We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Elisa Miller-Out. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Elisa below.
Hi Elisa, thanks for joining us today. So let’s jump to your mission – what’s the backstory behind how you developed the mission that drives your brand?
Our mission is to #InvestInWomen. Our leadership team members were all active as community builders in Upstate NY. We met through volunteer activities for entrepreneurs and investors and came together around a shared purpose to invest in women. We saw first hand how diverse women leaders were being underestimated and under-resourced by the current venture capital system, while the data shows that their companies deliver a better return on investment, are more capital efficient and exit earlier. We saw an opportunity to leverage our ecosystem building ability to make an outsized financial return while making an impact. The leadership team members have known each other for 10+ years. We have received multiple awards for entrepreneurial ecosystem development work and it was this commitment to a diverse and inclusive startup community that allowed the team to meet and collaborate prior to launching the firm.
Elisa, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?
Chloe Capital is a movement driven venture capital firm investing with a gender and diversity lens. We focus on diverse women tech leaders who are solving the world’s biggest problems across climate, education and health. Our superpower is our ecosystem building model, in which we transform founders into funders. Our accelerator programs allow us to access unique deal flow, enhance visibility and provide networks and resources for our founders throughout the #InvestInWomen Tour.
Conversations about M&A are often focused on multibillion dollar transactions – but M&A can be an important part of a small or medium business owner’s journey. We’d love to hear about your experience with selling businesses.
When selling a division of my software services business, I learned several lessons. One was to start thinking about your exit plan from day one of your business. If you set up systems and processes, so that your business can operate without you in the future, it helps with the resiliency and stability of your business overall. It also helps an acquirer feel comfortable that the business will continue operating smoothly even when you are no longer at the helm.
Are there any books, videos, essays or other resources that have significantly impacted your management and entrepreneurial thinking and philosophy?
Some books that I think are helpful for the founders I mentor include Venture Deals by Brad Feld and Raise Capital on Your Own Terms by Jenny Kassan. The Lean Startup by Eric Ries as well as Business Model Generation by Alex Osterwalder are some other classics for building a startup using an iterative, customer discovery-driven approach.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://chloecapital.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/chloe_capital/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ChloeCapital
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elisamillerout/
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/chloecapital
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCDsaajTOAqzE0fsznYu-r_w/featured