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&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;&lt;em&gt;Jennifer Carolan, co-founder and general partner at &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.reachcap.com&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Reach Newschools Capital&lt;/a&gt;,&#160;is also a former managing partner at NewSchools Venture Fund.&#160;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VAULT: &lt;/strong&gt;Can you tell us a little about yourself? What made you want to enter this career?&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CAROLAN: &lt;/strong&gt;Growing up in Chicago, I didn’t know about venture capital. I only learned about it in graduate school at Stanford University when I heard Kim Smith, the founder of NewSchools Venture Fund, speak. She talked about hybrid entrepreneurial teams and the importance of bringing educators together with entrepreneurs. My background is teaching; I was a middle school history teacher and became very interested in using technology and how it might be applied to differentiated learning. Going into venture capital was a slow evolution for me, from teacher, to venture philanthropy, to impact investor.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VAULT: &lt;/strong&gt;Tell us a little about Reach Newschools Capital. What are some of the rewards and challenges of launching a VC fund?&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CAROLAN: &lt;/strong&gt;Reach Capital is an early stage impact investment fund focused on improving educational opportunity through seeding mission-oriented edtech entrepreneurs. We look for places where technology can make a unique difference. Most of our investments are in K-12 and amplify the impact of great teachers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;The best thing about this job is working with amazing entrepreneurs who want to have a positive impact on the world. They are the most hard-working, optimistic, and inspirational people I know (alongside teachers, of course).&#160;This is a service-oriented job and the entrepreneurs are our customers.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;The challenge is you are spread across many investments so it can be difficult to prioritize and know how best to spend your time. I sometimes find it hard to give relationships the attention I would like in such a fast-moving and transactional environment. Two of my mentors, John Doerr and Brook Byers, are especially good at this and I have learned a lot watching them work with entrepreneurs.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VAULT: &lt;/strong&gt;What are the most important personal and professional qualities for venture capitalists?&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CAROLAN: &lt;/strong&gt;They need to be comfortable being spread across different ideas, people, and types of work. They should be comfortable context-switching many, many times a day. For people who like to focus on one thing per day, this is not a good job for you. They should be willing to serve in a supportive role—we are behind the scenes, not out in front like the entrepreneurs. I also believe strong venture capitalists connect the dots well and see trends coming. &#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VAULT:&lt;/strong&gt; What advice would you give to job seekers (especially women) in terms of breaking into the VC industry?&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CAROLAN: &lt;/strong&gt;Some believe it is important to have operating experience and that may be so; my operating experience was teaching, I guess. There are very few women in venture capital. I would recommend finding mentors in venture capital. Sheryl Sandberg’s chapter on mentors in Lean In has the best advice I’ve seen on the topic. I was lucky to learn from board members, bosses, and colleagues at NewSchools Venture Fund.&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;VAULT: &lt;/strong&gt;What has been one (or more) of the most-rewarding experiences during your career, and why?&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p class=&quot;p1&quot;&gt;&lt;strong&gt;CAROLAN:&lt;/strong&gt; The most rewarding experiences are believing in an entrepreneur when nobody else does, supporting them as they grow, and watching their ideas scale, reaching millions of people. In my case, I get to see their ideas impact millions of children and feel like I was some small part of that process. As a mom, another bonus is walking into my kids’ school, hearing their teacher rave about a science curriculum or a new tool that has revolutionized their teaching, and smiling to myself because our fund seeded it.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;The above was adapted from the new&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;/product.aspx?isbn=9781438165561&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Vault Career Guide to Venture Capital&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Follow us on&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/vaultfinance&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Follow us on&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;https://www.instagram.com/vaultcareers/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Instagram&lt;/a&gt;.&#160;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read More:&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/blog/interviewing/5-interview-questions-venture-capital-firms-ask/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;4 Interview Questions Venture Capital Firms Ask&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/blog/job-search/how-to-land-a-private-equity-job/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;How to Land a Private Equity Job&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/blog/workplace-issues/secrets-to-a-female-venture-capital-partners-silicon-valley-success/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Secrets to Success of First Female Partner at Big-Swinging Silicon Valley VC Firm&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;

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Secrets to Success of First Female Partner at Big-Swinging Silicon Valley VC Firm

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