Karen Page: Venture Boards, Founder Governance, and the Path from Startup to Scale

(0:00) Intro(1:25) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel(2:12) Start of interview(3:01) Karen's origin story(3:44) Early Career and Transition to Technology(5:40) The Dot-Com Era and her time at Brobeck and later at Orrick.(8:50) Her transition to Prosper Marketplace (Chris Larsen's company) (9:40) Her time at Box, Inc. and Apple *Reference to E179 with Jack Lazar(13:14) Her journey to Venture Capital.(14:16) Joining B Capital (in 2019) and the firm's investment focus(16:16) The nature of B Capital's partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) (19:32) Governance in Early Stage Companies(20:42) Her role as a board partner of her firm. *Reference to VCBA program(23:22) Building Trust in Governance "It starts on day one. And that trust is just, is literally earned through every conversation, every interaction, and certainly every board meeting."(25:41) Founder-Friendly Terms and Market Changes(28:43) The Importance of Governance During Crisis(31:52) CEO Succession and Leadership Transition(37:45) Advisory Boards vs. Fiduciary Boards(40:06) On board observers(44:08) Board Committees and Their Evolution(48:10) The Debate: Stay Private or Go Public(51:37) Books that have greatly influenced her life:Annie Duke's Thinking in Bets (2018)Ray Dalio's Principles (2017)Shoe Dog by Phil Night (2016)(52:00) Her mentors: David Geyer (Brobeck), Aaron Levie (Box), Howard Morgan (B Capital)(52:48) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "never cut what you can untie". And the other is "never confuse motion with progress."(53:03) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves. (53:25) The people she most admires(55:50) Diversity on Boards in Venture CapitalKaren Page is a General Partner and Board Partner at B Capital. As a Board Partner, she collaborates with portfolio company leadership, B Capital’s investment team and the firm’s network of advisors to provide best-in-class strategic guidance You can follow Evan on social media at:X: @evanepsteinLinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/__To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/__Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License

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