# How Solai Valliappan learned to love being a board chair

Page: https://stenobird.com/podcast/take-on-board-886092/how-solai-valliappan-learned-to-love-being-a-board-chair
Text version: https://stenobird.com/podcast/take-on-board-886092/how-solai-valliappan-learned-to-love-being-a-board-chair.md
Podcast: [Take on Board](https://stenobird.com/podcast/take-on-board-886092)
Published: 2026-02-24T13:00:00+00:00
Episode link: https://shows.acast.com/takeonboard/episodes/699c9cf1e58ea9113833b122
Audio file: https://sphinx.acast.com/p/open/s/62ee92f069245300142d0a91/e/699c9cf1e58ea9113833b122/media.mp3
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JSON: https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/take-on-board-886092/episodes/how-solai-valliappan-learned-to-love-being-a-board-chair
Duration seconds: 1631

## Resource

Today on the Take On Board podcast, I'm speaking with Solai Valliappan about learning how to be a board chair. Solai is a Sydney-based technology investor, advisor, and board director. Starting her career as an Actuary, she transitioned into the startup world 10 years ago. She has been leveraging her finance expertise to advise family offices, venture capital firms, accelerators, and startups across Australia, including investing as an angel investor. She discusses the importance of structure, feedback, and clear boundaries between governance and operations, especially within small organizations and not-for-profits. Solai emphasizes learning on the job, drawing on resources like podcasts and peer feedback, and encourages others to take on new challenges in board leadership. Links and Resources Solai on LinkedIn Solai's Substack Solai's YouTube Upcoming TOB Events All events You might want to: Join the Take on Board Facebook community Join the Take on Board LinkedIn community Follow along on Twitter Work with me Join the Take on Board: Kickstarter group program Join the Take on Board: Accelerator group program Find out more about me Contact me Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

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## Transcript

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