a16z Podcast | Holy Non Sequiturs, Batman: What Disruption Theory Is ... and Isn't

Podcast Guests & Context

• Sonal (Host): Interviewer for the A6NZ podcast.
• Sukhinder Singh Cassidy: Founder/CEO of The Board List and Joyous; former executive at Google; serial entrepreneur (co-founder of Yodlee).
• John Chen: Representative from Silicon Valley Bank (SVB).
• Objective: Discuss the creation of The Board List, diversity in venture capital, and strategies for increasing female representation on private company boards.

Sukhinder Singh Cassidy's Professional Background

• Arrived in Silicon Valley in 1997; initially lived in Mill Valley and started her first company, Yodlee, in 1999.
• Yodlee became a dominant provider of aggregated personal financial data data; went public last year and is currently being acquired.
• Spent six years at Google (2003–2009) leading Local, Maps, and international expansions (Asia Pacific, Latin America, China, Brazil).
• Left Google in 2009 to found Joyous due to a desire to lead her own venture and focus on commerce.
• Authored an open letter titled "Choose Possibility" on Recode, surveying over 300 female founders.

Key Findings from the "Choose Possibility" Survey

• Family Influence: 55% of female founders surveyed came from entrepreneurial families.
• Parental Professions: Common pattern identified was fathers as CEOs, engineers, or entrepreneurs, and mothers as teachers (highly educated).
• Demographic Gaps: The female entrepreneur ecosystem currently lacks representation from Hispanics, Latinos, and African-Americans; the majority are White or Asian.
• Recommendation Rates: 88% of women surveyed wholeheartedly recommend entrepreneurship; the 12% who declined cited fit concerns, not gender bias.
• Gender Impact: Female entrepreneurs reported that gender plays a "very small signal" role in their success compared to other startup requirements.

The Board List: Definition and Structure

• Current Status: In beta for less than three months; launched approximately four months prior to the interview.
• Core Model: A curated marketplace, not a ranked list, connecting high-quality female board candidates with private companies needing board seats.
• Membership Composition: Includes ~100 tech leaders (30 VCs, 70 operators/CEOs/C-suite) who endorse and nominate candidates.
• Candidate Pool: Contains over 700 endorsed women leaders vetted by existing community members.
• Thesis: Independent board seats offer a high-impact "white space" for improving company performance through diverse thought and independence.

Strategic Objectives and Solutions

• Scalability Goal: To move beyond "clubs" and opaque networks by creating a crowdsourced, transparent marketplace.
• Network Integration: Combining "male networks" and "female networks" to solve the "women for women" limitation; nominators include both genders.
• Transparency Mechanism: The organization plans to publish explicit criteria for both endorsing members and candidates to ensure open access.
• Application Process:
  • Requires endorsement from a current member (no self-nomination currently).
  • Endorsers must be willing to provide a reference and take a board call for the candidate.
  • Future consideration for a self-nomination lane where candidates bring their own endorsements.

Addressing Board Composition and Governance Barriers

• Independent Seats: Advocates for creating net new independent board seats rather than replacing VC seats; currently, ~25% of VC-backed boards have a female member.
• Board Dynamics: Emphasizes the need for independent operators to challenge CEOs during crises, as VC-only boards may react knee-jerk to bad quarters.
• Risk Mitigation: Board service is described as "low risk, high opportunity" with short terms (e.g., one year) and the CEO retaining final control.
• Stock Class Utilization: Highlights underutilization of common stock for board seats; encourages shifting from preferred stock dominance to allow for more independent, diverse directors.

Future Roadmap and Industry Impact

• Salon Series: Hosting discussion salons on the East and West Coasts to challenge CEOs and VCs to consider independent and diverse board candidates.
• Expansion Potential: While currently focused on tech diversity, the marketplace model is designed for scalability to nonprofit and public boards.
• Call to Action:
  • Companies with open board searches can contact The Board List for candidate recommendations.
  • Interested parties can apply via theboardlist.com to become endorsers or candidates.
• Broader Diversity: Future expansion to include other underrepresented minorities is acknowledged as a potential direction but not the immediate priority.