We are committed to a safe work environment in which no member of our startup community is discriminated against on the basis of sexual orientation, race, religion, age, nationality, gender identity or any other characteristic protected by applicable law. We will promptly take appropriate remedial action to address any form of harassment or discrimination that is brought to our attention. We will also address any reported claims of retaliation to ensure a comfortable and productive work environment for all those who work with our team. To confidentially report any incident involving a JVP team member, please contact us.

Our mission is to build and serve the strongest community of entrepreneurs. Diversity and inclusion are core to the strongest communities around the world and thus, are core to the JVP Community and must be for the broader technology ecosystem.

We’re devoted to trying to find the best ways to support, encourage and engage entrepreneurs to build a more representative, welcoming and inclusive community.

We know that there’s more work to be done to improve the representation of women and underrepresented people in JVP’s cohort of Founders, in our own team, in the teams recruited by our portfolio companies as well as within the broader startup community. This goes far beyond the stats and numbers (though we appreciate that those really matter too). We’re committed to taking steps across all aspects of our day-to-day work to reduce implicit and overt bias and increase inclusion.

Importantly, we’re not going to just sit around and talk about it. We’re already doing it.

We believe that Community is First Round’s superpower, so that’s where we have started. We’re committed to increasing the diversity of our entire ecosystem and like the startups we work with, we take an iterative approach to the way we operate at First Round. We’ve applied this principle to our D&I efforts, and here’s what we’ve done thus far:

• We highlighted diversity in our annual State of Startups Survey to shine a light on the continuing challenges in Silicon Valley and in all geographies in tech. You can see the results here. The report caught the attention of the press here, here and here.  It provided a data-driven basis for the press to write about the disappointing disparities so many of us were already aware of, while reinforcing the need to bridge the gap.
• Last year’s CEO Summit brought nearly equal numbers of men and women to the stage — but we also deeply understand that diversity and inclusion is not just a gender issue. For too long, the tech and startup community (including us) has failed at diversity and inclusion across a broader spectrum as well.  We want to see (and to help create) a more welcoming and inclusive community encompassing underrepresented people.  We understand that our industry sadly has historically demonstrated higher barriers confronting women, people of color, the LGBTQ community, persons with disabilities and other underrepresented people.  At all First Round events, we try extremely hard to bring together as diverse a group as possible.
• We will make sure we’re hosting and attending more diverse events ourselves. We continuously source referrals for remarkable people who have been underrepresented for too long to attend our Salons — our educational dinner series. By being conscious and intentional about how we expand our community in these ways, we hope to make First Round more approachable for founders from all backgrounds.
• We’ve launched a private, internal community for the women across First Round companies called +Women.  It’s built on top of our core community platform and is now a place for over 730 women to connect and learn from each other. This online experience is matched with offline experiences.  For example, in May 2017, we had an event for 150 women at First Round companies where everything from negotiating compensation to building inclusive teams was discussed in depth.
• Given that our 2016 survey identified a lack of female role models as a cause of limited diversity at startups, we’re proud that 46% of First Round Review stories featured a female over the last year — up more than 2X from The Review’s first year. We’re continuing to push this number until we get to parity.  We aim to take the same approach and apply it to all underrepresented groups in technology.
• We’ve produced a number of instructional experiences focused on D&I for First Round-backed companies. These include Salons about fostering diverse cultures, and workshops that break down the best tactics for inclusive hiring. Most recently, we published a guide for companies on First Round Network that walks through best practices for keeping diversity front and center in recruiting efforts.
• As many in tech bemoan the “pipeline problem,” we’re working to actively engage a diverse pool of talented students through Dorm Room Fund. We’ve found that an astonishing 20% of student Dorm Room Fund partners choose to work in venture capital post-graduation. Of those who’ve become investors, 47% are female and 6% are black.  We published these stats and others in a DRF Diversity Report to showcase how university entrepreneurs and investors compare to industry benchmarks — and where new gains can be made.
• Here at First Round, we’re taking steps to cut out bias and increase inclusion. We’ve run unconscious bias training for our employees and actively encourage our founders to do the same.  We’re examining our investment process to try to reduce and remove bias. And we convene internal conversations to share how these issues impact all of us — our lives and our work — so that everyone is welcome included.
• During onboarding of new First Round companies, we discuss the importance of D&I and how we can help.
• Every time a role opens on our team, we work hard to source a diverse pipeline of candidates, engage as broad a field as possible, and try to check bias at the door of every interview. We promote openings where we know they’ll be seen by underrepresented audiences, and we lean on our extended network to help us find outstanding people who offer new experiences and perspectives. We’re proud of the team these efforts have produced, but we know we can do better. We’ll continue to invest heavily in building First Round to match the world around us.
• We’ve chosen to publish some of our internal data on the performance of women founders in hopes that others will choose to start companies and will also understand that diversity is important to our fund and our team.
• These actions are already making an impact. If you look at the new investments we’ve made in the last year, 20% of those companies have either at least one female or under-represented minority founder. There’s ample room for improvement, but we’re encouraged by these early results.

