00:00welcome to the a 16z podcast
00:03I'm Michael Copeland we were lucky
00:05enough to have the founders of three
00:07venture capital firms down to a 16-0
00:09cent Lee Anne when glad of Hummer
00:11Winblad ventures Aileen Lee of the new
00:14firm cowboy ventures and Teresa Gow of
00:16another new firm aspect ventures they
00:19were joined by Lisa Lambert from Intel
00:21Capital and andreessen horowitz his own
00:24market when mockers in a conversation
00:27that examined the basics of venture
00:29capital the tech trends that each of
00:31keen on today as well as the path that
00:34each of these women took to get where
00:36they are in the venture capital world
00:38market red markers moderates the
00:40conversation there's a whole set of
00:43topics but for those of you want to be
00:45in this chair one day I'd be interesting
00:48to hear what your path has been into the
00:51VC job and you want to start sure I
00:57first of all I have an undergraduate
00:59degree in mathematics and a minor in
01:01computer science so I started early
01:05investing in software as a track for my
01:07career I worked for a year as the
01:10systems programmer thought I Reserve
01:12Bank in Minneapolis and quit my job and
01:14and started as a software entrepreneur
01:15where actually did for better or worse
01:18write some of the code when my company
01:21was acquired in Minneapolis I moved out
01:24here to Silicon Valley and my intention
01:26was to continue being an entrepreneur
01:31wanted to start a software firm and
01:34stalked me for about a year and a half
01:37he's Thomas ferritin he's the tallest
01:40venture capitalist I think I I could be
01:44the shortest perhaps and you know what
01:51so I didn't actually think about being a
01:53venture capitalists or what skills or
01:56capabilities I needed you know I'm
01:59pretty much a product at the software
02:00industry and I still think of myself as
02:02being in the software industry and I
02:04just happened to be a venture capitalist
02:06and would you say that that makes you
02:08particularly attractive to entrepreneurs
02:10just because you have
02:11in their shoes a big factor is that you
02:15know I think they're you know now I've
02:17been in their shoes such a long time ago
02:19that they think they're wearing
02:20different shoes but there are true
02:22Birkenstocks or flip-flops yeah so in
02:26the beginning it was really helpful and
02:28it was and it's also good to be able to
02:31they're just on that topic another 30%
02:35of our time is what I'll call general
02:37psychodrama you know our jobs I mean we
02:43we hand over the money directly to the
02:45entrepreneurs and say have at it and you
02:48know we you know we don't know how most
02:52of these entrepreneurs scale until they
02:54either do scale or don't one of the big
02:56jobs of the board is to hire and fire
02:59the CEO and I'm sure all of us have had
03:03to fire CEOs or have helped them exit
03:06gracefully from the building quickly you
03:10know sometime in our career so you know
03:13having been in the shoes of hiring
03:15people hiring a lot of people and you
03:19know managing engineers understanding
03:22how hard it is to build companies from
03:25scratch from the standpoint of a CEO is
03:27very helpful from my standpoint I also
03:30think if you're doing enterprise
03:31software you really have to be able to
03:33lift up the hood because you know the
03:36the business descriptions are usually
03:38coming from engineers you know then
03:41there's business models on top of that
03:43and if you don't really understand what
03:44these products are intended to be or
03:46actually what the technical shifts in
03:48the market are it's pretty hard to be a
03:50core enterprise software investor so I
03:56did go to MIT for undergrad but I was
03:59never a kind of working engineer you
04:01know that yeah and then I also went to
04:05grad school I always loved consumer
04:07businesses so I actually worked for the
04:08North Face and it wallah when I was at
04:09business school and then actually I
04:11worked for busy barber who's in the
04:12audience here at Gap when I graduated
04:14from business school and so I was going
04:17up like a consumer path I thought maybe
04:19I would be like a VP of Marketing or CMO
04:24and I always thought venture capital
04:25sounded really cool it was an analyst at
04:27Morgan Stanley and like you know after
04:29your second year of a B's analyst
04:30programs a lot of people do a third job
04:31and like venture capital sounded amazing
04:33but the two people types of people who
04:36were applying for jobs as like analysts
04:38in venture capital were like guys who
04:40grew up in like Danbury Connecticut and
04:42they're you know I mean and like they
04:44went to Dartmouth or Princeton and they
04:46played squash and like their dads were
04:48super rich and then or like the gunner
04:51guys who went to Wharton and like
04:53carried a briefcase to school and like
04:55we're world bowties like I just figured
04:57I would never fit into I don't still
