October 6, 2024 • 21 mins
In this captivating episode, we continue our conversation with Sabari Raja, Managing Partner at JFF Ventures, as she shares invaluable insights from her journey from entrepreneur to venture capitalist.Sabari dives deep into the world of startups and VC, offering:
But Sabari isn't just highlighting problems – she's actively working to change the narrative. Learn about her mission to empower women in tech and how she's leveraging her role at JFF Ventures to make a difference.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned founder, or simply curious about the inner workings of the startup world, this episode offers brilliant insights and inspiration. Tune in to discover how Sabari's unique perspective as a former entrepreneur shapes her approach to venture capital and drives her mission to support the next generation of innovators.
Don't miss this enlightening conversation that could reshape your understanding of entrepreneurship and the VC landscape!
(Note: This is Part 2 of our conversation with Sabari Raja. Check out Episode 8 for the first part of this inspiring discussion.)
- Essential advice for new entrepreneurs
- The critical importance of personal connection to your startup idea
- Eye-opening perspectives on women in the startup ecosystem
- Strategies for overcoming challenges faced by women founders
- Insider look at JFF Ventures' unique investment principles
But Sabari isn't just highlighting problems – she's actively working to change the narrative. Learn about her mission to empower women in tech and how she's leveraging her role at JFF Ventures to make a difference.
Whether you're an aspiring entrepreneur, a seasoned founder, or simply curious about the inner workings of the startup world, this episode offers brilliant insights and inspiration. Tune in to discover how Sabari's unique perspective as a former entrepreneur shapes her approach to venture capital and drives her mission to support the next generation of innovators.
Don't miss this enlightening conversation that could reshape your understanding of entrepreneurship and the VC landscape!
(Note: This is Part 2 of our conversation with Sabari Raja. Check out Episode 8 for the first part of this inspiring discussion.)
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
So what what I understood from this subject. I mean
just me me reading some books in the last few
months and some something that we tried in the previous
startup as well. You know, I mean, in a way,
I imagine what you did as creating a sub category
of sobs right within within ed tech as well, right,
because I mean you saw this, but nobody was addressing
(00:36):
this as to how you connect career with the curriculum
sort of thing, and and that that turned out to
be a great decision, right, correct, correct. So the next
thing I was going to ask you is, I mean,
obviously you know all that is in the past. You know,
(00:58):
in hindsight, you you you already said you're glad you
went through those painful few months, right, So as someone
who has been through that, now you're on the other
side of the table. Let's say there's somebody who like, oh,
I mean I think I want to be an entrepreneur.
I mean, you know, what, what are those top two
(01:19):
or three things that you tell people who want to
be entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Number one thing I tell people is like, what problem
do you want to solve? You know a lot of
times people always hear the success stories of entrepreneurship, but
you have more failures than successes. And in order to
sort of weather the ups and downs of a startup,
you really have to believe in the problem that you're solving.
(01:44):
You know, I never ask anyone what product are you building?
I'm always asking like, what problems are you solving?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Right?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
And and then why do you care about this problem? Right?
I mean not everybody is going to find a problem
from their own lived experience, but it's it could be
your friends, it could be something you saw in your community,
it could you know, there's a reason why you think this.
I'm gonna, you know, take all the risks and put
(02:13):
my life on hold to go build this thing. And
it's not going to be easy. It has to be
a real reason why you believe this is the problem
you want to solve, you know, So that that is
my number one thing, like who are you? Why do
you care about this problem? What problem are you solving?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Right?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
And yeah, that's that's probably the number one thing. And
then and then one thing I'm learning as an investor
now and this is still I'm still learning and gathering information.
Is like that founder market fit, right, like founder profile fit.
I mean it's not just found a market fit. Like
I don't know how to how to say it. It's
(02:51):
some people, you know, Like there's so many ups and
downs in building a company, like you always it's kind
of like a dating piece. When a founder is pitching
to you, all you hear is, you know, rainbows and roses, right,
like it's this perfect page, like there's an artistic growth
(03:11):
and that they're going to raise a much money and
they're going to build this and everybody that's what you
aspire to do. But the reality is there's so many
pitfalls along the way. You see clearly founders who are
willing to weather that storm and keep your chin up
and pivot and build and try and try again. And
(03:34):
sometimes even when you try all those things, you feel
that there's nobody that can do anything about it. Then
you also see founders that completely fall apart, you know,
And it's very difficult as an early stage investor to
tell what kind of a founder you are, you know,
when there's not much data. There's hardly any product. I
only met you last week, you know, So for early
(03:55):
stage investors it's super tough because as the company grows,
you have more data you can you can really rely
on the data and the product and the customers and stuff.
