Mitch Kapor and his wife Freada — along with Kapor Capital and Kapor Center for Social Impact — are giants in the field of impact investing and philanthropy. They are a serious force in Oakland as philanthropists and investors, and they are paving the way for so many others, including Better Ventures, who recently hosted an intimate chat with Mitch at Impact Hub Oakland.
It was an honor and pleasure to hear all about his work, how he got to where he is, his views on Oakland and diversity in tech, and where he and the Kapor empire is headed.
Mitch might just be the most entertaining and quotable speaker in impact investing, so there were many inspiring and quotable moments.
Here are some of our favorite moments, with the full video below:
Getting Started
When you’re on the cutting edge of a new technology, you won’t likely have mentors or guides. You’ll need to quickly get comfortable making it up on the fly.
“[Lotus Development] got to be overwhelming because we got huge fast and I had no training or background, and unlike today when there are mentors and accelerators and books and workshops and infrastructure so you can get some help, you’re not alone. This was 1983. We were basically making all of this stuff up as we went along.”
https://youtu.be/3LuAe87Fj8U?t=11m53s
Investing for Impact
A positive social impact won’t happen without strategy and follow-through at the company level, but it’s best to start at the earliest investment stage.
“We have our companies create a social impact plan and a diversity plan as a funding condition. That sort of sets the baseline… but not just of how big the market is going to get but who’s going to be better off and how many people?”
https://youtu.be/3LuAe87Fj8U?t=42m30s
“Our lens on social impact is that we’re looking for companies which are closing the gap of access and opportunity for some under served population. Could be African-American or Latino but not necessarily. It depends a lot on the context. But there has to be a gap, there has to be a closure strategy and it has to be beneficial to an underserved community. That’s our lens… It turns out that there’s just way more great opportunities that meet our criteria than we can actually invest in.”
https://youtu.be/3LuAe87Fj8U?t=40m
Values-Driven Leadership
Corporate values are only as good as the values of a company’s leaders and staff, who sometimes need a bit of formal encouragement.
“[At Lotus], we tied managers bonuses to how well their direct reports said they actually practiced our corporate values, that they embodied them, so the values worked, not just in the abstract. There’s some economics to them.”
https://youtu.be/3LuAe87Fj8U?t=13m21s
Oakland, Diversity and the Tech Industry
Technology is only as good as its ability to reflect and address our needs as a collective people. In America today, Oakland is a reflection of who we are – and who we are becoming – and tech will be better off if it can reflect this new country we live in.
“Tech needs Oakland, and it’s not just a matter of office space. If tech is going to serve America, it needs to look more like America, which it does not, and not in Silicon Valley. Oakland is a different proposition given its history, its diversity, its very aggressive political and cultural traditions. There’s an opportunity to do tech here in a way in which social impact and diversity are more in the mix than in San Francisco.”
https://youtu.be/3LuAe87Fj8U?t=35m32s
Watch the full video below and join Better Ventures in late September, when they host their next Fireside Chat with Ben Rattray, founder and CEO of the online petition website Change.org.
About Better Ventures PreSeed
Better Ventures PreSeed convenes thought leaders, networking, and resources to advance a thriving impact startup ecosystem in Oakland and the greater East Bay. This program offers speaker events, workshops, and other support to help early-stage entrepreneurs launch and grow successful businesses that also benefit the community.
About Better Ventures
Better Ventures is an Oakland, CA-based venture firm that backs early-stage technology companies building venture-scale models that generate positive social and environmental outcomes. Their companies are leveraging the power and scale of technology to address big societal issues from work and education, to health and sustainability. They invest at the seed stage and provide resources and support to help companies get to the next level.
