Tearing up the VC Partnership model, going public in Europe and product management
A weekly newsletter on start-ups and ventures
Welcome to Heroa, a weekly newsletter for women in start-ups and ventures. If you enjoy what you read, please do share this newsletter with friends and like it above!
Hello and welcome back to Heroa.
This week there’s content on:
Stepping up as a product manager
Tearing up the VC partnership model
Going public in Europe
Round-up of the news this week
Bumble exceeds its IPO goals, and my new role model Whitney Wolfe Herd becomes the 21st CEO to take a company public. Software maker, Nexthink closes a round of $180M and tops a $1.1Bn valuation. Bigchange, a developer of mobile workforce and fleet management software, snaps $102M. MasterCard backs a $100M fund for female-led businesses. Companies are increasingly changing their expectations of what constitutes a typical workday. Salesforce has stated that the 9-to-5 workday is dead. Oxford University set to launch up to 20 sustainability startups in two years.
From the investors
“When you invest, you’re shaping the future.” Marie Ekeland of 2050
Tearing up the VC ecosystem by focusing on long term impact with Marie Ekeland of 2050. Marie is looking at blowing up the partnership model and replacing it with “perpetual purpose trust.” This will feature a board of overseers that will include some partners, some investors in the fund and some outsiders who will be tasked with making sure that the firm continues to fulfil its mission.
Making sense of one year in VC by Beata Klein of Creandum, including lessons learnt along the way.
A primer on SalesOps for early-stage B2B founders by Amy Liu of Point Nine Capital. Amy lays out some key learnings based on her experience working as a Sales Lead at Box, Anaplan, Framer and Uber.
The Creator economy by Eze Vidra of Remagine Ventures. Eza is looking at the creator economy market and the products helping the community build income.
The rise of the commuunity department by Lisa Xu from FirstMark. Products, including software are no longer sold through the traditional channels but instead through community members. Lisa shows why she thinks community management is the next big SaaS category.
From the operators
“The more senior you get, the more you’ll be faced with decisions where the right answer is “it depends.” Jackie Bavaro of Asana
What it takes to become a Senior Product Manager by Jackie Bavaro of Asana. Jackie believes that the key to building out your product management career is to make space for strategic work.
4 hard lessons from 14 years of Entrepreneurship by Sophia Sunwoo of Ascent Strategy. Meaningful, random reflections from an entrepreneur adamant about using personal growth to become a stronger business owner.
Take the survey to contribute to the European Founder Mental Health Report, an initiative driven by InsideOut, which aims to bring founder mental health to the top of the agenda.
Going public in Europe the pros and cons by Camille Leca, COO Listing at Euronext. Camila talks about when to get acquired, the differences between the European and American IPO markets and what startups considering an IPO should know.
Events
The Forward Founders Programme is accepting applications onto its free programme to help early-stage entrepreneurs
Startup Grind global conference will take place 22-25 February
VC Lead Ladies discuss Responsible Investing and how to integrate ESG factors into the investment process on Friday, 26th February
The Debut Sessions by Ascension Ventures on Friday, 26 February. If you are a founder raising your first round of funding, you may still apply to pitch by 5 pm, Wednesday 17th February for a chance to win a £100k Term Sheet from Ascension Ventures
Heartful Academy presents How can the world of startups and investing become inclusive & diverse? on Tuesday, March 9
Job opportunities
The Intrapreneurs Club is hiring for a Head of Accelerator in London
4impact is hiring for an Investment Manager
Icebreaker VC is hiring for an Investment Analyst
FirstMark are growing their Investment team in the US
Lots of start-up jobs are currently available through Otta
SEE YOU NEXT MONDAY!
If you have any comments, questions, or want to chat about start-ups and venturing, then do drop me a comment.
Written by Alexandra Wyatt, based in London but a global traveller. You can also reach me on Twitter and Instagram.