An Experiment in Making Myself More Accessible

For underrepresented founders, getting a warm intro shouldn't be the only way.

If you are a woman, BIPOC, LGBTQIA+, or other underrepresented founder, I know how difficult it can be to get an introduction to a prospective investor. I know from firsthand experience - both as an investor myself and as someone raising money.

I also know how difficult it is as an investor to filter through cold emails. I get them from many dozens of founders every week. They take a long time to read. Moreover, the #1 factor by which I (and most other investors) make decisions on seed-stage investments is the team, and emails don't really help in that assessment.

That said, you shouldn't have to be "in the network" of wealthy people to get funding. That's not good for our society or for innovation.

So I'm going to run an experiment for the next month. If you're a founder and you send me a 1-minute recorded video of your elevator pitch, I promise to watch it - for up to 30 founders per week. Make sure to address the points in Step #2 in my post on how I evaluate investments. Email your video to allison.pickens@gmail.com and make the subject line "Video pitch."

Looking forward to seeing how this goes!