“It takes a village to raise a  child. Well, it takes a network to grow your career or your business! Start building your network and keep at it!” Meet today’s woman dreamer, Kiran Uppuluri, a thought leader with expertise in experience design and business strategy, and one of our amazing Women Who Win Fall 2021 mentors! Kiran shares her journey as a woman in the human-centered AI world, her expert tips to businesses on how to create a world-class customer experience, and her exciting role as Chair of TIE CON East 2021! A dynamic female founder, Kiran shares her top 4 tips to the next generation of entrepreneurs - Kiran writes, “Look for opportunities and do your part for Equity. Men will welcome it and the  Next Gen girls AND boys will appreciate it.” Some much needed Monday Motivation - enjoy her story!  

1) You have led quite a career in strategy management , and guiding companies on creating  a good customer experience. You are the founder of VerteXD consulting. Tell us your  journey. What were some exciting moments in your life that played a role in who you are  today? 

I am not usually one to actively think about the past, because there is so much opportunity in  front of us that I try to intentionally focus my energy on looking ahead. But I do get this  question from time to time, and it has allowed me the opportunity to reflect on my journey and  really think about who I am.  

Every single year has enriched my learning and I am grateful for interactions with incredible  colleagues and mentors and the related experiences that have shaped my life. I suppose the  entrepreneurial seeds were sown early in my life. I was very fortunate to have received some  extraordinary lessons by witnessing and observing my parents, who were both social  entrepreneurs. My father, a college professor, was very passionate about education and  believed in its power to lift people and to transform the quality of life for the community and  society. He taught me about purpose, grit, and resilience. And I learned the beauty and value of  empathy from my mother. They instilled in me the value of serving. They were human-centric  and design thinkers to the core of their being, way before these character traits were adapted as  business skills and tools. The power of designing student experiences and outcomes through  their eyes won the hearts and minds of the region. Students simply adored them, and recount  stories of the impact they have had on their lives, whenever I meet them even to this day. My  passion for design-thinking and human-centric experience building likely goes back to those  roots in my formative years. And years later, I found its application in Corporate America. 

More than two decades in the corporate world talking to customers and end-users, I realized  that taking a human-centered design thinking approach integrated with data and analytics, was  the most compelling way to innovate and sustain, regardless of whether you are in the business  of a product, process, or service offering. While the mega corporations have started to  incorporate the fundamentals of design thinking into their organizations, I realized that the  companies in the mid-market, startup and non-profit sector would be left behind in this  movement. That’s when I decided to start my company, verteXD. Whether it is business  strategy, building customer journeys or designing signature experiences at key moments of  truth, taking the design-thinking approach to solve for it, transforms organizations to deliver  durable solutions to compete tomorrow. 

2) You have mentored numerous entrepreneurs, and will be leading a TIE Con conference  this Fall. Why do you believe mentorship is important, and what are some things you  seek to teach the next generation of entrepreneurs?

There’s a quote by Oprah Winfrey that rings true in my case: “A mentor is someone who allows  you to see the hope inside yourself.” I have been incredibly fortunate to have several mentors  who have appeared at the right times in various stages of my life to show me that hope; to inspire,  to encourage and to push me in the right direction. And the experience of life teaches you a lot.  Here are a few learnings based on my own life experiences….what I would tell a 21 year old me.  

1. Develop an attitude and mindset of risk-taking and believing in the journey. 

Sometimes things don't work out. In fact, as an entrepreneur, one becomes  intimate with failure (over and over again) before tasting success. Growing  up, I was simply amazed by how my parents would just pick up and keep going. Regardless of what happened along the way, they continued to hold  a strong belief in their purpose and what they were setting out to do. It is  important to develop that attitude of “just believing in your journey and  keeping at it” and it automatically shifts you into that process of focusing on  what you're trying to solve for vs. worrying or getting demoralized. 

2. Start building your network early and keep at it.  

This I find to be true especially for women, myself included, who tend to  deprioritize building a network. Partly because we treat work and life as two  mutually exclusive circles that do not intersect. It takes a village to raise a  child. Well, it takes a network to grow your career or your business! 

3. Find mentors. Make it a priority. 

and don’t stop trying (to find) until you find ones that align with your  need, purpose and vision that you have for your business. Mentors are great  as they help you focus on the “wildly important goal” at any given point in  your career. I have had both male and female mentors in my life as they bring in different perspectives and diversity of thought. 

4. Look for opportunities and do your part for Equity. Men will welcome it and the  Next Gen girls AND boys will appreciate it. 

For TiECON, the team and I have tasked ourselves to aim for 50%  representation of women, thought leaders and subject matter experts, on  all panels…and we have been successful! We have a brilliant lineup of  speakers and panels of men and women leaders who are doing some  incredible work. I know many women who are approached for Board roles or to speak on  panels. Often, they shy away as “it does not fit into their schedule” or “now  is not a good time”. We must do our part. If the response is consistently no,  the opportunity(ies) will slowly fade.

3) You have a lot of experience in experience design and creating an optimal customer  experience. What are some trends happening in this space? What are your tips to  businesses on how they should create a good customer experience that resonates? 

