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Sandra Ng isn’t going to wait for more women to access venture capital. As a founding investor and champion of Invest Ottawa x Capital Angel Network’s SheBoot, a Startup@Berkeley Law Venture Capital University alum, and limited partner with The51 Venture Fund, she’s leading the charge to bring them in.
Over the last 25 years, Sandra has empowered women and underrepresented groups through international development projects across 18 countries and public equities in Asia and North America. In Ottawa, she champions companies with social and environmental agendas as an investor with the Capital Angel Network.
Today, she shares how entrepreneurs and professionals can chart a mission-driven path — and grow wealth along the way.
[4:00] Feeling like an “other”
[6:30] The powerful connection between women and economic growth
[11:00] Sandra’s introduction to the Ottawa startup ecosystem through Invest Ottawa and SheBoot
[13:42] Advice for professionals and founders who are starting out
[20:15] Having a global perspective
[22:50] Being self-aware
[25:00] Only 2.3% of venture funding goes to women-led businesses
[31:51] Tips for entrepreneurs raising money
[33:25] You have no competitors? Think again…
[34:26] Luck favours the prepared mind
[36:15] Be bold — your voice counts
This episode is brought to you in collaboration with Invest Ottawa. We teamed up to produce this special series in celebration of International Women’s Week, and the women leading in Ottawa. Visit investottawa.ca/iww to learn more.
Psst — Sandra shared some great resources for young entrepreneurs and future investors to get started, grow their wealth and make an impact. Check them out below, with links you can access right away.
Naomi: What are you working on Sandra?
Sandra: I’m active in Ottawa’s startup ecosystem. I’m deepening my understanding of angel investing so that I can get more venture capital to women — who only get 2.3% of it today.
I participated in the first startup weekend in Singapore in 2012, worked on microfinance programs in South Asia, as well as economic development projects in Latin America and Africa. I had a couple of stints in public policy at universities in the US and Singapore. Being a mom was a much harder job than anything I was paid to do.
My early experiences with discrimination made me feel like I needed to better the world. I grew up in Victoria, B.C. on the West Coast of Canada in the 80s and 90s, when it was more acceptable for people to make comments that were openly discriminatory.
As a teenager, I wanted to work with the United Nations because they do good for the world. I never did work at the UN, though I had an opportunity to in Kurdistan. But love took me away from that.
Naomi: You’ve lived in 18 different countries, went to graduate school at the London School of Economics, and shortly thereafter you entered this space of economic development and investment.
Sandra: Microfinance is done at a much smaller scale than angel investing. I’ve worked at both the community and policy levels in international development, and regardless of the country, when women have access to finance, credit, and markets, they are likely to expand their businesses and contribute to better economic, social, and environmental outcomes for their family, community, and country.
The connection between women and economic growth is extraordinarily powerful. How can there be true sustainable development when half of the world’s talent pool is underrepresented at the community and global level?
Naomi: What was the impetus for you to join the startup ecosystem?
Sandra: I am a limited partner in The51 Venture Fund, a Canadian financial feminist platform founded in 2019. It is 10,000 women strong, with investors, entrepreneurs and aspiring financial feminists, who have together activated $60 million in private capital. 90% of The51 investors are women.
I’m more actively involved in Ottawa with SheBoot, a collaboration of the Capital Angel Network and Invest Ottawa, led by Sonya Shorey, Julia Elvidge and Jennifer Francis. Many programs and accelerators offer $5,000 or $10,000 prizes with great connections to mentorship. At SheBoot, the prize is $100,000.
We offer a six-week boot camp with high quality programming, that includes: business coaching, specialized mentorship and master classes that cover everything from pitching to marketing. We had our first cohort in 2020, online because of COVID-19. Season two is in 2021, with applications opening up in March.
I got involved in 2019, when I signed up for an Angel Investing 101 event at Invest Ottawa. That’s where I met Jennifer Francis, Chair of the Capital Angel Network, who was presenting. At the end of the event I knew this was a community I wanted to be a part of.
I joined the Capital Angel Network and made my first investment four months later, into an Ottawa company with a woman founder. Invest Ottawa is amazing in terms of the diversity of workshops they offer. It was through that portal that I got involved.
Naomi: What advice would you share with folks who are working on a business idea, or growing their business?
Sandra: The venture space is fairly male dominated. Find people who champion you — it’s more fun and productive. I surround myself with women who are interested in moving the needle on investments for women founders.
Reframe everything as a learning experience. I spend a lot of time in meetings with smart, experienced entrepreneurs and investors. If you don’t develop grit you can feel intimidated.
Invest time in reaching out and networking with like-minded individuals. I’m a strong believer in building bridges. It’s been a really difficult year for many people. COVID-19 brought us all online. A unique positive that came from this is being able to join The51 platform, who are based in Calgary.
Naomi: You took an online course with Startup@Berkeley Law’s Venture Capital University. What did you want to learn?
Sandra: To support founders in Ottawa, I need to understand the venture capital space. I have never started or raised money for a company, so I wanted to educate myself. It’s an opaque industry. The numbers are private. No one has to share information.
When I am advising a woman founder who’s interested in pursuing venture capital funding, I want to share my knowledge. There are so many intricacies. How do you properly structure a capitalization table? What is dilution? How are equity claims reduced each time a company issues stock? What are term sheets? What is the liquidation preference? How do you negotiate that with so many sophisticated instruments?
Naomi: How do you stay plugged in, to keep learning?
