Pivotal Ventures, Aspen Institute Launch $60M Workplace Grant

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00:00This is a big issue. We've been talking about it for years, about the amount of money that's

00:04either shifting into the hands of women, what it means, what the differences are. I am curious,

00:10and maybe not everybody's aware of all the work that you guys are doing. You have this very

00:14specific mission at Pivotal. Remind everybody what you're up to. And I am curious about what

00:20it means on a day-to-day basis, what you're looking for to invest in, relationships, and so on.

00:26Yes. Again, well, thank you for having me. Pivotal is an organization founded by

00:30Melinda French Gates in 2015. We are focused on advancing social progress. And specifically,

00:37when Melinda set up Pivotal, she realized that we would need multiple levers and tools to do that,

00:43including philanthropy and investment capital to get more power in the hands of more people,

00:49particularly women. So we invest in women-led funds. We also invest in companies that are

00:55innovating in areas and themes like women's health and caregiving, where women carry a lot

01:01of burden. And there's great opportunity to drive innovation. And we think make a lot of money

01:07investing behind those themes as well. So that was the real impetus to found Pivotal for Melinda.

01:13She wanted women to be in a position to make decisions, control resources and capital,

01:19and influence the decisions that are happening in our workplaces, in our communities, in our schools,

01:23and in our homes. And that's what we're setting out to do with our investments every day.

01:28So when you identify those investments, when you identify where you want that money to go,

01:33what are the things that actually advance power and influence for women, in your view?

01:37It's having women in positions to make decisions. So as we invest in funds that, again,

01:43are predominantly women-owned and led firms, they're investing across a spectrum of sectors,

01:48everything from AI, enterprise, digital health, financial technology, fintech,

01:54the care economy, which is one of my favorite topics. I'm happy to talk a lot more about that,

01:58too. But that's what women's power is for us. It's women, again, in a position to make these

02:03decisions. And it's also true for our direct investing as well. Many of the companies that

02:08we've backed have female leaders, and some do not. But we're just trying to find founders and

02:13innovators that are really solving problems for everyday Americans and everyday women.

02:17You know, I love that. And we want to get into some of the specifics in terms of where you guys

02:21are investing. But this idea of getting money in the hands of women, you know, how many times do we

02:25sit around this table, and it doesn't matter what group we're talking about, money talks. It gives you

02:31a seat at the table, whatever table that may be. And it's just fascinating that here we are still in

02:382025. And it's still a struggle. But this idea that you guys are specifically targeting women

02:43and making sure that they are having the money they need to kind of grow their power. That's really

02:50important. It is. It's incredibly important, Carol. And, you know, the numbers have improved

02:55about a decade ago, about 9% of decision makers, partners at U.S. venture capital firms were women.

03:02That number has grown to about 18%. So we've made meaningful progress in the last 10 years,

03:06but we have a long way to go. And as you both shared in the opening, you know, that 30 plus

03:12trillion dollars of assets that are held by baby boomers that are going to, most of that transferring

03:16now to women, women are going to want different things with their money. They want different

03:21advisors. They want products that meet their needs and solve some of the issues and problems that

03:25they're facing. And so we see, again, a huge opportunity if we can change the face of who is

03:30making the decisions, that brings real power and real change. Can we talk about caregiving for a minute?

03:36Yes.

03:36It's an area of your focus. It's an area of focus at Pivotal Ventures. It's something that

03:40Carol and I think a lot about.

03:42A bit involved in it.

03:43Yes.

03:43How do you make this work structurally in an economy like ours?

03:48We have to start with the care infrastructure. We've supported research at Pivotal Ventures that

03:53sizes the care economy at $648 billion. I'm going to pause and let that sink in every time I...

04:00So that's for people's offspring, but also for people's parents and other loved ones they might

04:04be taken care of.

04:05Exactly, Tim. It's the full spectrum. I describe it as end of life, back to beginning of life,

04:09childcare, elder care. We think of women's health solutions, solutions to help you optimize your

04:16home life better, to care and age in place. All of that is a part of that $648 billion market.

04:22And we've ignored caregiving for too long. It's the most important work. As you said,

04:28we all do. Everyone's a caregiver at some point in their lives. And as we thought about sectors or

04:34themes where women specifically carry a big burden, caregiving is one of them. And we want to fund the

04:40innovators and the founders that are building companies to address these solutions. And again,

04:45just make that loving work that we do easier.

04:48Yeah, because you don't... I mean, the gaps that are out there is tremendous. And if you have money,

04:53it's a lot easier. If you don't, it's really, really a struggle. One thing I want to get to,

04:58and I think about how you guys are going about this. Last month, the Aspen Institute launched

05:03the Workplace Innovation Now Challenge, Win Challenge. You guys are involved in it. A $60 million

05:12grant competition. What's the goal here? What's the mission?

05:15The goal is to find better solutions for women in the workplace. We are thrilled to partner with

05:20the Aspen Institute in this initiative and looking at ways that we can improve the workplace environment

05:26for women around AI, around culture, around narrative. So there'll be more coming out in

05:32the weeks and months ahead. I encourage social entrepreneurs, philanthropists to take note and

05:37support that work alongside us because we need better solutions for women in all facets of our lives.

05:43We've made progress, but we could do better.

05:45We could do more.

05:47It's just, you know, this is, I feel like we have talked about women and money for a long time,

05:53women in power in a long time. And like you say, we've made progress, but, you know,

05:58if you could change one thing, we've just got about 30 seconds, that would really improve

06:02women, money, power, like the whole thing. What would it be?

06:06I think it's owning, knowing what you own and asking questions, not being satisfied with the

06:12status quo. I think that's probably the biggest thing. You know, one thing that we try to do with

06:16our investment process and that our founder, Melinda Fridge-Dates, has empowered us to do is

06:21to build a diligence process, a sourcing process that's more inclusive, that tries to build and

06:27find new patterns of success as investors. And I think that's one thing that I would encourage

06:31all of us, whether it's with your personal, your 401k, or if you're other institutional investors

06:36to take that tack as well.

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