Episode Summary

Alicia Robb is an author, academic and Founder and CEO of Nextwave. She discusses why creating a “learning by doing” fund was important to her. Why it’s important to selectively mentor, and the importance connecting companies to subsequent funders. She lists her top female VCs and highlights the importance of diversity. All in all, a great conversation with an inspiring leader of the female VC community.

What We Covered

  • 02:20 – Alicia’s story of how she became a VC
  • 05:44 – How the mentors really help with investment decisions
  • 06:50 – What was the biggest red flag those early investors had?
  • 07:30 – The benefit of a group of investors
  • 08:40 – What the existing investors received out of being a mentor
  • 10:30 – Silvia ask about Alicia’s portfolio.
  • 12:35 – What are Alicia’s thoughts on mentoring a large portfolio
  • 14:15 – Connecting companies to subsequent funders
  • 16:00 – Why it’s important to =clearly define “impact investing”
  • 17:10 – What is the current mix of women and men in the pilot funds?
  • 19:00 – Impact investing is still relatively young.
  • 22:25 – Alicia’s passion with emerging markets
  • 26:05 – Defining Homophily
  • 28:00 – Alicia talks about diversity struggles
  • 29:30 – Estimates of female angel investor percentages
  • 30:50 – What other companies have helped Alicia along the way?
  • 33:00 – Listing out female led VCs
  • 36:25 – A preview of Alicia’s upcoming book
  • 39:35 – Silvia’s episode recap.

Tweetables

Links Mentioned

Alicia on Twitter
Alicia on LinkedIn
Next Wave Ventures
Next Wave on Twitter
The Kaufmann Foundation
Rising Tide Fund
Angel Capital Association
WOMENA
Homophily (Wikipedia)
Hera Hub – San Diego
37 Angels – New York
The JumpFund – Tennessee
Sofia Fund – Minnesota
True Wealth Ventures – Austin
Women’s Impact Fund – Seattle
SheEO – Canada
The Next Wave: Financing Women's Growth-Oriented Firms by Susan Coleman and Alicia M. Robb
Sapiens: A Brief History of Humankind by Yuval Noah Harari

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