Meet Elizabeth MacBride | Author, business journalist and entrepreneur

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elizabeth MacBride and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elizabeth, is there something you believe many others might not?
“Always be one favor ahead.”

Many great male entrepreneurs and VCs live by this rule, which is great for them. It think it helps them to think in a more community-oriented way.

For women entrepreneurs (and women in general), it backfires. Because so many men feel entitled, especially to what women produce, they don’t even notice when women do things for them. This results in women being excluded from one of the most important parts of the working world, the transactional aspect of relationship-building.

Can you open up a bit about your work and career? We’re big fans and we’d love for our community to learn more about your work.
Right now, I am working on launching a book, The Little Book of Robo Investing: How To Make Money In Your Sleep, which is the latest in the acclaimed Wiley Little Book series. It was a big honor to be asked to write it. They tapped me and my co-author, Qian Liu, based on our work at Wealthfront, the first online financial advisor.

I think robo investing is the perfect style of investing for entrepreneurs, who are tremendously busy … and often need support to understand where their time is best spent. They tend to think they can excell at every task, which they probably can. But delegating investment management to a low-cost solution makes a ton of sense for a busy company owner.

The book is getting rave early reviews. This is what Burt Malkiel, one of the most famous and recognized investors of the past century, said: “This gem of a book should be required reading for everyone seeking to enhance their financial security.”
-Burton G. Malkiel, author of A Random Walk Down Wall Street (50th anniversary edition, 2023)

Here’s a link to pre-order from Tattered Cover in Denver. I like to support indies whenever I can: https://www.tatteredcover.com/book/9781394225224

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I live in Alexandria, Va., near the nation’s capital. Usually I let people decide which great and free Smithsonian museum they want to see. But I have my favorites, like the Botanical Gardens, and the Freer Collection. The Whistler Peacock room there is beautiful.

I take people to the Phillips Collection, one of the best small art museums in the world (in my opinion). They have beautiful classical music concerts there on Sundays.

Right here in Alexandria, we walk a lot through historic Old Town, where there is fun shopping and you pick the restaurants by looking at the menus. What appeals, right at that moment?

My favorite nearby hike, especially since spring is coming up, is to Leesylvania State Park, where you can see the wild daffodils pushing up in April or so. They’re descended from those on the plantation of Lucy Grimes Lee., who loved the flower. It’s a reminder to me of connections to the past. The men of the Lee family were heroes of the Revolution, anti-heroes of the Civil War. Lucy, the wife, mother and grandmother, couldn’t have owned property herself. And I’m sure slaves put the bulbs into the ground. We don’t know their names, but their stories are part of the complex history of the park. And the flowers pop up every year, seeking the sun in the now-dense forest.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
So many people have given me important boosts of confidence along the way, from my third-grade teacher, Margaret Hamilton (I like to give shoutouts to teachers because my mother, my aunt, two sisters and my cousin are or were teachers — amazing people!) to one of my first mentors, Greg David of Crain’s New York; Xana Antunes, who was VP at CNBC and showed me how to be myself in the workplace, Andy Rachleff and Charley Ellis, whom I met working at Wealthfront. One of my co-authors, Seth Levine, has taught me a lot about getting stuff done! But in my entrepreneurial journey, two people stand out the most. My friend Elaine Pofeldt pointed out to me that for moms, being an entrepreneur and in control of your schedule, makes so much sense. Not only do you have the flexibility to be there for your kids, you can more easily dump toxic people. As a mother — and eventually, as I became, a single mother — you can’t afford to carry someone else’s emotional baggage on your back. I became a solopreneur with her help.
And, then, I want to thank Larry Jacobs of the Kauffman Foundation and Victor Hwang, who used to work there. They helped me launch Times of E, which then became New Builders Dispatch. Also, the Walton Family Foundation and Abigail E. Disney provided other early financial support.

Website: www.elizabethmacbride.com

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-macbride-85a3806/

Other: I also have a blog on Forbes, and a web site, www.nbdispatch.com, where I publish thought leadership to make entrepreneurs lives easier.

Image Credits
Elizabeth MacBride