Today's Edition

• Preccelerator Event: Naseem Sayani of Emmeline Ventures

• Webinar: Comp Strategy for VC Backed Companies

• Join me at Transform 2025 in Las Vegas

📆 Preccelerator Event: Naseem Sayani of Emmeline Ventures

Naseem Sayani, Co-Founder & GP of Emmeline Ventures, is hyper focused on the future.

With a 20+ year career in market development, operations, and business building, Naseem leads with a human-centric approach to startup investing. Her seed stage fund invests specifically in women-led startups within the healthcare, fintech, and sustainability industries, with the mission to support technology and innovation that help women live and thrive.

With 23 portfolio companies and a second fund nearly closed, Emmeline’s future—like those of the women they support—is bright.

Why it matters: Women have been both historically and statistically left behind in the venture space.

• In 2022, only 1.9% of venture capital was allocated to solely female founders.

• In 2023, that number remained stagnant at about 1.8%, with about $3.1b out of the $170b in vc funds allocated to all women founding teams.

• As an industry, VC has only been investing in women’s health startups for ~6 years.

The difference: Naseem’s thesis is predicated on the idea that if founders can approach a business with a woman’s preference in mind, the economic upside is nearly unlimited. Yet, there lies a stigma around the industry of women’s health. Investors have called it “too niche.” To that, Naseem responds:

Her approach: Here’s what Naseem shared she looks for in a founder:

• “Core rewiring” - The founder’s ability to rewire a solution to break the mold, not fit into one.

• “Founder Market Alignment” - How close the founder is tied into the sector they’re building in. Understanding how it moves, who the competitors are, even what regulations they may need to navigate.

• “Founder traits” - Are they coachable? Do they have the motor to take rejection and move on with the same enthusiasm they started with? Do they hold strong beliefs yet are open to feedback & change?

Pitch deck: As a seed stage investor, Naseem suggests that her founders focus on three main areas in their pitch decks:

• Vision - What’s the impact, how will it affect or define the category, and what’s the goal?

• Financials - Show that you’ve thought this through, from market opportunity to competitors, to M&A and potential buyers.

• Differentiation - Highlight the company value prop and value wedge, and show you’ve thought about what happens if your competitors turn their attention on the problem you’re looking to solve.

The Takeaway: There is a MASSIVE opportunity for underserved and underestimated female founders to build great companies.

• There’s a lot of dry powder waiting to be deployed by venture firms as they look for interest rates to drop.

• Women’s healthcare is a $1 trillion opportunity that is ripe for disruption & innovation.

Check out Naseem’s firm here: Emmeline Ventures

Thanks to Preccelerator for hosting!

🧮 Webinar: Comp Strategy for VC Backed Companies

Sequoia hosted 10 sessions over the last year highlighting key comp strategies for VC backed companies.

Why it matters: Comp is tough. Equity allocation is tough. Managing your burn rate is tough. Macroeconomic challenges led to a higher-than-ever scrutiny on people spend practices. Don’t go it alone.

Take a closer look: Here are the 10 topics that our compensation advisors covered:

• Building Resilient Comp Structures in a Shifting Economy

• Managing Comp Philosophy Drift

• Refining Your Comp Philosophy for 2024

• Making Annual Planning Easier

• Carta + Sequoia Total Comp Solution: Get Your Comp Strategy Right

• Demystifying Compensation Philosophy

• How to Use Equity to Retain and Recruit When Cash Is Tight

• Pay Equity Compliance: How to Protect Your Company

• 5 KPIs That Prove the Effectiveness of Your Total Comp Program

• Comp Management for a Geographically Dispersed Workforce

Check out the recordings by hitting the button below:

⭐️ Join me at Transform 2025 in Las Vegas?

Transform 2025 is the premier gathering of business leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs focused on transforming the now and next of work for the better.

Come join me to learn, get inspired, and connect with your peers.

I’m lucky enough to have a discounted partner link that offers $200 off the normal ticket price!

Register now with my partner link to secure the lowest pricing:

Thank you for reading and joining on this journey with me!

Please reach out with any feedback about future topics you’d like to read about.

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👋 Quick about me:

I’m Cris Cafiero, and for nearly a decade, I’ve collaborated with founders, CFOs, and people leaders of early-stage, venture-backed startups. As an ex-Zenefits, ex-ADP, and now Business Consultant for Sequoia, I help startups build scalable people management infrastructure and maximize their people investment through compensation & benefits strategies.

Based in LA, I share my life with my wife and our two dogs. I’m into NBA drama, Marvel, reading, video games, computer-building, real estate investing, and lifelong learning.

I care about helping startups build a thoughtful, people-first culture and hope you find the topic as interesting as I do.

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