Securing the Right VC as a Female Entrepreneur with Venture Capitalist and Board Director, Lara Druyan

Venture capital is the most expensive form of capital there is because of the equity and control you’re giving up so it is in your best interest to do your due diligence to research the people behind the big decision-making. This week’s episode 48 of How Women Inspire Podcast is about securing the right VC as a female entrepreneur!In this episode of How Women Inspire Podcast, Julie Castro Abrams and Lara Druyan share the importance of women mentoring, supporting, and lending a helping hand to other women in the ways that men often do and actionable steps you can take right now to pitch yourself to secure VC with investors that are in alignment. Today’s guest, Lara Druyan is the managing director with Silicon Valley Data Capital, a seed and early stage venture capital fund focused on enterprise software and financial technology Fintech. She serves on the board of directors of CIBC, US Bancorp and Syncron, the leading global digital transformation consulting firm focused on financial services. Lara also has 25 years of experience in all phases of technology, product creation, and associated change management. She is an award winning business transformation leader and leverages her understanding of how large enterprise buys technology to advance startups in which she invests. As she puts it, she is one of the very few venture capitalists who has been on the buying side of technology, an impressive accomplishment to say the least. Some of the talking points Julie and Lara go over in this episode include:What it means to be a product manager in every role you hold. Advice for female entrepreneurs to find the right investor for them (not all money is good money).Starting a company and investing in an economic downturn.  The impact and influence working moms have on their children.  Prioritizing relationships to maintain and expand your network. Achieving things that are difficult means that you are going to fail a lot of the time and that’s totally fine. The whole point is to dust yourself off, realize it wasn’t the right opportunity for you, and have the tenacity to keep going. Thank you for listening! If you enjoyed this episode, take a screenshot of the episode to post in your stories and tag me!  And don’t forget to follow, rate, and review the podcast and tell me your key takeaways!CONNECT WITH LARA DRUYAN:LinkedInCONNECT WITH JULIE CASTRO ABRAMS:LinkedIn - JulieHow Women LeadHow Women InvestHow Women GiveInstagram - HWLLinkedIn - HWLFacebook - HWL