If you ask Smita Bagla, founding member and lead investor with TiE SoCal Angels, CEO of Aligned Strategies and managing partner at Amritt, Inc., about her secrets for success as a female entrepreneur, she’ll argue that being a female has been one of her strongest assets. Instead of struggling with being a minority, she has embraced it.
“Women tend to be very resilient, are open to feedback and are not afraid of failure,” Bagla said. “Women are brought up to be compassionate and to be the cornerstone of the family, and that translates to an excellent ability to make sure that the company works too,” she added.
Bagla has a unique perspective because she started out as an entrepreneur during a time when female entrepreneurs were not that common. Today, she takes great pride in mentoring startups and the future generation of young entrepreneurs. She teaches her mentees that “perseverance is more important than passion” and that motivating your team is a key driver of success. She mentors startups in industries that range from digital healthcare to educational software that teaches children to learn foreign languages.
Bagla, who lives in Malibu with her husband and two children, has had a multidimensional career. She has worked as a serial entrepreneur, angel investor, keynote speaker and also leads product and executive management firm Aligned Strategies. Her exits include Amber Computer Solutions, Inc., a worldwide enterprise software company in the medical field, and Gameritt, a gamified innovation company.
One of the most rewarding parts of Bagla’s career has been her steps to make TiE SoCal a global organization. TiE SoCal is Southern California’s virtual incubator program that brings together early stage companies and helps them carve successful paths forward. Today, the organization has helped some 10,000 startups across 61 chapters in 14 countries. Other professional milestones include spearheading AI based technology solutions for cancer research, UI/UX based solutions for communication and gamification for skill enhancement and people engagement.
Bagla’s passion for women empowerment is also kept close to her heart. This interest led her to cofound Women Leaders Network (WIN) in 2015. She particularly enjoys inspiring others through encouraging them to shift their views about failure in entrepreneurship. “Failure just means that out of 50 options, you now only have 20 left,” Bagla said. “You simply got rid of the nonworking prototypes.”
