Maithreyi Gopalakrishnan: Bridging Entrepreneurship & Community

[00:00:00] Hi, I'm Katie Kramer, President and CEO of the Boettcher Foundation. Welcome to Colorado Leadership Stories,

[00:00:08] where we talk to everyday courageous leaders who have made transformational impacts in their communities and

[00:00:15] are building a better state for everyone.

[00:00:18] You'll hear from leaders and organizations and communities throughout the state as we explore the idea that

[00:00:24] leadership is an activity that anyone can do.

[00:00:33] Today, we are joined by my trade Gopala Krishnan, a Colorado leader who's passionate about realizing the potential of

[00:00:40] frontier technology to help people and solve large-scale problems. Her industry experience spans entrepreneurial work in institutional finance,

[00:00:47] clean tech, quantum computing, process engineering, and manufacturing, optics, and material science.

[00:00:53] She's a 2011 Boettcher scholar from Louisville who holds an MSBS in engineering physics from CU Boulder and an MS in

[00:01:00] management science and engineering from Stanford. She has always had a strong entrepreneurial spirit

[00:01:05] participating in the entrepreneur and residence program during her undergraduate years. During this time,

[00:01:10] she founded LiquiDefy, a mobile application aimed at teaching individuals about the fixed income market.

[00:01:16] Additionally, she has established Precision Terra, an algorithm designed to track weakened GPS signals. My trade,

[00:01:23] it's wonderful to have you here. Thank you so much for having me.

[00:01:26] Let's start by diving into your upbringing.

[00:01:28] Could you tell us a bit about growing up in Louisville and your experience at peak to peak high school and how those

[00:01:35] experiences shaped your outlook on life and career aspirations?

[00:01:38] Absolutely, I absolutely loved growing up in Louisville.

[00:01:42] I had this sort of small town feel where the community as a whole is very close to one another

[00:01:48] but we were located next to very close to pretty major metropolitan areas like Denver and

[00:01:55] as well as a

[00:01:56] stone's throw from University of campus that was doing outstanding work already at University of Colorado Boulder.

[00:02:03] So I was really fortunate to have that kind of ecosystem around me and peak to peak

[00:02:08] was a phenomenal experience to just try a lot of different things. It was a pretty early, I guess it hadn't been

[00:02:16] established until a few years before I came in as a middle school student.

[00:02:21] So there was a lot of opportunity to create new programs and

[00:02:27] new types of kind of ways for fellow students to explore their passions and

[00:02:33] give back to their communities then potentially more established school.

[00:02:37] That was my take from from my experience there and the teachers were incredibly supportive

[00:02:45] of all the different endeavors that I wanted to kind of explore and pursue

[00:02:50] as a kind of fun example

[00:02:52] I participated in the spelling bee when I was in middle school and then when I transitioned into high school

[00:02:58] one of my teachers who is now a principal at peak to peak

[00:03:02] she gave me the opportunity to start judging spelling bees and really putting together the entire spelling bee myself

[00:03:07] and that was just a very very unique opportunity that I think was you know

[00:03:12] very special about peak to peak is having those kinds of chances.

[00:03:15] Well certainly we have a legacy of better scholars that come from there. It's a really special special school.

[00:03:21] So we know that you won your better scholarship in 2011 and then you transitioned to your undergraduate years at CU Boulder.

[00:03:28] So what motivated your decision to pursue degrees in engineering physics?

[00:03:35] I felt like physics was one area that I struggled a lot with to be completely frank in high school

[00:03:41] and I felt like there were so many interesting things to explore there, but I personally was just having trouble

[00:03:49] from you know a technical standpoint really understanding the concepts

[00:03:53] and I wanted to give myself an opportunity to fully delve into it and

[00:03:58] exercise a little bit more mastery over this subject and so that was one reason why I went into physics.

[00:04:03] Another reason was I felt like it was going to provide me with this overarching

[00:04:09] technical knowledge where I could then you know dive into different fields of engineering, a variety of different applications

[00:04:16] but I would have a really strong technical foundation where no matter what the problem was that I was working on to solve I

[00:04:24] would be able to kind of bring it back to first principles and

[00:04:27] and understand where I needed to go and then you know bring the right people with the right

[00:04:33] specialization areas on board to help me through that process, but at least to evaluate the technology on a foundational level

[00:04:40] I felt like physics was a great major to have in that regard.

