Q&A with Zeynep Young, Former CEO of Calytera

Zeynep Young is easily one of the most impressive and effective CEOs we know. In our recent conversation with her, we dove deep into her journey from nonprofit to consulting, to Founder and CEO of her own company, Double Line, to her experience working with BuildGroup as an advisor and CEO at Calytera, and now her current role as CEO of Otto.  We hope you’re as inspired by her entrepreneurial career as we are.  

- Team BuildGroup

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We’d love to start at the beginning. What do you think put you on this path of leadership and entrepreneurship? 

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My family was a big influence. My dad was an entrepreneur who started several business ventures. I'm from Turkey, which has a really strong culture of entrepreneurship. I grew up there until middle school, when my parents moved to the U.S. That’s the environment I grew up in—believing that having your own business was natural.

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You started your career in the non-profit sector. How did you then pivot into business?

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‍Coming out of school, I was drawn to the social sector. As an immigrant to the U.S., I was inspired by how nonprofits in the U.S. give back to the community. I worked in the non-profit sector for three years, and giving back has continued to be a theme in both my professional and personal life. 

After that experience, I attended Northwestern’s Kellogg School of Business, which was a transformative education. Meeting classmates with diverse professional backgrounds opened my worldview. You can only learn so much from books or lectures, but studying alongside others with real-world experience brought new possibilities to light.

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How did you then get into consulting?

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After business school, I saw consulting as the best way to gain exposure to various sectors. Without prior corporate experience, I wanted to build that foundation before deciding on my next steps. McKinsey, which had always been my target firm, offered an incredible opportunity.

The summer before business school, I called the McKinsey Houston office—a funny story in hindsight because I had no idea how structured their recruiting process was. I said, “Hey, I’m from Rice and just got into Kellogg. I’d love to work for free before school to learn about consulting.” Obviously, that’s not how it works, but they kindly put me on their interview list. I interned there the following summer and joined full-time after earning my MBA. At McKinsey, even at a young age, I worked directly with CEOs and entrepreneurs. Witnessing them develop strategy, shape their organizations, and deliver outcomes was fascinating and kept me at McKinsey for eight years.

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And then you went back to the social sector from consulting to work for the Dell Foundation, is that right?

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‍The social sector has always been close to my heart. I joined the Michael and Susan Dell Foundation as it expanded its programs in Austin, as well as internationally. It was an amazing opportunity to contribute to the foundation’s growth and see leaders like Michael and Susan Dell in action. Their efforts have significantly changed Austin for the better, and I’m proud to have been part of that journey.

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What did you learn there? 

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Everything. Consulting teaches you to create logical, elegant plans, and while those are critical, execution is where 99% of value creation happens. A strategic plan provides direction, but it’s only the first step toward success. Being at Dell showed me the importance of both strategy and execution.

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How did your experience at Dell inspire you to start your business?

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‍Much of my entrepreneurship focuses on the social sector. At the Dell Foundation, we invested in K-12 education and healthcare in Central Texas. Data-driven performance management was a key priority.

For example, a major school district proposed tripling the number of students in a program, but they couldn’t provide the current enrollment numbers without six weeks of data gathering. That gap highlighted the need for better performance management systems, which inspired me to start Double Line. I think a lot of entrepreneurs that leap into starting their own company have this moment of “I can’t believe nobody is doing this!” So I left the Foundation and boot-strapped my own company. We created a data standard and built infrastructure for districts to access and analyze their data. Over half the country now uses that data standard, enabling schools to improve student outcomes.

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We started looking for companies that did that in the education space, and could not find any. I think a lot of entrepreneurs that leap into this have this moment of, “I can't believe nobody is doing this”. 

So I left and started Double Line with their blessing. They were kind enough to give me a lot of work, and we worked together really effectively to create a data standard. One of the things we figured out early on was that the reason that they didn't have that kind of data was that large vendors would have restrictive policies on data, how you could extract that data out of their systems, and how you could use that data. They all had very different proprietary data standards. 

Even if you could try to take the data out, you wouldn't be able to normalize it without a lot of data cleanup. And school districts just don't have the resources like that. Double Line ended up creating what we called a canonical data standard at that time. We built the technical infrastructure so that the school district could actually look at their data. We created dashboards on top of that, and we put all of that technical work into a separate nonprofit that was able to give away work to states and school districts so that they could start to unlock their data. 

I'm very proud of that work. It is now in over half of the country in terms of a data standard. I hope what it allows is to give everybody a chance to find out what they need to do to improve student outcomes.

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So you went from consulting to the Dell foundation, then you started your own business, and bootstrapped it, too. How did you do that?

