As Booker Rising mentioned last week, Khosla Ventures has signed former Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice to help track down and advise on venture capital deals in emerging markets.The Washington Post argues that Khosla's move is a good one to increase gender diversity in the venture capital world: "At a time when the rest of the world is embracing the Silicon Valley
model of development, it makes sense that VC firms need to make greater
efforts prospecting for deals globally. The Startup Genome project found seeds of Silicon Valley all over the world, from Brazil to Russia to Israel. In fact, Tel Aviv is now the number 2 start-up market in the world.
Rice, with her extensive foreign policy experience and easy access to
foreign leaders around the world, is exactly the type of person who can
track down deal flow in these new tech hubs. She can also guide Khosla
Ventures through complex policy and regulatory issues."
It continues about Dr. Rice's and venture capital "And, of course, it’s impossible to overlook the fact that Rice
represents a demographic that’s sorely lacking in tech circles these
days. While the number of female tech entrepreneurs is increasing,
and the number of prominent women who have made it to the top continues
to grow, the tech industry has always had trouble attracting and then
retaining young women. The Silicon Valley VC industry — at its highest
ranks — has always been a billionaire boys club. But that could change,
now that high-profile tech leaders such as Marissa Mayer and Sheryl
Sandberg (listed among the top 50 thinkers in the world by Foreign Policy magazine)
are blazing new pathways for women. If you take a look at the
long-range demographic trends in American society, it’s hard not to see
why we can expect more female venture capitalists in the near future as
well as more entrepreneurs with different racial and ethnic backgrounds."
Condi Rice: The New Face Of Venture Capital?
