June 1, 2025 • 46 mins
What does it take to break into the world of venture capital when you’re starting from scratch? In this inspiring episode of the Starter Girlz Podcast, host Jennifer Loehding sits down with Maggie Vo, Managing General Partner at Fuel Venture Capital, to explore how she built a thriving VC career without money, networks, or shortcuts.
From leaving Vietnam alone at 17 to becoming a leader in the U.S. financial sector, Maggie’s story is one of grit, strategy, and bold vision. She shares how mindset and adaptability helped her rise in one of the most competitive industries in the world.
Whether you’re an aspiring entrepreneur, investor, or career changer, this conversation is packed with real, actionable insights on building success from the ground up.
What You’ll Learn in This Episode:
- How to get into venture capital with no connections
- Key investor mindsets and what VC firms look for
- Why diversity and inclusion drive stronger teams
- Maggie’s shift from survival to leadership legacy
- Practical tips for partnerships, performance, and career growth
Learn more about Maggie’s firm:
🌐 fuelventurecapital.com
Explore more at: startergirlz.com
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Maggie vo (00:00):
I do think I share my story with a lot of people,
because I came to the US bymyself.
For the past I'm going to say15 years I've always kind of
viewed myself as a survivor,because you don't work with your
family, you don't really haveanyone to fall back on if you
fail.
Jennifer Loehding (00:19):
Yeah.
Maggie vo (00:20):
That's made me very resilient.
That's made me do whatever ittakes to win.
Even when you talk to me,you're like you know Maggie
giving the vibe that you know ifyou're on her team you're going
to win.
That's called survival.
I love it.
That's what I'm standing.
Jennifer Loehding (00:37):
Welcome to the Starter Girlz podcast, your
ultimate source of inspirationand empowerment.
We're here to help womensucceed in every area of their
lives career, money,relationships, and health and
well-being while celebrating theremarkable journeys of
individuals from all walks oflife who've achieved amazing
things.
Whether you're looking tosupercharge your career, build
(00:59):
financial independence, nurturemeaningful relationships or
enhance your overall well-being,the Starter Girlz podcast is
here to guide you.
Join us as we explore thejourneys of those who dare to
dream big and achieve greatness.
I'm your host, jenniferLoehding, and welcome to this
episode.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Starter Gilz podcast.
(01:25):
I'm your host, JenniferLoehding and wherever you are
tuning in today, we are so gladto have you All right, so let's
open this episode up today.
What does it take to lead in aspace where the stakes are high,
the pace is fast and the futureis constantly being rewritten?
Here at Starter Girlz, we loveexploring the stories of women
(01:49):
who are not only stepping intothese spaces but owning them,
and today we're going to bepeeling back the curtain on the
world of venture capital andinnovation, where strategy meets
vision and bold choices canshape entire industries, and I
believe my guest is going to bethe one.
We're going to talk to aboutthis today.
So you guys are going to get tohear from her in just a few
minutes, but before we do that,we do need to do a quick shout
(02:12):
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(02:54):
And with that we do want to alsomake a mention to head on over
to startergirlz.
com.
And why do you want to go overthere?
I tell you guys this every weekbecause you can catch up on any
episodes that you have missed.
You can keep in the know sothat you won't never miss
another episode, but also if youare an entrepreneur, aspiring
entrepreneur, or maybe you'realready rocking the scene and
(03:16):
you want to find out what yournumber one success block is that
may be hindering your success.
Well, guess what?
We've got a quiz over there foryou to take, and it's fun.
It's a two minute quiz thatwill tell you what may be
impacting your business rightnow.
So be sure you head over tostartergirlz.
com and take that quiz and keepup with us, and you can sign up
for our community newsletter.
If you want to do that as well,all right, we're ready.
(03:39):
So my guest today Maggie Vo, aseasoned finance expert with
over a decade of experience inthe public markets as the
Managing General Partner andChief Investment Officer of Fuel
Venture Capital.
Gain access to the companiesbuilding the future and making
space for bold, visionaryleadership in finance.
(04:12):
So, maggie, welcome to StarterGirls.
I am so excited to have youhere and chat with you today, hi
.
Maggie vo (04:20):
Jennifer, thank you for inviting me to join the
Starter Girls podcast.
It's the best way to start theweek on Monday, best way to, you
know, inspire people.
Jennifer Loehding (04:32):
I think it's setting my week for a real
success here say, the objectivewhen we do these episodes is two
things.
Obviously, we want to inspire,you know, and encourage people
out that are listening to dogreat things right.
(04:52):
But I always have kind of apersonal goal and my goal is
always to make sure that theguest has a great time when they
come on the show, because Iknow what it's like to be on the
receiving end or, you know, onthe other side of going on, and
it's always great when you canwalk and say you know what that
was like a really funconversation.
So my goal today is to hope,you know is for you to also have
a great experience and, yeah,who knows where this is going to
go?
We're just going to have agreat time and chat today.
Maggie vo (05:14):
Agreed.
Jennifer Loehding (05:15):
Yes, all right, so you are rocking it,
girl.
I, you know, went and did alittle bit of research on you
and you know we we kind oftalked a little bit before you
jumped on the actual video hereabout how our mission is about
inspiring women.
But of course we've got peoplefrom both sides male and females
listening to this show becausewe bring on so many great rock
stars and so you are definitelyembodying that, you know, as one
(05:38):
of our many amazing people thathave come on this show.
But I want to back this up.
I want to talk about how yougot into these leading roles.
Like, take us back to thebeginning, how this happened for
you.
Maggie vo (05:51):
Yeah, I love to share my story a little bit because I
can guarantee you that it'svery different, different from
you know story of black people.
So, starting about 20 years ago, I left my country, vietnam,
where I was born and raised.
It's just one day, you know, Itold my parents that you know, I
want to leave, I want to go tothe US.
(06:13):
I think that that's where Iwant to go to school when I want
to learn and build my career.
And with that I left home whenI was 17.
And I came to the US as anexchange student.
I went to high school in NewYork and in one year I have to
do what people do in four yearsin high school, just so that I
(06:33):
can have, you know, my highschool degree and also just so
that I can get a fullscholarship going to college,
because I know that my parentswill not be able to afford me,
because I know that my parentswill not be able to afford me.
So imagine that, you know, whenyou came to the US, when your
friends around you was more like17 years old, you were like one
years old, right?
(06:53):
Because you don't speak thesame language, you don't
understand the culture.
You had to make friends, so youstart everything from scratch.
So I'm not going to say thatit's easy.
It's quite challenging, but Ithink that it's built me for
what I'm doing today.
And you know so.
(07:14):
I got a full scholarship atCentral College in Kentucky,
which you can never believe that.
You know.
I'm from a city in Vietnam, youknow, like 19 million people,
and moving to Kentucky, Iremember when I called my mom, I
was like mom, even the taxidrivers here are white, so I'm
really stand out with my accentand everything.
They give me full scholarship.
I pursue a double major in mathand finance there.
(07:35):
I always know that I likenumbers.
I like you know economics andfinance investment.
So after I graduate fromcollege, I know that I want to
build my career in, you know, bethe fund management business.
So that's where I started Iworked in.
You know the financial industrymanaging.
You know public equities, youknow real estate and hedge fund.
(07:57):
That's right.
Before, you know, I joinedField Venture Capital.
That was about 2017.
Noticing that, a lot of moneymoving away from the public
market to the private markets,which I can go, you know, deep
into that later.
But as a portfolio manager, youhave to track where the money
go, because that's what youmanage right and also with my
(08:19):
skill set.
I operate with a CFAdesignation which is called
Charter Financial Analyst.
For the people who works in thefinancial business, I know that
I can add significant value tothe founders if I stay in the
public markets.
If you pick up the phone andcall any public companies, the
farthest you can go is theinvestor relation person.
You don't get to work with thefounders.
(08:41):
You can have a great idea, butpeople will be like thank you
very much, maggie.
So I want to go where I cancreate the most impact On the
other side, with investors.
You know when technology reallydemocratize everything.
You can buy Apple, you know, atMorgan Stanley or you can buy
Apple at Chippy Morgan.
You know the skill set that Ihave.
(09:02):
I no longer think that I addsignificant value to my investor
.
But they want me to leave thepublic market, go into the
private market and go early sothat I can help them to be
invited to the table to find thetomorrows of Uber, tomorrows of
Google and allowing them toparticipate in the value
creation process.
But that's prompted me to leave.
(09:23):
You know my career in thepublic market and kind of
expanding into the privatemarket.
And, as I explained, when I'mhere today at Fuel Venture
Capital, I started as an analystbut as of today, I'm the
managing directors, generalpartners and also chief
investment officer of FuelVenture Capital, which is a
(09:44):
global venture fund.
We invest global.
We have office in Miami andSilicon Valley.
We serve OJ High Network familyoffice and institutional
investors.
Jennifer Loehding (09:58):
Oh, wow, what a story.
Okay, I want to just back up toyour story and I'm going to
have you talk about it because Ihave told you before I came on
here and I'm honest about myknowledge, like I don't.
When we talk private and public, I mean, I get the idea about
that, but I don't know anythingabout that.
Here's the funny thing.
You know, like when you talkabout math and finance, it's so
funny because on that level,like the college, I wanted to be
an accountant and so, becausemy mother had had an accounting
(10:27):
business when I was growing up,they were both my parents were
entrepreneurs and they had anaccounting company and they had
an executive suite.
So I thought I was going to goin to be a CPA and then, oddly
enough, I got into the tax lawpart of it and I was like so
freaking bored that I was like,oh my gosh, I got to do
something different.
And the irony of that, I laughnow because clearly you're doing
(10:49):
like you.
You figured your thing out andlike you know, like I had no
idea and had to like you.
Obviously, you see, I'm doingpodcasting now, like I'm a coach
.
I do completely different thanwhat I studied.
When I went in I had to switchmid-year, you know mid-year or
mid-term Like you did it in ayear.
I did not do that, but duringthe middle of that I had to
switch and go into marketing.
(11:09):
So I want to say I admire you.
I want to back up to that storybecause you did all this very,
very quickly and you wereobviously excelling early on.
This wasn't like you made youknow, like you were kind of
(11:31):
coasting and then all of asudden you just started
excelling.
Maggie vo (11:34):
No, you came here and , from the very beginning, had
your eyes set and just movedvery quickly.
I'm so, I'm just impressed.
Well, can we just say something?
Yes, that you share yourbackground, because you'll be
surprised by telling you that myfamily background is actually
in art and music performance,which's opposite to your
situation.
Right?
So we kind of like trade.
Jennifer Loehding (11:49):
Yeah, we did.
We traded off, didn't we?
Oh gosh.
Maggie vo (11:53):
And you know, I was just like back in the day my mom
put me in, you know, somethinglike a performance program, so
that since starting three yearsold, I always go and perform in
different cities, differentcountries, dancing and singing
for like 15 years.
Jennifer Loehding (12:11):
Really.
