< Previous10 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE I thought long and hard about how we could harness all of our talents, experiences, industry expertise and transferable skills and package them into an investment structure that worked for us to invest in what we are passionate about. – GILLIAN FRANCIS GILLIAN FRANCIS AND ANGELA ZENON Q: WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO PE? GILLIAN FRANCIS: I come from a Caribbean background, where parents work hard to send their children to college to become doctors or lawyers. That's it. So, I chose law until I worked at a commodities futures and options brokerage firm during the year I took off after college to study for the LSAT. Once I was introduced to the finance and capital markets world, I was pretty much hooked. At first, I liked the transactional and fast-paced nature of the public markets. However, I eventually realized I was more of a problem-solver, strategic thinker and builder. PE was attractive because it has the right combination of technical and people skills that suits my personality. Also, when PE is applied to companies, especially those in the lower middle market, it can have a significant effect not only on the growth of those companies and the local economies, but also on the lives of the owners and employees and can create multigenerational wealth for them and their families. Being a part of that impact on local economies and people's lives, especially those from underrepresented groups, is what gives meaning and passion to my life's work. ANGELA ZENON: I grew up in a small town in North Louisiana. During my junior and senior years of high school, I worked at the local bank in customer service. It was a really big deal to get that job. I never forgot how accomplished I felt being involved in transactions and helping people. Fast forward to college. I had an aptitude for math and landed a job as a software engineer after graduation. In this position, I worked closely with the sales and finance teams. I became intrigued with finance at that time because I wanted to understand the economics of the deals for myself. I was also deeply involved in serving my community. I decided to go to business school with the intention of working in finance in a role that would allow me to direct capital in a way that had some long-term positive impact on the community. My first job out of business school ended up being part of a fund of funds PE team investing in socially responsible PE funds, real estate funds and affordable housing tax credit funds. Q: WHY DID YOU CHOOSE TO LAUNCH YOUR OWN FIRM? WHAT WAS THE EXPERIENCE LIKE? AZ: My first experience with private equity was transformative for me and planted the seed for me to launch my own firm one day. Honestly, I wanted the freedom to do what I enjoy, which is directing capital to lower middle market companies in underinvested communities in a way that aligned with my values and role as a mother and wife. Fortunately, I had developed great relationships throughout my career, and while on this path of starting my own PE firm, Gillian and I connected and somewhat simultaneously decided that, along with our partner, Patrick, we should embark on this journey together. Thus, 3antas Capital was formed.11 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE GILLIAN FRANCIS AND ANGELA ZENON The partnership is compelling and exciting because of each of our unique business backgrounds, grounded in concrete experience in a variety of industries, academic training in finance and real estate and an unusually broad perspective on how the economic structure around communities results in thriving businesses. The experience is what I would describe as that rare opportunity to work the way you choose, doing work you love with like- minded, really smart people. GF: The opportunity to start 3antas Capital with my business partners Angela and Patrick was too good to pass up. I have known them separately for over 10 years. We all have a passion for applying our varied and complementary institutional investing, consulting and operational backgrounds to the challenges of financing and investing in lower middle market companies in underinvested communities. We also all live by the mantra of "To whom much is given, much is expected." Before we launched 3antas Capital, Angela, Patrick and I thought long and hard about how we could harness all of our talents, experiences, industry expertise and transferable skills and package them into an investment structure that worked for us to invest in what we are passionate about. With the independent sponsor model, we are doing just that. We can be opportunistic, and with the right capital partner, offer the best deal structure for the future organic and inorganic growth of our investment companies. Whether it be growth equity or leveraged buyout in manufacturing, service or distribution, we are agnostic, as long as we are positioning the company and our team for success and generating alpha and significant returns for our investors. So far it is going extremely well, and we are having fun and learning a lot along the way. Q: IN AN INDUSTRY WHERE WOMEN LEADERS ARE STILL A RARITY, WHAT DO YOU SEE AS THE VALUE OF TWO WOMEN OF YOUR STATURE WORKING TOGETHER AT THE SAME PE FIRM? GF: Angela and I actually add another layer or two to that rarity because we are black women. Research shows that "4 million new jobs and $981 billion in revenue could be added to the U.S. economy if the average revenue of women of color-owned businesses match those of white women-owned businesses." A significant reason for this inequity is that capital and other economic resources are not equally accessible to everyone even if they have a successful business. 