Seattle-based Gotara wants to become the go-to advice destination for women in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM).
The startup, which was founded in 2020 by former Amazon executive D. Sangeeta, allows women working in STEM fields to anonymously ask for advice to deal with real-world problems in the workplace, and Gotara crowdsources relevant answers from its network of advisers. For Sangeeta, finding the right advisers is crucial.
"In the beginning, most of them were through my network and people I knew, but they had to be the right kind of advisers," Sangeeta said. "You need to have the right mental makeup to make sure that you're providing positive reinforcement. Some women come in very, in some cases, depressed. They're looking for somebody to hear them out."
If a manager, for example, takes credit for a female employee's work, that employee could come to Gotara and ask for the best way to deal with the situation. Gotara's technology will look through its database of already-offered advice to see if there is any relevant answer to instantly provide the employee. If not, a relevant adviser will provide an answer within 24 hours. Gotara is open to women in STEM "plus," meaning women in other fields such as economics, finance, marketing science and social sciences can also use the network.
Gotara also offers courses to employers that are designed to help them retain female employees. The eight-week courses are broken up into short modules that provide practical advice for women in STEM. The courses are how Gotara makes revenue for now, Sangeeta said, but she would eventually like to monetize the direct-to-consumer model as well once it has more traction.
Gotara, which officially launched last year, gets its name from the Sanskrit word "tara," which means star. According to Sangeeta, Gotara currently has about 7,500 members in 145 countries. She added that the company has 12 employees, all of whom are working remotely, of which three are based in the Seattle area.
Prior to founding Gotara, Sangeeta spent about three years at Amazon, where she was vice president of connections. She spent more than nine years at Nielsen before that. As for the timing of Gotara's founding, Sangeeta said she provided stability in the past when her husband launched a startup. Now that he is doing well, it was her turn to follow her passion.
"I had mentioned to my boss at Amazon a year before I left that I would be doing something different," Sangeeta said. "I didn't know exactly what I would be doing. It took me about six months to really figure out what this platform would be."
