The VC Champions — building a more diverse VC community.
The newest All Raise initiative
A core focus of All Raise is increasing the percentage of senior level female check writers at firms. Reaching this goal requires a significant number of women to rise to the senior ranks of venture partnerships. In thinking through how to get there, we began to ask some of the investors we most admire what their own paths have looked like. The stories we heard were inspiring and remarkably consistent — they almost all involved people who had existing platforms and experience taking bets on and opening doors for someone they had grown to trust, respect, and believe in. Often times it was described with a sense of serendipity or luck; always it involved people who had both capability and interest in helping them succeed.
These findings aren’t surprising. It is well known that venture capital is a relationship and network-driven business. The heart of our industry is people — the ones in our partnerships, the founders we invest in, and teams they build to execute the products that shift our world. Access to these people is at the heart of finding success. Sometimes this means access to deals; other times it means access to advice, learnings, new communities and talent pools, or new job opportunities.
At the same time, we know that, on their own, networks trend toward being homogeneous. In the same way employers tend to hire individuals like themselves, people are susceptible to the same unconscious bias when building their networks. With an industry where decision makers are 91% male, it wouldn’t be surprising if, left alone, future networks look as uniform as past. And this disparity extends to other historically underrepresented groups as well, including people of color. So we began to wonder if we could help the next generation of investors currently rising up the ranks find the same lucky encounters and meaningful relationships that the investors we admire often credit with success. Could we improve the odds that this next generation of star VCs find the same serendipity with people who have both platform and desire to help?
This is why we are thrilled to announce our newest All Raise initiative, The VC Champions. The program will pair rising investors with male and female General Partners for one-on-one meetings each quarter, for a total of four during the year. General Partners will be drawn from VC firms across the nation, including First Round, Spark, Foundry, Bessemer, IVP and more, specializing in all funding stages and sectors. We will start focused on principal-level talent and senior GP matches. All of these GPs are not only seasoned but particularly excited about helping the next wave of talent succeed. The next phases of the program will address VPs, associates, and analysts, and also include a larger group of GPs.
When we asked this group of GPs to reflect on their biggest professional champions, the idea of feeling wildly lucky to have been in the right place, at the right moment to develop these meaningful relationships shone through. But so did the desire to pass on that type of opportunity that they were so grateful to receive. We are excited to help that happen with this program.
So, are you a principal level investor who is female or from an underrepresented group? If so, come join us! If you’d like to apply, please go HERE to learn more. We cannot wait to meet you.
Meet some of our VC Champions and the people they credit most for furthering their careers:
AILEEN LEE, COWBOY VENTURES
Aileen’s Champions: Mickey Drexler (former CEO, Gap Inc) and John Doerr (KPCB)
Their championship story: Many people have taken chances on me. The most publicly notable are Mickey and John. Mickey selected me to be his Chief of Staff when I was at Gap, which gave me the opportunity to learn from him, work with incredible people across every function, and understand how a successful public retailer is run. And John and the KP team took a risk hiring me from Gap. I had no VC-backed tech experience, and was the youngest and the first woman on our tech investment team. It hasn’t always been easy being the only in many situations, but I’m super grateful the team gave me a break into VC.
BIJAN SABET, SPARK CAPITAL
Bijan’s Champion: Santo Polito, his partner at Spark
Their championship story: We had met at Charles River Ventures when Santo was a GP and I was an EIR. I didn’t have any investing experience previously but he took a chance on me when he asked me to be his partner in a new venture firm.
BRAD FELD, FOUNDRY
Brad’s Champion: Len Fassler, co-chairman of Ameridata where Len acquired Brad’s first company, Feld Technologies. Later, co-founder and co-chairman of Interliant with Brad
Their championship story: Len has been my canonical example of a mentor. I was 28 when Ameridata acquired Feld Technologies. Len took me under his wing, taught me how to do deals, showed me what it was like to relate to and engage with people at a totally different level, and completely changed the trajectory of how I worked and what I aspired to.
BRIAN SINGERMAN, FOUNDERS FUND
Brian’s Champion: Steve Anderson (Baseline) and Sean Parker (Founders Fund)
Their championship story: Steve helped me get into my first investment, Heroku. I met him through Ron Conway when they were working together. It was 2006 and I was an engineer at Google. I said I’d help them with their tech diligence if they showed me their dealflow! Sean and I met when I was discussing engineering management with the Causes team. He taught me joining Founders Fund would be a better fit!
