A conversation on disrupting the status quo of early-stage Investing with Ali Jackson-Jolley, Assistant Managing Editor, Forbes and panelists: Anna Mason, Managing Partner, Ingeborg Investments, Beth Ferreira, General Partner, Serena Ventures, and Anjula Acharia, CEO & Founder, A-Series Management & Investments.
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TechTranscript
00:00culture capitalists disrupting the status quo of early-stage investing,
00:04please welcome moderator Ali Jackson Jolly, assistant managing editor Forbes,
00:09and panelists Anna Mason, managing partner Ingeborg Investments, Beth
00:15Ferreira, general partner Serena Ventures, and Angela Acharya, CEO and founder A-
00:22series management and investments. Yeah so what a pleasure to share the stage
00:33with you these powerhouse women culture capitalists who are just disrupting
00:40investing and you know it's hard not to know not to see that while the world of
00:47tech is the world of tech is changing incredibly fast and so is startup
00:53culture the world that we see isn't changing very fast and yet when we were
00:57backstage we talked a bit about how you see the opportunity in that change that
01:04changes the opportunity that you're finding and so and I wanted to start
01:10with you what do you see when you're investing that others aren't seeing
01:17thank you well it's great to be here with everyone
01:19Anna Mason I'm the managing partner of Ingeborg Investments it's the single
01:24family office for Olivia Walton while we're single family office we operate a
01:29lot like a venture fund and so we're investing in innovation that can improve
01:33what we call the full female experience and so for us that's everything from
01:38career opportunity and financial security to better living women's health
01:43and motherhood and so at the end of the day what that means in practice is we're
01:48really looking for innovation that's built with women in mind and when I pull
01:53when I peel back the layers of what that really means and I think about what do
01:56we see that others don't and how are we finding opportunities because while our
02:00lens is very specific our underwriting parameters our portfolio construction is
02:05all the same as a classic VC fund in terms of the outsized opportunities that
02:10we're looking for and so I've realized as I've taken a step back that a common
02:14thread for us is that I think we're investing in founders and businesses
02:20that are rewriting the conversation around stigma I can actually probably go
02:25through every single company in our portfolio and pick out and pinpoint what
02:32the core consumer experience is that actually just has a lot of implicit
02:37stigma some might even say bias in the system and a founder who can rewrite
02:44that story we think has a real opportunity sometimes to increase TAM in
02:51markets where many think that actually the TAM isn't that large and also can
02:55capture a lot of value in markets that are already demonstrably large yeah and
03:00so thank you for saying that because you lead me perfectly to my next question
03:04for Beth which is tell us a bit about the market and the opportunity for
03:10funders to be investing in women and people of color under invested founder
03:20founders like tell us a bit about the market and what you're seeing that this
03:25group should know well it's really exciting because you've seen over the
03:29last you know a couple decades there's been a huge pipeline of diverse people
03:35coming through PhD programs MBA programs like business you know training programs
03:42so there's a lot of time there's much more talent in the market today I think
03:46the second big change today versus versus before is that there's a lot of
03:51information so there's democratized access to information around what does
03:55it take to raise capital what does it take to build a business this is not
03:59just like I'm gonna talk to my buddy who happened to do this and it's like a
04:03closed network around that and third there's many more like examples of women
04:11and other diverse founders and funders out there that say look like you can do
04:17this you can see this in the in the future and you sort of think about like
04:21there's like you know some noise around like you know in every downturn it seems
04:25like you know women and diverse founders and funders sort of sort of start to
04:30disappear and I think what's been very different about this time around is when
04:34you look at for some of us who've been through a few cycles like in 2000 you
04:39sort of see those people just disappear in 2008 maybe not to the same extent but
04:44they weren't as they weren't as present but this there's so much resilience now
04:49and so if the numbers are not growing as quickly as we'd like they're not
04:54going away and so that's what's exciting and can you give us like why is that
04:59give us some insight why is I think it's because of those three reasons it's
05:02because they're ready they have the training they understand what they need
05:06to do and they're solving big problems when you think about what venture
05:09capital is it's about thinking about where you know culture and demographic
05:15change meet you know technological innovation and that's what we're looking
05:18for we're looking for the next big thing and the next big thing is not
05:22gonna come from what it came from the last time around it's gonna come from
05:27something completely different and so that's I mean that's what we're banking
05:30on I think most of us are banking on the on the panel is that it's gonna be that
05:35sort of insight that's going to drive innovation well the next big thing let's
05:43talk to you Angela down there because you had your superpower you sort of made
05:48a name for yourself by finding and investing in the next cultural change
