New Village Capital CEO Shares Her Insights And Vision
Village Capital was founded to invest in social entrepreneurs using a novel, peer-selected methodology. A decade later, under new leadership, it remains committed to those principles.
Allie Burns recently succeeded Ross Baird (who left to start Blueprint Local) as the CEO of Village Capital. She joined Village Capital nearly three years ago after leaving the Case Foundation, working closely with Jean Case on communications surrounding impact investing initiatives.
Allie joined me to talk about three key ideas. First, she noted that investors need to look beyond equity as the primary structure for startup finance. Second, she noted the success of the peer-selection model at Village Capital. Finally, she noted that the peer-selection model not only yields good investments it eliminates gender bias.
Be sure to tune in to the full interview in the players above.
Interview with Allie Burns, the CEO of Village Capital.
The following is the pre-interview with Allie Burns. Be sure to watch the recorded interview above.
Expert Tips:
Tip #1: Investors Need to “Look Beyond Equity”
Many impact investors support entrepreneurs with equity investments by default because that’s how it’s always been done. Over-reliance on equity can be a mistake. A lot of businesses working in sectors like healthcare, education, financial health, and sustainable food – sectors that have the potential to positively impact livelihoods – don’t have a typical software-as-a-service business model with a clear path to exit in five to seven years. Many are working in highly regulated and complex sectors, and high growth may take 10 years of market-building, a time period that far exceeds the patience of an investor operating a 10-year fund.
Tip #2: Peer Selection Works As A Framework To Evaluate Future Commercial Success
Using peer selection, peer groups of entrepreneurs are able to discern the potential commercial performance of early-stage ventures accurately – and quickly. When looking at the performance of alumni in both the first and second years following a sector-specific program, the final peer-selected rank accurately reflected the subsequent ability of ventures to raise capital and, to a lesser extent, generate revenue. In short, the higher- ranked ventures were able to raise more capital than lower-ranked ventures. Equally notable, entrepreneurs were able to identify potential factors for success relatively quickly – in as short a period as four days.
Tip #3: Peer Selection Mitigates Gender Bias
Despite the fact that women face significant bias in the venture capital process, outcomes appear to suggest that peer selection is less exclusionary. What we found suggested that during the peer-selected investment process, female-founded or co-founded ventures see representation in the ranking process in line with their commercial performance. In other words, the gender bias that commonly occurs within traditional venture capital is mitigated during the peer review process – rather than women getting “crowded out” they are evaluated by their peers based on the merits of their company.
Learn more: https://vilcap.com/peer/ or https://vilcap.com/capitalevolving/
More about Village Capital:
Twitter: @villagecapital
Facebook: facebook.com/villagecapital/
Linkedin: linkedin.com/company/village-capital/
Website: www.vilcap.com
Village Capital is a global firm that helps entrepreneurs bring big ideas from vision to scale. We are reinventing the system to back the entrepreneurs of the future; a future where business creates equity and long- term prosperity. Since 2009, we have supported more than 1000 early-stage entrepreneurs through our investment readiness programs. Our affiliated fund, VilCap Investments, has provided seed funding to more than 100 program graduates.
Allie Burns. Photo Credit: Village Capital
Allie Burns’s bio:
Twitter: @AllieB
Allie serves as the CEO of Village Capital, bringing more than 16 years of experience working with entrepreneurs and innovators at the intersection of tech and social change. She previously served as a senior executive at Revolution and the Case Foundation, the venture capital firm and private family foundation created by former AOL executives Jean and Steve Case, where she led the organization’s communications and marketing teams. She also held positions at Discovery, AOL and Atlas Venture among others. Allie is a graduate of Boston University and holds an MBA from Thunderbird School of Global Management.
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