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Ignorance, I guess. We started Double Line as a consulting firm but quickly realized we needed to handle the technical work for real impact. Bootstrapping taught me to focus on financial viability early on. Unlike startups today with access to significant venture funding, we had to reinvest profits and grow sustainably. That experience grounded me in balancing grand visions with daily details.

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And then from Double Line, you went into VC. How did that transition go?

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After selling Double Line, I did consulting and board work until a friend brought me into Next Coast Ventures. The role offered insights into the investor’s perspective—what proof points and trajectories they look for. It also helped me understand how to support entrepreneurs and CEOs as a funder.

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And then you met BuildGroup as a CEO at Calytera. Can you tell us that story?

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While consulting and board work are rewarding, I really missed being an operator. When you’re only thinking about a business once a week or once a month, it’s just not the right level to drive significant impact. A BuildGroup founder connected me to Calytera, a portfolio company needing leadership. I stepped in as CEO to drive change and growth.

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How was your experience running Calytera? 

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It was a unique experience because the company went into Covid lock-down on my first day as CEO. I never met any of the employees in person during my tenure there. We were able to drive significant growth and margin improvements and eventually sell the company, all remotely. It was an interesting time, as we all had to learn how to have more structured and regular conversations, rather than rely on catching up at the office. It’s a skill that has served me well as companies have moved to more remote and hybrid work environments.

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You've found yourself wearing the founder and CEO hat many times now. Why do you think this is something you gravitate toward?

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I love working with small teams to achieve the seemingly impossible—a mindset McKinsey instilled in me.

When I started Double Line, I thought about what our culture should be. I wanted to build something that really reflected who I wanted to be as a leader. The first thing we came up with as a cultural tenet was “amaze yourself”. I wanted that feeling of, “I cannot believe we pulled that off”. The pride that comes with exceeding your own expectations.

The second tenet we had was, “assume goodness”. I believe that the majority of people are trying to do the best they can. Everyone is motivated by doing that best, but we are all dealing with constraints and challenges that may not be obvious to those around us. If you try to meet people where they are and assume they're trying to do a great job, you can take performance to the next level.

The third tenet was “pick up the ball”. Just do something. Just one yard. We're further ahead than we were before you picked it up.

Those values were really inspiring for me. I want to create that feeling in every company.

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There are still a limited number of women who are getting funding from VCs, and still a limited number of women running companies. What advice would you give to other women doing this work or trying to do this work?

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First, don't take yourself out of the game. Approach opportunities and conversations with confidence. Assume goodness. People are looking to back great companies, great entrepreneurs. Why not you?

Second, understand that every day can bring challenges. Early on, I naively believed things would always run smoothly under my leadership. When I ran into challenges, I worried that I was making mistakes and that other companies didn’t experience ups and downs. As I started building my network of other founders and CEOs, I realized that every day brings new challenges and have learned to embrace the constant problem solving that comes with the role. It’s a daily commitment – just because you made your bed this morning, doesn’t mean it’s not going to be a mess tomorrow.

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The final piece of advice that I would give everybody is: when you're starting out, you don't understand how important your network is; who you surround yourself with; and who you keep in touch with, and how that opens up the next opportunity. When you see people doing something great, you get inspired by that. Surround yourself with people that you really admire and you like working with, but also just keep in touch with former coworkers, former mentors, and employees. Carrying those relationships with you is massively important.

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You’re currently the CEO at Otto. Can you tell us about how you joined the startup and what you're doing there as CEO?

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After Calytera, I worked with BuildGroup as an advisor, but still wanted to get back into the CEO seat.

Otto, a platform revolutionizing veterinary client communications and engagement, caught my attention. I was impressed by he strong product-market fit that the founders had developed. I always tell new entrepreneurs, try to spend at least as much time talking to customers as you do investors. They had done that and were poised to grow rapidly.

Since joining, Otto has grown from $1 million to an expected $40 million in revenue. The team’s passion and collaboration have been key to our success.

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Thank you for sharing your incredible journey with us, Zeynep. Your insights and leadership are truly inspiring, and it’s clear why you’re one of the most impressive CEOs we know.

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The information in this blog post is provided in good faith without any warranty. It does not constitute investment advice, recommendation, or an offer of any services or products of BuildGroup Management and it is not intended to provide a sufficient basis on which to make an investment decision. This document is provided for educational purposes only. Discussions of current or former BuildGroup portfolio companies are intended for educational and discussion purposes only. Any portfolio company so discussed has been selected based on objective, non-performance based criteria.

This content does not constitute or form part of an offer of any investment advisory services of BuildGroup Management, LLC, nor does it constitute or form part of an offer to issue or sell, or of a solicitation of an offer to subscribe or buy, any securities or other financial instruments, nor does it constitute a financial promotion, investment advice or an inducement or incitement to participate in any product, offering or investment.

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