3antas Capital is looking to be that equalizer, using the mere-exposure effect — the psychological phenomenon where people tend to develop a preference for things merely because they are familiar with them — to our advantage so we can create strategies for more diversity, equity and inclusion in our sourcing and investment processes. Women, especially black women, are the fastest- growing demographic of entrepreneurs and business owners building successful businesses that are solving relevant problems in a changing and more diverse world. One of 3antas Capital's strategies is to partner with many of these successful businesses to create value and grow them organically or through strategic add-ons. Q: WHY DO YOU ACTIVELY SUPPORT PROVIDING CAPITAL TO WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS? AZ: I quote the Morgan Stanley report, "The Growing Market Investors Are Missing: The trillion- dollar case for investing in female and multicultural entrepreneurs," which states: "Women and people of color have long faced barriers starting their own businesses and raising capital to fund them. Some barriers have been structural, others cultural, but all have been costly — often in ways we'll never be able to quantify. We can only imagine what businesses might have taken off, what products consumers might have enjoyed and what innovations and returns might have been realized had women and people of color enjoyed equal access to capital and opportunity." This report provided evidence of what I had long known was true: There is a glaring imbalance in the capital and support women and entrepreneurs of color receive. Research shows the median investment by equity investors in business opportunities is nearly $1 million. Yet, for women and minority-owned businesses, median investments are only $213,000 and $185,000, respectively. Despite these nominal figures, a majority of investors interviewed said females and entrepreneurs of color receive the right amount or more of capital than their business models deserve, but still investors underinvest in this population.12 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE 3antas Capital will be a catalyst to address this inequity by being unapologetic about raising the issue and demonstrating through our investments that the female and minority entrepreneurs are equally as deserving of capital and the advisory services to increase profitability and scale if they choose. – ANGELA ZENON GILLIAN FRANCIS AND ANGELA ZENON 3antas Capital will be a catalyst to address this inequity by being unapologetic about raising the issue and demonstrating through our investments that the female and minority entrepreneurs generating $2.4 trillion in revenue, according to the U.S. Census Bureau's 2012 Survey of Business owners, are equally as deserving of capital and the advisory services to increase profitability and scale if they choose. Q: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR MORE WOMEN TO PURSUE ENTREPRENEURSHIP? AZ: Quite frankly, it is vital that more women pursue entrepreneurship because there are simply fewer women entrepreneurs than men and there is only upside to balancing this equation. Women are natural nurturers and caregivers, which extends beyond their households. Studies are showing that when women gain access to their own financial freedom, they are lifted out of poverty, children begin to become healthier and overall economic growth occurs. Women invest a larger percentage of their earnings back into the local economy because they are spending not only on themselves but also on their children and families. Q: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU PROVIDE TO A WOMAN-LED COMPANY INTERESTED IN SECURING PE? GF: Besides contacting us at 3antas Capital? Be true to yourself and your company. In the past, women-led companies were forced to make compromises on strategies for their companies because they were trying to appease certain investors who did not really understand their vision. I can appreciate the time and effort it takes to get that "yes" from an investor. But a yes without the offer of support, value creation and alignment of vision for the future of the company can do more harm than good. Choosing the best investors is more than following the money. Women-led companies need investors with the right perspectives and capabilities to help their companies scale.13 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE Pooja Goel is a managing director at Virgo Investment Group. She is a seasoned healthcare executive with over two decades of experience in the healthcare services delivery sector. Goel was recently at Landmark Health, the nation's largest house calls provider, as its general manager of new business. She also spent more than 10 years at DaVita leading many innovative projects and holding several key operational roles in kidney care, international health and population health. Prior to joining DaVita, Goel held many operations roles at multiple academic medical centers and began her career at Kaiser Permanente. She received her bachelor's in microbiology and molecular genetics from the University of California, Los Angeles, and an MHA from the Loma Linda University School of Public Health. pgoel@virgo-llc.com POOJA GOEL14 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE POOJA GOEL Q: WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO PE? POOJA GOEL: The honest answer is PE found me. I had completed a lot of deals in my operations roles and was familiar with diligence and integration but never thought about becoming an investor myself. I was introduced to Virgo's founder and chief investment officer, Jesse Watson, through a mutual connection and he insisted I would be great at it. I wasn't convinced at first but having an operator mindset while evaluating deals has helped differentiate me to founders and management teams. It also helps me further illustrate why Virgo is different. We believe the transaction is more than an exchange of capital. We really believe in being partners and creating value together. Q: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR MORE WOMEN TO PURSUE CAREERS IN PE? PG: I have worked with a lot of great women executives in my career and believe wholeheartedly we have so much to offer in terms of diversity of thought and leadership. We know women are underrepresented in healthcare leadership positions already and this extends to PE and board members as well. Simply put, diversity is better for business. You won't get great outcomes by having the same perspective replicated on your management team or board. You need more representation of different backgrounds to connect to portfolio companies and their teams. I also think we can recruit women from nontraditional backgrounds like myself. We need to have different perspectives on a PE team to make good decisions. The way PE has hired traditionally needs to change. Q: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU PROVIDE TO A WOMAN-LED COMPANY INTERESTED IN SECURING PE? PG: Go out and