But when you're so early, you're really investing in the founders.
And now what we do is we make sure we
are going and meeting the founders in person. We're spending
some time with them, We're talking to people who they've
(04:16):
worked with in the past, and there's no there's no
clear science for how to find make sure this is
founder profile is right. But it's it's a it's a
child and error. You know.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, that's that's a great subjem. I mean, just so
like you know, you're the second one on the show
who's actually talked about problem being the focus, right, not
the solution. One of the guests on our previous show
told us about fall in love with a problem, not
the solution. You know that is that is exactly what
you're saying as well. And I think if I understand
(04:48):
the second point, right, I mean, it's in a way saying,
you know, somebody who's been an investment banking all their lives,
if they want to do a sad startup on the
cloud where they probably have very little experience, but they
heard something on the train and they want to start something.
I mean that's more the founder market fact that you are.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
That's a founder market fit. Your yeah, and that's the
founder market fit and then the founder profile right, like
are you are you able to run lead for as
long as it takes? Right? And that's where I was
telling you, like all found founders come in all shapes
and sizes at all stages in life. Like if you're
a single learning member in your family with two kids,
(05:29):
are you actually able to do this without taking a
full salary? Do you have sort of that financial freedom
to do that? You have to sometimes a lot of times,
I think as entrepreneurs, and that's part of why entrepreneurs
are entrepreneurs is you you you want to be a
(05:51):
sort of what's the word, like you want to be
optimistic about everything, but then you have to draw that
fine line between optimists one practicality, you know, like where
are you in your life? Are you able to take
this risk? You don't need to overanalyze, but you at
least need to have like a two year of a
safety cushion to be able to go and do this right.
(06:13):
But a lot of times I feel like people sort
of completely miss that, especially if you I don't know
if you remember in all our business blunt pitches, Like
people are like, I'm going to pitch and raise money
and build a product and pay myself and still continue
the same life. Stay. It doesn't work that way, right,
especially for fasting entrepreneurs. Maybe approve an entrepreneur can go
(06:33):
and raise money with an idea, but most entrepreneurs cannot,
you know, so you really need to be practical and
plan for that a bit before you sort of pull
the plug, right, So great advice.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
So, you know, one of the questions I think about,
you know, when I look at you being a successful
entrepreneur as well as a plower. On the other side,
people talk about not many female entrepreneurs out there, right,
or even female investors. I mean, you know, the people
want so I mean, you've obviously been throughready spoke about
(07:08):
you know, how much support you got from the family,
and I'm sure you get asked this question quite a bit.
I mean for people who are out there, I mean,
you know, being a girl that myself, I mean I
keep telling my daughter saying, I mean, you know, there's
nothing like you know, things that you can't do that's
a you know, a man's job versus a woman's job. Sorry,
(07:30):
so any any two sense of advice somebody or a
message from you being what you've been through your journey. No.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Absolutely, that's a great question because I think it's very
different now compared to when, you know, ten years back,
when I started the company, right, I remember really like
I when I started the company with my friend, we
clearly had our skill sets, right, Like I was going
to be the CEO and co founder, which means I
(07:59):
need to be out there. I'm sort of the face
of the company. The I mean, my co founder was
the CTO, and thus he was great at building the product.
But we have such a good complimentary skill sets, so
most of the funder is I used to just go
by myself. And I remember so well, believe this conversation.
This was a high profile person who's like a who's
(08:21):
an author at the book is very well known. I
met her in Boston and I went through my pitch
and she basically said, do you have a co founder?
I said yes. Is he a male? And I said yes.
