Priya Saiprasad, VC Partner @ Mayfield Fund
Priya Saiprasad is currently the youngest and only female VC partner at Mayfield Fund, one of the oldest and most respected venture capital firms in the Valley. Priya’s career has included a number of early professional achievements including her time in Corporate Development at Square, helping to start Microsoft’s venture arm M12, and recently becoming one of the youngest women of color check writers at a VC firm.
In this episode, we spoke with Priya about:
How pilates was the wake-up call that helped her overcome a need for external validation
Why we should aim to be respected instead of being liked
How to find your voice in the workplace as a young woman of color
… and so much more!
We know you’ll enjoy this episode as much as we did recording it. You can listen to her below or on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, or wherever else you get your podcasts. As usual, we’ve gone through the episode and pulled out the quotes that we found the most meaningful, and shared them below.
We hope you enjoy it,
Angie & Jay
Growing up in 12 different countries before Priya was 12 years old
“I feel like as an adult when you hear about people traveling to 12 different countries in such a short timeframe, it sounds super glamorous and exciting. Although, as a child, before I became a teenager, I had already been to so many different places. Every time we would move to a new location I had to start from scratch and reinvent myself.
It was challenging as a kid to adapt to different cultures and different languages. Although, on the positive side, it made me more resilient. It is now very easy for me to make new friends and speak to different people and relate to them - regardless of their background.
One of the ‘cons’ was that I became a chameleon for a lot of my teenage years. I would work hard to fit in with everyone I surrounded myself with to feel like I belonged. Only until I went to college did I realize it was exhausting to always reinvent myself. I had to ask myself the extensional question of ‘who am I really?’. This was a tough process as I had spent most of my life adapting to other’s expectations of me.”
Being liked versus being respected
“At some level, everyone loves being liked. There are different degrees of how much an individual wants to be liked which is mostly shaped by how you were brought up, your family values, etc. I would say for a large chunk of my existence I’ve cared too much about what people thought of me. If someone did not like me professionally, for example, it was something I just could not get over. It has taken a lot of time to realize this.
When I was at Square, Sarah Friar who was their CFO at the time, gave me a great piece of advice related to this point. She told me it was much more important to be respected than to be liked.
This is one of the dichotomies that is easier said than done of course, but once you let go of the expectation of whether someone likes you or not, you behave differently. I started conducting myself in a way that made me prouder. Am I working hard and have my entrepreneur’s best interest in mind? Yes. Do I have my fellow VCs and partners’ interests in mind? Yes. That shift in mindset has helped me be more comfortable despite if someone likes me or not.”
How her Indian parents influenced her upbringing
“I was raised by a mom and dad who were opposites. I always attribute who I am because of those differences. My mom was always kind and warm-hearted. My dad used to be strict and only sparingly gave me words of affirmation. When I did receive them, it was literally the best feeling in the world.
This need to be liked by people personally and professionally honestly came from my dad. I was often seeking approval and validation from him. My ambition to aim extremely high and be super driven came from his influence.
I witnessed a ton of success because of this. Although, the pressure was a lot. I remember [when I was younger] how my dad would always ask me what kind of grades I got in school. Even if I brought home a 99% he’d ask me who got the 100%! He would tell me that I should try to get 100% next time. Do better.
This is an issue because it changes your mindset into thinking that you need to be the best at everything you do, and you need to be comparative in your thinking. In reality, you are never going to be the best at everything you do. There is always going to be someone better at whatever measure of success you have for yourself.
Holding myself to that high bar was not the best for my mental health and my sanity. It did not allow me to be content with myself. It was something that in my 20’s I had to come to terms with. I needed to measure my self-worth on who I was yesterday and who I am today because that is in my control.“
Listen to her on Apple Podcasts and Spotify. Want to get notified of any new episodes of the podcast? Subscribe to our newsletter here.
Until next time,
Jay and Angie