[00:04:44] I think most people go away from things that are hard for them

[00:04:49] admiration for you like I'm gonna conquer this

[00:04:51] Exactly. I love that okay so transitioning from your undergraduate years in Boulder

[00:04:57] you journey to Stanford and pursue your second MS in engineering and industrial management.

[00:05:03] So what fueled this decision and how did your time at Stanford influence your personal and professional growth?

[00:05:09] After I finished my time at CU so I had started a first company while I was at CU just to explore what

[00:05:16] entrepreneurship was really like and

[00:05:18] while it didn't work out you know we had a lot of exciting progress, met some lifelong connections through that

[00:05:24] and now I'm kind of back engaged in the entrepreneurship field which is just really exciting, but

[00:05:29] you know once I went down that company I went to work at Intel for a year and a half in a process engineering role

[00:05:38] on their fabrication facilities in Hillsborough, Oregon and

[00:05:42] I really enjoyed you know learning more about the entire process of making you know a chip that goes in your phone your

[00:05:49] computer and it was again like one of those really foundational technologies that's used so widely on but I think it's underappreciated like what goes into that process

[00:05:59] and it's extensive and so it was a really eye-opening opportunity for me and

[00:06:04] but I wanted to transition into something that was more at the intersection of what people needed like the product

[00:06:12] type of role where I'm understanding customers needs or users needs and

[00:06:16] blending that with how to create kind of an overarching

[00:06:20] product roadmap for where to go forward so I wanted to be a little bit removed from the specific you know

[00:06:28] technology and the the details of the technical work and a little bit

[00:06:33] more close to you know the customer needs and translating that

[00:06:38] into innovations and so that's why I decided to

[00:06:42] Join this program at Stanford it was that perfect blend as you know the way the program design was designed

[00:06:50] Allowed you to take classes you know in the business school takes product oriented classes

[00:06:55] marketing oriented classes

[00:06:56] But also very very technical classes and understand kind of what that blend looked like and it was really oriented

[00:07:04] I think for a lot of people towards a role in something product management related

[00:07:08] Where you could be kind of working at that intersection

[00:07:11] Well, and I think one of the other interesting things about you and your educational background is that it has a fascinating combination of minors

[00:07:20] So including electrical renewable energy systems leadership and dance so my tray

[00:07:26] How did these miners get ingrained into what you're doing today? Well, I wouldn't say I'm necessarily

[00:07:32] Using you know the the specifics of each of those miners and in my work today

[00:07:37] But the electrical renewable energy systems was I just I've had a long-standing passion in clean tech

[00:07:44] Related to that and wanted to understand from a technical standpoint

[00:07:47] You know what goes into building a solar panel system or a wind farm or this kind of thing and while I'm not

[00:07:53] necessarily working in that space

[00:07:54] I do you know continue to have an interest on the clean tech field and kind of keep an eye on what's coming

[00:07:59] So that was just kind of an interesting area for me to work in

[00:08:03] Leadership, you know, I use that certainly the skills that that I learned from presidents leadership class at CU

[00:08:11] And other leadership classes and programs that I participated in when you're building out a company, especially at that early stage

[00:08:17] It's so critical to exercise and it's really at

[00:08:23] Building a really strong culture of what you want kind of those those values of your company to be

[00:08:29] And at that early stage, it's so critical to establish that that foundation of good values and ethical values

[00:08:36] And so I think that's played a really

[00:08:39] Impactful role in the work. I'm doing today dance

[00:08:43] I never have actually been a professional dancer or anything like this, but I still dance, you know four days a week

[00:08:50] I'm gonna go back after we complete recording of this podcast and and do some ballet

[00:08:55] And so I've kind of kept my my passion for that and actually when I was at Stanford

[00:09:02] Participated in the campus ballet company and did some productions there, which was just such a blast

