Female Founders: Raina Kumra of Spicewell On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a Woman Founder
An Interview With Candice Georgiadis
I love being a co-founder, but damn it is lonely and I wish someone had told me how important it would be to find my people and community to journey with. I remember sitting in front of my laptop nearly in tears from stress and then getting a funny text from a friend who was in the exact same boat. We started doing regular weekly walks and calls and it has been transformative.
As a part of our series about “Why We Need More Women Founders”, I had the pleasure of interviewing Raina Kumra.
Raina is the founder of Spicewell, a food-as-medicine company that helps fill nutrition gaps without changing habits. She also runs a successful consulting business, Juggernaut, and is Partner at The Fund LA, an early-stage venture fund where she leads healthcare and consumer technology deals.
Thank you so much for doing this with us! Before we dig in, our readers would like to get to know you a bit more. Can you tell us a bit about your “backstory”? What led you to this particular career path?
Absolutely — thanks so much for having me! I have had a long and winding career. I started out as a video editor and documentary filmmaker, then went into advertising where I had a 15-year career ultimately leading digital at Wieden+Kennedy New York, and then I started my own agency, Juggernaut. I’ve worked with clients spanning every industry from Burberry to Nike to Coke to Facebook and Alphabet, a current client. Then, I just got tired of selling things — and decided I needed to do more for the world. I pulled a 180 and started a solar non-profit in Africa, then joined the Obama Administration working on innovation across the State Department and eventually leading innovation at 5 television networks under the US Agency for global media. Then I had a venture-backed startup called Mavin, which was focused on app growth and internet access in India. After we shut down the company, I moved to Omidyar Network where I worked as an investor and helped build a movement around Tech Ethics. After that, moved to LA and helped raise The Fund LA, continued investing, and continued consulting until mid-pandemic, when I started Spicewell — where I’m bringing all my previous skills to focus on taking on Big Food.
Can you share the most interesting story that happened to you since you began leading your company?
Yes! Before I even launched I had the opportunity to sit down with one of my biggest heroes: Dr. Mark Hyman. He’s so knowledgeable and intuitive about how health and food and our farming practices connect — and is just the best person and author to turn anyone on to learning more about functional medicine. He was a major reason why I started this company. And I was able to share the product and story with him, and he immediately signed on as an advisor and has been the best help a new founder could have ever dreamed of. I felt so lucky and blessed!
Can you share a story about the funniest mistake you made when you were first starting? Can you tell us what lesson you learned from that?
What I loved about going into food coming from tech is that literally nothing is the same when it comes to production. For me, it was SO MUCH FUN to formulate and learn about food production, my brain was just so turned on to the science, the nutritional aspects, and the flavor profiles. What I really needed to do, however, was focus on measurements — because I did accidentally order 800 pounds of salt when I only needed 400. Measuring twice and checking the numbers are vital in food production and I learned that lesson fast. Also, I never thought I would be ordering that many pounds of salt in my life, so this also made me chuckle.
None of us are able to achieve success without some help along the way. Is there a particular person who you are grateful towards who helped get you to where you are? Can you share a story about that?
Yes, the Mark Hyman story above is one! The other people that I’m so grateful to on this journey are my advisors: Radhika Tandon, for smart strategies and ways to just get things done, Megha Desai for being a constant cheerleader and support and helping me in ways I didn’t know I needed, Anjali Bhargava my executive coach for helping me get out of my own way, my medical advisors Shailendra Chaubey, Jennifer Lang and Anthony Padula and Ann Veneman for being a guiding light at the highest strategic level.
Ok, thank you for that. Let’s now jump to the primary focus of our interview. According to this EY report, only about 20 percent of funded companies have women founders. This reflects great historical progress, but it also shows that more work still has to be done to empower women to create companies. In your opinion and experience, what is currently holding back women from founding companies?
It’s funny because when I decided to become an investor, I was dead set on giving checks to as many diverse females as I could find that had a backable idea — but indeed, week after week, most of the pitches were not from women or people of color. At the Fund LA, 30% of our founders are either women or minority-led. We continue to strive for 50%.
I was born in an entrepreneurial household, so making your own way and not working for someone else were definitely modeled if not the default. I think if you don’t see that growing up, especially with women in your life, it is hard to make that leap. Most of the female entrepreneurs I know had some early exposure and encouragement to the simple fact that is not only possible for them to start a business — but to outperform most men on how they do it. I think that could be a missing piece of the puzzle.
Can you help articulate a few things that can be done as individuals, as a society, or by the government, to help overcome those obstacles?
Yes, we have made some changes, though it won’t be fast. The things that could help the most include: Media showcasing more female investors and entrepreneurs (not just like The Dropout obviously). I think cultural change is the fastest, and I’ve seen more and more women jumping into Web3 because of the efforts of movements like BFF that Brit Morin and Jamie Schmidt started and World of Women, so those are all really positive signals! The other piece of the puzzle is Community — BFF is one and there are several others like The What where we all come together, ask questions, teach each other, and help each other grow. I’ve never seen community being as important as it is now, especially for women.
This might be intuitive to you as a woman founder but I think it will be helpful to spell this out. Can you share a few reasons why more women should become founders?
