Today I talk with Philip Eliot, Operating Partner at Orchid Black, and someone who has tremendous experience in Venture Capital (20+ years!). I ask what makes startups and founders resilient though economic downturns, and what might be contributing to this abysmal statistic we keep hearing about: how female founded teams receive only 2.3% of venture capital out there.

I'd love to hear your thoughts, too! What do you think? Is there a pipeline issue? How have you navigated entering the tech industry? Email me on [email protected] - I'd love to feature you on the show!

Philip has been a venture capital investor for the last 20+ years, primarily in the enterprise software sector and more recently in the social impact sector as well (environmental sustainability, health, and economic mobility). After working as a strategy consultant at Dean and Company, with a focus on the telecommunications and utilities sectors, he began his venture capital career in 2000 at FBR Technology Venture Partners (FBRTVP). That was the height of the Internet bubble, and FBRTVP was one of the leading firms on the East Coast, ultimately producing a return of almost 10x to its investors. In 2018, he launched his own investment and advisory firm, Reflection Ventures, which focuses on early stage companies with positive social impact, in areas such as environmental sustainability, healthcare, and improving upward socio-economic mobility for lower-income Americans. He is currently an operating partner at Orchid Black where he has been advising cleantech and enterprise software companies. Philip holds an undergraduate degree in Physics from Harvard University.

Learn more about Philip and Orchid Black here:

• Orchid Black
• Linkedin