diff --git a/1 - Manual.md b/1 - Manual.md index da8451f..582659c 100644 --- a/1 - Manual.md +++ b/1 - Manual.md @@ -68,7 +68,7 @@ The era of the [superhero](http://masterclass.com) is only beginning. There are Our challenge as a society, and [Bloomberg Beta’s challenge as supporters of these individuals](https://github.com/Bloomberg-Beta/Manual/blob/main/1%20-%20Manual.md#inclusion-diversity-equity-and-justice), is to make sustained efforts to include individuals of every background in this success, and to make sure the rewards for innovation are shared broadly among the many people who contribute to what often looks like it was just one “individual” success. #### Following software developers' lead -We believe more work in the future will look like that of software developers today (automating away tasks and harnessing the [flexible](https://arimo.com) [power](http://graphistry.com/) of computers to get [work](https://alation.com/) done), and of securities traders (acting on [quantitative](https://orbitalinsight.com/) [data](http://txn.com/) all day long). We believe much individual work will be done in collaboration with software that makes its own choices. As a result, many people will suffer the [maker vs. manager](http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html) dilemma that today afflicts mostly software engineers. These individuals will [bring](https://howdy.ai/) [their](https://www.buddybuild.com/) [own](https://influxdata.com/) [tools](https://www.scalyr.com/) (more than just their devices) to work, insisting on the [software](https://www.replit.com/) and [practices](https://launchdarkly.com/) that make them most productive. +We believe more work in the future will look like that of software developers today (automating away tasks and harnessing the flexible [power](http://graphistry.com/) of computers to get [work](https://alation.com/) done), and of securities traders (acting on [quantitative](https://orbitalinsight.com/) data all day long). We believe much individual work will be done in collaboration with software that makes its own choices. As a result, many people will suffer the [maker vs. manager](http://www.paulgraham.com/makersschedule.html) dilemma that today afflicts mostly software engineers. These individuals will [bring](https://howdy.ai/) [their](https://www.buddybuild.com/) [own](https://influxdata.com/) [tools](https://www.scalyr.com/) (more than just their devices) to work, insisting on the [software](https://www.replit.com/) and [practices](https://launchdarkly.com/) that make them most productive. #### The new company wo/man Careers will look less like a straight line, and more like a [portfolio](https://www.kaggle.com/competitions) of [activities](https://gigster.com/), with people judged on their work and their [capacities](https://www.codecademy.com/) as opposed to their past institutional affiliations (whether educational or professional). In some cases, people will decouple income from work, and integrate their lives and their work in ways considered career limiting today. Their personal, economic, social, geographic, and demographic backgrounds will also be much more diverse than the most recognized talents of today. @@ -112,9 +112,9 @@ We believe progress requires an accumulation of many small and large decisions o + When we host our own events, we examine our invitation lists for diversity. (See, for example, our [yearlong commission on the effect of technology on the future of work](https://shiftcommission.work/findings-of-shift-the-commission-on-work-workers-and-technology-a071bc169df0).) + When invited to speak at an industry event, we ask whether there is someone from an underrepresented community speaking alongside us (e.g., on a panel). + We actively partner with diverse communities to reach founders from different backgrounds and include a range of perspectives. We welcome groups to reach out for a potential partnership. We were inaugural members of [theBoardlist](https://theboardlist.com/our-community), which helps companies find female board members. We participate in [#MovingForward](https://wearemovingforward.github.io), joining other VC’s to commit to foster a diverse, inclusive, and harassment-free workplace. We sponsored a scholarship at [Opportunity Hub](https://opportunityhub.co) to send a student from an underrepresented background to SXSW. -+ We participated in the NVCA and Venture Forward [#VCHumanCapitalPledge](https://nvca.org/nvca-and-venture-forward-vchumancapital-pledge/#:~:text=As%20part%20of%20this%20commitment,details%20by%20the%20Survey%20deadline.) submitting our team's demographics and talent management information. ++ We participated in the NVCA and Venture Forward #VCHumanCapitalPledge submitting our team's demographics and talent management information. + We host our regular [Comeback Cities](https://venturebeat.com/2018/10/19/comeback-cities-tour-takes-politicians-venture-capitalists-to-tech-startups-in-the-south) tours where we take VCs with members of Congress to emerging startup cities around the country. We've recently visited Tulsa and done a tour of HBCUs in Atlanta, Charlotte, as well as Columbia and Orangeburg, South Carolina. -+ We offer a paid venture capital internship through [the HBCUvc Fellowship](https://www.hbcu.vc/programs/fellowships), focused on opening doors for Black and historically-excluded innovators and investors. We always ensure that the fellows’ work matches their interests and aspirations, and also significantly moves the needle on projects core to the success of our fund or companies in our portfolio. For example, our [2022](https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeokpamen/) summer fellow [published a widely shared article](https://blog.hbcu.vc/guest-feature-making-a-financial-model-for-your-early-stage-startup-e85fc6853750) that founders deemed a must-read for any entrepreneur building or refining