Why Courage Makes a Winning Founder
Since founding Victress Capital with Suzanne Norris in 2016, we have had the privilege of working with a diverse group of consumer startups and their founders. Over the past five years, we’ve observed something unique about the success stories of these often...
Tech Founders: 10 Signs You’re “Too Late”​ to Start Working On Diversity
Startup founders often wait until growing to 50 (or 300!) employees before they start working seriously on diversity, equity, inclusion, and/or belonging. This is like waiting to get legal advice until you are big enough to hire a full-time in-house Counsel....
People Who Are Authentic Don’t Have to be Perfect: Seeing Past the Facade
After my second divorce, I had a stunning revelation. As painful as the breakdown of my marriage was—and make no mistake, that is a pain I wouldn’t wish on my worst enemy—it was also an opportunity. Getting divorced meant I could redefine my life to be anything I...
Is Access to Capital Getting Better for Founders?
Below is an excerpt on how to create diversity in entrepreneurship from Beyond Diversity: 12 Non-Obvious Ways to Build a More Inclusive World, a new book out by Jennifer Brown and Rohit Bhargava. People from marginalized groups have often started their own...
Are VCs Racist? Explaining the Capital Gap
Over the holidays, there was a bit of a firestorm on Twitter over comments made by venture capitalist Joe Lonsdale of 8VC regarding VCs and racism. The original tweets and resulting dialog inspired me to write this post in an attempt to address the question that was...
Five Things NOT to do in Business
I’ve spent 2 decades in the professional world and I’ve seen a lot of great things and a lot of not so great things. I’d love to share some of those with other founders and leaders to help them avoid mistakes I’ve seen over the last 20 years. Here are 5 Things NOT to...
How To Give Feedback That Doesn’t Trigger the Impostor
Giving good feedback is hard — especially when the person receiving it suffers from Impostor Syndrome, which makes them inordinately sensitive to anything they may perceive as criticism. Impostors’ mental and emotional boundaries are not sufficiently strong, so they...
The Current State of Diversity in Entrepreneurship
Below is an excerpt on how to create diversity in entrepreneurship from Beyond Diversity: 12 Non-Obvious Ways to Build a More Inclusive World, a new book out by Jennifer Brown and Rohit Bhargava. People from marginalized groups have often started their own ventures as...