Women Leading Validation Spotlight: Krisha Patel and Tanya Sharma - Driving Impactful Change

For today’s Women Leading Validation spotlight conversation, Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo CEO of ProcellaRX interviews Co-Founders Tanya Sharma and Krisha Patel of Assurea.

This dynamic duo is leading the way for young entrepreneurs in a variety of ways, not just about validation. Tanya is a cofounder at Assurea LLC, a quality compliance consulting firm for startup biotech companies. She is on the international steering committee for Women in Pharma, ISPE. Her background is in cloud compliance and CSV. She supports several blockchain pilots and use cases within supply chain.
Krisha Patel is a cofounder at Assurea LLC and helps biotech startups navigate complex regulatory challenges as they scale up. Her expertise is Quality and has built frameworks for Quality Systems for several cell and gene therapy companies.

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*Disclaimer: Podcast guest participated in the podcast as an individual subject matter expert and contributor. The views and opinions they share are not necessarily shared by their employer. Nor should any reference to specific products or services be interpreted as commercial endorsements by their current employer.

This is a joint Podcast production of ProcellaRX and KENX

Transcript

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 0:01

Welcome to another episode of women leading validation on your host, Dorie Gonzalez Acevedo. Today's spotlight conversation is with co founders of Asurion Krisha Patel and Tanya Sharma. Sharia is a women owned consulting firm specializing in quality compliance and Computer Software Assurance headquartered in Raleigh, North Carolina. Tonya Sharma and Krishna Patel are graduates of North Carolina State University and has hands on experience in a variety of validation projects both with small and large life science organizations. Tonya serves on the international steering committee for women in pharma ISP. Her background focuses in on Cloud compliance and CSP, and she supports several blockchain pilots and use cases within the supply chain area. In Krishna focuses mostly on a biotech startups navigates complex regulatory challenges as they scale up, and her expertise and quality has built frameworks for quality systems for cell therapy and gene therapy companies. Together, this dynamic duo just blows me away. I am truly honored to support them in their startup, as well as in their new campaign rooting for you. So let's get started. Here's my conversation with Tanya and Krista. Well, welcome today to the next episode of women leading validation. I am so happy to have with me today Tanya and Krisha. From assurer. Yeah, and so, you did a brief introduction, but I would love for you guys to introduce yourself and do Can we start with Krishna?

Krisha Patel: 1:32

Yes, absolutely. Thank you for having us on this podcast story. Were excited to be here and speaking with you. I am a North Carolina native. I graduated in bio processing and food science from North Carolina State University. And after getting my bachelor's, I held various consulting roles in large pharma, such as Genentech, Novartis, Bristol Myers Squibb, in the US and internationally. My experience has mostly been in process validation and quality management systems. And now as a co founder of a Shaurya. I help our clients with building and implementing quality systems.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 2:19

Great. Thank you, Krista. Tanya,

Tanya Sharma: 2:23

so nice to be here. Thank you so much for inviting us. And it's always a pleasure talking to you, especially because you understand the context of what we're doing and started your business as well. So it's always a pleasure to talk to you. I actually came to the country. When I was five, I moved from India, my mom got a job as a biology teacher here. So I've learned from early on how to adapt to change really quickly. And I'm a co founder at Astoria as well, like graduated and bioprocessing. Science, and I'm actively involved in a lot of women and pharma initiatives as well. Yeah. So

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 3:07

when I met you guys, I'm super excited for lots of different reasons. One, it's so wonderful to see young entrepreneurs and women entrepreneurs that are excited about this extremely niche part of the world in which we live, right? Not much, many people know what we do. And then when you try to describe it to them, it's it is it takes a couple of moments for them to either glass over and like have no idea what you're talking about and think you do something, you know, like, actually, that you have no idea what they're talking about either. So thank you guys. And it was pleasure to meet you recently in Boston, in person and see you soon in a couple of weeks in Raleigh, as well. So I'm looking forward to that. Can you share with us the story of a Cherie and we're how you guys launched your own company here?

