My guest for this episode is Caroline Tsay. Caroline is the CEO and co-founder of Compute Software. Their Cloud Cost Optimization platform delivers the deepest cost savings for your cloud infrastructure running on Amazon Web Services, Microsoft Azure, or Google Cloud. Caroline was also one of the most talented Product Leaders that I worked with in Silicon Valley.
In this podcast episode, you’ll hear about how she started down her tech path with a B.S. in Computer Science from Stanford University. She went on to receive an M.S. in Management Science & Engineering from Stanford, as well. Then, she got her start in the working world as a Senior Consultant with IBM Global Business Services.
She joined Yahoo! in 2007, spent 6 years there, and worked her way up to become a Senior Director of Product Management for Y! Search and E-Commerce. I was lucky enough to work with Caroline for about a year after she joined my Search Product team.
She left in 2013 to join Hewlett Packard Enterprise as a Vice President and General Manager. An executive coach encouraged her to do more public speaking, and that opened the door to her first board seat with Rosetta Stone.
She currently sits on the board of directors for The Coca-Cola Company and Morningstar. She was previously on the board of Codefresh.
In this episode, she shares advice from her career path and some great recommendations for startup founders and people interested in starting their own companies.
Key points from our conversation
I want to call out a few points from my conversation with Caroline to help you as you are seeking to create your own invincible career.
Build relationships
It’s crucial to build relationships and partner well with others at work. Caroline was always able to get so much done by being collaborative and kind vs. confrontational and combative.
Partner intelligently
As you move up the career ladder — especially if you’re interested in becoming a leader or starting your own company — seek to partner with people who complement your talents and skills. Find a partner who will balance your strengths and weaknesses.
Invest in yourself
Of course, I’m a little biased, but I loved hearing how she worked with an executive coach who encouraged her to do more public speaking. As you will hear her say, it opened doors to land her first board seat.
Thanks for listening to this episode! I really enjoyed catching up with Caroline.
Prefer to listen on Spotify? Or, Apple Podcasts?
A way to support my newsletter
I know that not everyone is ready to become a paid subscriber. But, there is a great way you can support my work without spending any money:
Recommending my newsletter on social media.
It only takes a few seconds, and it helps grow my business so I can continue making time to write it.
I'll even provide some copy and paste text to make it easy to share on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, etc. Thanks in advance!
I've really been enjoying the Invincible Career newsletter by Larry Cornett (@cornett). If you want to get ahead in your career and you aren’t subscribed yet, you’re missing out.
https://newsletter.invinciblecareer.com
This week’s professional development challenge
⭐ Share Your Website
This challenge forces you to make it all real. I know way too many people that have been sitting on a draft website — or a redesigned one — forever. They can’t bring themselves to push the button and launch the darn thing.
Larry Cornett is a leadership coach and business advisor who runs a professional online community. He lives in Northern California near Lake Tahoe with his wife and children, and a gigantic Great Dane. He does his best to share advice that can help others take full control of their work and life. He’s also on Twitter @cornett.
Career Success with Caroline Tsay, CEO of Compute Software - Issue #263