I want to introduce you to our guest today, who will be taking our Pop Quiz Monday.

Liz Sara, Chair of National Women’s Business Council.

1). Tell us about your business and what you do?

During my career, I’ve been involved in a number of technology startup companies. At the time, none of us thought of them as ‘startups’ because that label simply was not part of the business lexicon. We were merely working in companies that were new and doing very disruptive things. This was in the 80s and 90s during the very early days of the online world. Many people were completely unfamiliar with the idea of doing anything ‘online.’ My role was always in marketing, strategy, sales — the business side, not the technical side. I figured out the target customer, the price strategy, the sales model, and so on. I co-founded a company called SpaceWorks, which initially offered a platform for business information. I later pivoted that company into the exploding eCommerce sector in the late 90s. We built that company to $25 million with about 300 employees in just a few years. There were not many women founders in tech back then. After we sold it, I did marketing strategy consulting as an interim step until I decided on my next startup. That was in 2001. I founded Best Marketing LLC, and I’ve been doing marketing strategy ever since. My clients, nearly 100 companies, are all business to business software companies. I’ve helped launch products, grow revenue, and gain market traction for a lot of groundbreaking products that change business processes and job functions in very fundamental ways. Recently, I was appointed as the Chair of the National Women’s Business Council. It’s a federal advisory council with a unique focus on advocating for female founders across the country. Our mission is to provide recommendations to Congress, The White House, and the SBA on programs, actions, and legislative efforts that would help women start companies or grow the ones they launched. As Chair, I’ve picked three issues that we are tackling: access to capital, encouraging more women to start STEM-related companies, and eliminating obstacles facing women in rural communities. In December, we publish our annual report with recommendations in each of these areas.