05:55the next pop big pop culture moment how do you do that tell us how you do it and
06:02is it something please please don't say it's just instinct because I'm hoping
06:06question part B is it something we can learn it's something we could all do
06:09sure no I can be very specific about it so I had an incredible mentor a guy
06:14called Jimmy I've been he was the founder of Interscope records and beats
06:18by Dre which sold to Apple for some billions of dollars and you know I was
06:24very fortunate he invested in my first company and you know he was just a genius
06:29at seeing round corners and seeing what was happening before it happened so you
06:33know he he he found Eminem he found 50 cent he found Lady Gaga and you know he
06:40he founded beats by Dre and I said to him one day you know he's been doing
06:45this for years like and I said how do you do that like how do you know what's
06:50around the corner how do you know what the next big thing is how do you know
06:53what to lean into and he gave me this amazing piece of advice and that piece
06:58of advice led to my very first investment which was my first unicorn
07:02and he said you have to look around the corner and see the cultural shift and I
07:08that's great but how do you do that and he said you really have to listen to
07:12every conversation in social settings so if you're out for dinner if you're at
07:18the water fountain if you're in Starbucks or wherever you are like
07:21what's everyone talking about because that will bubble and I remember so my
07:26first investment was in a company called class pass which later turned into a
07:30unicorn and salt and mine body and the funny thing is I just moved to New York
07:35and everyone was I was asking everybody about gyms and I was like to go to what
07:39equinox like which gyms you go to and the consistent feedback that I got was
07:44no I don't go to gyms I go to classes I go to Barry's boot camp I go to soul
07:48cycle I go to pop physique and everyone kept saying that to me and I was like oh
07:53that's weird everyone's doing that and literally weeks later pile Kodaka came
07:58to me and she wanted advice for a startup that she was building I wasn't
08:02an investor at that time I was just another founder who raised money and she
08:06just wanted some advice and she I said what are you building and she goes I
08:11think there's like a real problem with booking classes and I said what you mean
08:16she goes I want to build the open table for classes one platform where you can
08:20book any class and I was just like that's an aha moment I was like that
08:25makes total sense we should fund that and I was her very first investor I
08:29actually incubated the company in my office because I was a founder at the
08:32time it's a very small check but that's a very specific example of just
08:36listening to what people are talking about and letting that inform your
08:40investments but what about listening to what people are saying meant something
08:46very different a decade ago 15 years ago that it does now right because
08:53technology has changed the world it's changed the way we talk to each other
08:57it's changed the way we find information so I'm curious what has that
09:02done for your ability to find the next trend has it made it harder has it made
09:08it easier has it made it just different so you know I've realized is don't
09:12believe the hype so when you're on like Instagram tick-tock reels whatever it is
09:18like everyone would be like this is the next big thing and for a while I thought
09:21that too because an algorithm algorithm kept feeding me the same thing that I
09:25was interested in so if I'm like I mean right now one of my biggest investments
09:29is a drink called ollipop which is a new soda for a new generation it's better
09:34for you it's less sugar it's just a better drink but you know I made that
09:39investment not based on what I was seeing on social media and the funny
09:44thing about it is is like when you're on social media you know you look at one
09:48thing you like it it will just keep serving you that same stuff so it makes
09:52it difficult because we're on social media so much and I do use tik-tok and
09:56all the platforms to inform me of what's going on but I really have to try and
10:00manage the algorithm not to keep giving me what I think is happening if you see
10:04what I mean so often I grab other people's phones and I look at what's
10:07trending on their phone versus what's on mine ah yeah I'm just gonna stop for a
10:12minute and say to the audience in the back you don't want to miss this next
10:16nugget of information so you're gonna want to pay attention I know let me ask
10:22you this to be in the world of VC it has been said and I think it'd be hard to
10:31argue that you're not invest you know you're investing in the founder and the
10:37personality almost as much as the idea but I'm curious how do you make sure
10:42that you're not getting bamboozled that you're not being you know the charisma
10:46isn't overtaking your judgment like what do you say to that and how do you make a
10:51sound investment when you want it investment founder but you also want to
10:56make sure that the idea the business is the best business you can be investing
11:00in you know I think part of what you're getting out there is perhaps the
11:05psychology of venture I think a lot about that and I love to dabble and read
11:11different aspects and reports within the psychology world because I think it
11:15can really inform how we think about innovation and opportunity and there was
11:20a report I read recently from a few years ago actually not about venture
11:24about the business world that talks about the psychology of promotions and
11:29the fact that men typically get promoted for their potential while women get
11:35promoted for their performance and I just I sat back and I said oh it's so
