Karen Page: Venture Boards, Founder Governance, and the Path from Startup to Scale

(0:00) Intro

(1:25) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel

(2:12) Start of interview

(3:01) Karen's origin story

(3:44) Early Career and Transition to Technology

(5:40) The Dot-Com Era and her time at Brobeck and later at Orrick.

(8:50) Her transition to Prosper Marketplace (Chris Larsen's company) 

(9:40) Her time at Box, Inc. and Apple *Reference to E179 with Jack Lazar

(13:14) Her journey to Venture Capital.

(14:16) Joining B Capital (in 2019) and the firm's investment focus

(16:16) The nature of B Capital's partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 

(19:32) Governance in Early Stage Companies

(20:42) Her role as a board partner of her firm. *Reference to VCBA program

(23:22) Building Trust in Governance "It starts on day one. And that trust is just, is literally earned through every conversation, every interaction, and certainly every board meeting."

(25:41) Founder-Friendly Terms and Market Changes

(28:43) The Importance of Governance During Crisis

(31:52) CEO Succession and Leadership Transition

(37:45) Advisory Boards vs. Fiduciary Boards

(40:06) On board observers

(44:08) Board Committees and Their Evolution

(48:10) The Debate: Stay Private or Go Public

(51:37) Books that have greatly influenced her life:

1. Annie Duke's Thinking in Bets (2018)
2. Ray Dalio's Principles (2017)
3. Shoe Dog by Phil Night (2016)

(52:00) Her mentors: David Geyer (Brobeck), Aaron Levie (Box), Howard Morgan (B Capital)

(52:48) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "never cut what you can untie". And the other is "never confuse motion with progress."

(53:03) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves. 

(53:25) The people she most admires

(55:50) Diversity on Boards in Venture Capital

Karen Page is a General Partner and Board Partner at B Capital. As a Board Partner, she collaborates with portfolio company leadership, B Capital’s investment team and the firm’s network of advisors to provide best-in-class strategic guidance

You can follow Evan on social media at:

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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License