ET Women's Forum: There's no time to doubt the self and think small, says Verix CEO and cofounder Kirthiga Reddy

Self-doubt could be an obstacle for women aspiring to grow and make a noteworthy contribution in their chosen fields of work, cautioned Verix CEO and co-founder Kirthiga Reddy. But, for the relentless women achievers, there is no time for self-doubt, she asserted. "There is no time for self-doubt and thinking small. Every moment is so precious. You have to surround yourself with people who believe in you more than you believe in yourself," she said at The Economic Times Women's Forum.

Besides co-founding the global trust-tech platform Verix in 2022, Reddy has several achievements to her credit. She was the first Indian engineer hired by Facebook (now Meta) in 2010. Later, she became the managing director of Facebook India. She was the first female investing partner at SoftBank's over-$130 billion artificial intelligence (AI)-focused Vision Fund. She has invested in and founded companies in her 30-year-long career.

"My best is yet to come," said Reddy, even as she acknowledged the persistence of the imposter syndrome-or the nagging self-doubt about one's achievements despite evidence to contrary. "I have a community in terms of my husband, my children. They keep me grounded and strong. You have to believe in yourself and stay strong," she said.


In recent years, there has been a steady increase in the number of women-founded startups. Data sources point out that 7,000 startups have been founded by women. But that is just 7-8% of the total pool.

"Generative AI holds great promise to correct the imbalance of women startup founders as more women enter the field," said Reddy. "But it will take efforts not only of women around us but also their main allies such as the government, the public and the private sector to make that happen."

The World Economic Forum found in its research that it would take close to 134 years to bridge the gender equity gap.

Reddy said, "What we can do in our lifetime is make sure that we do everything we can to hit that AI gap quickly. It is possible, but we're going to have to act quickly."

Recently, Reddy launched a unique platform, 'AI Kiran', in collaboration with the government of India, which aims to provide an AI community to increase women's participation and growth in research and innovation. "We not only help women in learning technology skills but also soft skills," she said.

Reddy stressed on the importance of the presence of women at every stage of the startup ecosystem to have their dreams fulfilled. At a time when investments from venture capitalists in women-led companies have been declining, she said women can do angel investing with any amount and yet achieve their goal of founding their companies. The smallest cheque she accepted for her startup Verix was $3,000 (about ₹2,58,000), she said, adding, "We need women at every different part of ecosystem. AI has created a level playing field. We need more women on investing side as well."

It is critical to learn things beyond one's core competency, she said, stressing on having a macro view by learning different things that make a startup work efficiently. She also said that being part of a like-minded community of entrepreneurs is important for women achievers to grow meaningfully.

Reddy also spoke on the repercussions of the rollback of diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, in the US and US-led companies. "It is very disturbing to see the rollback. I have been on stages where women from other organisations have been invited to speak and they declined for the reason (in the rollback context) that they could not come and speak. Again, we lose, each one of us, to be there and make up for that loss. So, we all need to use our voices so much more now," she said.