On November 6, 2026, BSU Electronics CEO Leyla Sudbury joined the Women in ETA panel at The University of Texas at Austin’s Robert Rowling Hall: one stage, four women who run or are buying businesses, and a morning of unusually honest conversation.
The panel was moderated by Jeanne Wang, Founder and Managing Partner of Village Search Partners, with Kinza Azmat (Chief), Siri Chakka (ServiceFactor) and Bhavana Brar (Rorion Capital).
How do you know you’re ready?
The question the panel kept returning to was how you know you’re ready to run a business. Leyla’s answer: nobody truly knows in advance. The useful question is whether you know what you don’t know, and whether you’ll go and learn from the people who do.
“My first six months were mostly listening,” she said, “to the team, to customers, to advisors and to the former owners who had between them run our company continuously since 1989.”
Being a woman in engineering and manufacturing
The panel also talked about being a woman in manufacturing and engineering more broadly. Leyla’s advice: you’re going to be memorable either way, so make sure it’s for the right things, and have the resilience to accept it when you get it wrong.
Thank you to Jeanne Wang for moderating, to Kinza Azmat, Siri Chakka and Bhavana Brar, and to the GWIB and Texas ETA Club teams for putting it together. More rooms like this one, please.
Frequently asked questions
- What is ETA?
- Entrepreneurship through acquisition: buying and running an existing small business rather than starting one. Leyla Sudbury acquired BSU Electronics, an Austin manufacturer that has been assembling electronics in the U.S. since 1989.
