Editor’s Note: YoungEntrepreneur’s Ask the Expert column seeks to answer questions about everything from starting a business to growth strategies. To follow the column on Twitter — and ask a question — use hashtag #YEask, or leave a comment below. Your query may be the inspiration for a future column.
Prerna Gupta believes it’s incumbent on all successful entrepreneurs to set aside some time to mentor the next generation. As a former venture capitalist, app developer and now the CEO of Khush, a San Francisco-based social-music app maker, Gupta has mentored many young, enthusiastic ‘treps.
“The unbridled optimism an entrepreneur feels in the early days of a startup is infectious and hard to find anywhere else. I love being around that and helping to guide it in any way I can,” she says. “Young people have a better sense of the future than us older entrepreneurs, so it’s a pleasure to talk shop with them, and it’s often enlightening.”
As a Stanford grad, model and accomplished vocalist, Gupta’s charisma was behind viral videos demonstrating Khush’s flagship product, a reverse karaoke app called LaDiDa, that raked in hundreds of millions views.
Prior to launching her own enterprise, Gupta worked on marketing strategy at Monitor Group and early-stage deal sourcing at Summit Partners. In 2010 she was named one of FastCompany’s Most Influential Women in Tech and her writing has been published in New York Times and TechCrunch.
For this month only, Gupta is eager to tackle your burning-business questions each week. Feel free to ask small-business related questions, including queries about mobile apps, seed fundraising, pitching VCs, viral marketing, growth hacking, user experience, launching a startup outside Silicon Valley and product vision.
Submit your questions in the comments section below and those with the most likes from other readers will be answered. On Twitter, use the hashtag #YEask. Please include your first and last name, your location (city and state) and the name of your business in your comment.