Tanya Sharma: 3:59

Yeah, and I can go first on that. So I've always been curious about the different narratives that we live with where you know, maybe it's our upbringing or the industry, as you as you had mentioned, that we are in that we have these certain narratives. And I'm always curious about why we follow certain processes or certain mindsets that we have. And that's actually really embedded in starting a Shaurya. Because Krishna and I started talking during COVID. And we saw all these advancements in the biotech and COVID was happening. And we really realized that these fast growing clients don't have the time and resources to implement quality compliance frameworks. So we came up with a very collaborative model to help these fast growing clients implement these frameworks. So we have two programs, core and builder. So a lot of flexibility is built in these frameworks. And that's how we started we really We saw this need and we want, we were excited to help and really make an impact in a meaningful and practical way moving forward as well.

Krisha Patel: 5:10

Krisha. For me, the journey has definitely been an immersive experience, like Tanya saying, we started something new, and have a new consulting models. So behind the scenes, naturally, there's a lot of vulnerability and uncertainty. But because we have good board members, and got feedback from our customers, and professional community, it has really helped us to keep going. And it's just really important to have that kind of network and support. I would also say, it's equally important to do something that is unrelated to your business, such as going for, I don't know, go for a long walk, go for a run. And that really helps you get that inspiration for your business, get new ideas and get more clarity.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 6:04

Yeah, so being an entrepreneur myself, right. So making time for those sorts of activities are part of the process, right part of the discipline of owning your own company, right. And someone asked me last week, like what do you do for fun? And I'm like, I don't, I wasn't really sure how to answer that. Because part of the fun for me is building my business. Right? Yeah. And so taking those walks, like you're mentioning Krista like, right, that is where I get a lot of my ideation from. And so having conversations with like minded folks, or maybe even in different verticals, but still an entrepreneurial kind of outlook and, and problem solving, and strategically, advancing sort of my mindset, right, constantly educating myself as we go along. What have you learned in the, in the brief time that you guys have started here? What are some of the lessons learned that you, you know, that you've learned, and you want to change, perhaps

Tanya Sharma: 7:06

I can go first. So I think, you know, I'm, I also follow Reed Hoffman. And he had this quote, saying that being an entrepreneur is like jumping off a cliff and on the way down, you're building a plane, so either you will crash. I think that is so important to keep in mind to be a realist, that not everyone is going to like your ideas. And there are going to be people that are skeptics in your journey, and there are people that are going to be there rooting for you. And what you have to do as an entrepreneur is take the people that are rooting for you use that as momentum to keep going. And then the people that are skeptical of your journey, use that as like looking at new ways of ideas that they have that might help you. So just keeping that balance is something that I've definitely learned that, you know, it's important to understand where people are coming from. And you have to take flight either way, like you you're, you have to fly. So that's been an important lesson. Another important lesson for me has been coming from a technical background, I wasn't exposed to thinking about color palettes and your brand and your websites, your gift, the colors on your website, need to match your presentations, and that needs to match your post on LinkedIn. So just how you're resonating with people digitally. And I have a really good friend, Thomas, Gargan Niko, who was an expert in marketing. And I would get so frustrated because he would tell me, this doesn't match with this, you have to do differently. And I'm just like, I want to get to the point. Yeah, and that took me a, you know, that was really good feedback. Because I think that that's something we don't think about, what is our presence online? And how it's resonates with other people as well? Yeah. For sure.

Krisha Patel: 9:05

Yeah, absolutely. I think I wish I had been more familiar with understanding financial goals in something that's not taught in universities, and especially if you're coming from a technical STEM background. So just having that understanding of what are the different matrix, financial metrics to measure yourself, measure your company and develop your financial goals. It's really important. And also like, depending on the type of business you have, you know, your financial matrix could be different, like it could be total revenue, cash flow, profitability ratios, number of sales. So it's just something important to know upfront, and it helps you to monitor the overall financial health of your company.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 9:55

Yeah, spot on. So just again, I'm blown away by many Nice things here, because, you know, being at the later part of my career, it's taking me a lot of years to accumulate all these, this knowledge as well as you know, an MBA and all that sort of stuff that go along with that. You guys are, are jumped right in. Right? And I love your analogy, Tonya around jumping off and building the plane at the same time. It really is. You're you're building it as as you go. Also, for me, that resonates with me one of my core philosophies of of a scientific mindset, right? Where you guys are both chemists as well, right? Or engineers, right? It's it's this constant build and evolution of testing a model. And if that model doesn't work, being willing to part with it and re engineer something that does, right, and that evolution has to be flexible within an entrepreneurial mindset. Right to I think they go hand in hand.

