#144 Piruze Sabuncu: The unique journey to joining Stripe in South East Asia as first hire, turkish influences + fascinating trials and tribulations!

The High Flyers Podcast with Vidit Agarwal

Piruze Sabuncu is a Partner at the Venture Capital firm Squarepeg. She was born in Turkey and currently lives in Singapore. Piruze built and scaled the startup that's now a global juggernaut, Stripe -- in Southeast Asia as employee #1 in the region, following a stint as a founder and working at companies including Dell and Mckinsey.

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Episode guiding points:

Learn about Piruze’s sunrise in Turkey, the influences of her big family and the beauty of Turkish culture including reflections on stories from her childhood walking her own path and questioning the status quo in a traditional culture. You might be surprised to hear her primary school teacher thought Piruze would become a diplomat!

We cover her move to the US and 10 years living there and how it kickstarted a wild journey of a lifetime both personally and professionally; how and why she started her career in tech in the 2000’s in Austin, Texas of all places! The real benefits of studying an MBA and what gave her the self belief to go found a startup post MBA rather than following her classmates into a global firm.

Questions our host Vidit loved hearing Piruze’s beautiful views and reflections include: The decision to shut down her startup and join Mckinsey, and the role her visa expiry played, first visiting Singapore and South East Asia just as their startup ecosystem was starting to boom in the 2010’s, loosing her dad and of course we dive into her Stripe experience being their first hire in South East Asia and playing a critical role in building out the business there, including the importance of knowing your customer, the importance of hiring, favourite question to spot talent and make sure to listen through for Piruze’s next re-invention to enter the world of Venture Capital and the serendipity with which she joined Square Peg + the one difference and one similarity between south east Asia, Israel and Australia.

It’s now time to explore your curiosity. Please enjoy!

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The High Flyers Podcast re-imagines the traditional notion of a "high flyer" and is a premier product of the Curiosity Center. The podcast showcases the journeys of relatable role models from their sunrise (childhood) to today. Listeners love the unique and direct inside access to these relatable role models, companies and industries in every walk of life to help us all be 1% better everyday, together.

140+ guests have joined Vidit Agarwal on the show from around the world including Heads of state, Olympians, Business and cultural leaders, social Advocates, Investors, Entrepreneurs and more.

The Curiosity Center is widely recognised as a leading on-demand intelligence network for founders, investors, executives and students with an audience of over 200,000 across this podcast + Association Series Newsletter and 7-Star Events. Find out more at www.curiositycenter.xyz

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