She said you need to bring your co founder with
you to these pitches and I was like why. She said,
(08:42):
obviously you're super passionate about the problem you're solving. It's
very clear you understand this market very well. But don't
shoot the messenger, because she said, I did the study
in Harvard with you know, taking a sample size of
putting the same pitch in the hands of a woman
founder and a male founder, and the woman founder had
(09:04):
sixty percent less chance of raising funding and the most
biased I was shocked, the most biased came from other
women investors, so which was shocking to me. But so
she said, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just telling you
what the data is telling me, and you need to
take your co founder so you have a better chance
(09:27):
of you know, raising the funding. I said, this is
actually offensive to both of us, right, Like he's not
a prop and I'm not a idiot, you know. So
so I was like, I don't want such investors at
the table, you know. I want investors who believe that
I can actually run this company and be successful. And
(09:48):
I was fortunate enough to find those investors, Like every
single person invested in the company really believed in my story,
in my lived experience, in our combined capability to actually
deliver on what we set out to do. And so
the number one, I mean, it's changed a bit today
that there are a number of it's still the numbers
are lower, but you know, I'm part of like many
(10:11):
of these women GP groups, you know, so there's more
and more women investors. There's more and more women founders also,
especially I think maybe because I'm in education technology and
there's a lot more women founders in it tech. So,
but there is always a bias. And to be fortunate,
like what I say is, don't lead with that. Don't
(10:33):
go into the work thinking, oh, there's bias, this whole
world is against me. I never actually take that approach.
I'm like, you know, if I find the right problem
and I prove that I can actually you know, build
a product, take it to market, show avenue, traction, show
the traction, build a good team, build good culture. That
(10:53):
work speaks for itself. It doesn't matter whether I'm a
male or I mean, like, you know, so so I
feel like this, if you walk around with a chip
on your shoulder saying I'm women and I'm being discriminated
against it, it's not the right approach to life. You know.
You always assume, Okay, I do my work and I can, Yeah,
(11:15):
maybe I have to prove myself a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
That's totally fun.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You know. But one thing I would say, what I
have learned that works in our favor as women is
now actually there is data showing that women run companies
are much more capital efficient, you know. So and then
the other thing I feel is, you know, as a woman,
(11:39):
I never really you know, hit the fact that oh
I'm a mom, I had to go early to pick
up my kids.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Or this or that.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I was always like, I need to stop at three
o'clock go pick up my kids.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
When I started my company, both my kids were in
elementary school, and so being sort of vulnerable and having
empathy for your co workers really helps you build a
very special culture. You know, you become more relatable to people.
This is not a world we live in where the
leaders are the ones that sit, you know above in
(12:12):
their thrones and everybody minions are going up to build
a strong culture, you know, Like to build a strong culture,
you need to be relatable. You need to be you know,
people in my team saw me as a mom, you know,
like we had a lot. They were like, okay, you know,
work life balance is important. You know, she needs to
(12:34):
do this. And then the culture was okay, I need
to go pick a maket at three o'clock and we
never really judged anyone harshly. And as the woman, you
kind of bring that empathy and vulnerability to your team.
You build a very special culture. And I say, don't
hold back on being vulnerable and being who you are
just because the society or somebody told you you have
(12:56):
to be tough and you have to behave like a man.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Being genuine and being yourself is super important. I mean
that way people see who you are and not the
artificial you know, co founder who is making things weard
for the team.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Correct, correct, And I think I think definitely the world
has come a long way and there is a lot
more you know, there's a lot more understanding and appreciation
even for people who come and be vulnerable and to
have the empathy. You're not being judged harshly because you're
(13:37):
not being harsh you know, you're not that of course,
you know.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Great, So let's shift gears a little bit. Something we
spoke about your entrepreneurial journey so long. Now you're an
investor with JFF. It is Jobs for the Future Ventures Act.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Say that right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jobs for the Future
is a large national nonprofit in the education to work
for space. It's a huge ecosystem. It's a forty year
old nonprofit that's doing amazing work across the learn to
earn ecosystem, and we have an opportunity to build a
venture fund on top of this amazing ecosystem. Right.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
And so coming from where you started off, especially your
entrepreneurship journey, right, I mean you've had your pitfalls, you know,
you shook it off, You've built a successful business and
being on the other side, and when you speak to
entrepreneurs or when you put a fund together, I mean,
(14:35):
what are some of your core principles that you look
for from a I mean you can talk on both sides, right.
