The Diligent Observer Podcast Episode 34: "Angels Are Always Hopeful" | Incoming ACA Chair Kristina Montague on Growing Women's Capital Networks, Expanding the Investor Tent, and Finding Arbitrage in Overlooked Innovators
Insights from a fund manager who has mobilized hundreds of women investors, championed gender-lens investing in the Southeast, and is now steering the ACA as its incoming Chair
Today's episode explores 3 ideas that caught my attention:
- Women angels grew 8x in 10 years - Kristina shared that female angels increased from 5% to 40% of all angel investors since 2014.
- "Get out of your sandbox" - Her advice to deliberately step into unfamiliar networks struck me as the simplest yet most overlooked strategy for finding opportunities others miss.
- Let’s be honest: we make investment decisions from the heart - When she quoted Bill Payne that investing ultimately comes from the heart, it validated what I’ve observed again and again. At the end of the day, most angel investment decisions, no matter how well researched or diligenced, are made with our gut.
I explore these ideas and more with Kristina Montague, Managing Partner at JumpFund, which supports women-led ventures in the Southeast. As incoming Chair of the ACA and author of Jump In: Women Investing in Women, she brings over a decade of experience in gender-lens investing and building investor networks that drive returns and expand opportunities for overlooked founders.
During our conversation, Kristina shares:
- Her account of launching the first micro-venture fund in the Southeast focused entirely on women-led ventures, illuminating the unique challenges and opportunities of pioneering a gender-lens investment approach in a traditionally underserved region.
- Tactical approaches for overcoming bias in investor due diligence questioning, including awareness of "prevention vs. promotion" questioning patterns that can disadvantage certain founders.
- An insider's view of the ACA's strategic initiatives, including new individual membership programs and advanced AI tools to leverage 20 years of investor data.
Connect with Kristina
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All opinions are personal and may not reflect the views of The Diligent Observer. Not investment advice.