00023. How Jesse Draper Went from Television Actress to Venture Capitalist at Halogen Ventures

On today's episode of Gritty Founder, Kreig Kent talks with Jesse Draper about starting The Valley Girl Show and Halogen Ventures. Jesse shares her passion for supporting female founders and why women often don’t get enough funding for their companies.

Jesse Draper is the founding partner of Halogen Ventures as well as the creator and host of 2015 Emmy nominated television series,“The Valley Girl Show”. She is a 4th generation venture capitalist focused on early stage investing in female founded consumer technology businesses. Her portfolio includes Glamsquad, Laurel & Wolf, Carbon38, Naya Health, HopSkipDrive, The Flex Company & Sugarfina. Through her show -- she’s helped pioneer the way in digital media and she has an initiative to interview 50% women in technology.

Previously a Nickelodeon star, she has used her comedic talents to bring an approachable feel to the technology world, and she has produced and distributed over 300 interviews with some of the greatest minds in technology and beyond (including; Ted Turner, Mark Cuban, Sheryl Sandberg, Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor, Jessica Alba, MC Hammer and Eric Schmidt) and was listed by Marie Claire magazine as one of the ‘50 Most Connected Women in America’.

Some Questions Kreig Asks Jesse:

- What do you look for when you fund a company that is run by a woman? (12:03)

- What is the most important characteristic for a founder to be successful? (12:14)

- What is one failure that you can shed some light on in your career? (17:16)

- Why aren’t female founders getting enough funding? (26:18)

- What is one piece of advice you would give someone who is on the verge of starting a company? (36:39)

- What advice would you give yourself if you could go back in time? (40:06)

In This Episode, You Will Learn:

- How Jesse started The Valley Girl Show and why she started Halogen Ventures (5:14)

- As a founder you need to be malleable, open-minded, and willing to pivot the company (13:17)

- Always be striving to improve yourself (15:59)

- You need to be able to listen to different ideas and opinions, but filter and figure out what is most important (16:22)

- Don’t hear the word “no” (18:59)

- There are no bad ideas, it’s all about execution (20:44)

- Female founders are held to a much higher standard (33:00)

- Don’t try to be perfect. Get your idea out there and tell everyone who will listen. (36:54)

- You don’t have to please everybody (41:44)

Connect with Jesse Draper:

Twitter


Halogen Ventures

Also Mentioned on This Show...

Jesse's favorite quote:

“Eighty percent of success is just showing up.” ―Tim Draper

Jesse’s book recommendations:


Essentialism by Greg McKeown

Financially Fearless by Alexa von Tobel