West’s Future of Food event looks to explore the answer to that question, and many like it

Food. It fuels us and sustains us. We build community at our dinner tables and cram snacks in our bags to eat on the go. Sometimes we think about what we eat, other times it’s a subconscious task, an attempt to fuel us through busy lives.

But our food systems are in trouble. The global demand for food will rise by 70 to 100 percent by 2050, according to the United Nations. To meet this need, production in developing countries will need to almost double.

Meanwhile, we live in a time of rapid-fire technological innovations where it truly feels like anything is possible.

What if we could merge the two?

In labs and kitchens around the world, chefs, scientists and entrepreneurs are doing just that.   

Inspired by the ticking time bomb of a global food shortage and the urgency of climate change, they’re creating tasty treats to feed the masses and lessen impact on the planet.

Join us on Wednesday, October 3 for an evening of conversation and tastings. West’s Managing Partner Joanna Rees will moderate a panel discussion with food innovators, chefs and experts focused on the rise of engineered food, the challenge of creating food for our evolving diets and the importance of balancing global demand with environmental sustainability.

The Future of Food
Wednesday, October 3, 2018 | 6PM
West | 682 Schofield Rd, San Francisco, CA

6PM - Introductions & panel
7PM - Taste the Future. Mix and mingle with food futurists and sample their latest bites.

In conversation with…

Mike Selden, Co-founder & CEO, Finless Foods
Megan Miller, Co-founder & CEO, Bitty Foods
Ryan Pandya, Co-founder & CEO, Perfect Day Foods
Alec Lee, Co-Founder & CEO, Endless West
Dominique Barnes, Co-founder & CEO, New Wave Foods
Josh Tetrick, Co-founder & CEO, JUST

and a few surprises...

RSVP here.

Why host a food event?
At West, we work with visionary founders and companies changing the way we live. From our early work with Impossible Foods to an internal focus on eating and buying local, sustainable food, this is an issue near and dear to our hearts. How we eat defines how (and how long) we live, so focusing on this massive challenge allows us to discuss a topic that appeals to everyone: the food on your plate.

We hope to see you there!

You would think that a venture fund CFO would be the last person to provide relationship advice. However, I am often asked, “How would you structure the finance function for an early stage venture?” And my answer is in the context of nurturing a long-term relationship.

A long-term relationship may introduce you to new experiences and products (in my case colorful socks) but it will also force you to evaluate how best to manage your joint finances. Creating a strong financial foundation early mitigates stress in your ‘relationship’ and enables you to establish the right path to grow together. The same applies to managing your company’s finances.

A long-term relationship may extend your ‘friends’ network, but choose wisely – in the case of your company, establish the right partnerships early including your bank and service/technology providers:

• Optimize your banking relationship beyond a deposit account. Find a bank with technology start-up experience, ideally one who has provided short-term financing (line of credit, term loans). The right banks also support the technology ecosystem through events that bring together venture capital firms and entrepreneurs. A strong banking relationship at inception will support your growth needs while saving you the administrative challenge of either moving banks or managing multiple bank accounts.
• Outsource to an accounting service provider and a human resource technology solution. Outsourcing will cost significantly less than hiring a full-time resource and will provide an independent perspective. When selecting an outsourced solution, your provider should go beyond administrative benefits and demonstrate the ability to provide quality reporting that will help drive both business and fundraising decisions. A strong outsourcing partnership will scale with the growth of your business.

A long-term relationship does not rely on luck; it requires focus, planning, and investment – don’t take these for granted:

• Don’t spend money, instead invest it in your business. Base your spending on the value or competitive advantage it creates for your company. Consider an independent advisor who can help guide strategic financial decisions that support your long-term growth. Your demonstrated ability to invest in growing your business will pay dividends when you raise future rounds of capital.
• Manage cash through a quarterly cash flow projection which reasonably projects when you will receive payment on your receivables. Use this projection to maintain cash for payroll and rent, to plan additions to your team, and to negotiate payment terms with your vendors that are consistent with your receivable cycle. An effective cash flow projection will provide the roadmap if you need to raise additional capital.
• Create a simple chart of accounts (15-20 account categories) for your financial statements. Things will only get more complicated with time. Review financial statements monthly and update your cap table when you grant options (and when you raise a new round). Updated financial information and an updated cap table are essential when raising capital and responding to investor diligence requests.

