โ๐๐ง ๐จ๐ฎ๐ซ ๐๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ง๐, ๐ฐ๐ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐ ๐๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐จ๐ญ๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฌ ๐ญ๐จ ๐ฅ๐๐ฏ๐๐ฅ ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฒ๐ข๐ง๐ ๐๐ข๐๐ฅ๐, ๐ญ๐จ ๐จ๐ฉ๐๐ง ๐ญ๐ก๐ ๐๐จ๐จ๐ซ ๐ฐ๐ข๐๐๐ซ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐ซ๐๐๐ญ๐ ๐๐ง ๐๐ง๐ฏ๐ข๐ซ๐จ๐ง๐ฆ๐๐ง๐ญ ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฏ๐๐ซ๐ฒ๐จ๐ง๐ ๐ข๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐๐ฅ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐โ.
Meet Cindy Padnos, founder of Illuminate Ventures, a seed and early-stage venture capital firm based out of Oakland that invests exclusively in enterprise/B2B software companies.
In this interview episode of โWiping Out the Norm,โ Cindy shares her journey in Venture Capital with our founder Radhika Bajoria.
Cindy started her career by working with a large corporation, then did management consulting within the tech sector and soon founded her own startup in B2B software which she eventually exited and built a VC fund to invest in B2B SaaS sector.
After working in the VC world, she conducted many researches to understand what helps startups and founders to become successful. She shared many of her valuable insights in the conversation like,
โ๐๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฆ๐๐ฅ๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ข๐ญ๐๐ก ๐๐ข๐๐๐๐ซ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ฅ๐ฒ. ๐๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ข๐ง โ๐๐๐ค๐ ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐ข๐ฅ๐ฅ ๐ฒ๐จ๐ฎ ๐ฆ๐๐ค๐ ๐ข๐ญโ ๐๐จ๐ง๐๐๐ฉ๐ญ, ๐ฐ๐ก๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐ซ๐ ๐ ๐๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐ฅ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐ฌ๐ญ๐ข๐ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐๐ญ๐ฎ๐๐ฅ, ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐จ ๐ง๐จ๐ญ ๐๐จ๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ญ๐จ ๐๐ง๐ฒ๐ญ๐ก๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐ก๐๐ฏ๐๐งโ๐ญ ๐๐๐ก๐ข๐๐ฏ๐๐โ.
In the conversation, Cindy revealed many other observations from her interesting research like,
โ๐๐ง ๐ฆ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐๐ฌ๐๐๐ซ๐๐ก ๐ฐ๐ก๐ข๐๐ก ๐ฌ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฏ๐๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ก๐ฎ๐ง๐๐ซ๐๐๐ฌ ๐จ๐ ๐๐ง๐ญ๐ซ๐๐ฉ๐ซ๐๐ง๐๐ฎ๐ซ๐ฌ ๐๐ง๐ ๐๐๐ฌ, ๐๐๐ฌ ๐ฌ๐ก๐จ๐๐ค๐ข๐ง๐ ๐ฅ๐ฒ ๐ซ๐๐ฏ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ญ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ฒ ๐๐๐ฅ๐ข๐๐ฏ๐ ๐ฆ๐๐ง ๐๐ข๐ฌ๐ฉ๐ฅ๐๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฆ๐จ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ฌ๐ข๐ง๐๐ฌ๐ฌ ๐๐ญ๐ญ๐ซ๐ข๐๐ฎ๐ญ๐๐ฌ ๐ญ๐ก๐๐ง ๐ฐ๐จ๐ฆ๐๐ง.โ She highlighted the subtle but unintentional biases that women face.
โVCs do not want to invest in companies where husband and wife are running the company together, but we invested in such a company, and made massive returnsโ.
There are many such preconceived notions in the mind of VCs and avoid investing in companies that are different from the โnormโ.
In addition to women, she found that people of color, LGBTQ+ individuals, those from other nationalities, and even those with different accents were frequently impacted by prejudices and biases.
In her VC fund, they have focused on inclusion, and also shared that half of the companies in their portfolio have at least one female co-founder. Along with conducting researches, she has been involved in a number of nonprofits supporting women entrepreneurship for 20 years.
Watch our full conversation with Cindy as she shared with us many more learnings from her researches and experiences in the VC world.
Watch the full video- https://lnkd.in/dK-kzJ2U
#VentureCapital #WomenInTech #VCJourney #WipingOutTheNorm #IlluminateVentures #TechSector #B2B
