This week we bring to you a special year-end wrap-up joint episode where I’m joined by my friend and fellow podcast host Marcia Dawood of the Angel Next Door Podcast. We had a great conversation reflecting on everything 2024 had to offer, the inspiring guests, the lessons learned, and the topics that resonated with our listeners. From game-changing conversations with leading experts, investors, founders and change-makers to surprising behind the scenes stories. We’ve pulled back the curtain on w...
Dec 26, 2024•43 min•Ep. 44
Halle Kaplan-Allen is the Director of Growth at Sydecar an innovative platform that helps you start and run your investment vehicles — so you can focus on making deals, not spreadsheets. In this conversation we talk about Special Purpose Vehicles (SPVS), how to angel invest alongside other women, how SPVS help founders add more angels to the cap table while managing the investor relations aspects, and Sydecar’s solutions for founders and fund managers. SIGN UP for our newsletter at www.venturef....
Dec 13, 2024•24 min•Ep. 43
Kimberly Smith is the Chief Capital Formation Officer of Andalusian Credit Partners a solutions-oriented middle market direct lending platform. In this conversation we discuss private capital versus private equity, building opportunity and access to dealflow, women in private capital and finance, and why diverse leadership is important in finance. Kimberly was previously the Chief Capital Formation Officer at Techstars , where she led the strategy and execution of fundraising, deal sourcing, and...
Dec 06, 2024•32 min•Ep. 42
Marisa Warren is the Founder & Managing Partner of ALIAVIA Ventures and Founder of ELEVACAO. Marisa invests in female-founded tech startups across the U.S. and Australia. Beginning her career in enterprise software sales in 2001, Marisa went on to build the Microsoft Partner Development Centre for Australia and Southeast Asia. Marisa's efforts resulted in customer acquisition targets exceeding 230% and as a result she received the Microsoft Global Best-Practice award. At SAP Australia, Maris...
Nov 29, 2024•26 min•Ep. 41
Jennifer Pullen and Zain Pirani are the co-founders of Zenn Capital a strategic partner for growth companies, providing a suite of services designed to propel success in today's dynamic business landscape. Their expertise lies in private placements encompassing equity, debt, and hybrid financing solutions. They specialize in fundraising for founders and fund managers across distinct categories, where the managers have established themselves as market leaders with a proven track record of excelle...
Nov 22, 2024•28 min•Ep. 40
Nyakio Grieco, Co-founder of Thirteen Lune and Founder of Relevant: Your Skin Seen is a beauty entrepreneur and advocate for clean, inclusive beauty that suits all skin types, tones, and needs. As a veteran beauty founder and trusted industry voice, Nyakio has launched two successful businesses: her award- winning brand nyakioTM, based on her family’s Kenyan roots and beauty secrets that launched in 2002, and inclusive beauty e-commerce destination, Thirteen Lune, launched with cofounder Patrick...
Nov 15, 2024•27 min•Ep. 39
Dr. Nikki Lanier, CEO of Harper Slade and Founder of the RAARE Woman Collective. As CEO and founder of Harper Slade one of the fastest-growing and most highly recognized race, inclusion, equity, & diversity advisory firms in the country, Nikki’s work focuses on helping organizations cultivate environments where black and brown talent can thrive. Nikki alsofounded the RAARE Women Collective, a global coaching program for “inclined” white women who want to become better racial equity advocates...
Nov 08, 2024•30 min•Ep. 38
Laura Rippy, is a Managing Partner and Board Member at Alumni Ventures. She runs the Women's Fund, the Harvard-focused fund (The Yard Ventures), and the Dartmouth-focused fund (Green D Ventures) which she grew to be the largest fund at Alumni Ventures. Alumni Ventures is America's Largest Venture Firm for Individuals with more than 10,000 individual accredited investors investing in their funds and is considered by PitchBook to be the #1 Most Active US Venture Firm and #3 Globally with over $1.2...
Nov 01, 2024•27 min•Ep. 37
Jenny co-founded PEAK6 in 1997 with $1.6M in seed capital as a proprietary options trading firm and since then has grown it into a multibillion-dollar financial services and technology giant housing the next generation of products & service brands including PEAK6 Capital Management, PEAK6 Strategic Capital, Apex Fintech Solutions, PEAK6 InsurTech, and Zogo. With a true knack for unearthing talent and opportunities, Jenny looks for underfunded and underappreciated sectors to transform into hi...
Oct 25, 2024•28 min•Ep. 36
Linnea Roberts is the Founder & CEO, GingerBread Capital a venture fund launched in 2016 to build and invest in women’s entrepreneurial success and support the growing ecosystem of emerging funders who share a vision of a more equitable and inclusive landscape for female and diverse founders. Linnea, believes that women-led businesses are changing the world for the better and that they are also really smart investments that are too often overlooked and undervalued by investors. Today, Ginger...
