Voices of Women in Venture 🌊

Deena Shakir is a General Partner at Lux Capital, a firm founded in 2000 and has since raised $2.5 billion. Lux invests in emerging science and deep technology startups such as Auris Health, Cerulean, Zoox, and Bright Machines.

Deena graduated from Harvard undergrad and began her career as a presidential management fellow at the US Department of State, where she built partnerships with tech companies and helped launch President Obama’s global entrepreneurship summit in 2010.

She then joined Google, where she led business development and strategic partnerships for their global civic innovation portfolio before shifting to the investment side at Google Ventures (GV).

In 2019 Deena joined Lux Capital and focuses on companies that are seeking to provide solutions to improve human & environmental health, and productivity.

We covered several topics on the show, including: 

01:12- Deena’s background as the daughter of Iraqi immigrants in California and her early career in journalism and government

08:17 - What prompted her move to GV to Lux

12:35 - What is the behavior trait that drives Lux as a firm

16:39 - How Lux makes decisions as a partnership

18:30 - Why portfolio management is a team sport at Lux.

22:12 - Establishing a company culture and hiring employees that will fit within it.

25:46 - What growth in fund size means in dictating strategy and mindset.

31:12 - Data on diversity in venture is the first step in overcoming unconscious bias 

37:03 - Deena’s biggest career mistake and what she learned about it.

38:38 - Her advice for starting your own fund

40:29: Why Maha Ibrahim of Canaan Ventures is one of Deena’s role models

Mentioned in this episode:

* Lux Capital

* Deena’s article in Forbes, Unlocking a Post-COVID Start-Up “She-Covery”

I’d love to know what you took away from my conversation with Deena Shakir. 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

Sarah Chen is many things but she is above all. a powerful advocate & role model for women empowerment. She is the co-founder of Lean In Malaysia, which boasts over 5,000 women within the network, bringing women back into the workforce, accelerating women into leadership positions. And also sits on multiple boards including 131 & counting, which is a bipartisan effort to fete the unprecedented number of women serving in the House and Senate, to encourage more women to run for office in the United States.

Sarah is also a global investment professional. She previously worked in the corporate venture capital unit of Sime Darby, a $13 billion Asian conglomerate investing in late-stage biotech stageups, and is now the co-founder and managing partner of The Billion Dollar Fund for Women: a global consortium of venture capital funds that have now pledged beyond US$1Bn to be invested into women-founded companies; now known as Beyond The Billion. Specifically, she works with limited partner investors to diversify their portfolio through venture as a returns strategy.

In addition, Sarah was named World Economic Forum Young Global Leader and Forbes 30 Under 30, and has also been featured amongst others on Der Spiegel, the Wall Street Journal and Forbes.

But what is her story? 

In this STIMY Episode, we explore:

• 4:27: Her parent’s parenting style of “dream big, aim high”;
• 5:43: Becoming a national child TV host for the Golden Kids Club on TV2 RTM (a Malaysian channel) at the age of 9;
• 8:49: How Sarah’s dad gave her the push she needed to audition for the Golden Kids Club;
• 10:42: Family dinner conversations that included listening to her dad advise her mom on her career;
• 14:17: The ping pong competition story;
• 18:54: How Sarah was told, “Hey as a girl, I think you’re too ambitious” 
• 21:11: Why Sarah did law at King’s College London;
• 26:27: Why Sarah ended up being the interim director of MRI Network at the age of 21;
• 30:25: How Sarah ended up working in the corporate venture capital unit of Sime Darby (p/s: by taking initiative & asking for a coffee chat!);
• 35:41: Appearing on the reality TV Show, The Apartment, with her brother (Chef Brian Cheng);
• 39:40: Becoming aware of women doing the work, but not getting the recognition for it;
• 40:40: Of how no matter how good a woman is at her job, “she was not good enough unless she had a ring on her finger”;
• 50:03: How Sarah met Shelly Porges, who became her co-founder of the Billion Dollar Fund;
• 52:05: The state of the VC industry in 2017;
• 1:03:02: The reception they got at the World Bank when the Billion Dollar Fund was launched in October 2018;
• 1:04:23: Key misconceptions people have about gender diversification in investments;
• 1:07:58: How they gained public attention on the Billion Dollar Fund’s mission;
• 1:10:08: The role of Billion Dollar Breakfast events & how the Billion Dollar Fund helps female entrepreneurs;
• 1:14:12: The difference between an LP (Limited Partner) and a GP (General Partner);
• 1:17:49: Impact of COVID-19 on the venture capital space;

