Lethabo Motsoaled - Co-founder, creator and CTO at Voyc
Meet Lethabo Motsoaledi. The co-founder, creator, and CTO at Voyc, a cutting-edge Conversation Intelligence & Compliance Monitoring Software designed specifically for financial services firms. Voyc's software helps these organisations manage 100% of their customer interactions with consistency and care, ensuring compliance and promoting good customer outcomes. With Lethabo's expertise and leadership, Voyc is revolutionising the way financial services firms handle their customer interactions, making them more efficient, effective, and compliant.
What are some of the key skills or qualities that you think are essential for success as an entrepreneur? And what initially sparked your entrepreneurial spirit and led you to pursue this venture?
My initial inspiration to become an entrepreneur sparked at the age of 15 when I read Richard Branson's autobiography. I was deeply excited by the idea of being dissatisfied with the state of the world and possessing the spirit and ability to say, "Screw it, let's just fix it." I believe that resilience and dissatisfaction with adhering to the status quo are key qualities that make an entrepreneur successful because they are always looking for ways to fix and improve things.
How do you stay motivated and focused when faced with setbacks or challenges in your business? How do you overcome them?
When faced with a setback or challenge, I always take a step back and spend time reflecting on what has been achieved. We often overlook the broader progress we've made. So, taking a step back to appreciate our achievements helps me realise that if I've overcome past issues, I can tackle current ones too. This approach keeps me motivated and reminds me of my initial reasons for starting.
What have been some of the biggest lessons you've learned as an entrepreneur?
1. It always takes longer than planned.
2. Mistakes are inevitable, so it's important to learn how to reframe "mistakes" into "lessons learned" very early and quickly.
3. The lows can get really low so enjoy the hell out of those highs!
Can you share your experience navigating the fundraising landscape as a female founder? Specifically, what unique challenges or obstacles did you encounter, and what strategies did you use to overcome them?
We know that statistically, biases against female founders are significantly higher. My co-founder and I have observed that over 60% of our investment comes from female investors. This fact underscores the importance of women supporting other women, which I deeply appreciate. Without these women, our fundraising journey might not have been as smooth. They were the first to invest, setting a precedent that encouraged male investors to follow suit. While it's unclear how much of the difficulty I faced was due to being a female, I remain profoundly grateful to the female investors who chose to back me early on.
Founders often face the challenge of prioritizing personal well-being amidst the startup grind. Can you share some specific strategies you've implemented to create a healthy work-life integration while managing the demanding schedule of a startup founder?
I am guilty of this poor prioritisation. But I will admit that the only way I've managed to find balance is by prioritising projects that give me energy.
How do you strategically stay informed about industry trends and upcoming technologies to ensure your business is prepared for the future?
Lots of reading, talking to other founders, and talking to investors! Investors do a lot of research so talking to them is always a great way to learn about what others are up to.
What are your long-term goals for your company, and how do you envision its future impact?
We're on a mission to empower regulated companies to monitor every interaction with consistency and care. So far, we've reached nearly 40 million individuals through these monitored interactions, and we are ambitiously aiming to impact 1 billion people.
Interview series by Riga TechGirls for TechChill 2024