Oct 18, 2024•26 min•Ep. 35
Nicole Valentine is FinTech Director at the Milken Institute with over a decade of financial services, international mergers and acquisitions, technology, and innovation experience. In this episode we explore The Milken Institute's leadership in convening conversations and education around fintech, how fintech impacts our everyday lives, and how AI and diverse voices lend to the growing opportunities in fintech. SIGN UP for our newsletter at www.venturef.com/newsletter to get curated news and in...
Oct 11, 2024•33 min•Ep. 34
This week's episode features Allyson Eman, CEO of the Venture Atlanta Conference, connecting founders and funders through one of the nation’s largest venture capital conferences and communities. 17 years ago the Metro Atlanta Chamber, Technology Association of Georgia, the Atlanta CEO Council came together to launch Venture Atlanta. This is the story of the growth the Venture Atlanta Summit and the venture ecosystem in Atlanta. The conference has helped emerging technology companies raise over $...
Sep 27, 2024•28 min•Ep. 33
Sylvia Kwan, CFA, CAIA, is the Chief Investment Officer for Ellevest, the experts in building and managing women’s wealth. In this episode we discuss Ellevest and the groundbreaking work they have been doing for over a decade to help thousands of women grow their wealth. A few key takeaways 🔸 The data shows that women are underinvested compared to men - which is one of the many reason Ellevest focuses on women. 🔸 Women are not set up for success unless they investing - this is what we call the...
Sep 20, 2024•26 min•Ep. 32
In this episode we discuss how she figured out how to launch not one but multiple businesses and teach others along the way. Why she joined the Stella Foundation and how she is continuing to help thousands of women launch and scale businesses through Stella and the Women’s Venture Summit. 🔸 Being an Entrepreneur is an ideal solution for military spouses who need to create income 🔸 Building an online business allows you to take your business with you wherever you go 🔸 Flossie’s experience buil...
Sep 13, 2024•16 min•Ep. 31
Jill shares with us this week on the podcast how she is helping women realize their potential and plan for success. We also delve into the UBS Own Your Worth report on women as breadwinners. Here are some key takeaways: 🔸 Back in 2015 Jill wrote a business plan about the great wealth transfer and pitched numerous banks about hiring her to launch a division specifically focused on women’s wealth - it took a few years - but UBS took note 🔸Only 15% of financial advisors are women - its a great ca...
Aug 30, 2024•31 min•Ep. 30
Shivani Siroya, is the founder and CEO of Tala, the first financial platform for the Global Majority. In this week’s episode we discuss Shivani’s founder journey, how she raised nearly half a billion dollars in investments and debt, how she created a much-lauded corporate culture that spans multiple contents, and why she’s focused on creating credit solutions for the global majority. Some takeaways: 🔸 The global majority represents 52% of the world population (4B people) and represents an econo...
Aug 23, 2024•24 min•Ep. 29
SEE ALL PODCAST EPISODES AT VENTUREF.COM Liz’s story is one of grit, determination, and inspiration for women entrepreneurs. Like she says “dream big and (you will) win.” Some key takeaways from today’s conversation 🔸 Entrepreneurialism requires grit 🔸 It’s important to set goals and have objectives to work against 🔸 Quality service leads to repeat business and referrals 🔸 Customer service is everything - know your customers 🔸 Show up when others won’t and do what others don’t 🔸 You do not...
Aug 16, 2024•35 min•Ep. 28
Sara Happ, founder and CEO of Sara Happ Inc invented the first-ever Lip Scrub in her kitchen in 2005. She launched her company as a side hustle with $10,000 in savings and thanks to an incredible product and market demand built a highly successful business over the past 18 years. Learn about bootstrapping a business, why you need founder friends, and when to take capital in this conversation.SIGN UP for our newsletter at www.venturef.com/newsletter to get curated news and information about growi...
Aug 09, 2024•34 min•Ep. 27
Tracy Killoren Chadwell is the Founding Partner of 1843 Capital, a venture capital fund focused on early stage technology companies. In this episode we talk about her path to venture, launching a fund, her focus on investing in the AgeTech & Longevity revolution, diverse investing, and some of her biggest portfolio investments and exits. SIGN UP for our newsletter at www.venturef.com/newsletter to get curated news and information about growing your wealth and investing in women delivered to ...
Aug 02, 2024•30 min•Ep. 26
Today we welcome to the podcast Vidhi Data and Shalini Sardana, Co-founders and Co-CEO’s of She Raises Capital, an AI powered global funding platform for female founders with education, community and capital connections to help them stay the course to build successful businesses. We explore Vidhi and Shalini's path to partnership, and the problem they are solving for female founders and for investors through their innovative platform and community. Together they have over 40+ years of combined e...
