From a Woman to a Leader Podcast

You keep waiting for someone more qualified. A mentor who has done it before, a manager who will finally say you're ready, a role model who proves it's possible. But what happens when that person doesn't exist?

Dr. Karny Ilan went looking for a role model who was both a surgery resident and a startup CEO. She couldn't find a single one. So she became one. In this episode, Karny shares how three students with no business experience raised over $2 million for Feminai, an at-home breast cancer screening startup; why every senior surgeon told her ”don't do it to yourself, especially because you're a woman,” and why she stopped planning to hand her company to a ”real CEO.”

What you'll hear:

• Why VCs feel less comfortable with female founders, and why showing up as yourself, not in a costume, is what actually builds trust
• What to do when you can't find a role model who looks like you
• How Karny runs a company between 30-hour hospital shifts, and why a strong why beats any time management system
• The shift from ”at some point I'll bring in a CEO” to ”it's my company, no one will do this better than I do”

About Dr. Karny Ilan:Karny is a general surgery resident at Sheba Medical Center and the CEO and co-founder of Feminai, developing the first AI-powered remote breast cancer screening platform for at-home use. She was named to the Forbes Israel 30 Under 30 list, recently led Feminai's seed round with Vertex Ventures, and became a mom shortly after we recorded this conversation.

Connect with Karny:LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/karny-ilan/Feminai: https://www.feminai.com/

If you've ever waited for permission, waited for a role model, or waited to feel ready, this episode is for you.

Listen to more episodes: https://limorbergman.com/podcast/