Suggestions
Diana Schoeller
MBA Candidate at Harvard Business School | Ex-Google
Diana Schoeller is a Harvard Business School (HBS) MBA student and entrepreneur.25 She is the Founder and CEO of Valdho, a SaaS platform for aspiring entrepreneurs and creators to monetize their expertise.1 Prior to her MBA, Diana worked as a Growth Consultant and Expert Marketer.1
Diana has been involved in various entrepreneurial activities and events:
- She participated in a panel discussion with other entrepreneurial women, including Madison McIlwain, Christina Vosbikian, and Isabelle Zhou.6
- She promoted the Google for Startups #GrowthAcademy: Women Founders program for DACH-based startups.7
- Diana was involved in organizing the HBS Women In Business Pitch Competition.8
Her LinkedIn profile indicates that she is based in Berlin and has over 500 connections.2 Diana's posts on LinkedIn showcase her interest in entrepreneurship, startups, and business growth.34
Highlights
So, now what? A summer of trying the early-founder lifestyle on for size.
As part of the HBS Arthur Rock Center for Entrepreneurship Accelerator, I’ve spent the past three months heads down, working on something that truly matters to me. Here’s what I’ve learned:
🔮 Magic happens when you focus: After years of constant tab-switching (literally), it’s been eye-opening to see how laser-focusing on one problem again can unlock creativity, connect dots, and open doors.
⚙️ Process over outcomes: Starting something from scratch is daunting—especially on the bad days when it feels like you’ll never get there. It’s tempting to fixate on milestones, but I’ve found that progress is all about the daily grind. Show up, do the work, chip away at the mountain one pebble at a time—and suddenly, you’re further along than you thought.
🎯 Getting scrappy: Stopping people on the Lower East Side, Sag Harbor, and San Francisco with flyers in hand? Far from glamorous and definitely cringe, but it was also the fastest, cheapest way to get out of the comfort zone, test our pitch and get real feedback (let’s just not talk about yield, haha).
🦸♀️ Finding courage: Having internalized some VC cynicism from my past roles, self-doubt and imposter syndrome are real. I’m learning to take calculated risks, lean in and trust the process. My mentors Dawn Dobras and Nina Charnley said it best: “What are you afraid of? Life is long, and you can have it all—over time.”
🤝 Focus on the right thing, and you’ll meet the right people: The more I dive into this mission, the more incredible people I meet who share the same drive. I’m constantly inspired by the energy and commitment of founders, VCs, academics, advisors, influencers, activists, and philanthropists pushing this space forward.
🛠️ Tools for the win: Figma, Squarespace, Canva, Pitch, Typeform, SurveyMonkey, Prolific, Google Suite (and AC!)—these tools have been lifesavers this summer. Kudos to the genius creators who take so much of the heavy lifting from us!
🌍 Remote teams can innovate: Great teamwork doesn’t have to happen in the same room. Giving space for individual thinking before coming together to align has sparked some of our most creative ideas. Sakina Abu Boakye & Genevieve Hummer—you are the best!
🧡 Thanks to everyone who made this summer so rewarding and fun—your support means the world! And a special thanks to those who create such a strong community in NYC—Dawn Dobras & Margaret Coblentz for the Capital F evening, Madison McIlwain & Claudia Laurie for the Inside Summit, and Skylar Dorosin & Katherine Fetscher for hosting the GSB/HBS Female Founder meetup.
As I head into my second year at HBS, I am excited to see where this journey takes me. We're just getting started, stay tuned! 🚀
