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How Women VCs Think About Startups with Sramana Mitra
Rating: 5.0 out of 5(5 ratings)
23 students

How Women VCs Think About Startups with Sramana Mitra

Case Studies of Women Investors (Venture Capitalists and Angels) on Venture Capital Fundraising and Due Diligence
Created bySramana Mitra
Last updated 3/2023
English

What you'll learn

  • Through in-depth interviews with prominent women investors, learn how women investors think about startups, their thoughts on startup funding and trends.
  • What investor-entrepreneur fit is and how to look for it before looking for funding.
  • Why 99% of entrepreneurs who seek funding get rejected by VCs.
  • Why traditional VCs only invest in hyper growth startups.
  • What some of the key considerations are for investors when they evaluate startups.
  • How entrepreneurs can position themselves for success while building a startup.
  • What the common mistakes are that entrepreneurs make when pitching their startups to VCs.
  • The fastest way to find relevant sources of funding for women entrepreneurs.

Course content

2 sections • 16 lectures • 4h 41m total length

  • Introduction1:20
  • How Women Investors Think About Startups5:50
  • Entrepreneur - Investor Fit8:57
  • Multi-phase Seed Funding with Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures31:17

    During this discussion from 2017, Cindy Padnos, Founder and Managing Partner at Illuminate Ventures, discusses a topic that we’ve been highlighting: the need for multiple seed rounds as a way to bridge the Series A gap.

    In the next lecture, I share our most recent conversation.

  • Emerging Trends with Cindy Padnos, Illuminate Ventures27:27

    Cindy Padnos, Founder and Managing Director at Illuminate Ventures, discusses the impact of Covid on the fund’s portfolio, as well as trends she sees.

  • Sourcing Global Ventures with Ann Winblad, Hummer Winblad27:45

    Ann Winblad, Co-founder of Hummer Winblad, is one of the most successful women VCs in our industry, and as I mentioned in my introduction, I have never heard her whining about bias against women. One of the most encouraging things she discusses is how her firm is sourcing interesting ventures from all over the world, not just Silicon Valley. Mulesoft, one of their hot portfolio companies, had its CEO based in Malta, originally!

  • Capital Efficient Entrepreneurship with Susan Mason, Aligned Ventures28:02

    Susan Mason, General Partner at Aligned Ventures, talks about the dysfunctions of the broader venture capital model, and what her firm is doing to address those. Excellent conversation.

  • Discussion on Pre-Seed Financing with Julie Lein, Urban Innovation Fund23:06

    Julie Lein, Managing Partner at Urban Innovation Fund, discusses pre-seed and seed funding in companies focused on the betterment of cities.

  • Spotlight on Black Entrepreneurs with Heather Hiles, Imminent Equity32:53

    Heather Hiles, Founder and Managing Partner at Imminent Equity, and a pioneering entrepreneur in the Black community. Heather also has deep experience in financing Black entrepreneurs, as well as on the education side to close knowledge gaps at scale.

  • Startups Targeting the Female Demographic with Christina Brodbeck, Rivet Venture25:24

    During this podcast interview, Christina Brodbeck, Founding Partner at Rivet Ventures, talks about the firm’s investment thesis of funding companies that target the female demographic in its purchase decision cycle. Very interesting and under-served market.

  • Women-focused Investing with Kerry Rupp, True Wealth Ventures29:04

    Kerry Rupp, General Partner at True Wealth Ventures, discusses their women-focused investment thesis during this podcast interview.

  • Funding Women Entrepreneurs with Victoria Pettibone, Astia Angels29:04

    Victoria Pettibone, Managing Director of Astia Angels, a group focused on funding women entrepreneurs. During this podcast interview, she discusses what they like to invest in, as well as the trends she sees in the deal flow and the portfolio.

  • More Lessons From Women Investors3:13

    Here I share some important lessons learned and advice from an interview I did for Women 2.0. We also have many other interviews with women investors for you to learn from, sharing a few here as external resources:

    • DFJ’s Heidi Roizen on Building a Unicorn and Walking Away with Nothing

    • What Angels Are Looking For With Swati Chaturvedi, Propel(x)

    • Women in Technology with Patricia Nakache, Trinity Ventures

    • Investment Strategy with Eva Ho, Fika Ventures

    • Focusing Exclusively on Women Entrepreneurs with Deb Kemper, Golden Seeds

    • Conversation with Successful Woman VC: Dafina Toncheva, US Venture Partners

    • Committed to Female Entrepreneurs with Kara Weber, Brilliant Ventures

    • Investing Around Media Technology with Susan Stone, Sierra Wasatch Capital

    • Think Through Your Working Capital Needs says Swapna Gupta, Qualcomm Ventures

  • Startup Idea for Women5:00

Requirements

  • The only requirement for this course is an open mind and a willingness to learn.

Description

The 1Mby1M Methodology is based on case studies. In this course, Sramana Mitra shares the tribal knowledge of tech entrepreneurs by giving students the rare seat at the table with the entrepreneurs, investors and thought leaders who provide the most instructive perspectives on how to build a thriving business. Through these conversations, students gain access to case studies exploring the alleys of entrepreneurship. Sramana’s synthesis of key learnings and incisive analysis add great depth to each discussion.

As the numbers of women who are VCs and Angel Investors continue to grow, the startup ecosystem continues to evolve. Will a female perspective be an asset to your startup? Might the influence and support of a strong woman lead your venture to success?

Raising money is a low probability game. You need to understand how investors think to be able to raise money successfully for your startup.

Also, as you may have already learned in my courses, the early stage investment ecosystem has fragmented, it’s no longer just seed and Series A. The seed part has fragmented into a 5-stage process, spanning pre-seed, seed, post-seed, pre-Series A, small Series A, big Series A.

As part of your research to find entrepreneur - investor fit, you will also want to consider whether certain women investors would be best for your startup. We will also cover the issue of bias against female entrepreneurs in Silicon Valley.

During this course, I will be teaching how women investors think about and analyze startups. We will have in-depth conversations around startups with several real world women investors.

Designed for tech entrepreneurs and aspiring entrepreneurs, this course provides insights into the minds of several women investors operating in this space for many years in their own words.

The 1Mby1M courses are all heavily based on interview-based case studies on Innovation, Business Models, Go To Market Strategies, Validation Principles, and various other nuances of an entrepreneur's journey. We offer extensive opportunities for entrepreneurs to learn the lessons from the trenches from successful entrepreneurs who have done it before and Investors who support their ambition.

Who this course is for:

  • Ambitious entrepreneurs who want to pursue ideas for which they have both passion and expertise.
  • Engineers who want to turn their tech knowledge into multi-million dollar revenue businesses by becoming startup founders rather than remain employees.
  • Aspiring founders who want to increase their chances of being accepted into top startup accelerators such as Y Combinator, Techstars, and 500 Startups.
  • Any entrepreneur who wants to learn from successful entrepreneurs who have done it before and from investors who have supported them.
  • Professors who are teaching technology entrepreneurship courses.

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