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The Fund XX started actually at
a time of transition for me.
I was really reflecting on what
mattered to me and
what I wanted to do.
I was watching syndicates start to
happen where you start to have
groups of people invest together.
But what I saw in these groups is
that they were still majority men.
In a world that should be more
accessible than ever,
it was actually worse than numbers
you'd see elsewhere.
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The Fund XX is a pre-seed venture
fund investing in women CEOs.
Stats will tell you that 22% of
angel investors are women.
When I would go look at the most
active syndicates on AngelList,
it was 3%,
three out of a 100 LPs were women.
So I called Alison Stoloff,
my GSB classmate, and I said,
Alison, we have to make a page of
just women investors.
And she was like, okay,
let's do it.
I've been having conversations with
Jenny Fielding, and they had
been building this fun concept,
which was essentially
community-driven BC.
They were investing in the local
ecosystem in New York and
several other cities.
>> And Jenny said, well,
why don't you think about this
community that you're building and
applying it to investing in women
CEOs and see if that makes sense,
see if there's a story.
And we found that companies that
are led by women CEOs typically
have about 250k less in funding
than their peers.
A lot of that has to do with bias
that's pervasive and
many ecosystems but
especially at the precede stage,
all you have is who you are.
>> It gets much harder for
people to want to take a bet on
women at the early stages when
there's no data.
We're usually that first check into
that business believing in
that female founder from day one.
Fortunately, the mission resonated
with many people.
>> The Fund XX stands
out in the investment industry and
around our focus on women.
We are very unique in that we
invest in women and
are backed by women at every level.
And then on the other side of it,
we're unique in the industry in
our model.
>> Typically,
when you're a limited partner or
an investor,
you're writing a check and
then you sit and wait and
you watch.
And with the Fund XX, these
investors are able to share their
expertise with this incredible
group of the female founders.
>> We're really taking it outside
of the individual and
making it about the community.
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>> I think the biggest impact that
the GSB has had on me is that it is
a place that reminds me to think
big.
>> I think the GSB is great at
encouraging students to go take
risks, to spend this time at
the GSB, really figuring out what
you want to do,
trying different things.
>> When I think about Stanford's
motto, change lives change
organizations change the world.
>> I think about impact, I
think about the immediate nucleus.
And then how can that continue to
expand?
What are the artifacts that I leave
behind and how do I help make
a difference and what do I
do that's still going to be here?
>> I get so excited about
this power of community.
We have incredible founders and
operators sharing ideas,
sharing perspectives,
those are the times when I get most
inspired because I'm able to see
the size of this network that we've
built in this community.
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>> Sylvia and I had this belief
that women succeed at the same
rates as men when given the same
access to resources and network.
>> Ultimately, the best world for
everyone is a world
that represents everyone.
And where we need to continue to
focus and to make an impact is to
bring people into the ecosystem who
otherwise weren't in the ecosystem.
And I hope that in ten years,
we are focused on the next thing
because we've been able to make
a meaningful bit.
>> I hope that the Fund XX will not
be considered a diversity fund in
the teen years.
It would be great if there was much
more of a level plain field.
I think another kind
of success metric, right, is we're
a venture capital fund, and so
we're measured on our return.
So my hope is that we have some
billion-dollar exits that will show
people that women are worth
investing in and that women can be
just as successful as
men when given access to the same
resources and the same network.
My name is Alison Stoff and
I'm a partner at the Fund XX.
>> My name is Sylvia Kuyel, and
I'm a partner at the Fund XX.
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