Next Step on our DE&I Journey

Following my blog post about my resignation from the Board of Directors of the Japan Venture Capital Association (JVCA) over DE&I issues (https://note.com/ervj/n/nfc930fe40f82), I was moved by the number of people who reached out to me to express support. But I was stunned by even a greater number of people who reached out to me to share their stories ranging from sexual harassment, inappropriate behavior, and a variety of discrimination that exceeded my worst expectations.

• Why does a nicely dressed female entrepreneur at a recently held major venture conference need to be told by a senior venture capitalist “I bet you are being hit on often here”?

• Why does a female GP need to be told by a potential investor at a major Japanese financial institution that "women have less commitment to their careers, so why would we invest in your fund?" To her credit, she responded with "is that your personal view or the view of your firm?" - and then she said she wouldn't take the firm's money regardless!

• And why do venture capitalists ask female entrepreneurs if and when she plans to get pregnant? - I would LOVE for our CEOs and management teams, regardless of gender, to take maternity / paternity leave because it sends an incredibly positive and powerful message to the broader team about the values of the company (and what a great place it must be to work!)

To be clear, DE&I is the right thing to do. But more importantly, it is the profitable thing to do. If we use women in Japan as a proxy for all the "diversity" groups (age, gender, ethnicity, religion, disability, sexual orientation, or nationality), why does the venture capital industry create an environment where 50% of the talent feels like it is a hostile work environment? Why does the venture capital industry allow its portfolio companies to act the same way?

We are robbing ourselves of the ability to create better, bigger, and more profitable companies by not leveraging all the talent available to us.

It is time to wake up!!

Together with some amazing allies at the Startup Ecosystem Association Japan and stakeholders from across the venture industry including venture capitalists, JVCA board members, LPs, entrepreneurs, and others, we are organizing Industry Working Group Sessions to take some concrete steps to move the VC industry in Japan forward.

The first goal will be to gain a common understanding of what is going on in our industry - making sure there is a shared understanding across all stakeholders about the state of DE&I in the broader VC and venture ecosystem. The next will be to focus on getting some short term wins. One of the ideas is to develop a Code of Conduct and Code of Ethics together with some training. To hold people accountable for their behavior, they need to know what the expectations are. This is a first step of what needs to be a continuous process to build a more robust, diverse, and inclusive venture capital and venture industry.

For those interested to join our Industry Working Group Sessions from January, the first one will be on January 19 from 9-11am. We are still working on the format, but there will definitely be an online option available. If you would like to get the latest information regarding these Working Group Sessions, please register through this form.　https://forms.gle/Ev151uVWCkau3GXF7

■Author
David Milstein
Managing Partner, Head of Japan
Eight Roads Ventures Japan
David Milstein is the head of Eight Roads Ventures Japan, the venture capital and principle investment business for Fidelity in Japan. Early in his career, David worked for Asahi Glass and then was a founder of Japan Transaction Partners. He then joined the Walt Disney Company Japan as VP of the Interactive Media Group, he was responsible for building and launching the Disney Mobile MVNO service. This business drove the division to its largest revenue and profit ever. He earned an MBA from the Harvard Business School and a BS in Economics from the Wharton School at the University of Pennsylvania.

■Eight Roads Ventures
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