Zoox seems to address two burning needs for humanity (by First World problem standards, of course!), autonomous self-driving cars and more women of color CEOs leading breakthrough technology companies. Like Seriously.
A recent Harvard Business School study highlighted how the the immigrant mindset translates wonderfully to the founder mindset.
According to the study, “immigrants are indeed great entrepreneurs, with experts citing the “immigrant mindset” as a major asset they bring to companies. The same study showed a 31% increase in immigrant entrepreneurs between 1996 and 2006, and for good reason, since immigrant-started businesses are proven to grow at a faster rate and survive for longer when compared with business started by native U.S. residents.” (via Forbes )
And while Evans had the immigrant mindset, she seems to lack the confidence in being a risk-taking founder, and had spent two decades growing the ranks at Big Corporate, including Intel. So she took an alternate path.
“I had decided that I was not going to leave to go to another big company, because at the end of the day, it was sort of going to be the same everywhere. I already knew the movie, the plot, the actors, the drama,” she has said, speaking to Fast Company. But also added, “I am not a Silicon Valley-like founder, I take a lot of risk, and I like disruption, but I grew up through the corporate engine.”
Evans started looking for opportunities at small Silicon Valley private companies lead by founders working on breakthrough technologies.
Seasoned corporate-bred leaders like Evans often go on to take the helm at burgeoning startups. As Harvard Business School professor Noam Wasserman says, “Every would-be entrepreneur wants to be a Bill Gates, a Phil Knight, or an Anita Roddick, each of whom founded a large company and led it for many years. However, successful CEO-cum-founders are a very rare breed.”
According to Wasserman’s analysis, most Founder-CEOs give up their role as CEOs by the third year of their venture’s existence. What’s worse is that most founders seem to put on a fight before making way for a more experienced, objective leader.
“Founders don’t let go easily, though. Four out of five entrepreneurs, my research shows, are forced to step down from the CEO’s post. Most are shocked when investors insist that they relinquish control, and they’re pushed out of office in ways they don’t like and well before they want to abdicate.”
Fortunately for Zoox, founders Jesse Levinson and Tim Kentley-Klay, seemed to have seen the wisdom in hiring Aicha Evans, as she was looking to join a startup where the founders felt, that they “wanted or needed to partner with somebody like me, because they truly felt that that’s what they needed and not because someone told them, ‘Okay, you need some adult supervision.’,” she has said.
And the rest, as they say is Silicon Valley lore.
Aisha Evans went on to lead the company and oversee Zoox’s 1.3 Billion Acquisition by Amazon. And here are some parting word’s of wisdom for those feeling squeamish about founding a startup and yet feel their adrenalin pumping for some exciting startup action, don’t just take on any startup job.
Speaking to Kate McAndrew, Partner at pre-seed focused Bolt Investing, Evans has said, “the mission really has to feel like a calling. Like, I was born to do this. Then I assess the value system. Do we have the same value system? When things are good, things are good. But when things are not good, can we have really tough conversations? Almost like a work husband in a way. During those interviews I asked him (Levinson) some very tough questions. I was like, I’m going to change my entire life to come do this. What’s going to happen when we fully disagree?.”
And here’s more straight-up advice from Evans, “… only take the role if you are really interested in it. Startups are hard.”