network, have as many conversations as possible and do not be afraid to be turned down. Looking for that perfect fit between investor and entrepreneur is a big part of our business. I am constantly sourcing and looking for that next investment, like most PE professionals. If you have a good idea, reach out. If it doesn't resonate, ask why. Q: CAN YOU SHARE A PERSONAL STORY THAT YOU FEEL EXEMPLIFIES THE VALUE OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP? PG: I was introduced to my operating partner, Ulya Khan, through a mutual opportunity. We connected on such a great level and kept in touch even though the reason we were brought together was no longer an option. We vowed we would find a way to partner. Fast forward two years, and she now serves on two boards with me, has joined our team as an amazing operating partner and continues to advise and source on deals in the healthcare space. She has also brought me in to great organizations, such as WBL and Golden Seeds. I believe that women entrepreneurs can and should be supportive of one another. Q: WHY DO YOU ACTIVELY SUPPORT PROVIDING CAPITAL TO WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS? PG: It's a goal of mine to do so. If I cannot locate enough female founders — this is something I am actively working on — then I want to make sure their board and team reflect women as strongly as men. Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS? WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU PROVIDE TO OVERCOME IT? PG: Confidence and conviction. You don't need all the points on the scoreboard to prove your capabilities. Conviction in your ability to get it done is often more than enough.15 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE Jennifer Ding is a principal with Welsh, Carson, Anderson and Stowe (WCAS), a PE firm focused on investing in technology and healthcare. Prior to joining WCAS, Ding worked at Permira and JMI Equity, where she led buyout and growth equity investments in technology, with a focus on enterprise software. Earlier in her career, she worked at McKinsey & Co. and Lytx, a software company in the telematics and fleet management space. jding@wcas.com JENNIFER DING16 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE The much more exciting aspect of tech is applying the technical sciences and innovations to everyday life. It's a space where I think there is a significant opportunity for women to pursue their ideas. JENNIFER DING Q: WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU PROVIDE TO A WOMAN-LED COMPANY INTERESTED IN SECURING PE? JENNIFER DING: Take three key steps. First, start getting to know different investors early on and learn about their investment strategy and culture because it really is different from firm to firm. Second, really focus on spending quality time on the few firms that you find interesting and align with your strategy, rather than speaking with a bunch of people at the same time and taking time and resources away from focusing on your business. Third, as you get closer to picking investment partners, obtain a significant number of references. Having been on both the sell and buy sides, I've seen a shockingly wide range of how much diligence people actually perform on the personalities involved, the various characteristics and politics of firms, and how these may apply to their portfolio companies and management teams. I think these are really big areas for diligence, other than just capital provision or a firm's brand. Q: WHAT DO YOU THINK IS THE BIGGEST CHALLENGE FACING WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS? WHAT ADVICE WOULD YOU PROVIDE TO OVERCOME IT? JD: The biggest challenge for women entrepreneurs is the biggest challenge for women investors and the biggest challenge for women in the corporate world in general. It is going into a room and finding that, oftentimes, your starting point in terms of level of respect, trust and how much your words will be heard is going to be lower than that of the men in the room. In the competitive business world, whether it is securing funding or starting your business and building customer relationships and partnerships, women often have that initial disadvantage they need to overcome. You can overcome it with your knowledge and experience over time, but I think there are significant, inherent bias disadvantages because we operate in a people business and we live in a society that is inherently biased in many ways because of our evolutionary and cultural heritage.17 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE JENNIFER DING Q: WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO PE? JD: Being able to constantly learn about different companies, industries and the latest advances in technology. I don't think there are a lot of jobs that allow you to never have monotony. Meeting interesting people, learning about products or services I have never heard of, and constantly feeding my intellectual curiosity are probably why I started in PE. I began in a sector I had no background in, which was software. I still love it and I am still learning more every day. Q: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR MORE WOMEN TO PURSUE ENTREPRENEURSHIP? JD: Women represent probably half of the economy in terms of consumer spend as well as production in a lot of industries. There are great ideas out there that men may not think of because of their experiences. I also think more diverse teams are generally more productive. In business, it is still, unfortunately, a male-dominated environment. More women in the room means wider range of perspectives. In addition, teams with women leaders tend to attract other women, which often leads to overall increased level of creativity and productivity. Q: WHY DO YOU ACTIVELY SUPPORT PROVIDING CAPITAL TO WOMEN ENTREPRENEURS? JD: I started my investing career in software about 10 years ago. The technology industry, especially software, is really lacking in women entrepreneurs. There are, of course, companies that have women in leadership positions, but generally they did not start the companies and often they are not in the C-suite. I do think this industry would gain a lot of value from more diversity of ideas at the top. In tech, I see a lot of companies led by similar groups of people that fall into the same traps with their organizational leadership going through execution challenges. Some