[00:09:06] So I love having that as kind of my outlet and

[00:09:10] Ability to kind of exercise the creative side of me balance. It's just wonderful

[00:09:17] And your journey has taken you through different phases and experiences

[00:09:21] Maybe you could share a story with us of a pivotal moment or a challenge you faced along the way and how that may be

[00:09:27] Shaped your character resilience. Oh my goodness

[00:09:30] I felt like I had this sort of a pattern idea of where I

[00:09:35] wanted to go in the near term when I was at CU and shortly after I graduated I

[00:09:42] Wanted to you know graduate from CU I wanted to get a job in an established company

[00:09:47] And then I wanted to get my MBA at a top university and I wanted to go forward from there and kind of grow

[00:09:53] In leadership roles on at larger companies though

[00:09:57] I was also, you know interested in entrepreneurship and that was a path that I was exploring as well

[00:10:01] I was working at Intel and I remember I was on a trip to a family wedding of a cousin in India and

[00:10:10] While I was on that trip I struck up a conversation with somebody who's sitting next to me

[00:10:14] And I remember she just said something that was so impactful

[00:10:18] She was currently in an MBA program and it was a program that I was you know, very interested in attending

[00:10:24] It was certainly a top-notch program and I was like so what was your path to getting here?

[00:10:29] and she said I did investment banking for three years or something like this and I

[00:10:34] And I remember I asked I said well, I mean you have to do what you need to do you have to kind of

[00:10:42] Achieve those different milestones to be able to get into a program like that and and kind of walk that path that you've defined

[00:10:49] For yourself and I remember her saying it was three years of my life

[00:10:53] And I didn't enjoy that and every day is important and you should be enjoying, you know what you're doing

[00:11:00] Obviously you're going to go through hardships, you know, there's going to be challenges in your career and

[00:11:05] And even if you're you know, founding your own company or something like this, you know

[00:11:09] There are some days when you're doing work that isn't you know as fulfilling as you'd like it to be but

[00:11:14] You should always be working in a capacity where it you know

[00:11:19] What you're doing fundamentally brings you joy and I just that was such a pivotal moment for me

[00:11:25] I was like I need to optimize not for you know brand names and for you know

[00:11:32] Accomplishments that I'd write on a resume but for feeling true fulfillment in

[00:11:37] My life and my career and I think since that point I've really tried to focus on that with every decision

[00:11:43] I've made so that was a really pivotal thing for me on and it encouraged me to

[00:11:48] You know take the risk to leave the position that I was in

[00:11:51] It wasn't bringing me that kind of joy and and transition into something that was so

[00:11:58] great advice

[00:11:59] And I I do want to ask about like you were talking about taking risk and I think that's one of the interesting things

[00:12:04] About your career so far is these entrepreneurial ventures that you've had and so I want to talk about

[00:12:11] Your liquidify and precision Terra journeys. How did you decide to do that?

[00:12:18] How did you navigate the process of managing your own business and taking all these risks and stress of all of it?

[00:12:24] Yeah, absolutely. So

[00:12:27] Liquidify was founded out of

[00:12:29] Actually was working before that in a product management role at a quantum computing startup

[00:12:35] We were looking at a project that was at the intersection of quantum computing and finance

[00:12:39] And so I had done a lot of what we call customer discovery interviews

[00:12:43] A lot of conversations with potential customers partners in the space and I felt like

[00:12:48] With the application we were looking at with quantum computing. I didn't see that there there

[00:12:54] I didn't see that fit between what we were offering and you know what the market was needing

[00:12:59] But I did in that process see that there was a huge kind of underserved

[00:13:06] opportunity to help more

[00:13:08] individuals understand and navigate the bond market because I talked with a lot of

[00:13:14] institutional investors like professional investors and they really had a handle on that and there was there's huge market for that and

[00:13:22] A lot of you know advisors and and people that are serving the high and ultra high net worth individuals

[00:13:29] But I didn't see as many people providing that same level of service for people who aren't multi millionaires yet

[00:13:36] But they still want some level of guidance on their finances and how to

[00:13:41] establish a responsible investing strategy can long term and especially when I talk to

