Lifting Others
Lauren Blodgett '11 started a nonprofit that's empowering young immigrant women.
Photo: Hadi Yazsani
Investment Opportunities聽
Meagan Loyst CSOM '19 is opening doors for a new generation of venture capitalists.聽
Winter 2022
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Early in the pandemic, Meagan Loyst CSOM 鈥�19 was living at her parents鈥� house on Long Island and working remotely for one of the country鈥檚 leading venture capital funds. She had joined the firm in September 2020, becoming its youngest investor. Hoping to connect with other young people in the field, she sent out a tweet that fall that would change her life, shake up her industry, and ultimately land her on the 2022 Forbes 鈥�30 Under 30鈥� list.
Venture capital funds are often the first major investors in startup companies, providing vital financing as fledgling businesses grow past their early stages of development. For example, in 2016, Lerer Hippeau, the fund where Loyst works, led a group that invested $2.7 million into the sustainable footwear company Allbirds. Six years later, Allbirds is worth a reported $709 million. Loyst refers to venture capitalism as the 鈥渓ifeblood of entrepreneurship.鈥� But she also believes the industry should do more to diversify its workforce. According to a 2021 survey by the professional-services firm Deloitte, just 7 percent of VC workers were Hispanic or Latino in 2020, and only 4 percent were Black. The survey also highlighted gender disparity in the field. Women held 45 percent of all positions in the VC workforce in 2020鈥攖he same as in 2018 and 2016鈥攂ut when it came to senior-level roles, women accounted for just 23 percent of investment professionals and 16 percent of partners at firms.
Hoping to connect with other VCs who shared her life experiences, Loyst sent out a tweet one day to fellow Gen Z investors鈥攖hose born in 1995 or later. She asked them to respond with the companies and trends they were interested in. The article that Loyst wrote for her Medium page summarizing these responses ended up going viral, and she decided to capitalize on the momentum in the fall of 2020 by creating a new online community called Gen Z VCs. Inspired by the level of interest in the group, Loyst then organized the Gen Z VCs Summit. The day-long virtual event in September 2021, which featured presentations by founders and companies looking to target the generation, attracted 3,000 attendees from 71 countries, most of them Gen Z investors and students.
Diversity is critical in venture capital, Loyst said, because employing VCs with different backgrounds leads to better investment decisions.
Prior to the summit, Gen Z VCs caught the attention of the national media, and Loyst was the subject of coverage in such outlets as聽Cosmopolitan, the聽Washington Post, and Bloomberg Television.聽Business Insider聽even dubbed her the 鈥淨ueen of Gen Z VCs.鈥� Meanwhile, Loyst鈥檚 Twitter account exploded from 50 followers to more than 20,000. Gen Z VCs is now a collective of more than 12,000 young people interested in venture capitalism, investing, and startups. It offers a number of initiatives for its members, including a peer mentorship program that assisted 228 mentees in its inaugural year鈥�41 percent of them people of color.
Diversity is critical in venture capital, Loyst said, because employing VCs with different backgrounds leads to better investment decisions. 鈥淚f you just have white guys on one side of the table, you鈥檒l oftentimes miss out on opportunities because it鈥檚 hard for you to see those other perspectives,鈥� she said. To ensure future diversity, there should be a 鈥渃ulture of listening鈥� in VC, she added, especially around the hiring and mentoring of young people. Lacking connections when she started out in the field after graduating from 涩里番下载, Loyst had to create her own opportunities. When she noticed that Lerer Hippeau employed an unusually high number of women, she sent a cold email to the firm introducing herself. The message led to Loyst getting coffee with partner Andrea Hippeau and later a job. Today she鈥檚 an associate at the firm, and much of her time is spent talking to company founders, many of whom she finds on social media. 鈥淭hey鈥檙e telling me about their life story,鈥� she said, 鈥渨hy their idea is going to change the world, how they鈥檙e doing it.鈥�
Data source for graph: 鈥淰C Human Capital Survey,鈥� March 2021, Deloitte
Loyst and her colleagues research companies for potential investment, and examine their market size, competition, and financial and business model. If the team sees potential, Lerer Hippeau鈥檚 partners will get involved for further analysis. Like all VC firms, Lerer Hippeau receives partial ownership of any company it invests in, while also helping the company with marketing, branding, strategy, and public relations. Loyst is particularly bullish these days on what she calls the creator economy, meaning people and businesses that produce online content. 鈥淧eople look up to creators the same way that I think a decade ago people looked up to athletes and celebrities,鈥� she said. 鈥淧eople are admiring creators, they鈥檙e buying products from creators, and the barriers to creation have never been lower because of TikTok.鈥�
Loyst was first drawn to VC because of the opportunity it presented to impact the world through life-changing startups. Now, as she builds her own career, she wants to give others the tools for success via Gen ZVCs. 鈥淰C still has a long way to go in terms of seeing true parity,鈥� she said. 鈥淏ut I think having open hiring practices and younger people getting into venture earlier with different sets of experiences is moving the needle quite a bit.鈥� 
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