Rising Tide

Shirin Nikaein: Baby Stepping to Big Things

Episode Summary

It's 2009 and Shirin Nikaein found herself in the same boat as many others in America. Unemployed. While already pursuing her Masters in Electrical Engineering, Shirin decided this was the perfect time to explore her career options. That's when she discovered Silicon Beach and realized she would one day become an entrepreneur. For the next 8 years she took baby steps towards this goal, trusting that one day she would figure out her big idea for her own business. Then in 2017, Shirin came face to face with bias and discrimination in the workplace and ultimately found herself laid off again. Except this time that difficult experience became her big idea. Today, Shirin is the Founder and CEO of Upful, a software that uses behavioral science to coach managers as they write employee performance feedback to reduce biased reviews and help make career growth more inclusive and equitable.

Episode Notes

Learn more about Upful.ai 

Connect with Shirin on LinkedIn

• 5:15 - When she knew she would become an entrepreneur
• 9:55 - Challenges when trying to take credit for your work
• 15:20 - How being a daughter of immigrants shaped her decision to become an EE
• 20:36 - Finding her voice and a willingness to share her ideas 
• 39:10 - Pursuing a product management role despite being told no and a lack of career path
• 31:11 - Taking transferable skills to join Beats by Dre
• 52:07 - Titles do matter
• 56:07 - Determining what matters most to you
• 59:42 - The tipping point that inspired the creation of a platform to help eliminate bias in the workplace