In an era defined by disruption, Master of Entrepreneurship alumna and educator Sangeeta Mulchandani explains why an entrepreneurial mindset matters more than ever – and why more women need startup founder skills.

As a director at ANZ Bank, Sangeeta Mulchandani had become attached to the perks a position like that can offer: status, security and a clear path up the corporate ladder. So her year in University of Melbourne’s Master of Entrepreneurship (MoE) program in 2019 came as a blow to the ego. “When you’re doing customer discovery, standing on the street trying to survey people,” she says, “your title doesn’t matter!”

It was humbling, but liberating too. Co-delivered with Wade Institute of Entrepreneurship, the MoE program made her rethink her ambitions – and her entire identity. “You start shedding some of those corporate layers that were put onto you, to understand what your values are, what drives you, what you enjoy,” says Sangeeta, a third-generation entrepreneur who migrated to Australia from India in 2009. “And hence, the business you’re building becomes a reflection of those things.”

Launching a startup may seem daunting, but knowing your motivation – and defining success for yourself – replaces the fear with exhilaration. Once you let go of external expectations, the fun begins: “The minute you turn inwards and ask, ‘What do I want from this?’, it becomes meaningful and satisfying.”

A serial entrepreneur, Sangeeta launched her sixth business, Jumpstart Studio, in 2021 and works with up to 250 founders a year, helping startups and corporates get their ideas off the ground.

Everyone, she says, “needs an entrepreneurial mindset to embrace uncertainty, adapt and build resilience in the modern job market – because the world has moved past the age of lifelong, stable employment.”

In an era of constant change, a malleable mindset is “the need of the hour”, says Sangeeta, who wrote a founder’s guide, Start Right, hoping to empower one million entrepreneurs around the world.

More of them, she argues, should be women. When Sangeeta discovered only a third of Victoria’s 3000 founders were women, she vowed to boost that number by 10 percent in two years. Jumpstart’s pre-accelerator program, Press Play Ventures, in partnership with Evander Strategy, NiceTo and Vox 360 gives budding female founders the support and sense of belonging they need to succeed.

“Business was never built by women or for women,” says Sangeeta, noting that women require more community and flexibility. “Women need to see themselves in the game to be able to participate.”

And women of colour face extra challenges linked to cultural expectations, limited representation and higher barriers to entry.

Sangeeta offers aspiring female founders some invaluable advice:

  1. Just do it: “If you’re thinking about it,” says Sangeeta, “you’ve got to give it a go.” 
  2. Find your tribe: Entrepreneurship is lonely and sometimes even your family isn’t supportive, so you have to find people to push you in the right direction. “I call them your personal board of directors. Look for programs, mentors, people you admire. Make friends with them and work with them.” 
  3. Don’t quit your day job – yet: “If you don’t have backing or a nest egg, stay in your job, dip your feet into entrepreneurship, and see if it works for you. Don’t invest a lot of money, and first learn how to do it.”

Sangeeta points out that every object and innovation in the world is the result of an entrepreneur. Problems are never going to stop, so why not play a part in solving them?