EP 286 Understanding and Solving Funding Inequities in the VC Industry

Less than 2% of Venture Capital funds go to Women and Minority Owned Businesses.

Our guest, Professor Banu Ozkazanc-Pan, is the Founder and Director of the Venture Capital Inclusion Lab at the Nelson Center for Entrepreneurship at Brown University.

With $260,000 in funding from the Kauffman Foundation, Banu launched the lab to investigate WHY this abysmal under 2% number exists and find ways to solve it.

During our delicious conversation we dove deep into the data pool to learn what Banu and her team have uncovered and how this data may help improve the funding of under resourced founders .

The Venture Capital Inclusion Lab was started in 2018 with funds from Professor Bah-nu’s Kauffman Foundation grant to examine the decision-making and network behaviors of VCs.

Today, the Lab focuses efforts on understanding and solving funding inequities in the VC industry through data-driven research, education and advocacy.

Banu is also a Professor of Practice at the School of Engineering and Academic Director of the IE Brown University Executive MBA program. Her research interests are mainly in the areas of diversity and inclusion in organizations and in entrepreneurial ecosystems.

To learn more about the Venture Capital Inclusion Lab, please visit: https://vcinclusion.com

Tap this link to connect with Professor Banu on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/banuopan/

Check out Banu's startup, Derpy Doggy and it's clean, gluten-free products here: https://www.derpydoggy.com/

Thank you for carving out time to improve your Founder Game - when you do better, your startup will do better - cheers!

Ande ♥
https://andelyons.com #bestyoutubechannelforstartups #startupstories #venturecapital

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WHAT WE LEARNED
00:00 - meet Professor Banu Ozkazanc-Pan
06:00 - Sylvester Myer !
08:00 - Professor Banu's origin story
12:20 - teach entrepreneurship transform the teacher
18:30 - why we don't see equity and inclusion in the VC industry
21:20 - why it took so long for women to be included at VC firms
25:00 - gender stereotypes in venture capital prohibit funding of women and minority owned businesses
27:00 - the challenges for Emerging Funds Managers
29:00 - Ande's soap box moment (sorry, not sorry!)
33:00 - response to Scroobious' Founder Allison Byers
35:50 - Village Capital's Framework Study
40:00 - changing the VC mindset to be inclusive is a hard task
46:00 - education and alumni networks benefit men
50:20 - white males need to support women getting funded