Pocket Sun
Co-founder & Managing Partner at SoGal Ventures
Alumni Profile:
Pocket Sun is the co-founder of SoGal, with a mission to cultivate the next generation of diverse entrepreneurs and investors. She is Managing Partner at SoGal Ventures, the world’s first female-led next-generation VC fund, with $15M in AUM and 35 investments to date. She also serves as Co-president at SoGal Foundation, a nonprofit with the largest global community of diverse founders and funders in 50+ cities. She has extensive experience working with startups and corporations across the US, China, and Southeast Asia.
Pocket has been on the cover of Forbes Asia magazine as a 30 Under 30 in Venture Capital, selected as LinkedIn Top 10 Voices in VC & Entrepreneurship, and interviewed by BBC, Bloomberg CNBC, Fortune, Inc, Entrepreneur, etc.
How did VC Unlocked help you break into the industry?

The venture capital industry can be intimidating and not transparent from an outside perspective. Fifty percent of the program participants were female and my classmates were from 15 different countries. I actually resonated with other VCs, for the first time. It felt as if we were a think tank creating new ideas with a diverse and global perspective. My now business partner Elizabeth Galbut and I met at the program, and were inspired by the experience to build a venture capital firm that helps diverse millennial entrepreneurs grow billion-dollar global businesses.

What was the most important takeaway from the program that you implemented afterwards?

Some great advice we took from the program includes:

Don’t wait in vain for the VC industry to change for you. If you want to see change happen, lead the change and be a pioneer yourself.

Blog about venture capital! You’ll stand out because so few women are writing about the topic. Instead of putting $50,000 into your first deal, convince 10 founders to let you invest $5,000 each. This is how you get the most experience at the smallest check size.

How did VC Unlocked impact your confidence as an investor?

It validated my previous learnings about venture capital and gave Elizabeth and I the idea to start a fund of our dream from scratch. It’s definitely a much tougher path than working for someone else’s VC firm, but it’s the best thing we’ve ever done.

Back to Program
How did VC Unlocked help you break into the industry?

The venture capital industry can be intimidating and not transparent from an outside perspective. Fifty percent of the program participants were female and my classmates were from 15 different countries. I actually resonated with other VCs, for the first time. It felt as if we were a think tank creating new ideas with a diverse and global perspective. My now business partner Elizabeth Galbut and I met at the program, and were inspired by the experience to build a venture capital firm that helps diverse millennial entrepreneurs grow billion-dollar global businesses.

What was the most important takeaway from the program that you implemented afterwards?

Some great advice we took from the program includes:

Don’t wait in vain for the VC industry to change for you. If you want to see change happen, lead the change and be a pioneer yourself.

Blog about venture capital! You’ll stand out because so few women are writing about the topic. Instead of putting $50,000 into your first deal, convince 10 founders to let you invest $5,000 each. This is how you get the most experience at the smallest check size.

How did VC Unlocked impact your confidence as an investor?

It validated my previous learnings about venture capital and gave Elizabeth and I the idea to start a fund of our dream from scratch. It’s definitely a much tougher path than working for someone else’s VC firm, but it’s the best thing we’ve ever done.

Back to Program
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