YouSaid · the spoken record

Anu Duggal

lines on the record: 20
first: 2018-12-10
most recent: 2018-12-10
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: podcast

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“Sure. So I would say as a smaller fund, we're definitely more price sensitive than some of our larger fund peers. That being said, we invest primarily in New York with 30 out of 35 of our current”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So great question. And I'll start with just saying that we invest primarily in New York and the size of seed round in New York has grown from a million in 2014 to two to two and a half million in 2018. So as you said, with a larger fund, we're now leading, co-leading or participating in seed deals with an average tech size of about 500K. And what we've seen with these larger two to two and a half million dollar rounds is a lot of collaboration with other seed funds actually to fill these rounds out. So the last four deals that we've done where we've either led or participated have had at least three other institutional seed funds participate in these rounds. So I think that New York still remains a collaborative environment, particularly at the seed stage.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“So, I would say that from a macro point of view, and I'm sure you're aware of this as well, I believe there were over 400 funds in the market last year that were sub 100 million. So I would say the environment from a traditional LP perspective has become incredibly competitive. And for us, it was definitely still challenging. It was two-year process. The biggest difference I would say is that from a trend perspective, you know, you touched on this earlier, the recent focus over the last 12 to 18 months on female founders, on women in tech, on female fund managers has really given us momentum with foundations and some of the newer institutions, particularly funder funds, that are looking to back more diverse managers. The other thing that helped for our second fund was that Lightspeed Ventures was an LP of ours, which has been tremendously helpful and validating for traditional institutional LPs. So I would say, you know, still challenging.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Yes, so fundraising for fun one was incredibly difficult, and I think that's a very similar story to other first-time fund managers. So over 700 meetings, over 70 LPs for a $5.85 million fund over two-year process. So, you know, I would say that the core challenge is it was really being a first-time fund manager. Unlike my experience as a founder, there's no product or deck that really shows the vision for the fund. And I think that LPs were really investing in my capacity to access good deal flow, as well as the larger vision that female founders had the potential to build massive venture-backed businesses. I would say that that was, and that continues to be the biggest challenge. I think our thesis that it's possible to generate great returns by investing in a portfolio that is 100% made up of female founders is something that most traditional institutional LPs have found to be somewhat non-obvious, but we really feel strongly that there's a lot of opportunity here.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And event strategy. And I think that we've also really focused a lot on content creation that features our founders, but also highlights thought pieces around the amount of funding that's been raised by female founders. We published an annual review on female Series A funding that went to female founders in 2014. And since then, we've seen crunch-based, tech crunch, and a host of other journalists in the tech industry really follow suit in terms of recognizing the fact that it's important to think about that as well. So I think that with an operating lens, it's really been about how do you continue to build momentum around a fund when your day-to-day job is just investing.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sure. So just starting with the way that we thought about it, my background is very much as an operator and really kind of building brand through various measures. So, you know, when you think about the venture capital world, it's always been an asset class. So you're investing dollars and working with founders, but waiting for those returns. For me, when I started the fund, the idea was we were very small and how do we put ourselves on the same playing field as our peers? And so the funds DNA has very much been around events. So, you know, when I started the fund in 2014, that was 12 events a year fast forward to today. We do 40 events a year, big and small, inviting, you know, we do a CEO series once a month where we invite different CEOs to come in and share their stories. We do larger events that we co-host with funds like General Catalyst and Lightspeed. So I think for us, it's really been about building a brand via that content.