of that is probably because the people in the room coming up with strategy and making decisions around processes are too similar to each other and therefore are limited in the variety of thought. If there were more diversity at the top, perhaps some companies would come to different and better decisions than what's been done in the past by other companies led by similar groups, especially in earlier stages of their lives. In technology, the boards are also fairly male-dominated. In these situations, sometimes you have both sides of the equation with “same think,” which is always a little dangerous. Tech is not just coding and engineering. The much more exciting aspect of tech is applying the technical sciences and innovations to everyday life. It's a space where I think there is a significant opportunity for women to pursue their ideas.18 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE Yichen Feng is a principal at Lumos Capital . She is a proud daughter of creative, bold and rebellious first-generation immigrants and a graduate of multicultural and working-class schools within the Los Angeles Unified School District. Her work in the human development sector has moved between the public and private sectors, and most recently includes founding a primary school in Hayward, California. Prior to Lumos, Yichen led Asia expansion for Nova Credit and was a technology investment banker at Goldman Sachs. She has advised early-stage education technology entrepreneurs at Village Capital, created television shows at Amazon Studios and started her career at Cisco's in-house venture capital arm focused on emerging markets. Yichen is a business council board member of the National Head Start Network and an RSF Social Finance Integrated Capital fellow. She received an MBA from the Darden School of Business at the University of Virginia and a bachelor's from Harvard University. yichen@lumoscapitalgroup.com YICHEN FENG19 WOMEN IN PRIVATE EQUITY + FINANCE YICHEN FENG Q: WHAT ATTRACTED YOU TO PE? YICHEN FENG: If you told 21-year-old me that I would be an investment professional at a PE firm, I would have looked at you and asked, "What is PE?" My first job out of college was in emerging markets venture capital at a corporate venture fund for Cisco Systems, but I didn't see it as the beginning of a career in PE. In fact, venture capitalism as a career was not on my radar at all. At the time, I was very interested in pursuing a career in international development and curious to understand how emerging economies were growing at a macro level. The role at Cisco allowed me to understand that from looking at how the private sector — specifically technology — was evolving in countries like Brazil, Russia, India, China and Mexico. I have always used my social science training from college to see the world. The work analyzing all aspects of the economy with a focus on a particular sector gave me the opportunity to find a passion for technology as a sector and refine my skills around using capital as a tool to engage with the world. I stayed in the investment space because I still have so much to learn, and learning is such a central part of the job that it doesn't ever stop. There are new use cases, emerging technologies and demographic shifts happening at all corners that constantly stress-test your hypothesis about how the future will look. It's a never-ending course in the most unpredictable subject, which is the future. Recently, I started to shift my attention to the concept of integrated capital, which is defined as the coordinated use of diverse forms of financial and social capital to support enterprises and strategies that address complex social and environmental problems. In other words, it’s using capital as a tool for social change. Q: WHY IS IT IMPORTANT FOR MORE WOMEN TO PURSUE CAREERS IN PE? YF: We need more models of success. Over the course of my career, I have had great mentors and also struggled to find people I looked up to at various times. One of my mentors when I worked in investment banking told me to "see my path," meaning visualize what it would take to move up but also how it would fit into my unique journey. It helped tremendously that my firm at the time put a premium on retaining high-performing women, so I had role models who came from all walks of life and had different priorities while having achieved similar career success. I make this career work for all of my quirks and oddities because I know one day I'll meet an anthropology major who never thought about entering the world of finance but may reconsider after our conversation. Q: CAN YOU SHARE A PERSONAL STORY THAT YOU FEEL EXEMPLIFIES THE VALUE OF WOMEN ENTREPRENEURSHIP? YF: I find it rather amusing that there is an orientation to justify and/or elevate why it's important to have more women engage in finance/ entrepreneurship and the value of women's participation, when in reality we have been doing this for centuries, especially in the Global South. One great example is Nari Chetana Kendra/Women Awareness Center Nepal (WACN), which I learned about last year through my dear friend who runs the fund of one of their partners, Thousand Currents. Over a decade ago, WACN — which represents 42 cooperatives and more than 45,000 women — got to a certain scale where it made sense to start thinking about starting its own bank. WACN realized that the traditional banking model offered in the market had minimum balance requirements. This left out the poorest members of society. WACN largely works in these communities and, therefore, decided to design a model of banking that would work for its constituents, refusing to accept the "standard" banking model. WACN's design was so successful that women in these locations started to leave the standard banks to join the cooperatives to benefit from the lending rates that were much fairer and highly competitive. In turn, traditional banks dropped their lending rates. This is very personal to me because we invest for financial and social returns. I think often about how these models translate into actionable insights for our stage and thesis. Q: WHAT IS THE BEST PIECE OF ADVICE YOU HAVE RECEIVED? YF: I quite enjoy fishing. One of my favorite fishing adages is, "The best fisherman is the one who has the most fun." There are many ways to measure success. For me, whether I'm enjoying the journey is my favorite barometer.Next >