Platform Manager at Venture Capital Firm CV Talks About Women Raising Funds for Their Startups 

Lindsay Knight is a young woman working in an admittedly male-dominated universe. The Ohio native moved to Chicago almost a decade ago and worked in marketing communications — primarily in the financial services space — before landing at venture capital firm Chicago Ventures (CV). CV typically makes initial investments between $500k – $1mm per company, and currently has more than forty companies in its portfolio.

Knight was the first staff member (aka non-investor) hired, and joined the group with no job description after a chance introduction to founder Kevin Willer, who then snapped her up as the Marketing Associate in February 2014. Since that time, her role has expanded to that of platform manager, which involves  working directly with portfolio companies on marketing, PR, events and recruiting.

Lindsay, who has a palpable enthusiasm regarding the start-up world in Chicago, values the opportunity to establish real and lasting relationships with the entrepreneurs in whom CV invests – or may potentially invest.  As she notes happily: “Part of my job is to meet every cool entrepreneur in town.  I really can’t complain!”

How is CV Different?

According to Knight, what sets CV apart is that Partners Stuart Larkins (on the founding management team of Performics ) and Kevin Willer (who co-founded the Google Chicago office) are very hands-on with their portfolio companies: they want to support these entrepreneurs with traditional marketing, networking, training, and recruiting. In addition, CV invests only in early-stage, tech-enabled businesses, and has no plans to move toward hardware or biotech fields.

Here is a run-down of crucial Q&A’s about CV:

How Many of CV-funded Companies are Founded – or Run — by a Woman?

Currently 5% of the portfolio is made up by women-led business. While that may seem small, it is actually nearly double the national average of 2.7%, according to Fast Company.

Those two companies in CV’s portfolio are:

• Luxury Garage Sale  — Founded and run by Brielle Buchberg and Lindsay Segal.  The company sells new and gently-used designer and vintage clothing and accessories.  They took an investment to help build out their ecommerce platform and team.
• Retrofit  – Led by CEO Mary Pigatti who replaced the original founder in November 2014, they are a full services health/wellness/fitness/diet plan sold to companies to offer to their employees as a part of their overall benefits package.
  

Why do you think there are not more female founders/entrepreneurs in Chicago’s tech scene?

Knight sees the issue, as so many other do, as a pipeline problem: “We see well over 1,000 companies a year looking for funding for their businesses, and the majority of them are run by men.”

What would you recommend to women if they want to pitch CV for funding?

As she is on the front line of those 1,000 requests by companies, Knight has some advice for women who want to get their businesses funded:

• Have a Product, not an Idea: Venture funds in Chicago are hesitant to invest in an idea; they want to find a product that is already on the market — so make sure you’ve got some good performance metrics before you go to the pitch meeting.
• Know the Terminology: Learn the ins/outs of fundraising, including fundraising terms to make sure that you can answer tough questions. Also, know the metrics around users, number of acquisitions, the marketing strategy and sales performance.  (Take a look at a Business Dictionary and other resources on the web for a better understanding of business terms)
• Pitch Deck: While you may not need a full business plan, do have a pitch deck that shows how your business ideas are fully-baked, that you have real data and performance points, which will allow you to demonstrate market validation around your product/service.
• Practice your Pitch: Talk about your business as much as possible. Learn how to perfect your elevator pitch (another good term); ask listeners to be harsh in their critiques; and critique the business itself, objectively, so you can learn how to manage difficult questions.
• Understand the Investors: Make a target list of investors who invest in similar companies and verticals, and with whom you would want to partner.  Look especially for an investor who knows your industry, and can therefore help with both investment and strategic direction (important).
• Get a Warm Introduction: If you can, get a warm introduction to a company like CV or another fund or investors. (If you are unsure what that means, take a look at Inc.com’s take on the concept.) This means networking, meeting the key players in your local space, and knowing who can open doors for you.