Tanya Sharma: 10:58

Yeah, that is so true. Because I also think that, you know, it's, it's, you can have end up experience in one area, but you have to have breadth of experience and other areas for your business as well. So I think that's very important. When you're starting out, yeah.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 11:16

So where's the sure you going? What's next?

Krisha Patel: 11:19

Well, Jerry, these are really exciting times at ashore. Yeah, we're growing our services globally, as well as expanding offerings vertically into different areas like food, Tech Tech bio, and are supporting software companies becoming compliant with regulations as well, we continue to see that our model of consulting can be used across multiple different sectors in life sciences. And with that expansion, we also have a growing team, which is such a proud moment for us, that our team has put trust in us, and we're doing everything we can to make sure they're taken care of and feel protected. As part of our strategic plan for Shaurya. To grow internationally. We've been also partnering up with highly experienced consultants from different regions and areas to serve as an extension of our team. And the reason we are doing this is because it will enable us to consistently bring the A team forward for our client, no matter where they are in the world. So in India, actually, we are building a platform for women entrepreneurs, to be able to create their own LLC, we will partner up with them for different projects. And you know, we will be supporting the company, the woman entrepreneurs is their journey. That's wonderful.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 12:53

That's great. I mean, I know, having that kind of starter foundation for folks to be able to take off and do that with a trusted party is so important. So I'm so glad for you guys to be able to, to launch that. So let's get into some details. The so you guys kind of focus in on two main areas, rent biotech and emerging technologies sort of at least for the moment, right. So why don't we Why don't we look at biotech first. So what are some of the challenges that you've seen there today? Krisha?

Krisha Patel: 13:28

Yeah, for startups, especially in cell and gene therapy space. This is a challenge that we've been hearing around the industry as well. And one of the main challenges for them has been figuring out how to make their manufacturing process more scalable at a commercial scale. In cell therapies, especially if you because you cannot scale up, you have to scale outwards. And that means sometimes having a larger workforce having multiple sites. And as more and more we as an industry are becoming more familiar with the challenges, and investors are also starting to inquire early on on how these drugs will be scaled and distributed. A lot more startups we're seeing are looking to partner up with the right partnerships and contract manufacturers at the beginning. So they can leverage other's expertise in overcoming these challenges, especially when they're going to scale later.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 14:32

Yeah, so a lot of partnerships which require a variety of skills, right, because partnerships are hard to manage. And I also hear what you're saying of terms of spreading out the area of expertise. And so what I think that's an alignment with what I see also in the industry, there's lots of turnover right now, right but there's also lots of biotechs starting up all over the place and emerging technology is and so some of that legacy kind of leadership right is coming back down into the the new emerging companies. Okay, so on the emerging technology side, particularly in the pharmaceutical industry, Tania, is that kind of where you're focused at right now, what are you seeing?

Tanya Sharma: 15:25

So I think that there's a lot of data driven companies that are using AI and ML. And it's at this intersection of biology and technology. And now it's termed as tech bio. And I think that these companies will really accelerate drug discovery and programmable medicines, and that will really make the drugs more affordable as well. And the whole world witness how moderna could design its vaccine in two days, because it was enabled by as technology platforms. I think that, that we will continue to see the tech bio companies, platform centric companies, and then also blockchain enabled companies, which would be more on the decentralized side, there's already use cases that pharma ledger consortium, they're, they're based out of Europe. And there's a lot of companies that are involved. And they have use cases on tracking the drug supply chain as well, or E leaflets. So I think a lot of work will be going on there, too. How do we have more diversity in clinical trials track and trace use cases, I'm very excited for the advancement there. I do feel that the challenges of implementing these technologies will be internal to companies. And as you know, in CSV, a lot of it is document heavy and document based, I think we would have to shift that mindset into what are the questions we can ask to enable these technologies to be adopted? Like, what is there a data map? How is Backup and Restore being conducted? What does access look like? And what are the components that are GXP? impacts? I think those questions need to the validation would have to be centered towards those questions rather than centered towards the documentation.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 17:16

Yeah, so that's a great point. And that's 25 years of having that same conversation. So what are some of the things you think could change that? Right? Because, you know, literally, if you pull out some of my very early validation plans, it would they were all risk based. And, but yet, we still see, and I'm sure you guys see too, still paper coming through that is not risk based. And so what what are some of the things that you think folks can do to change some of that mindset?