I mean you obviously need to build a fund talking
to investors, and then you need to look at what
sort of portfolio do you want to build?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Right?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I mean I'm assuming you take a lot of cues
from what you learned as an entrepreneur. You know things,
Let's say, I mean you spoke about whom you don't
want to invest in your company, right, I mean, for example,
obviously the sort of learnings will be etched in your
member saying, oh, as somebody the investor, I don't want
to be that person. Right, So, have you told yourself
(15:16):
certain investing principles that you would want to believe in?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
No, one hundred percent. I always say that I've been
an entrepreneur for more than a decade and an investor
for a ten percent of that time, So I'm always
still more of a founder learning to kind of be
the investor that founders want to work with.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
It's easier for me to do that because I've been
in their shoes so automatically, I think there is some
street cred. When I talk to founders, They're like, Okay,
you get it, you know. So so the so the
number one thing that you know, both me and my no,
that kind of team that we're building is again with
(16:03):
the same thing we want to have or empathy for
the founders. Right. So small things that we're trying to
emphasize that I bring from my founder dass. You know,
if you're evaluating a company and if it's a no,
let's get to a quick no. You know, let's not
keep the founder sort of you know, hanging in there
(16:26):
because it's a tough job as a founder. Every fundraising
is it's a distraction, it's it's necessary, but it's a distraction,
but it's it's sort of you know, depletes you, and
so you don't want to add to that. Like you know,
of course we are busy. We have a lot of
(16:46):
things going on, but that's like small things like that, right.
And then we're also like very particular, like we don't
want to be just a check. Right. Every investor tries
to awful value, but we have a special situation now
where you know, we have access to a large ecosystem,
(17:08):
and so we are building our team so that post investment,
we are offering real value to our founders, you know.
So especially because we are writing you know, first checks
into pre seed and scene stages and many times these
founders are first time founders. We're trying to balance impact
on growth and scale. So we want to be sort
of true partners, right. We don't want to just be
(17:29):
lip service to the fact that you know.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
We can be helpful.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
So to that extent, we've actually set up our team
and hired people in order to make sure that's not
left to chance. So yeah, and then just being very thoughtful,
I mean, we are a very pieceis driven fund, right,
Like we are not just randomly investing in any and
every company. Our thesis is investing in the economic mobility
(17:56):
of low wage workers, which means there's like, you know,
one hundred and twenty plus million people in the US
that make less than forty five thousand dollars a year,
and that is always a first lens. So so whether
it's education technology, workforce technology, or technology that employers need
(18:17):
to support this population, or what do they need outside
of work to drive it to work, like childcare, transportation,
access to you know, credit. So we're investing in a
range of companies across industry sectors, but we have a
very different thesis of our target beneficiary. So that kind
of helps us sort of meyrow down things very quickly, right,
(18:41):
But still it's one thing I'm learning as an investor.
Is I always joke about it saying as an entrepreneur,
I thought, wow, like, look at these investors. They just
sit around and write checks on you know, like, but
we also have to raise money. We also our product
is our pieces and what you know, our portfolio. We
(19:03):
also have to do all those things. But the thing is,
like you can't keep building the team, right. Most Benchet
teams are like super small, but we are we're managing
an existing fund, we're raising a new fund. We are
also constantly listening to pictures and sourcing and diligence and investing.
So I'm I'm still trying to operate in this world
(19:23):
and be efficient. Is you're you're wearing a lot of
hats and changing those hats every hour, and that's the
skill I'm still trying to acquire.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Right, I'm sure you'd be great at that too.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
You know, I don't know. The jury is still out
of your series.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
The fact that you call yourself an impact investor. I'll
say that because I mean, you know, I come across
a lot of meetups in the Bay Area where you
go for all these you know, vcs about raising funds
and all that ninety five percent of them are just
worried about, you know, how much money they can make
and THEO we cover all all sorts of statire's all sorts
(20:04):
of industries. I mean, they don't say, here's my purpose
of the fund, right, I mean, here's what I want
to really make a difference in, which is which is
not very prevalent in a lot of funds, and it
is it is hardy to see that you know, you're
looking at it through a very specific lens and where
(20:27):
it is much needed, right where you can make a
difference on your encouraging founders to make a difference in
that in that world. Yes, so that is close to you.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Thank you. And it's not easy, you know, I think
we're all plat and for punishment. We are out to
prove that you can have impact at the forefront and
still build a successful company that's financially you know, successful.
So the message that we want to communicate is impact
is not a risk. Yeah, impact, Impact is an innate
(21:00):
blue and impact, you know, building impactful companies is what
keeps founders motivated to continue to weather the storms. You know.
