Women of color must navigate unique challenges and advantages as they enter the world of venture investing. During this frank panel discussion, you’ll hear from women who have thought outside the box to level up their personal and professional lives by becoming venture capitalists and investors. We’ll also peek behind the curtain and talk frankly about how to frame and approach venture capital investments.
What do you need to know to become a savvy venture investor? Moderated by healthcare expert Dr. Milan Chavarkar and accomplished leader and climate enthusiast Reetu Gupta, these women have answers.
Our panelists:
· Christina Bui, Managing Director at Robert Half, has more than 30 years of experience in strategic advising and business development and serves on numerous boards, including advisory boards at Johns Hopkins Carey Business School and Son Foods.
· Karen Sheffield spent 16 years in finance executive leadership at Fortune 100 companies before founding Pachamama Ventures, where she is managing director, to invest in early-stage climate tech companies.
· Lata Setty has transitioned from scientist to patent trial attorney to serial “digital transformation” entrepreneur. Now a venture investor and First Founding LP for the “How Women Invest” Fund, Lata leverages her science and startup expertise to discover and fund female-founded companies bridging science, tech, law, and business.
· Preethy Padmanabhan made successful exits (2 IPO, 1 PE) and then parlayed two decades of high tech leadership experience into her startup board advisor and investor role, building an ecosystem of 100+ venture investors and 1000+ VPs and CxOs. She serves as a Board Director for TiE and Nextstem.ai and board advisor for Sendoso and ChargeLink.
· Rachna Dayal, Founder and Managing Partner, Sugati Ventures, has extensive experience in leading global commercial and supply chain strategy and business operations, managing P&Ls of hundreds of million dollars, and positioning disruptive technologies and products for launch.
More about our speakers and moderators:
Speakers:
Christina Bui is a strategic advisor and angel investor with more than 30 years of experience in a variety of industries, including technology, healthcare, engineering, construction, management consulting, private equity and venture capital. She serves on the Advisory Board of Son Foods, OnSky Health, Ryvid, Wynn’s Kitchen, and Fleurissent Skincare. Christina currently serves as a Managing Director of Robert Half Executive Search, Johns Hopkins Carey Business School Advisory Board, Fulbright University Vietnam Global Advisory Board, Executive Board of How Women Lead, Advisor and Founding of How Women Invest Fund, Board Member of the Association for Corporate Growth, Founder of Vietnamese Leaders Forum, and Advisory Council Member of Asian Pacific Fund and CFO Leadership Council.
Karen Sheffield is the Founder & Managing Partner of Pachamama Ventures, a venture capital firm investing in early-stage climate tech companies. Previously, she worked for American Airlines, PepsiCo, and Visa in multiple and progressing finance roles. A self-described operator turned investor, Karen began angel investing 4 years ago and, ever since then, has dedicated much of her time to uncovering opportunities in unlikely places. Karen holds a double degree in Finance and Economics from Texas Christian University (TCU) and an MBA from The University of Texas at Austin. She is also an active member of several organizations such as Global Women in VC, WeInvest LATAM, Pipeline Angels (as a VC-in-Residence), among several others. She has been featured in the Snowball Wealth podcast, StrtupBoost, Women in Climate, VC Lab, and others as a guest speaker. She has made several sector-agnostic pre-seed and seed investments to date (including 2 climate tech deals) and she sits in the advisory board of 2 startups, a professional organization for women in STEAM, and 1 non-profit organization.