05:00simply not what has changed I didn't
05:04even think about it and then when I was
05:05at Gap I was kind of helping to build
05:07the online business in 99 and I just
05:09kind of got lucky and I got this job at
05:11Kleiner Perkins and I thought I would
05:13stay for two or three years and then go
05:14into an operating role because I didn't
05:15know that much about Silicon Valley and
05:16I figured be a good place to learn and I
05:18did learn a ton and so I wound up
05:20staying for a long time and I did take
05:22two years to actually go be the founding
05:23CEO of one of our portfolio companies so
05:25I ran that and raised twenty million
05:27dollars and kind of hired the team ship
05:29product built revenue bought a couple
05:31companies and then went back to
05:32wonderful times so I feel like I did my
05:34kind of like my tenth very difficult
05:37stint in the trenches and that's kind of
05:40my background so I also have an
05:44engineering undergraduate degree I other
05:47than summer internships like at General
05:50Motors and a British Petroleum well
05:51literally a thousand engineers into
05:56so that was my knowledge and no one so
05:59I'm the first generation Chinese
06:00immigrant my my father you know dentists
06:03all of his brothers doctors my mom was a
06:05nurse that's what I was supposed to do I
06:07did with dentists parents that's really
06:10that that's the combat see spec did not
06:13want to go to medical school right so so
06:16being an engineer was like that was an
06:17acceptable thing anyway I give that only
06:19it's like I had no idea what venture
06:21capital was or entrepreneurship or
06:23anything right but working in those
06:25companies I was like oh you know being
06:27like the engineer in the CAD behind the
06:30CAD machine that's okay but not super
06:32exciting the product managers they seem
06:34to have much cooler jobs they actually
06:37have input into like you know why we're
06:39building what we're building so given
06:42that the eager beaver type a firstborn
06:45child that I was I went back to school
06:47evidently I need to get an MBA in
06:50addition to my engineering degree and so
06:52how do I get one of those so I
06:54interviewed for investment banks and
06:56consulting firms because it seemed like
06:57that would give you a good chance to get
07:00into business school everything was
07:01about sort of like two steps ahead and
07:04then I went to work at Bain and that was
07:06great experience then I came out here to
07:08Stanford and what I wanted to do was I
07:10wanted to be a product manager back then
07:11giving my age at hewlett-packard that
07:13was like my goal in life
07:15after graduating from business school I
07:17was a product manager met summer at
07:19Silicon Graphics which was actually a
07:20really great time to be there it was
07:22like the Jurassic Park year was very
07:24cool and so from that though I got a
07:28little bit more of a taste of like oh
07:29you could actually like work at like
07:30maybe not such a big company like maybe
07:33you know that was once it was a
07:34billion-dollar company by then but it
07:36had been a startup by a bunch of guys
07:37with left places like Sun and Silicon
07:39Graphics did your parents lose faith in
07:42you Oh every step of the way every step
07:45of the way my parents have never once
07:47understood any career decision or job
07:49that I've ever had but now they've
07:51finally stopped worrying about whether
07:52like I'll be able to support them in
07:53their old age so it's okay now parents
07:56still come in they're like do you need
07:57money are you okay yeah when I started
08:00my firm my dad was like I know you've
08:02been helping us but like now that you
08:04were at a startup like don't worry about
08:10mr. Whitlock so I became a venture
08:13capital sort of by accident I was an
08:14entrepreneur so after after business
08:16school a couple of people that I had
08:18gone to Stanford GSB with had started a
08:20company and it just raised a seed round
08:22from dfj I actually knew Jennifer we
08:25worked at Bain together before Business
08:27School fast forward five years we just
08:30raised our seed round I join I ran you
08:33know product marketing sales but
08:36basically everything that required
08:37talking to people outside of the
08:39building customer support was fun and
08:42Tim Draper and Jennifer actually were
08:45our lead investors and that was when I
08:46reconnected with her um so she was an
08:49observer on her board and that was
08:51really how I even understood really what
08:52venture capital was was by helping to
08:54raise like fifteen million dollars of
08:56venture capital and going through three
08:58rounds of funding and at the end of that
09:00you know I wanted to go do another
09:04we'd had three CEOs in 12 months so I
09:05thought it was time for me to leave
09:07I was I was young and not so smart but I
09:10was smart enough to figure out that that
09:11probably wasn't a good sign for my start
09:13online and you know I was it was it was
09:16late 98 early 99 and a couple of the
