Kathryn Mayne on VC, Investing in People, Taking Risks and Why Israel is Special

On the 6th episode of Invested, Michael hosts Kathryn Mayne – “the mother of Aleph.” Kathryn is a managing director at Horsley Bridge. She joined the firm in 2003 and manages their London office. Prior to HBP, Kathryn was Senior Vice President of Investments with Claridge Inc., where she was involved with investments in media, technology, consumer, and industrial companies as well as private equity fund investments. Kathryn started her professional career in asset management with Jarislowsky, Fraser in Montreal. She has a BA in History from the University of Calgary and an MBA from the University of Western Ontario. You can learn more about Horsley Bridge at www.horsleybridge.com and follow Kathryn on LinkedIn.  Please enjoy and rate this episode 5 stars wherever you stream your podcasts!  Key Topics [0:00] What makes a great venture capitalist?  [1:39] Intro  [3:09] How Michael and Kathryn know each other [4:54] How Kathryn became ‘the mother of Aleph’  [7:32] Are you an investor or psychologist?  [8:17] Do you have to like people to invest in VC? [10:30] How do you communicate hard things with VCs?   [12:55] What’s the biggest reason VC partnerships come apart?  [15:12] Why do you take risks? [17:46] Backing second VC funds  [18:40] Do you like your managers? [19:25] What makes a great venture capitalist?  [24:09] Do you care about the values of your investors?  [25:04] Do you care about the values of the underlying companies?  [26:25] What is the right way to value startups?  [28:35] How has the time horizon for investors evolved?  [31:41] What makes a great entrepreneur?  [32:35] What was your first trip to Israel like?  [34:05] What makes Israel unique?  [35:55] Are there entrepreneurial role models in Israel?  [37:30] How do you develop trust?  [38:20] Diversity and women in venture capital  [40:40] What is the culture of Horsley Bridge?  [41:40] How do you stay curious?  [42:30] How do you spark your kids’ curiosity?  [43:00] What are you interested in outside work?  [44:20] Your daughters paths  [45:30] Why were you cofounder of Level20?  [48:00] Diversity vs. returns [55:30] What gets you out of bed in the morning?  [55:44] What problem in the world do you most want to fix?  [57:10] What gets you emotional?  [58:00] How do you want to be remembered at the end of your life?  [58:41] What is the title of your biography?  [59:15] How do you maintain equanimity?  [1:02:15] The long-term impact of technology  [1:04:00] Is innovation values-neutral?  Resources To learn more about Horsley Bridge: www.horsleybridge.com  Follow Kathryn on LinkedIn: https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kathrynmayne For show notes and past guests on Invested, please visit: content.aleph.vc Learn more about Aleph: aleph.vc  Sign up for Aleph’s monthly email newsletter: aleph.vc  For the transcript of this episode, go to https://content.aleph.vc/invested-episode-06 Subscribe to our YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/@aleph-vc/ Follow Michael on Twitter: twitter.com/mikeeisenberg Follow Michael on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mieisenberg/ Follow Aleph on Twitter: https://twitter.com/mikeeisenberg Follow Aleph on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/aleph-vc/ Follow Aleph on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/aleph.vc/ Credits: Executive Producer: Erica Marom  Producer: Andrew Jacobson  Video and Editing: Ron Baranov  Music and Art Direction: Uri Ar  Design: Rony Karadi