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00:00TO FACE IN THE INDUSTRY. SHE WAS A CHARACTER IN MY BOOK AND I APPRECIATE YOU USING YOUR VOICE IN THAT INSTANCE. IT HAS BEEN FIVE YEARS SINCE YOU SPOKE UP AND YOUR ACTIONS LEAD TO CONSEQUENCES FOR ONE INDIVIDUAL. HOW MUCH PROGRESS DO YOU THINK IT ' S ACTUALLY BEEN MADE IN THE LAST FIVE YEARS? > > UNFORTUNATELY, I DON ' T LIKE A LOT OF PROGRESS HAS BEEN MADE. WHEN WOMEN SPEAK UP, THEY ARE BELIEVED MORE. PEOPLE KNOW THAT THIS IS A PROBLEM. BUT YOU LOOK AT THE ACTUAL NUMBERS, THEY ARE REALLY BAD FOR BOTH RACE INTO GENDER. THEY ARE EVEN WORSE AT THE INTERSECTION WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE NUMBER OF LIKE AND HISPANIC WOMEN WHO ARE VC ' S OR WHO GET VC FUNDING, IT ' S ALMOST NONEXISTENT. THE NEW LOOK AT WHAT IS STILL BEING UPHELD, PEOPLE LIKE ELON MUSK THE RICHEST MAN IN THE WORLD TRYING TO ADD TWITTER AND HE WAS JUST ACCUSED OF SEXUAL HARASSMENT ON THE JOB AND THE RESPONSE WAS TO FIRE THE EMPLOYEES WHO HAD A PROBLEM WITH IT. HAVE BECOME THAT ARE? I DON ' T THINK SO. EMILY: HOW MUCH DOES THE THOUGHT OF ELON MUSK OWNING TWITTER CONCERN YOU? > > I ' M KIND OF RELIEVED BECAUSE IT MIGHT FORCE ME TO LOG OFF TWITTER FOREVER. EMILY: WE HEARD PART OF THE TESTIMONY. YOU WERE AN INVESTOR AND I ' M SURE YOU ARE FAMILIAR WITH HER OWN EXPERIENCES AS A WOMAN ON WALL STREET THAN SILICON VALLEY. WHAT DO YOU SEE THROUGH THE EYES OF ENTREPRENEURS LIKE HER IN TERMS OF THE BARRIERS THAT STILL EXIST? > > SHE IS ONE OF THE MOST FAMOUS WOMEN IN BANKING AND IT STILL HARDER FOR HER TO GET FUNDING THAN A MAN AND A HOODIE WITH A HALF-BAKED IDEA. THERE ARE NOT ENOUGH DIVERSE, FEMALE, INVESTORS OF COLOR WHO CAN TURN AROUND AND RECOGNIZE GREATNESS WHEN THEY SEE IT IN THEIR PEERS. THINGS NEED TO CHANGE ON A LOT OF LEVELS BECAUSE WE ARE MISSING OUT ON SO MUCH WEALTH GENERATION BECAUSE WE AREN ' T FUNDING PEOPLE WHO ARE WHITE DUDES. EMILY: HAVE THEY MADE ANY STRIDES, CERTAINLY THOSE FUNDS HAVE EARNED -- ADDED WOMEN PARTNERS. > > TO SOME EXTENT, THEY WERE CALLING THEM OUT EXAMPLES OF HERE ' S WHAT EXISTS IN THE ECOSYSTEM. A LOT OF THE LEGACY FIRMS ARE TRYING TO IMPROVE. THEY ' RE ARE HIRING MORE WOMEN, LAUNCHING PROGRAMS WHERE YOU OFTEN SEE MORE DIVERSITY COME FROM VERSUS LATER STAGE. THE ENTIRE INDUSTRY HAS A LONG WAY TO GO. IF ONLY THOSE THREE FIRMS WERE UNDERWAY ON -- UNDERWEIGHT ON DIVERSITY, IT WOULDN ' T BE SO BAD. EMILY: WHAT HAS TO BE DONE? THERE IS SOMETHING TO BE SAID FOR ACCEPTING THE STATUS QUO? > > WE HAVE GOTTEN SOME BAD ACTORS OUT OVER TIME, BUT THERE ' S A LOT OF NOT SO GREAT ACTORS THAT REMAIN. THE QUESTION IS HOW DO YOU MAKE IT CLEAR THAT YOU HAVE TO HAVE A DIVERSE INVESTMENT TEAM? IF YOU ARE A LIMITED PARTNER, YOU HAVE TO DEPLOY CAPITAL TO DIVERSE INVESTORS OR FUNDS THAT HAVE DIVERSE INVESTORS AND YOU HAVE TO BACK DIVERSE FOUNDERS. THOSE WERE THE THREE THINGS THAT HAVE TO HAPPEN. EMILY: THERE WAS A LOT OF CONCERN THAT