[00:13:46] people in my network about bonds and

[00:13:48] You know, they were really not sure where to even begin and didn't know what a bond was just kind of that foundational knowledge

[00:13:56] So I started off by providing that foundational knowledge

[00:13:58] I built out this app to teach people about the fundamentals of bonds in a way

[00:14:04] That was more accessible than you know when you go online and you try to read up about you know

[00:14:08] What the bond market is and what it does and so that really resonated with a lot of people

[00:14:13] Then I started teaching classes to smaller groups of people about bonds and investing in general

[00:14:20] And I was getting a lot of support and encouragement that you know people were

[00:14:26] understanding why investing is so important and what role bonds play in our economy and

[00:14:33] They were making decisions to actually start investing where they were too, you know afraid to before because they didn't have the knowledge

[00:14:40] Because of these classes and that was really powerful

[00:14:43] So I got my Colorado investment advisory license in 2022 and did all of the the work to kind of get the be compliant

[00:14:51] As an advisor on did all of my own kind of legal paperwork and then was established as an advisor

[00:14:56] Brought on my first few clients and so now it's a revenue generating business

[00:15:01] Continuing to scale that and also continuing to teach those classes about investing 101. How do you even start?

[00:15:09] navigating stocks bonds

[00:15:11] mutual funds

[00:15:12] Your retirement plans like all of these different things and they can feel really intimidating to learn about

[00:15:17] But you know, it's just a matter of providing that knowledge in an accessible way

[00:15:22] And so my mission here is really to make bonds particularly but investing as a whole

[00:15:28] More accessible to a wider range of investors in a responsible way

[00:15:33] Where I am really keeping their best interests at heart and so that's kind of the the mission and the goal for the quit of

[00:15:41] I so that's that's the first company and then the second company

[00:15:45] We see my background has been largely in we call like deep technology

[00:15:49] So, you know optics material science clean tech

[00:15:54] semiconductors quantum computing

[00:15:56] And I always I think had one foot in that general space like where the science-based

[00:16:02] innovations going and like where are these different industries going on and so I

[00:16:07] Have been volunteering for the last few years with a C organization called venture partners

[00:16:13] And they are essentially like the tech transfer office

[00:16:17] Getting interesting technology spun out of the university and out for you know, the world to use and see and it was

[00:16:25] A really great experience mentoring some of the companies that were going through that process and venture partners has done a phenomenal job

[00:16:32] Building out more programming around that process of transitioning out of the lab and into the commercial space

[00:16:38] Which is really challenging you've built something really cool, but who actually needs it

[00:16:43] How do you know how to get it and to the hands of the right people?

[00:16:47] And so I had been involved for a few years and then got asked to you know

[00:16:53] Come on and apply for an entrepreneur in residence program. And so that's how I got into

[00:17:00] this precision Tara

[00:17:02] Opportunity, I basically went through a list of technologies that seemed really interesting

[00:17:07] impactful and needed somebody to spearhead that commercialization process and

[00:17:13] And so I selected this technology in the GPS space and and spent you know

[00:17:18] Six months really understanding what the market need was

[00:17:21] And then now I'm kind of taking it forward and building out the technology further into a full-on prototype and

[00:17:27] Raising funding and the whole nine yards for building a company. So yeah, my goodness are my two things

[00:17:34] Sorry, that was a bit of a long-winded

[00:17:37] Just fascinating in different

[00:17:40] types of

[00:17:41] Ways whether you're trying to help people learn about their finances or yeah, or these other pieces. It's amazing

[00:17:47] And I think my trade was just knowing you since I have since you were 18

[00:17:52] Leadership is a huge part of your journey. Yes, and I'm just curious

[00:17:57] Now that you have been in the work world for a while too

[00:18:00] If you would just talk about how has your leadership evolved throughout your career?

