4 SILICON VALLEY BUSINESS JOURNAL APRIL 20, 2018 5 COVER STORY The eBay BY JENNIFER ELIAS [email protected] · @SVBizJenn These former eBay execs have branched out on their own, thanks in part to their startup sisterhood. club hen Kristina Klausen early on for fundraising advice after an When asked about eBay’s culture, joined eBay in 2003, introduction from one of the female eBay Finley added that issues like sexual she thought she’d alumnae. She called the meeting “critical” harassment, which grew in allegations spend the rest of her to her company getting off the ground. in the Valley in recent years, wouldn’t career at an estab- “EBay had way more than its fair share have been tolerated. Wlished corporate company while rais- of operating exec talent back in the day, “Some of these bad behaviors you’re ing her kids. She joined at a time when and these women are among the very seeing today — they (eBay executives) just the e-commerce giant was beginning to best part of that alumni group,” Dearing didn’t allow it,” Finley said. “There was no grow rapidly, seeing double-digit growth told the Silicon Valley Business Journal, tolerance for people who were (crappy), each year. adding that they are “unique” founders. and I would credit that to John.” “A number of my jobs didn’t exist “Some things they have in common: grit, “John” refers to then-CEO John Dona- before I had gotten there,” she recount- curiosity, creativity to unwind tricky sit- hoe. Finley and Klausen both credit Dona- ed from the office of a startup she found- uations. They also embrace the product hoe, who is currently CEO at ServiceNow, ed called Panda Tree, which resides in a and the business side. Designing an A++ and his leadership for fostering an envi- separate small unit in the back of her Palo customer experience is as important as ronment of good behavior. Alto home. But Klausen was one of many understanding the unit economics. Women at various levels said they felt women who would find themselves unex- These founders are all over both.” encouraged to try big problems, fueling pectedly diving head-first into trying to All of these women credited the cul- independence and instilling confidence grow their own successful companies. ture of eBay — which at into employees who oth- Klausen didn’t know it at the time, the time had a work- “For the first time, erwise may not have felt but she and others like her — namely, a force that was 42 per- empowered to launch network of women with families who all cent female, a higher I was in a situation their own businesses: worked at the company — would become a representation of wom- where I didn’t feel “When they (eBay) gave tribe of sorts. Where sister company Pay- en than is common in me a job to run the Cat- Pal ended up producing a group of ambi- tech companies today — like a minority.” egories (product), it was tious male entrepreneurs who went on to for giving them the pro- RITU NARAYAN, unlike any other job I ever create Tesla, Linkedin and YouTube (the fessional foundation for CEO and founder, Zum had and, on paper, I had fraternity that Fortune magazine famous- their own endeavors. no experience to do so,” ly dubbed the “PayPal Mafia”), eBay would “For the first time, I was in a situa- Finley said. “They trusted me even though be the incubator for a special sisterhood. tion where I didn’t feel like a minori- that was not the rational step.” In 2014, Klausen took a leap of faith ty,” Narayan said. “Before that, I’ve been These women have started mis- and quit the job she loved at eBay to start a computer engineer and one of five sion-oriented companies, Narayan Panda Tree, a foreign language-learn- female students in a class of 300, and said: “When my children started going ing platform. She leaned on fellow eBay that’s pretty much repeated itself in most to school, how I would transport them alumni to make her move, and would tech companies I worked at.” to school while still working in a tech end up being a go-to person for several Another unique aspect was the timing career? I wanted to build a market- other women who would do the same. of when the women started their own place that had the scale of eBay and Among them: companies. They became founders after a high level of trust on top of it for R Mauria Finley, who launched and sold having secure, established careers and providing for the families.” one company for $46.5 million before families, Finley said, noting that it was While the network of eBay starting a personal fashion styling sub- also at a time where there were fewer women might not have the The women in this group have more in common than simply where they used to work. Each held a scription box platform called Allume; female-led companies, let alone startups. same cachet as the number of different roles while at eBay — many of them as directors — and have gone on to start their R Ritu Narayan, who founded Zum, a “There’s not that many women our age Pay Pal Mafia, own businesses that they say reflects a specific mission. The women, many of whom keep in touch to kid-friendly ridesharing service; starting companies,” she said. “When I go Klausen thinks this day, have crossed paths in a variety of ways after their time at eBay, from fundraising to employee R Stella Ma, who co-created Little Pass- to any ‘women in tech’ events, it’s mostly it’s only a mat- referrals and strategy development of their respective companies. ports, a startup that delivers travel sou- fairly young women, but they were pret- ter of time. The wom- venirs and hands-on education activi- ty senior women founding companies — en, many of whom stay in ties for kids; and they (fellow eBayers) walked away from touch, have built on each other’s R Stephanie Tilenius, who started the really big jobs to go do it.” successes. health software platform Vida Health and Speaking to Silicon Valley’s over- And while her company, which raised STELLA MA KRISTINA KLAUSEN RITU NARAYAN who has invested in Finley’s company. whelming lack of diversity in more a $1.5 million funding round last sum- MAURIA FINLEY STEPHANIE TILENIUS At eBay: 2001-2008, director of product At eBay: 2003-2014, senior director, At eBay: 2011-2013, group product At least four different eBay alumni recent years, Finley said she thinks the mer, is small, Panda Tree has ambitions At eBay: 2004-2008, senior director, At eBay: 2008-2010. senior vice marketing Buyer Engagement Marketing manager have either invested in or advised Fin- eBay alumnae are a prime example of the to help children learn foreign languages. Buyer Product & E-Commerce Categories president and general manager of eBay Post eBay: Co-founder and co-CEO of Post eBay: CEO and founder, Panda Tree Post eBay: CEO and founder of Zum, a ley’s companies, Finley said. qualified women who reside in Silicon “I can imagine that if I possibly left Post eBay: CEO and founder, Allume North America and Global Product Little Passports A central figure of the eBay tribe, kid-friendly ridesharing service. Ma said one of her first investors was Valley and are often overlooked in the eBay earlier, I might’ve gone to another Finley was a director at eBay and Post eBay: CEO and founder, Vida Health Ma founded her company in 2009, one Klausen, who held a number of leadership Narayan worked for 15 years at Yahoo, Michael Dearing, a former senior vice “pipeline” theory. big company, I might not have felt as con- PayPal, and started two companies and Tilenius was Finley’s boss at eBay and year after departing eBay, where she had roles at eBay, recognized the breadth Oracle, IBM and eBay, where she met the president at eBay who also invested in “We had a lot of senior women on my fident to try this,” Klausen said. “Seeing joined two boards since leaving eBay in invested in her most recent company worked for eight years and met her co- of this group early on, and has offered group of women with whom she would 2010. In 2011, Finley founded Citrus Lane, Allume, which raised $3 million last founder Amy Norman. The two created a business insight to others looking to get later exchange best practices for Zum. Klausen’s company Panda Tree. Narayan, eBay team and there’s so many super-tal- these other women who had ventured out which was acquired by Care.com in 2014 summer. In 2014, Tilenius started health subscription company that delivers travel their organizations off the ground. Panda Her Redwood City-based company has though her time at eBay didn’t overlap ented women, so I think there’s a visibil- and were reporting back from the front for $48.6 million. She now runs Allume, a software platform Vida Health, which has souvenirs and hands-on activities for kids. Tree has raised $1.5 million. raised $26.8 million. with Dearing’s, said she approached him ity problem,” she said. lines saying, ‘Hey, it’s OK, you can do it!’” fashion subscription box. raised $24.3 million..