Creating Ripples of Change: Our Approach to the RippleX Fellowship and DEI Initiatives
Overview
At Ripple Ventures, we are passionate about increasing representation in the startup ecosystem, and it is a core value that drives everything we do. In the following, we share more about our RippleX Fellowship platform, namely the flagship fellowship program, fellow fund, and online course. We also highlight some measures we take to reduce bias in our recruitment process. The motivation of this article is to share with the community some ways our team has found success in addressing DEI, as well as our learnings and successes along the way.
We hope this piece serves as an encouragement to the venture community to explore proactive approaches to promoting diversity and inclusion. Transforming the mindset of the entire VC industry is a monumental undertaking. It requires a shift in not only the attitudes and behaviors of individual investors but also in the larger institutional structures that shape the industry. This process can be complex, time-consuming, and at times, daunting, but we’re here to tell you that it’s worth the effort. By working together, we can create a more equitable and inclusive industry that supports all founders and brings new and innovative ideas to the table.
What’s the RippleX Fellowship Program?
The RippleX Fellowship is a 16-week program designed to coach students about the intricacies of startup building and venture capital. We connect students across North America with a common interest in becoming better equipped as founders and aspiring VCs. It builds the skillset, knowledge, and network that otherwise are rare to acquire as a student. The program is run remotely in three cohorts a year, and we intake roughly 20 fellows from North America in each cohort.
Four years ago, Dominic Lau, Partner at Ripple Ventures, established the program due to personal challenges faced when attempting to break into venture capital. This fellowship aims to democratize access to startup resources by mentoring and fostering a community of entrepreneurs and aspiring investors.
To date, we’ve successfully run 13 cohorts (4+ years and counting) of the flagship program and created an impact with over 325 alumni. Our underserved founders have collectively raised over $50M in funding from top-tier VC funds after the program, and we’ve personally helped over 50 underserved students land VC roles as well. Each cohort has an ethnic diversity of 80% and a gender diversity of roughly 50%.
DEI is not just an initiative at our fund — it’s in our DNA and the results prove it.
Our Recruitment Process
We recognize the importance of reducing bias in the recruitment process. Firstly, it ensures that all candidates are given a fair and equal opportunity to be considered for the fellowship. This helps to attract a diverse pool of candidates, which makes for better, more holistic discussions in the cohort.
First Screening
In our first screening, our team splits up to review all written applications. If one of us knows an applicant, those relationships are made known and their candidacy will be passed on to another team member for review to remove bias. Our review team is composed entirely of people of color, and are gender diverse, who are also alumni of the fellowship.
We don’t look at school, and we don’t ask about GPAs, but instead, place a significantly larger premium on passion and effort in each application. For example, we look for involvement in the startup and VC ecosystem even if it’s on a student’s blog screening through the last YC batch talking about their favorite companies and why. You don’t need to have the job or capital to be a VC for 90% of the job — you can find and select companies publicly. You can talk with prospective customers as a founder without funding to discover the problem space deeper. We don’t look for formal experience, we look for effort and curiosity.
Second Round
We receive a ton of great applications, and after careful review, we select around half of them to move forward to the first-round interview. We ensure we provide all applicants with an equal opportunity to share their experiences, so they can bring a fresh perspective to the process. Additionally, we make it a point to have at least one female team member involved in this stage to ensure we’re promoting diversity and inclusivity.
During the interview, we ask everyone the same set of questions, and we focus on getting to know each person’s story and why they’re interested in building a venture-backed company or becoming a venture capitalist. We’re more interested in a candidate’s passion and drive than in their technical abilities or work experience. Our goal is to create a level playing field and identify candidates who have what it takes to thrive in the industry.
Final Interviews / Check
After first-round interviews, our team spends time discussing and vetting each candidate. We select roughly 30 candidates from the pool to join us for final interviews. It is an open conversation for us to learn more about how we can support them on their journey and their expectations for us throughout the program.
