We travel today to the West Coast of the United States where it's becoming increasingly clear that Enterprise Tech is dominating venture capital — where every company is becoming a software company. From retailers to established financial institutions and even health providers, the underlying technology has enabled everything from payments to CRM, information management, and so, much more.
But how did we arrive at this inflection point and what next?
Cathy Gao, Partner at Sapphire Ventures, a leading venture capital firm with more than $6.8B in AUM across the Sapphire group weighs in. For nearly two decades, Sapphire has been investing capital, resources and expertise in innovative startups and technology-focused venture funds around the world.
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Billion Dollar Moves is THE show for the top US-Asia funders, founders and execs.
From building a unicorn to IPO, and scaling a VC firm - all of these efforts require vision from the leaders at the helm.
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👊🏻 5 THINGS YOU'LL LEARN:
- How to actually manage diversity & not fall into the culture 'fit' trap
- Why conviction is core to succeeding as a new partner
- The tale of two cities in healthcare
- What makes a billion dollar founder?
- Ethics in investing - where do you draw the line?
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⏳ TIMESTAMPS
00:00 - Intro, what's on tap for this week
03:18 - Cathy's career moves - from early rebellion against her parents to "I didn't think that option was available to me" to becoming partner at a $6BN AUM firm
15:00 - Lessons from working in Gusto - and how that's impacted Cathy's view as an investor
16:59 - Gusto's Watermelon process & managing diversity
23:12 - Independent views in the world of venture?
26:29 - The tale of two cities in healthcare
31:00 - Patterns of success - picking that billion dollar founder
46:09 - Billion Dollar Questions!
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More on Cathy:
Cathy Gao is Partner at Sapphire Ventures.
(https://sapphireventures.com/)
As a daughter of a software engineer and a small business owner, Cathy has been steeped in technology and entrepreneurship from an early age and today Cathy focuses on B2B SaaS, digital healthcare, and data businesses.
Cathy led the firm’s investment in and sits on the board of SafeGraph, and is a board observer at Medable, UJET, and Splashtop. Prior to Sapphire, Cathy was an investor at AXA Venture Partners where she invested in Series B and C enterprise software businesses. Cathy also spent time at Gusto shortly after their Series B and watched the company scale from less than 200 employees to over 400, rebrand and launch two new products. Cathy graduated summa cum laude from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania with a B.S. in economics and a minor in history.
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