女性和黑人創(chuàng)始人獲得的風(fēng)投資本可謂是少的可憐,不幸的是,業(yè)界對(duì)此卻已經(jīng)習(xí)以為常。
事實(shí)上,PitchBook最近的報(bào)告稱,女性創(chuàng)始人在上季度獲得的風(fēng)投資本額剛剛創(chuàng)下了三年以來的新低。然而,在這個(gè)傳統(tǒng)上男性占主導(dǎo)地位的領(lǐng)域,一些力量正在努力改變這一現(xiàn)狀。
Cleo Capital的董事總經(jīng)理薩拉?昆斯特、2020 Fund的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人兼普通合伙人史蒂夫?穆伊、Operator Collective的合伙人蕾拉?瑟卡以及Inspired Capital的執(zhí)行合伙人亞歷克薩?馮?托貝爾都奮斗在一線,為女性和少數(shù)族裔所有者企業(yè)爭(zhēng)取他們所需的初創(chuàng)資金。這項(xiàng)任務(wù)異常艱難:昆斯特注意到絕大多數(shù)風(fēng)投資金并未投向黑人和西班牙裔創(chuàng)始人,而且“就算資金投向了這些人群,其中的大多數(shù)也流向了黑人和西班牙裔男性創(chuàng)始人。”
昆斯特在10月14日召開的《財(cái)富》“最具影響力的新一代商界女性”會(huì)議上說:“有眾多才華卓著的黑人女性創(chuàng)建了企業(yè),但其獲得的風(fēng)投資本遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠。”
Inspired Capital的馮?托貝爾稱,改變這一事實(shí)需要頂層的推動(dòng),也就是那些掌控著資金的金主。她說:“如果公司的頂層存在不同類型的固有看法,再加上各執(zhí)己見的投資者,投資傾向必然會(huì)有所不同。因此我們必須改變這些投資者的看法?!?/p>
馮?托貝爾認(rèn)為,如果我們能夠確保那些金主可以成為潛在創(chuàng)始人的代言人,那么我們就能夠幫助改變資金的指向目標(biāo)。(對(duì)于托貝爾的公司而言,她稱約40%的創(chuàng)始人都是女性,而Operator Collective的瑟卡稱,其公司的新動(dòng)議Black Venture Institute旨在于未來三年內(nèi)培養(yǎng)300名這類金主。)然而這只是問題的一部分。
但Cleo Capital的昆斯特講述了實(shí)際情況:“投資多元化的創(chuàng)始人不一定需要多元化的投資者。如果你是一名有色人種女性,而且你異常希望投資者可以變得更加多元化,我并不認(rèn)為這意味著你無法向外界籌集資金。我覺得他們得去理解黑人圈中的一個(gè)說法:你要比對(duì)手好一倍才能夠得到一半的投資?!?/p>
盡管這個(gè)說法明顯不公平,但昆斯特并沒有對(duì)這一現(xiàn)狀感到灰心,而是建議創(chuàng)始人應(yīng)該“忽視這個(gè)情況,并在內(nèi)心告訴自己,你應(yīng)該要比別人好一倍?!比藗?cè)谝簧杏卸嗌俅卧诃h(huán)顧四周之時(shí)會(huì)感到:“我非常難過,我比周圍的所有人都要好一倍?”昆斯特認(rèn)為,這句話確實(shí)也有可取之處,“如果你是有色人種,而且還是女性,如果你獲得資金,那么就應(yīng)該有一種優(yōu)越感,因?yàn)榫透怕蕘碇v,你很有可能”要好于大部分籌集資金的白人。
給創(chuàng)始人支招
對(duì)于那些正在應(yīng)對(duì)風(fēng)投資本現(xiàn)狀的女性和黑人創(chuàng)始人來說,《財(cái)富》雜志的投資者專家組給出了幾點(diǎn)建議:Cleo Capital的昆斯特建議創(chuàng)始人在“大幅提升其在社交媒體上的活躍度。這是引發(fā)投資者關(guān)注的絕佳場(chǎng)所?!?/p>
對(duì)于那些經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的投資者來說,2020 Fund的穆伊建議:“這是個(gè)數(shù)字游戲,繼續(xù)推進(jìn)就好了?!監(jiān)perator Collective的瑟卡則這樣說:“如果兜售產(chǎn)品和自己讓你感到難為情,那么再想想,因?yàn)槟愀傻木褪沁@個(gè)業(yè)務(wù)。”(財(cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:馮豐
審校:夏林
女性和黑人創(chuàng)始人獲得的風(fēng)投資本可謂是少的可憐,不幸的是,業(yè)界對(duì)此卻已經(jīng)習(xí)以為常。
事實(shí)上,PitchBook最近的報(bào)告稱,女性創(chuàng)始人在上季度獲得的風(fēng)投資本額剛剛創(chuàng)下了三年以來的新低。然而,在這個(gè)傳統(tǒng)上男性占主導(dǎo)地位的領(lǐng)域,一些力量正在努力改變這一現(xiàn)狀。
Cleo Capital的董事總經(jīng)理薩拉?昆斯特、2020 Fund的聯(lián)合創(chuàng)始人兼普通合伙人史蒂夫?穆伊、Operator Collective的合伙人蕾拉?瑟卡以及Inspired Capital的執(zhí)行合伙人亞歷克薩?馮?托貝爾都奮斗在一線,為女性和少數(shù)族裔所有者企業(yè)爭(zhēng)取他們所需的初創(chuàng)資金。這項(xiàng)任務(wù)異常艱難:昆斯特注意到絕大多數(shù)風(fēng)投資金并未投向黑人和西班牙裔創(chuàng)始人,而且“就算資金投向了這些人群,其中的大多數(shù)也流向了黑人和西班牙裔男性創(chuàng)始人。”
