Billie, a razor for women, Peanut, a social app for mothers, Lex, a dating platform for lesbians, Eloquii, a plus-size women's clothing brand for fat girls ... Female Founders Fund, a venture capital company with female founders and team members, only invests in companies founded by women and whose products serve women.
that's not the best thing about this venture capital company. In 214, when Anu Duggal initiated the Female Founders Fund, it took two years to negotiate with 7 partners to raise more than 5.8 million US dollars and invest in 3 companies. In the past six years, some of these companies have gone public, and some have been acquired by Wal-Mart and Procter & Gamble. The Female Founders Fund has also completed the second fundraising of up to US$ 27 million, part of which comes from Melinda Gates, the wife of Bill Gates. In just six years, how did this female VC company win Melinda's favor, quintuple its financing, and send its investment companies to the IPO road?
The initial intention of starting a business is the key to the company's differentiated operation
"I walked into the conference room and talked for a long time, and a group of male investors in their 4 s and 5 s asked me with a confused face,' Can I let my wife use it later?' When investing in Exclusively.in, Anu Duggal (hereinafter referred to as Anu) understood how difficult it is for a female entrepreneur to raise money from a room full of men.
Anu is an Indian-American. After graduating from MBA in London Business School in 29, she followed her parents back to her hometown and founded Exclusively.in, India's first female fashion e-commerce platform with flash purchase mode. When pulling investment, she found that it is not difficult for these investors to understand the business model, but it is very difficult to understand women's consumption behavior or aesthetic needs. Who will pay for what they don't understand?
Two years later, Anu sold Exclusively.in to Myntra, India's largest e-commerce retailer, and returned to new york with the money, changing from an entrepreneur to an investor. Many female entrepreneurs cried to her after getting her investment, and they also talked to male investors. After a long talk, this group of male investors in their 4 s and 5 s asked them,' Can I let my wife try it out?' "
Whether in India or the United States, the experience of female entrepreneurs is the same. Anu began to study the gender differences in the investment market. She found that in 214, there were less than 9% female investors in the American VC market; The annual investment fund was $11 billion, of which female entrepreneurs only received 2%; In a survey of 43 female entrepreneurs, "obtaining capital" is listed as the biggest difficulty in the process of starting a business. At the same time, women occupy 56% of the labor market in the United States, and the speed of starting a business is 1.5 times the national average; Companies with women in the entrepreneurial team are 63% more profitable than companies with only male founders.
There is a lack of investors who really understand female entrepreneurs in the market, and the opportunities for female entrepreneurs to get investment are far worse than those of men, but there are more and more female entrepreneurs, which can bring huge benefits. Anu saw injustice and business opportunities, so he set up a venture capital company Female Founders Fund (hereinafter referred to as F3) and decided to invest only in female entrepreneurs.
Shaping corporate values by selecting investment portfolios
In Anu's view, "only investing in female entrepreneurs" is the initial intention of F3' s entrepreneurship and the key to distinguishing itself from other VC companies. Only by maximizing its own differences and uniqueness can it stand out from a circle of VC companies. How can we maximize the differences of F3?
F3' s answer is to shape corporate values by selecting investment portfolios.
In the choice of investment portfolio, F3 not only invests in female entrepreneurs, but also prefers those products or companies that are non-mainstream, unusual and unpopular, but have strong female values.
For example, F3 once invested in Lex, a social application specially designed for lesbians.
She felt women's desire for socializing, and women preferred to express their feelings in words, but most dating software on the market at that time served men, either only for gay men (like APP Grindr) or the software highlighted users' photos. Kell thought, why not create a social APP based on text communication only for women? Lex was born. On Lex, only text introduction is allowed on the user's personal data; Only when users are familiar with each other can the system allow them to send pictures to each other.
Anu was moved by Lex's sympathy for women's feelings and led the investment of one million dollars.
For another example, Anu also invested in Billie, a brand of razors specially made for women.
Billie was founded in November 217 by female entrepreneur Georgina Gooley. After an experience that shaving tools were badly needed, but only male razors could be found on supermarket shelves, Georgina found that the razor market was dominated by male users for a long time, and the demand for female shaving, like elephants in the room, was ignored by the whole market, thus establishing Billie.