BYRON DEETER, BESSEMER VENTURE PARTNERS
Byron’s Champion: Bob White, Chief of Staff to CA’s Governor
Their Championship Story: Taught the importance of relationships in management. People matter more than numbers. He inspired me to be aggressive and think big. We met during an extensive application and interview process to intern at the State Capitol.
CRAIG SHERMAN, MERITECH
Craig’s Champion: Sue Trizila, his first boss out of college, and Jim Barnett, who hired him at ThirdAge Media
Their championship story: When Sue first hired me she told me I should go on at least 4 interviews a year. Of course she wanted me to stay at her company, but more importantly she wanted me to explore and learn to recognize my own interests and forge the ideal career path for me. Sue was ambitious and demanding but she conveyed in actions and words that she cared for me — I was more than just as an instrument for her — or her company’s success. That was tremendously inspiring. Jim taught me that you can be both hard-headed and soft-hearted. Until then, I thought that the win-at-all-costs capitalist startup style was necessary to business success. Jim showed me that being excellent is orthogonal to being kind. You can do both and he gave me the courage to try never to sacrifice the latter in pursuit of the former.
JOSH KOPELMAN, FIRST ROUND CAPITAL
Josh’s Champion: Howard Morgan, his cofounder at First Round Capital
Their championship story: Howard was the first angel investor in my first startup. He was the first person to believe in the company and our crazy ideas. He took me seriously when few others did. And when I was thinking about starting First Round, Howard was my first call to be my partner.
JOSH WOLFE, LUX CAPITAL
Josh’s Champion: Bill Conway, Founder and CIO of The Carlyle Group
Their championship story: I ascribe a lot of success to luck, what I call ‘randomness and optionality’. Meeting Bill was lucky. But more lucky was his choice to believe in and back me. I will never know the confluence of hidden circumstances like Bill’s mood or if he just got off a call and had positive family or business news or if he just had a great meal that put him in a receptive mindset to entertain a totally naive ambitious younger me, but he inflected the trajectory of my life in way I could never have predicted. For him it was a meeting. For me it was life changing. And I’ll never forget it.
JULES MALTZ, IVP
Jules’s Champion: Robin Murray, GP at Adams Street Partners
Their championship story: He hired me in 2004 and I worked with him for three years as an associate. He is still the hardest interview I’ve ever had (and I thought I bombed it). Robin taught me everything I know about venture capital. He combines optimism and a positive attitude with deep critical thinking and analytical rigor. He’s incredible at finding the 2–3 questions to ask to help you decide whether to invest or not. I still remember the first meeting we did together and his feedback to be decisive (even though I was only 24 years old) and also humble (knowing that we are often wrong.)
MAMOON HAMID, KLEINER PERKINS
Mamoom’s Champion: Irwin Federman
Their Championship Story: He gave me feedback (with love) and advice that no one ever gave me. He was one of the partners I worked for at USVP — my first venture job out of business school.
MARK SUSTER, UPFRONT VENTURES
Mark’s Champion: His mom
Their championship story: From the youngest age I remember watching my mom launch businesses, take on leadership positions in non-profits and fight against the traditional power structures to achieve what she wanted. When I was in college my mom launched a second career after my parents divorced and I saw her overcome the biases of a middle-aged employee learning a new trade and climbing up the hierarchy of a pharmaceutical company. She taught me the most important lessons of tenacity and persistence. My mom bought our first computer in 1984 and encouraged me to learn programming. She took me out of the country to see the world and encouraged me to live and work abroad. I learned the importance of “modeling” and to this day I try to do business calls in front of my boys so that they value hard work and understand the kinds of interactions one has in business.
RENATA QUINTINI, LUX CAPITAL
Renata’s Champion: John Powers, former CEO of the Stanford Management Company
Their Championship Story: I’ll never forget our coffee meeting at Peet’s in Pac Heights in the summer of 2007. I was about to start my second year at Stanford Business School and was on a (many would say impossible) mission to get into VC. JP saw beyond the resume and believed in my potential. He offered me a job at the endowment, but more than that, he cared about my success. I learned a ton from him about managing a portfolio, what makes for a successful, enduring firm, and what it means to be a partner — of capital and ideas. JP’s championship changed everything for me — and for that I’m truly grateful.
SATYA PATEL, HOMEBREW
Satya’s Champion: Gokul Rajaram
Their Championship Story: Gokul gave me the opportunity to be a lead PM at Google and entrusted me with several major initiatives within the ads business. He was and remains a steadfast advocate, a thoughtful mentor and a stellar friend. Gokul and I met during the interview process at Google.