their financial model. And our [2021](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-francis-30b55b175/) summer fellow worked with [Replit](https://replit.com/) to kick off a demo day for high schoolers using Replit to create their first company. ++ We offer a paid venture capital internship through the HBCUvc Fellowship, focused on opening doors for Black and historically-excluded innovators and investors. We always ensure that the fellows’ work matches their interests and aspirations, and also significantly moves the needle on projects core to the success of our fund or companies in our portfolio. For example, our [2022](https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgeokpamen/) summer fellow [published a widely shared article](https://blog.hbcu.vc/guest-feature-making-a-financial-model-for-your-early-stage-startup-e85fc6853750) that founders deemed a must-read for any entrepreneur building or refining their financial model. And our [2021](https://www.linkedin.com/in/aaron-francis-30b55b175/) summer fellow worked with [Replit](https://replit.com/) to kick off a demo day for high schoolers using Replit to create their first company. + We support [Founder’s Choice](https://founderschoicevc.com/), a verified VC ranking by venture-backed founders, to democratize access to investor reputations. We believe that how founders view VCs is just as important as financial returns, especially in a world where insiders have access to asymmetric information. + We will update the performance metrics we’ve published here (e.g., on the gender composition of our portfolio CEOs) at least annually. + We believe there are exceptional individuals who likely have the skills to build a company without the network or personal financial means to get started. We want to back those individuals. @@ -178,7 +178,7 @@ Our focus is investing in startups that improve work -- and knowledge work in pa We have doubts about the effectiveness of theme-based investing. The best founders can surprise an investor with an unexpected take on a category. That said, there are areas our team has grown to care about and learn about. We only want to invest in companies where we believe we have enough understanding to be enormously valuable to our founders, and to have good enough judgment to support founders through thick and thin. -[Machine intelligence](http://www.shivonzilis.com/machineintelligence) crosses all the areas we care about, and we have treated it as our main interest area for several years now. We believe machine intelligence will transform every industry and every function -- and we focus on its effects on business. We believe [machine intelligence will be like electricity](http://www.wired.com/2014/10/future-of-artificial-intelligence/): cheap, convenient, and on-demand. We want to back the founders ushering this future into the now. +[Machine intelligence](https://medium.com/@shivon/the-current-state-of-machine-intelligence-2-0-a9e0bab95511) crosses all the areas we care about, and we have treated it as our main interest area for several years now. We believe machine intelligence will transform every industry and every function -- and we focus on its effects on business. We believe [machine intelligence will be like electricity](http://www.wired.com/2014/10/future-of-artificial-intelligence/): cheap, convenient, and on-demand. We want to back the founders ushering this future into the now. Areas where we’ve invested include: content discovery, cybersecurity, data sets and services, developer tools, [hot-swap startups](https://also.roybahat.com/looking-for-more-of-a-new-kind-of-startup-516e5033c63c), hardware, human-computer interaction, learning, media distribution, new organizational models, open source software, productivity tools, professional networks, real estate, technology platforms, workflow tools, workplace communication. @@ -480,7 +480,7 @@ Now that we have a critical mass of companies in our portfolio, the companies ca We were one of the first (if not the first) fund to set up a portfolio community channel on Slack, even before Slack supported this functionality natively. Our founders congratulate each other, promote one another's successes, support each other through tough spots, offer tactical recommendations ("who should I use as an accountant?") in ways much more immediate, varied, and specific than our fund could do for any of them directly. -We noticed the conversations in that channel were surprisingly specific -- less about the big picture and more about what kind of paintbrush to use. We were inspired by the Picasso quote that only art critics talk about the Big Ideas, real artists help each other find [cheap turpentine](https://www.highly.co/hl/56e6f2323533356aeb5a0000). So we created an event series, "Turpentine Talks," where one of our founders who has expertise in a certain area (e.g., growth, building open source communities, hacking personal use of time) leads a roundtable discussion with other founders learning and offering their own experiences. +We noticed the conversations in that channel were surprisingly specific -- less about the big picture and more about what kind of paintbrush to use. We were inspired by the Picasso quote that only art critics talk about the Big Ideas, real artists help each other find cheap turpentine. So we created an event series, "Turpentine Talks," where one of our founders who has expertise in a certain area (e.g., growth, building open source communities, hacking personal use of time) leads a roundtable discussion with other founders learning and offering their own experiences. We admire and want to continue to support these kinds of communities, that openly share a craft to hone the trade of companybuilding, with a particular set of companies that share a similar way of working and similar values. This kind of community is itself part of the future (and the past) of work done well.