Tanya Sharma: 17:49

I think that a lot of conversation needs to happen on being iterative. Because if we go through the stage gates of you have to have your requirements approved, you have to have your validation plan approved. And then we get into this whole cycle of more on the approval side of things, rather than as you're mentioning, risk based side of things of what are the risks to patient product, Di? And how are we testing these risks in our environment? Because it's new technology. So I think that would be a place where it would the the being more iterative, and agile would help companies as well. And then when it comes to even risk based tools that we are using, I think a lot of that would also have to enable just not looking into things like probability of something going wrong, but rather than what is the detectability of that function fails? And how detectable that is, how broken can that system be? So I think the risk analysis aspects of that of it would also have to be enabled to implement these new technologies.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 19:01

So I have a question for you. Because I'm curious, with the companies that you work with, do they really understand or know what fit for purpose means or intended use of a system is?

Tanya Sharma: 19:13

Now that's a very good question, because I think that a lot of times intended use to the companies that we interact with our the vendor did the validation, and it's it's fit for purpose now. And we don't have to show the intended use from internal validation. So these are the cam conversations that we have where we talked to them, and then we say like, what needs to happen to show interest intended use as part of your business process? So that's still a conversation very relevant.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 19:50

Yeah. So can you guys share some of your experience around? So these conversations that we're just talking about right now are still a challenge for me, right? as being a leader in my career, how are they for you like so I can imagine you guys being in a room? A potentially one of the few women in the room, and then to being one of the more younger members in the room? What? In a in diverse as well. Right. So what is your experience from that perspective on? You come to the table with a wealth of knowledge. Right. Are you heard? Are you valued? What do you think?

Krisha Patel: 20:38

I would say that in terms of bringing up new ideas, I think people have been very receptive. And as long as you approach everything with the rationale of what is the risk, why is this important? Why what is it that you're trying to show needs to change? Because at the end, we are evaluating whether it's in validation, whether it's in computer systems, quality systems, what is the risk for the patient, the product quality, so when you are bringing up that new idea, and bringing up a new rationale, I think that it's been fairly supportive, I think people are wanting to listen and to change the way we do things, because there is a need to reduce the amount of time it takes to get to market and if that overall helps everyone.

Tanya Sharma: 21:36

So I have a different perspective on this. I think that I've been in plenty of conversations where I've had a minority opinion. And I've had to really prove myself in what I am saying. And I've had to have all the references there. And why I've, I'm saying what I'm saying, and what's the reference behind it? What's the guidance behind? It's all my conversations in those settings have been framed around? Where am I getting all of this information from? Because as you said, like, I am younger, I don't have, you know, multiple years of experience that I could just bring to the table, but I can bring ideas to the table. I've implemented these ideas with different clients, but it's just this mindset that, you know, Where's this coming from? If you've, if you haven't had the years of experience, so I have to definitely show a lot of context to what I am saying. And it was challenging at first because I was going into all conversations with that mindset, then that, oh, I have to prove myself, I'll have to have all these what if scenarios, just pre planned. And, you know, on the other side, that person might just want to genuinely listen to what I have to say. So then I've made they just want to know, like, what do you have? Yeah, and if not, to prove myself. So I think that I've, you know, I noticed that I'm aware of it. But I also want to not think that it's going to be the case, every time either.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 23:14