A long-term relationship can benefit from third-party interventions. I’m not suggesting therapy, but an independent review will prepare you for the future:

• Consider a financial statement review by an independent accountant. A review can provide external parties with a basic level of assurance on the accuracy of financial statements and is appropriate as your business grows and seeks larger and more complex levels of financing and credit. A review will also help in transitioning to a financial statement audit which institutional investors will likely require.

A long-term relationship generally requires co-habitation, so plan your ‘home’ wisely:

• Evaluate your space needs strategically as rent will likely be your largest expense after payroll. A lease agreement creates an obligation for the total payments; therefore, if you want flexibility consider a shorter-term lease agreement and retain a tenant option to extend. If considering a new space remember to account for both the cost to move and the cost to return your existing space to its former state.

While these steps require time and energy and may not seem immediately important when launching your business, the right investment in your financial foundation will provide the agility to scale as well as save you from downstream challenges (aka ‘an ugly break up’).

Have questions or interested in (financial) relationship advice? Send me a note at promit@west.ventures

As we rapidly approach graduating West’s inaugural summer internship class (too soon!), we wanted to take a moment to acknowledge and thank our extraordinary cohort of interns. West is incredibly grateful to each of them for their insightful contributions, tireless energy and passion, and unwavering commitment to push each other and West in always striving to be better.

And reflecting on this incredible experience we wanted to share a couple of key learnings that we believe validates the tremendous value internship programs provide. That said, we also hope this will inspire and persuade employers who don’t yet have an internship program to launch one of their own.

Seeing Things Differently
It cannot be overstated that ‘group-think’ is a real barrier to creative thinking and generating breakthrough insights. Having the right mix of capabilities and experiences are critical to the success of any organization.

Consequently, interns challenge ‘the way we’ve always done it’ mentality by bringing fresh, novel perspectives and approaches. And given their relative lack of professional experience and natural curiosity, interns are incredibly good at questioning established norms, ideas and processes and suggesting solutions that hadn’t been considered before.

This summer the West interns weighed in on a range of external and internal projects from analyzing the network effects of two-sided marketplaces to experience journey mapping to producing omni-channel media campaigns. For one of our portfolio companies looking to engage with a specific target audience, the interns’ unique perspective enabled them to identify social trends that were on the periphery, but particularly meaningful.

Clearly this kind of thinking is invaluable. But also substantiates the notion that diversity of perspectives and approaches, regardless of professional experience, can benefit any organization, team or project.

New Employment Reality
Increasingly employers expect potential candidates to have experience before applying. In fact the Georgetown University Center on Education and the Workforce found that 63% of college graduates who completed an internship received a job offer, compared to 35% who never interned. In addition, graduates with internship experience received a starting salary that was 28% higher than their peers without that experience.

Providing access to relevant, meaningful internships allows students to build professional experience, and prepare them for this new employment reality. And investing in internships help students succeed in their first job and sets them up for long-term career success.

So as we celebrate the success of our inaugural internship class, we also want to encourage future employers to launch and adopt an internship program. We believe that preparing the next generation of leaders not only makes smart economic sense, but is also our responsibility to making the world a better place.

Congratulations to the West summer interns of 2018. Be well. Do well. And thank you for joining us out West!

On a brisk Tuesday evening this June, West hosted the San Francisco chapter of Ladies, Wine & Design to discuss the topic of imposter syndrome.

LW&D was founded by Jessica Walsh, the globally recognized designer, art director, and partner of the NYC based design firm Sagmeister & Walsh. Recently, Jessica witnessed more and more women being competitive or unsupportive of one another. She also noticed that only a small percent of creative directors were women. LW&D was founded to help change this through mentorship circles, portfolio reviews, talks, and creative meet-ups.