09:19other VCS who were on my board knowing
09:22my background said you know I'll
09:23introduce you to three of their
09:26portfolio companies at various stages to
09:29see whether you want to do earlier later
09:30I'm also gonna introduce you to some
09:33other VCS who are looking for associates
09:36or analysts who you know your background
09:38seems like it could be interesting you
09:40have experience in the internet I kid
09:42you not that was what they said anyway
09:44it's not to be a big deal
09:45sure not to be a big
09:47you're making this crazy internet
09:51e-commerce thing so and that's how I
09:53ended up that excel and I joined as an
09:55associate and you know worked my way up
09:57through the ranks became a partner and
09:59eventually a managing partner and then
10:05so I'm from Toledo semester isn't nearly
10:07as interesting yeah I grew up in Ohio
10:11I drove technical degree so I was a
10:12software developer for the first three
10:15or four years of my career worked in IT
10:16at a company in my hometown
10:18owens-corning I got my bachelor science
10:21at Penn State and absolutely had no idea
10:25what what venture capital was wasn't
10:27even a thought back where I was from so
10:29I knew I wanted to do something in
10:31business and I knew I didn't want to sit
10:32behind a desk and code for the rest of
10:34my career so I decided that I was gonna
10:36be a general manager that was a way for
10:37me to get access to what looked like to
10:40be the the moving and shaking in the
10:42company right these are guys that
10:44rampion else so I embarked on a
10:48ambitious plan to get my company to
10:50sponsor me on a business rotation so I
10:52got out of IT and I did sales I did
10:55product marketing I did strategic
10:57planning it was kind of a mini GM prep
11:00course if you were if you will I did
11:03that for about three or four years and
11:05then realized I needed to seal the deal
11:07with an MBA so I went to HBS and got my
11:09masters in business and then I looked
11:12out over the horizon and I said Silicon
11:16Valley is where I've got to be I like
11:17The Beverly Hillbillies yeah I had to be
11:21in Silicon Valley you know I knew I
11:22wanted to be in tech again and so Intel
11:25was a great platform I had other
11:27opportunities with other tech firms that
11:29you would know but opted to take the
11:31Intel offer and you know I've been happy
11:34with that I mean I started as a product
11:36marketing engineer and then product
11:37marketing manager at Intel so I was
11:39doing technical marketing with our PC
11:41OEMs and it was the desktop business it
11:43was the cash cow so a lot of tension
11:45there are a lot of resources and after
11:48doing that for about three years I
11:50thought wow it does a big company what
11:53else can I do because you know you're
11:56not really putting a MBA together I mean
11:58to use right I'd spend $100,000
12:00ba and I figured I probably should be
12:01using it instead of writing technical
12:03papers and talking to IT people and PC
12:06people so I went looking and
12:09unfortunately found what was then called
12:11corporate business development is now
12:13called Intel Capital and I've been there
12:15for 14 years look for different stories
12:17but I think they have a lot in common
12:18right a lot of sort of in the trenches
12:20experience and then somehow magically
12:21fall into a plan to be a VC which which
12:28is interesting venture capital is a bit
12:31of a black box and I think it's also
12:33it's been part of a strategy of most
12:36firms to not really talk that much about
12:38what goes on in there so in the spirit
12:41of demystifying it I'm going to ask
12:43Theresa just pick on you first what do
12:48you think a venture capitalist what do
12:49you do all day like what are what is it
12:52actually that happens I know there's at
12:55some point there's a meeting with an
12:56entrepreneur but like how do you get
12:58there my daughter asked me that question
13:02too and my answer to her is like
13:04meetings lots of meetings and phone
13:06calls we want the next level
13:11so what I would say is there's really if
13:15you think about it once you're sort of
13:16up and running as a venture capitalist
13:17you're the things that you spend your
13:19time on are split between the companies
13:21that you've already invested in and that
13:23you're usually on the board of and
13:25meeting potential new companies new
13:27entrepreneurs and new executives that
13:31you're trying to recruit into your
13:32companies so in any given day it might
13:36be that you would have a board meeting
13:38for one of your companies or you might
13:40have an interview you're looking for a
13:43VP of Marketing for one of your
13:44companies so you know every day is
13:46different but if you look in a long long
13:48term I think it's maybe half of your
13:50time on existing company board work and
13:54maybe half of your time looking at new
13:56companies and so there's this magical
13:57whir whir deal flow alien so you know