Yeah. So that still happens today for me. Right. And so and that's why I wanted to kind of open the conversation and talk about this, because I think this is, you know, some of those challenges never go away. Right? That they do still exist in the workplace, particularly right. And so at a fundamental level. Yeah, I still have to prove myself each and every day for multiple reasons, right? Despite the the resume of which it is right, you're still, you know, showing up and having those, those contextual artifacts at your fingertips to be able to have them ready to justify if necessary for X, Y, or Z. Right. And in, and I'm curious, though, like, so you guys, and we met in Boston, and, you know, this big conference, and and when I was walking around, I did see a lot of young people. And so that was really encouraging to me. And maybe it's just because I'm getting old, frankly, that I now notice. But it was really encouraging to see. You know, what, so what do you what do you think of that and what do you think of the future of your generation in this industry and kind of where where's that going?

Tanya Sharma: 24:44

I would say that. I did also see a lot of young people in Boston, and I think that a lot of options are available now where you can go into tech bio Oh, you can, you know, do all these different things. So I think that the opportunities there. But if there isn't enough support backing up these ideas, whether through mentorship programs, or young people, emerging leaders having access to conversations like this, then you don't get that platform of really sharing of sharing what you can do, and what impact you can bring. So I think that even though there's a lot of opportunity, we still need to have a lot more platforms to enable these ideas and support them.

Krisha Patel: 25:39

Yeah, and I think, having conferences that are more focused or are able to highlight and allow more for startups, and new ideas to come, that also can help support that type of a platform. And the one in Boston was a great example. It had variety different companies there. And a lot of startups were also present there. So that kind of makes a difference on who attends and how people interact with each each other at the conference.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 26:11

Yeah. Great. So as a woman entrepreneur, what what, what kind of advice would you give women starting out their own business?

Tanya Sharma: 26:25

I would say that, just do it, and just be part of communities that are going to give you the advice, and give you the support that understand your contacts. But I think that just getting over the thought of should I do it? Or should I not do it? Because what's the worst that can happen? You just learn from it at the end of the day there? You know, the downside? I think the upside down down upsides outweigh the downsides.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 26:58

Yeah. Krishna,

Krisha Patel: 27:00

I would like to start by saying that it's really dependent on on an individual's context, they might be in a very supportive environment, or they might be in a geographical or cultural setting where women do not have the same resources or access to tools that can help support them. But one main common thread that I have seen in every area is that you have to challenge the status quo. And challenging the status quo is difficult anywhere as a person. So the success really lies in being resilient to these challenges. And, you know, just don't underestimate yourself and what you bring to the table. And I think, I love that. Yeah, I think recently, there's, there's just been a lot of research and studies done around how women underestimate their leadership skills. So kind of reframing your mindset, and being comfortable in your own skin. That's really important. And I would say that, you will always find people along the way to support you and join you.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 28:12

Yeah, I'm actually giving a talk about authentic leadership in next week. And it's just part of a lot of the characteristics of which I talk about you guys emulate just being here today and how you are. It's contagious. Right? And I think that is kind of a real hallmark of this leadership transformation. And once you're talking about Krishna, right, because to challenge the status quo, takes CONUS Spanish, right. And in order to do that, you need to surround yourself with folks that are supportive from all kinds of aspects, right. So I myself have a variety of coaches, therapist, you know, coaches at different things, right? Partners, business partners, strategic partners. You know, it's it's kind of endless, in a way because they're, it's all contextual, to what Krishna, you were saying, right, all of it. There's different parts, right. And the other thing that I was noticing what you guys were saying, you were talking about balance, one of the main differences for me, I don't like to use that word. And I'll tell you why. Because I balance kind of implies you have to give up one or the other. Or something. Right. And for so for me, I reframe it for myself as an integration of right. What do I have to integrate together? Or what does that integration look like? Right, because it's a fitting together rather than a seesaw balance, sort of activity. I'm not good at balancing. I'm good at integrating right? So that's kind of just my my reframe on that. For me. So you guys have some more interesting stuff coming up. So you have a new campaign. So who wants to tell me about the campaign?