So perfect.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So, Sabri, thanks so much for your time. I've already
taken enough of your time, but beautiful insights right from
where you started off your career to where you are
right now. I'm sure people would love to hear more
of you talking. I'm sure well I can get you
on at any time later on, but for now, Yeah,
thanks so much for jumping on subury and sharing your
(21:30):
story and all your beautiful advice.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Thank you so much, Thanks sir Anthony for the opportunity
appreciate it
So what what I understood from this subject. I mean
just me me reading some books in the last few
months and some something that we tried in the previous
startup as well. You know, I mean, in a way,
I imagine what you did as creating a sub category
of sobs right within within ed tech as well, right,
because I mean you saw this, but nobody was addressing
(00:36):
this as to how you connect career with the curriculum
sort of thing, and and that that turned out to
be a great decision, right, correct, correct. So the next
thing I was going to ask you is, I mean,
obviously you know all that is in the past. You know,
(00:58):
in hindsight, you you you already said you're glad you
went through those painful few months, right, So as someone
who has been through that, now you're on the other
side of the table. Let's say there's somebody who like, oh,
I mean I think I want to be an entrepreneur.
I mean, you know, what, what are those top two
(01:19):
or three things that you tell people who want to
be entrepreneurs.
Speaker 2 (01:23):
Number one thing I tell people is like, what problem
do you want to solve? You know a lot of
times people always hear the success stories of entrepreneurship, but
you have more failures than successes. And in order to
sort of weather the ups and downs of a startup,
you really have to believe in the problem that you're solving.
(01:44):
You know, I never ask anyone what product are you building?
I'm always asking like, what problems are you solving?
Speaker 1 (01:51):
Right?
Speaker 2 (01:51):
And and then why do you care about this problem? Right?
I mean not everybody is going to find a problem
from their own lived experience, but it's it could be
your friends, it could be something you saw in your community,
it could you know, there's a reason why you think this.
I'm gonna, you know, take all the risks and put
(02:13):
my life on hold to go build this thing. And
it's not going to be easy. It has to be
a real reason why you believe this is the problem
you want to solve, you know, So that that is
my number one thing, like who are you? Why do
you care about this problem? What problem are you solving?
Speaker 1 (02:29):
Right?
Speaker 2 (02:30):
And yeah, that's that's probably the number one thing. And
then and then one thing I'm learning as an investor
now and this is still I'm still learning and gathering information.
Is like that founder market fit, right, like founder profile fit.
I mean it's not just found a market fit. Like
I don't know how to how to say it. It's
(02:51):
some people, you know, Like there's so many ups and
downs in building a company, like you always it's kind
of like a dating piece. When a founder is pitching
to you, all you hear is, you know, rainbows and roses, right,
like it's this perfect page, like there's an artistic growth
(03:11):
and that they're going to raise a much money and
they're going to build this and everybody that's what you
aspire to do. But the reality is there's so many
pitfalls along the way. You see clearly founders who are
willing to weather that storm and keep your chin up
and pivot and build and try and try again. And
(03:34):
sometimes even when you try all those things, you feel
that there's nobody that can do anything about it. Then
you also see founders that completely fall apart, you know,
And it's very difficult as an early stage investor to
tell what kind of a founder you are, you know,
when there's not much data. There's hardly any product. I
only met you last week, you know, So for early
(03:55):
stage investors it's super tough because as the company grows,
you have more data you can you can really rely
on the data and the product and the customers and stuff.
But when you're so early, you're really investing in the founders.
And now what we do is we make sure we
are going and meeting the founders in person. We're spending
some time with them, We're talking to people who they've
(04:16):
worked with in the past, and there's no there's no
clear science for how to find make sure this is
founder profile is right. But it's it's a it's a
child and error. You know.
Speaker 1 (04:26):
Yeah, that's that's a great subjem. I mean, just so
like you know, you're the second one on the show
who's actually talked about problem being the focus, right, not
the solution. One of the guests on our previous show
told us about fall in love with a problem, not
the solution. You know that is that is exactly what
you're saying as well. And I think if I understand
(04:48):
the second point, right, I mean, it's in a way saying,
you know, somebody who's been an investment banking all their lives,
if they want to do a sad startup on the
cloud where they probably have very little experience, but they
heard something on the train and they want to start something.
I mean that's more the founder market fact that you are.
