Without a Doubt
How to Go from Underrated to Unbeatable
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- $13.99
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- $13.99
Publisher Description
“An inspiring blueprint to overcome challenges—and thrive” (Arianna Huffington, Founder and CEO of Thrive Global), and turn doubt into rocket fuel to achieve your dreams, from entrepreneur, CEO, and healthcare investor Surbhi Sarna.
The very qualities that make you an outlier are, in fact, your strengths. Or so Surbhi Sarna discovered after a teenage cancer scare inspired her to reimagine healthcare, founding a medical start-up to detect early ovarian cancer. In Without a Doubt, she shares how she proved the doubters wrong. As a young, brown woman without a medical or Ivy-league degree or Silicon Valley contacts—and who had felt different throughout her life—she was often overlooked and underrated.
Undeterred, Sarna used the naysayers as ammunition to help her surpass expectations—and achieve her dreams. Without a Doubt is her “inspiring” (Tim Draper, venture capitalist and founder of Draper Associates) story of becoming a leader without an MBA, networking without a network, and raising funds when she didn’t know a single venture capitalist, teaching you how to do the same. Sarna led an all-star team to develop a life-saving medical device, sold her business for $275 million, and became a partner at Y Combinator, one of the most successful venture firms in the world. Using her own experience, she shows you how to face setbacks, not let impossible standards get in the way, lead empathetically, empower others to think differently, and how to convince the right people to help you accomplish your goals.
Without a Doubt reveals that your power lies in recognizing the qualities that make you different and leveraging them to pursue your dreams.
PUBLISHERS WEEKLY
In this inspiring debut, Sarna, partner at the startup accelerator Y Combinator, recalls the founding of her biomedical company nVision Medical. After Sarna experienced ovarian pains in her teens, and subsequent inconclusive medical tests led to a needless cancer scare, the author was motivated to address "antiquated approaches" to women's health. Sarna recounts the sometimes-arduous process of networking and raising capital despite countless rejections, and describes how, after consulting women's health specialists and scouting out hires, she started a company dedicated to early ovarian cancer detection. Following frustrating clinical trials, Sarna and her partners created the first FDA-approved device that collects cells from the Fallopian tubes, allowing earlier testing for ovarian cancer; they sold the company for $275 million in 2018. Along the way, Sarna chronicles her efforts to keep the company running during her pregnancy, as well as how she dealt with gender discrimination (she recommends not dedicating mental energy to others' "negative assumptions" and instead focusing on one's "task at hand"). Throughout, she dispenses entrepreneurial advice that's sometimes useful (assessing work/life priorities to avoid burnout), though elsewhere overly general (ensuring one's work is based in a "wholly felt passion"). Sarna comes across as thoughtful and upbeat while remaining forthright about the potholes awaiting startups on the road to success. Budding entrepreneurs will find this a motivating, accessible entry.