May Habib describes bias in her VC fundraising

Transcript

Transcribed by machine (Whisper) from the episode’s audio, so a word may be off here and there.

1. 22:19

   May, there has been another discourse in the last few days on social media of sort of what it's like to raise money from VCs who may or may not fall asleep in the meetings, who may say, I want you to fire your co-founder. Was raising straightforward for you or were there any sort of scar moments that come to mind as you saw these other war stories? Vinod also fell asleep in my partner meeting at Khosla.

2. 22:47

   But, you know, we had great conversations up until then. Did he offer a term sheet? We verbalized a valuation that we wouldn't accept. So it was never put to paper. But I do think, though, in retrospect, after RC, I wish me and Wasim had traded roles. If you're a woman pitching VCs, you are, we're all fooling ourselves to think that in the back of their minds, they don't think you'll work as hard.

3. 23:18

   I think me and Wasim should have switched roles. Is that crazy? To specifically, basically. Have the technical man pitch. Isn't that cynical? Aren't you glad you didn't do that? Because that would be, in a way, that'd be disappointing to just sort of pretend you're someone you're not. I only care about the outcome. I mean, we're partners. Do you think Wasim would have been happy to lead those convos?

4. 23:38

   Well, I guess, you know, we will find out when he hears this. Well, it's interesting. You know, Mae, you've been doing this a long time. You're really a pro, I believe, at least. Do you feel like you continue to be underestimated or you do have to prove even more than a generic CEO of your stage because you are a mom and a woman CEO? Oh, absolutely. In the series A, the Sequoia rejection included a line about how inspiring it was that I had two little kids at home while I was pitching them.

5. 24:11

   And that was like inspiring derogatory? I mean, I think so, right? That's disappointing to hear. I mean, it's sort of like everybody wants to hear you say there is nothing more important to you than being a billionaire. And the reality is, oh, my kids are kind of more important than that. I think anyone would say their kids are more important than that. But if you only are writing two or three checks a year, like, who are you going to back?

6. 24:37

   Seriously, Alex, who will you back? Person with kids or the person who's going to live at the office? I would hope that I would back the killer regardless of the circumstance. And I would hope that also having a family is not innately anti-capitalistic, but. So I've been doing this for a long time. I've had investors the whole way. I have never done anything social or personal with a male VC ever.

7. 25:01

   I've been, like, at the homes of our women VCs. I've been on their boats, et cetera. But, like, it goes to show it's not—it's human, right? You want to do business with people who— you can bring into your life. And I actually think it is much, much harder, for better or for worse, and worse, certainly worse, that, you know, men VCs feel much more uncomfortable bringing a woman founder into their life.

8. 25:27

   Like, this is a decade-long relationship, and I think most men are more comfortable doing it with other men. We've had a number of awesome women CEOs on the show already. Do you think that this could change, or do you think your success might make it easier, you know for the next may to to face fewer uphill battles there yeah i hope so i hope so i mean you know i work insane hours um i don't know anyone in ai who doesn't but i've always naturally worked 15 16 hours a day like before startups and i think like you know my instinct when a vc asks about my kids right or if i have kids is to be like yeah but my in-laws take care of them right like yeah I have kids, but, like, I'm not that good of a mom.

9. 26:11

   Like, that's basically, right, what the posture is. And, yes, I do work 80, 90 hours a week every week. But that just, it's sad that that's the instinct, right? And at the same time, I know that if I weren't working that hard, if our whole team weren't working that hard, it would have been much harder to get to, you know, where we are today. And I think, you know, I hope there will be a massive future ahead of us.

10. 26:35

    We're just getting started, right? This is not anywhere close to what we want our terminal valuation to be. But yeah, I do think it is much harder to do it as a woman. No, no, no question. These days, you can chat with AI about almost any business problem. Rippling AI is built to actually solve them.