14:01how do you find the deals do they all
14:03just magically walk in the door you know
14:05that's a huge you know that's the magic
14:08that you have yeah I was gonna add to
14:09Teresa's which is like you spend half
14:11your time meeting with new companies
14:12half your time working with portfolio
14:14companies half your time doing email and
14:18like ya have your time running your firm
14:20I mean it's like a 24/7 job I think
14:22that's one of the things that people who
14:25have maybe been entrepreneurs or
14:26operators and companies who join venture
14:28firms usually say after the first year
14:29you're like wow this is a lot harder
14:31than I thought it was like when I think
14:33about my job my job is seeing the best
14:36ventures that are started every month or
14:38every year making the right calls on
14:40them which is as important as seeing
14:42them but if you don't see them you're
14:43not going to make the right call right
14:44and then you have to actually like
14:46hopefully add value to help them to get
14:48to a great outcome you know and then you
14:50have to think about like running your
14:51firm and marketing your firm's that
14:52you're gonna get to see the best deal so
14:54that's kind of like how I spent my time
14:56there's a thing that I think you left
14:58out that is winning the deal because the
15:01good deals are that's true totally true
15:04yeah what's your like how do you think
15:06about winning the deal maybe you don't
15:08have you have less pressure after 25
15:10years well I think everybody has to
15:13cultivate their own unique deal flow
15:14that's sort of part of it so that you're
15:16not out there chasing
15:17deels and that really is what separates
15:20the top venture firms from the other
15:23venture firms because if you have to
15:25chase deals and try to get into them
15:27it's a lot of time and you frequently
15:30don't get the deal so I think everybody
15:33on this panel really does a good job in
15:35cultivating unique deal flow and looking
15:37ahead to some of the trends in the
15:39industry and who might you know step out
15:42of companies and the advantage we all
15:45have after doing it over a decade or
15:47several decades is that you know you get
15:50to see a crop of people that you've
15:52helped recruit into these companies and
15:54it's not always your CEOs that start the
15:57next company it might be the VP of
15:59Product Management or the VP of
16:00engineering so you can't get lazy about
16:03deal flow you know one of the challenges
16:05about do flow is all the stuff we get
16:07over the transom yeah and it's a real
16:10challenge because you don't want to
16:11throw it all the wet all the way but you
16:13cannot meet with every entrepreneur who
16:15approaches you so you know the the
16:18signal-to-noise ratios is interesting in
16:21venture capital because we're running
16:24around with dollar signs on our head on
16:25the entrepreneur side how do you we also
16:28can't me with every potential VC and yet
16:31we need to have a feedback cycle so that
16:34we make sure that we're you know setting
16:36ourselves up for success and finding the
16:37right VC is to provide our funding so
16:40what how do we decide if you're the one
16:42to reach out to or other than okay well
16:45we're going for a let's say and we're
16:47looking for and we're in the enterprise
16:49space how do you recommend people
16:51self-select to contact you and how do
16:53you decide on the other side who you
16:56reach back to well those are two
16:58questions that we might have different
16:59answers to you know when our companies
17:03are out raising money and another 30
17:06percent of our three hundred percent
17:09time is actually helping our companies
17:11raise their follow-on round there there
17:14are a lot of venture firms and many
17:15venture firms had almost telemarketing
17:17people that are calling up these
17:19companies and I'll go to word meaning in
17:22our CEO will say well someone called me
17:24from so-and-so and you know it does make
17:29sense for you to spend some time
17:31thinking about the lay of the land which
17:33set a venture capitalist you should
17:36approach it also is determined a bit by
17:39who does your first round and who
17:42they're a collegial circle is that
17:44they've worked with because you do want
17:46like-minded investors around the table
17:48so that your own investor circle and
17:51your board meetings themselves don't
17:53turn into a circus so I would leverage
17:56your seed stage investors you're a round
17:58investors for the follow-on once it gets
18:00easier than and I'm surprised all the
18:03time that even when we give companies
18:07the term sheet you know I always say hey
18:09you should talk to our CES or even
18:12before we give you a term she talked to
18:14our CEOs you know find out if we're the
18:18right investor for you because you know
18:20once you get us it's hard to get rid of
18:21us forever the second question which is
18:25how do we deal with over the transom I
18:28would say that every partner in our firm
