The Purse Podcast

Jana Hlistova

At The Purse: Women and Capital, we explore how women are transforming the architecture of finance. From angel investors to institutional leaders, from fintech founders to capital allocators, this is where women, wealth and power intersect to influence what gets funded — and what gets built next.

  1. 16 Jan

    #158: Rethinking early-stage investing for diverse founders with Simon Glass

    Simon Glass is the Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of Qodeo, a platform created to address the challenges he observed while working across the venture ecosystem. Qodeo matches venture and private equity investors with entrepreneurs, with a particular focus on founders from diverse, regional, and female communities. Simon has previously worked at two UK venture capital firms, including Amadeus Capital Partners, the first backer of ARM Holdings. His broader career includes roles at EY in academia and media, at WPP as Deputy Chair of a publishing house, and in project finance where he supported Roy Hill, the world’s largest private iron ore mine, in raising $9 billion. Simon has written for the Financial Times, holds a BA, MA, and MBA from the University of Cambridge, and completed training in corporate finance at London Business School. We cover the following: 00:11 Meet Simon Glass: CEO of Qodeo 01:13 Exploring the venture ecosystem 02:35 Challenges for underrepresented founders 05:55 Platform: matching investors and entrepreneurs 14:05 Addressing unconscious bias in investing 19:32 Comparing UK and US startup ecosystems 28:40 Entrepreneurial boom in Europe 32:01 Cultural shifts in entrepreneurship 32:38 Moving the needle in who VCs invest in 36:58 Challenges with angel investors 49:28 Improving the startup funding ecosystem 53:43 Final thoughts. *** For more information on Qodeo, see: https://qodeo.com/  ***

    54 min
4.8
out of 5
5 Ratings

About

At The Purse: Women and Capital, we explore how women are transforming the architecture of finance. From angel investors to institutional leaders, from fintech founders to capital allocators, this is where women, wealth and power intersect to influence what gets funded — and what gets built next.

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