All of the efforts above are ongoing — and while we have a ton to learn, we hope they’re part of a broader industry positive ripple effect to diversify an industry that clearly needs to do better. If you have other ideas for us, we’d love to hear from you. Send them our way at [email protected]

We’re focused on being the world’s best partner for founders at the very first stages of company creation — so we’ve designed the firm to do just that. When you work with First Round, you get super active partners working side-by-side with you on your biggest and smallest challenges.  Whether it’s setting strategy for a fundraise or thinking through your organizational design, we’re in your corner through the thick and thin of company building over those first few critical years.

On top of that, you get access to our 15-person Platform Team, working to help you fast forward through the tough nitty-gritty of building a company so you can focus on what makes yours special. Whether it’s our Pitch Assist Team building your Series A deck, or our Talent Team connecting you with top-tier candidates, we’re here to help across all your needs.

Most importantly, we pioneered the concept of transforming a portfolio into a community. When our partners were entrepreneurs themselves, the most valuable advice and support they ever received came from other founders. That’s why we provide the tools and forums you need for employees throughout your company to learn from and help their peers. If you’re a PM, a CFO or a junior marketer, you can benefit from the collective wisdom of many others. For more on how we do this and the services we offer, check out our Philosophy page.

First Round companies have raised over $17 billion in follow-on capital after our initial investment across 1,000 rounds — and we’ve watched them all closely. This makes raising capital one area where our partners will always have more experience than our founders, no matter how brilliant they are. Leveraging this knowledge, we do everything we can to help our companies get to Series A and beyond.

These learnings are an integral part of our Pitch Assist program, developed to help companies get through what’s undoubtedly the toughest part of starting something new. Every engagement starts with strategy meeting with our partnership. We figure out which VCs founding teams should pitch and in what order based on our experience with almost every tier one investor in the country.

Once a coherent strategy is set, we pair entrepreneurs with a dedicated designer and content expert for a 4-6 week boot camp. They come out the other side with a finalized fundraising plan, a compelling narrative, a gorgeous presentation (built in-house here at First Round) and a bulletproof story that showcases their unique value prop. First Round founders also get tons of rehearsal time with our entire partnership to make sure they nail their presentations right out of the gate.

Since launching in 2014, Pitch Assist has helped over 30 companies raise more than $500M. As market conditions shift and the Series A pool shrinks, we’re seeing this kind of resource become a serious advantage.

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It’s said that successful founders should spend over 50% of their time on hiring during growth periods. We actually think this is an understatement. But we also know devoting this many hours while running a company can seem impossible.

That’s why we have a small, focused team to help share the load. And our partners will always pick up the phone to help close candidates (they have a pretty astonishing batting average).

Our Talent Team works side-by-side with our earliest-stage companies to help them jumpstart their hiring process. Their work sourcing candidates and making introductions is complemented by our rich, proprietary dataset on compensation so that you can make the smartest offers. And, since we’ve now worked with over 300 startups, we’ve been able to put together best practice guides — essentially manuals written by veteran entrepreneurs — all in service of giving founders a head start on hiring.

Yes, we do in some cases. What’s consistent is that we’ll be extremely active helping you build your company in the first two years of its life. Often, we’ll take a board seat at first and give it up to a new investor after later rounds. (We’ve found that entrepreneurs like this – as it helps them manage the size of their boards as they grow).

Outside of board meetings, we prefer what we call “working sessions.” Every 4 to 6 weeks, we go deep with a founder on a big challenge. We’ll spend the entire meeting working through the problem, and we’ve found this type of collaboration far more valuable than traditional reporting and governance. That said, we know how to operate and make an impact in more formal meetings too. (And, by the by, if you’re looking for board meeting best practices, check out this piece from one of the best board wranglers we know.)

Yes!  We’re always recruiting for our next cohort of Venture Partners, Venture Associates, and Interns, you can find out more here. 

We pick our investors very carefully. It’s important to us that we generate returns for shareholders we can be proud of and who share our values. The majority of our LP’s are other much larger funds and syndicates that invest with us as part of their early-stage diversification.

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