18:30is different you know I feel like I was
18:35sort of an on pedigreed entrepreneur in
18:37my early days so I was over the transom
18:40in every way you can describe so you
18:42know I couldn't call anyone and say will
18:44you call someone for me I was just sort
18:46of like knocking out doors so I have you
18:50know kind of a sweet spot for actually
18:52we're looking at the over the transom
18:54and you know it turns out it's gonna get
18:57a lot of stuff now well it turns out
19:01that some of our best deals ever were
19:03you know something caught my eye
19:06or someone else's eye it does take a bit
19:09more time but also I once a week say
19:13look I've got every five entrepreneurs
19:15that I've never heard it before that I
19:17don't know that might be in a different
19:19circle or set of people otherwise on I'm
19:22treading the same path over and over
19:24which is easy but it's not gonna get
19:27great returns the thing I'd add to the
19:30over the transom because I think it is
19:32more often rare that it over the transom
19:36venture gets funded by traditional
19:38venture firm and it becomes a big hit I
19:41think your best shot if you aren't being
19:43if you don't know the people to refer
19:45you into a target investor is to have
19:47traction like when I think about
19:48companies like Nasty Gal or monocots
19:50just like they had traction they were
19:52kind of like unknown but they were able
19:54to write and be like hey I bootstrap
19:55this on my own and I'm doing five or ten
19:57million in revenue then you'll get
19:58someone's attention but if you're I've
20:00got this idea I don't really know
20:01anybody can you then you're most likely
20:03to get people's attention don't think
20:05that on the first part about you know
20:08how do you pick the right VC partner and
20:11I'm being very specific not just firm
20:13but the right partner because an says
20:15you know you're likely gonna have this
20:16person you know it used to be six years
20:18less stuff I've seen it's like 10 years
20:20and so you're gonna be on board with
20:22this person for 10 years so you're
20:24really let's hope that you know you guys
20:27work well together marriages yeah longer
20:31than longer than most celebrity ones by
20:33a longshot yet your work it's your work
20:37marriage so what I always tell
20:40entrepreneurs is that you should think
20:41about this as it's a two-way street just
20:44like just like when you're recruiting
20:46for for an employee to your company or
20:48you're interviewing for a job which is
20:50something you guys can all in actuality
20:52it's a two-way street right so yes
20:55absolutely I would assume that you would
20:57have you know done research on Cernan or
21:01a lien and you know some of the
21:03investments they've made you probably
21:04therefore should talk to some of their
21:06entrepreneurs and then it won't be an
21:08over the transom introduction because
21:10you're just doing your homework you want
21:12to make sure like what is it like to
21:13work with them do they are they
21:15interested in the space that I am in or
21:17the business model that I'm pursuing
21:18because it's also about you know what's
21:21the fit with their expertise their
21:22network their value add to be on your
21:25board for that the last thing that I
21:26would say is absolutely a hundred and
21:28fifty percent what Anne said and this
21:30was included in my half at the time with
21:32companies it's not board meetings right
21:33it's all the other stuff is it's
21:35recruiting people I didn't explicitly
21:36called but absolutely I've you I've
21:38always viewed my job as an early-stage
21:41venture investor is to help my companies
21:44through to whatever is the best outcome
21:47for them whether that's an IPO which
21:49does tend to take ten years having been
21:52through that a couple of times or an
21:54acquisition and you know my job is to
21:57help you find the right partner for your
21:59series BC or expansion round and Jenna
22:02and I were counting it up when we
22:03launched our firm I mean between the two
22:05of us we've probably helped our
22:06companies raise over 350 rounds of
22:08follow-on venture capital that's the
22:10kind of stuff that you should be wanting
22:12from your investment partner then and
22:14lastly understanding the difference
22:16between a private venture firm in a
22:17corporate venture firm Chris where we're
22:19in Telus for a big company so you got a
22:211 a lot of love right because you're
22:22gonna get a whole lotta love it's a
22:25beast and so you know understanding
22:28what's unique about a corporate you know
22:31do you want a business relationship with
22:33a company are you looking for go to
22:35market support so we've got channels and
22:37we've got resources in other regions to
22:39get you visibility with your customers
22:41you still are gonna be subject to the
22:44partner that you choose so you should
22:45also do the research on the individual
22:47but you're gonna have a whole lot more
22:49help than that and and hold them to it