Maggie vo (12:12):
So I think that you know, I would never think that I
go and get a career in, youknow, in math, finance, venture
capital, and I would think thateven today, those skillset was
not really beneficial.
But I actually was wrong,because the fact that I went
performing and living in acommunity is allowing me to
(12:32):
train my independence, rightTeam building and especially
with the ability to perform onstage.
It's really helping with myfundraising skill, because at
the end of the day, you have tosit on stage, you have to tell
your story, you have tofundraise.
So you never know.
You're always being able tolearn and pick up things here
and there.
So I'm sure that you feel thesame way too.
(12:54):
Maybe you don't the same thingyour family doing, but somewhere
, um, you know, you're thinkingthat your mom's your family in
accounting helping you to run abetter business oh yes, even
running a podcast.
So I just want to make ahighlight on that.
We never know, but that's howyou know life is a surprise and
we just have to take whateverthrowing at us.
Jennifer Loehding (13:15):
Yeah, no, that's good, and I'm glad that
you shared that, because you areso right when you talk about
the skills that you learned inthe performing and being on
stage, because here's the thingI think so often and anybody
listening to this, they willlook at somebody and say, look
at Maggie Vo.
Maggie Vo is doing anincredible job in this
leadership space, you know, infinance and in this area, right.
(13:35):
But, as you said, you know,things are not linear in our
lives, right, like we don't havethis linear progression.
But if you look at all thesepieces in the puzzle, you can
extract all these things andyou'll see how there's a piece
in each of the layers thatoverlaps each other, right, and
so I often talk about this.
You know, like I see all thoseyears I was in Mary Kay, like,
think about Mary Kay like I hadno.
(13:56):
Let me say this I don't know,in all the years that I was in
Mary Kay, I was ever in itbecause of the makeup.
Let me just say that, like, Iwear makeup, but I have never
been a big person.
That's like, oh my gosh, I gotto have this mascara or this
lipstick.
I will tell you now, in my 50s,I do have certain things that I
like.
I do have a mascara, I do havea moisturizer, you know what I
(14:17):
mean.
Like I have certain things, butlet's just say I'm now in my
50s, before I got to that point.
Here's the thing, you know,going back, I look at this all
the skills that I learned inthat company like you, I had to
get up and do presentations, Ihad to tell my story.
I had to learn how to book, Ihad to learn how to sell, I had
to learn how to coach, I had tolearn how to recruit people
right.
All of those skills havetransferred into the work that I
(14:40):
do today.
So, funny thing people ask meall the time they're like, how
do you get guests on your show?
Like Maggie, I'm not going tolie.
Like I have a waiting list.
Right now my show's bookedthrough August.
Right now it's already bookedand that those shows will run us
through December.
That's recording.
That's.
I will have enough to get usthrough December.
I never run out of people tobook on my show.
It very seldom ever happens,and if it does, it's because I
(15:01):
just quit responding Like I justdecided I'm not going to
respond because there is alwaysa list going and people are like
how do you do that?
And I'm like I don't know Allthose booking skills I learned
in Mary Kay because I learnedhow to overbook myself.
I learned how to make sure one,how to make sure I have enough
people in the pipeline right,but also how to get them booked
but also to make sure thatthey're layered, like I know
(15:24):
that if I have three peoplescheduled and somebody moves, I
still got two going throughright, and so all these little
things you're talking about areso important because they help
you in what you're doing.
And it may just be that onething you learned over here that
you carried over, so I had noidea about that, but I think
that's so awesome that you didall those things.
Maggie vo (15:42):
Thank you, and I'm honored to be on.
You know your podcast, knowingthat you have booked people for
the last 10 years already.
Jennifer Loehding (15:49):
I didn't mean to do that to make you but, I
was trying to make a point aboutthe booking skills.
Right, like I've never had toworry about that because that's
one really good skill I learnedin all those 22 years I was in
Mary Kay.
You know, and like I have nofear of being like hey, you know
, like what are we going to doto get you?
You know, like I have no fearof the booking process.
(16:09):
It's funny how life is right.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou.
Kind of mentioned a little bitabout venture capital, but again
, you know somebody listening tothis there are going to be
people coming in and knowexactly what you're talking
about.
Ms Jennifer, here it's kind oflike the day I brought my tech
guy on and I was honest.
I said, listen, I know nothingabout tech other than I can do a
few things.
You know, when I was growing upI had a little TI computer and
(16:30):
I did a little programming stuffon there, but other than that I
knew nothing.
So maybe share with ouraudience, because somebody
listening to this may knowexactly what you're talking
about, what they need to knowfrom you as far as what your
company can do, what you guysrepresent.
Maybe just kind of reiteratethat for us.
Maggie vo (16:47):
Yeah.
So I'm going to start with themost basic you know explanation
and then go a little bit deeperso that we can cater to you know
our audience.
It's funny you ask that righteither to you know our audience.
It's funny you ask that right.
Because this morning not thismorning, sorry over the weekend
I asked my daughter, who's nineyears old do you know what mommy
is doing?
Because I think remember, likethe model test, meaning that I
(17:09):
can explain in one sentence orin one paragraph for your mom or
your kid what you are doing.
That means you're successful,right?
So my nine years old basicallysaying that, well, mommy, take
money from an investor, from oneperson, and then she go and she
find the companies who, likeyou know, just like Google or
Airbnb or you know Robinhood,but at the very, very early
(17:30):
nobody know how successful theyare because when they're very
early it's hard for them to goand borrow from the bank.
They don't have anything to goand borrow money.
So most of those companies werebuilt in a garage, in a dorm or
in a company and they're fundedby venture capitalists who are
(17:51):
money, right.
And we had to identify thosecompanies because we believe in
their technology, they believein the quality of the founders,
in everything they did in thepast and making a bet on them
and working with them as thepartners and building the
companies together.
And at the end of the day,right, you cannot do that
(18:12):
forever.
She knows that at the end ofthe day, I have to figure out
how to sell the companies,because that's called
monetization.
I have to develop the exit planfor those companies, because
that's when mommy can make themoney for the investor and then,
you know, investor will take abigger chunk and giving mommy
the carry.
So I'm really proud of the factthat my 90s own daughters
(18:35):
really understand what I'm doing.
But that's exactly venturecapitalists.
We go out, we scourge the earth.
We, you know, we have globalfunds, so we look at companies
on the East Coast, on the WestCoast going down to Latin
America, because we have anoffice in Miami.
So that's give us, you know,competitive advantage from
Vietnam.
So I corroborate the SoutheastAsia or Asia.
(18:57):
So we source deals over theretoo.
And we have, you know, ourpeople in Europe.
So we look at deals in Europeas well.
But we identify companies incertain sectors that we like,
like you know, fintech,marketplace, enterprise, saas,
(19:18):
and obviously everybody nowadaysheard about the AI-driven
innovation, so we like to lookat companies that leverage the
AI technology to make themselvesmore efficient, doing things
that we were not able to dobefore.
We invest from early stage and,all the way, helping the
company to exit.
That's pretty much.
Jennifer Loehding (19:34):
Yeah, yeah, I love that your daughter can
explain that.
I think that's awesome, and Ido know about the mother test,
that one of the tech guy that Iwas just talking about had
referenced that in his episodeas well, and so thank you for
bringing that up again.
It's so funny.
I'd never heard I don't knowwhy, maybe because I haven't
been in the startup space orwhatever but I never heard that
until he brought it up, and thenhis episode went out a few
(19:55):
weeks ago and then you broughtit up again.
So clearly that is a topic thatcomes up in the, you know, in
that space, and so I love whatyou're doing and I love that you
mentioned your daughter,because I do think that's
important and you know, a lot oftimes it's funny because I
don't even know that you broughtthat up.
I feel like I should.
My kids are all grown now,they're all adults, but I feel
like I should go ask them, like,what does mom do?
(20:15):
And I have a feeling whatthey're going to do is they're
going to say she talks all thetime on podcasts.
I think that's.
I have a feeling that's whatthey're going to say.
I do more than that, maggie,but I have a feeling that's what
they're going to be like.
That's what my mom does.
She sits behind a microphoneand talks on the podcast, you
know.
So I think it's great.
I want to talk a little bit moreabout you because I feel, like
(20:36):
so many people that arelistening to this, really they
love what you guys do.
But you know the power ofstories and I think that when
people hear like the stories,they really resonate, and so I
love that.
You shared that in thebeginning.
But I want to talk about you alittle bit more.
I'd love to know from yourperspective like what do you
feel like has made let's talkabout venture capital first what
(21:01):
do you feel like has made let'stalk about venture capital
first.
What do you feel like has madethe company successful?
Like, what do you feel like youguys are doing really well that
has made y'all stand out inthis space?
Maggie vo (21:08):
You mean us or you mean the company we invest?
Jennifer Loehding (21:11):
Yeah, I would say the company, like what
you're doing, your company isthe one you're working for.
Maggie vo (21:17):
Like what you're doing, your company itself, the
one you're working for, well, Ithink the number ones that we're
looking for before we'rerunning any check.
You're surprised, but it's thequality of the founders I
mentioned earlier.
And you look at my story.
People don't just wake up oneday and become good, right, they
have a track record of success,they have a track record of
resilience.
They have a track record ofsuccess.
(21:37):
They have a track record ofresilience, they have a track
record of growth mindset.
So I always say, when you lookat the resume of a person, you
can assess that, you can seethat that person you know
they're moving out in whateverthey do.
It doesn't have to be justacademics, it can be in sport
too, but it's a growth mindsetdriving behind that person,
(21:58):
making them feel resilient.
Because I'm going to say,entrepreneurship is tough, it's
not easy, right, starting fromscratch with an idea, and then
you have to go and sell thatidea to everyone not just
customer who you're selling theproduct.
You have to sell it to yourinvestor.
Who's going to back you.
Why am I looking at you insteadof somebody else?
(22:19):
Right, do you have the mission,the vision that you're going to
achieve?
And the most important thing,as you know by now, is people.
If they want to go fast, theygo by themselves.
If they want to go far, theyhave to have a team.
So the one you have to sell itare your team members.
And if you want to tell it Imean talented people they're not
(22:39):
going to quit a very cushy jobin Google in order to go enjoy
you unless you inspire them,unless you make them believe in
your story.
So you have to, you know, havethat skill set right and not to
mention, beside the whole skillset, which is very hard,
fundraising, you have to run thebusiness.
You have to understandmarketing and then, if you're in
(23:02):
the tech industry, you have tounderstand the tech a little bit
.
So you want to have peoplecompliment you, but you still
have to know a little bitBecause the company at a very
early stage.
There's no way I would messagesomeone and ask a question.
You'll be like, oh, I don'tknow anything, just go and ask
my CFO you need to know yourcompany inside out.
So that is something we'relooking for.
(23:23):
The first thing we canunderstand this you can have not
so good idea, you can have notso good product, but if you have
the right person, that personunderstand the opportunity, will
pivot fast enough and willthrive and will be able to turn
the company around.
