#MomCrush Monday Series: Meet Sarah Dorsett, CEO of Nanit

1. You’ve been CEO’ing it from home, experiencing the world as something incredibly new and uncertain – successfully growing the Nanit brand to the #1 seat in its category! OMG, how!? Wait, there’s more!? You’ve also juggled motherhood, home-schooling and working from home. INCREDIBLE! How do you manage to juggle it all?

I’m very fortunate that my career benefits from my experience as a parent. So, in that respect my personal and professional lives can merge together. Some parenting problems are easier to think about since I’ve had the personal experience. I’ve also thrown out the idea of balance and replaced it with harmony. It’s much easier to juggle everything when you know you should focus on the thing that isn’t aligned with the music especially when that misalignment is something really positive, taking the time to celebrate promotes harmony.

2. You’re not a fundraiser by trade but you taught yourself how to fundraise millions (Virtually!) What did you learn about yourself in this process?

I’ve learned that being truly authentic goes a long way in the world of fundraising and I try not to forget that it is a relationship world. Just like consumers today want to buy from “people” not “companies. The same holds true for fundraising. I try to remember that a huge part of why a fund invests in us is often the result of how they actually feel about the person they are meeting, sitting across the table. I put my best foot forward but I don’t shy away from hard questions, I’m not afraid to admit when I don’t know something and I’m transparent with things that make me uncomfortable or are not a core strength.

3. It’s known that the tech industry needs more women and we hear you’re championing more women to join you in this sector. This is amazing! How do you plan to help bridge this gap? What do women need to know about joining this sector and being successful in it?

I believe that woman have a unique ability to humanize tech which is why I think it’s so important to have more women in the sector. You don’t have to be an engineer or have years of experience writing code. Don’t be afraid of some of the lingo, it’s just like any industry that has specific terms and phrases that are unique. I always advocate for having a solid understanding of how tech works and how it can solve a problem and then learning the right communication skills to effectively present that problem to a technical team. For women who are very interested in becoming engineers, it’s just the reverse. How well can you build a solution that solves a human problem using the technical skills that you have. You may be better than your male peers at emotionally connecting with that human problem which could result in your tech becoming the best solution.

4. You are a leading CEO and a mother of 3. Are there any time management tips you can share with us?

My time management skills are not great because I love getting completely wrapped up in a moment so much that I don’t keep an eye on how much time it’s eating up. I’m fairly well known for this in my professional life. If you’re like me, the best advice I can give is to force yourself to plan ahead. Sometimes I look at my work calendar and my kids’ schedules well in advance and I mentally practice the day in my head so I have a better shot at remembering it all. When I catch myself spending too much time on something I force a mental check-in so I can decide whether to wrap up based on how much I want to keep a trailing list of things I didn’t get to.

5. What is your favorite song lyric? Why?

Well I love all of the lyrics in Jesse Glynne’s female anthems. But probably one of my longtime favorite lyrics are in the song Piano Man by Billy Joel. Not because of the actual lyrics themselves but how the song, the artist, the words, melody and composition all come together so well that you can picture yourself in that lonely bar. That is absolute storytelling perfection.

Sarah Dorsett is CEO of Nanit, a high-growth technology start-up improving the sleep and lives of babies and parents. An ecommerce leader with more than two decades of experience scaling retail businesses, Dorsett previously served as Vice President of Ecommerce at Bed Bath & Beyond, where her site merchandising and marketing strategy drove double-digit retail revenue growth. From spearheading e-marketing initiatives in the burgeoning digital industry at Coty in 2004, to her executive roles at Bloomingdales.com and Century 21 Department Stores, Dorsett has developed a highly effective approach to channel strategies that is reflected in Nanit’s leadership in the competitive baby tech category. 

Since her time as CEO of Nanit, the company has been named to CNBC’s Upstart 100 list of most promising startups, Fast Company’s Most Innovative Companies, and most recently received NPD’s Consumer Electronic Industry Performance Award for the top increase in North American market share in the smart baby monitor category. Aside from her corporate responsibilities, Sarah loves art, dancing, spending time with friends and family, and lives with her husband and three children in Summit, New Jersey.