Lu Zhang | Founding Partner at NewGen Capital

About this video

Lu Ann, founding partner of Nutrient Capital, shares her journey from Inner Mongolia to Stanford, where she founded a medical device company before selling it and transitioning into venture capital. She discusses her experiences navigating male-dominated spaces as a female founder and VC investor, and reflects on how she learned to embrace her identity rather than conform to others’ expectations.

Key takeaways

• Lu Ann’s parents were early entrepreneurs in China who quit government jobs to start their own business, instilling in her a risk-taking mentality that led her to pursue engineering at Stanford and eventually start her own company.
• Starting a medical device company proved extremely difficult due to the complexity of the U.S. healthcare system, FDA regulations, and lack of prior experience, but Lu Ann persevered through the challenges and eventually sold the company.
• As a female VC partner in an industry where only ~6% of partners are women, Lu Ann initially tried to downplay her age and gender to be taken seriously, but came to realize authenticity and letting her results speak for themselves was more effective than conforming to others’ expectations.
• Lu Ann advocates for more female founders to enter the venture capital industry to increase representation and support early-stage companies, emphasizing that her experience as a founder gives her unique credibility with entrepreneur founders.

Episode details: published March 30, 2017 · 28K views · 13:43 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. The business ideas, figures and results discussed are the hosts’ and guests’ own claims, shared as brainstorming and entertainment — not verified facts and not investment advice.

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