If you have a good idea and youhave a good product, but if you
(23:44):
don't have the person behindthat the team, the founding team
you can drive the company inthe direction that's wrong,
right.
So that is something I'm goingto tell you that we always go
and talk to founders before weeven invest.
We hang out, we become friends,because another thing, venture
capital investment is an 8 to 10years relationship.
(24:08):
It's like a man, can you evenget along?
Yeah, be coachable enough tolistening to the thing that I
think I add to the table.
But also I have to respect yourfreedom for you to build your
companies, because at the end ofthe day, we are venture
capitalists.
We're not going to take overyour job so that operate the
company for you.
So this is a very mutualrespect relationship as well.
Jennifer Loehding (24:32):
I like this and so my takeaways from
listening to you.
You said so many things, butI'm hearing a lot about making
sure that the team is right andmaking sure that it's a fit, and
you, like the owner, I mean I'mhearing which I think is really
honestly, maggie should beright in everything we do.
Right, like I feel like youknow back this up to my podcast
right, it's the same thing.
I mean, I have to make surethat everybody that I bring on,
(24:54):
I feel is a fit for what I'mtrying to represent.
Right, because, like you,you're representing this client,
you're bringing them, you'retrying to help them get their
product where it needs to be.
Right.
I think I feel like whateverwe're doing, it should be all
across in every industry thatwe're doing right, because
whomever we're working with isreally a representation of who
we are and what we want, and wewant them to succeed as well,
(25:16):
because when they succeed, weare and what we want and we want
them to succeed as well,because when they succeed, we
succeed Right.
So I love, I love that you'resaying all of those things,
because I think they're soimportant and it's so funny.
While you were talking, I keptthinking of Zappos, because when
I was building out this courseyou know, having come from Mary
Kay, I talk a lot about cultureand I kept thinking about Zappos
.
One of the owners said you know, if I could sit down and have a
(25:37):
beer with you, then this issomebody we think we could have
working for us, right?
Because they were thinkinglong-term.
Like we have to like thisperson, and if we can sit down
and we can have a conversationwith this person and we feel
comfortable with them, then thisis somebody that we would
potentially think, hey, we wantto bring them on, you know.
Maggie vo (25:58):
So it's funny you saying earlier about the model
test.
I'm going to share with youanother test.
It's called an airport test.
Okay, so if you running, if youimagine that you're stuck in
the airport I think I heard thisfrom someone and you're stuck
in the airport because yourplane is canceled or something
like that, and then you run intothis person, do you think you
can have a conversation with himin the next hours before you
get on the screen?
(26:19):
If you don't think you can dothat, don't get on the
partnership, because they willbore you, they will disagree
with you.
You don't want to spend timewith them, so don't even share.
You know, if it's somethingthat you're going to be with
them for.
Jennifer Loehding (26:36):
Yeah, no, that's good and I agree with you
Absolutely Because it will makeyour environment awful if you
cannot work.
You know, you know right away.
There's a great book youprobably read and I love.
It's called the fivedysfunctions of a team.
I read it when I was working inthis organization and it talks
about a little different thanwhat you're saying, but it talks
about like when you haveorganizations and you have that
one person in the organizationthat's really a great worker,
(26:57):
but they're kind of a cancerwithin the group and they're
sort of it's like you'reweighing out do I keep this
person Because they're reallythey're important, like you need
, like they can do a lot ofskills and a lot of things
within the company, but they'rereally bringing down team morale
and causing a lot of chaos andenergy.
I'm like, no, they need to go.
I don't care how great they are.
You know, I feel like you cantrain people.
(27:19):
You need smarts, right, youneed people to come in that are
smart.
But I feel like you can trainpeople, but you can't fix bad
attitudes.
You can't.
It's really hard to fix peoplethat don't fit.
You know what I mean.
You can't change values andstuff.
It's just too much work.
I'm all about finding the rightgroup of people to work with,
so I love that you're talkingabout that and I think you know,
(27:39):
from a leadership perspectiveright, Everybody likes to hire a
superstar, you know, like asmart person.
Maggie vo (27:46):
But I'm going to tell you, if you have 10 superstars,
say 10 smart people, in theroom, you're not going to get
things done.
Jennifer Loehding (27:54):
No yeah.
Maggie vo (27:54):
Because they're all so smart, right and fighting
each other.
So I think that in the team Ialways look at things more like
I like to work with peoplecomplimenting my skill set,
because everything from thevalue and perspective that's
this venture capital right, it'svalue creation.
So if I'm good at numbers, Ipay attention to numbers.
(28:15):
You tell me your name and tellme your numbers, I pay attention
to numbers.
If you tell me your name andtell me a number, let's just say
a month later we'll see eachother.
I probably remember the numbersRight, right, when I go and
partner or find my college or myteam members, I like to have
someone that will, you know,like pushing very hard on the
brain on the color of thewebsite, because that's what I
don't pay attention much.
(28:35):
Yes, that makes the teamstronger because you know that
thing's not falling under thecracks.
Everybody will pay attention todifferent things.
And that's going back todiversify, yeah, to build a
diversified team.
When you look at a few venturecapital websites, you will not
see a typical fund like anyventure fund, meaning that you
(28:57):
know typical.
See a typical fund like anyventure fund, meaning that you
know typical white male at acertain age you will see that we
have a very diversified team.
You have women at the table,you have people coming from
different countries, differentbackgrounds, because I do think
that you know, when we come toinvest in the future you're
talking about, you build afuture.
You only have one group ofrepresentatives.
(29:17):
You're not going to build afuture just for them.
If you want to build a futurefor everyone, you need to have
you know people very differentso that they think they can
voice their opinions, and that'swhat we tried to build.
We selected, you know, thepeople who are joining our team.
Jennifer Loehding (29:34):
Yeah, no, it's good, and I'm glad that you
said that, because I do.
I agree with you on having adiverse team, because you know
it's like my point in here.
You know, I was telling someoneI don't know where I was
telling I was having aconversation with somebody
somewhere, probably, like you, Ihave so many of them, I forget
who I was telling this to, but Italk have social media.
(29:56):
I hate social media, maggie.
I hate dealing with it, soright.
So I finally broke down and Igot somebody to help me with
doing the YouTube, like the SEOpart, the optimization, and then
I got somebody to do help mewith doing the starter girl
social media, which, by the way,she's doing an amazing job,
like she's conveying all themessaging that I wanted.
(30:17):
That I would love to say andprobably could say to you in
words, but to put that in cutelittle Canva files and do
verbiage on the social media, Ihate it.
So, yes, I do think there's animportance to picking up people
that can compliment yourskillset, because, going back to
what you said a few minutes agoabout the team, right, when you
have a strong team andeverybody can rely on each other
and they work well togetherdoesn't mean everything's
(30:42):
perfect, but you work welltogether overall, you can
advance and have sustainability,and so you do.
I love that you said that,because I agree with you on that
and I think that's what'smaking, or one of the things
that's helping you do reallywell, is just understanding.
You know the importance ofhaving that diversification.
You're doing it both in yournumbers and in your team.
Yes, I love it.
I love it, okay.
So I want to talk about you.
(31:03):
I admit this earlier and then Igot sidetracked, so I'm coming
back to it because I want totalk about you again.
So I want to know becausesomebody listening to this knows
you you've worked really,really hard and you talked about
getting all this stuff done andhaving to work hard because you
knew you weren't going to havethe funding.
You know, in the beginning,when you're trying to get your
education, going into this spaceand moving up in the position
(31:24):
that you are, what do you feellike was one thing that you had
to maybe learn to overcome, likeas an individual and a leader,
maybe something you had to workthrough to overcome to get to
that next level.
Maggie vo (31:41):
Well, I think you know it's always changed right.
That thing never can't fix it.
I do think I share my storywith a lot of people, because I
came to the US by myself For thepast I'm going to say 15 years.
I've always kind of viewedmyself as a survivor.
Because you don't work withyour family, you don't really
(32:03):
have anyone to fall back on ifyou fail.
Jennifer Loehding (32:07):
Yeah.
Maggie vo (32:08):
That's made me very resilient.
That's made me do whatever ittakes to win.
Even when you talk to me,you're like you know Maggie
giving the vibe that you know ifyou're on her team you're going
to win.
That's called a survival moment.
Jennifer Loehding (32:21):
I love it.
Maggie vo (32:22):
That's what I'm standing, but she's starting,
you know, building FuelVentureCapital.
This is my firm.
Now the teams, like I mentionedearlier, I, you know,
handpicked them.
This is no longer, you know, afirm that I worked for.
This is the legacy I'm buildingand I even share with my
partners.
(32:42):
Every time I go back to Vietnam,coming back here, I always feel
like, you know, before fuel, Ifeel like you know you have to
be careful, you have to alwaysopen your eyes, because you
never know, you know, you neverknow Nobody there.
But with fuel, I feel like, hey, if I close my eyes a little
bit, somebody going to likedoing the things that I need
them to do and I can take therest.
I can take, you know, I canrest.
(33:03):
She's a great feeling when youtry to be survival for 15 years.
So now, going to the next stage, I read a lot and I'm moving
myself to the next stage interms of no longer just a
survival, but more like, hey,you work very hard, we try to
get to where you are right now.
Now you're at the position youcan help people.
(33:25):
What do you want to do?
Because no longer can it justbe about yourself.
All the time you survive.
You prove that you survive here.
How can you lend a hand to aperson that you know on the path
that you was before?
You understand that painexactly and with that, you know
on the path that you was before,you understand that pain
exactly and with that.
So, for example, in my team Ihave my VP of operation.
(33:46):
Her name is Olivia Goddry.
I coach her, I train her sinceshe started from like fresh out
of college.
So she's like the white paperI'm writing her all over her.
She started from an e-terms.
Now she become a VP ofoperation and a partner.
I recently just her all over.
She started from an intern.
Now she's become a VP ofoperation and a partner.
I recently just added a generalpartner who is also a female as
well, because I'm an advocatefor the female power, the person
(34:10):
who's coming from anunprivileged background,
immigrants just like me.
And recently I just recruitedAnuj, who is, you know, from
India.
He works for Goldman Sachs.
He also have a CFA, just likeme, but he you know, he did not
have the visa to stay in the US.
So I'm doing all the things inmy firm helping people that I
(34:33):
understand that.
I was in their position before,and I'm trying, you know, to
learn those skills.
You know the leadership, youknow how learn those skills.
You know the leadership, youknow how to inspire people, how
to unlock their power, andthat's what I'm doing right now
in my current stage.
Jennifer Loehding (34:49):
I love it.
I love it.
Well, I think that's all aboutthe legacy part.
I think that that's what'sawesome here.
So you get to a space where nowyou can kind of give back and
mentor and help other peoplekind of raise into that.
So I love that, I love, I lovewhat you're doing.
So I would love to know for youknow, for somebody listening to
this, because obviously you arevery driven and I love that.
