Written by Helené van Tonder
This week’s superconnect story comes from my chat with Kanchan Gupta. Kanchan is the co-founder of The CADRE — an online arbitration platform with simplified arbitration rules that makes for a fast, cost effective, hassle free and fair dispute resolution. 👩⚖️
Kanchan is not one of those members that you see around on the leap app all the time. She told me her time on the app is limited, but that she makes valuable connections each time she turns to it.
Before my call with Kanchan, I didn’t know anything about arbitration processes. She explained to me how their platform works, and also why and how they founded The CADRE. It was very interesting listening to her story! (Thanks for sharing, Kanchan!) If law is your field or you need arbitration or dispute resolution services, I would definitely suggest you reach out to her. 😁
Now, over to some transcribed snippets from our conversation.
What do you love about leap.club?
In general, I think it’s very important to have a network of like-minded people. But it’s even more important for us women. We have our own mindsets, our own peculiar problems, and also our own solutions. Sometimes it’s only women who can understand the perspective of another woman, and it’s important to be heard and understood like that.
It’s also good to have a common platform where we can share experiences and make an impact on each other. That’s very important to me.
As an entrepreneur, leap also has additional benefits for me. Entrepreneurs are hustling all the time, especially if you’re bootstrapped — you’re hustling for every small bit. If I can help someone and get some help in return, that’s great.
Can you tell me about the connections you’ve made so far?
Yes, so far I’ve had three very valuable interactions.
First, I had a question about fundraising, specifically if you’re just looking to raise a little. It’s not something I’ve done before. I also needed some advice on how you can compensate people when you don’t have money to pay them.
I made a post on the feed stating my questions, and I received great advice from others. I also had two very insightful conversations about it. One was with Sri Lasya Gade and the other with Ragini Das. They were both forthcoming and the information and advice they shared were very helpful.
Second, I put up a post saying that I’m looking for women arbitrators. As a firm, we set out to hire as many women as possible — as close to 100% as we can get. And so I got in touch with Deepika Panicker. She’s a lawyer and the co-founder of Lawgicon. We operate in a similar domain, and we’ve developed a mutually beneficial relationship.
If they get work that requires arbitration, they pass it to us. On my side, I have shared their profiles across my network. I work with a lot of companies, so I would say: “If you need POSH training or need specific kind of work done, I know this small and very efficient team.”
And then third, I made a post about a tech-fest on data security and AI. Someone I know is a trustee at the Bombay International School, and they were organising this event and looking for women speakers. I got two amazing speakers from the leap-community:
Kuntal Malia, the co-founder of Stylenook. She spoke about how AI and technology are used in fashion, and the children loved it.
Pooja Kulkarni, a lead analyst at Hershey’s. Now, what kid would not be excited about a talk on technology and chocolate! 🍫
