Her Story
About Pranjali
Pranjali Chumbhale is the Founder-CEO of WEDEE, a SaaS platform serving performing arts schools. Based in Fremont, California, she has spent 15 years in the tech industry, building on experience as a software developer, solution engineer, and integration engineer at startups spanning IoT, crypto, logistics, and robotics. Pranjali earned her bachelor's degree in India and completed a master's at NC State University studying computer networks and integrated manufacturing, including an internship at John Deere as a factory automation intern. She is also a dance graduate in an Indian classical art form and has completed MIT executive courses in design thinking and XRVR, focused on augmented and virtual reality. Pranjali attributes her success to the variety of verticals and roles she has held, which provided broad insight across departments and built confidence in transferable skills. She has participated in accelerators including Hakadojo and the CAIC Founders Cohort.
Her Interview
Ten minutes with Pranjali
01What do you attribute your success to?
I attribute my success to the variety and diversity of opportunities I've had. Working in various verticals and roles across different size companies gave me a broad understanding of how things work from each department, without blind spots, and built my confidence in seeing through things and understanding transferable skills that can be molded to fit different verticals.
02What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
For someone going for an employment-based role, that world offers a lot of opportunities so choose wisely where and how you spend your time. Explore what's happening, what's new, and what excites you. If you get an opportunity to build something, take that because it's going to give you an incremental learning journey.
03What are the biggest challenges or opportunities in your field right now?
It is still very difficult to be a woman founder - you won't always get a seat at the table and might get dismissed. But there are advantages because we have an emotional portion and can understand customers' pain points better and empathize. Finding the right advice that understands your journey, market, and goals is always a challenge, especially as an outsider without a network of builders.
04What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
Professionally, being self-driven and proactive is very important. Personally, empathy is something I value a lot, whether with customers, team, family, or friends.
Join Influential Women and start making an impact. Register now.