22:51right I mean corporates promise a lot of
22:53things sometimes but make sure they
22:55deliver on the things that they promised
22:56I mean I ask a question
22:58so Aileen and Theresa you are do you
23:03have a give a partner at the firm I have
23:05a team member yeah okay man or woman guy
23:08okay and so you have a female firm is is
23:11there is that by design or is that just
23:14because you've known Jenna forever and
23:16you make a partner's it really was
23:20because we've known each other for a
23:22long time and we we knew that we had the
23:27same philosophy about both the type of
23:29firm that we wanted to start in terms of
23:32the the market opportunity that we saw
23:34having come from bigger firms like
23:36seeing this what we think of as a white
23:38space with a big getting bigger um and
23:40you know multi geography multistage
23:42which was not what either of our firms
23:44were only joined in 96 or 99 but also so
23:48actually we were independently thinking
23:51of doing our own thing going out and
23:53doing seed in early-stage
23:55and the kinds of things that we loved to
23:56do and as we were talking truly more
23:59networking as we had been over the
24:01course of our careers around stuff like
24:02there aren't that many women management
24:04partners so talking about stuff like
24:06okay what's your philosophy on you know
24:08how to hire people and when to promote
24:10people so we knew we had a lot of
24:13commonality in terms of culturally how
24:16we wanted to run our firms so it gave us
24:18a lot of comfort and we were literally
24:19like comparing notes unlike stuff which
24:21I did with Aileen as well about like
24:22okay who should you hire is like your
24:24rent to CFO and all that other stuff and
24:26at one point she was literally just like
24:28you know it sounds like why are we doing
24:29it why why should you do this together
24:31and have you seen our the number of
24:35female founders that you've been able to
24:37invest and has that grown at all do you
24:39see more women entrepreneurs these days
24:42then you saw when you first got started
24:44and you obviously are focused on
24:46enterprise software yeah we just gave a
24:48term sheet to woman co-founder woman CEO
24:53for him last week and you know she got a
24:57lot of attention from you know our
24:59partnership because we don't really see
25:01that many women in enterprise software
25:02it's it's pretty shocking actually again
25:07if you look at the stats coming along
25:11you know the number of computer science
25:13science majors in the u.s. is not that
25:16large going down for women down it's
25:19going down for women it was like you
25:21know 20% now it's like 13% most of the
25:25women coming in and actually most of our
25:30founder you know CEO types there are a
25:33good number that do have an MBA I mean
25:36that they want that job as a CEO that
25:38got the advanced degree other than
25:40Stanford and Harvard which has a higher
25:43percentage of women as MBAs only about
25:46the typical MBA class and other
25:48universities is 20 to 25 percent so
25:51we're dealing with the law of small
25:53numbers here for qualified to you know
25:56to the enterprise software market is
25:59very large now very competitive you know
26:03the skill the bar keeps rising for
26:05entry-level skill other than
26:07you're some you know wonder can't who
26:10you know has thinks of something in
26:13their dorm room so you know we were
26:15really excited to give her this term
26:17sheet she's super qualified you know we
26:19won't be announcing that deal for some
26:20time and she just did a fantastic job of
26:25you know presenting her idea her concept
26:29and she was very authentic that's
26:32another thing that my partners and I
26:35really liked about her she was very open
26:37about you know what she thought the
26:39opportunity was as well as the
26:41challenges you know we got to know her
26:44really quickly she she really really was
26:47herself she wasn't she was very
26:48comfortable in her own skin as a woman
26:50she wasn't she hadn't gone to like prep
26:53classes somewhere to be prepared to
26:56present to venture capitalist and so it
26:58was acting the role and maybe she's
27:00noticed that it's really not a good idea
27:02so you know you know but the answer your
27:04question is on you know it's pretty much
27:07on change we gave our first term sheet
27:09to Heidi Roizen and tea makers we
27:11started with a woman but it hasn't
27:14changed much it's very disappointing how
27:16about you what what female deals to you
27:19so I see I do think there are a lot more
27:21female founder CEOs than there were when
27:23I started in 99 especially in the
27:25consumer side the enterprise side I
27:28think it's it's much thinner and I think
27:30for any of you who are working in larger
27:32companies right now and you're like you
27:33know it's director VP level you are an
27:36awesome candidate to be a founder I
27:38think most of the best founders have
27:40good training from existing tech