Tanya Sharma: 30:12

I can tell you about the campaign. I'm very excited for it. And I think that it's something that I'm really hoping that is very positive, and something that we can continue to do every year. And we started this campaign to highlight the support that's available for women entrepreneurs. And based on the research that we've done, only 2% of funding goes to women entrepreneurs, and we really our mission with this campaign is to get more women in doors for their ideas. And we have a pledge that people can take and in the pledge, we have a few questions asking that is this challenge in your community? And if it is a challenge in your community, then what are some actions that you can take? And how do you how will you keep yourself accountable to those actions. And it's also a social media campaign, so you can hashtag rooting for you and show support for someone and be an ambassador for the program as well. So it's just a way to spread awareness on the topic and also show that there is support there, and you can continue the momentum going nowhere, where no, you know, wherever you are in the world, and we're launching this campaign in Paris, because that really is significant in our journey, we never thought that we would have presence in Paris and in France, and that was just never in our plans. So we decided to launch the campaign there. But it's a global campaign. So we're going to be launching it officially in November.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 31:49

That sounds wonderful. You're part of it. Absolutely. I'm very excited for you guys. It's really, really wonderful. And I know so you started the company during COVID. But yet again, we're on this another brink of some uncertain times with recession coming and how I see it every day and different signs and things that are going on in the world. So how do you guys really keep yourself motivated? When when it is? You know, it's kind of crazy?

Krisha Patel: 32:19

Yeah, I would say you have to have a daily mantra that you say to yourself, and you repeat every day, for me personally, that is that you can't know something in advance of trying. And what's the worst that can happen? So those are some things that I say to myself to kind of encourage that, you know, do you have to try? And there's nothing stopping you. Tanya,

Tanya Sharma: 32:46

I think for me, I also have a mantra that I repeat to myself and mine is you you didn't come this far just to get this far. So that really helps me in times where I'm feeling uncertain. And I also have actually been reading this book called upsides of uncertainty. And that's been really helping me just think of what are the possibilities around if you're feeling uncertain, or if it's uncertain time, and we are in a very uncertain time right now. But I think just reframing those situations, and just to keep going, has been really helpful.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 33:28

Great. So what are some of the routines that you do? So again, being an entrepreneur, your days can be very long. So what are some of those routines that you do to keep yourself on track?

Tanya Sharma: 33:43

Have lots of coffee? Meditate after that, because then you're so high on energy? Not a lot of people can match your energy at that level, then I have coffee, then I meditate. And then I start my day. And then I make sure I work out.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 34:05

Krishna, when do you?

Krisha Patel: 34:05

Yeah, for me, daily journaling has been very helpful as well to kind of reflect on what I want to accomplish that day. And at the end of the day, I also journaled to see what have I not accomplished? What do I want to set as an intention for the next day, and I've been doing yoga as well. And that's really helpful. Of course, coffee is the key ingredient.

Tanya Sharma: 34:29

Italy, you know, even assure you because Krishna was journaling. And we adopted that idea in Astoria. So when we have our weekly calls, we actually have an intention that we set for the week. So as a team, the intention could be we want to do 10,000 steps, or it could be something more we have to be more mindful. So we set these intentions for the week, and then we keep each other accountable as a team for those intentions.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 34:56

That's wonderful. That was my next question is how does it bleed into your team? So that's it. That's great. It's you know, and this is again, another example of leading with your authentic leadership, right? I mean, it's two things that you you both feel very passionate about, as, as well as common to who you are as leaders. Right. And you're bringing that to your team. I think that's, that's great criticisms, I know for me, I've gotten better over the years. But it is in the process. Right. Part of my story is it's been a process. I'm wondering what and how you deal with all that criticism, either either direct feedback, I mean, being again, the face of the company is also potentially can be contentious at times. So what how do you handle that?

Krisha Patel: 35:48

I think you just have to take every feedback, positively, and reframe it and learn from it to see what is it that they want you to change. But I can definitely say it's not easy every time when you receive any type of feedback, or you're receiving something that they want you to change. And I just feel like you have to think about it differently and see that, okay, if they want me to change something, there must be a reason why they're saying it, I will take this positively and see how this can benefit our company and us as a team. That just really changing that mindset.

