My two families

Back from maternity leave & the importance of equal parental leave

I can’t believe it’s been four months since I took a leave from Lightspeed to have my son, Charlie. In some ways, it feels like only days have passed. In other ways, it feels like years.

After enduring a 50-hour labor (!) I have a new-found appreciation for mothers across the world. My Partners, Jana and Meredith, also had babies during Covid and I am grateful that I got to share this experience with others in our work family.

Equal maternity and paternity leave

In the Netherlands they give 2 years parental leave to be split between 2 parents and they decide themselves how to split it. A friend’s toddler asked her mother the other day why I worked and asked “is she the daddy because only daddies work”. I want to live in a world where children know that they can do anything they want in this world and it’s a level playing field. Offering equal maternity and paternity leave is one of the first steps towards this.

At Lightspeed, we provide four+ months paid parental leave, for new fathers as well as mothers. While it’s not the Netherlands…that’s still unfortunately pretty rare. Only 40% of companies offer parental leave of some kind and the vast majority of those only offer maternity leave. In our Lightspeed Diversity & Inclusion group, a team which has been meeting monthly for 4 years now, one of our areas of focus is parents in the workplace. After all, creating an equal world starts with our children.

I think a lot of our work in this area has to do with the fact that we have 8 U.S. female Partners (all check writers) and many male allies! Compare that to the rest of the Valley, where only 9 percent of tech VCs are women, and 75 percent of firms have no female partners at all. This needs to change.

Helping hands

At Lightspeed we are very hands on. I mean that in the best possible way — we’re not trying to run people’s companies for them, but we do like to help in areas that move the needle. I speak with each of the founders in my portfolio at least once a week so being out for four months was a big change.

Another thing I deeply appreciate is the tremendous support I’ve received from our team while on leave. I am immensely grateful to my Partners Mercedes Bent, Alex Taussig, Ashley Brasier, Jeremy Liew, and Nicole North for pitching in — calling founders, attending some board meetings, sitting in on interviews with job candidates, doing all the things that come with being a partner at Lightspeed.

It’s one of the reasons why I consider Lightspeed my second family. We collaborate and support each other. When any employee needs to go on parental leave, or has a family emergency or a personal health issue, they know they don’t have to worry, because someone else at Lightspeed has their back.

Hitting the ground strolling

Have I mentioned how excited I am to be back on the job? (And not just for the opportunity to have a conversation that doesn’t revolve around diapers, sleep, or milk.)

It’s going to be different. I used to get on a plane at least once a week to visit with founders. Like everyone else, I’ll be living on Zoom, but able to say hello to baby Charlie in a break (a rare silver lining in this 2020 world).

Even so, I still think it’s important to meet with founders in person; it’s the only way to get a real feel for the people we’ll be working with so closely. But instead of lunch meetings we’ll be going on socially distanced walks, with and without the stroller.

Taking action

In an industry still dominated by men, I appreciate how Lightspeed has embraced gender diversity as a core value of the firm. And I’d like to echo my friend in our VC moms group Anarghya Vardhana, a partner at Maveron, which invested with Lightspeed in Illumix, to offer a shout out to all the ‘badass mamas’ in VC who’ve also given birth during COVID.

Despite all the insanity of the past year (is it really still 2020?) I am optimistic about the future. After this experience with baby Charlie, I can’t imagine not having at least a few months leave for both parents, I understand it’s currently a privilege. But should it be?

With the founders that I work with I’m going to make the case that taking the time to become a parent is as necessary as growth or profitability. Join me.