How I Raised $15 Million During a Pandemic
The CEO of a networking group for female execs quickly pivoted her business — and closed the deal
After raising $22 million in series A funding for her startup in 2019, Carolyn Childers thought she would be set for a while. But this spring, in the midst of a pandemic, she found herself suddenly raising another $15 million for Chief, the New York-based networking group for female executives that she co-founded with Lindsay Kaplan in 2018. The pandemic also forced her to rethink the model at Chief, which has 50 employees and more than 2,000 members (who pay annual fees of $7,900 for C-level execs and $5,800 for VPs). Here, Childers shares how she raised funding during lockdown, and how she is adapting Chief for an online world.
Right after the pandemic hit, I was running on pure adrenaline. I was hyper-focused on getting all the fundamentals covered, including the health and safety of our employees and members. But right on the heels of that, I was trying to pivot our business and think about financing. It almost felt like I was relaunching the business from scratch.
Before Covid-19 hit, we had a clubhouse in New York where we would have coach-led, peer group meetings, events, and workshops. We basically transitioned everything to Zoom almost overnight and…