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“fund from day one we've invested heavily in this through our events and our community strategy as well as developing relationships with the broader female BC network what I think is really exciting now is we're seeing deals get done that are shared from one female BC to another”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“With our female founders, is that if you are looking to pitch a fund with a website that's full of all men partners, that tends to really significantly within that firm. And so I think that as VC funds add more diversity to their teams, that will enable them to attract different types of deal flow, which I think is very educational. And I think that as they start investing in categories and founders that are outside of what they've done before, they also recognize that the true potential in that. Absolutely. I can agree more that. In terms of kind of speaking about introducing more female investors into the network, how that changes deal flow, I'd love to touch on one element that you actually mentioned at the start of the show, which is the power of the female network. Can you talk to me a little bit about your thinking behind this and how is maybe allowed you to see the best deals through the network? Sure. So we really feel strongly that there's tremendous opportunity around the power of the female network.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“As interesting, and I think that there may have been a challenge around investors understanding truly how large these categories are. What we've seen since then is, you know, more and more male investors are really recognizing the size and the scale of these businesses. And it's really exciting to see this shift happen. Can I ask, is there anything that can be done? And please do advise me here. It's a brilliant thing about the show. I use it for a personal advice. Is there anything that can be done to really enhance this shift and further generate that kind of cyclical motion of increasing that, so to speak? I think it really depends on the fund. I think that as you see more of the traditional Silicon Valley funds backing female founders, seeing those founders scale, there tends to be kind of an awareness that FEMA founders can go on to build interesting businesses. And I think on the other side, as these funds are hiring female partners, you're also seeing their geoflow change. I think that we've seen”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“A brooch on here, but can one blame male VCs for sometimes not being able to comprehend maybe a specific pain point related to female kind of founders missions that they're building? Can we blame them? Sure. So, I mean, you know, from what I've seen, ultimately what drives venture capital is FOMO, particularly when it comes to missing out on returns and, you know, Katrina Lake is obviously a great example with Stitchfix in terms of, you know, a company that I think most traditional investors initially were not excited about, but clearly, you know, went on to really prove the potential of that business. I think what we've seen over the past two or three years is really a strong shift that's happening in terms of how male VCs are thinking about opportunities that speak to a female market. So when I look at even in our own portfolio or outside companies like Zola, Glossier, Maven Clinic, these are categories, weddings, beauty, women's health that I think two or three years ago maybe weren't.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And really gets you excited. Sure, it's a great question. So, you know, for us as seed investors, we often invest pre-launch. So we're investors in a company called Billy, you know, Winky Lux had been around for a little bit. But in these examples, what we're really looking for is a founder that has a very clear point of view, particularly from a brand perspective, number one. Number two, to your point, margins, again, for us are really important, and then LTV or repeat purchase behavior for us is really important. Absolutely. I agree with you there. I do have to ask, we chatted before and discussed maybe many opportunities that maybe male VCs maybe don't identify with. You mentioned Billy there. I guess that could be one that would be aligned to this. I guess a slightly sensitive one for me.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Beauty as an example in the consumable space. There's an LTV for consumers that is different necessarily from a kind of pure play fashion company. So I think that for us, we want to see high margins. We want to see repeat purchase behavior. And we really want to see brand differentiation. From an exit perspective, I think that you have the likes of Walmart and Amazon, as well as, you know, the PNGs and Unilevers and L'Oreales of the world that from a multiple perspective, you know, we've seen can be willing to pay for the right opportunity. This is so unfair of me to ask, but I'm too intrigued anyway. When I assess consumer businesses, I'm always kind of looking at MPS and retention. That's what excites me, especially kind of when it relates to kind of subsequent customer acquisition. There's some metrics that particularly excite you. Is there one that you hone in on, be it margin, be it NPS, be it supply chain sustainability? Is there a certain element that you hone in on?”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“And really leverage the authenticity of brand and the strong social performance, it was really no brainer for us that the founder was special, shared very similar views around building a beauty brand at scale and had the potential to really generate those significant returns. Can I ask you a question? When it comes to consumer, I actually had a guest on the show the other day that I will keep them nameless for their sake, but they said that often the troubling consumers, you build a really attractive top line, but when it comes down to it, you sell for 1.6 e-bit. And actually, it's just not attractive and you will continue to see these hundred to 150 million exits in the consumer space because the multiples just aren't there on exit. Is that something that you've seen and would maybe agree with or would you take an alternate view? So I think it really depends on the category. So I think that when you think