What do you do when you can’t find a single role model who has done what you want to do?
Dr. Karny Ilan is a general surgery resident at Sheba Medical Center and the CEO and co-founder of Feminai, an at-home breast Cancer screening startup.
In this episode of From a Woman to a Leader, she shares how first-time female founders raise Money from VCs who have rarely met someone like them, how to balance a demanding career with building a company, why she chose general surgery when everyone said "don’t do it to yourself, especially as a woman," and why she stopped waiting for someone more qualified to lead her company.
About Dr. Karny Ilan:
Karny co-founded Feminai as a student with two engineer co-founders and raised over $2 million before their seed round led by Vertex Ventures. She is a Forbes Israel 30 Under 30 honoree, and she became a mom shortly after this conversation was recorded.
Connect with Karny:
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karny-ilan/
Feminai: https://www.feminai.com/
Chapters:
00:00 "No one will do this better than I do"
00:51 Meet Dr. Karny Ilan, surgeon and CEO of Feminai
02:26 Welcome from Google for Startups
03:31 How the idea for Feminai was born on hospital rounds
04:48 Becoming CEO by chance and raising the first checks
06:13 Pitching VCs as female founders: "it’s weird for them"
08:06 Just be yourself: authenticity in fundraising
08:57 The product: at-home breast cancer screening
10:19 "Don’t do it to yourself": women in general surgery
12:13 The multi-hat generation and work-life balance
14:08 Why she chose surgery anyway
15:04 Searching for a role model who didn’t exist
16:02 The leap: "who says it’s not gonna work?"
16:29 Running a company between 30-hour hospital shifts
19:15 Delegation, pregnancy, and never being on maternity leave from your own company
21:38 What kind of mother do you want to be?
23:49 The co-founder who pitched an investor with her newborn
25:39 "Things are not there yet": an honest look at bias
28:03 Stop looking for someone more qualified
29:29 What’s next for Feminai
Answers questions like: how do female founders raise venture capital, how to start a company with no business experience, how to succeed in a male-dominated field, can you build a startup while working full time, how do working moms balance career and Family.
Listen to the full podcast: https://limorbergman.com/podcast/
Connect with Limor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/limorbergman/
Go deeper on Substack: https://limorbergman.substack.com
