Diversity in Venture Capital

I had the pleasure of chatting with Nick Moran of The Full Ratchet. We opined about diversity (or the lack thereof) in VC. Here’s Part 1 and Part 2. You can also listen in iTunes.

500 Visits Taco Bell Cantina

Taco Bell recently opened “Cantina,” their much publicized upscale concept in SOMA. A faction of the 500 team, aka #tacobellgroupies (we even have a Slack channel of our own), decided a field trip was in order. After all, what could be better than experiencing this momentous event with your fellow Taco Bell loyalists? Nothing. Except maybe a Nachos Bell Grande. Or a Chalupa. Followed by cinnamon twists. Yeah. 

Tuesday 12:00pm. We were ready. 

The cast of characters:

Sheel “I Am A Taco” Mohnot

Christine “ME HANGRY” Tsai

Neil “I Just Got My Flu Shot” Dugal

Emily “I’m Doing My 12:30 Call From Taco Bell” Chiu  

It was difficult to contain our excitement as we walked down 4th St. Not even the aroma of stale urine could get our spirits down. Sheel even dressed up for the occasion. 

Inspired by SATC, I wanted to snap a photo of us walking in one line - the way Carrie, Miranda, Charlotte, and Samantha always do. 

I tried to explain it to Neil and Sheel. The Asian ladies on the left know what I’m talking about. 

Attempt #1. Neil thinks this is a Rockettes line. 

Attempt #2. Getting into the groove. 

Attempt #3. This is starting to look more like Single Ladies, since there are only 3 of us in the shot. 

Attempt #4. Sheel’s flaunting it. Sashay, chantay!

Attempt #5. I could be a Kardashian. 

On the walk over, it was clear Taco Bell was on our minds. We enjoyed conversations about Club Fusions (Taco Bells that were combined with other restaurants, like Taco Bell/KFC, Taco Bell/Pizza Hut) and how Cantina was the first standalone Taco Bell in SF. Apparently there is also a rap song about Taco Bell/Pizza Hut. We also learned that Sheel can rap. 

After a mile walk and me asking “Are we there yet?”, we arrived!

The reclaimed wood was every bit as rustic as we had imagined. 

Elegant signage. 

First thing we did? Capture the moment. Another Taco Bell customer kindly took this photo for us. 

I’ve never waited in line at a Taco Bell, let alone one that went out the door. At the entrance, there was a woman greeting everyone. 

Widescreen TV, brick walls, earth toned paint colors. We immediately felt posh. 

The menu was thankfully the same Taco Bell menu we know and love. According to the greeter, Cantina will soon serve alcohol when their liquor license is approved. (in 45 days or so)

Something you don’t see at other Taco Bells - a glass window where you can see the employees making your order. 

Other differences? If your order was “for here”, then they handed you a number. Then your name would be called by a guy who I’ll call Gus Fring and handed to you in a fancy plastic container. (GIF below isn’t working, but I’ll try to figure it out)

Emily in baller fashion, taking a call while we got our orders. Now that’s dedication.

Before we knew it, our food was ready! Here is part of my order - my tried and true. Mexican Pizza. 

We were shocked when Neil admitted he hadn’t been to a Taco Bell in 4 years. Apparently he’s more of a Wendy’s fan. However, that didn’t stop him from chowing down.

Sheel took the role of Anthony Bourdain for this trip. Much of his commentary during the lunch was about how high quality the entrees were, how they were made thoughtfully and with care, with ingredients evenly and generously distributed. We all vehemently agreed. 

While Emily was trying to wrap up her call, the other party asked if she had “a couple more minutes.” Emily looked longingly at her tacos, then responded with “Actually I have to jump off now.” 

My clubbed thumbs give Cantina a stubby 2 thumbs up!

Neil enjoyed his lunch, but what he enjoyed even more was the cinnamon apple empanada dessert. Initially he and Sheel agreed to share it, but it became clear that Neil wish he had gotten his own.

I was convinced to eschew tradition (cinnamon twists) and took up Emily’s offer to buy me one as she wanted to buy another taco. I hesitated at her offer to split the empanada. My inner Joey Tribbiani came out.

After our lunch, Sheel shared his praise with the restaurant managers who were standing outside. They seemed unsure of what to make of Sheel’s comments, especially when he gushed about how the ingredients of every dish were evenly distributed and plentiful. I chalked it up to them not being used to Taco Bell patrons talking to them about their food as if it was dinner at a  Michelin Star restaurant.

And that was a wrap! We’ll be back again for sure. 

8 Tricks to Appear Like An Important VC

[photo source]

[Inspired by Sarah Cooper’s infamous lists, here’s my attempt at one. I’m too lazy to come up with 10, so there are only 8 here]

All VCs are not created equal. Some are clearly more important than others. If you’re a VC and need help appearing more important to founders and other VCs, here are a few handy tips to quickly gain the upper hand. 

