From Georgia to the United States, spanning early-stage startups to some of the world’s most demanding companies, Nata Kavtaradze’s story is driven by curiosity, strategic risk-taking, and a constant desire to push beyond familiar boundaries. Her decisions were less about changing locations and more about seizing the right moments to grow.
By Kakhi Chakvetadze
After gaining experience in Georgia’s business environment, Nata pursued a top-tier international education, entered Amazon’s corporate ecosystem, and continued experimenting with entrepreneurship along the way. The common thread throughout her journey was a belief that progress is rarely linear and that one must develop skills that remain constant even as the context changes.
America had long represented a space of possibility for Nata. After completing her studies at Free University’s ESM faculty and spending five years working in the Georgian market, she felt the need to test her experience against a broader, more competitive environment. “I always wanted to have an international master’s degree and to compare my Georgian experience with global standards,” she says. That motivation eventually led her to the United States, where she enrolled in a master’s program after carefully timing the move to align with her professional growth.
Her studies at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business became a defining chapter. Booth is widely considered one of the world’s top business schools. This reputation was confirmed in 2023, the year Nata graduated, when it was ranked the best business school in the United States by U.S. News. “As one of my professors used to say, the view from the top of the mountain is different,” she recalls. “It was truly a transformative experience.” Long nights and pressure were part of the process, but, as she puts it, that intensity is inseparable from the appeal of a top business school.
What made Booth stand out to her was not only the academic framework but also the people. Learning extended far beyond lectures, shaped equally by classmates and professors with diverse professional backgrounds and global perspectives. Traveling together, exchanging ideas outside the classroom, and participating in clubs and events helped expand her network—something she considers one of the most valuable outcomes of the experience. “Your circle changes, and that changes how you think,” she notes.
Entrepreneurship, however, had been part of her identity long before Chicago. Early in her career, Nata worked across finance, consulting, and market research, gaining exposure at organizations such as EY, Liberty Bank, and McDonald’s. Yet the idea of building something of her own remained constant. She was drawn to the challenge of creating something valuable, a project people could unite around, and trusted her instincts in management, planning, and execution.
Her first startup emerged from a moment of observation rather than a grand plan. While having lunch with colleagues, she noticed her manager struggling to hand over keys to tourists staying at his Airbnb property. The need was obvious, and timing felt critical. “I knew if I didn’t act fast, someone else would,” she explains. That decision marked the beginning of her entrepreneurial journey, followed by ventures such as Delloway, Georgia’s first integrated booking platform, and later Higher, an HR-focused technology startup built with an international team.
Reflecting on these experiences, she emphasizes the value of learning through action. Quoting Warren Buffett and Kakha Bendukidze, Nata sees failed or imperfect investments as tuition fees rather than losses. “In the worst case, you learn,” she says. “And learning always has value.”
This philosophy also shapes how she approaches decision-making in practice. Rather than waiting for perfect information, she learned to work within uncertainty, especially in moments when decisions could not be postponed. Business school did not offer ready-made answers but helped her develop ways of thinking. These frameworks — or, as they are called at Amazon, “mechanisms” — provide structure when certainty is unavailable.
Today, Nata works as a Pathways Operations Manager at Amazon in New York State, where she leads large, cross-functional teams and oversees complex operational planning. She describes this chapter as another of her life’s highlights. “Working alongside exceptional leaders every day pushes you to grow constantly,” she says. Amazon’s “Day 1 mentality,” operating with the urgency and mindset of a startup regardless of scale, closely aligns with her own approach.
She characterizes Amazon’s culture as people-centric and guided by its 16 leadership principles. Teams are highly professional, ownership is expected, and accountability is embedded in daily work. This sense of responsibility mirrors the mindset she developed through entrepreneurship. Corporate roles and personal ventures, she believes, do not compete but reinforce one another. Maintaining balance between the two is essential, a principle she credits to her mother’s emphasis on moderation. Experience gained in startups sharpened her sense of ownership in corporate environments, reinforced by advice from her first manager: make decisions as if her name were on the building.
For those who dream of pursuing an international education or building a career abroad but see it as unattainable, Nata’s message is grounded in hindsight. “Now, it feels more realistic to imagine flying to Mars than it did years ago to believe I could get into a top global master’s program,” she admits. “Now that I have walked that path, it seems far more accessible.”
As for goals, her outlook has evolved. Rather than focusing on rigid milestones, she prioritizes continuous growth. Long term, she does not shy away from ambition: becoming a Fortune 500 CEO remains within her field of vision. At the same time, she embraces a broader philosophy, aiming high, repeating the effort daily, and allowing consistency to turn aspiration into probability.
S