27:42companies that have high growth and so
27:44whether it's you or it's a one you work
27:47with you know I think my frustration in
27:50there not being as much kind of gender
27:52balance in tech is you know we have like
27:55I think challenges at every stage of the
27:58pipeline from who the investors are to
28:00what the kind of supply side looks like
28:02and if there aren't great women who are
28:05directors and VPS at tech companies
28:07we're not going to increase the number
28:08of female CEOs and so like if you see
28:11some superstars who don't like you don't
28:13think they're going to stay in the
28:14workforce like encourage them support
28:16them to stay in because we have to keep
28:18this pipeline increasing not decreasing
28:21it's never gonna get better I'll give
28:22you an example I mean Diane green of all
28:24fabulous people was told by someone you
28:28should do your own company so that to me
28:32that's an incredible anecdote it's not
28:34like she had this plan all along so if
28:36you're wondering if you should you might
28:38want to really think about it
28:39Aileen said one other really key thing
28:42is that when we you know are auditioning
28:45these companies we and we get attracted
28:49to one we we look at the founding team
28:51and see what movies have they seen
28:52before and they only been working at
28:55horror shows you know so you know this
28:58is one thing for your own career as well
29:00if you are in a horror show leave
29:02because you want to you know see how
29:04what a good movies like what's the
29:07differences you look at it between the
29:09power and influence you had as one
29:12person in a kleiner or in excel versus
29:15the kind of power influence that you
29:18have to make an impact as you know a
29:20founder your own smaller funds I mean so
29:24I take a lot of inspiration from my
29:25entrepreneurs and I'll use that as an
29:27analogy right so and many of you are
29:29some of you are entrepreneur some of you
29:31are executives at larger companies right
29:33so you can be an executive at a larger
29:36company and it's not that it's a it's
29:37not that it's a bad place or you know it
29:39can be a great place but the amount of
29:41change and the speed at which you can
29:43make change because of the N number is
29:46just much slower and much different and
29:48the amount of impact you can have and so
29:50when you're a founder you know it's your
29:53vision it's you know you get to start
29:55from sort of the you know from blank
29:57sheet of paper so I think it's I think
29:59that's the difference that was kind of
30:01what what kind of drove me it was sort
30:03of I had an entrepreneur who told me
30:05once one was sort of like had sort of
30:07done like three or four times is sort of
30:08like why why are you doing this again
30:09right and it was sort of like I just
30:11feel like I'm called to this it's like I
30:12really see something that I want to do
30:14and I can't you know where I am is a
30:16great place but I can't do that here it
30:18just doesn't fit so the only way I can
30:20do that is to go out there and do it
30:21myself and also fundamentally like I
30:24think a lot of entrepreneurs are kind of
30:27impatient and for any of you know me I'm
30:28extremely impatient and so you can move
30:30a lot faster when you're just kind of a
30:34I would totally echo what Teresa said I
30:36think obviously we wouldn't be doing
30:38what we're doing if we didn't think it
30:39was better and it's like now I'm two
30:42years into it it's way better and it's I
30:45was also inspired by some entrepreneur
30:47friends I was having dinner with some
30:48friends and this is probably three years
30:49ago who are entrepreneurs and they were
30:52asking me about changes going on at
30:54kleiner and things like that and we were
30:55kind of talking a little bit about
30:56what's going on they were like when are
30:58you gonna leave to start your own firm
30:59and honestly it wasn't if it was we had
31:02not cross my mind to be honest like you
31:04know stack line are super socially
31:06respectable it's a big platform we had
31:08great deal flow like I think in my mind
31:11I had been thinking like I think I'm an
31:13intelligent person I think I have a lot
31:14to bring to the table but a lot of
31:15people want to talk to me because I'm a
31:17kleiner partner maybe not necessarily
31:19because I'm me and I think I could do a
31:23good job even if I was just me and so it
31:26was that dinner that really inspired me
31:27like I could do that why wouldn't it
31:29isn't that amazing I hear that so often
31:30that women are sort of asked to go do it
31:35and we somehow seem to be waiting for
31:37someone to tell us that we should go do
31:38it so go do it what about you Margate I
31:46mean youyou were running a you know the
31:48top marketing firm and it seemed like
31:53you know you know waiting another sector
31:57how was the transition out of one
31:59industry I'm changing I'm being the
32:00moderator and how was the transition
32:03from a totally different industry