11:39interesting I actually think all of those same rules perhaps apply to the
11:44venture world in that every time you're raising funds it's essentially like a
11:49promotion I think for your startup you know you have a new title series X stage
11:54company you have more money you have more responsibility and so then when I
11:58take a step back and then I I think about that story and how it manifests
12:02in the stats within venture I think we see the same dynamics in that only a
12:07couple of percentage points of the billions of dollars that go to venture
12:10every year tend to go to female founders and so to bring it full circle to the
12:15answer to your question when I think about the lens of where I'm focused and
12:19investing in female founders I have the privilege and the opportunity of meeting
12:24with so many founders who bring the receipts for their performance like
12:28women are raising on their performance I actually think a big part of the
12:31challenge the challenge I hold myself to the standard to and I hope we hold the
12:35industry to is actually I think we need to spend more time focusing on the
12:38potential of female founders in particular as well and that's how I
12:43think to the earlier point you're gonna see a lot more female-led sustainable
12:47unicorns emerge in the market who are driving and creating real value in the
12:51market yeah but something I think about a lot when I think about change in our
12:57newsroom I think about how do we change our newsroom to be more diverse and to
13:03your point a lot of that for BC is about changing the way the fund managers
13:08are navigating and thinking but Beth I think I want to give you this this
13:13complex question which is is there also something that women founders should be
13:19doing differently should they be selling themselves in a different way
13:25understanding that some funders are are thinking about the charisma of the
13:31individual or is that an antiquated question that my daughters at home would
13:35like you know be really frustrated at because it isn't the women's
13:39responsibility what do you say to that well I think that all founders need to
13:45think about how they present themselves what an investor is looking for how to
13:51put their best foot forward how to think about the future in a big way and so you
13:55know there is a stereotype that women may not you know put their best foot
13:59forward on you know projections and are not thinking big enough and I think that
14:05has changed a lot I think that you generally underrepresented founders have
14:13a product mission you know founder fit more so than some others and thinking
14:19about their shared or their their personal path whether it's through their
14:25job or through you know their personal lived experiences like for instance we
14:30have a company in our portfolio called Azuzu which you know is is targeted at
14:35the underbanked someone who's under banked it's difficult for them to get
14:39credit and they've created a platform in which they are able to get credit for
14:46give people credit for their things that they do every day like like paying their
14:51rent and things like that so like through that shared experience created a
14:55whole new business model around that yeah and we got two minutes left before
15:01lunch so I'm just gonna kind of lightning speed this I want to ask you
15:05all this but I'm gonna start with you Angela what should founders be doing to
15:12get your attention what what makes you interested in investing what should they
15:19do what could they be doing now if they're and I don't mean like giving out
15:23your cell phone but what could they do that makes them look like a good
15:26investment to you you know I get asked this question a lot and ultimately I as
15:31a female founder years ago I got the best advice ever and this guy who I was
15:35pitching for investment said to me are you asking for advice or are you asking for
15:40money and I thought it was a trick question and it was and I answered
15:45correctly I said I'm looking for advice and he goes great because then you'll
15:49get money if you ask for money you get advice and if you ask for advice you get
15:52money and what that actually means in real life is you've got to be an amazing
15:57storyteller you've got to be able to get somebody to like want to go along with
16:03your vision believe in your vision and I think that's really storytelling like
16:07whatever your idea is whatever you want to do just be an incredible storyteller
16:11so before you're asking for anything before you're asking for money whatever
16:14ask for advice based on your story and I've raised a lot of money over a lot of
16:21time for a lot of female investor entrepreneurs and I've always started
16:25with that I just go to people that I know for advice or ask people to connect
16:29me to somebody for advice and I tell the story it's never failed I love it and
16:34this isn't fair 30 seconds for each of you and then we're out of here
16:38Beth what same question for you I'd say do a lot of research on who you're
16:43pitching and understand what they're looking for and either tell your story
16:47to them or skip them and go find someone that is more interested in what you're
16:52building I would say don't bury the lead and really lean in to your expertise the
17:01performance that you bring to bear in you know in the industry that you're
17:05building in imagine you have a lot of domain expertise and so in those first
17:0910 seconds of your pitch is really when you're going to make that first
17:13impression and I would fully bring your own expertise don't save that team page
17:19or that founder page for example until the proverbial end of your presentation
17:23well I could go on and on I love sharing the stage with you and I'd love to do it
17:30again sometime thank you