West was honored to welcome more than 100 Bay Area women into our Presidio offices for a night of open and honest conversation on the topic of imposter syndrome. The evening started with a captivating fireside chat between Joanna Rees, West's Managing Partner, and special guest, Tawni Cranz, Chief People Officer at Waymo (previously CHRO at Netflix). Joanna and Tawni shared stories of their own lives and careers, discussing tactics and techniques to overcome imposter syndrome and seize opportunities. During the discussion, they shared invaluable advice on negotiation skills and navigating difficult career decisions. Following the fireside chat, attendees broke out into small groups to discuss and share advice. The night ended with an unwavering commitment to ditch our own background b*tches!

Are culture and performance linked?

There is no shortage of musings on the importance of company culture. Or the confounding nature of it. Open any recent Fast Company, or saunter into any airport bookstore and you’re bound to find endless titles extolling the importance of organizational culture. This is not a new topic, but it is one that is increasingly at the center of boardroom discussions.

In a January 2018 Harvard Business Review cover story (The Leader’s Guide to Corporate Culture), Spencer Stuart, a leading global executive search and leadership consulting firm, shared insights from their decades of experience analyzing organizations and executive teams. What they found was a direct link between culture and performance, with five key takeaways for CEOs, Boards, and management teams:

1. Culture should be viewed as a foundational business system and managed as such.
2. Managing culture requires a definition and a model.
3. Start from the outside-in when setting a target culture.
4. Culture and leadership are inextricably linked, find leaders to support the culture you want.
5. Boards overlook an important area of risk and performance oversight if they aren’t asking about culture.

At West, we have the privilege of sitting side-by-side with founders and CEOs, and as Board Members to our portfolio companies. We have a front-row seat to the make-it or break-it nature of company culture. Whether we’re making an investment, designing a new visual identity, or building a go-to-market strategy, much of our underlying work is helping leaders manage and shape their team and culture.

The reality is culture happens whether you shape it, or not. The most successful organizations are the ones that consider culture a competitive advantage and manage it with the same commitment as they do their product, brand, and growth strategies. As Spencer Stuart rightly points out, “a company’s culture can make or break even the most insightful strategy or the most experienced executives.”

Shaping and managing company culture can take many forms. At a foundational level, it’s a set of shared assumptions that drive the way organizations think and behave. These shared assumptions direct how we work, what we work on, who we work with, and the way in which we communicate and collaborate with the world around us.

Most often, culture manifest in the small nuances of our day-to-day happenings. But increasingly, we’re seeing the benefit of a strategic and long-term commitment to creating space for deep discussion and reflection. That’s not easy to do in the fast-paced world of startups. But it’s imperative.

At West, we curate events that bring communities together to tackle some of today’s toughest questions. We take research trips to explore emergent technologies and new ways of working. We host lunch and learns with experts in a space we’re looking to get smart on. We take deep dives into the worlds of art, fashion and music where we get to stretch our thinking. Just recently we spent a day of service getting our hands dirty and giving back.

Regardless of the medium, we believe culture is a foundational business strategy that can improve performance. What will you say next time your board asks…

What are we doing to link our culture with our performance?

May 2018 saw the San Francisco host the first U.S. edition of the lauded arts and technology festival. As a founding partner and supporter of the US edition, we at West deeply believe that there is no more important place and time for MUTEK than San Francisco in 2018.

In the journey to becoming the undisputed global hub of innovation and technology, it's important to be honest about what the Bay Area has also lost.

Neighborhoods famous for birthing art and literature movements, free love and political activism now make headlines for setting real estate records, tech bus congestion and the displacement of those unable to keep up with the cost of living.

But this isn’t about gentrification’s inevitable march. There is a much bigger point around the need for successful societies, communities, and companies to balance left and right brain agendas and engineer for a diversity of perspective. Culture without the intervention of technology will stagnate. And for technology to have meaning, it needs culture.

That is one of our core beliefs at West. It is also the founding premise of MUTEK, an international festival that now boasts 7 annual editions including Tokyo, Barcelona and its home, Montreal.

Over a year in the making, MUTEK.SF took place over 4 days and showcased a carefully curated roster of electronic music performances, audiovisual works, and panel discussions programmed to reflect a mix of the city’s technological innovation, intellectualism, and futurism. It chose underground pioneers over A-list talent, used venues like the Mint and the Cal Academy over the city’s more familiar music halls, and upheld a strict “no corporate sponsorship” policy, preferring the art to be enjoyed without the distraction of a sales pitch (or perhaps the reminder of “work”).

