Beth Seidenberg, KPCB: Training in Venture Capital Success for Women PtII

Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers is a very unique place, I’ll say that up front. There are 8 women partners here.  So I face no problems as a woman & I’m incredibly grateful to the firm & the founders.  At the end of the day everything about the firm & the way we do business is based on merit.  It is purely a meritocracy.  We’re gender blind & race & ethnicity blind! It doesn’t matter & I don’t feel any special treatment or special needs here as a partner. I would say that’s a unique situation & its a privilege to be part of the team here.  I was in corporate America before, it wasn’t as easy. I think that a lot of the time, you have to select the environment that is friendly & it may be based on gender friendly but it also maybe based on personality or skill set.  But a lot of women, I think as much as we talked about the emotional connection, when it comes to themselves & figuring out who they want to be around, they’re more tolerant of being around people who are not as friendly to them or who they are. It’s ok to select & as I’m getting older I’m being much more selective.

Absolutely & I’ve been in those situation.  Every woman has, every woman has!  And don’t tolerate, you don’t have to because there are a lot of friendly places out there.

I don’t think it’s different in venture capital than anywhere else.  Many businesses have been male oriented for many years & the venture capital business is coming around.  I’ve met women partners at firms who have been venture capitalists for 20 plus years. I think the key is don’t be afraid to ask & take a risk. If you really have a passion for backing entrepreneurs & backing new ideas & technology then venture capital could be a great fit.  Make sure that you are accomplished in the area that you want to invest in, & I think that’s true for men or women.  I can tell you at our firm, that every partner has an expertise, a deep expertise, in an area in which they’re going to invest. And I think that that should hold true for any firm that you work for or in.  If you’re an expert in an area, you will garner respect.

Absolutely & entrepreneurs will be comfortable with you because you bring expertise to the table.

So expertise is number one, two & three, there’s no question.  The second would be the ability to judge people or have a sense for how to put a team together.  Sometimes you have investments where there’s a fantastic team that walks in the door & everything

is great.  But that’s the exception not the rule.  So I would say really having spent time in a business or an environment where you’ve had to bring people around you & you understand how the complementary skill sets work together, I think, is very important.

Exactly

Results.

Yes just like anybody else.  If you produce results you’ll definitely gain the respect of your colleagues.  The other thing is don’t be afraid to take risks.  Because if you’re going to produce great results, you have to by definition you have to take a lot of risks.  So go out & take the risk & realize that it’s only with the big idea & your conviction behind that & pulling all the right elements whether its money, people, the right co-investors that that’s how you’ll succeed & gain a lot of respect.

My pleasure, thank you.