Lastly, our team deliberates and finalizes ~20 fellows that were most impressive throughout the selection process. Optimizing for unique backgrounds and personalities, diverse experiences, and various career aspirations, our next cohort is born.
Recruitment Data Across Cohorts
We spent the past year brainstorming and iterating on how we create the most unbiased recruitment process for our fellowship to give everyone an equal opportunity. We believe in transparency throughout our recruitment process, and we place a huge emphasis on eagerness to learn and the value we can bring to each candidate. In our past 13 cohorts, we have reached roughly 80% ethnic diversity, and roughly 50% gender diversity. We know we still have a long way to go, which is why we keep iterating and trying out new formats and structures for every cohort.
Going forward, we’re hoping to expand our presence into more HBCUs, Indigenous communities, smaller universities, and community colleges. If you have ideas on how we should approach this, or know anyone who may benefit from the fellowship — do get in touch with us and we’d love to hear from you!
Ripple’s Commitment to Diversity
Our commitment to diversity is seen across all our initiatives fund-wide. Here are some of the initaitves that we have going on:
Online Course
As the fellowship received increased interest, we had limited time and resources to intake more students and scale the program. To allow more students access to the curriculum and materials, our team spent a few months freshening up our content library, recording short lectures, and putting it on an online course platform for free.
The public online course includes all core materials in the formal fellowship program. It has self-paced learning modules for anyone curious about the startup process/ breaking into VC. So far, we have had over 1000+ students across 30 countries enroll in the course. Read more about our intentions for starting this course here.
Fund
At our core, we’re dedicated to supporting underserved communities and helping young entrepreneurs overcome the challenges of accessing capital in the broader industry. We’re proud to say that at least half of our core investment portfolio of 20+ companies are teams with at least one founder from an underserved group.
As for the fellow fund, we invest $25–50k cheques into student-led startups with at least one diverse founder. So far, we have backed Artemis and WaiveTheWait, founded by South Asian, Indigenous, and female founders respectively. We are passionate about supporting diverse and underrepresented voices in the entrepreneurial world, and we believe in building alongside these founders at the earliest stages of their journey. If you know someone building in the B2B SaaS space that fits these criteria, check out the fellow fund here.
Events
Mentorship and funding alone can’t create a truly inclusive ecosystem. To create a more sustainable and long-term impact, we’re committed to building a diverse and welcoming community through a variety of events and workshops hosted in key cities throughout North America.
Earlier this year, we hosted a female founder & funder mixer in New York, where we brought together 60+ women for an evening of mingling and conversation. We have also hosted events in Toronto, SF, and NYC, where we hosted meet-ups with RippleX fellows and alumni. We strive to create safe, fun, and inclusive spaces where underserved communities can connect, access resources, and build lasting relationships with like-minded individuals.
Mandated Diverse Investments (Fellow Fund)
Our commitment to deploying capital to diverse founders is critical to our fund process. In our Fellow Fund strategy, we at Ripple have mandated that at least one member of the founding team identify as part of an underrepresented community. We expect to make roughly 25 investments in the Fellow Fund.
This is only the beginning
What started four years ago as a passion project, is now one of the fast-growing VC fellowships within the North American student ecosystem. We are proud of our progress to date and are always looking for ways to improve diversity in our fellowship program. We understand there are underserved communities and campuses we may yet have a presence at, so if you’re a student leader that may benefit from this, or know others that may derive value from it, we would highly encourage you to get in touch!
Conclusion
From the top-of-funnel recruitment, and how we approach and engage our fellows, to community initiatives we do at large within the VC ecosystem, we place transparency and fairness at the forefront of our decision-making process.
Innovation doesn’t happen in a vacuum — it requires a diverse range of voices and perspectives. By investing time into diverse founders and VCs, we pave the way to new ideas, approaches, and ways of thinking that can help us solve problems in new and unexpected ways. We’re making a splash with our efforts today, and we’re excited to witness the ripple effect in motion!
Special thanks to RBCx (our program’s flagship sponsor) for believing in our mission and enabling us to bring this fellowship to new heights!
