Three Questions: Brittani Roberts | Leaders 2022

TechCrunch reports that women hold just under 12 percent of principal and partnership roles at both accelerators and venture firms. How did you break into such a male-dominated field?

I think the words you grow up with matter. My mother always called me her little “future CEO,” never “future female CEO” or “boss lady.” My gender or the gender of my coworkers was never really a factor in my mind.

That said, VC hiring is very network driven, so it certainly pays off to make sure you’re putting yourself in the same room as the people you’d like to work with, and that is certainly easier to do if there is female representation in those circles. Personally, I got to know the partners at FINTOP through various networking events during my MBA [at Vanderbilt], and we hit it off. I felt a mutual respect and knew I had a lot to offer the firm.

My advice would be to just ask for the networking call or coffee meeting — you’ll be surprised at your success rate.

Do you think there is enough local capital to support the burgeoning startup ecosystem?

From my perspective, it isn’t that there aren’t investors in Nashville, it’s that we don’t have an efficient way of connecting the right investors that are here with the investable businesses. In part, what makes this difficult is that many of the VCs in town are the only members of their teams here, while their firms are based on the coasts. There are plenty of angel investors, but when looking for institutional capital (outside of health care), it’s much more difficult to identify the firms that have representation here. I also think it helps to have realistic expectations on what kind of capital your company needs. Not every business is venture-backable, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t opportunities to get funding.  

How do you think Nashville’s VC scene will evolve over the next five years?

Nearly every VC firm in my network is looking for great companies outside the typical coastal cities. The broader increase in tech and financial companies moving their headquarters to Nashville will also add to our local talent pool with motivated professionals, which will in turn attract more entrepreneurship. Investors will continue to follow the talent, so as long as we can increase support for entrepreneurship as a city, and do better at connecting founders with investors in town, there will be no shortage of investment firms moving either parts of their team or opening entire offices here. Thankfully, we are starting to see more people in town who are dedicated to being connectors in this ecosystem, so I think we’re firmly on the path to becoming a well-known entrepreneurship epicenter.