We typically think of art and business as very separate domains. However, as an entrepreneur and founder of two tech companies, I have come to see my work as deeply similar to that of an artist. Both are creative endeavors, both require vision, focus, skill, and determination, and both need space and freedom to thrive.

I didn’t see it this way when I founded my first company, Lohika Systems, in 2001 when I was not yet 30 years old. I followed the playbook I thought I was supposed to, and I created a Board of Directors populated with former successful entrepreneurs/investors who would, I thought, lend welcome expertise and advice to me as I built the company. The Board members had partial ownership of the company and, as a result, I did not have a majority stake in my own business. It didn’t take long for me to realize that I was in a bad situation. Probably in great part because I was such a young woman, my Board members started second guessing me. They stepped in and micromanaged me all the time, and I quickly realized that I was no longer in charge; my vision for the company I had set out to create could not flourish. Within just two years, it became clear I had to leave, so I did.