You said winning and you had doyou have?
You have one daughter or twodaughters?
(35:11):
One daughter One daughter Okay,I bet she's going to be.
She's going to be kind of gotthat winning mindset too.
So I love that.
I do want to say something elsetoo.
I love that you talked aboutyou know the survivor and moving
out of that into a differentspace, because I think you know,
when you're really trying togrow, you almost have to be in
that kind of mindset of you knowthis is a do or like in your
mind.
I don't want to say die, butlike this is a no plan B, like
(35:33):
it's a plan A.
We're doing it, we're going tomake it happen, because I firmly
believe that you know to setanything unparalleled or out
there, you really have to havethe conviction.
You just have to make thedecision and decide this is what
I'm going to do, right, likeI'm just going to make it happen
.
I joke about this.
I shouldn't say joke, but I talkabout this.
You know, like there was oneyear when I was moving into
(35:54):
leadership with Mary Kay, Ithink, in one month I recruited
like 11 people in one month,which I'm sure there are other
people that do that but I wentfrom recruiting, you know,
really nobody, maybe one a month, and then one month and then I
think it was May of 2002,somewhere around there my middle
child was little and I rememberwhen I was like, on this whole
thing, I was trying to win a carand I was trying to get into
leadership and I just decidedthat month I was like I'm going
(36:17):
to recruit 10 people.
I just decided that month I waslike I'm going to recruit 10
people.
I just decided I was going to,I was going to get 10 people on
my team, I was going to findthem and I did it and it almost
became this contest.
My mom I'd call her to be likeokay, we got number five this
month she's like what are youdoing?
I'm like I don't know.
I just made a decision.
We're going to do it Becausewhen you of that energy right,
so your team and the peoplearound you become stronger too.
Maggie vo (36:44):
Well, I actually heard this from an investor
saying to me the other dayMaggie, I don't know if you're
right or wrong, can you talkabout the future?
But because you have such ahigh conviction and I know that
you work so hard, so I know thatyou will turn that conviction
into reality.
They say you know you can havea conviction right or wrong,
(37:08):
depending on how you prove itand the outcome.
But if you show someone thatyou so strongly believe in
something, that's one you showthem the track record that
everything you did in the past,you know you have no way you're
being dropped in America.
You have no way you're beingdropped in America.
You have no way you're beingdropped in.
You know you moved to SouthFlorida and you go into venture
capital and you make everythingcome into.
(37:30):
You turn it into a success.
So then look at the trackrecords.
They hear your conviction, theyknow your work ethic and how
hustling you are.
They're going to believe thatyou're going to turn your
conviction into reality.
Jennifer Loehding (37:45):
And that's the bet they're going to make on
you.
Yeah, yeah, I agree with you onthat.
You got to make it happen.
I love it.
The passion I think passion isa huge part of all of it.
Right, I really I obviouslyhave to do the work, but I think
you know, when you getconvinced, it goes back to that
conviction.
You get fired up and passionateabout something.
It's that you know.
When I used to, so I used to bea marathon runner.
I don't run like that anymore.
I still run, but not like that.
But I tell this story and Idon't know if I talked about it
in my book, but my husband and Iwe would run.
(38:06):
He was an endurance athlete, sowe would go run these crazy
races like almost every weekend,and then we would get up
sometimes the next Sunday.
So, say, saturday we might havedone like a half marathon, or
he might've went and done like a50K or whatever.
We'd get up the next Sunday andbe like we're gonna go do a 5K,
this is a day after we did a bigrace.
And I would get up that morningand I would remember being like
(38:26):
sometimes it didn't happenevery time, but sometimes I
would get up and I'd be like Ican't do this 5K, like I can't,
I can't do it.
Physically I was not there.
So I firmly believe it is aconviction thing, because I was
trained to do the big and thesmall right.
But if I got up that morningand I was not in that mindset of
(38:47):
I could complete this orwhatever, it was a struggle
right.
So I think passion is huge.
You do got to do the work, butpassion is definitely a big.
The mindset is also important,right?
Maggie vo (38:58):
If you're telling yourself that I'm not going to
win, yeah, you only look forexcuses that, hey, I'm not good
enough.
So the mindset is always like Iwas trained, I was ready for
this, I know how to do it.
It's not like I just woke upyesterday and decided to do it.
That's going back to you have aconviction, but you build a
plan for it and the plan has togo with short-term, medium-term
and long-term.
(39:18):
You know, let's say you're in awell-being, right?
If you want to lose 10 poundsin a month, you have to have a
brain.
You cannot just say that's whatI want to do and that's just
like the mindset, the brandingand everything.
Jennifer Loehding (39:31):
Yeah, I agree with you.
I agree with you.
All right.
So one final question I want toask you before we find out how
to reach you.
I want to know, like, what'sthe one thing that you do in the
morning when you get up andyou're like this is my thing
that I do, that sets my day,gets me going?
Anything particular?
Maggie vo (39:49):
So I normally like to wake up early, because so I
don't know how people, you know,train marathon, but I, you know
like I'll train in, you know,to be in good fit, but to me, I
train my brain muscle.
Jennifer Loehding (40:04):
I call it muscle, right, yeah.
Maggie vo (40:06):
And when you wake up, that's when you feel very fresh
, you feel like you can handleany very sophisticated thing,
versus when you go back home atnight and you don't think you
can breathe.
Like if you want to absorbeverything, you have to listen
to podcasts or doing something alittle bit more passive, which
(40:27):
is something that I have beenpracticing over the past 20
years, is how to absorbinformation in a different way,
allowing you to absorbinformation let's say you sleep
eight hours you will be able toabsorb in 16 hours, but in
different bite, because yourbrain cannot handle the same
intensity every hour.
(40:47):
So in the morning, when I wakeup, I like to read things like
in depth, I like to you know,understand about it, because
when I read about it, read aboutthe news, read about you know a
certain thesis, I feel prepared, and feeling prepared to handle
anything come to you during theweek is something important,
because we really invent yourcapital word, which is sometimes
(41:08):
people say that it's a chaosword.
So you need to be grounded, youneed to feel like you have
things under control, you knowwhat you're doing.
So that's what I do in themorning.
Jennifer Loehding (41:18):
I love it.
I love it.
This is one of my favoritequestions that I ask everybody,
because we all have our thingsthat we do.
I have my little routine in themorning and I'm very, very
insistent when I work withclients about you know, you
don't have to do a lot of things, but just find that thing that
you feel like is going to addvalue to you and set you up for
the day for success.
Because, as you kind of alludedin there, at the end of the day
(41:38):
we have, you know, in themorning we wake up, we have all
the deposits, we're ready to goright, and then all the debits
start happening by the end ofthe day.
You know we're just taxed and Ialways tell people it's funny,
you know like when I come inlike I'm a, there's a book
called the Power of Win W-H-E-N.
(42:04):
He might have read.
He talks about circadianrhythms.
I talk a lot about it, a lotwith clients and on the show,
but I'm obviously a lion.
You sound like you're a lion.
We get up in the morning early,we're ready to go.
Breakfast is my favorite mealof the day.
I get my workout done in themorning, like I've already done
my workout today I'm ready to go, like once I'm dressed, I'm
dressed, I'm my best in themorning.
But as the day goes on, rightLike I just get more exhausted.
So by the end of the day it'sfunny because that's when I
usually get creative, becauseI'm off a task mode, now I'm off
(42:25):
a thinking mode, strategizedmode, now I can be in my
creative zone.
But it's also when I like toconsume the dumbest material,
like meaning, like that's whenI'm going to be inclined to
probably open TikTok and stareat cat videos, because I don't
have to think in that moment,right, like I can turn it all
off and just stare.
I don't do that for very long,but that's when I'm probably
(42:46):
going to do something less, youknow, taxing on my brain,
because by the end of the day,like you're talking, I am just,
I am like done, like I don'twant to have another
conversation, I'm not signing acontract, I hear you.
Maggie vo (42:59):
I'm sure that we all feel that way.
By the end of the day, you feellike you deserve it.
You know I deserve to look atTikTok, to watch those movies,
because my brain has beenworking so hard for the whole
weeks.
Jennifer Loehding (43:13):
Yeah, I have a good friend that there are
some people that are wolves,though, Maggie, they get charged
up at late at night.
I had a good friend we're stillgood friends.
We worked together for a longtime in the Mary Gay space and
we used to have this kind ofthing we would do where I would
text her, you know, in themorning and she would wake up
and get my texts and then Iwould wake up to her midnight
texts.
So we just kind of knew thiswas our communication style and
(43:37):
it worked out so good stuff.
All right, Maggie, so you havebeen amazing.
I would love to know for ouraudience listening to this,
because there may be somebodyout there right now.
That's like man.
I want to catch up with thisgirl.
I want to work with her, figureout how to bring my company to
whatever it is in some capacity.
Where would you like us to sendthem?
Maggie vo (43:56):
Yeah, so you know, going back to what we mentioned
earlier, right, social mediaversus personal brand is very
important to me, right?
Because at the end of the day,in my job, I need to build a
personal brand about you knowwhere people can reach me, how
investors can access to feelventure capital, how founders
(44:16):
can find us, so that you know wecan provide support.
That is where we invested a lot.
We were very active on our youknow LinkedIn and Instagram, so
I think that will be the bestchannel.
If you just message me onLinkedIn, you know it may take a
little bit longer for me, but Idefinitely looking at your,
your message.
Jennifer Loehding (44:36):
Perfect, we'll make sure, too, that we
get in there.
What's the actual?
I'm assuming you have a website, so what's the actual website
you want us to put in there?
Maggie vo (44:44):
You mean our website?
Yeah, the website Fuel VentureCapital.
Jennifer Loehding (44:50):
Okay, okay, we'll make sure.
You might've said that and Imight've missed it.
We'll make sure we get it inthe show notes so that that way,
if anybody's reading the actualshow notes, they show notes,
they know where to go.
Hopefully they're listening toall this, but I think sometimes
people you know they go throughand they scan show notes to a
retranscript.
So we'll make sure it's all inthere.
Well, maggie, you're amazing.
I admire you andcongratulations on all of your
success.
You're doing great things inthe world.
(45:10):
I'm sure you're raising anamazing little follower in your
household right now and we'llkeep in touch with you as well,
but I do want to tell you thankyou for your time today and for
sharing your wisdom with ouraudience.
Maggie vo (45:21):
Well, thank you for what you're doing right now.
I think that it's great to have, you know, a person like you
doing, you know, sharing thestory, so that we can inspire
people just like us, because youknow, believe me, when I have a
problem, I would have tobelieve that there's a lot of
people out there facing the sameproblem.
So when we come together, itout there facing the same
(45:42):
problem, so when we cometogether, it's no longer a
stress, right, it's making usfeel like that's just a part of
the journey and we are there foreach other.
Jennifer Loehding (45:45):
Absolutely.
I agree with you.
You are awesome.
Thank you so much.
