Propelling Founders to Success, Gen Z’s Impact on the Future of Work, and Being a Lifelong Learner, with Anna Barber of M13

The VITALIZE Podcast: Venture Capital | Startups | Angel Investing

Justin Gordon (@justingordon212) talks with Anna Barber (@annawbarber), partner at M13, a venture firm accelerating businesses in the future of consumer behavior with four pillars: Health, Money, Work and Commerce.

M13 is building a team of industry-leading operating executives to help founders make better decisions and win in their category. They believe founders deserve an investor who propels them on their mission of transforming an idea into a successful company, while staying out of their way. This is why they are building a Venture Engine, a full-service venture firm that provides the right people, platform, and partnerships for founding teams to build high-velocity businesses. M13 injects capital to fuel high-growth, while helping founding teams fill gaps in their businesses through their Propulsion Team, which provides strategic counsel, operational expertise, and a constellation of talent, experts, and resources to accelerate growth. Where they see whitespace in an industry, their Launchpad develops the right founding teams, products, and practices to incubate and launch an idea from inception.

An investing partner at M13, Anna is focused on Series A and seed. Previously, she was the managing director of Techstars LA and also a partner in The Fund LA. A certified executive coach, Anna has been a corporate lawyer, McKinsey consultant, product exec, talent manager, film producer, round-the-world traveler and outdoor adventurer. As an entrepreneur, she has been a founder, co-founder and early employee at e-commerce, media and ed tech startups. She serves on the Advisory Board of PledgeLA and is a member of AllRaise.

Website: M13

LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/annawbarber/

Twitter: @annawbarber

Show Notes:

• M13’s investment focus
• Anna’s path to becoming a partner at M13
• The learning process and adjustment from investing at pre-seed and early stage to Series A
• How M13’s studio arm, Launchpad, supports their core investing strategy
• M13’s structure and Launchpad’s unique incubation strategy
• Areas Anna is excited about investing in and some of her recent investments (including AllVoices, Northstar and WeeCare)
• Anna’s reflections on tech for working mothers
• Anna’s insights on how Gen Z trends will affect the future of work and commerce
• How Anna approaches supporting founders
• The M13 team’s Propulsion model of portfolio support
• Anna’s experience creating community and inclusion through The Fund LA and Pledge LA and LA Tech Week
• Evaluating founders for Series A investments at M13
• Anna’s fascinating Air Guitar era
• How Anna embodies her mom’s fierceness

More about the show:

The Vitalize Podcast, a show by Vitalize Venture Capital (a seed-stage venture capital firm and pre-seed 400+ member angel community open to everyone), dives deep into the world of startup investing and the future of work.

Hosted by Justin Gordon, the Director of Marketing at Vitalize Venture Capital, The Vitalize Podcast includes two main series.

The Angel Investing series features interviews with a variety of angel investors and VCs around the world. The goal? To help develop the next generation of amazing investors.

The Future of Work series takes a look at the founders and investors shaping the new world of work, including insights from our team here at Vitalize Venture Capital.

More about us:

Vitalize Venture Capital was formed in 2017 as a $16M seed-stage venture fund and now includes both a fund as well as an angel investing community investing in the future of work. Vitalize has offices in Chicago, San Francisco, and Los Angeles.

The Vitalize Team:

Gale - https://twitter.com/galeforceVC
Caroline - https://twitter.com/carolinecasson_
Justin - https://twitter.com/justingordon212

Vitalize Angels, our angel investing community open to everyone:
https://vitalize.vc/vitalizeangels/