đŸŽ™ïžShow notes: https://www.sothisismywhy.com/23

Hear Priscilla's story of pure hustle and passion, breaking into the VC industry and continuing to follow her heart to create impact. 

Priscilla is currently a Senior Associate at True Ventures, SF. She was the first Priya Haji Fellow with the fund, where she worked with a True portfolio company Ginger.io, a wellness platform for on-demand coaching and therapy. Priscilla is actively involved as a member of the data science team with All Raise - an organization that seeks to create gender parity across venture capital and venture-backed businesses. In her personal capacity, she is a mentor with the Access Project - which is a group of investment professionals helping founders build companies. Priscilla has a bachelor’s degree in economics and French from Amherst College, where she was a member of the varsity women’s lacrosse team.

In this episode we talk to Kriti about her experience in venture capital across three continents, trends in Edtech as seen at Owl amid the pandemic and her take on diversity in the industry.

Kriti is currently a Principal at Owl Ventures, an early-mid stage fund focusing on Edtech and future of work. She has also worked with the Softbank Vision Fund in London doing growth equity investing and was earlier doing early stage to series C stage investing in technology, consumer and healthcare spaces at Sequoia Capital, India. Kriti is a former consultant from Mckinsey and a graduate of Harvard Business School. 

Interview begins: 7:10
Debrief begins: 44:55

Kate Shillo Beardsley is the Managing Partner of Upslope Ventures.

Formerly known as Galvanize Ventures, Upslope Ventures is committed to investing in early stage startups. Located in Denver, they look for startups throughout the country and currently have a hand in ten U.S. markets.

Having unknowingly entered venture capital in the late 2010s, Kate Shillo Beardsley has been instrumental in some major investments done in the late 2000s and early 2010s. She discusses her passion for early stage investing and how the landscape has changed since she started.

We discuss:

Upslope Ventures was founded in 2014 (as Galvanize Ventures) and based in Denver, Colorado.

Learn more about Upslope Ventures: https://www.upslope.vc/
Follow upside on Twitter: https://twitter.com/upsidefm
Take the listener survey: https://upside.fm/survey
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This episode is sponsored by Integrity Power Search, the #1 full stack high growth startup recruiting firm between the coasts. They partner with venture capitalists, private equity groups and CEOs to build amazing teams for the world’s most disrupting companies.

Learn more about or get in touch with Integrity Power Search: https://upside.fm/integrity

Welcome to our very first LIVE PODCAST, where you, the listeners, get to ask your questions live to our podcast guest and enjoy listening back later! As part of our series of resources to help founders on the fundraise during the Covid-19 crisis, we are delighted to be joined by Laura Connell, Principal at Europe's Leading Tech VC - Balderton Capital - to share her take on the impact the pandemic is having on fundraising now, and what founders can do to keep going and navigate this black swan event. Seize the opportunities available to you now! Learn more from Laura in this episode and our shownotes here: https://bit.ly/Ep13InvestHerPodcast

From the gig economy to the passion economy, changing consumer values are inspiring new brands and business models for creators. 

Today we’re seeing the emergence of yet another model that’s challenging traditional work - something that VC and Level Ventures partner Sari Azout calls the participatory economy - where fans actually participate in a creator’s success. 