Of course, to our audience, wewant to say we appreciate you,
thank you for tuning into thisepisode.
We hope that you found it bothinspiring and informative.
And, of course, if you want toreach Maggie, please do that.
And then, on our end, you knowwhat to do.
Do all the things.
Hit the subscribe comment likeshare, so we can keep sharing
all of this fabulous contentwith you and with everybody that
(46:08):
comes in and listens.
And, as I always say, in orderto live the extraordinary, you
must start, and every startbegins with a decision.
You guys, take care, be safe,be kind to one another and we
will see you next time.
I do think I share my story with a lot of people,
because I came to the US bymyself.
For the past I'm going to say15 years I've always kind of
viewed myself as a survivor,because you don't work with your
family, you don't really haveanyone to fall back on if you
fail.
Jennifer Loehding (00:19):
Yeah.
Maggie vo (00:20):
That's made me very resilient.
That's made me do whatever ittakes to win.
Even when you talk to me,you're like you know Maggie
giving the vibe that you know ifyou're on her team you're going
to win.
That's called survival.
I love it.
That's what I'm standing.
Jennifer Loehding (00:37):
Welcome to the Starter Girlz podcast, your
ultimate source of inspirationand empowerment.
We're here to help womensucceed in every area of their
lives career, money,relationships, and health and
well-being while celebrating theremarkable journeys of
individuals from all walks oflife who've achieved amazing
things.
Whether you're looking tosupercharge your career, build
(00:59):
financial independence, nurturemeaningful relationships or
enhance your overall well-being,the Starter Girlz podcast is
here to guide you.
Join us as we explore thejourneys of those who dare to
dream big and achieve greatness.
I'm your host, jenniferLoehding, and welcome to this
episode.
Welcome to another episode ofthe Starter Gilz podcast.
(01:25):
I'm your host, JenniferLoehding and wherever you are
tuning in today, we are so gladto have you All right, so let's
open this episode up today.
What does it take to lead in aspace where the stakes are high,
the pace is fast and the futureis constantly being rewritten?
Here at Starter Girlz, we loveexploring the stories of women
(01:49):
who are not only stepping intothese spaces but owning them,
and today we're going to bepeeling back the curtain on the
world of venture capital andinnovation, where strategy meets
vision and bold choices canshape entire industries, and I
believe my guest is going to bethe one.
We're going to talk to aboutthis today.
So you guys are going to get tohear from her in just a few
minutes, but before we do that,we do need to do a quick shout
(02:12):
out for our sponsor.
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(02:54):
And with that we do want to alsomake a mention to head on over
to startergirlz.
com.
And why do you want to go overthere?
I tell you guys this every weekbecause you can catch up on any
episodes that you have missed.
You can keep in the know sothat you won't never miss
another episode, but also if youare an entrepreneur, aspiring
entrepreneur, or maybe you'realready rocking the scene and
(03:16):
you want to find out what yournumber one success block is that
may be hindering your success.
Well, guess what?
We've got a quiz over there foryou to take, and it's fun.
It's a two minute quiz thatwill tell you what may be
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So be sure you head over tostartergirlz.
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for our community newsletter.
If you want to do that as well,all right, we're ready.
(03:39):
So my guest today Maggie Vo, aseasoned finance expert with
over a decade of experience inthe public markets as the
Managing General Partner andChief Investment Officer of Fuel
Venture Capital.
Gain access to the companiesbuilding the future and making
space for bold, visionaryleadership in finance.
(04:12):
So, maggie, welcome to StarterGirls.
I am so excited to have youhere and chat with you today, hi
.
Maggie vo (04:20):
Jennifer, thank you for inviting me to join the
Starter Girls podcast.
It's the best way to start theweek on Monday, best way to, you
know, inspire people.
Jennifer Loehding (04:32):
I think it's setting my week for a real
success here say, the objectivewhen we do these episodes is two
things.
Obviously, we want to inspire,you know, and encourage people
out that are listening to dogreat things right.
(04:52):
But I always have kind of apersonal goal and my goal is
always to make sure that theguest has a great time when they
come on the show, because Iknow what it's like to be on the
receiving end or, you know, onthe other side of going on, and
it's always great when you canwalk and say you know what that
was like a really funconversation.
So my goal today is to hope,you know is for you to also have
a great experience and, yeah,who knows where this is going to
go?
We're just going to have agreat time and chat today.
Maggie vo (05:14):
Agreed.
Jennifer Loehding (05:15):
Yes, all right, so you are rocking it,
girl.
I, you know, went and did alittle bit of research on you
and you know we we kind oftalked a little bit before you
jumped on the actual video hereabout how our mission is about
inspiring women.
But of course we've got peoplefrom both sides male and females
listening to this show becausewe bring on so many great rock
stars and so you are definitelyembodying that, you know, as one
(05:38):
of our many amazing people thathave come on this show.
But I want to back this up.
I want to talk about how yougot into these leading roles.
Like, take us back to thebeginning, how this happened for
you.
Maggie vo (05:51):
Yeah, I love to share my story a little bit because I
can guarantee you that it'svery different, different from
you know story of black people.
So, starting about 20 years ago, I left my country, vietnam,
where I was born and raised.
It's just one day, you know, Itold my parents that you know, I
want to leave, I want to go tothe US.
(06:13):
I think that that's where Iwant to go to school when I want
to learn and build my career.
And with that I left home whenI was 17.
And I came to the US as anexchange student.
I went to high school in NewYork and in one year I have to
do what people do in four yearsin high school, just so that I
(06:33):
can have, you know, my highschool degree and also just so
that I can get a fullscholarship going to college,
because I know that my parentswill not be able to afford me,
because I know that my parentswill not be able to afford me.
So imagine that, you know, whenyou came to the US, when your
friends around you was more like17 years old, you were like one
years old, right?
(06:53):
Because you don't speak thesame language, you don't
understand the culture.
You had to make friends, so youstart everything from scratch.
So I'm not going to say thatit's easy.
It's quite challenging, but Ithink that it's built me for
what I'm doing today.
And you know so.
(07:14):
I got a full scholarship atCentral College in Kentucky,
which you can never believe that.
You know.
I'm from a city in Vietnam, youknow, like 19 million people,
and moving to Kentucky, Iremember when I called my mom, I
was like mom, even the taxidrivers here are white, so I'm
really stand out with my accentand everything.
They give me full scholarship.
I pursue a double major in mathand finance there.
(07:35):
I always know that I likenumbers.
I like you know economics andfinance investment.
So after I graduate fromcollege, I know that I want to
build my career in, you know, bethe fund management business.
So that's where I started Iworked in.
You know the financial industrymanaging.
You know public equities, youknow real estate and hedge fund.
(07:57):
That's right.
Before, you know, I joinedField Venture Capital.
That was about 2017.
Noticing that, a lot of moneymoving away from the public
market to the private markets,which I can go, you know, deep
into that later.
But as a portfolio manager, youhave to track where the money
go, because that's what youmanage right and also with my
(08:19):
skill set.
I operate with a CFAdesignation which is called
Charter Financial Analyst.
For the people who works in thefinancial business, I know that
I can add significant value tothe founders if I stay in the
public markets.
If you pick up the phone andcall any public companies, the
farthest you can go is theinvestor relation person.
You don't get to work with thefounders.
(08:41):
You can have a great idea, butpeople will be like thank you
very much, maggie.
So I want to go where I cancreate the most impact On the
other side, with investors.
You know when technology reallydemocratize everything.
You can buy Apple, you know, atMorgan Stanley or you can buy
Apple at Chippy Morgan.
You know the skill set that Ihave.
(09:02):
I no longer think that I addsignificant value to my investor
.
But they want me to leave thepublic market, go into the
private market and go early sothat I can help them to be
invited to the table to find thetomorrows of Uber, tomorrows of
Google and allowing them toparticipate in the value
creation process.
But that's prompted me to leave.
(09:23):
You know my career in thepublic market and kind of
expanding into the privatemarket.
And, as I explained, when I'mhere today at Fuel Venture
Capital, I started as an analystbut as of today, I'm the
managing directors, generalpartners and also chief
investment officer of FuelVenture Capital, which is a
(09:44):
global venture fund.
We invest global.
We have office in Miami andSilicon Valley.
We serve OJ High Network familyoffice and institutional
investors.
Jennifer Loehding (09:58):
Oh, wow, what a story.
Okay, I want to just back up toyour story and I'm going to
have you talk about it because Ihave told you before I came on
here and I'm honest about myknowledge, like I don't.
When we talk private and public, I mean, I get the idea about
that, but I don't know anythingabout that.
Here's the funny thing.
You know, like when you talkabout math and finance, it's so
funny because on that level,like the college, I wanted to be
an accountant and so, becausemy mother had had an accounting
(10:27):
business when I was growing up,they were both my parents were
entrepreneurs and they had anaccounting company and they had
an executive suite.
So I thought I was going to goin to be a CPA and then, oddly
enough, I got into the tax lawpart of it and I was like so
freaking bored that I was like,oh my gosh, I got to do
something different.
And the irony of that, I laughnow because clearly you're doing
(10:49):
like you.
You figured your thing out andlike you know, like I had no
idea and had to like you.
Obviously, you see, I'm doingpodcasting now, like I'm a coach
.
I do completely different thanwhat I studied.
When I went in I had to switchmid-year, you know mid-year or
mid-term Like you did it in ayear.
I did not do that, but duringthe middle of that I had to
switch and go into marketing.
(11:09):
So I want to say I admire you.
I want to back up to that storybecause you did all this very,
very quickly and you wereobviously excelling early on.
This wasn't like you made youknow, like you were kind of
(11:31):
coasting and then all of asudden you just started
excelling.
Maggie vo (11:34):
No, you came here and , from the very beginning, had
your eyes set and just movedvery quickly.
I'm so, I'm just impressed.
Well, can we just say something?
Yes, that you share yourbackground, because you'll be
surprised by telling you that myfamily background is actually
in art and music performance,which's opposite to your
situation.
Right?
So we kind of like trade.
Jennifer Loehding (11:49):
Yeah, we did.
We traded off, didn't we?
Oh gosh.
Maggie vo (11:53):
And you know, I was just like back in the day my mom
put me in, you know, somethinglike a performance program, so
that since starting three yearsold, I always go and perform in
different cities, differentcountries, dancing and singing
for like 15 years.
Jennifer Loehding (12:11):
Really.
Maggie vo (12:12):
So I think that you know, I would never think that I
go and get a career in, youknow, in math, finance, venture
capital, and I would think thateven today, those skillset was
not really beneficial.
But I actually was wrong,because the fact that I went
performing and living in acommunity is allowing me to
(12:32):
train my independence, rightTeam building and especially
with the ability to perform onstage.
It's really helping with myfundraising skill, because at
the end of the day, you have tosit on stage, you have to tell
your story, you have tofundraise.
So you never know.
You're always being able tolearn and pick up things here
and there.
So I'm sure that you feel thesame way too.