Sandra: I read the New York Times and I follow Bloomberg through apps on my iPad. I don’t read everything, but I have filters that direct me to what’s going on around the world. My strength is having a global perspective. It helps me understand where the tail winds are when it comes to investing in diverse sectors — I’m interested in energy policy and clean tech.
On angel investing, Brad Feld is a great author. He’s written a couple of books: one on Startup Communities and how you can develop one. Another one, Venture Deals, is about venture capital, designed for people raising money, so they know when they’re being offered a bad deal.
My learning has also come from sitting in rooms with experienced angel investors. They ask strategic questions. I research everything. Coming from an impact assessment and performance evaluation background, I am a Cartesian Mind — I put things in boxes and evaluate them.
Where I don’t have expertise, I rely on other angels. The Capital Angel Network has investors from different sectors. In 2020 we had about 50 investors, where 10 were women — so, 20%. These 50 members invested just over $4 million into the startup ecosystem in 2020, 17% of direct investments went to women founders.
These are good numbers if you think about the global VC scale, where women get 2.3% of venture capital funds. In 2019, only 13% of partners at Canadian venture firms were women and only 9% were managing partners. These are small numbers. Women are 51% of the population, how can we not be getting funded at 51%?
Naomi: Less than 5% of Venture capital funding is going to founders who are people of color founders as well.
Sandra: Yes, if you’re a woman of color you’re getting a fraction of that 2.3%.
Billions of dollars of women’s capital are already invested as limited partners in venture funds. The Ontario Teachers’ Pension fund has $204 billion in net assets. That’s a lot of money. It has a large private equity and venture capital portfolio. That’s all on their website, it’s public information.
According to the Ontario Ministry of Education, 82% of elementary school teachers and 67% of secondary teachers are women. Given that the billions of dollars in women-powered pension funds exist, why are women entrepreneurs still struggling for venture funding? Where’s the right place to start a conversation about this paradox?
Naomi: Who are the managers claiming the capital? People invest in people who look like them. I hear a lot of rhetoric that there’s a pipeline issue, that there’s not enough people of color or women to invest in.
Jarrid Tingle, the Managing Partner of a VC firm in New York called Harlem Capital, was recently interviewed on CNBC, and was asked about the pipeline. He said “No, we have more than we can invest in, in terms of women-led and people-of-color-led companies.”
Sandra: You’re spot on. [4.9%] of US VC firms are led by women general partners, and only 33% of this [4.9%] are women of color. The pipeline is not a problem. Billions of dollars of women’s capital is in the system in the form of pension funds. The solution is getting more women making venture capital decisions. But perhaps there’s more women whose capital is already being invested.
There are activist funds that pressure public equities markets – I can’t see why there wouldn’t be something similar for venture capital. There’s money in the system.
Naomi: We need more people like you in this space. What would you say to the 25-year-old interested in joining the startup ecosystem, in investing, in wealth building?
Sandra: I’m not advocating that you jump into angel investing without serious, thoughtful consideration. It’s a high-risk asset class, where an investor can lose all, or a substantial portion of, her investment.
If you want to buy a car or a house, you have to think seriously about this space. You have to be an accredited investor — the government of Canada has about 20 different ways you can qualify. If you believe you have the risk profile, and you are able to participate as an accredited investor in this asset class, go for it. Join the Capital Angel Network. Get involved in the ecosystem.
For listeners interested in starting their own company to create wealth, I can share three things that capture investors’ attention in a pitch deck: first, a passionate founder with integrity and grit, and if you have a team, one that’s dynamic and functional, second, an innovative product that is better, faster, and maybe cheaper, and a really solid understanding of your competitors and the overall market size so you can differentiate yourself.
Naomi: When people say that they don’t have any competitors, what does that flag to you as an investor?
Sandra: That they haven’t done their homework. The first thing an angel investor will do is Google your business. If it’s happening online, they can do it right on their laptops, and if it’s in-person, we have our phones with us.
There’s luck, but what can happen when you’re prepared to take advantage of it, too? I think there’s a famous quote that says luck favors the prepared mind.
Naomi: Has mentorship played a role in your life and career?
Sandra: When I was starting out in my mid-20s, I had people who were supportive, gave me opportunities, introduced me to others and offered exceptional references. Most of them were men. I’m trying to get more money towards women, and I believe it’s important to get men and women involved.
One thing I did learn from my mentors is that you have to be bold. Don’t be intimidated. Early on in my career, I worked with Mike Harcort, the former premier of British Columbia. I remember telling him that about an article I read in the paper, and I said, “I totally disagree, they’re not doing this right,” and he said, “Be bold. Write in and tell them you disagree and tell them why.” That hadn’t crossed my mind. Your voice and your perspective count.
This episode is brought to you in collaboration with Invest Ottawa. We teamed up to produce this special series in celebration of International Women’s Week, and the women leading in Ottawa. Visit investottawa.ca/iww to learn more.
Naomi Haile
An intrapreneur, consultant, and interviewer.
Naomi Haile is curious about people, their paths and what drives them. In 2017, she launched the Power of Why Podcast. Her guests have taken the non-linear path in business, venture capital and other creative professions to share their story. Each episode explores people’s philosophy on life and work.
As we all navigate our lives and careers, Naomi hopes that everyone she connects with – guests and listeners – can shape products, companies, and communities of impact.
Naomi is a consultant at QuakeLab. She is starting graduate school at Columbia University.