Listening to Jenny Q. Ta and Shinta Dhanuwardoyo talk about their experience as women in the tech world, I became curious as to the specific qualities that they found most important for younger women who are interested in becoming an entrepreneur and/or an investor.
Ryan: For those female entrepreneurs that are coming in the ranks or that are wanting to get into VC, are there certain qualities that you look for or that they should be emulating to get either the attention that they deserve? Are there particular qualities that you’re looking for in upcoming female startups or female-led startups or in females that want to bridge into that VC world?
Jenny: I have a one word answer for that.
Ryan: I love it.
Jenny: Money. That’s it.
Ryan: Okay.
Jenny: If you wanted to become a VC, you gotta have money. If you have money, you’ve already proven that you’re successful, right? If someone comes to me and say, “Well, Jenny, how do I become a VC?” “Well, how much is in your bank?” Being a partner or a limited partner in a VC firm is to either know how to gather assets from other investors or have your own money to invest in projects. If you don’t have money or know how to gather assets, then it’s back to that 8:00 to 5:00 job until you do.
Ryan: Right. I love it.
Jenny: A lot of people know Shinta and I well through speeches, keynotes, panels and fire chats. We’re very straight. We don’t hold back and we don’t sugar-coat things. You need to give it to people straight. Now if there’s a billionaire and that billionaire is too busy and needs an assistant, then yes, you could go out and find that next smart woman who may not have the money but she could become a junior VC or an assistant because she is connected to that one billionaire who has the money to invest. That’s different. If somebody really wants to be a true, true VC? You either got to have money or being well connected with a network of high net worth investors.
Ryan: Got you. Venture Capital, not venture “I don’t have any money in my bank account”.
Jenny: Exactly. If you don’t have money, okay, then you would need to go out and connect yourself with the right people who has the money looking to invest, that way you’re literally investing that money for them, on their behalf. Right, Shinta?
Shinta: Yes.
Jenny: See?
Ryan: Either have money or network with high net worth investors who have the money to invest.
Jenny: Exactly. That’s it. Once when you get either of those, you can launch your own VC firm or being a partner with an existing firm. It’s just that simple.
Ryan: I like that.
Jenny: It’s a crazy world, but it’s a fun world.
Ryan: Now, if somebody wants to get in front of you and said, “We are the next startup”, what is the process? Do they go to your website and they apply or they submit their deck? What is the call to action for them if they want to be part of this new venture that you guys have to be considered in the reverse AngelList?
Jenny: Let’s have Shinta take this one.
Shinta: Well … Actually, I’ve mentioned this before. It’s actually just upload your deck and/or business plan to our platform, VCNetwork.co. The entire process shouldn’t take more than 5 minutes. Once the information is in our database, our algorithms could simply match that startup with an investor or VC within our database, or we could also manually connect that startup with an investor as well.
Ryan: Got you.
Shinta: It’s basically startups uploading their deck and business plan to VCNetwork.co, that’s all.
Jenny: What we do promise is we do connect them with at least one investor within our database. Getting funded or not is between that startup and the investor or VC who’s writing that check. We do not get involved.
Shinta: Yes, that’s right.
Ryan: Sounds great!
Jenny: We can’t really say that startups will get funded because there are so many aspects to a funded project. Our goal is to connect them with the right investors or the right VCs.
Takeaways:
- To be a VC, you need money
- If you don’t have money, become a Junior VC
- VCNetwork.co connects startups to VCs but does not guarantee funding.