(12:54):
Maybe you don't the same thingyour family doing, but somewhere
, um, you know, you're thinkingthat your mom's your family in
accounting helping you to run abetter business oh yes, even
running a podcast.
So I just want to make ahighlight on that.
We never know, but that's howyou know life is a surprise and
we just have to take whateverthrowing at us.
Jennifer Loehding (13:15):
Yeah, no, that's good, and I'm glad that
you shared that, because you areso right when you talk about
the skills that you learned inthe performing and being on
stage, because here's the thingI think so often and anybody
listening to this, they willlook at somebody and say, look
at Maggie Vo.
Maggie Vo is doing anincredible job in this
leadership space, you know, infinance and in this area, right.
(13:35):
But, as you said, you know,things are not linear in our
lives, right, like we don't havethis linear progression.
But if you look at all thesepieces in the puzzle, you can
extract all these things andyou'll see how there's a piece
in each of the layers thatoverlaps each other, right, and
so I often talk about this.
You know, like I see all thoseyears I was in Mary Kay, like,
think about Mary Kay like I hadno.
(13:56):
Let me say this I don't know,in all the years that I was in
Mary Kay, I was ever in itbecause of the makeup.
Let me just say that, like, Iwear makeup, but I have never
been a big person.
That's like, oh my gosh, I gotto have this mascara or this
lipstick.
I will tell you now, in my 50s,I do have certain things that I
like.
I do have a mascara, I do havea moisturizer, you know what I
(14:17):
mean.
Like I have certain things, butlet's just say I'm now in my
50s, before I got to that point.
Here's the thing, you know,going back, I look at this all
the skills that I learned inthat company like you, I had to
get up and do presentations, Ihad to tell my story.
I had to learn how to book, Ihad to learn how to sell, I had
to learn how to coach, I had tolearn how to recruit people
right.
All of those skills havetransferred into the work that I
(14:40):
do today.
So, funny thing people ask meall the time they're like, how
do you get guests on your show?
Like Maggie, I'm not going tolie.
Like I have a waiting list.
Right now my show's bookedthrough August.
Right now it's already bookedand that those shows will run us
through December.
That's recording.
That's.
I will have enough to get usthrough December.
I never run out of people tobook on my show.
It very seldom ever happens,and if it does, it's because I
(15:01):
just quit responding Like I justdecided I'm not going to
respond because there is alwaysa list going and people are like
how do you do that?
And I'm like I don't know Allthose booking skills I learned
in Mary Kay because I learnedhow to overbook myself.
I learned how to make sure one,how to make sure I have enough
people in the pipeline right,but also how to get them booked
but also to make sure thatthey're layered, like I know
(15:24):
that if I have three peoplescheduled and somebody moves, I
still got two going throughright, and so all these little
things you're talking about areso important because they help
you in what you're doing.
And it may just be that onething you learned over here that
you carried over, so I had noidea about that, but I think
that's so awesome that you didall those things.
Maggie vo (15:42):
Thank you, and I'm honored to be on.
You know your podcast, knowingthat you have booked people for
the last 10 years already.
Jennifer Loehding (15:49):
I didn't mean to do that to make you but, I
was trying to make a point aboutthe booking skills.
Right, like I've never had toworry about that because that's
one really good skill I learnedin all those 22 years I was in
Mary Kay.
You know, and like I have nofear of being like hey, you know
, like what are we going to doto get you?
You know, like I have no fearof the booking process.
(16:09):
It's funny how life is right.
So tell us a little bit aboutyou.
Kind of mentioned a little bitabout venture capital, but again
, you know somebody listening tothis there are going to be
people coming in and knowexactly what you're talking
about.
Ms Jennifer, here it's kind oflike the day I brought my tech
guy on and I was honest.
I said, listen, I know nothingabout tech other than I can do a
few things.
You know, when I was growing upI had a little TI computer and
(16:30):
I did a little programming stuffon there, but other than that I
knew nothing.
So maybe share with ouraudience, because somebody
listening to this may knowexactly what you're talking
about, what they need to knowfrom you as far as what your
company can do, what you guysrepresent.
Maybe just kind of reiteratethat for us.
Maggie vo (16:47):
Yeah.
So I'm going to start with themost basic you know explanation
and then go a little bit deeperso that we can cater to you know
our audience.
It's funny you ask that righteither to you know our audience.
It's funny you ask that right.
Because this morning not thismorning, sorry over the weekend
I asked my daughter, who's nineyears old do you know what mommy
is doing?
Because I think remember, likethe model test, meaning that I
(17:09):
can explain in one sentence orin one paragraph for your mom or
your kid what you are doing.
That means you're successful,right?
So my nine years old basicallysaying that, well, mommy, take
money from an investor, from oneperson, and then she go and she
find the companies who, likeyou know, just like Google or
Airbnb or you know Robinhood,but at the very, very early
(17:30):
nobody know how successful theyare because when they're very
early it's hard for them to goand borrow from the bank.
They don't have anything to goand borrow money.
So most of those companies werebuilt in a garage, in a dorm or
in a company and they're fundedby venture capitalists who are
(17:51):
money, right.
And we had to identify thosecompanies because we believe in
their technology, they believein the quality of the founders,
in everything they did in thepast and making a bet on them
and working with them as thepartners and building the
companies together.
And at the end of the day,right, you cannot do that
(18:12):
forever.
She knows that at the end ofthe day, I have to figure out
how to sell the companies,because that's called
monetization.
I have to develop the exit planfor those companies, because
that's when mommy can make themoney for the investor and then,
you know, investor will take abigger chunk and giving mommy
the carry.
So I'm really proud of the factthat my 90s own daughters
(18:35):
really understand what I'm doing.
But that's exactly venturecapitalists.
We go out, we scourge the earth.
We, you know, we have globalfunds, so we look at companies
on the East Coast, on the WestCoast going down to Latin
America, because we have anoffice in Miami.
So that's give us, you know,competitive advantage from
Vietnam.
So I corroborate the SoutheastAsia or Asia.
(18:57):
So we source deals over theretoo.
And we have, you know, ourpeople in Europe.
So we look at deals in Europeas well.
But we identify companies incertain sectors that we like,
like you know, fintech,marketplace, enterprise, saas,
(19:18):
and obviously everybody nowadaysheard about the AI-driven
innovation, so we like to lookat companies that leverage the
AI technology to make themselvesmore efficient, doing things
that we were not able to dobefore.
We invest from early stage and,all the way, helping the
company to exit.
That's pretty much.
Jennifer Loehding (19:34):
Yeah, yeah, I love that your daughter can
explain that.
I think that's awesome, and Ido know about the mother test,
that one of the tech guy that Iwas just talking about had
referenced that in his episodeas well, and so thank you for
bringing that up again.
It's so funny.
I'd never heard I don't knowwhy, maybe because I haven't
been in the startup space orwhatever but I never heard that
until he brought it up, and thenhis episode went out a few
(19:55):
weeks ago and then you broughtit up again.
So clearly that is a topic thatcomes up in the, you know, in
that space, and so I love whatyou're doing and I love that you
mentioned your daughter,because I do think that's
important and you know, a lot oftimes it's funny because I
don't even know that you broughtthat up.
I feel like I should.
My kids are all grown now,they're all adults, but I feel
like I should go ask them, like,what does mom do?
(20:15):
And I have a feeling whatthey're going to do is they're
going to say she talks all thetime on podcasts.
I think that's.
I have a feeling that's whatthey're going to say.
I do more than that, maggie,but I have a feeling that's what
they're going to be like.
That's what my mom does.
She sits behind a microphoneand talks on the podcast, you
know.
So I think it's great.
I want to talk a little bit moreabout you because I feel, like
(20:36):
so many people that arelistening to this, really they
love what you guys do.
But you know the power ofstories and I think that when
people hear like the stories,they really resonate, and so I
love that.
You shared that in thebeginning.
But I want to talk about you alittle bit more.
I'd love to know from yourperspective like what do you
feel like has made let's talkabout venture capital first what
(21:01):
do you feel like has made let'stalk about venture capital
first.
What do you feel like has madethe company successful?
Like, what do you feel like youguys are doing really well that
has made y'all stand out inthis space?
Maggie vo (21:08):
You mean us or you mean the company we invest?
Jennifer Loehding (21:11):
Yeah, I would say the company, like what
you're doing, your company isthe one you're working for.
Maggie vo (21:17):
Like what you're doing, your company itself, the
one you're working for, well, Ithink the number ones that we're
looking for before we'rerunning any check.
You're surprised, but it's thequality of the founders I
mentioned earlier.
And you look at my story.
People don't just wake up oneday and become good, right, they
have a track record of success,they have a track record of
resilience.
They have a track record ofsuccess.
(21:37):
They have a track record ofresilience, they have a track
record of growth mindset.
So I always say, when you lookat the resume of a person, you
can assess that, you can seethat that person you know
they're moving out in whateverthey do.
It doesn't have to be justacademics, it can be in sport
too, but it's a growth mindsetdriving behind that person,
(21:58):
making them feel resilient.
Because I'm going to say,entrepreneurship is tough, it's
not easy, right, starting fromscratch with an idea, and then
you have to go and sell thatidea to everyone not just
customer who you're selling theproduct.
You have to sell it to yourinvestor.
Who's going to back you.
Why am I looking at you insteadof somebody else?
(22:19):
Right, do you have the mission,the vision that you're going to
achieve?
And the most important thing,as you know by now, is people.
If they want to go fast, theygo by themselves.
If they want to go far, theyhave to have a team.
So the one you have to sell itare your team members.
And if you want to tell it Imean talented people they're not
(22:39):
going to quit a very cushy jobin Google in order to go enjoy
you unless you inspire them,unless you make them believe in
your story.
So you have to, you know, havethat skill set right and not to
mention, beside the whole skillset, which is very hard,
fundraising, you have to run thebusiness.
You have to understandmarketing and then, if you're in
(23:02):
the tech industry, you have tounderstand the tech a little bit
.
So you want to have peoplecompliment you, but you still
have to know a little bitBecause the company at a very
early stage.
There's no way I would messagesomeone and ask a question.
You'll be like, oh, I don'tknow anything, just go and ask
my CFO you need to know yourcompany inside out.
So that is something we'relooking for.
(23:23):
The first thing we canunderstand this you can have not
so good idea, you can have notso good product, but if you have
the right person, that personunderstand the opportunity, will
pivot fast enough and willthrive and will be able to turn
the company around.
If you have a good idea and youhave a good product, but if you
(23:44):
don't have the person behindthat the team, the founding team
you can drive the company inthe direction that's wrong,
right.
So that is something I'm goingto tell you that we always go
and talk to founders before weeven invest.
We hang out, we become friends,because another thing, venture
capital investment is an 8 to 10years relationship.
(24:08):
It's like a man, can you evenget along?
Yeah, be coachable enough tolistening to the thing that I
think I add to the table.