This model, along with the others, all boil down to customer happiness. 

Customer happiness may sound trite but it’s likely not what you think it is. It’s definitely not as simple as you think it is. And considering that the user is changing, it’s also something you can’t afford to overlook.

We also speak with Ty Givens, customer experience strategist and founder of the WorkforcePro, about engineering the human connection that turns customers and users into fans.

Ty talks about how leaders can truly make customer happiness core to their brands and the second order effects that it can have on the company, its employees, and the overall landscape. 

Links to interesting things mentioned in this episode and further reading:

• Creator Economy to Participatory Economy (Check Your Pulse #48)
• The Creative Economy, We're Not Really Strangers, and the Immediacy Filter (Check Your Pulse #34)
• On Intentional Work, Level Ventures, and What I’m Investing In (Sari Azout on Medium)
• Customers 2020 - A Progress Report (Walker)
• The Passion Economy and the Future of Work (a16z)
• How the Passion Economy will disrupt media, education, and countless other industries (Li’s Newsletter)
• Unbundling Work from Employment (Li’s Newsletter)
• Clean color brand Kosas leans further into personal care (Glossy)

Check out our website for more brand strategy thinking, and come connect with us on Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

My guest this week is Sarah Tavel, a general partner at Benchmark, working alongside past guests Bill Gurley and Chetan Puttagunta. Sarah has a long history as both an investor and as an operator.  She was an early product leader at Pinterest before joining Benchmark. Sarah has become one of my go-to resources for topics like networks, consumer technology, and marketplaces among many other topics. I’ve used her framework for how to think about client engagement, company data, and marketplace liquidity and quality over and over again in my business life. I’m so excited to finally have her on the show.  Please enjoy our conversation.

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast.

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub.

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

 

Show Notes

1:24 – (First question) - Lessons learned from watching the food delivery space

5:44 – Hip camp and how they are thinking about the space rental sector

            5:45 - The a16z Marketplace 100

7:47 – Valuing private companies vs public companies

9:37 – Building marketplaces

14:24 – Tipping a market

            14:30 – Bill Gurley Podcast Episode

18:09 – How to incorporate reputation scores into a network

19:55 – Search ranking as a tool for marketplaces

21:00 – Size of marketplaces vs their competitors

22:15 – Niching of marketplaces

            22:21 - Chetan Puttagunta Podcast Episode

23:26 – State of the consumer social sector

27:50 – The LinkedIn problem and how she would build a social platform

30:42 – Things that are piquing her interest in the consumer space

32:20 – Lessons learned about scaling while working at Pinterest

38:42 – Pricing and the marketplace

41:25 – Identifying and optimizing a Core Action in a digital business

44:18 – Accruing benefits and mounting losses as part of the product design

47:48 – Her investment in Reci

52:18 – How should companies gather the best data from their business

56:03 – Lessons to SaaS investing

56:29 – Kindest thing anyone has done for Sarah

57:45 – Most interesting philosophy lesson

            58:09 – Creating a Kingdom of Ends

 

Learn More

For more episodes go to InvestorFieldGuide.com/podcast. 

Sign up for the book club, where you’ll get a full investor curriculum and then 3-4 suggestions every month at InvestorFieldGuide.com/bookclub

Follow Patrick on Twitter at @patrick_oshag

In this episode, we hosted a panel on the future of investing from a LP. perspective. The panel was hosted by the amazing Female Founders Fund at an event in san Francisco on Monday, March 11th.

You’re going to get to hear from three experts in the LP world today on their thoughts of what’s to come to 2019, diversity in the LP world and what makes a successful LP.

The panel included Lo Toney, former partner at Google Ventures and now the managing Founder of Plexo Capital, second is Lisa Edgar - Managing Director @ Top Tier Capital Partners and David DiPeitro - Portfolio Director @ Greenspring Associates

Lo Toney

LIsa Edgar

David DiPeitro