Meet Asra Nadeem, who grew up in Pakistan and is now working in the filed of venture capital investment in the Silicon Valley. For us, Asra is a great example how to have a successful career in tech without the “traditional” entry points. She has 15 years of experience in various tech start-ups predominantly in the early stages. She focuses mostly on customer acquisition and growth. Five years ago, Asra changed continents and moved to the Silicon Valley, where she started managing a fund for the venture capital investor Tim Draper. Concurrently, she was leading the pre-accelerator Draper University Ventures. At the moment, she is focusing on building her own start-up Opus.ai.

Do you want to know, why she got her first job? It was because she was able to speak good English. However, she has proven herself very useful and shortly afterwards she was hired full-time as a product manager. Asra has a non-traditional way into the technology world. She learned how to build products and also how to code herself. Simultaneously, she worked with amazing people who supported her in discovering and learning new things on the job, such as venture capital investment. Thus, her tip for the future, be open to learn new things and stay flexible. Hence, something that guided her throughout her career, she never applied to a job the traditional way.

Listen to this episode, to learn more about Asra’s beliefs and her tips how to get into the start-up world without previous work experience. When asked who her favourite role model is, she has an unusual but good answer. Because she says she is her own role model. Watch her TEDx Talk to understand why there is absolutely no arrogance in this statement.

Connect with Asra on LinkedIn

To learn more about Asra’s activities: https://www.asranadeem.com/