Starting any business is a highly complicated endeavor. In the start-up space, where stakes are higher and more competitive than ever, businesses need guidance to survive and stand out from the crowd. Today's guest draws on her vast career experience to provide expertise to businesses at pivotal phases in their development.

This week we sit down with Alison Lange Engel, a partner at Greycroft. Greycroft is a venture capital firm that invests in early and growth stage technology companies, primarily across consumer enterprise software, FinTech and health-tech. They manage over 2 billion in capital and made more than 200 investments, including household names like Venmo, The Real Real, Goop and Bumble.

Alison joined Greycroft in 2019 and focuses on early stage companies in FinTech and their active investments include Cardless, Clasha, Spectrum Labs, and Toggle, among others. She has 20+ years of experience leading, structuring, and scaling high-growth businesses.

Prior to Greycroft, Alison held positions as the VP of Marketing at LinkedIn, where for six years she had a broad impact on their advertising business unit, and then as the first chief marketing officer at Stripe. Before that, Alison was an investment banker at Goldman Sachs, focused on media, entertainment, and consumer sectors. Her media background includes HBO and the CBS television network, where she worked in sales and programming roles. She holds a BA in communications from UCLA and an MBA from Wharton. 

Highlights:

• Alison's background, and variety of career experiences (3:04)
• How Alison got the opportunity to work at Greycroft (4:37)
• The characteristics that distinguish Greycroft from other venture capital firms (5:12)
• Greycroft's approach to client relationships (7:05)
• Alison explains what surprised her during her first year at Greycroft, and how it differed from previous work (7:44)
• Alison describes one of Greycroft's start-ups that aligned perfectly with her prior career experience (9:47)
• The importance of a strong senior team, and diversity in their experiences (12:11)
• Alison describes how Greycroft sifts through crowded spaces to find their partners (13:09)
• Common mistakes founders make when meeting with a venture capital firm (17:25)
• Alison describes the relationship and the level of activeness of investors in their companies (20:27)
• Alison's opinion on the biggest challenge in venture capital currently (22:20)
• How to stay grounded and maintain discipline during a booming market (25:10)
• Alison's advice for women entering the venture capital space (26:55)

Links:

Alison Lange Engel on LinkedIn

Greycroft on LinkedIn

Greycroft Website

ICR LinkedIn

ICR Twitter

ICR Website

Feedback:

If you have questions about the show, or have a topic in mind you'd like discussed in future episodes, email our producer, marion@lowerstreet.co.