Women in VC

Women in VC

From First Hire at Precursor Ventures to Founding Symphonic Capital: Sydney Thomas on Raising $13.5M to Back the 99%, Creating the Black Women in VC List, and Why Early-Stage Founders Need to Get Real About Expectations

Sydney Thomas is the Founding General Partner of Symphonic Capital, a San Diego-based venture capital firm that raised $13.5 million for its debut fund to invest in pre-seed and seed-stage companies "making life better for the 99%." But her path to launching her own fund came after

Women in VC

From MIT PhD to First Chief Innovation Officer at Three Healthcare Giants: Naomi Fried on Building PharmStars, Bridging the Pharma-Startup Gap, and Why Startups Need "an MBA in Pharma"

Naomi Fried, PhD is the founder and CEO of PharmStars, the first and only pharma-focused accelerator for digital health startups, and co-founder of the PharmStars Ventures fund. But her path to launching PharmStars came after an extraordinary track record as a "first" in healthcare innovation leadership across three

Women in VC

"Be the VC You Didn't Have": Shruti Shah on Move Loot's Painful Exit, Proximity to Problems as Competitive Advantage, and Building Pre-Seed Companies for Sustainability Over Unicorn Theater

Shruti Shah knows what it feels like when investors override your instincts and how steep the price is when you let them. As co-founder and COO of Move Loot, a Y Combinator-backed online marketplace for used furniture, Shah and her team raised $22 million and led national expansion, building a

Women in VC

Investors Aren't Your Customers: Sutin Yang on Why Founders Waste Years Fundraising, the 2-Minute Deck Rule, and Why Angels Beat VCs in This Market

Sutin Yang sold candy on the playground at age 6, started trading stocks at 16, and spent 12 years in finance—first on J.P. Morgan's trading floor, then investing in hedge funds—before finally doing what she'd always wanted: starting her own business. After hitting

Women in VC

Creating Beauty, Building Business: How Two Decades as a Pro Makeup Artist Became My Fundraising Superpower

While most beauty tech founders pitch investors from boardrooms, Natalie Piacun's journey began in makeup chairs and salon floors. After two decades as a professional makeup artist and co-owner of a successful salon enterprise, she's now navigating the startup world with a perspective that's

Women in VC

From American Studies to Venture Capital: Victoria Barber's Unconventional Rise in VC Distribution

In an industry where women represent less than 10% of the venture capital workforce, Victoria Barber's journey to Sales Director at Pembroke VCT demonstrates that there's no single route to success in venture capital. With a BA in American Studies rather than the traditional finance or

Women in VC

Helen Oldham on Why Female Founders Are Smart Money—And How to Prove It with Data

Welcome to our Women in VC Q&A series, where we spotlight the trailblazers reshaping the venture capital landscape through innovative approaches to gender-smart investing. Today, we're thrilled to feature Helen Oldham, Co-Founder of Lifted Ventures, whose groundbreaking work is proving that backing female founders isn'