauren also introduced me to Soul Cycle and I love it!
L: At least six days a week. I played lacrosse in college so I got used to exercising intensely for two hours a day. I’ve scaled back to about an hour, but I’m addicted to those workout endorphins. I also grew up seeing my dad run 10 miles every day, which was his time to think about life, work through different types of challenges and think of new ideas. Similar to him, my best ideas come after a good workout.
What app can’t you live without?
E: Nuzzel
L: Spotify
What's your favorite city?
E: Havana, Cuba
L: Boulder, Colorado
Uber, Lyft, or yellow cab?
E: LYFT
L: Lyft 100% -- I’m a community-oriented person and I have a ton of fun getting to know all of the drivers.
Are there any social platforms you won’t participate in?
E: 4chan
L: Fantasy Football
What are you reading right now?
E: Rereading The Feminine Mystique, a birthday gift from my sister.
L: Enchanted Objects: Design, Human Desire and the Internet of Things
The Strand or City Lights?
E: The Strand!
L: The Strand
Best piece of advice you've been given?
E: Don’t worry about staying at a company if you are unhappy so it looks good on your resume. The only job that matters is the one you are about to take.
L: Instead of pursuing all of your passions, choose one and put all of your energy behind it.
What keeps you up at night?
E: The alarming rate at which women in America are being stripped of the reproductive rights our mothers fought so hard for. It’s terrifying to hear government leaders and employers like Hobby Lobby pushing back women’s access to family planning and health care.
L: If I’m stuck on a code bug, I’ll keep thinking through different angles of ways to solve it.
If you could tell your 18-year-old self one thing, what would it be?
E: I was a phenomenal math student in high school but didn’t know much about computer science, which now I wish I had pursued. I was a rebellious 18-year-old, so I would tell myself that learning to code is bad ass.
L: Specifically: Don’t quit piano to be the captain of the volleyball team. More generally: Middle and high school, especially in suburbia, isn’t going to be your life forever -- it only gets better from there.
