On the journey to hitting over $300 million in renovation deals, the CEO of a tech-driven, home renovation marketplace has had to carefully balance enthusiasm with an unwavering attitude.

Jean Brownhill Lauer, founder and chief executive at Sweeten, tells me: “My advice to women in tech, and women who want to start their own companies, is to be joyful and passionate – maybe some people will call these ‘feminine’ traits – but don’t allow people to convince you that you are on the wrong path .”

She advises entrepreneurs and tech workers to learn lessons from people who don’t believe in an idea, and recalibrate it if needed, but to “keep the extreme grip and the extreme discipline that is always demanded in these fields”.

“It’s a mix of what might traditionally be viewed as masculine and feminine energies,” she says. “You need to tap into what might be conventionally perceived as strong masculine drive but hold on to and highlight what might be conventionally perceived as feminine enthusiasm.”

Can’t – Not An Option

Brownhill Lauer, who was raised by a single mother in a low-income household, and has dyslexia, says she has learned to make everything possible in life. “The phrase ‘I can’t’ usually isn’t an option for dealing with tough life situations, at any age, and that was a lesson that I internalized so early on. It’s been the big differentiator for me.”

Having read the Paul Tough book, How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character, Brownhill Lauer was encouraged to draw from “a deep reserve of grit and resilience”.

“The only way to avoid the ‘I can’t’ temptation is to constantly recalibrate and constantly adjust,” she says. “Every time I get something valuable done, it’s because I’ve been watching and refining… changing environments, new people, different moods, new data – I look at everything I do as a series of smaller tests that help me figure out what might work.”

Sweeten’s Growth

The results have been highly effective. Since the 2011 founding of Sweeten – which uses advanced algorithms to match home renovators with the best general contractors for their project – Brownhill Lauer has driven the company to $300 million in renovation deals.

The idea for the company came about after Brownhill Lauer, a trained architect, experienced great difficulty sourcing the right contractors for her own home renovation. Before starting the company, she was one of nine recipients of the Loeb Fellowship from Harvard University’s Graduate School of Design.

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