I believe creating a world-class CX is about developing human-centric experiences at the  intersection of data, design thinking, and empathy. Customers are experiencing the world in new  and different ways. As a result, they are expecting similar experiences regardless of industry:  Simple and easy access, In-control and dynamic, Personalized services and products, Real-time  response and service, Consistent high-quality service, Unique and Differentiated, Trust.  

We are living in an experiential economy, where today’s consumers prefer experiences over  products. 

Marketplaces are responding by transforming their businesses from product-centric to  customer-centric models, shifting how and where value is created. It starts with developing (a) a  clear understanding of customer’s needs, powered by (b) the intelligence of multi-dimensional  data (quantitative, qualitative, behavioral, and contextual), and innovating from (c) a human centric standpoint. These are the new rules of engagement that any company – whether it is  born-digital or a traditional company – must embrace to prosper in this digital age. For those  who adapt, the future is bright. 

Not long ago, I wrote a blog about cooking with my teen and how it was, in many ways, a design  thinking application. As humans, we are subconsciously always collecting and building a data  repository in our heads about people and things we care about. In my cooking example, I had  been collecting this data wrt people’s food preferences all along - a comment they made at the  dinner table, a way they described the food when talking to others, the number of times they  helped themselves to one dish over others, the types of dishes they ate more of, the ethnic  backgrounds they came from, the conversations it sparked, the emotions it evoked – joy or  humor or zzzz, and many more data points, voice analytics and sentiment analysis that started  to slowly form patterns and mental models for me.  

At the core of it, I had been using a (crude version of) “AI meets Design Thinking” approach to  getting the job done? I was squarely focused on the people I was creating for, generated a lot of  ideas, conducted constant data and voice analytics in an unbiased way, prototyped,  experimented and iterated, all along wedged in a deep sense of empathy for my “customer”.  Instead of concentrating on a competitive set (what was everyone else making?) or a traditional  product-centricity (let’s cook what the food shows do not offer, and it is bound to be a hit.), I  had adopted a design thinking style, that started with (a) a clear understanding of my  customer’s needs, powered by (b) the intelligence of multi-dimensional data (quantitative,  qualitative, behavioral and contextual) on them, and innovating from (b) a human-centric stand point. 

The quest for human-level AI is at its peak, and the hype is unavoidable. Big Tech is investing  heavily in the hopes of profoundly transforming the business landscape, and in return AI is  learning way faster. Billions of dollars are being raised to invest in start-up accelerators such as Y  combinator.  

However, in the absence of empathy and a desire for some serious design thinking, we will be  building new yet indistinguishable products and services that don’t carry sustainable gains with  competitive advantage. Today’s companies have relentless earnings pressure from Wall Street.  Appetite for design thinking is often stemmed as a result, compromising on real growth.  When AI compliments itself with humans, organized around customer’s unmet needs and pain points, and a clearly articulate “Job-to-be-done”, design thinking can do wonders to innovate  and generate transformational experiences. It encourages organizations to focus on the people  they're creating for, which leads to better products, services, and internal processes.  

4) Women are increasingly going into product management, and user experience. Women  certainly bring a unique perspective to this field. Why do you think we need more women  in experience design, and what do women specifically bring to the field? 

Actually, UX is one area of tech where women I feel are well represented. Although we don’t see  the same level of representation at the leadership levels of UX or experience design, and the  reasons are no different from other areas of tech leadership. Depending on the category (fashion,  beauty etc.) i.e., if they are women-centric products, then women are able to connect with the  customer better. I believe women/men that are creative, empathetic, and data-oriented are poised for a rewarding career in experience design. 

5) What is your next big dream? 

I think I am living my dream. As we are emerging from the pandemic, securing ourselves and  our companies, we are poised to accelerate into the future with the lessons learned along with a  wealth of incredible innovation. Our mission at verteXD is to help our clients to reimagine and  transform businesses to a human-centered perspective. I believe verteXD is well positioned to  actively contribute to this post-pandemic era of human-centric design and innovation.  

Personally, I am looking forward to even more diverse opportunities to serve as well as learn from  the next generation of leaders and entrepreneurs through my ongoing mentorship, Board roles,  as well as education platforms. Thank you!

Bio: Kiran Uppuluri, Founder and CEO verteXD. Kiran helps businesses reimagine business strategy,  customer journey mapping and experience design with a relentless focus on human centeredness and an intrinsic design thinking approach. A thought leader in the industry, she  built verteXD based on years of leadership experience at some of the most innovative  companies such as Deloitte Consulting, Fidelity Investments and Citizens Bank. She and her  team serve clients in the mid-market segment as well as startups in the Financial Services and  Healthcare sector. 

Kiran holds an MBA from University of Maryland Smith School of Business, Masters from  Clemson University and a Bachelors from Indian Institute of Technology, Kharagpur. She is also TIECON East 2021 Chair, MIT VMS mentor, Customer Experience  educator, sports enthusiast, mom of 3 boys, vocalist, avid culinarian!