For the thousands who attended, it was evident that MUTEK.SF is something that the city sorely needs. Each event was a sanctuary where human and machine collaborated in the pursuit of expanding minds and triggering emotions, not scaling users.

It was an important and timely reminder that however powerful and pervasive the industry of technology might get, it is nothing when compared with the creative power and range of the human imagination.

West is proud to be involved in planning for the festival’s return to San Francisco in 2019.

The most important question: Should we?

It's easy to get so wrapped up in building what's next that we lose sight of what's important. The future is happening all around us, and there are huge opportunities to shape it in ways that improve our world for current and future generations.

We recently hosted a gathering of leading thinkers and impact entrepreneurs to reflect on hard questions at the intersection of tech, culture, and human well-being.

Our main takeaway: issues relating to the ethics of innovation are proliferating -- and convening diverse perspectives to discuss such issues is vitally important. Here’s what got us thinking:

Engineers at the wheel
From gene editing to AI control, we talked about the importance of collective decision-making at the national, industry, and firm-level, while noting that many of the most critical ethical questions arise at the level of engineers, not CEOs.

Proximity → Empathy
Kinstep CEO Tenzin Seldon said the key question innovators must ask themselves is not "Can we?" but "Should we?" When entrepreneurs fail to engage with populations impacted by their work, it's harder to know.

New humans, new morality
"A new ethics, a new morality, is dying to emerge," said NEO-LIFE publisher and Wired co-founder Jane Metcalfe. "Whatever the next wave of homo sapiens is, we’re making it now."

Unconscious consent
The World Economic Forum's Head of Technology Policy and Partnerships, Zvika Krieger, said governments are "struggling to keep up" and questioned how companies can better inform and protect consumers who seldom read terms of service agreements to which they readily consent.

Desire for well-being
RSA Director Alexa Clay told us how impersonating an Amish futurist at tech summits elicited expressions of deep concern about the impact of new technologies. "I met a lot of people who felt like they were part of an emerging desire to create technologies that allow us to better manage our well-being."

Ethics at West
As an investor and strategic advisor to cutting-edge startups across a wide array of industries, we regularly observe and interact with startups grappling with complex ethical questions.

Indeed, the frequency with which startup founders are presented with vexing ethical questions is one of the main reasons why building a dependable sphere of principled and experienced advisors around founding teams is so critical.

In all our portfolio company relationships, we aim to be the trusted resource that our partners can rely upon to decide what they should being doing -- and then bring that intention to life in ways that fuel long-term growth and impact.

West is pleased to announce its investment in Tentrr, as featured in TechCrunch.

Tentrr is a technology platform creating a unique marketplace in the sustainable experiential tourism space. Tentrr enables landowners to monetize their dormant land, providing economic resilience to rural communities. It’s platform creates a seamless way for customers to experience the outdoors through its distributed network of individual campsites on large pieces (15 acres +) of beautiful private land. Tentrr campsites are fully equipped, appealing to both first time and experienced campers. In addition, Tentrr enables local service providers to list their services on the platform.

West executed a comprehensive Market Fit engagement to help the company position itself for the largest market opportunity, by identifying and defining the various customer personas and mapping both the customer and landowner journey that resulted in a significant redesign and development of Tentrr’s technical platform. We have also helped improve the company’s performance marketing efforts with stronger data science and analytics.

How the world's most connected man moves boulders with compassion

Some leaders equate toughness with success. LinkedIn CEO Jeff Weiner knows better. At a recent spotlight lunch, Jeff shared why LinkedIn’s culture is its biggest competitive advantage.

Compassionate leadership
Jeff's embrace of the concept was sparked by the 14th Dalai Lama's writings on happiness and the parable of a monk who encountered a man trapped under a boulder.

For the monk to sympathize with the plight of the trapped man: this is empathy. Compassion is moving the boulder: taking action to free others from what burdens them.

Values on repeat
Only through constant repetition, he said, do values actually begin to show up in company culture.

Saying something once or twice rarely does the job: you've got to repeat it so often you get tired of saying it.

