VCWoman Achieve 2025 Mentor Spotlight – Kayla McGuire

Posted on January 30, 2025
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Name: Kayla McGuire | Business/Profession: Business Consultant & Strategic Advisor, Kayla McGuire Consulting, LLC

Please share a little about your background, personally and/or professionally.

With a B.S. in Business Management and a passion for entrepreneurship, I’ve spent my near 20 year career working alongside entrepreneurs to build and grow businesses. I’ve had the opportunity to work across diverse industries such as technology, hospitality, marketing, and non-profit. I’ve worked with teams who have had successful exits, a few who had to close the doors, and everything in between – I’ve seen a lot! Personally, I’ve owned and operated businesses of my own, including service-based concepts and real estate investing. At the present, I provide strategic and investment advisement, and operational support to founders of multi-million dollar organizations from Silicon Valley to Washington D.C.

Please share more about your current position and place of work. How have you grown professionally/personally in this role?

Currently, my work is focused on building strong business infrastructure to help entrepreneurs launch new ventures and expand into new markets. As a consultant, I often have the opportunity to be a part of dynamic projects which require diverse skillset. My work has helped me learn and become confident in many areas of business, from project management to accounting to marketing to business development and big picture strategy.

What drew you to being a mentor for an entrepreneurial group curated for non-men? How has being a woman or non-binary individual impacted your professional journey?

I’m drawn to this community because I’ve lived it, too! As a woman entrepreneur who works with entrepreneurs, I’m very familiar with this landscape. One way this experience has impacted me is by developing an acute understanding of what some of the hurdles might be for other women entrepreneurs – especially the mental hurdles that we throw at ourselves.

What are three things you enjoy doing outside of work?

Spending time with my 10-year old daughter, yoga practice, travel.

What is your go-to piece of advice for professionals, entrepreneurs, or anyone looking to you for guidance?

“You need a client, not a website.” Meaning: in many cases it’s more sustainable to focus on building a product or service that sells before investing a lot of time and money into things like branding, fancy website, etc.

What is a professional achievement that you are most proud of, and why are you proud of it?

Grew my LinkedIn following from 0 to 21K+ in less than 2 years by fostering conversation and community. Building a strong personal brand is important in this era, and I’m proud of all that I have done to accomplish this, the lessons I’ve learned along the way, and the relationships I’ve built.