Dear Reader,
Over the last several years, I've reached out to fellow Stanford Business School (GSB) alumni to get advice about Odetta. My questions began as what to sell, then how to scale, and now how to build happy teams and enjoy the journey. I have spoken to more than 485 GSBers who each took the time to help Odetta grow. Some of these GSBers became clients, referral sources or even advisors, and most were simply inspirational conversations.
With each call, my belief in humanity strengthened. I think people in general want to help, and I’m grateful that I was lucky enough to have had a network and the courage to ask. I think about how much good came from this one investment. Once I got over my fear of rejection, and realized that I was giving as much as receiving, I was able to leverage the power of this incredible network.
With the help of the Odettians, we built a database of Stanford alumni and started emailing them. In the first year, I would send 25 personalized emails a week, and it was a lot of work. Then I came up with a template that my team could personalize, and we started sending hundreds of emails a month. In turn I would speak to hundreds of my fellow business school alumni every year. This worked so well that we built this for other affiliation networks, and Odetta now does this for hundreds of our clients.
Thank you to all of the GSBers who helped make Odetta what it is today.
Katharine
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Monthly Spotlight: Social Media Monitoring
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We have built a sizable and scalable team that monitors company social media accounts for a large multinational company, where it is our duty to report any escalations and concerns for their brand. If you would like to learn more, do reach out.
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Founder Lesson Learned: We Empower the Demons We Fight
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I've noticed that when I fight something, I’m tied to it forever, somehow breathing life into it to make it stronger. But when I understand something, it seems to soften. When I think about Odetta, I believe we did start with the intention of fighting the darker forces that have created a world that required Odetta. While I think it is important to fight for what you believe in, there is a moment, when all that fighting becomes a bondage too. These days at Odetta, we think less about the wars we want to fight and more about the love we want to give. We exist to shine light on something we can all believe in.
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“Odetta is the ray of hope and happiness in my life, well with my two sons. Odetta means a lot to me. I feel that I am important and an essential part of the organization. I feel that someone out there cares for me and that I am not useless.
I am an MBA from an internationally recognised university of Pakistan, and yet I have suffered emotionally after my marriage because of my toxic in-laws. I was a silver medalist in my University batch but my confidence was shattered after getting married. Odetta gave me hope and made me believe that I am something. Thank you for reminding me that I matter and my presence at Odetta matters.”
—An Odettian
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There is a brokenness
out of which comes the unbroken,
a shatteredness
out of which blooms the unshatterable.
There is a sorrow
beyond all grief which leads to joy
and a fragility
out of whose depths emerges strength.
—The Unbroken by Rashani
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