昆斯特在10月14日召開的《財(cái)富》“最具影響力的新一代商界女性”會(huì)議上說:“有眾多才華卓著的黑人女性創(chuàng)建了企業(yè),但其獲得的風(fēng)投資本遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)不夠?!?/p>
Inspired Capital的馮?托貝爾稱,改變這一事實(shí)需要頂層的推動(dòng),也就是那些掌控著資金的金主。她說:“如果公司的頂層存在不同類型的固有看法,再加上各執(zhí)己見的投資者,投資傾向必然會(huì)有所不同。因此我們必須改變這些投資者的看法?!?/p>
馮?托貝爾認(rèn)為,如果我們能夠確保那些金主可以成為潛在創(chuàng)始人的代言人,那么我們就能夠幫助改變資金的指向目標(biāo)。(對(duì)于托貝爾的公司而言,她稱約40%的創(chuàng)始人都是女性,而Operator Collective的瑟卡稱,其公司的新動(dòng)議Black Venture Institute旨在于未來三年內(nèi)培養(yǎng)300名這類金主。)然而這只是問題的一部分。
但Cleo Capital的昆斯特講述了實(shí)際情況:“投資多元化的創(chuàng)始人不一定需要多元化的投資者。如果你是一名有色人種女性,而且你異常希望投資者可以變得更加多元化,我并不認(rèn)為這意味著你無法向外界籌集資金。我覺得他們得去理解黑人圈中的一個(gè)說法:你要比對(duì)手好一倍才能夠得到一半的投資?!?/p>
盡管這個(gè)說法明顯不公平,但昆斯特并沒有對(duì)這一現(xiàn)狀感到灰心,而是建議創(chuàng)始人應(yīng)該“忽視這個(gè)情況,并在內(nèi)心告訴自己,你應(yīng)該要比別人好一倍?!比藗?cè)谝簧杏卸嗌俅卧诃h(huán)顧四周之時(shí)會(huì)感到:“我非常難過,我比周圍的所有人都要好一倍?”昆斯特認(rèn)為,這句話確實(shí)也有可取之處,“如果你是有色人種,而且還是女性,如果你獲得資金,那么就應(yīng)該有一種優(yōu)越感,因?yàn)榫透怕蕘碇v,你很有可能”要好于大部分籌集資金的白人。
給創(chuàng)始人支招
對(duì)于那些正在應(yīng)對(duì)風(fēng)投資本現(xiàn)狀的女性和黑人創(chuàng)始人來說,《財(cái)富》雜志的投資者專家組給出了幾點(diǎn)建議:Cleo Capital的昆斯特建議創(chuàng)始人在“大幅提升其在社交媒體上的活躍度。這是引發(fā)投資者關(guān)注的絕佳場(chǎng)所。”
對(duì)于那些經(jīng)驗(yàn)豐富的投資者來說,2020 Fund的穆伊建議:“這是個(gè)數(shù)字游戲,繼續(xù)推進(jìn)就好了?!監(jiān)perator Collective的瑟卡則這樣說:“如果兜售產(chǎn)品和自己讓你感到難為情,那么再想想,因?yàn)槟愀傻木褪沁@個(gè)業(yè)務(wù)?!保ㄘ?cái)富中文網(wǎng))
譯者:馮豐
審校:夏林
It's sadly no shock to anyone in the industry: The amount of venture capital dollars that go to female and Black founders is dismally scant.
In fact, according to a recent PitchBook report, VC funding for female founders just hit its lowest quarterly total in three years. But there are forces working to change those statistics in the traditionally male-dominated arena.
Sarah Kunst, managing director at Cleo Capital, Steph Mui, co-founder and general partner at the 2020 Fund, Leyla Seka, partner at the Operator Collective, and Alexa von Tobel, co-founder and managing partner at Inspired Capital, are all on the front lines working to get female and minority-owned businesses the startup funds they need. And that task is formidable: Kunst notes that the vast majority of VC funding doesn't go to Black and Hispanic founders, and "even when it does, it tends to disproportionately go to Black and Hispanic male founders."
