Episode 14: Sarah Kunst, Cleo Capital

Cleo Capital’s Leader Hopes More Women Follow Her into VC

Women are severely underrepresented in the world of venture capitalism. That’s something that Sarah Kunst, managing director of Cleo Capital, would like to see change. She sits down with Women on the Move host Sam Saperstein to discuss her career path, why she loves VC work, and the ongoing challenges of racism and sexism.

 

A unique career path

Unlike many leaders in the VC world, Sarah studied advertising in college and began her career in marketing, working for brands like Apple, Red Bull, and Chanel. She says understanding the importance of branding helps her spot companies that will be successful. “What working for those places really taught me is that if you are a consumer-focused brand, if you are something that no one needs in their life, then you better have an amazing, amazing brand so that people want you in their life,” she tells Sam.

 

Sarah describes how her move to the world of VC funding was almost accidental. She was working for a firm that ran into financial issues, and she asked an investor friend for some advice. “I had free time,” she recalls. “So I would do some research and I would send her back these long emails about, you know, this company is interesting because X, Y, Z, and this is what the market looks like. And I just was being helpful because she was helping me and giving me advice and I wanted to return the favor.“ Sarah’s friend recognized her talent—and encouraged her to come work in VC. That type of mutual support is, according to Sarah, the key to career advancement.

 

The ongoing challenges of racism and sexism and the future of VC

One path to VC success is to start out as an angel investor, Sarah notes. Once you have a successful track record as an independent investor, a VC firm is more likely to want to invite you in. For people who don’t have the money for angel investing, scout programs such as the one at Cleo can be invaluable. A scout program, she says, is basically angel investing with someone else’s money. Many firms offer scout programs, which can be an ideal pathway for start-up executives and others with deep industry knowledge but without the capital to invest, to get into VC.

 

For those working in VC, Sarah describes the day-to-day job as less strategic and more like being a babysitter. She says her work falls into four buckets: finding the prospect, securing the investment, helping the company do well, and finally, exiting and making the money. The bulk of her time is spent helping the company do well, and that’s why it feels most like babysitting: she finds herself performing multifaceted tasks in the name of freeing up the company founder’s energy to be successful. Recently, for example, she drove to the Apple Store to retrieve a founder’s laptop.

 

The barriers keeping women and people of color from success in the VC world, Sarah says, “are always the same thing: its racism and sexism.” The solution, she says, is just as simple: hire more women and give them a seat at the investing table. She’s hopeful, given all the research that diverse teams perform better whatever the industry, that more VC firms will embrace diversity. “To all the crazy people out there who say they care about making money and who aren't surrounding themselves with diverse teams, I feel bad for you because you know, you're missing out on money that I'm going to make!” she says.