Kapor Center

In this Part II of a two-part series, we identify systemic problems with the current institutions that fund venture capital (VC) groups and propose how to change this archaic system. This builds off of Part I where we discussed the gender disparities in venture capital, and how solving for those issues creates great financial opportunities for investors, as well as assuring our …

Amid the present flood of accusations of sexual harassment and abuse, there’s been a strange scarcity of broader social critique. We are accumulating copious evidence of wrongdoing, without looking deeper for a diagnosis

One day in 2013, AJ Vandermeyden drove to Tesla’s corporate headquarters, in Palo Alto, California, sat down on a bench outside the main entrance, and waited, in the hope of spotting someone who looked like a company employee. Vandermeyden, who was thirty years old, had been working as a pharmaceutical sales representative since shortly after college, but she wanted a …

Apple’s new diversity report, out last week, highlighted a sad fact: Underrepresented minorities employed at the company grew from just 19% in 2014 to 23% in 2017. While the tech giant claims that 50% of its new hires in the US this year were from historically underrepresented groups in tech, the meager results mirror the industry at large.

This week, venture capitalist Steve Jurvetson left his own firm, Draper Fisher Jurvetson, amid allegations of inappropriate conduct that led to an internal investigation. The company said he left by mutual agreement. This has happened before at other firms. Ellen Pao is a venture capitalist who sued well-known firm Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers for gender discrimination in 2012. She …

These venture capitalists are not only some of the top investors in the investment community but many of them are committed to spending dollars with black-owned companies. Below are their names and some highlights of companies they’ve invested in.

One day in 2013, AJ Vandermeyden drove to Tesla’s corporate headquarters, in Palo Alto, California, sat down on a bench outside the main entrance, and waited, in the hope of spotting someone who looked like a company employee. Vandermeyden, who was thirty years old, had been working as a pharmaceutical sales representative since shortly after college, but she wanted a …

We need to talk about the tsunami of questionable money crashing into the tech industry. We should talk about it because that money is suddenly in the news, inconveniently out in the open in an industry that has preferred to keep its connection to petromonarchs and other strongmen on the down low.

This series profiles the most prominent and influential venture capitalists in the country. They talk about how they broke into the industry, what drives them, and what they have their eyes on, among other topics. In this episode, I sit down with Mitch Kapor of Kapor Capital.

Freada Kapor Klein and Mitch Kapor have built a legacy around their organizations working to make the tech sector more diverse and inclusive. Now, they’re ready to take a step back and let those groups be run by the teams they’ve assembled across the Kapor Center for Social Impact, Kapor Capital and Level Playing Field Institute. (Note: Subscribers login needed to access this article.)

In a time of disappearing government data and a rapidly changing workplace, journalists and academics are finding new ways to collaborate and leverage the power of their original research and their reach.

Venture investing is supposed to be a meritocracy, where the best ideas will win funding and support from powerful venture capital firms. But the reality for women-founded companies is often disturbingly different.