But also I have to respect yourfreedom for you to build your
companies, because at the end ofthe day, we are venture
capitalists.
We're not going to take overyour job so that operate the
company for you.
So this is a very mutualrespect relationship as well.
Jennifer Loehding (24:32):
I like this and so my takeaways from
listening to you.
You said so many things, butI'm hearing a lot about making
sure that the team is right andmaking sure that it's a fit, and
you, like the owner, I mean I'mhearing which I think is really
honestly, maggie should beright in everything we do.
Right, like I feel like youknow back this up to my podcast
right, it's the same thing.
I mean, I have to make surethat everybody that I bring on,
(24:54):
I feel is a fit for what I'mtrying to represent.
Right, because, like you,you're representing this client,
you're bringing them, you'retrying to help them get their
product where it needs to be.
Right.
I think I feel like whateverwe're doing, it should be all
across in every industry thatwe're doing right, because
whomever we're working with isreally a representation of who
we are and what we want, and wewant them to succeed as well,
(25:16):
because when they succeed, weare and what we want and we want
them to succeed as well,because when they succeed, we
succeed Right.
So I love, I love that you'resaying all of those things,
because I think they're soimportant and it's so funny.
While you were talking, I keptthinking of Zappos, because when
I was building out this courseyou know, having come from Mary
Kay, I talk a lot about cultureand I kept thinking about Zappos
.
One of the owners said you know, if I could sit down and have a
(25:37):
beer with you, then this issomebody we think we could have
working for us, right?
Because they were thinkinglong-term.
Like we have to like thisperson, and if we can sit down
and we can have a conversationwith this person and we feel
comfortable with them, then thisis somebody that we would
potentially think, hey, we wantto bring them on, you know.
Maggie vo (25:58):
So it's funny you saying earlier about the model
test.
I'm going to share with youanother test.
It's called an airport test.
Okay, so if you running, if youimagine that you're stuck in
the airport I think I heard thisfrom someone and you're stuck
in the airport because yourplane is canceled or something
like that, and then you run intothis person, do you think you
can have a conversation with himin the next hours before you
get on the screen?
(26:19):
If you don't think you can dothat, don't get on the
partnership, because they willbore you, they will disagree
with you.
You don't want to spend timewith them, so don't even share.
You know, if it's somethingthat you're going to be with
them for.
Jennifer Loehding (26:36):
Yeah, no, that's good and I agree with you
Absolutely Because it will makeyour environment awful if you
cannot work.
You know, you know right away.
There's a great book youprobably read and I love.
It's called the fivedysfunctions of a team.
I read it when I was working inthis organization and it talks
about a little different thanwhat you're saying, but it talks
about like when you haveorganizations and you have that
one person in the organizationthat's really a great worker,
(26:57):
but they're kind of a cancerwithin the group and they're
sort of it's like you'reweighing out do I keep this
person Because they're reallythey're important, like you need
, like they can do a lot ofskills and a lot of things
within the company, but they'rereally bringing down team morale
and causing a lot of chaos andenergy.
I'm like, no, they need to go.
I don't care how great they are.
You know, I feel like you cantrain people.
(27:19):
You need smarts, right, youneed people to come in that are
smart.
But I feel like you can trainpeople, but you can't fix bad
attitudes.
You can't.
It's really hard to fix peoplethat don't fit.
You know what I mean.
You can't change values andstuff.
It's just too much work.
I'm all about finding the rightgroup of people to work with,
so I love that you're talkingabout that and I think you know,
(27:39):
from a leadership perspectiveright, Everybody likes to hire a
superstar, you know, like asmart person.
Maggie vo (27:46):
But I'm going to tell you, if you have 10 superstars,
say 10 smart people, in theroom, you're not going to get
things done.
Jennifer Loehding (27:54):
No yeah.
Maggie vo (27:54):
Because they're all so smart, right and fighting
each other.
So I think that in the team Ialways look at things more like
I like to work with peoplecomplimenting my skill set,
because everything from thevalue and perspective that's
this venture capital right, it'svalue creation.
So if I'm good at numbers, Ipay attention to numbers.
(28:15):
You tell me your name and tellme your numbers, I pay attention
to numbers.
If you tell me your name andtell me a number, let's just say
a month later we'll see eachother.
I probably remember the numbersRight, right, when I go and
partner or find my college or myteam members, I like to have
someone that will, you know,like pushing very hard on the
brain on the color of thewebsite, because that's what I
don't pay attention much.
(28:35):
Yes, that makes the teamstronger because you know that
thing's not falling under thecracks.
Everybody will pay attention todifferent things.
And that's going back todiversify, yeah, to build a
diversified team.
When you look at a few venturecapital websites, you will not
see a typical fund like anyventure fund, meaning that you
(28:57):
know typical.
See a typical fund like anyventure fund, meaning that you
know typical white male at acertain age you will see that we
have a very diversified team.
You have women at the table,you have people coming from
different countries, differentbackgrounds, because I do think
that you know, when we come toinvest in the future you're
talking about, you build afuture.
You only have one group ofrepresentatives.
(29:17):
You're not going to build afuture just for them.
If you want to build a futurefor everyone, you need to have
you know people very differentso that they think they can
voice their opinions, and that'swhat we tried to build.
We selected, you know, thepeople who are joining our team.
Jennifer Loehding (29:34):
Yeah, no, it's good, and I'm glad that you
said that, because I do.
I agree with you on having adiverse team, because you know
it's like my point in here.
You know, I was telling someoneI don't know where I was
telling I was having aconversation with somebody
somewhere, probably, like you, Ihave so many of them, I forget
who I was telling this to, but Italk have social media.
(29:56):
I hate social media, maggie.
I hate dealing with it, soright.
So I finally broke down and Igot somebody to help me with
doing the YouTube, like the SEOpart, the optimization, and then
I got somebody to do help mewith doing the starter girl
social media, which, by the way,she's doing an amazing job,
like she's conveying all themessaging that I wanted.
(30:17):
That I would love to say andprobably could say to you in
words, but to put that in cutelittle Canva files and do
verbiage on the social media, Ihate it.
So, yes, I do think there's animportance to picking up people
that can compliment yourskillset, because, going back to
what you said a few minutes agoabout the team, right, when you
have a strong team andeverybody can rely on each other
and they work well togetherdoesn't mean everything's
(30:42):
perfect, but you work welltogether overall, you can
advance and have sustainability,and so you do.
I love that you said that,because I agree with you on that
and I think that's what'smaking, or one of the things
that's helping you do reallywell, is just understanding.
You know the importance ofhaving that diversification.
You're doing it both in yournumbers and in your team.
Yes, I love it.
I love it, okay.
So I want to talk about you.
(31:03):
I admit this earlier and then Igot sidetracked, so I'm coming
back to it because I want totalk about you again.
So I want to know becausesomebody listening to this knows
you you've worked really,really hard and you talked about
getting all this stuff done andhaving to work hard because you
knew you weren't going to havethe funding.
You know, in the beginning,when you're trying to get your
education, going into this spaceand moving up in the position
(31:24):
that you are, what do you feellike was one thing that you had
to maybe learn to overcome, likeas an individual and a leader,
maybe something you had to workthrough to overcome to get to
that next level.
Maggie vo (31:41):
Well, I think you know it's always changed right.
That thing never can't fix it.
I do think I share my storywith a lot of people, because I
came to the US by myself For thepast I'm going to say 15 years.
I've always kind of viewedmyself as a survivor.
Because you don't work withyour family, you don't really
(32:03):
have anyone to fall back on ifyou fail.
Jennifer Loehding (32:07):
Yeah.
Maggie vo (32:08):
That's made me very resilient.
That's made me do whatever ittakes to win.
Even when you talk to me,you're like you know Maggie
giving the vibe that you know ifyou're on her team you're going
to win.
That's called a survival moment.
Jennifer Loehding (32:21):
I love it.
Maggie vo (32:22):
That's what I'm standing, but she's starting,
you know, building FuelVentureCapital.
This is my firm.
Now the teams, like I mentionedearlier, I, you know,
handpicked them.
This is no longer, you know, afirm that I worked for.
This is the legacy I'm buildingand I even share with my
partners.
(32:42):
Every time I go back to Vietnam,coming back here, I always feel
like, you know, before fuel, Ifeel like you know you have to
be careful, you have to alwaysopen your eyes, because you
never know, you know, you neverknow Nobody there.
But with fuel, I feel like, hey, if I close my eyes a little
bit, somebody going to likedoing the things that I need
them to do and I can take therest.
I can take, you know, I canrest.
(33:03):
She's a great feeling when youtry to be survival for 15 years.
So now, going to the next stage, I read a lot and I'm moving
myself to the next stage interms of no longer just a
survival, but more like, hey,you work very hard, we try to
get to where you are right now.
Now you're at the position youcan help people.
(33:25):
What do you want to do?
Because no longer can it justbe about yourself.
All the time you survive.
You prove that you survive here.
How can you lend a hand to aperson that you know on the path
that you was before?
You understand that painexactly and with that, you know
on the path that you was before,you understand that pain
exactly and with that.
So, for example, in my team Ihave my VP of operation.
(33:46):
Her name is Olivia Goddry.
I coach her, I train her sinceshe started from like fresh out
of college.
So she's like the white paperI'm writing her all over her.
She started from an e-terms.
Now she become a VP ofoperation and a partner.
I recently just her all over.
She started from an intern.
Now she's become a VP ofoperation and a partner.
I recently just added a generalpartner who is also a female as
well, because I'm an advocatefor the female power, the person
(34:10):
who's coming from anunprivileged background,
immigrants just like me.
And recently I just recruitedAnuj, who is, you know, from
India.
He works for Goldman Sachs.
He also have a CFA, just likeme, but he you know, he did not
have the visa to stay in the US.
So I'm doing all the things inmy firm helping people that I
(34:33):
understand that.
I was in their position before,and I'm trying, you know, to
learn those skills.
You know the leadership, youknow how learn those skills.
You know the leadership, youknow how to inspire people, how
to unlock their power, andthat's what I'm doing right now
in my current stage.
Jennifer Loehding (34:49):
I love it.
I love it.
Well, I think that's all aboutthe legacy part.
I think that that's what'sawesome here.
So you get to a space where nowyou can kind of give back and
mentor and help other peoplekind of raise into that.
So I love that, I love, I lovewhat you're doing.
So I would love to know for youknow, for somebody listening to
this, because obviously you arevery driven and I love that.
You said winning and you had doyou have?
You have one daughter or twodaughters?
(35:11):
One daughter One daughter Okay,I bet she's going to be.
She's going to be kind of gotthat winning mindset too.
So I love that.
I do want to say something elsetoo.
I love that you talked aboutyou know the survivor and moving
out of that into a differentspace, because I think you know,
when you're really trying togrow, you almost have to be in
that kind of mindset of you knowthis is a do or like in your
mind.
I don't want to say die, butlike this is a no plan B, like
(35:33):
it's a plan A.