Speaker 2 (05:07):
That's a founder market fit. Your yeah, and that's the
founder market fit and then the founder profile right, like
are you are you able to run lead for as
long as it takes? Right? And that's where I was
telling you, like all found founders come in all shapes
and sizes at all stages in life. Like if you're
a single learning member in your family with two kids,
(05:29):
are you actually able to do this without taking a
full salary? Do you have sort of that financial freedom
to do that? You have to sometimes a lot of times,
I think as entrepreneurs, and that's part of why entrepreneurs
are entrepreneurs is you you you want to be a
(05:51):
sort of what's the word, like you want to be
optimistic about everything, but then you have to draw that
fine line between optimists one practicality, you know, like where
are you in your life? Are you able to take
this risk? You don't need to overanalyze, but you at
least need to have like a two year of a
safety cushion to be able to go and do this right.
(06:13):
But a lot of times I feel like people sort
of completely miss that, especially if you I don't know
if you remember in all our business blunt pitches, Like
people are like, I'm going to pitch and raise money
and build a product and pay myself and still continue
the same life. Stay. It doesn't work that way, right,
especially for fasting entrepreneurs. Maybe approve an entrepreneur can go
(06:33):
and raise money with an idea, but most entrepreneurs cannot,
you know, so you really need to be practical and
plan for that a bit before you sort of pull
the plug, right, So great advice.
Speaker 1 (06:47):
So, you know, one of the questions I think about,
you know, when I look at you being a successful
entrepreneur as well as a plower. On the other side,
people talk about not many female entrepreneurs out there, right,
or even female investors. I mean, you know, the people
want so I mean, you've obviously been throughready spoke about
(07:08):
you know, how much support you got from the family,
and I'm sure you get asked this question quite a bit.
I mean for people who are out there, I mean,
you know, being a girl that myself, I mean I
keep telling my daughter saying, I mean, you know, there's
nothing like you know, things that you can't do that's
a you know, a man's job versus a woman's job. Sorry,
(07:30):
so any any two sense of advice somebody or a
message from you being what you've been through your journey. No.
Speaker 2 (07:38):
Absolutely, that's a great question because I think it's very
different now compared to when, you know, ten years back,
when I started the company, right, I remember really like
I when I started the company with my friend, we
clearly had our skill sets, right, Like I was going
to be the CEO and co founder, which means I
(07:59):
need to be out there. I'm sort of the face
of the company. The I mean, my co founder was
the CTO, and thus he was great at building the product.
But we have such a good complimentary skill sets, so
most of the funder is I used to just go
by myself. And I remember so well, believe this conversation.
This was a high profile person who's like a who's
(08:21):
an author at the book is very well known. I
met her in Boston and I went through my pitch
and she basically said, do you have a co founder?
I said yes. Is he a male? And I said yes.
She said you need to bring your co founder with
you to these pitches and I was like why. She said,
(08:42):
obviously you're super passionate about the problem you're solving. It's
very clear you understand this market very well. But don't
shoot the messenger, because she said, I did the study
in Harvard with you know, taking a sample size of
putting the same pitch in the hands of a woman
founder and a male founder, and the woman founder had
(09:04):
sixty percent less chance of raising funding and the most
biased I was shocked, the most biased came from other
women investors, so which was shocking to me. But so
she said, don't shoot the messenger. I'm just telling you
what the data is telling me, and you need to
take your co founder so you have a better chance
(09:27):
of you know, raising the funding. I said, this is
actually offensive to both of us, right, Like he's not
a prop and I'm not a idiot, you know. So
so I was like, I don't want such investors at
the table, you know. I want investors who believe that
I can actually run this company and be successful. And
(09:48):
I was fortunate enough to find those investors, Like every
single person invested in the company really believed in my story,
in my lived experience, in our combined capability to actually
deliver on what we set out to do. And so
the number one, I mean, it's changed a bit today
that there are a number of it's still the numbers
are lower, but you know, I'm part of like many
(10:11):
of these women GP groups, you know, so there's more
and more women investors. There's more and more women founders also,
especially I think maybe because I'm in education technology and
there's a lot more women founders in it tech. So,
but there is always a bias. And to be fortunate,
like what I say is, don't lead with that. Don't
(10:33):
go into the work thinking, oh, there's bias, this whole
world is against me. I never actually take that approach.
