Vanessa Gabriel - Persevering with an Entrepreneurial Mindset

As an entrepreneur, you go through the highs and lows of business ownership. If you’ve ever struggled with finding the motivation to keep pushing through the challenges, my conversation with Vanessa Gabriel will give you the mindset reframe that will help you persevere. 

Vanessa is a serial entrepreneur and the CEO and co-founder of Drop Delivery, the technology company that provides the only all-in-one delivery technology solution for delivery companies and retailers in the cannabis industry.

In this episode, you’ll hear how Vanessa’s entrepreneurial journey started while she was still in college, how she recognized the large opportunity in the cannabis industry, and the philosophy that has kept her going through her business successes and failures.

Vanessa’s entrepreneurial streak was planted from the time she was a child growing up with a serial entrepreneur father, and she talks about launching her first business while still in college, the challenges that eventually ended that business, and the tough decision to return to work as an employee as a result.

Vanessa’s keen ability for recognizing gaps in the market spawned her next business developing a technology app for cannabis dispensaries, and she talks about the success of this business, the unexpected acquisition offer she received, and the decision to shift from a consumer-focused service to a delivery-focused service which led to the launch of Drop Delivery.

Finally, Vanessa shares key insights on building cohesive co-founder relationships, using crowdfunding to raise business capital, and the mindset that she has maintained throughout her journey that has helped her persevere through all the rejections and failures.

Skip to topic:
1:58 - Starting her first business from her college dorm room at age 19
3:52 - Going back to square one after a business fizzles out
5:54 - Recognizing an opportunity in the Vape industry and launching a new business
10:25 - Navigating the complexity of differing regulations in the Cannabis industry
14:09 - The mindset that kept Vanessa going after her early businesses weren’t successful
18:24 - An unexpected opportunity to sell her company
20:37 - Her approach to building and scaling her company with a successful exit as the goal
24:20 - Cultivating a synergistic working relationship with her co-founders
25:47 - Making the big decision to return to entrepreneurship after a long hiatus
28:04 - 2 big lessons learned from Vanessa’s early business journey
31:21 - Seizing on an opportunity to create a better experience for consumers
32:43 - Unique difficulties of running a business that serves the cannabis industry
34:27 - Why crowdfunding was a better option to raise capital than traditional fundraising
36:41 - What Vanessa says is the real story behind what it’s like to be an entrepreneur vs. what we hear 

Find Vanessa  at:

Website: https://dropdelivery.com/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/vanessagabriel/
Drop Delivery Crowdfunding campaign: https://republic.com/drop-delivery

Visit Stephanie at: https://stephaniehayes.biz/

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