Dr Melissa Sassi: From BigTech To Building Ventures

On this episode of the Scouting For Growth podcast, Sabine VdL talks to Dr Melissa Sassi, CEO and Co-Founder of Skills Hustle, a pre-seed edtech company committed to closing the skills gap and transforming learners into earners. Skills Hustle's platform takes an innovative approach, offering gamified, interactive, and practical modules that engage learners on a deeper level. With a focus on community building, the platform provides access to thought leaders, networking opportunities, and real-world challenges such as innovation challenges and hackathons, enabling learners to develop practical skills and solve real business challenges.

In this episode Melissa shares her insights, experiences, and innovative ideas in leveraging technology and education to drive social impact and foster sustainable growth.

KEY TAKEAWAYS

• I’ve spent the last 10 years of my career working between Microsoft and IBM, and I’ve always created my own jobs, I’ve never flowed through the ‘right’ career progression plan. I ran startup accelerators; at Microsoft it was all about building internet and energy access solutions around the world and bringing digital skills to connect it. At IBM I focussed on data protection, privacy and security in heavily regulated industries like FinTech, HealthTech and InsurTech. I’ve also had a couple of stints on Wall Street and had my own nonprofit teaching tens of thousands of kids to code in 12 countries. Currently I run a venture studio with my partner.
• One day my daughter, who was living in Tunisia with her father at the time, said she didn’t have access to a computer in her classroom. They had one shared across 40 kids. I realized there’s no way that she’s going to be prepared for the future of work and the digital economy. I could get her devices for home, but what about all the other kids in her classroom? So I went on a mission to get computers for the class. But as I did this I realized the bigger picture that access to tech, skills, the internet and what role they play – including affordability – in driving outcomes in healthcare, education, economics, getting a job, everything we have and do centres around tech. I realised half the world isn’t connected to the internet and I looked at what I could do to change that.
• My partner and I are still working on how to demystify what a venture studio is or what a venture builder does versus a VC, an accelerator and an incubator. We combine all those things together.
• In the future I’d love to see situations where my founders raise a shit-ton of money, come up with amazing solutions that are powering the world, changing things that make the world a better place but also making money at the same time. I believe in doing well while doing good. 

BEST MOMENTS
‘Everyone is a FinTech these days, including Timbaland.’
‘I had it ingrained in my soul that I needed to work, to be productive, independent, to be able to take care of myself. From hard work comes outcomes in life that are financial in nature, it may be experiences, but you’ve got to work to achieve.’
‘I was part of a broken system and I perpetuated a broken system without knowing it.’
‘We focus on growth from 3 perspectives: Technical enablement, thinking about what the business model is, and access to partnerships.’

ABOUT THE GUEST
Dr Melissa Sassi has dedicated her career to the intersection of technology, education, economic development, social impact, startups, and sustainability. With extensive global experience, including visits to 60 countries, she brings first-hand knowledge of the challenges and opportunities in achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Melissa's doctoral thesis focused on the transformative role of digital inclusion in solving the SDGs. As the CEO and Co-Founder of Skills Hustle, a pre-seed edtech company, Melissa aims to bridge the skills gap and empower learners to become learners. Skills Hustle offers an interactive and practical learning platform, with a focus on gamification and real-world application. Through live sessions, mentors, innovation challenges, and hackathons, learners acquire valuable skills while solving authentic business problems. The platform also features a community portal for ongoing engagement, networking, and access to thought leaders and opportunities. Core content areas include digital skills, habits and attitudes, entrepreneurship, and financial literacy.
Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/melissasassi/

ABOUT THE HOST

There are over 140,000 FinTech ventures out there, including FinTechs, InsurTechs, HealthTechs, and WealthTechs. And the number keeps on changing every month. One statistic remains the same: 25% of these ventures have received investment and support from the financing world. 75% of these businesses still seek financing support from institutional and corporate investors alongside value-creating commercial collaboration opportunities with Global Fortune 500. 

Through this podcast series, I would like to demystify the world of corporate venturing, including how corporations collaborate with growth ventures, how venture capitalists and corporate venture capitalists make investment and collaboration choices in ventures and give tech founders and entrepreneurs, the strategies, tactics, tools, and techniques to build, grow and scale their business by understanding how those with financing power think. So, listen in, share and comment as you see fit.

Twitter: SabineVdL
LinkedIn: Sabine VanderLinden
Instagram: sabinevdLofficial
Facebook: SabineVdLOfficial
TikTok: sabinevdlofficial
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.sabinevdl.com