Fern Mandelbaum, is an entrepreneur, coach, lecturer and investor. She is a Partner at Vista Venture Partners. Her portfolio includes: Guild Education, BetterUp, TeachFX, Blavity, Tequitable, Andela, Sparta Science, Blendoor, Pique Tea, Tinkergarten, Vocate, FaunaDB, GridSpace, popchips and PicnicHealth. She is also an advisor to Pair Eyewear, ClockWise, and HelloAva.
Fern teaches Entrepreneurship from Diverse Perspectives, POWer – Building the Entrepreneurial Mindset, and Equity By Design - Building Diverse and Inclusive Organizations at Stanford Business School. She co-teaches the Accel Innovation Scholars Program, a one-year entrepreneurship program for Stanford engineering PhD students. She is a faculty advisor in Stanford’s Distinguished Career, a mentor in the Mayfield Fellows Program, in the Stanford Technology Ventures Program, and is an adviser to StartX, Stanford’s accelerator. She has lectured at Brown University and San Jose State, in Stanford’s Ignite, Exec Ed, and Continuing Studies programs, and to groups around the world.
Fern also coaches CEO’s on building companies, and works with companies and venture firms such as LinkedIn, Sequoia, and Handshake on inclusive leadership and building diverse and inclusive organizations.
Fern was co-founder and CEO of Skyline Products (acquired by IDEO). She worked at Monitor Ventures, Metcal, Bain and Company, SRI International, Hewlett Packard and the Kyoto Shinyo Bank (in Kyoto, Japan).
Fern received an M.B.A. from Stanford and a B.A. in Economics from Brown University. She enjoys running, cycling, power-yoga, and going on walks with her family, friends, and colleagues. She is married, and has two children, Miles, 17 and Skylar, 23.
At the Salon:
In Building the Entrepreneurial Mindset we explored the key foundational elements of this mindset, how to build it in ourselves, and why it’s important. COOGLE, can be used in all aspects of our lives; courage, opportunity, optimism, grit, leadership, and execution. We also delved into growth mindset, the 3c’s (courage, competency, and confidence), and a framework for moving forward even when we have self doubt: think it, feel it, do it, be it. We explored how to be an inclusive, effective leader.
Click here to see Fern's salon video.
Click here to see the powerpoint presentation.
