DAVOS, Switzerland Silvia Console Battilana is only 33-years-old but she is already the CEO and cofounder of the Silicon Valley-based company Auctionomics, which combines economic theory and online auctions.Auctionomicsis a service company thatallows websites to offer more complex auctions.She is also the cofounder of Xswana non-profit organisation that raises money usinginvite only social auctions online.Battilana spoke to Business Insider about her companies and howshe came up with the idea for her groups.Lianna Brinded: Tell me how Auctionomics was created and how you become a co-founder of a company at such a young age.Silvia Console Battilana:You might recall the days of TARP, the treasury bail out. At the timemy co-founder, Paul Milgrom, the godfather of auction theoryworldwide, had asked me for coffee to ask if I wanted to start acompany with him. He had invented a brilliant new auction design (the Milgrom assignment auction) and wanted to make a software company outof it. I vividly remember the Coupa Caf coffee table where the conversation took place.I obviously agreed and we would probably have started very slowly ifTARP had not happened. Within days the US Treasury was on the phonewith us and wanted help designing an auction. There was lot ofexcitement, we quickly incorporated, booked a big office space andstarted recruiting.As you well know the big banks were against an auction so it did notmaterialize, however that excitement and thought of being able toshape markets with auctions it something that stayed with us.I am Italian, so I am used to a culture that is much more macho thanthe Valley.LB: How and why do you think this partnership happened'SCB:The journey has been complex. Paul had decided to pick a smart andvery active recent PhD graduate instead of an experiencedentrepreneur. That is the way the valley works, you place bets basedon your gut. I had started a different test prep education companyduring my Phd years, and had also founded endless organisations fromscratch: Stanford rotaract, the political economics group whichincluded Harvard, Princeton and MIT students, a project in India toget water wells to remote villages, a project to bring computers toBulgaria, a project to bring eye doctors to Panama and so on. I hadlived in remote warrior village tribes in the jungle so probably I wasfit for the big dollars jungle of business. So I had the "pedigree."Yet auctions was something I was not familiar with, and handlingbillion dollar projects with only academics and no business people tostart with was challenging at the beginning.LB: Auctionomics is based in Palo Alto Silicon Valley. There is still a dearth of women in tech out there, what is your experience with this'SCB:I am Italian, so I am used to a culture that is much more macho thanthe Valley. I have always found the Valley to be a place where smartwomen are listened to, no matter how young they are. I have a funnystory for you. The year I became CEO of my company I was a VisitingProfessor in Bocconi University for a semester. I went to a bank tocash out money with my ATM. The machine ate my card. So I went in andasked them to return the card and give me 400. "It is notpossible," they said. "Call the director," I answered.So given where I come from culturally, I truly appreciate how you aretaken very seriously in the Valley if you know what you are talkingabout.Nothing. I call my father, who lives in another city and within 15 minutes the directorcomes out with an envelope with the money, saying to please call uponhim for anything I needThe power of a male over 50 years old. It was my money,and my bank account.So given where I come from culturally, I truly appreciate how you aretaken very seriously in the Valley if you know what you are talkingabout. There is no dismissing you because you are female.And beingyoung is a plus.That said, I host small off the record events for female entrepreneursand top executives and hear that in the venture capitalworld it is still a littlemacho and old school.LB: I've met several young and successful female entrepreneurs in Davos this year but outside WEF, men still outweigh the proportion of women in STEM (science, tech, engineering, maths). Naturally we have to get more women into these subject at an early agebut how do you do that'SCB:I really believe positive female role models are essential. When I wasgrowing up in Italy most of the girls wanted to be "veline," which ishalf dressed television hosts in a famous show we had. That was theambition. Being exposed to female role models that are entrepreneursor technical and are cool is really essential. That is why the workfellow Young Global Leader Sheryl Sandberg is doing with stockpictures and advertising is very important.Exposing girls from ayoung age to the possibility of them being anything they want to be,including mathematicians, doctors, entrepreneurs, is key.There is a group of WEFparticipants called global shapers, leadersunder the age of 30. I love to see their drive. Nothing is impossible,and there seems to be no gender for them. It gives me hope. Thingsunfortunately get rough at the C-suite level. My friends who are atthat level in big public companies have to double prove themselves.And that of course trickles down.LB:In what ways can companieshelp to allow women to flourish in tech'SCB:Another movement that I find really fundamental in allowing women toraise in business is the support of the male partner in raising kids.I was very lucky to have a supportive husband who does his half. He's a verypresent father. If I have a business deal far away from home I knowthe kids have him. Mark Zuckerberg took his four months of paternityleave, sending a great message. I truly believe that paternity leave isa big answer to changing the balance: the global shapers have all theenergy of the world, however maternity takes a hit on business womenin societies that rely purely on the mother for child caring.I have built my company around delivery instead of being at an office.My team is spread internationally and gets together when we have bigprojects. They can do their work from wherever they want as long asthey deliver. If they have kids we pay them one month of night nanny(to fathers or mothers). They do not have to choose between career orquality of life. If we are on a big project that takes them far fromhome for months, we fly their family in, kids and parents. This hasallowed us to retain top talent: they can be at the top of the fieldwithout having to sacrifice their family. This is of course great forwomen who want to be present while still having a career. I think thefuture is going in this direction with the sharing economy. Being inan office and working 9 to 5 will probably be eliminated with virtualreality.Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: A Harvard business professor explains a legal form of 'insider trading' in America
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