[00:18:05] What are some of the things you've learned along the way? Yeah, um

[00:18:08] so I remember in

[00:18:10] my first

[00:18:12] semester of the president's leadership class programming

[00:18:15] We learned about different types of leaders

[00:18:18] Transformational leaders transactional leaders servant leaders, etc. There are a lot of different ways that one can be a leader

[00:18:24] And I think when I started out

[00:18:27] University on I had always

[00:18:31] Looked at leadership as kind of being the front of an organization

[00:18:34] Being the voice of the organization and in really driving, you know everything about with that organization

[00:18:41] From the vision to the specific kind of goals and milestones that we were setting out to complete and I think

[00:18:49] I've now come to appreciate that leadership can be found in a lot of different ways and that

[00:18:55] different leadership kind of styles

[00:18:58] It's important to apply different styles for different people different groups of people

[00:19:05] Different types of you know visions that you're you're seeing out into the future and

[00:19:10] and

[00:19:11] Oftentimes it can come from just being you know a good example a source of encouragement

[00:19:18] Just being kind of that that light for a person

[00:19:21] and

[00:19:23] Helping them to find the greatness within themselves because I think when when people find

[00:19:29] What it is that really makes them click in an organization that can be really powerful

[00:19:35] So it's not about telling people what to do as much and in really driving

[00:19:41] Goals forward or or working towards those goals further

[00:19:45] but finding helping people find within themselves like what their passion is and

[00:19:51] What really kind of gets them excited gets out of that gets them out of bed in the morning?

[00:19:57] And help orient their work so that they're spending the majority of their time doing that and you get that I feel like you

[00:20:04] Just bring out greatness in everybody

[00:20:07] So I think how my my view of leadership has changed

[00:20:11] Mm-hmm, and as speaking of just being a leader. I think one of the other things that's interesting is the

[00:20:18] sectors you've chosen to make your way in

[00:20:21] Being from underrepresented group right that you especially

[00:20:26] Not too many women in some of those types of things. I know you've been active both an engineering and entrepreneurship events

[00:20:34] It's doing presentations and talking about that. So I'm curious about your perspective

[00:20:38] About what's that been like?

[00:20:40] Yeah, when maybe you're the only woman in the room for sure. Yes, we need more women and in some fields

[00:20:48] particular and finance and all of these fields really that I've been part of

[00:20:53] Over the course of my career and and I think a big part of

[00:21:00] You know how I feel I could help other women as showing up to these events

[00:21:06] Sharing my story and my experiences and being somebody that's always there for them that they feel like they can

[00:21:14] always kind of direct their questions to and

[00:21:18] If they've kind of gone through a challenging experience

[00:21:22] In the presence of other male colleagues that I'm somebody that they can speak with that about

[00:21:27] and I can

[00:21:30] Provide me some support and how they can navigate that situation

[00:21:34] So I've done that very recently actually with somebody who's a few years younger than me. I'm having you know her first

[00:21:41] You know corporate career role

[00:21:44] And you know unfortunately having to navigate some of those dynamics

[00:21:49] And tried to kind of guide her in the right direction

[00:21:52] What are some of the steps you can take when you're faced with that situation?

[00:21:57] To you know either resolve it on and be very clear with somebody who's you know

[00:22:05] Not being particularly respectful

[00:22:07] View in that kind of circumstance or how you can maybe navigate away from from that whole situation

[00:22:15] into something

[00:22:17] That's

[00:22:18] Empowering you so yeah, and so I try to just

[00:22:22] You know attend and be involved

[00:22:23] these events to the greatest extent possible and make the connections where I can be a source of support for

[00:22:29] That speaks to your leadership too

[00:22:32] well you as a

[00:22:34] Really still an early career professional you have just accomplished so so much and so I want to look ahead

[00:22:40] what are some of the future goals or projects that you're most excited about and

[00:22:46] How do you envision continuing to merge your passions in your career?