We're doing it, we're going tomake it happen, because I firmly
believe that you know to setanything unparalleled or out
there, you really have to havethe conviction.
You just have to make thedecision and decide this is what
I'm going to do, right, likeI'm just going to make it happen
.
I joke about this.
I shouldn't say joke, but I talkabout this.
You know, like there was oneyear when I was moving into
(35:54):
leadership with Mary Kay, Ithink, in one month I recruited
like 11 people in one month,which I'm sure there are other
people that do that but I wentfrom recruiting, you know,
really nobody, maybe one a month, and then one month and then I
think it was May of 2002,somewhere around there my middle
child was little and I rememberwhen I was like, on this whole
thing, I was trying to win a carand I was trying to get into
leadership and I just decidedthat month I was like I'm going
(36:17):
to recruit 10 people.
I just decided that month I waslike I'm going to recruit 10
people.
I just decided I was going to,I was going to get 10 people on
my team, I was going to findthem and I did it and it almost
became this contest.
My mom I'd call her to be likeokay, we got number five this
month she's like what are youdoing?
I'm like I don't know.
I just made a decision.
We're going to do it Becausewhen you of that energy right,
so your team and the peoplearound you become stronger too.
Maggie vo (36:44):
Well, I actually heard this from an investor
saying to me the other dayMaggie, I don't know if you're
right or wrong, can you talkabout the future?
But because you have such ahigh conviction and I know that
you work so hard, so I know thatyou will turn that conviction
into reality.
They say you know you can havea conviction right or wrong,
(37:08):
depending on how you prove itand the outcome.
But if you show someone thatyou so strongly believe in
something, that's one you showthem the track record that
everything you did in the past,you know you have no way you're
being dropped in America.
You have no way you're beingdropped in America.
You have no way you're beingdropped in.
You know you moved to SouthFlorida and you go into venture
capital and you make everythingcome into.
(37:30):
You turn it into a success.
So then look at the trackrecords.
They hear your conviction, theyknow your work ethic and how
hustling you are.
They're going to believe thatyou're going to turn your
conviction into reality.
Jennifer Loehding (37:45):
And that's the bet they're going to make on
you.
Yeah, yeah, I agree with you onthat.
You got to make it happen.
I love it.
The passion I think passion isa huge part of all of it.
Right, I really I obviouslyhave to do the work, but I think
you know, when you getconvinced, it goes back to that
conviction.
You get fired up and passionateabout something.
It's that you know.
When I used to, so I used to bea marathon runner.
I don't run like that anymore.
I still run, but not like that.
But I tell this story and Idon't know if I talked about it
in my book, but my husband and Iwe would run.
(38:06):
He was an endurance athlete, sowe would go run these crazy
races like almost every weekend,and then we would get up
sometimes the next Sunday.
So, say, saturday we might havedone like a half marathon, or
he might've went and done like a50K or whatever.
We'd get up the next Sunday andbe like we're gonna go do a 5K,
this is a day after we did a bigrace.
And I would get up that morningand I would remember being like
(38:26):
sometimes it didn't happenevery time, but sometimes I
would get up and I'd be like Ican't do this 5K, like I can't,
I can't do it.
Physically I was not there.
So I firmly believe it is aconviction thing, because I was
trained to do the big and thesmall right.
But if I got up that morningand I was not in that mindset of
(38:47):
I could complete this orwhatever, it was a struggle
right.
So I think passion is huge.
You do got to do the work, butpassion is definitely a big.
The mindset is also important,right?
Maggie vo (38:58):
If you're telling yourself that I'm not going to
win, yeah, you only look forexcuses that, hey, I'm not good
enough.
So the mindset is always like Iwas trained, I was ready for
this, I know how to do it.
It's not like I just woke upyesterday and decided to do it.
That's going back to you have aconviction, but you build a
plan for it and the plan has togo with short-term, medium-term
and long-term.
(39:18):
You know, let's say you're in awell-being, right?
If you want to lose 10 poundsin a month, you have to have a
brain.
You cannot just say that's whatI want to do and that's just
like the mindset, the brandingand everything.
Jennifer Loehding (39:31):
Yeah, I agree with you.
I agree with you.
All right.
So one final question I want toask you before we find out how
to reach you.
I want to know, like, what'sthe one thing that you do in the
morning when you get up andyou're like this is my thing
that I do, that sets my day,gets me going?
Anything particular?
Maggie vo (39:49):
So I normally like to wake up early, because so I
don't know how people, you know,train marathon, but I, you know
like I'll train in, you know,to be in good fit, but to me, I
train my brain muscle.
Jennifer Loehding (40:04):
I call it muscle, right, yeah.
Maggie vo (40:06):
And when you wake up, that's when you feel very fresh
, you feel like you can handleany very sophisticated thing,
versus when you go back home atnight and you don't think you
can breathe.
Like if you want to absorbeverything, you have to listen
to podcasts or doing something alittle bit more passive, which
(40:27):
is something that I have beenpracticing over the past 20
years, is how to absorbinformation in a different way,
allowing you to absorbinformation let's say you sleep
eight hours you will be able toabsorb in 16 hours, but in
different bite, because yourbrain cannot handle the same
intensity every hour.
(40:47):
So in the morning, when I wakeup, I like to read things like
in depth, I like to you know,understand about it, because
when I read about it, read aboutthe news, read about you know a
certain thesis, I feel prepared, and feeling prepared to handle
anything come to you during theweek is something important,
because we really invent yourcapital word, which is sometimes
(41:08):
people say that it's a chaosword.
So you need to be grounded, youneed to feel like you have
things under control, you knowwhat you're doing.
So that's what I do in themorning.
Jennifer Loehding (41:18):
I love it.
I love it.
This is one of my favoritequestions that I ask everybody,
because we all have our thingsthat we do.
I have my little routine in themorning and I'm very, very
insistent when I work withclients about you know, you
don't have to do a lot of things, but just find that thing that
you feel like is going to addvalue to you and set you up for
the day for success.
Because, as you kind of alludedin there, at the end of the day
(41:38):
we have, you know, in themorning we wake up, we have all
the deposits, we're ready to goright, and then all the debits
start happening by the end ofthe day.
You know we're just taxed and Ialways tell people it's funny,
you know like when I come inlike I'm a, there's a book
called the Power of Win W-H-E-N.
(42:04):
He might have read.
He talks about circadianrhythms.
I talk a lot about it, a lotwith clients and on the show,
but I'm obviously a lion.
You sound like you're a lion.
We get up in the morning early,we're ready to go.
Breakfast is my favorite mealof the day.
I get my workout done in themorning, like I've already done
my workout today I'm ready to go, like once I'm dressed, I'm
dressed, I'm my best in themorning.
But as the day goes on, rightLike I just get more exhausted.
So by the end of the day it'sfunny because that's when I
usually get creative, becauseI'm off a task mode, now I'm off
(42:25):
a thinking mode, strategizedmode, now I can be in my
creative zone.
But it's also when I like toconsume the dumbest material,
like meaning, like that's whenI'm going to be inclined to
probably open TikTok and stareat cat videos, because I don't
have to think in that moment,right, like I can turn it all
off and just stare.
I don't do that for very long,but that's when I'm probably
(42:46):
going to do something less, youknow, taxing on my brain,
because by the end of the day,like you're talking, I am just,
I am like done, like I don'twant to have another
conversation, I'm not signing acontract, I hear you.
Maggie vo (42:59):
I'm sure that we all feel that way.
By the end of the day, you feellike you deserve it.
You know I deserve to look atTikTok, to watch those movies,
because my brain has beenworking so hard for the whole
weeks.
Jennifer Loehding (43:13):
Yeah, I have a good friend that there are
some people that are wolves,though, Maggie, they get charged
up at late at night.
I had a good friend we're stillgood friends.
We worked together for a longtime in the Mary Gay space and
we used to have this kind ofthing we would do where I would
text her, you know, in themorning and she would wake up
and get my texts and then Iwould wake up to her midnight
texts.
So we just kind of knew thiswas our communication style and
(43:37):
it worked out so good stuff.
All right, Maggie, so you havebeen amazing.
I would love to know for ouraudience listening to this,
because there may be somebodyout there right now.
That's like man.
I want to catch up with thisgirl.
I want to work with her, figureout how to bring my company to
whatever it is in some capacity.
Where would you like us to sendthem?
Maggie vo (43:56):
Yeah, so you know, going back to what we mentioned
earlier, right, social mediaversus personal brand is very
important to me, right?
Because at the end of the day,in my job, I need to build a
personal brand about you knowwhere people can reach me, how
investors can access to feelventure capital, how founders
(44:16):
can find us, so that you know wecan provide support.
That is where we invested a lot.
We were very active on our youknow LinkedIn and Instagram, so
I think that will be the bestchannel.
If you just message me onLinkedIn, you know it may take a
little bit longer for me, but Idefinitely looking at your,
your message.
Jennifer Loehding (44:36):
Perfect, we'll make sure, too, that we
get in there.
What's the actual?
I'm assuming you have a website, so what's the actual website
you want us to put in there?
Maggie vo (44:44):
You mean our website?
Yeah, the website Fuel VentureCapital.
Jennifer Loehding (44:50):
Okay, okay, we'll make sure.
You might've said that and Imight've missed it.
We'll make sure we get it inthe show notes so that that way,
if anybody's reading the actualshow notes, they show notes,
they know where to go.
Hopefully they're listening toall this, but I think sometimes
people you know they go throughand they scan show notes to a
retranscript.
So we'll make sure it's all inthere.
Well, maggie, you're amazing.
I admire you andcongratulations on all of your
success.
You're doing great things inthe world.
(45:10):
I'm sure you're raising anamazing little follower in your
household right now and we'llkeep in touch with you as well,
but I do want to tell you thankyou for your time today and for
sharing your wisdom with ouraudience.
Maggie vo (45:21):
Well, thank you for what you're doing right now.
I think that it's great to have, you know, a person like you
doing, you know, sharing thestory, so that we can inspire
people just like us, because youknow, believe me, when I have a
problem, I would have tobelieve that there's a lot of
people out there facing the sameproblem.
So when we come together, itout there facing the same
(45:42):
problem, so when we cometogether, it's no longer a
stress, right, it's making usfeel like that's just a part of
the journey and we are there foreach other.
Jennifer Loehding (45:45):
Absolutely.
I agree with you.
You are awesome.
Thank you so much.
Of course, to our audience, wewant to say we appreciate you,
thank you for tuning into thisepisode.
We hope that you found it bothinspiring and informative.
And, of course, if you want toreach Maggie, please do that.
And then, on our end, you knowwhat to do.
Do all the things.
Hit the subscribe comment likeshare, so we can keep sharing
all of this fabulous contentwith you and with everybody that
(46:08):
comes in and listens.
And, as I always say, in orderto live the extraordinary, you
must start, and every startbegins with a decision.
You guys, take care, be safe,be kind to one another and we
will see you next time.
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