Jul 26, 2024•33 min•Ep. 25
. SIGN UP for our newsletter at www.venturef.com/newsletter to get curated news and information about growing your wealth and investing in women delivered to your in-box every week. DISCLAIMER: The information on this podcast is made available solely for general information purposes, is not tailored to the individual needs of a specific person or group, contains only disinterested commentary and analysis, and is not promotional material or an offer or solicitation to buy or sell securities. Vent...
Jul 19, 2024•27 min•Ep. 24
On this week's episode we speak with Mara Smith former M&A attorney turned spirits entrepreneur and founder of Inspiro Tequila. Mara has built a very thoughtful company, recruiting a woman master distiller, getting WBENC certified, and launching her Purple Bicycle pay-it-forward program. She even sources Rose wine barrels from the South of France to age her tequila in. Be sure to tune in as we delve into all of this and more! Mara Smith is Founder & CEO of Inspiro Tequila. Mara started d...
Jul 12, 2024•28 min•Ep. 23
Laurel Mintz gets candid about the challenges of raising a venture fund as an emerging fund manager and why it's so important that more women invest in venture. We also delve into Fabric VC's investment thesis and talk about some of Laurel's portfolio companies. Laurel Mintz is the Founder of Fabric VC, a venture fund backing underrepresented founders at the earliest stage with a focus on Web 3.0 CPG in key areas. She is also the founder of Elevate My Brand an award-winning agency that serves bo...
Jul 05, 2024•21 min•Ep. 22
Michelle Jacobs and Sally Mueller became entrepreneurs, launching Womaness, when midlife and menopause presented them with a challenge, the need for better solutions for women experiencing hormonal changes. Co-Founder and COO at Womaness, Michelle Jacobs is a strategic development leader with a sweet spot in brand building, leading sales (e-commerce and traditional), branding, partnerships, licensing, logistics, inventory planning and financial management. She’s worked across multiple categories...
Jun 28, 2024•26 min•Ep. 21
Welcome to our 20th episode! For this episode we invited Jesse Draper the first solo fund manager in LA, now on fund III. Jesse is a fierce advocate for investing in women and is currently focused on the future of care. Tune in to learn more! Listen on Apple, Goodpods, iHeart Radio or on our website. LINK IN BIO Jesse Draper is a mother of 3 boys and founding partner of Halogen Ventures focused on early stage investing in consumer technology companies led by female and co-ed teams. Draper, the f...
Jun 21, 2024•30 min•Ep. 20
Annie Evans, Founder of Dream Ventures and Kelley Arena, Founder of Golden Hour Ventures are a groundbreaking duo who co-lead a fundraise accelerator for early stage female founders raising their 1st round of capital. More than 250 women have graduated since launching January 2022 and gone on to raise over $15M. Annie and Kelley have also built an angel community of more than 500 investors (CSuite execs, content creators, founders, strategic experts & operators) who participate in investment...
Jun 14, 2024•34 min•Ep. 19
In this episode Jessie Gabriel discusses the unique needs of female fund managers and how to support them. Jessie Gabriel is the Founder & CEO of All Places, a bespoke law firm with big law firm expertise seeking to create a more equitable world by actively helping women from all backgrounds and industries grow their business without limits. Jessie is a champion for women, and a prominent voice on the role of capital ownership and control in achieving gender equity. As a lawyer, she has work...
Jun 07, 2024•31 min•Ep. 18
This week we're talking about impact investing in new media ventures that are helping build democracy and equality in the US with Carlissia Graham, President of New Media Ventures (NMV). @newmediaventures is a mission-driven venture fund and investor network funding early-stage media and tech companies to advance democracy. NMV has seeded innovative media disruptors like Blavity, Prism, Represent Justice, CrowdTangle, The Juggernaut, and 140 other mission-driven entities that are working to shif...
May 31, 2024•23 min•Ep. 17
Catherine Gray is a producer, author, TEDx speaker, podcast host. She is the producer of Show Her the Money, a film that addresses how women are getting less than 2% of venture capital funding and demystifies what venture capital is. She is the founder of She Angel Investors and co-founder of the non profit She Angels Foundation. She Angel Investors is a multimedia platform designed to connect women business owners to funding, and to encourage women to become angel investors. She also hosts and ...
May 24, 2024•24 min•Ep. 16
In this episode we discuss the why and how of angel investing and how you can do good while doing well with your investing strategy. Marcia Dawood is a partner at MINDSHIFT Capital, a venture fund focused on investing in companies with scalable technology in the U.S., Europe, and Middle East. MINDSHIFT invests with a gender lens, ensuring diversity of thought while narrowing the funding gap for female-led ventures. Marcia is also an advisor to the Securities and Exchange Commission on the Small ...
May 17, 2024•24 min•Ep. 15
