1. Who is Gaby?
I am just a lucky Venezuelan woman, who came to the USA 25 years ago searching for a better future. When I look back …. Little I knew I was going to meet my husband, have two wonderful sons, and start and exit two successful tech companies, now I’m following my passion: investing and mentoring female entrepreneurs.
2. What is The Fund XX?
The Fund XX is an early-stage VC fund, investing in the next generation of women founders
3. Why do this? Why now?
- I believe Entrepreneurs are the lifeblood of economic growth, however we have a representation problem in the entrepreneurial ecosystem. On one side, less than 3% of VC funding goes to women founders, and at the early stages women get $250K less funding than males. And on the other side, only 12% of decision makers in VC are women -- so they there is a big gap that needs to be closed
- Why now? Data shows diverse teams are more effective and profitable, and as a society we are better when we are equally represented. Therefore by not investing in women and minorities we are leaving on the table billions of dollars in opportunities
4. What is the size and scale of your operations? Impact, revenue, growth.
We are a small fund and write checks between $50K and $100K. We plan to make around 40 investments over the next 18 to 24 months. I’m proud to say that in our Fund, 90 % of our LPs/Investors are female, some of them, first time investors. Which is something unheard off in the vc world
5. What is the biggest challenge you are facing as a business?
Our biggest challenge is keep up with the volume of deal flow and making sure we are following up and doing thorough diligence
6. What is the most exciting opportunity you are targeting?
I’m amazed by the quality of the inventions and innovations we see every day. I’m incredibly excited about Future of Work, Health IT, Elder Tech, Fem Tech, the Passion Economy, DeFi, DAO and blockchain, Crypto and of course the metaverse
7. One lesson learnt - a failure that turned out to be a great lesson/teacher.
If you are starting a business, do yourself a favor, and work with your lawyers to understand the agreements you are getting into and protect your interests. In my first business we trusted too much, and undermined the importance of good and clear agreements and ended up in a legal battle
8. One success story - accomplishment you are really proud of.
Winning the Ernst & Young Entrepreneur of The Year a few years ago. It is like winning the Oscars for entrepreneurs. Incredible experience and opened many doors and opportunities for me and my business.
9. 5 one line lessons that have come to define you.
- I don’t have many talents, I’m just passionately curious
- Plans are worthless, planning is everything
- We are what we repeatedly do. Excellence, then, is not an act, but a habit
- People will forget what you said or did, but they will never forget how you made them feel
- Between stimulus and response there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom
- The harder you work, the luckier you get.