Yes! I would just pose it as a question to any women reading this: If you don’t pursue this idea you have or focus on building your business, think about how you will feel when you see it out in the world, and most likely from a male founder who didn’t have the authentic experience but saw the market opportunity? If you don’t do it, think about who will and will they do it better than you.
What are the “myths” that you would like to dispel about being a founder? Can you explain what you mean?
The biggest myth is that everything is an overnight success. Businesses take years of care and feeding before they can cross over to that overnight success moment. It’s all behind the scenes, while the Instagram version of founding a company is incredibly damaging and discouraging.
Is everyone cut out to be a founder? In your opinion, which specific traits increase the likelihood that a person will be a successful founder and what type of person should perhaps seek a “regular job” as an employee? Can you explain what you mean?
This is tough because I genuinely think anyone could be a founder if they find the thing that lights them up the most, the thing that they would never tire of pursuing, day in and day out for years, and the thing that they want to see change the world. But, if you don’t have that thing, and that feeling, I would recommend not doing it because to be a founder requires you to be a little crazy — a little psychic and very very brave to pursue your vision of bringing something new into the world that hasn’t existed before.
Ok super. Here is the main question of our interview. What are your “5 Things I Wish Someone Told Me Before I Started” and why? (Please share a story or example for each.)
I love being a co-founder, but damn it is lonely and I wish someone had told me how important it would be to find my people and community to journey with. I remember sitting in front of my laptop nearly in tears from stress and then getting a funny text from a friend who was in the exact same boat. We started doing regular weekly walks and calls and it has been transformative.
When I had my first startup, I really wish someone would have sat me down and told me that taking investor money was just about the same as getting married to them! With Mavin, we had a really interesting ending that could have been so different if we didn’t have one investor involved.
Packaging: I wish someone had told me how ridiculous the packaging industry is and how awful it is for the planet — I didn’t realize just how much plastic was being pushed at me until I really began searching for plastic-free packaging options. It took me 12 weeks to find the right packaging that was also compostable /recyclable and using Post-consumer waste plastic — by far the biggest surprise in this business.
Retail buyers don’t really care about your story: only what you can offer them. I didn’t start to have success until I figured out that this was really much more strategic than just ‘selling’.
That you don’t have to keep one career identity. I had a 25-year career in tech and media behind me, and I completely got in my own way when I was founding Spicewell — because it was food. And I kept telling myself, “well I’m a tech person, and shouldn’t I do a startup in tech?” It took some work, but I finally released that from my brain and had one of the most creative, vibrant times in my career launching Spicewell.
How have you used your success to make the world a better place?
I know I have made an impact throughout my career, and I have loved being able to reflect on all of the industries: In advertising, I launched messaging and campaigns that influenced culture and were seen by millions and millions of viewers, in the non-profit sector I put together multi-million partnerships benefiting health data and data privacy, during my Government service I impacted millions of lives across the globe with my strategies, ideas and creativity, and in tech, I founded an ethical company and my ideas have impacted millions of people here too — to have a better understanding of their role in technology. I was asked to create a course on LinkedIn about technology ethics which is now used by Universities and consultancies all over the world and has now been completed by over 10,000 students. As an entrepreneur, we launched a data service in India that over 5 million users accessed for a free mobile data plan. In my board service I have helped steer organizations like the Ad Council and many others to bigger and better strategies. In the venture capital industry, I have deployed more checks to women, immigrants, and people of color founders than most early-stage funds in LA at the time. In finance, I got my Series 63 and 82 licenses to become one of the very few women of color private placement agents in the state. And just wait and see what I do with Spicewell — taking on Big Food and Big Pharma and creating demand for better, cleaner, healthier pantry products.
You are a person of great influence. If you could inspire a movement that would bring the most amount of good for the greatest number of people, what would that be? You never know what your idea can trigger.
Great question: Spicewell of course! I think once you see what we have been fed all of these years, the poor ingredients and the toxic elements, you better believe you can not unsee it. I’m here to fight for what I believe in, for my family’s health and to improve health outcomes for everyone, through food and nutrition, and by eating more plants. We can reduce chronic disease. We can reduce climate change. We have the knowledge and we have the ability — we just need to make a few small changes and shift norms. And I definitely know how to do those things. My advisor, Mark Hyman also leads the Food Fix campaign, which is helping to create new norms around our farming practices and lobby interferences. Definitely check it out and donate if you can.
We are very blessed that some very prominent names in Business, VC funding, Sports, and Entertainment read this column. Is there a person in the world, or in the US with whom you would love to have a private breakfast or lunch with, and why? He or she might just see this if we tag them.
I’d love to have lunch with Padma Lakshmi. She’s a hero as a South Asian woman working in food, and I just love her no-BS attitude to politics and culture. She’s so badass! And one day, I hope to meet my hero in finance: Mellody Hobson — I’ve never seen a woman reach the heights of an industry that she has with the style, pace and elegance that she has. Also a complete and utter legend.
Thank you for these fantastic insights. We greatly appreciate the time you spent on this.
Thank you so much for the opportunity to spill the tea!
Female Founders: Raina Kumra of Spicewell On The Five Things You Need To Thrive and Succeed as a… was originally published in Authority Magazine on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.