Connecting Founders in Blind Spots | Susanne Najafi, Rachael Palmer, Lindsay Kaplan, Eleanor Warnock
Channel: Slush
Date: 05/12/2023

Network Error — Connecting Founders in Blind Spots

Humans are social creatures, and networks determine the trajectories of our lives. They affect the opportunities we receive, shaping ecosystems and social structures along the way. Thus, opportunities circulate within networks based on shared socio-economic and educational backgrounds, often exclusive of gender and ethnic diversity.

Three leaders are changing this norm. Lindsay Kaplan co-founded Chief, a private membership network created to connect and support women executive leaders. Rachael Palmer, co-founder of Google’s Black Founder’s Fund and The Black Angel Group, sets her sights on advising, empowering, and investing in POC founders. Susanne Najafi, Co-Founder of BackingMinds, identifies the blind spots of venture capital by investing beyond hypes and backing those outside of traditional networks. Joined by Eleanor Warnock of Sifted, these founders will investigate the networks dilemma: do specialized networks solve marginalization and lack of equity, or do they perpetuate them by reproducing the logic of exclusivity?

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Thumbnail photo (c) Simo Pukkinen