"𝐈 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥𝐢𝐳𝐞𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐕𝐢𝐜𝐞 𝐏𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐨𝐥𝐨𝐠𝐲 𝐨𝐫 𝐨𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐛𝐚𝐜𝐤𝐠𝐫𝐨𝐮𝐧𝐝 𝐢𝐧 𝐚 𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐲 𝐭𝐞𝐜𝐡𝐧𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐨𝐫𝐠𝐚𝐧𝐢𝐳𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐨𝐧 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝟏𝟓,𝟎𝟎𝟎 𝐞𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐨𝐲𝐞𝐞𝐬 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐨𝐧𝐥𝐲 𝟏𝟐 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐕𝐏𝐬".

Meet Sara Brand, Ph.D., Founding General Partner of True Wealth Ventures, an early-stage VC fund investing in women-led businesses in consumer, health & sustainability

 In this interview episode of ‘Wiping Out the Norm’, Sara shares her inspiring journey from mechanical engineering to venture capital and co-founding (512) Brewing, the largest self-distributing microbrewery in the US. She said,

"I have worked in a career dominated by men, from studying mechanical engineering to working in management consulting and later in a venture capital fund."

 She revealed that women make 85% of all consumer purchase decisions and 80% of all healthcare decisions but only 2-3% of investment decision-making VCs are women, and a mere 1.9% of VC funding goes to women-led startups

“𝐖𝐡𝐞𝐧 𝐈 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐤𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐢𝐧 𝐕𝐞𝐧𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐞 𝐂𝐚𝐩𝐢𝐭𝐚𝐥 𝐟𝐮𝐧𝐝, 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝𝐧’𝐭 𝐟𝐢𝐧𝐝 𝐚𝐧𝐲 𝐨𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐫 𝐟𝐞𝐦𝐚𝐥𝐞 𝐕𝐂”, with this statement, Sara highlights the scarcity of women in VC and the gender funding gap.

Despite being one of about a dozen female VPs in a 15,000-employee organization, Sara took on the role of Executive Sponsor for the Global Women’s Forum, determined to influence change. Adding further she said, “𝐈𝐭 𝐰𝐚𝐬 𝐝𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐮𝐫𝐛𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐭𝐨 𝐦𝐞 𝐚𝐭 𝐚 𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐨𝐧𝐚𝐥 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐞𝐞 𝐬𝐨 𝐟𝐞𝐰 𝐰𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧 𝐚𝐭 𝐥𝐞𝐚𝐝𝐞𝐫𝐬𝐡𝐢𝐩 𝐥𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐥”.

 This stark reality prompted her to start her own fund to achieve greater gender balance and that’s how True Wealth Ventures came into existence

Sara's groundbreaking VC fund for women secured more than $19 million in two years, and is now at $60M under management and reshaping the landscape for women entrepreneurs.

In our conversation, Sara highlights an incident where a female startup founder pitched a tampon that could help detect ovarian cancer. And a male investor asked, “Can we use this for men too?”
 
 Sara also served on the advisory board of mechanical engineering at UC Berkley and UT Austin’s College of Engineering, and emphasized on how to attract and retain more women in the department.
 
Inspired by Sara's work, the tide is turning in the VC world, with investors increasingly recognizing the incredible potential of women-led businesses.

Watch our full conversation with Sara as she shared with us many more incidents from her journey of overcoming challenges and turning rejections into a record-breaking achievement.

 Link to the interview: https://lnkd.in/dJ26As5P