Halogen ventures5/9/2023 ![]() “ This is a fantastic opportunity to get real mentorship and exposure to early stage venture and help change the face of this industry,“ said Sarah Peluso, Vice President of Consumer Tech Banking from Silicon Valley Bank. The program includes introductory coursework on all aspects of venture capital including guest lectures from key figures at Silicon Valley Bank and Amazon Web Services. Ten fellows have been selected from across the country for the virtual fellowships, from UCLA, to Harvard, to Notre Dame. The program aims to train exceptional undergraduate students in venture capital and to create more opportunities for young people from all backgrounds to become investors. Like the fund, the Halogen Fellowship in Venture Capital has a focus on gender dynamics. We look forward to teaching the next generations to look at investing through a diverse lens.“ With over 40% of our female founded portfolio companies led by BIPOC founders, we know this to be true. ![]() “As we look at the Venture Capital landscape in 2020 and beyond, we are excited about the opportunity to prove out that diversity breeds success that is diversity of age, gender, ethnicity, sexual orientation, race, and life experiences. “ We have already proven that investing in women is not an impact play, it’s smart business,” said Jesse Draper, Founding Partner of Halogen VC. With the Halogen Fellowship in Venture Capital, Draper and her team are expanding their mandate to support the next generation of not just entrepreneurs, but investors as well. (acquired by P&G), and Eloquii (acquired by Walmart). Since then, Halogen has invested in over 60+ female founded companies including The Skimm (with GV), Glamsquad (with SoftBank), Hopskipdrive (with Greycroft), ThisisL. Along with Silicon Valley Bank and Amazon Web Services, the Halogen Fellowship will focus on gender dynamics and address the lack of equity, diversity and funding in Venture Capital.ĭraper launched Halogen VC in 2015 after recognizing startups with women founders were a highly undervalued investment opportunity. Halogen Ventures, Jesse Draper’s venture capital fund focused on early stage consumer technology startups with a female in the founding team, is doubling down on their commitment to improve diversity in technology with the launch of The Halogen Fellowship in Venture Capital. Own it, brag about it and shout it from the rooftops.LOS ANGELES–(BUSINESS WIRE)–July 14, 2020– She encourages all female founders to brag about their idea every chance they get. They have an idea that they believe in and they own it. According to Draper, she loves entrepreneurs who are fighters and hustlers. Most successful founders share the same quality, confidence. At Halogen Ventures, they take pride in being hands on and supporting founders through their full lifecycle Draper says she’s open to crazy ideas, but she also looks for founders who are willing to be coached and listen to feedback. On the other hand, you also need to be able to take feedback and constructive criticism. You need proof that there’s a need for your business. What sounds good in your head and looks good on paper also needs to be validated by potential customers. Meet as many investors as you can, network, give your elevator speech and get feedback. Share your business idea as often as you can to gather feedback GettyĮvery chance you get, share your idea with others. Ditch perfection because it can be paralyzing. Don’t apologize for not having everything perfect, she says. Or if they do, it might be messy and all over the place, but she wants to see it anyways. ![]() At Halogen Ventures, she likes to get in as early as the pre-seed stage, when founders may not even have a deck. If you have a good idea, she wants to know about it. From the concept to the business plan to the pitch deck, you want your first impression to be perfect.ĭraper says to throw that out the window. The female founder had a problem she needed to solve and created a solution that she knew would be viable for half of the population.Īs a founder, I know how easy it is to get stuck in your own head and want to wait until you have everything figured out before you start talking to investors. Anticipated to surpass $30 billion by 2025, Draper saw a great opportunity in Flex, a direct-to-consumer menstrual disc brand with several alternate tampon devices. Take the global feminine hygiene product market for example. If you’re thinking of pitching Halogen Ventures, she’s looking for groundbreaking technologies and products whose market is over a billion dollars. Before you even attempt to pitch investors, she says, you better know your market size. One of the things that surprises Draper the most is when founders are unaware of how big their market is.
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |