Gender diversification must happen first at the top: Altara Ventures’s Huiting Koh

Southeast Asia’s venture capitalists are making progress in reducing the gender gap, although most of their efforts are focused on the hiring stage, says a leading female VC.

“…VCs in SEA are doing a lot more now to attract diverse talent… we are seeing younger talent join as interns while still completing their undergraduate degrees before joining as a full-time analyst,” said Altara Ventures partner and chief marketing officer Huiting Koh.

At senior levels in VC, as a recent DealStreetAsia report found out, gender diversity remains a distant goal.

Koh advises women looking to build a career in VC to develop a thick skin as biases pervade the industry.

“I have experienced everything from a founder not making eye contact with me throughout his presentation because he thought my male intern was the decision-maker to having my point be repeated by a male colleague only for him to get the credit,” she said.

Excerpts of an interview with Koh: 

Why is it important for VCs to advance gender diversity at their own firms as well as at portfolio companies?

In VC, success depends largely on having a differentiated point of view and conviction. Outsized returns are not made by following the crowd, where any returns then have to be shared by many. In order for VCs to truly operate with a differentiated point of view, we need to have diversity of people, experiences and perspectives. This enables VCs to make better decisions with the asymmetric information we have available.

The same is true for portfolio companies – many are trying to find ways to differentiate themselves from the competition, and having a diverse set of perspectives and approaches can often uncover insights that lead to better differentiation from competitors. However, it is important that gender diversity happens throughout the organization and not simply at the junior levels or within the back office or mid-office teams. Gender diversification must happen first at the very top and there must be a good balance – almost equal number of females and males – and this should be followed through in the rest of the organization to encourage sharing of diverse thoughts, experiences and perspectives.

Are VCs in Southeast Asia doing enough to attract and retain more diverse talent? Can they do more? If yes, what actions would you recommend?

I think the VCs in SEA are doing a lot more now to attract diverse talent. Silicon Valley-style VC was more traditional where you could only join a VC after many years in investment banking, consulting or operating experience. Now, in SEA, we are seeing younger talent join as interns while still completing their undergraduate degrees before joining as a full-time analyst.

Additionally, given the focus on gender diversity, we do see a lot more female representation within the VC & entrepreneurial community, particularly at startup events and competitions. All this activity naturally attracts more females and younger people to VC. Retention of this talent in VC is not only dependent on compensation alone nor is it dependent on having spent a certain amount time in the team. Much of the work of a VC is largely self-motivated, the most successful individuals tend to have a passion for innovation, innate curiosity and a desire to help build something different and unique.

They are also very good at communicating and are comfortable presenting both internally and externally and present themselves well. Some of the key success characteristics such as passion, curiosity, and desire to build are difficult to be taught and even less of it can be motivated by financial compensation. What makes talent stay is great senior leadership whom they want to be mentored by and learn from, leaders who communicate their point of view clearly and who encourage all points of view to be heard, leaders who proactively share their views on market conditions and the expected impact of global macroeconomic conditions on our region, for example, and finally leaders who make their team feel like they are fully invested in their success.

Is there a supply gap i.e., VCs cannot find enough women VC candidates?

I don’t think so, at least not in Singapore. We just hired two women to join our junior team from a pool of applicants where females were ~30-40% of the pool. I would expect this is similar to what we’d see in investment banking or PE.

Does the VC bros-club culture act as a barrier to more women joining and advancing in the field?

I think there has been significant spotlight and focus from today’s senior leadership teams in VC on this point and so the industry itself has progressed compared to 10 years ago. However, VC still continues to be male-dominated and this is more a barrier to advancement in the field versus a barrier to entry. The appeal of VC will always attract a certain number of people. As a female, my perspective is that you advance only if your largely male colleagues or senior team sees you as ‘one of them’ – a partner. Assuming you are as capable as your male colleagues in raising money, sourcing and leading deals and networking, females still face more ‘work’ than their male colleagues to advance. This is simply because there are unseen, cultural barriers/norms in place that require females to work 2x as hard to be heard or seen or taken seriously. If you’re not as social, you’re labelled as aloof, tune in too much to your intuition/gut or show too much enthusiasm and you’re labelled as having weak analytical skills. If you were a male, these same traits would be labelled as ‘gets sh*t done’ and ‘decisive’. These are issues that any female in a male-dominated industry would face, not just VC.

What challenges have you faced in your career as a VC?

Externally, when I first started in VC, I felt a decent amount of scepticism from other VCs about my ability to evaluate companies and make investment decisions given my non-traditional background and path into VC. I come from an operational background, having been in brand management for almost a decade, and most assumed this meant I had expertise in ‘communications, PR, marketing campaigns and Facebook ads’. This could not have been farther from the truth but I did feel like I had to justify my presence a lot.

Additionally, I am always the only female in a room full of males and the cultural biases come through. I have experienced everything from a founder not making eye contact with me throughout his presentation because he thought my male intern was the decision-maker, to having my point be repeated by a male colleague only for him to get the credit – it is tough to be a senior female in VC if you don’t have a thick skin and a support group of other women!

What advice would you offer to those interested in the field?

Be in VC because you love discovering new technologies, enjoy thinking about how the future can be shaped by what you invest in today, you want to help build something impactful for the future, and because you would talk to companies and invest in them even if you were not getting paid to do so. VC can be super fun for all those reasons, but also draining – imagine seeing 500 companies a year and investing in only 1 or 2, and also saying no to the rest and providing reasons why!

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