Author(s):
Laura Webb
May 31, 2022
“I don’t care if you’re desperate,” Bernadette Butler, CEO and Founder of Storytap, stressed in a recent session of Osler’s Women in Emerging and High Growth Companies Leadership webinar series. “You cannot sacrifice fit in fundraising.”
Bernadette and Maria Pacella, Managing Partner of Pender Ventures, reflected on their career journeys, some difficult lessons they’ve learned along the way and how the fundraising landscape and process are changing in the webinar hosted by Osler partner Laura Webb.
Early in Maria’s time in the venture capital world, a mentor demonstrated the importance of humility while working with companies, investing in a people-first approach at a time when that wasn’t necessarily common. From that experience, she learned the value of balancing perspectives and finding out what it’s like to be in other people’s shoes, without sacrificing the discipline required to make hard decisions as an investor.
Bernadette is thrilled to see more women and diversity among entrepreneurs in the EHG space, as Osler’s recent Deal Points Report: Venture Capital Financings reveals. Just five years ago, she says, it could be a difficult place for women. As it turned out, the pandemic helped to normalize working from home and highlighted the challenges of juggling work and family life for everyone. Now, her advice for women meeting with investors is to be themselves: “Just like if you’re getting married, you cannot pretend to be somebody else. Bring your whole self in.”
With recent market volatility on everyone’s mind these days, Maria agrees that alignment between investors and entrepreneurs should be a top consideration. “This is actually a very good point in time for entrepreneurs to really think about who they want to raise money from.”
View the full Women in Emerging and High Growth Companies Leadership Series webinar