[00:22:49] I think right now both of the the businesses

[00:22:53] I'm working on are still in a very early stage relatively so we'll be continuing to scale those

[00:23:01] Especially with the GPS company because right now liquidify is and a little bit more of

[00:23:07] me one person kind of thing that I'll scale to a point and then I'll kind of

[00:23:12] Establish a larger team around that but I'm with the CU Boulder spin-out company

[00:23:19] my my real greatest passion here is to

[00:23:22] Build a very very like Colorado based company where I can build a team around me

[00:23:27] That's fully based

[00:23:28] You know in Colorado where I'm bringing women who are in engineering who are really really bright minds in this space

[00:23:35] But maybe haven't been given as many of those opportunities onto the team

[00:23:41] Having investors that are based in Colorado so that we can grow Colorado's economy

[00:23:46] You know through the work that we do it at precision Terra. This is really a goal for me

[00:23:52] That's where I kind of been looking forward

[00:23:54] From here and then yeah, I mean just continuing to stay engaged and a lot of different volunteering

[00:24:01] projects and I'm very involved with the

[00:24:04] CU Alumni Association board as well

[00:24:08] So continuing to see how I can make impact there and

[00:24:12] Bring more alumni into the fold and get them more involved with what all you know

[00:24:18] You can get involved with it. See you so right well

[00:24:21] This is the last question then and then we'll go to the lightning round but and just reflecting

[00:24:25] We're sitting in the room where you interviewed for your better scholarship today

[00:24:29] And I'm thinking about those students that are gonna start in the fall

[00:24:33] So just knowing the experience that you have had and already in your undergraduate graduate careers

[00:24:41] entrepreneur all these things

[00:24:43] What advice would you give to those high school seniors that are graduating? I would say

[00:24:50] focus on

[00:24:52] The journey and not as much the destination because you will very possibly lose sight of all of these other opportunities

[00:24:59] That may be the you know just the right fit for you

[00:25:02] I'm maybe really exciting for you along the way so be open to you know

[00:25:07] There's different possibilities that may take you away from the plans that you had originally set out for yourself

[00:25:12] But could be really interesting avenues to explore

[00:25:15] So I'd say really focus on that journey and engaging with the people that you get to meet along the way

[00:25:22] You never know when you may be able to help them. They may be able to help you

[00:25:27] There's tendency to focus on you know, the transactional aspect of those relationships if you just focus on building those relationships

[00:25:34] for the sake of relationship building

[00:25:37] Enjoying those those conversations those opportunities you have to connect with other amazing people around you

[00:25:42] You never know where that could take you. You might meet if you're interested in entrepreneurship. You might meet your co-founder

[00:25:49] If you're interested in any other fields

[00:25:51] Meeting somebody who hire you in the future that you may hire in the future that you know

[00:25:56] You'll have a lifelong friendship with you just never know just appreciate the journey

[00:26:03] That goes back to that advice from that conversation on that fateful plane ride that you were telling exactly the story

[00:26:09] I love that great advice. Okay lightning round last four questions

[00:26:14] Starting with what is your favorite Colorado hobby? My favorite Colorado hobby is snowboarding

[00:26:19] I just went yesterday for a little half-day stint actually

[00:26:23] Love that. Okay favorite Colorado landmark. I very recently visited the Black Canyon

[00:26:29] National Park is stunning. Beautiful. Yeah, beautiful

[00:26:33] Okay, what action hero do you most identify with this doesn't happen very often your life my trade that you probably got stumped by something

[00:26:43] You know, I would say

[00:26:45] Iron man's an interesting one. I'm gonna go with iron man because they're entrepreneurial

[00:26:49] but I feel like he comes to learn more about himself and

[00:26:53] You know the people around him and how they've been supporting his journey, you know over the years and comes to appreciate that

[00:26:58] So that right man. Yes, perfect. Perfect. And also all the the engineering and such that's for sure

[00:27:04] Okay

[00:27:04] Final question is what are you currently binging?

[00:27:06] Is there a show a book or a podcast or something that you're just consuming right now?

[00:27:12] Just finished the crown

[00:27:13] And now succession

[00:27:16] Just really fun. It's a fun one. Yeah, that's great. Good good. Well, thank you so much for coming in

[00:27:22] It's been wonderful to get caught up on all the good things that you're doing. So congratulations. We're so proud of you

[00:27:28] Thank you for joining Colorado leadership stories where we hope to inspire the next generation of Colorado community builders

[00:27:36] doers and difference makers

[00:27:40] Colorado leadership stories is presented by the better foundation

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[00:28:02] That's the spirit of better