I'm like, you know, if I find the right problem
and I prove that I can actually you know, build
a product, take it to market, show avenue, traction, show
the traction, build a good team, build good culture. That
(10:53):
work speaks for itself. It doesn't matter whether I'm a
male or I mean, like, you know, so so I
feel like this, if you walk around with a chip
on your shoulder saying I'm women and I'm being discriminated
against it, it's not the right approach to life. You know.
You always assume, Okay, I do my work and I can, Yeah,
(11:15):
maybe I have to prove myself a little bit more.
Speaker 1 (11:17):
That's totally fun.
Speaker 2 (11:18):
You know. But one thing I would say, what I
have learned that works in our favor as women is
now actually there is data showing that women run companies
are much more capital efficient, you know. So and then
the other thing I feel is, you know, as a woman,
(11:39):
I never really you know, hit the fact that oh
I'm a mom, I had to go early to pick
up my kids.
Speaker 1 (11:46):
Or this or that.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
I was always like, I need to stop at three
o'clock go pick up my kids.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
You know.
Speaker 2 (11:51):
When I started my company, both my kids were in
elementary school, and so being sort of vulnerable and having
empathy for your co workers really helps you build a
very special culture. You know, you become more relatable to people.
This is not a world we live in where the
leaders are the ones that sit, you know above in
(12:12):
their thrones and everybody minions are going up to build
a strong culture, you know, Like to build a strong culture,
you need to be relatable. You need to be you know,
people in my team saw me as a mom, you know,
like we had a lot. They were like, okay, you know,
work life balance is important. You know, she needs to
(12:34):
do this. And then the culture was okay, I need
to go pick a maket at three o'clock and we
never really judged anyone harshly. And as the woman, you
kind of bring that empathy and vulnerability to your team.
You build a very special culture. And I say, don't
hold back on being vulnerable and being who you are
just because the society or somebody told you you have
(12:56):
to be tough and you have to behave like a man.
Speaker 1 (13:00):
Being genuine and being yourself is super important. I mean
that way people see who you are and not the
artificial you know, co founder who is making things weard
for the team.
Speaker 2 (13:14):
Correct, correct, And I think I think definitely the world
has come a long way and there is a lot
more you know, there's a lot more understanding and appreciation
even for people who come and be vulnerable and to
have the empathy. You're not being judged harshly because you're
(13:37):
not being harsh you know, you're not that of course,
you know.
Speaker 1 (13:40):
Great, So let's shift gears a little bit. Something we
spoke about your entrepreneurial journey so long. Now you're an
investor with JFF. It is Jobs for the Future Ventures Act.
Speaker 2 (13:53):
Say that right, yeah, yeah, yeah. Jobs for the Future
is a large national nonprofit in the education to work
for space. It's a huge ecosystem. It's a forty year
old nonprofit that's doing amazing work across the learn to
earn ecosystem, and we have an opportunity to build a
venture fund on top of this amazing ecosystem. Right.
Speaker 1 (14:13):
And so coming from where you started off, especially your
entrepreneurship journey, right, I mean you've had your pitfalls, you know,
you shook it off, You've built a successful business and
being on the other side, and when you speak to
entrepreneurs or when you put a fund together, I mean,
(14:35):
what are some of your core principles that you look
for from a I mean you can talk on both sides, right.
I mean you obviously need to build a fund talking
to investors, and then you need to look at what
sort of portfolio do you want to build?
Speaker 2 (14:52):
Right?
Speaker 1 (14:52):
I mean I'm assuming you take a lot of cues
from what you learned as an entrepreneur. You know things,
Let's say, I mean you spoke about whom you don't
want to invest in your company, right, I mean, for example,
obviously the sort of learnings will be etched in your
member saying, oh, as somebody the investor, I don't want
to be that person. Right, So, have you told yourself
(15:16):
certain investing principles that you would want to believe in?
Speaker 2 (15:20):
No, one hundred percent. I always say that I've been
an entrepreneur for more than a decade and an investor
for a ten percent of that time, So I'm always
still more of a founder learning to kind of be
the investor that founders want to work with.
Speaker 1 (15:40):
Right.