1. Namedrop notable founders and investors using only their first name.

A surefire way to look well-connected and important is to reference reputable investors or founders by first name. “Chamath would be really interested in that company." Even better if you reference founders whose companies haven’t achieved unicorn status, and say it with confidence. This makes people shift uncomfortably in their seat, thinking they should know who this person is.

2. Be late to meetings, or better yet - reschedule meetings at the last minute.

Nothing will show your importance more than running late to a meeting, because it shows that your time (e.g. YOU) are in high demand. Always blame it on a board meeting running late. 

3. Keep your email autoresponder on at all times. 

Even when you’re not traveling or out of the office, and even if you get only a few emails a day, a persistent autoresponse immediately communicates that you receive way too many pitches and inquiries from founders to respond to all of them personally. 

4. Congratulate people publicly on their funding or acquisition announcements.

Companies announce fundraising or acquisitions. Firms announce they’ve raised another fund. This is the time to publicly congratulate the news on Facebook and/or Twitter. It will make you look like you know these people personally (and thus are an important VC). Be sure to tweet the news as soon as it breaks, so it looks like you’re in the know - or better yet, like you knew it was going to happen. 

5. Criticize other VCs for not being founder friendly.

An easy way to win the hearts of founders everywhere is to proclaim yourself and your firm "founder friendly.” Take that a step further and publicly call out other VCs for not being founder friendly. Instant cred.

6. Joke about how valuations are too high. 

Or joke about any topic, really - the market being too frothy, startups raising too much money, founders being too greedy, etc. In doing so, you immediately appear like a VC who’s done so many deals that you know what’s hot. No matter what the issue, it’s important to have a very firm public opinion on it even if you are neutral on the issue or don’t actually know much about it. 

7. Hold meetings at a non-mainstream coffee shop.

Nothing screams “basic b*tch VC” more than when you choose a meeting location and it’s Starbucks or Peet’s. Pick a coffee shop that’s not a chain but saturated with important VCs and founders. In downtown Palo Alto, recommended choices are Coupa Cafe and Philz. In doing so, you’ll rest assured that important VCs and founders will see you there and you will be viewed as an important VC by association. Bonus points if you snap a photo of your coffee drink and your whereabouts on Instagram/Twitter/Swarm. 

8. Lament about deals you passed on that are now $1B companies.

Be it Uber, Lyft, Airbnb, or Dropbox, important VCs all would have had a chance to invest in their seed rounds. The only thing better than having actually invested in these unicorns is having passed on those deals. Then you can publicly lament about how you passed on the deal. Admitting such failure won’t make you look bad. To the contrary, it’ll make you look like you are important enough to have gotten such an opportunity. A bit of public self-deprecation perpetuates just the right amount of self-confidence. By calling yourself an idiot who passed on Airbnb when it was < $10M valuation, you look baller. 

BONUS!:

9. Predict the future.

Every important VC is able to predict the future. Take a stab at predicting trends (“Marketplaces are going to blow up in 2015”) or specific transactions (“Slack is going to raise an even bigger round next year”). The more vague, the better because then you increase your chances of being right and patting yourself on the back on Twitter. Just like #6, the key is to declare these with the utmost confidence. 

8 Things You Must Do To Support Pregnant Startup Employees

This originally appeared on the 500 Blog today. Re-posting to this blog. 

A few months after my first child was born, I wrote a post likening parenthood to entrepreneurship called “Startuphood and Parenthood: Not for the Faint of Heart.” Two and a half years later, I’m expecting my second. I was quite guarded about my first pregnancy (especially on social media), so aside from that blog post, I shared very little about the experience. This time around, I’ve been much more open about it and felt inspired to write thoughts and observations I’ve had over the last few months.

Given the endless controversy about sexism, women in tech, working moms, women founders, gender roles, etc, I was initially hesitant to write this post. Anything and everything is fuel for someone’s fire. However, it’s important to be vocal about these things (in a constructive manner, of course) and put it out there. Being a pregnant VC may sound less than desirable, given how male dominated the industry is. You could argue the same applies to tech companies and startups. There are tales of companies not wanting to hire women of a certain age for fear they’d get pregnant and be out of commission for a few months. As we see more women running companies, in leadership roles, and also on the other side of the table as investors, this will hopefully become a non-issue.

Companies like Google and Facebook offer great maternity and paternity leave. However, when you’re a startup, it can be nebulous especially if you’ve never had a pregnant employee on the team. Many startups don’t have a maternity (or paternity) leave policy in place. But as your company grows and/or women on the team have children, this changes. In fact, more than just coming up with a policy, it’s absolutely critical to ensure that you retain these employees. The last thing you want is to lose talent because your company culture is a hindrance to parents.

With that, here are a few tips I’ve come up with (in no particular order). My suggestions have more to do with how to treat expectant moms versus how to develop your actual leave policy:

1. Uphold a company culture that supports pregnancy and working parents

This is first and foremost the most important thing, because once you have this then everything else falls in line. Oftentimes companies (especially small ones, where resources are stark) will view pregnancy as a burden. Some are even reluctant to hire women for that reason, especially married women of childbearing age. Don’t be that company. You’ll only do yourself a disservice and miss out on amazing talent.

