She fell from the coconut tree
founders and investors speak of newfound hope (for now)
💖Motivation Meows💖
Hello, and welcome to yet another edition of The Black Cat.
To read what you missed this week in Good Black News, click here. Otherwise, this week, we’re talking about how Kamala Harris’ foray into the election is giving new hope to founders and investors… for now.
Feel free to send around, email me your reflections, and follow me on Instagram at dominicmadori
This month I’m reading: His Excellency Eugène Rougon by Zola
This weekend, I can’t stop listening to: Yaya by Beyoncé
💢From the Chatterbox💢
For a moment there, Silicon Valley had people scared.
One after another, the biggest and richest men in the industry came out to support Donald Trump and his vice president pick, former venture capitalist J.D. Vance, in what was then going to be an election against Joe Biden. The big dems in the Valley were quiet — or they seemed to be. It turns out, something was bubbling beneath the surface, or should I say, tremoring in the Bay. Last week, Biden dropped out of the election and put Kamala Harris in his place. The election became Trump vs. Harris, a move that has sparked new life into the election, people have said. Harris, who in the last election was far from the public’s favorite, has emerged as a hopeful prospect for those who felt doom these past few months. Even founders abroad who seemed unsettled by the prospects in America seemed calmed by the Kamala news, feeling that the U.S. democracy might still have skin in the game. It’s no wonder, then, that Harris has gone on to raise more than $100 million and receive public backing from big tech leaders like Reid Hoffman, Reid Hastings, and Vinod Khosla.
“We are standing beside the nominee, and look forward to campaigning as much as we can during these next 95 days,” Shila, an investor, told me. She said she was disheartened the past few weeks seeing her peers go for Trump. “I weathered the week in between with a feeling of consternation, are we headed to another presidency filled with hate and vitriol?”
But then, Biden dropped out. “Immediately I had a sense of energy and urgency to get her elected,” she said. Shila is now part of VCsforKamala, a coalition of almost 700 VCs — like Marc Cuban, Sequoia Partner Jess Lee, Kirsten Green at Forerunner, Aileen Lee at Cowboy Ventures, and even Wendy R. Anderson from the Thiel-founded Palantir Technologies — pledging their support for Kamala, representing firms with nearly $150 billion in assets.
The initiative was started by investor Leslie Feinzaig, founder of the firm Graham & Walker, who tweeted that she put the whole thing together last Tuesday, wanting to show founders that not all of the Valley backed Trump. “Over the past few weeks, like so many of you, I’ve watched countless venture capital power players announce their support of Donald Trump. Many of them are VCs I respect and admire. And I’m not so much surprised about seeing VCs express conservative viewpoints, some of which I share,” she tweeted. “But this particular election there are much more existential issues at stake.”
Feinzaig tweeted she was doing this because she has kids, because they are girls, because it seems Silicon Valley power players have lost touch with the world, the very world they tout to always want to save. Her list was filled with everyone from conservative names to independents to democratcs. Some people stayed anonymous because of their own firms’ internal politics, she said. This list fulfilled my suspicion that the Valley was never as right as its loudest voices made it seem and everyone was waiting for a leader, a strong coalition, where they could speak out without feeling so alone and afraid of retribution. Others on Twitter also spoke out, saying that there is a shift happening in the Valley as more and more people come out for Kamala. Aaron Levie, CEO of cloud company Box, tweeted that there was a “growing view that Trump was chaotic and unpredictable and Harris can be more stable, pro tech, pro business President.”
“Yes, yes, yes!” Janna, an investor, told me when I asked if the startup community has found new hope in Kamala. “VCs love heat. She has it right now.”
It’s quite interesting because both Kamala and J.D. Vance are being analyzed for their ties to Silicon Valley, and in a sense, their relationships to the regions are a representation of a political divide: J.D.’s career received the support and backing of storied investor Peter Thiel, who is known for supporting more conservative and right-wing beliefs. Thiel said he was going to sit this election out, but his influence is very well being felt through J.D.’s rise. Kamala, meanwhile, is receiving the support of a lot of women, women billionaires, and loyalists, as the Times reported. This is the divide that I’ve seen women and people of color in the industry try to explain to the investors and founders who have touted their love for Trump because of crypto regulation and a possible tax on unrealized capital gains — most people, especially people from marginalized groups, are not single-issue voters.
“It’s individually and institutionally irresponsible that the GOP and its mega-doners really don’t think women vote or care, which is a huge underestimation and it’s disappointing that supposed leaders of innovation are deciding that their personal brands should be tied exclusively to carried interest,” Janna said of the VCs who were moving to now back Trump. She added that the Trump-Vance Administration would pose “literal existential threats to the world and life as we know it” and that “even slightly longer term thinking makes clear and obvious the damage to all companies and funds under authoritarianism.”
“VCs put their money into the future they want to see. It doesn’t surprise me that the coalition of VCs for Kamala was brought together by women,” Nina, a founder, told me. “As an immigrant brown woman on my own founding journey, it gives me hope.”
The nation is still dealing with Trump’s last term, especially women and people of color. Trump’s appointment of court judges alone led to the overturning of abortion rights and affirmation action, leading to women dying from medical complications and lawsuits against firms trying to give money to Black businesses. Then there is just overall stress, the stress of seeing Trump racially attack Kamala, saying there were “fine people on both sides,” at a white supremacist rally, and having supporters who tried to overthrow the Capitol. One Black founder told me this takes a psychological toll. Social harm becomes an economic issue for whom disparity and discrimination impact. In the Bay, some of the most powerful Trump supporters are their investors; their gatekeepers. Pushing through all of this, he said, to still ask for money from the same people who in private and now very much in public support politics that will harm you is no easy feat. But the fight will continue, nonetheless, everyone said. Or, as Nina said, “There are diminishing returns in regressing to an isolationist America.”
💫Kitty Talk💫
Here are some interesting articles I’ve read since we last met: