Female Venture Capital Director: The Endurance of a “Long-Distance Horse” and the Challenge of the Stereotype “Men Are Afraid to Get to Know and Fall in Love with Someone Like Me”

Sharing from Hoang Thi Kim Dung - Regional Director, Genesia Ventures Vietnam Today, I started everything in the same mindset as any other normal day. Suddenly, a message from a friend reminded me that March 8 - International Women's Day is coming. So, I have not paid much attention to such days for a long time. For me, every day is my day if I live with a clear ideal and specific actions. But when that friend asked me what I think about the career of a female VC (venture capitalist), I would like to share my experiences in my 4-year journey of investing in startups.

VCs invest in startups with great growth potential. Their success does not lie in “top-line metrics” such as number of deals, titles; but rather in “bottom-line metrics” such as whether the startups they invest in are truly successful and generate financial returns for their funds. Therefore, to achieve success in the VC profession, certain principles and qualities are required. Personally, I believe that they are:

• VC is trustworthy, energetic, passionate, enthusiastic, honest, and integrity.

• VC is the “supporter”, founder is the “driver”.

• VCs are excellent listeners and empaths. They ask important questions of founders, helping them see the problem and the big picture. They are not quick to judge and give their own opinions.

• VCs are independent thinkers and have a high learning ability, which allows them to quickly understand the business strategies of the startups they invest in. They can effectively discuss with founders when necessary.

• VCs need patience, because they understand that there is no “shortcut” to sustainable success. After investing in a startup, it takes a decade of support and valuable contributions until it reaches success.

I realized that one of the formulas for success in the VC profession is “endurance” in accompanying and supporting startups. The long run reveals the good horse. Our fund manager, Mr. Takahiro Suzuki, shared statistics about VCs in Indonesia, where he spent 10 years building his investment career: “There are not many men who work at a fund for more than 3 years, most of them are women”. Takahiro said that women are more patient and loyal. They accompany the startups they invest in for a long time and hope to see the results one day. Men may always be confident and shine on all fronts, but that is also why they are easily victims of the “shiny object syndrome”. This makes them easily attracted to new job opportunities that seem better than their current job. As a result, men tend to change jobs or positions more than women.

I believe that women’s advantages give them more opportunities to advance in the VC profession. But the place they join also needs to satisfy the basics:

• Clear and fair reward and promotion structure for each VC, whether male or female, based on their actual investment achievements.

• Facilitate each VC to access investment opportunities and resources from the fund to support startups after investment in a fair manner.

• Directors, the top decision makers at the fund, have vision, leadership and empowerment capabilities. They support the career development aspirations of female VCs.

During my 4 years as a VC, I really threw myself into it, which made me deeply understand and worry about the challenges and disadvantages of women in this profession. First, social prejudice. My mother is a traditional, hard-working woman who loves her husband and children. In the early days of my VC career, my mother regularly read my articles to better understand her daughter's career. In 2020, my mother received the I-Star award on my behalf, recognizing my articles on the startup field that had positive spreading value. But after more than 4 years of working and still single, my mother changed from being supportive to being against. She would be the one to object if she knew I accepted any invitations to be interviewed on television or in the press. Instead, if I participated in a program like "Do you want to date?", she would be more interested. She doesn't like me to spend a lot of time working, in meetings or sitting writing. She wants me to get up and go out to find a lover. She doesn't want me to shine at work. I understand that there is a big social prejudice that weighs on my daughter. Men will be hesitant to approach and try to fall in love with someone like me - someone who always shows an image of hard work and perseverance in work. Someone who always turns her personal Facebook into a "second Linkedin page", full of work and work. Ironically, if the COO of TechinAsia recently shared her concerns about the lack of female VCs in the region as managers or higher; I believe that in Vietnam, we are facing a bigger problem, which is that very few female VCs "can" get married and still shine in their work according to their potential. Because of social prejudices, women working in VC are silently suffering from the struggle of "choosing one of the two" - career or family.

Next, the barriers to entry for female VCs are in activities that are predominantly male-dominated, such as eating and sports . In fact, these activities are places where women access information that can give them an advantage in their investing activities. As a woman in general, have you ever felt awkward sitting around eating and drinking with men? Or have you ever wondered how you can run on the soccer field with men? In the business world, valuable information or trading opportunities are still mostly on the dining table or soccer field, places that are most difficult for women to access. This creates inequality in the opportunities for women to access information compared to men in investing activities.

I believe there are two approaches, harder and easier, to break down these barriers for women. First, diversification. We need to increase the number of female founders who are supported and participate in the startup ecosystem in Vietnam. Three years ago, I wrote about the barriers that need to be broken down and the necessary luggage on the startup journey of Vietnamese women. The timeliness of the article is still there today, when female founders still face many prejudices and barriers, even much greater than us female VCs. We need time and space for stronger intervention and support from society, the community and family to help female founders confidently embark on, as well as break through on their startup journey.

Second, female VCs need the support and participation of their teammates, especially their male teammates at the investment fund. I have such a teammate accompanying me in every dinner meeting with partners and founders. I feel like I have a psychologically safe “support”, which helps me feel more comfortable talking to founders, in a context where time and space are guaranteed. Recently, our fund director Takahiro Suzuki and his family visited Vietnam from Indonesia. During an intimate dinner with his family, I witnessed the moment of a thoughtful, thoughtful husband, a caring father with his two children. That is a very different Takahiro from the image I know, a serious director in every investment meeting of the fund. Every day, Takahiro always sets aside an inviolable hour in the early morning to take his children to school. That evening, we discussed a lot about career and family. I also frankly shared with Takahiro about my desire to have both of these important things in life, just like him. What makes me very happy is that he understands and supports me enthusiastically. I have received the support and companionship of such "male gods" comrades. To be able to run a long-term career in VC, as a woman, I always believe that I need to build a system of supporters around me.

Advantages and disadvantages always exist as two sides of the same coin. The most important thing is that we need to know what we really want. When faced with the question of choosing between career and family, I often ask myself, why not choose both if possible? Of course, it is not easy to have both for women in general. Personally, I always remind myself to be patient, work hard to prepare to build the necessary support system, foundation, and hone my performance management skills, energy and time to be able to get closer to the state of having both.

According to Market Pulse