All hands
Over the past 9 years of leading LinkedIn's growth from 330 to over 11,000 employees, Jeff has convened bi-weekly all-hands meetings for the purpose of acknowledging successes and challenges. This has helped to cement a culture of transparency and trust.

Keeping a cadence of regular meetings is relatively easy when a company is small. As a company scales, it is more challenging but all the more important.

Belonging
Jeff urged us to go beyond hiring for diversity to ensure that employees from diverse backgrounds are included in high-level meetings and that, once there, they find others like them.

As CEO, one of Jeff's biggest goals has been to ensure that LinkedIn is a place where talented people from any background feel they really belong.

The future of work
By 2020, Millennials will comprise 75% of the global workforce. This is a generation that freely expresses how they want to work differently than those before them. They are the pioneers who are leading us toward a future where independent and flexible work arrangements will become increasingly prevalent.

While acknowledging that AI-driven automation is here and bound to accelerate, Jeff expressed optimism in AI-enabled technology's ability to help solve for large regional skills gaps: “We must retrain people for the jobs that are and will be, not that once were.”

Own your culture
Jeff said he most admires companies that do the hard work of codifying, reinforcing, and living into their unique values and culture, and that "[LinkedIn's] culture is our most significant competitive advantage."

While compassion has worked well for LinkedIn, Jeff said the most important thing is for companies to define and live by whatever unique set of values works best for them.

West is pleased to announce its investment in Prelude Fertility. Prelude is a comprehensive fertility company focused on the Future of Fertility, providing proactive fertility care to improve people’s chances of having healthy babies when they’re ready.

West engaged with Prelude in July 2016 when the company had three employees, and a letter of intent to acquire its first clinic. At the time of our investment Prelude had 2 locations. Prelude has now expanded to 16 locations and continues to acquire top-tier centers in the largest U.S. metropolitan areas executing its strategy to achieve category leadership in providing comprehensive fertility services.

West has developed the full brand positioning, identity and messaging system for Prelude to be integrated across all clinics. This included a redesign of the actual clinic interiors; the customer information, onboarding and delivery of service processes; and upgrades to customer support and data management.

That one time we totally binged watched leadership lessons with Reed Hastings

Netflix CEO Reed Hastings famously transformed a DVD delivery business into the world’s leading streaming entertainment platform. On a recent visit to West, he shared his perspectives on what it takes to lead companies through transformation and growth.

Focus.
Nothing matters more than having a clear sense of what you’re trying to accomplish and being resolute about avoiding distraction.

To be a great leader. Be a great person.
With all the pressure leaders face to drive performance, it’s easy to lose sight of what's important.

Long-term planning is a waste of time -- be nimble.
Trend forecasts and scenario planning give leaders the false impression that they’re prepared for what’s next – but they seldom are, because the future is unpredictable. Instead of prognosticating, Netflix focuses on responding to emergent phenomena in real time.

Process can make you vulnerable.
Companies that respond to challenges by implementing processes create cultures of conformity. When circumstances change and old processes don’t sync with new realities, process-driven companies often find themselves unable to adapt.

Some markets are too big.
It’s easy to say when a market is too small; too big, less so. The right-sized market is one that’s big enough to sustain growth but not so big that category leadership is unattainable. To be credible, balance scale with specificity when defining your market.

Strategy is pain.
Strategy is about deciding what you’re not going to do, the hard decisions you need to make, and everything you’re going to sacrifice.

For big decisions, use Google docs.
At strategic crossroads, Reed shares his thinking with top Netflix execs in a Google doc and has them add their opinions for all to see. He says this process often does a better job of surfacing nuanced opinions than a conventional meeting would.

Manage your workforce like a top-tier sports team.
Only the A-team gets to play. Offering generous severance packages to employees who are just average ensures teams maintain world-class performance standards.

Board meetings are dialogue, not presentations.
If you’re spending your board meetings going through slide decks, you’ve missed a big opportunity to have meaningful conversations and build rapport with your board members.

How to think about difficult conversations.
Difficult conversations are easier when framed as choices between competing values. (For instance: kindness and honesty.)

Sometime, the best executive coach is a marriage counselor.
Amen.