The truly entrepreneurial spirit knows no bounds. Many entrepreneurs are simply driven to pursue the next challenge, relishing the obstacles on their way to success. Such is the story of today’s guest, who is always striving to tackle the next problem and expand her horizons.
Karina Costa is the President of LynQ Technologies, the creator of LynQ, the world’s most advanced people compass that keeps people safe and together by locating anyone without the need for phones, networks, or infrastructure of any kind. Karina has been a successful entrepreneur and leader in innovation for a decade. Her career began in 2009 when she founded Glutone, a company that created waste solutions for food retailers. Since then, she has founded and directed multiple startups, including co-founding BET Ventures, an NGO that creates a unique 24-hour competition for startups to receive funding. She later founded one of the earliest accelerators and investment arms for tech startups in Portugal. In 2017, Karina joined Techstars as the architect of Techstars Anywhere, an accelerator program that works with companies based anywhere in the world. Throughout her career as an entrepreneur and investor for nearly ten years, Karina has lived on four different continents and worked with over one hundred companies.
Enjoying the challenge
With Karina’s first startup in Portugal, she admits that she had no idea what she was doing. She only knew that she liked stepping into the unknown and facing a new challenge. She took that first startup through the different stages of development and saw the entrepreneurship community in Portugal grow dramatically. As many initiatives developed over those four years, it was an exciting time for Karina, but she found herself getting bored when things became stable and profitable. She wanted a bigger challenge, and she found that when she was invited to join Techstars.
The roles of sponsors and mentors
From Karina’s personal experience, sponsors and mentors have played a pivotal role in her success and provided a huge impact on her career. Conversations with mentors helped unlock the huge potential she had inside her but wasn’t able to see. Often it takes someone else to see and reflect back to you the beautiful opportunities that are waiting for you. Through Karina’s work with Techstars, she met and learned from the best mentors from all over the world. After working with over 100 companies, Karina says her first impression of LynQ was that it was a different company than any she had ever worked with in the past.
Solving hard problems
Most of us don’t want to face hard problems every day, but not Karina. She loves waking up every day with difficult problems to solve. She invited herself to be involved in LynQ and the challenges they faced when she was with Techstars. Later, she became part of LynQ. She is now part of the work LynQ is doing in changing how data is transmitted. Their people compass allows two or more people to connect with no cell phone service from any place in the world. The many applications for this technology are immense and mind-boggling.
Gender diversity
In the field of technology, much work has been done to promote gender diversity in recent years, but there is still much work to do. The wake – up call for Karina came about two years ago when some high profile sexual harassment cases came about in the venture capital industry. These cases were impossible to ignore. Karina has experienced unconscious bias in some situations and has had to show a different side of her personality at times, feeling like she had to look or act a certain way to fit in with the men.
An obsession with space
Karina has an unusual obsession with all things space, which comes from her childhood. She had a hard time learning in school and certainly wasn’t interested in any STEM topics. It was only as a young adult that she became attracted to all technology associated with space. She started voraciously reading about space and physics, and she finds this learning an outlet for her intellectual growth. All that she has learned makes her feel more connected to the universe but also very small and humbled. Ironically, Karina now has many friends in the space industry.
Highlights of this episode:
- 13:30 – Founding her first startup in Portugal
- 15:30 – The roles of mentors and sponsors
- 22;36 – The challenge of solving hard problems
- 24:50 – What LynQ does
- 28:00 – Gender diversity in tech
- 34:55 – Going between different cultural spaces
- 36:31 – Karina’s obsession with space
- 40:19 – Fem Five
Resources Mentioned:
- www.lynqme.com
- Find Karina on LinkedIn and Facebook
- The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Singer
The Fem Five:
1. Favorite book to recommend for women?
- The Untethered Soul: The Journey Beyond Yourself by Michael Singer
2. Favorite self-care hack?
- ”Learning about space and skiing.”
3. Best piece of advice and who gave it to you?
- My Dad – “It’s hard to beat someone who never gives up!”
4. Female CEO or thought leader you’re into right now?
5. One piece of advice you’d give your five years younger self?
- “Embrace your own personality and leadership skills earlier. Own who you are.”
Last Time on The NextFem Podcast
Claim Your Superpower as a Strong, Confident Woman – with Kara Lowentheil
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