WOMEN WOULD BACKSLIDE DURING THE PANDEMIC. WE SAW THAT WOMEN LEFT THE WORKFORCE TO TAKE CARE OF THEIR FAMILIES. ARE YOU CONCERNED THAT WILL HAPPEN AGAIN? > > IT ALWAYS HAPPENS. WE SEE IT TIME AND TIME AGAIN. THE FUNDS THAT STRUGGLE TO RAISE ARE GOING TO BE DISPROPORTIONATELY LED BY WOMEN AND PEOPLE OF COLOR. WHEN THOSE COMPANIES FAIL, IT WILL BE SEEN AS A MORAL FAILING RATHER THAN MARKET CONDITIONS. BLACK FOUNDERS HAD AN UPTICK IN FOUNDING IN 2021 FOLLOWING THE BLACK LIVES MATTER PROTESTS AND THAT IS GONE. MARKET CONDITIONS THE WHERE THEY ARE, IT ' S INCREDIBLY HARD TO ASSUME IT ' S GOING TO BE A GOOD YEAR TO BE A WOMAN OR PERSON OF COLOR IN THIS INDUSTRY. EMILY: WHAT ARE YOU SEEING BEHIND THE SCENES IN THE DOWNTURN? WHAT ' S HAPPENING WITH REVIT ROUNDS, VALUATIONS, LAYOFFS? > > THE GOAL OF LAYOFFS IS ALWAYS CUT DEEP ENOUGH THAT YOU DON ' T HAVE TO DO IT AGAIN. I THINK THERE ' S A MASSIVE AMOUNT OF HIRING SLOWDOWNS. MY OWN COMPANY HAS SEEN A LOT OF INSIDE ROUNDS. THEY AREN ' T THESE FLASHY HEADLINE GRABBING ROUNDS, BUT FOUNDERS ARE GOING TO THEIR EXISTING INVESTORS OR A FEW NEW ONES AND SAYING I ' M GOING TO BRING IN $10 MILLION MORE OR $20 MILLION MORE TO TIDE US OVER SO WE HAVE THREE YEARS OF RUNWAY INSTEAD OF 18 MONTHS. EMILY: ARE INVESTORS OPEN TO THAT? > > INVESTORS ARE DOING IT HANDS OVER FIST. YOU ARE NOW LOOKING AT COMPANIES WHERE THEY ARE RAISING AT MASSIVE DISCOUNTS TO WHERE YOU MIGHT ' VE THOUGHT THEY WOULD HAVE BEEN SIX MONTH AGO. IF YOU HAVE DRY POWDER WHICH VENTURE CAPITAL HAS BEEN RAISING HISTORIC AMOUNTS OF MONEY OVER THE LAST TWO YEARS, THERE ' S A LOT OF DRY POWDER AND PEOPLE ARE GOING TO DEPLOY IT TO GET SOME DEALS. EMILY: HOW ARE YOU EVOLVING YOUR STRATEGY? ARE YOU STILL BULLISH ON CRYPTO? > > I AM ALWAYS BULLISH ON CRYPTO. I WAS EARLY IN THE SPACE. IN CRYPTO, WHAT WE HAVE SEEN WHEN YOU LOOK AT THE HISTORICAL BITCOIN PRICE,, NOT THE NFT ' S, I DON ' T WANT TO OWN A PICTURE OF A DRAWING OF AN APE, BUT WHEN YOU LOOK AT BITCOIN WHAT YOU SEE IS HISTORICALLY CRYPTO WINTER HITS, THE PRICE GOES DOWN THEN IT STARTS TO GO BACK UP. IT BECOMES A GREAT TIME TO BUY WHEN THERE IS A DOWNTURN IF YOU ARE A TRUE BELIEVER. EMILY: CRYPTOCURRENCY HAS BEEN VERY MALE-DOMINATED. WHAT ARE YOU SAYING THERE? > > I THINK CRYPTO IS UNFORTUNATELY LIKE THE REST OF THE TECH INDUSTRY, MALE-DOMINATED LIKE FINANCE. THERE ARE CERTAINLY SOME BRIGHT SPOTS. THE INDUSTRY HAS TO FUNDAMENTALLY CHANGE AND IT ' S

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Closing the Gender Funding Gap

Cleo Capital Managing Director Sarah Kunst joins Emily Chang to discuss the VC landscape for women and minorities and what needs to happen to level the playing field, following a Congressional task force's hearing on tech's bro culture putting a spotlight on the barriers women and minority tech entrepreneurs face when trying to raise capital. (Source: Bloomberg)

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