"There are so many brilliant, amazing Black women starting companies and not nearly enough capital for them," Kunst said at Fortune's Most Powerful Women NextGen conference on October 14.
According to Inspired Capital's von Tobel, changing that reality largely needs to come from the top—from those holding the checkbooks. "When you have different archetypes at the top of a firm and you have different investors out there, … you simply have different deal flow," she said. "So we have to change who the investors are."
Ensuring that who writes the checks is representative of the potential founders can help change who the cash flows to, von Tobel argues. (For her firm, she says about 40% of their founders are female, while Operator Collective's Seka says her firm's new initiative, Black Venture Institute, is aiming to graduate 300 people in the next three years that are able to write those checks.) And that's certainly one piece of the puzzle.
But Cleo Capital's Kunst offers a reality check: "You certainly don’t have to be diverse to invest in diverse founders," she said. "If you are a woman of color, … [and] you can't wait for the investor world to get more diverse, I don’t think that means you can’t go out and raise," she says. "I think it’s understanding that there’s a saying in the Black community that you have to be twice as good to get half as much."
While that axiom is obviously unfair, instead of feeling dismayed at that prospect, Kunst offers that founders should "flip that and internalize it as, you get to be twice as good. How many times in your life can you look around and you’re like, 'I’m so upset that I’m twice as good as everybody else around me'?' Indeed, therein lies the upside, Kunst argues: "If you are a person of color, if you are a woman, when you do get funded, you should feel pretty good that you probably are better statistically" than the average white man raising funding.
Tips for founders
For those female and Black founders dealing with the VC landscape as-is, investors at Fortune's panel have a few tips: Cleo Capital's Kunst suggests founders get "really, really active on social media. It’s a great place to get noticed by investors."
And for investors on their 200th pitch, 2020 Fund's Mui offers: "It’s a numbers game, so just keep pushing," while Operator Collective's Seka puts it this way: "If you don't like selling your stuff and yourself, think again, because it’s all you do."