Career Path of a Founder at YourNegotiations.com

Thanks for having me. I majored in math with a minor in economics. I initially intended to major in economics, but math came more easily to me.

I made a point to seek internships every summer and even during my month-long winter breaks. One of these internships was at the Central Bank of Albania, in the research department. There, I practiced data management and wrote research papers, learning how economic theory applied to practical national concerns.

I also interned at USAID in Albania, focusing on the country's development goals and how to achieve them. Later, I worked at Deloitte, also in Albania. My final summer internship before graduating was with a startup founded by a Harvard professor in the US.

This startup aimed to bridge the gap between college learning and workforce readiness, offering a curriculum like a mini-MBA. I had several jobs after college before arriving at my current role.

After college, my first job was at a small wealth management firm with about 50 employees. I did some data analysis there, but after only a few months, I received an offer from IBM. IBM was a dream company for me growing up, much like Google is today.

Leaving my initial job after three months was difficult, but the company was understanding and encouraged me to do what was best for my career. This support was invaluable. At IBM, I worked as a SaaS consultant for Salary.com, a prominent website for salary research at the time.

During my time at IBM, my husband was applying to business school. He was studying for the GMAT, which has a significant math component. My math background made me eager to help him, and I found myself enjoying the practice tests.

Considering my math skills and fluency in multiple languages, I decided to take the GMAT myself. I scored well, which led me to apply to graduate school. I earned a master's degree in Logistics Engineering from MIT, which opened many doors for me.

After my master's, I joined Sanofi, a major global pharmaceutical company, in their Boston office. My work focused on digitizing clinical trials to reduce the time and cost of bringing drugs to market. It was rewarding and tech-adjacent, but I missed the fast pace of the tech industry.

After a couple of years, I craved a return to tech. My husband and I moved to San Francisco, and I began working in product operations at LinkedIn. This role also proved to be significant in my career path.

While at LinkedIn, I became increasingly interested in tech and fast-paced industries, especially the Bay Area startup scene. I joined founder communities and programs in my free time to learn about their world.

This led me to a role in venture capital as an operations partner. The firm had an interesting model with an attached founder community, which I helped manage. During this time, I reconnected with a friend who was starting a company to address the loneliness crisis.

I joined his startup as a co-founder, driven by my passion for this issue, stemming from my community-oriented Albanian upbringing and my observations of individualism in the US. We were at a pre-seed stage, but unfortunately, we ran out of money before achieving product-market fit.

After leaving the startup, I co-founded an incubator for generative AI founders. While I'm no longer involved, it's still active. It was there I met my mentor, who had started his own company at the incubator.

I began working as a part-time consultant for him while I considered my next steps as a founder. My husband was also leaving his job, and we debated starting something together. A family member involved in online education businesses suggested it was impactful, profitable, and offered freedom without investors.

We decided to launch an online education platform. Given my reputation for negotiation skills, helping many people with job offers, rent, and other matters, I suggested teaching negotiations. And that's how we arrived at today, as co-founders of YourNegotiations.com. I anticipate our discussion will delve deeper into this.