Women leave venture capital firms and create a new class of budding investors – TechCrunch

Women in VC have Caught bugs in entrepreneurship.

Over the past year, several prominent female investors have left their roles in established companies to launch their own money. From Katie Hawn who exited Andreessen Horowitz to Sidney Thomas who left Prexor Ventures to Sarah Guo who recently moved from Greylock, we’re in the midst of a wave of new budding female directors.

There’s no definitive reason why so many women chose this path this year, but there are a slew of potential triggers.

“It’s very personal,” Gu told TechCrunch about her decision to leave Greylock to start her own business. “Why would any founder start anything? They see a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and go do it.”

As for Guo, after nearly a decade at Greylock focusing on institutions, she said she saw an opportunity brewing that was potentially a goldmine. Guo said she believes the market is at the beginning of a new technical cycle. After years of entrepreneurs building infrastructure technology, she believes a new batch of companies will emerge via machine learning, artificial intelligence, and data.

“If I’m right, and this new wave of companies is on the cusp, doing early-stage investment now in a bear market sweeping imaginaries are very good conditions,” Guo said.

Sydney Thomas told Natasha Mascarenhas last week that she was leaving Prof. to take advantage of an opportunity she also couldn’t ignore. In her case, she’s investing in pre-formation companies before initially doubling down, a funding void she’s noticed throughout her time at Precursor.

Thomas and Joe weren’t the first woman to find and pursue a niche in the project. For Julie Wroblewski, the opportunity to focus was hard to ignore. In 2019, I noticed a growing number of strong early-stage companies trying to solve problems in the care economy. While she was able to invest in some in her role at Pivotal Ventures, she realized it was a big enough opportunity to put together an entire thesis. So she found a partner, Joanna Drake, and launched Magnify Ventures in 2020.

The expansion also gave women the opportunity to break free from the mold of traditional projects and build companies with a different governance or structure.