This as-told-to story is based on a conversation with Shanaz Hemmati, COO and co-founder of ZenBusiness, a $1.5 billion company that provides an all-in-one platform helping small businesses become official, stay compliant, manage finances and more. Her co-founder is Ross Buhrdorf, who serves as CEO. The piece has been edited for length and clarity.
Image Credit: Courtesy of ZenBusiness. Co-founder and COO Shanaz Hemmati.
I always had an entrepreneurial spirit, but I never really thought about going off and starting my own business.
At the University of Texas at Austin, I studied computer engineering, starting with hardware design before pivoting to software engineering. I truly love technology, and especially software engineering,