Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.
We’re so pleased to bring you my discussion with Monique Woodard of Cake Ventures, a seed-stage firm investing in demographic change. To date, Monique has invested in startups such as Blavity, Court Buddy, Mented Cosmetics, and Silvernest.
Cake Ventures invests in a thesis that is based on a “three-layer” philosophy that the future of technology is being driven by certain major shifts:
* The aging Baby Boomer population
* The shift of minorities driving culture
* The increased spending power of women.
Monique herself has a diverse background in government, venture capital and inclusive entrepreneurship. She was previously venture partner at 500 Startups, an investment scout for Lightspeed Ventures, and she is also the co-founder of Black Founders.
We chat about a wide-range of topics, from her work in Sub-Saharan Africa, why she chose to start her own fund vs joining a large fund, raising capital, and the importance of building community in venture.
A message from our sponsor
Standish is the largest provider of fund administration services to Venture Capital funds globally. Currently, we serve approximately 750 Venture Capital funds and have more than $150 billion in committed capital under administration.
Standish has been designed by experienced Chief Financial Officers with a deep understanding of the service needs of both finance departments and General Partners at every stage of the product life cycle. Standish can handle all of the needs of finance department so General Partners can focus on investing.
Standish is an employee owned company.
https://www.standishmanagement.com/
In this episode we discuss:
01:56 Monique’s journey into venture capital
04:26 Why she joined 500 Startups
06:51 Key insights on the globalization of startups from her time at 500 Startups
08:57 Transitioning from 500 Startups to Cake Ventures
11:10 The three layers of the Cake that form her thesis
13:39 Early days of Cake Ventures
17:30 Raising capital in a virtual environment
20:32 Institutionalizing yourself and your portfolio
22:52 Why Monique decided on being a solo GP
28:46 When you should think about bringing on additional partners
31:13 The future of diversity in the seed ecosystem
35:08 Monique’s biggest learning as an investor
37:00 Some missed opportunities
38:23 Inspirations in the investment community
Mentioned in this Episode
* Cake Ventures
* Gray New World - 2020 Report on Aging
* 500 Startups
I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Monique. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.
Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency
View all episodes
By Samir Kaji
4.9
8080 ratings
Follow me @samirkaji for my thoughts on the venture market, with a focus on the continued evolution of the VC landscape.
We’re so pleased to bring you my discussion with Monique Woodard of Cake Ventures, a seed-stage firm investing in demographic change. To date, Monique has invested in startups such as Blavity, Court Buddy, Mented Cosmetics, and Silvernest.
Cake Ventures invests in a thesis that is based on a “three-layer” philosophy that the future of technology is being driven by certain major shifts:
* The aging Baby Boomer population
* The shift of minorities driving culture
* The increased spending power of women.
Monique herself has a diverse background in government, venture capital and inclusive entrepreneurship. She was previously venture partner at 500 Startups, an investment scout for Lightspeed Ventures, and she is also the co-founder of Black Founders.
We chat about a wide-range of topics, from her work in Sub-Saharan Africa, why she chose to start her own fund vs joining a large fund, raising capital, and the importance of building community in venture.
A message from our sponsor
Standish is the largest provider of fund administration services to Venture Capital funds globally. Currently, we serve approximately 750 Venture Capital funds and have more than $150 billion in committed capital under administration.
Standish has been designed by experienced Chief Financial Officers with a deep understanding of the service needs of both finance departments and General Partners at every stage of the product life cycle. Standish can handle all of the needs of finance department so General Partners can focus on investing.
Standish is an employee owned company.
https://www.standishmanagement.com/
In this episode we discuss:
01:56 Monique’s journey into venture capital
04:26 Why she joined 500 Startups
06:51 Key insights on the globalization of startups from her time at 500 Startups
08:57 Transitioning from 500 Startups to Cake Ventures
11:10 The three layers of the Cake that form her thesis
13:39 Early days of Cake Ventures
17:30 Raising capital in a virtual environment
20:32 Institutionalizing yourself and your portfolio
22:52 Why Monique decided on being a solo GP
28:46 When you should think about bringing on additional partners
31:13 The future of diversity in the seed ecosystem
35:08 Monique’s biggest learning as an investor
37:00 Some missed opportunities
38:23 Inspirations in the investment community
Mentioned in this Episode
* Cake Ventures
* Gray New World - 2020 Report on Aging
* 500 Startups
I’d love to know what you took away from this conversation with Monique. Follow me @SamirKaji and give me your insights and questions with the hashtag #ventureunlocked. If you’d like to be considered as a guest or have someone you’d like to hear from (GP or LP), drop me a direct message on Twitter.
Podcast Production support provided by Agent Bee Agency
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