414: Demystifying Venture Capital with Sarah Dusek

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What do women need to know to succeed at the game of business?

Sarah Dusek

Sarah Dusek is a female entrepreneur who sold her company Under Canvas in 2017 for over $100M. In that same year, Under Canvas received a spot on the coveted Inc. 5000 list, and Sarah was named to Ernst & Young’s EY Entrepreneurial Winning Women list.

After recognizing that women entrepreneurs receive only 2% of all available funding each year in the US, Sarah became a partner at Enygma Ventures, a venture capital fund focused on investing in women-led businesses in Africa, the US and Europe. They have now invested tens of millions of dollars in 20+ companies.

Sarah also offers online courses for early-stage entrepreneurs (hosted at www.pranary.com). Over the past year, five thousand entrepreneurs have gone through her programs to become investor-ready and learn how to build valuable companies.

She is a regular contributor to Forbes.com, The Telegraph, and TRT World. She is also chairwoman of the Women’s Giving Circle for The Global Good Fund, a social entrepreneurship leadership development program, and sits on the board of ten (and rising) startup companies in Southern Africa, as well as Under Canvas.

In this episode, we explore the lessons she learned scaling her company from zero and selling it for $100M+, the importance of capital as a tool advancing women and equality, and the keys to accessing venture capital as a female entrepreneur committed to serving the greater good.

What We Discuss with Sarah Dusek in This Episode

Choosing the right vehicle for driving innovation and change
Using money and wealth to make a positive impact
What women need to know about raising capital
Disrupting the status quo in the VC space
Women learning the language of venture capital
Pioneering the glamping industry
Building Under Canvas to a $100m sale
Turning a brilliant idea into a viable business
Determining your product market fit
The two sides of venture capitalism
Doing venture capitalism better

Podcast Highlights

1:59 – Choosing the right path to innovation and change

4:27 – Embracing conscious capitalism

6:45 – Opening the door to parity and diversity

8:30 – Acknowledging unconscious bias

11:35 – Learning the rules of the game

15:44 – The Under Canvas startup story

19:26 – Establishing traction in your business

23:25 – Testing pricing models

28:00 – Securing venture capital as a female founder

37:18 – Keeping the mission first

41:30 – Enygma Ventures doing it different

49:18 – Learn more and take action

Favorite Quote

“The vehicle for driving innovation and change really is business.” ~ Sarah Dusek

Connect with Sarah Dusek and Learn More

Online Courses: www.pranary.com
VC Website: https://www.enygmaventures.com
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enygmaventuresfund
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enygmaventures
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarahhdusek

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What do women need to know to succeed at the game of business?