Life as a CFO in a downturn; Current state and predictions on venture debt; VC Interview Tips and Templates & More
Your weekly Newsletter on Women in Tech and Venture Capital
Good morning beautiful people ✨ Welcome to issue No. 132. Earlier this week, I announced that I joined the team at Northzone in London to build out the fund’s Seed investment program. It’s been a busy week and this issue might feel slightly lighter than usual. I’ve known some of my new colleagues for two years which made it a little bit easier to start a new job from my home office. It’s a weird time to be in venture but I am incredibly excited. If you are starting something new and you have a huge idea and hunger to make it happen, please reach out.
Getting hired at a top tier VC is highly competitive. There is no formula which makes the VC interview process a challenging one for which to prepare. The current climate presents interesting opportunities to enter industries that are particularly difficult to break into. I spoke to our friends at GoingVC, the premier resource for VC career advancement, on how to put your best foot forward in the VC interview process.
Last week, we learned a lot about building resilient businesses amidst a downturn from Leah Solivan of Fuel Capital, who has done this firsthand at TaskRabbit. If you missed it, catch our 6 favourite lessons and the full recording of the talk below.
Insights
Our friend and queen of testing, Jenny Gyllander, talked to Outside Magazine about why she doesn’t use affiliate links and prefers to buy the stuff she tests for her product-review Instagram account. 'I don’t think I’ll buy this again' is a fairly common refrain in her reviews. 'My number one priority is building trust,' she says. You can now use OOVA to take control of your fertility. Why Coronavirus demands women's leadership. Why EU lags behind US in VC gender equality. Megan Imbres, Quibi’s brand and content marketing exec, resigns two weeks after app launch. Ups.
From The Investor
On the necessity of vision for startup CEOs.
— Shripriya Mahesh / Spero Ventures
How to sell a multi-million dollar enterprise product to a technical customer.
— Jessica Lin / Work-Bench
Why “your coronavirus scenario planning should be more conservative”.
— Aileen Lee / Cowboy Ventures
How much you should spend to acquire a customer.
— Elizabeth Yon / Hustle Fund
🛬 💥For the people who invest in venture capital funds, the impact of Covid-19 is like watching a “slow-motion plane crash,” Sapphire Ventures managing director Beezer Clarkson said in an interview with The Information. (paywall)
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From The Founder & Operator
Struggling to stay mentally balanced? These three concepts may help you filter what is truly worthy of pursuing.
— Patricia Mou / Stitchfix
How to scale high-performance product teams.
— Anna Harrison / {x} solved
Why you should not go fundraising now (if you don’t have to).
— Isabel Russ
Life as a CFO in a downturn.
— Catherine Birkett / GoCardless
The purpose, practice, and execution of brand strategy is changing as we speak. Here are the 4Cs of the modern brand.
— Ana Andjelic / Mansur Gavriel
“Most lenders have seen volume of opportunities increase by 2–5x over the past month. While many startups and investors often think of debt as ‘reserve management’, in fact, debt providers can and will be more selective by ‘cherry picking’ the best businesses to work with in 2020.”
More about the pulse and predictions on venture debt.
— Joyce Liu / Designed to Scale
Some crowd-sourced career wisdom.
— Allison Barr Allen / Fast
In Case You Fancy More Zoom Parties
🗓️April 28
Operator Collective: How do you shift your operations during a crisis?
🗓️April 28
What's happening in education and edtech? An AMA with Megan O'Connor, hosted by Human Ventures
🗓️April 28
Weathering 2008 & Now with Former EVP of Sales at Tableau Kelly Breslin Wright
🗓️April 29
Helping Your Portfolio Navigate COVID (For VC Investors)
More Things I Consumed This Week
Virtual worlds: The female co-working space The Wing recreated the space in Animal Crossing. Super Mario Maker 2 adds World Maker mode for building entire games. Investor Brianne Kimmel created a Stay at Home Valley.
“The ability to build (and re-build) our lives deliberately is what gives us confidence in the face of uncertainty.” — beautifully phrased by Polina Marinova @TheProfile
Read: Podcast x Party - Inside the invite-only Clubhouse app. Learnings from a failed attempt at raising a VC Fund.
Listen…from my quarantine to yours. Please add your favorite quarantine tracks to our playlist!
And In Case You Missed It:
How to navigate fundraising in uncertain times - for everyone
Remote management strategies - for everyone
Tips on hiring, people operations & GTM strategy - for everyone
Tips for founder personal brand building - for members only
How to build and scale a remarkable startup without compromising on people or culture - for everyone
Thank you for being part of Femstreet this Sunday, friends. 💙
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Curated in London by Sarah Nöckel, Early-Stage investor at Northzone