Tanya Sharma: 36:31

I think it depends on context. Because sometimes I don't think you should take feedback. And I used to take all the feedback that I would get, and then I would just, you know, in my head, I would just be like, well, maybe this is true, maybe that is true. And sometimes it's very discouraging. And you just also growing up in the culture that I'm growing that I grew up in, it was always that look at the bright side, look at the good side. And that's true in so many levels. And I, you know, want to be that person, but sometimes I don't want to take the feedback. And I just don't want that negative energy around me because I'm trying to build some things. And then I've tried to zone out myself to that feedback. And I'm now more confident if I don't agree with somebody. And if they don't have a rationale behind it, then I call them out on it. Because I think it's important to do because if you don't call people out on these things, they're going to continue to do that. And that might be discouraging to somebody. What if someone doesn't have the support system? Or they're not? Seeing that? It's a reflection on them? Not you? Yeah, yeah. And groups as a lot nicer, as you can tell?

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 37:53

Well, so it but it's interesting. So what's also nice to see two co founders and be very different, you know, personality profiles just by the conversations that we're having. And so I think that's also part of how you guys have have grown here, right? I mean, and again, the, the yin and the yang of the two, right, really kind of complement one another. And I really, I see that just in our conversation today.

Krisha Patel: 38:21

Thank you. Yeah, I think you have to be able to have different mindset and bring it together. And we do have very different personalities. And I would say with feedback, it's you know, it is different in terms of how you interpreted and done is right, you know, you can't take every and feedback in in the same way.

Tanya Sharma: 38:43

Yeah. But I think as co founders also, even if you have different personalities and different strands, as long as you have the same values. It's just so much easier to progress because you don't question each other of of Why did you do it this way? Or why did you feel that way? Because your morals are the same, your core values are the same. So I think that's very freeing in our partnership, because we don't have to doubt each other's morality.

Krisha Patel: 39:12

Yeah, we have the same goals at the end.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 39:15

Yeah. All right. So some some fun stuff. So So you guys like to read I here. Right? What are some of your favorite book recommendations here?

Krisha Patel: 39:29

I could start with mine. Yeah, we would say that Never Eat Alone is a classic book. i It's a must read. It's written by Keith Ferrazzi. And I would recommend that to everyone because it gives you that actionable advice on building relationships and the network. And more recently, I have read power of geography. It's a really good book that just talks about how the relationship of mountains and oceans really shape, political ties and the fate of a nation. And this really changes how you think about the physical environment and geography around you, and the influence it can have. So I started thinking differently about the nature around me on my walks.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 40:19

Nice, Tanya,

Tanya Sharma: 40:21

I actually had a goal of reading 52 books this year. So I've been reading a lot of different books, and one of my favorite books is never split the difference. And that's more about negotiations. And that's another skill set that I never had coming from the background of being so technical and never had to really negotiate for, you know, contracts, for example. So that's really helped me look at negotiation differently. And I really recommend that to anyone. Another book that I really liked is called attached. And it's more about the personal relationships that you have, like, what's your attachment style? Are you anxious? Are you secure? Are you avoidant, and that's to be honest, have really helped me in my professional life also. So if somebody doesn't, you know, if a client doesn't respond, then I used to get very anxious, and now you're in my style. So you know, those kind of books, I feel like some personal relationship books really help and in your professional setting, too. So that's another book that I would recommend. Yeah,

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 41:39

so as you guys are, you know, starting your your consulting careers right now, 80% of the work that you do is around relationship, right. And so while we are, again, the super niche kind of technical thing that we do, it is not the majority of what we spend our time on every day. If we can only do that, the technical part every day would be very, very different work each and every day. Well, it has been a pleasure to speak with both of you today. And I do hope that this is the first of several conversations as we follow your journey. And continue your path here as your new company keeps keeps getting bigger.

Tanya Sharma: 42:24

Thank you so much. It was such a pleasure to talk to you. And thank you for the opportunity to have this conversation with us as well. And we've learned so much from you already. So I hope we continue to do that. Because you know, you have been a really great support system and just showing us that what are the things that are possible to do?

Krisha Patel: 42:45

Yeah, thank you so much story for having us.

Dori Gonzalez-Acevedo: 42:48

You're welcome. All right.

Krisha Patel: 42:50

Well, have a great day guys. Thank you