Why Engaging with Next Generation of Rising Female Investors Is Top of Mind for Us
Earlier this summer, I went public with my exercise to map the universe of women in venture (WIV) and asked friends in the venture community to help me further add to the list. The latest numbers I’m tracking of women in venture who are partner, pre-partner, venture partner, and partner, other (these are platform folks such as an Operating Partner doing biz dev or marketing for example) can be found in here with a quick overview below.
While embarking on my quest, I also became curious about where and what my peers represented among the data that I compiled. Through the WIV mapping exercise, it was no surprise to discover that these rising stars (pre-Partner level) women made up the second largest segment in the women in venture community.
What excites us about this next generation of investment professionals is that they’re at the forefront of the ecosystem — sourcing and picking the next great entrepreneur and analyzing which industries are ready for disruption. This next generation of investors doesn’t just stop at the forefront; they continue on to build strong personal relationships with the entrepreneurs in order to add genuine value to the entrepreneurs’ missions. Although their passion and work may be downplayed by titles like, “Board Observer,” this group of accomplished females is well on its path to partnership at the fund they represent.
To better understand this segment and what motivates them, I’ve compiled the list of questions below — thank you Andy Artz of Social Capital and emerging manager guru, Samir Kaji for helping me brainstorm and come up with interesting and relevant questions for the WIV community, and Anarghya Vardhana of Maveron Capital for being the first to support the initiative and sharing your thoughts!
Interview with Anarghya Vardhana*
1. Why did you decide to become a venture investor?
Couple of reasons. Intellectually, I love the idea of context shifting and digging into a variety of businesses and ideas over the span of a day, week, month, year, and career. I am naturally a curious person, and venture lends well to that. Simultaneously, over time, it’s fascinating to identify patterns across the businesses you see, and the exercise of developing a thesis or point of view around a category or industry is challenging, exciting, and rewarding to me. Venture is also very relationship-based, at the early stages, you are largely betting on people. Relationships are the most important thing to me, so that inherent part of venture lends well to my personality and way of being. Personally, I also see systematic problems with the flow of capital. Women, minorities, and systematically overlooked groups of people continue to not get venture money. I hope that by being a part of the capital deployment, I can drive change. Finally, one of my deepest passions in life is understanding culture and human behavior tied to culture. Investing in consumer tech brands — iconic businesses that change the way people live — is inspiring because these brands integrate into humanity and create, shift, and mold culture. I aspire to be a part of that.
2. Given that the funnel of companies you see are fairly large, how do you effectively manage your pipeline and at what point during the diligence process do you bring the partnership in?
Depends on the stage, but at the seed stage we move quickly, and I would bring someone else on the investment team for the second meeting. At the series A stage, we are a very collaborative team, so again, I would do the foundational work to understand the business and its mechanics, but would pretty quickly have the founder(s) meet one of my partners. Effective management of the pipeline candidly just takes a lot of time. ☺ There’s a lot to be done in this field of work, and sometimes my day can get totally slammed with meetings so evenings can be dedicated to more organizational things.
3. How should founders think about the role of a venture associate/principal pre-, during, and post- investment?
Again, depends on the fund. But at Maveron, I am a very active part of the journey at every stage. But as a general principle, treat every person you meet along the way with respect, you never know how they can affect or sway the investment decision.
4. When a deal is done, what’s the best way for the founder to leverage the entire team they work with (partner and pre-partner team members)?
At the series A stage the investors will probably take a board seat and have direct involvement in the company. Use them strategically for your biggest needs … which probably turns out to be hiring or prioritization. Ask for the right intros and request that they open up their network to you.
5. What are 2–3 traits that are critical and you look for in a founding team?
· Relentlessness and grit
· Self-awareness and integrity
· An understanding of how to grow a big business and create equity value
**
Thank you, Anarghya for sharing your words of wisdom and for co-hosting a kick-*ss WIV community event last month!
Speaking of culture, the human race, and how behavior is tied to culture, next interviewee will be Suzy Ryoo of Cross Culture Ventures, a firm that invests in and develops companies that fuel shifts in cultural trends and behavior within an increasingly diverse global marketplace.
*Anarghya’s Bio (source: Maveron’s website)
Always passionate about mathematics, Anarghya published a math theorem at the age of 17 which set her on a lifelong path in STEM. Prior to entering the world of venture capital, Anarghya worked for several startups in the product manager and head of product capacity, including the early founding teams of fintech and healthtech companies. She also expanded her product experience to the non-profit and developing world through her work for Ushahidi, where she was a product manager and led user experience research across South America and East Africa. Before entering the startup world, Anarghya held various roles at Google, leading operational teams and focusing on international expansion of the AdWords Express product.
Prior to joining Maveron, Anarghya was an investor at small seed fund where she focused on consumer and media investments while also spending significant time focusing on frontier technology.
At Maveron, she brings her passion for the intersection of cutting edge technologies like artificial intelligence to existing mass consumer experiences, identifying these opportunities in the Bay Area and beyond. Within the portfolio, Anarghya is a board observer for Booster Fuels.
Anarghya is a proud Oregonian, and attended Stanford University where she studied Science, Technology, and Society, focusing on math and computer science. She is deeply passionate about investing, diversity in tech, marathon training, eating paleo, and her lifelong mission to get more women involved in technology and to increase diversity in both thought and practice in the field.