What Billie really impressed Anu was that this brand did not blindly ask women to cater to men's aesthetics. On the contrary, Billie often told female consumers through advertisements that shaving hair was just an option. "If you need to shave your hair, Bilie will be there; If you don't shave, women are just as beautiful. " In April 218, F3 participated in Billie's nearly $6 million seed round financing. Two years later, Billie was acquired by Procter & Gamble.
In addition to these two brands, F3 also invested in Peanut, a social APP； only for mothers; Stitch fix-a fashion e-commerce company that can match clothes for women; Let the runway-an online clothing rental platform that understands that women "don't need to have every piece of clothing". These companies all embody F3 investment values: companies create for women, products sympathize with women's needs, and speak out for gender injustice.
Create a corporate brand image by creating a community
In the past few years, the female market has been continuously explored, and more and more VC companies only invest in women. F3 began to think about how to ensure that F3 can be the first consideration for female entrepreneurs when raising funds. How can we really have the signboard of "only for female entrepreneurs"?
Anu's answer is that F3 should not only be a fund, but also a female brand. F3 needs to create a community to own and bind the brand "only for female entrepreneurs".
So, in 214, when F3 raised the first fund of 6 million yuan, the first person hired by Anu was not an analyst that traditional VC companies would hire, but a community director who could start activities. Every year, the F3 community director will convene female entrepreneurs and investors to hold 4 ~ 5 discussions and activities.
These activities have several advantages.
First, these activities can provide entrepreneurial technical support for female entrepreneurs or share experiences in managing companies. For example, F3 once launched the activity of "Building a Beauty Brand on Instagram" and invited the global sales director of Instagram to give advice to female leaders on how to use IG to promote brand growth. It also held a "Breakfast for Female Entrepreneurs" event, which brought all female entrepreneurs together at one table to exchange entrepreneurial experience and provide entrepreneurial support.
Secondly, F3 can enhance its popularity by holding activities. For example, F3 once joined forces with top American venture capital companies such as Bain Capital Venture Capital, First Round Capital, Union Square Ventures, Lightspeed, and hosted an activity called "Meet Women Entrepreneurs in new york City", inviting a group of new york women entrepreneurs to come. That night, because F3, the organizer, was as famous as these large-scale funds, it left a deep impression in the hearts of entrepreneurs.
Third, these activities can introduce investors and entrepreneurs to each other. For example, in the event of "Meeting Female Entrepreneurs in new york", the founder of wedding e-commerce Zola, Shan-Lyn Ma, met the investors of Lightspeed, and then the investors of Lightspeed led Zola's C round of financing.
The most important thing is that F3 has formed a relationship network dominated by F3, with a large number of female entrepreneurs, female investors and female partners, so that all female entrepreneurs can think of F3 at the first time when they need funds; Female partners can think of F3 at the first time when they need to invest. It is not difficult to understand that when Melinda, the wife of Bill Gates, founded Pivotal Ventures, an investment fund aimed at bridging gender inequality in 218, she would invest her money in F3. In an interview, she mentioned that F3, as a limited partner, is the type she most wants to invest in: "Fund founders who can think about social issues in their lives will be more able to see and identify breakthrough market opportunities", "Obviously, F3 can hear the voices of a few female entrepreneurs".
Summary of key points
Female Founders Fund is a venture capital company. In 214, this company raised only nearly 6 million yuan, but six years later, this VC company quintupled its financing and won the favor of Bill Gates' wife Melinda.
The Female Founders Fund has done three things right: First, stick to the initial intention of starting a business and turn it into the characteristics of the company's differentiated operation. There is a huge gender injustice in the investment market, so F3 took this as its initial venture and only invested in women.
Secondly, by selecting the investment portfolio, we can shape the company's values. F3 not only invests in female entrepreneurs, but also prefers those products or companies that are non-mainstream, unusual, and unpopular but have strong female values.
Third, by creating a community, F3 has made its brand image "only for female entrepreneurs" deeply rooted in the whole investment market.
What was your initial intention in starting a business? Do you know how to turn your initial heart into your own characteristics? In the vast sea of business, do you know how to operate your own company differently? What are the secrets and tricks to create community culture? Welcome to City University's Chinese EMBA, with knowledge of investment, finance, marketing, brand and trend business.