Speaker 2 (15:40):
It's easier for me to do that because I've been
in their shoes so automatically, I think there is some
street cred. When I talk to founders, They're like, Okay,
you get it, you know. So so the so the
number one thing that you know, both me and my no,
that kind of team that we're building is again with
(16:03):
the same thing we want to have or empathy for
the founders. Right. So small things that we're trying to
emphasize that I bring from my founder dass. You know,
if you're evaluating a company and if it's a no,
let's get to a quick no. You know, let's not
keep the founder sort of you know, hanging in there
(16:26):
because it's a tough job as a founder. Every fundraising
is it's a distraction, it's it's necessary, but it's a distraction,
but it's it's sort of you know, depletes you, and
so you don't want to add to that. Like you know,
of course we are busy. We have a lot of
(16:46):
things going on, but that's like small things like that, right.
And then we're also like very particular, like we don't
want to be just a check. Right. Every investor tries
to awful value, but we have a special situation now
where you know, we have access to a large ecosystem,
(17:08):
and so we are building our team so that post investment,
we are offering real value to our founders, you know.
So especially because we are writing you know, first checks
into pre seed and scene stages and many times these
founders are first time founders. We're trying to balance impact
on growth and scale. So we want to be sort
of true partners, right. We don't want to just be
(17:29):
lip service to the fact that you know.
Speaker 1 (17:31):
We can be helpful.
Speaker 2 (17:33):
So to that extent, we've actually set up our team
and hired people in order to make sure that's not
left to chance. So yeah, and then just being very thoughtful,
I mean, we are a very pieceis driven fund, right,
Like we are not just randomly investing in any and
every company. Our thesis is investing in the economic mobility
(17:56):
of low wage workers, which means there's like, you know,
one hundred and twenty plus million people in the US
that make less than forty five thousand dollars a year,
and that is always a first lens. So so whether
it's education technology, workforce technology, or technology that employers need
(18:17):
to support this population, or what do they need outside
of work to drive it to work, like childcare, transportation,
access to you know, credit. So we're investing in a
range of companies across industry sectors, but we have a
very different thesis of our target beneficiary. So that kind
of helps us sort of meyrow down things very quickly, right,
(18:41):
But still it's one thing I'm learning as an investor.
Is I always joke about it saying as an entrepreneur,
I thought, wow, like, look at these investors. They just
sit around and write checks on you know, like, but
we also have to raise money. We also our product
is our pieces and what you know, our portfolio. We
(19:03):
also have to do all those things. But the thing is,
like you can't keep building the team, right. Most Benchet
teams are like super small, but we are we're managing
an existing fund, we're raising a new fund. We are
also constantly listening to pictures and sourcing and diligence and investing.
So I'm I'm still trying to operate in this world
(19:23):
and be efficient. Is you're you're wearing a lot of
hats and changing those hats every hour, and that's the
skill I'm still trying to acquire.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Right, I'm sure you'd be great at that too.
Speaker 2 (19:35):
You know, I don't know. The jury is still out
of your series.
Speaker 1 (19:40):
The fact that you call yourself an impact investor. I'll
say that because I mean, you know, I come across
a lot of meetups in the Bay Area where you
go for all these you know, vcs about raising funds
and all that ninety five percent of them are just
worried about, you know, how much money they can make
and THEO we cover all all sorts of statire's all sorts
(20:04):
of industries. I mean, they don't say, here's my purpose
of the fund, right, I mean, here's what I want
to really make a difference in, which is which is
not very prevalent in a lot of funds, and it
is it is hardy to see that you know, you're
looking at it through a very specific lens and where
(20:27):
it is much needed, right where you can make a
difference on your encouraging founders to make a difference in
that in that world. Yes, so that is close to you.
Speaker 2 (20:38):
Thank you. And it's not easy, you know, I think
we're all plat and for punishment. We are out to
prove that you can have impact at the forefront and
still build a successful company that's financially you know, successful.
So the message that we want to communicate is impact
is not a risk. Yeah, impact, Impact is an innate
(21:00):
blue and impact, you know, building impactful companies is what
keeps founders motivated to continue to weather the storms. You know.
So perfect.
Speaker 1 (21:09):
So, Sabri, thanks so much for your time. I've already
taken enough of your time, but beautiful insights right from
where you started off your career to where you are
right now. I'm sure people would love to hear more
of you talking. I'm sure well I can get you
on at any time later on, but for now, Yeah,
thanks so much for jumping on subury and sharing your
(21:30):
story and all your beautiful advice.
Speaker 2 (21:32):
Thank you so much, Thanks sir Anthony for the opportunity
appreciate it
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