32:07companies I I would say when I first
32:10moved to this country I worked at an
32:12agency that was chock full of women it
32:15was run by men and that really was
32:16annoying to me because that my home
32:19industry is like chock-full of women and
32:21that was just weird so it was really fun
32:24to start my own because you can put your
32:27the imprint of the values that you have
32:29and the culture and and what you want to
32:32make that's bigger than just what you do
32:35every day and there's nothing more
32:37gratifying than that and I have a child
32:39and I have the the outcast agency and
32:42that is my other child still and if you
32:45if you think that you might like that
32:47that is absolutely amazing the reason
32:51that I made this weird decision to come
32:52here because I don't like being an
32:54employee like I there was not that part
32:57was not attractive but um I thought at
33:02the time maybe that was naive but I
33:04thought that the list of top five firms
33:07was very very established and it was
33:09almost that was going to be very tricky
33:11to become one of those and I didn't know
33:14that I could do that and that that was
33:16the job at least a suspect that I was
33:19asked to do and then I liked I liked the
33:23values of the founders and the the way
33:25they had set it up and I liked the fact
33:28that it was a partnership but it it had
33:31like normal hierarchies because some of
33:34that stuff gets the front dysfunctional
33:36but fundamentally I did it because I
33:38knew how to run Outkast and I didn't
33:40know that I could do this and this kind
33:43of job doesn't come around every other
33:46day right so that that was the reason I
33:48did an amazing job I have a lot to work
33:52and I will also say thank you but we
33:55have a lot to improve not even five
33:58years old what elements do you think the
34:00culture that you will cultivate for your
34:03firms that you really want to make
34:05different from where you came from so
34:07can't wait Mentos is pretty small it's
34:09just myself and another person and I
34:11don't actually know if it's ever going
34:12to get very big like I like I came from
34:15a place that started small and got very
34:17big and I didn't really like it as much
34:19when it got really big so I you know
34:21cowboy ventures is very personal it's
34:24like and we're goofy and we're silly and
34:26like when like we have this new ritual
34:29when like when our portfolio companies
34:30have raised enough money to open like
34:33their first office we send them a disco
34:35ball like if that's like look we're like
34:37goofy were like where I can be myself
34:39now you know whereas before I've kind of
34:41feel like I was my sanitized self and so
34:44you know it's a very personal business
34:46it may never be more than three or four
34:47people but I think it will always be
34:49like very hands-on and personal and also
34:52very collaborative like what I think one
34:54of the things that Theresa and I are
34:55super excited about is like we've been
34:56friends basically since I started and
34:58we've never been able to co-invest
35:00the investor you wanted from our firms
35:03we want as much ownership as possible so
35:05we could talk about deals and we could
35:07never figure out how to split them and
35:08now we can work together please we could
35:11we just our daughters can never let
35:13elaborative yeah and so a and C yeah and
35:16C it is very collaborative like I don't
35:18want to be the only institutional seed
35:19investor I want to do it with Teresa and
35:21Jennifer or like other people so that's
35:23a great thing that I love about what I'm
35:25doing now one more question
35:26yes hi my name is Karen Basu Dobbin and
35:30I'm a vice president at merrill lynch
35:33wealth management I I really want to
35:36commend you on your leadership and
35:39impressiveness working in a
35:41male-dominated industry and I'd love for
35:44you in closing to share if you would
35:47your own unique way you know share with
35:51us some secrets as to how you kicked ass
35:53and in each of yours thanks and you
35:58you've kicked more ass than all of us
36:00thanks a lot Lisa you know it's it's I
36:04thought it would be easier to kick ass
36:06if you're tall like this does not matter
36:10you know you know one of the real early
36:14pioneers in in the tech industry is a
36:16woman named Sandy Creek and she did an
36:18interview recently and people always
36:20asked us this question and she said you
36:24know something very clearly she goes
36:25look I've always been comfortable being
36:27a woman I've never tried to act like the
36:29guys I grew up in a small town in
36:33Minnesota my dad was the head basketball
36:34coach so I can say that I was in the
36:37locker room at age three
36:38my mother was unhappy with that but my
36:41dad was in charge of me as the oldest so
36:44I I think you've really just the the way
36:46you kick ass is just be comfortable with
36:53I have nowhere to add that that's just
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