2. Be flexible

Pregnant women have to somehow make it through the day and also deal with physical changes, unpleasant symptoms of pregnancy, and a barrage of doctors’ appointments and lab tests that will often happen during work hours. If you need to re-arrange meetings or schedule around your team member’s appointments, do it. These appointments are all important and oftentimes are time-sensitive.

3. Do not make assumptions or decisions on her behalf

We all make assumptions about pregnant women, either based on having been through it directly, indirectly, or pure conjecture. “She’s probably too tired to do X,” “She’s not going to want to travel because she’s pregnant,” “Her due date is Y so she won’t want to take this on so I’ll ask someone else to do it,” etc. While your intentions may be good, this is something every expectant working mom fears – being phased out. I’ll put myself out there and admit this has/is a fear of mine. Let her be the one to decide whether something’s too much for her to handle or not. Let her lead the conversation and decision making around what her maternity leave plan is, especially if it has to do with transitioning work and hiring people – or at the very least, make sure she is directly involved.

4. Assume that pregnancy changes nothing about her role in the company

I’ll refrain from opening a can of worms and get into the working mom vs. stay-at-home mom debate. But from personal experience and from the many working moms I know, we’d rather that people assume we’re going back to work after maternity leave. In fact, some women will actually want to stay plugged in with what’s going on while they’re on leave. Don’t question whether she’s returning to the company once the baby arrives. Don’t be an asshole and take the position away from her while she’s out.

5. Offer awesome maternity leave

There is a minimum requirement every state mandates for companies (usually of a certain employee size). My 2 cents – of course companies should comply with what their state law requires. However, depending on the state, it might be rather stingy and it’s in your best interest to go above and beyond what you’re “required” to do. Startups may think they can’t afford to have an employee out for too long, let alone pay them during that time. But remember that it’s temporary and most likely it won’t have a significant impact on the bottom line if you were to (for example) provide fully paid leave. Being as generous as possible will go a LONG way in both retaining and attracting talent for both moms and dads. Also, good employees will feel just as invested in making sure things don’t go awry while they’re out and not leaving teammates in the lurch.

6. Do NOT touch her stomach

This may seem like common sense. But many people don’t get it. Yes, it’s not every day you see a round, beach-ball shaped stomach. But think of it this way – would you touch her stomach if she weren’t pregnant?

7. Remember the dads

Pregnancy is usually all about the mom because she’s the one carrying the baby for 9 months. However, realize that expectant dads are going through a lot too. I love the fact that Facebook offers equal leave for moms and dads. Consider that for your company. Offering unequal leaves just reinforces the longstanding notion that parenting responsibilities aren’t equal, and that doesn’t help anyone.

8. Remember that It doesn’t just end with maternity leave

I’ve heard of companies offering great maternity/paternity leave, only to be oddly inflexible when it comes to working parents’ schedules. This all goes back to your company culture. You may have a company where telecommuting, leaving the office early, and working from home are frowned upon. That’s your prerogative. But if you want to be more inclusive of working parents, then revisit these policies and make it easier for parents to juggle their two full-time jobs. (Yes, parenting is a full-time job even if you work at a company too) And extra brownie points if you set up a mother’s room for moms when they return to the office! (500 did)

Thoughts or suggestions? Post a comment below!

Stay Humble

I spent most of this week interviewing heaps of startups for our upcoming accelerator batch. It was both exhilarating and exhausting to meet all these companies, many of which had flown hundreds or thousands of miles to interview in person at our office. 

500 has come a long way since Batch #000 kicked off in January 2011. This was back when I half-jokingly half-seriously reminisce that we had to beg startups to participate in the accelerator batch. “500 Startups? WTF is that??” These were the days when we had a hard time getting press to cover our Demo Day. 

Things have certainly changed since then. However, what I hope never changes about 500 is our humility. For me personally, whenever I asked people during interviews why they wanted to join 500, it was a sincere question. It wasn’t an implied “Why do you think you’re good enough for us?” I was blown away by the answers. One company actually told us that 500 was “legendary” in their hometown back in Michigan. My reaction was, “Really??? We are?? Why!?” To this day, it’s amazing to hear such praise bestowed upon 500. In many cases, my gut reaction is that such praise is undeserved because I feel there are so many things we need to work on. Perhaps that’s just me suffering from Imposter Syndrome.

We work tirelessly to make the 500 Accelerator as awesome as possible with every new batch. We are awesome at some things, and we massively suck at a lot of things. It’s engrained into our culture to be confident enough to take risks, yet remain humble and feel/act like the underdog. It keeps us hungry and IMO makes us more human - especially to our companies. 

We’ll be making decisions over the next week, but to any company reading right now who met us in Mountain View this week - thank you for taking the time to travel to the 500 office and meet us. I hope any interaction you had w/ someone from 500 was warm and welcoming, and that regardless of whether you get an offer or not, that the entire experience was a positive one.