Lata Setty is a lover of journeys: from scientist to patent trial litigator – to serial “digital transformation” entrepreneur – now, a VC passionate about emboldening other female founders’ journeys. Trekking over 65 countries as a digital nomad since ‘20, following the acquisition of her second startup, she leverages her startup expertise to hunt for nanocorns and accelerate female-founded companies’ scalability bridging science, law, business & tech. Previously, a co-founder successfully exiting several companies that have revolutionized antiquated industries, funded by Sequoia Capital, Goldman Sachs, etc., she’s fully experienced the cataclysmic gender disparity in VC funding, inspiring her to become the 1st Investor at How Women Invest Funds l & ll (“HWI”). Her mandate: investing in female founders is good for People, Planet & Profits since female founders return 78 cents for every dollar invested (male founders generate 38 cents ROI). HWI is singularly driven to engage women who want to align their wealth with their values, to “vote with their dollars”, and Lata is thrilled to help mobilize 10,000 first time female investors by 2025 to invest in VC by building “The New Table“, officially launching their $100 Million Fund lll by ringing the bell at NASDAQ. Giving back serves as her North Star in every step of her journey and she’s heavily invested in The Indus Entrepreneur (TiE.org) & their TiE-Women’s Initiative. TiE is the largest ecosystem of investors & entrepreneurs with 20,000+ members across 60 chapters spanning the globe, and has funded several billion dollars of revenue generating startups through its TiE-Angels network. She’s also exhilarated to serve as a catalyst to bring more girls into VC, starting first in the US, then UK, and now spreading across the globe.
Preethy Padmanabhan has 20+ years of high tech and leadership experience across marketing, product, sales & engineering across Bidgely, Freshworks, Panzura, Nutanix, Dell and Cisco. Her journey has taken her from successful exits (2 IPO, 1 PE) to startup board advisor and investor. She has built an ecosystem of 100+ venture investors and 1000+ VP/CXO to enable startup entrepreneur success. She is a trusted advisor for 10+ startups providing strategic insights on market trends, product market fit, technology strategy, customer development, verticals, business plans, operations, hiring, GTM, partnerships and fundraising. She serves as a Board Director for TiE and Nextstem.ai and board advisor for Sendoso and ChargeLink. She is the Podcast host, speaker for 10X Growth strategies podcast and events.
Rachna Dayal is Founder and Managing Partner, Sugati Ventures. Rachna is an Outcomes-Based Leader with experience in Venture Capital, Healthcare Marketing, Supply Chain, Disruptive Technology Management, External Manufacturing and R&D for big corporations and start-ups. Her career spans across USA, Europe and Asia, with organizations like Philips, Handshake Solutions and Johnson & Johnson. Some key accomplishments include successfully managing a P&L of $350 Million, Global Commercial Launch for groundbreaking depression/suicidal drugs and successfully leading a technology startup in the bay area for three years.Rachna has extensive board and governance experience across startups and non-profit organizations.
Moderators:
Reetu Gupta is a strategic advisor and an investor with more than 20+ years of experience in healthcare, finance and tech. She is a seasoned leader with expertise in merger & acquisitions, strategy, venture investing, new program & partnership development, digital health start-ups and client success . She has led client success across start-ups & growth stage companies. She worked for Kaiser Permanente, where she led new program development, partnerships and M&A. Reetu has led complex implementations within the US and internationally. She is passionate about climate & sustainability space. A climate fellow at Terra.do Climate Change: Learning for Action program. Additionally, Reetu is an investor in VC funds focused on promoting investments by women in green & sustainability, femtech and entrepreneurs of color.
Dr. Milan Chavarkar, DNP, RN, FNP-BC, IFMCP is a healthcare expert, practicing as an advanced practice nurse for 25 years. She opened Lotus Integrative Health and Nursing, an integrative and functional medicine practice focused on women’s health and fertility, as a novel approach to health care. Patients receive hour-long visits and an attentive and caring professional who is their partner in understanding the root cause and providing natural and conventional solutions to long-term true healing, prevention of disease, and optimization of health and longevity. Fueled by her late start as an entrepreneur, she sees the power of women in business and is dedicated to helping other women transform their lives personally and professionally. In addition to her practice, she now serves as a medical advisor to two femtech companies Maternal+ and Fibra, advisor to Sugati Ventures, LP in Coyote Ventures, fintech angel investor in Braid, and volunteer faculty at UCSF School of Nursing. Entering the venture world has reinvigorated her career and passion to help others.