about traditional retail from a fashion perspective, it can be really challenging. I think that if you are building a business with very strong margins,”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“May Sure, sure. So as an institutional finder, I closed our second fund earlier this year. We share many of the same views as our BC peers, especially in the microfund market. So we look to invest early at valuations that really allow us to generate significant returns at scale. And when we meet founders, we're very clear what this point of view in terms of alignment, and particularly as that relates to building a scalable, massive business. So an example of this in our Fund 2 portfolio particularly would be our investment in the Millennial Focus Beauty brand Winkilux. So again, beauty can be somewhat of a non-obvious category. Obviously, the success of Glacier has shown that there's real potential for growth, but we think it's an exciting category for a few reasons. So healthy SaaS like margins, repeat purchase behavior, and really strong exit multiples. So seeing the growth in a company like Wikilux, which again may have been non-obvious.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“For when looking at an example Is that the thinking that you? It's not the Or millennials. How do you think about How you approach Especially with”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sure, so by non-obvious, I mean opportunities that may not be as apparent from a consumer perspective. And also from a traditional VC perspective. So, for example, we have a thesis that we've been excited about around the rise of alternate communities linked to the decline of organized religion, particularly amongst the millennial audience. So, you know, traditionally you saw the church or the mosque or the synagogue is really the gathering place for various communities. And we're seeing this really on the decline. both online and offline through specific interests. So a few examples of companies in our portfolio that we've invested in that follow the CSIS include CoStar, which is an astrology app, peanut, which is a social network for modern motherhood and hip sobriety, a holistic alternative for alcoholics synonymous.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Large companies being built by women that were really addressing consumer needs and reinventing old industries. And there was a real opportunity to build a brand that would be the first place that these founders came to when they were looking for capital. And for me, you know, obviously now you have so many micro funds in the market, which is great, but differentiation is incredibly important. And so I think a lot of what I focused on in the early days was, you know, building a brand that was about supporting female founders, not just through capital, but also through the network.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sure. So, exactly to your point, looking back in 2013 and 14, it was not an obvious investment thesis. But when you looked around for me, especially after our company got acquired, I started doing some angel investing in New York and got introduced to some great female founders. And a lot of them had very relevant backgrounds. They'd worked at large technology companies like Amazon, Google, Facebook, and had very relevant skill sets, had been part of these companies scaling. to apply these skill sets to solve problems they faced as consumers as well as problems they identified in their workplace and so the disconnect was really getting that first round of funding and obviously you can't get that first round of funding it's very difficult to build a venture backable business and so I felt the opportunity was looking from a macro point of view five to ten years forward that you were definitely going to see”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Fund, including some great female entrepreneurs, the founders of Gilt, Birchbach, Stitchfix, Care.com, as well as really supportive male investors like Josh Koppelman, Brad Felds, Albert Wanger, David Bonderman, and more. So that first fund was really meant to invest primarily in female founders at the seed stage. And Shan from Zilla knows this. You know, Zilla was one of our investments out of that fund, as well as companies like Eloqui, which recently had an exit, Naven Clinic, and primary kids are a few others.”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source
“Sure. So my foray into the world of venture capital was very much a result of my experience as a female founder. So prior to starting Female Founders Fund, I had co-founded an e-commerce company based in India called exclusively in. And through that fundraising process, really saw that there was a huge lack of diversity from an investor perspective, which I thought was really interesting given I was a female founder. We were clearly addressing a female market and felt that there was a real opportunity to build a brand that focused on addressing and funding these female founders, providing not just capital, but also creating a very powerful network of female operators that could really help them along their journey to build their businesses. So I started the fund in 2014 after a very long fundraising process, raised about $5.85 million of capital and had a fantastic group of LPs in that”
2018-12-10 · The Twenty Minute VC · 20VC: Top 3 Considerations When Evaluating Consumer Businesses Today | 700 Meetings, 70 LPs, 2 Years, What It Takes To Raise a First Time Fund| The Power of The Female Network In Action Today with Anu Duggal, Founding Partner @ Female Founders Fund · IDENTIFIED FROM THE TRANSCRIPT · source