For His Next Act, Ken Chenault Turns His Focus on Silicon Valley
- 6 years ago
For His Next Act, Ken Chenault Turns His Focus on Silicon Valley
As start-ups are staying private longer, venture capital firms are finding
that someone has to actually run the companies they invest in, to think beyond the early stages of fast growth — and a quick sale or initial public offering — and to help them scale over a decade.
The numbers are embarrassing and depressing: African-Americans make up only 3 percent of the venture capital work force, according to a study conducted in 2016 by the National Venture Capital Association
and Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion.
“What I think is happening right now in the digital space is a maturation cycle and some people, as we’ve seen, are going to handle
that well and some people are going to crash and burn,” he said, without naming names.
“If we don’t make accelerated progress in that area, it will have dire consequences for our society.”
It is even worse in the venture capital industry, where there are few women and even fewer African-Americans.
He will be chairman and managing director of General Catalyst Partners, one of the most successful venture
firms of the past two decades, with stakes in companies like Airbnb, Snap, Stripe and Warby Parker.
One problem Mr. Chenault wants to address — conspicuous to anyone paying attention,
but bafflingly inconspicuous to those in the Valley — is the lack of diversity, both in gender and race, in the tech industry.
has risen dramatically over the last decade, from 4.9 years in 2006 to 8.3 years in
2016,” according to a report from Pitchbook, a data company that tracks deals.
As start-ups are staying private longer, venture capital firms are finding
that someone has to actually run the companies they invest in, to think beyond the early stages of fast growth — and a quick sale or initial public offering — and to help them scale over a decade.
The numbers are embarrassing and depressing: African-Americans make up only 3 percent of the venture capital work force, according to a study conducted in 2016 by the National Venture Capital Association
and Deloitte University Leadership Center for Inclusion.
“What I think is happening right now in the digital space is a maturation cycle and some people, as we’ve seen, are going to handle
that well and some people are going to crash and burn,” he said, without naming names.
“If we don’t make accelerated progress in that area, it will have dire consequences for our society.”
It is even worse in the venture capital industry, where there are few women and even fewer African-Americans.
He will be chairman and managing director of General Catalyst Partners, one of the most successful venture
firms of the past two decades, with stakes in companies like Airbnb, Snap, Stripe and Warby Parker.
One problem Mr. Chenault wants to address — conspicuous to anyone paying attention,
but bafflingly inconspicuous to those in the Valley — is the lack of diversity, both in gender and race, in the tech industry.
has risen dramatically over the last decade, from 4.9 years in 2006 to 8.3 years in
2016,” according to a report from Pitchbook, a data company that tracks deals.