Making VC More Accessible, with Eleanor Kaye, Executive Director at Newton Venture Program

“Don't think because you perhaps don't have a typical background for VC, that you're not welcomed. That's actually far from the truth.”

In our penultimate episode of this 40 Minute Mentor series, we’re joined by Eleanor Kaye, Executive Director at Newton Venture Program.

Newton is a joint venture between London Business School and Local Globe VC, on a mission to ensure the next generation of VCs represents the world we all live in, by running programmes for people from overlooked or under-estimated backgrounds who want to break into VC or accelerate their career in the sector.

As social mobility and diversity are topics very close to our heart at JBM, we’re huge fans of the work Eleanor and the Newton Venture team are doing.

In today’s episode, we find out:

➡️ The difficulties of returning to work after being on parental leave [05:22]

➡️ Her unconventional path into VC [06:43]

➡️ How she overcame her initial imposter syndrome [11:01]

➡️ The day to day of an Executive Director at Newton [12:44]

➡️ Advantages of an operational background [14:44]

➡️ A note from our sponsors, Alchemist [20:45]

➡️ The joint venture between London Business School and Local Globe VC [21:38]

➡️ How to apply to Newton Venture Program [27:26]

➡️ Leveling the playing field in VC [30:31]

➡️ Retaining diverse talent [32:08]

➡️ Advice for diverse Founders fundraising [35:15]

➡️ Europe’s VC landscape and why you should consider a career in VC [36:30]

⛳ Helpful links:

➡️ More about Eleanor: https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleanorkaye/

➡️ More about Newton Ventures Program: https://newtonprogram.vc/

💙A big thank you to our Sponsors:

Alchemist - an industry leading learning and development company, whose learning journeys and experiences help organisations who want to grow, change or transform by putting the learner first to optimise organisational performance.

To learn more about Alchemist and see how they work with some of the most innovative companies in the world, head over to https://thisisalchemist.com/40minutementor/ to find out more.

🤝Explore Hidden Pages:

For this year’s Black History Month, we’ve had the great pleasure of partnering with Samuel Tholley and Hidden Pages - a zine discovering hidden Melanated history & lists of sources exploring the Melanated/"Black" experience.

We talked about his motivation behind Hidden Pages, why it's so important to normalise black history and he shares some amazing historic figures we can all learn from.

This is only the beginning of this partnership, so make sure you check out our initial conversation with Samuel here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kF_-blY_kUQ

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Enjoyed this episode?

Keep up to date with all our latest episodes by hitting the subscribe button on your favourite podcast platform. And for any feedback on what you enjoy most and ideas on what we can do to make 40 Minute Mentor even better, please leave us a review.