“Dead man’s shoes. Older VCs need to move to the side,” says top VC

A top VC has called for older male VCs in leadership positions to move aside and make way for a younger, more diverse workforce in venture capital.

Zoe Peden, partner at Ananda Impact Ventures, an impact VC fund, made the call on the Tech.eu podcast, during a discussion on the diversity challenge in VCs and startups.

Peden said:

“Older VCs need to move to the side, that is one of the biggest issues. There is a point in time, where people need to recognise to let the younger ones come through.”

Peden likened it to “dead man’s shoes”, when coveted positions only become available on a person’s death.

While diversity in VC is improving, figures show that men dominate VC firms when it comes to senior leadership positions and ownership of VC firms.

According to Ada Ventures research, men account for 70 per cent of top jobs compared with 30 per cent of women, despite women making up four in ten of the VC workforce.

Peden was on the podcast with Eleanor Kaye, managing director, Newton Venture Program, an education scheme for overlooked and under-represented VCs.

Kaye explained the challenge women face to get to the top of VC firms.

Kaye said:

“How do I get to partner when the partner roles are hard to come by or there are people there for a long time?

“And a lot of the time people who work in venture capital are there for the long term. They join, and they are going to be there for the life of the fund, because it’s more financially attractive to stay.

“But then if you haven’t got a career path to partner, and the people who are the partners are not moving. And most VC funds are very small in size as well.

“We are seeing more and more women start their own funds to accelerate that role to partner, to being able to deploy capital.”

The pair also discussed an array of issues around diversity at VCs and in startups.

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