INSUBCONTINENT EXCLUSIVE:
When Susan Fowler 2017 blog post shined a light on Uber raucous culture, outlining rampant harassment and sexism, a debate erupted
What role do the deep-pocketed investors behind the company, those who allowed it to scale to monstrous proportions, have in developing and
nurturing its culture? Entrepreneurs and venture capitalists themselves wondered aloud, how involved should a venture fund be in early-stage
recruiting processes and ensuring a safe environment for employees? If a culture is bad, unsafe, damaging, is it the VC fault?
Late-stage
venture funds, for the most part, miss the opportunity to deeply impact their portfolio companies& cultures
When they invest, typically large sums of capital in companies with hundreds of employees and multiple offices, the company culture is
formed and, as Uber and others have proven, rebuilding culture a decade in is no easy challenge
Early-stage funds, however, the people that write the very first check in startups, have a front-row seat to decisions crucial to defining
how a company operates and treats its employees in the long term
These people, if they care to, have the power to help determine key hires and establish company values, norms and behaviors from the
get-go.
This week, San Francisco-based early-stage fund True Ventures hired its first-ever vice president of culture, a move that suggests
VCs are taking concrete steps toward further involving themselves in the company-building process from a D-I and hiring perspective
Madeline Kolbe Saltzman joins the firm, which raised $635 million across two new funds last year, from Handshake, where she was the VP of
people and talent.
There a responsibility to guide the company and the founder to being the best they can be, and that involves paying
attention to who you&re hiring and how people are being treated,& Saltzman tells TechCrunch
&If we can come in and establish inclusive norms, my hope is that our companies will scale inclusively as well.
Most venture capitalists are
in regular communication with active investments
Early-stage investors, particularly, are very involved with building businesses, facilitating hires and scaling
But as they seek to decrease cash-burn or find product-market fit, VCs are not often very concerned with issues of diversity and inclusion,
something that became increasingly important as companies are finally being held accountable for the diversity of their workforces.
