Between picking up her kids from school and future entrepreneurs in the world; Hong Kong-based VC Carman Chan lives an exciting life. Founder and leader of Click Ventures, an early-stage investor in technology startups in Asia and North America; she wants to enable the ecosystem to make it future-ready.
Value education
Although she ditched her PhD offer at a London University 20 years ago to fuel her venture; Chan sure does understand the value of education and training. No wonder then, that her first shot as a VC is strongly built on “nurturing innovators”. Driven by this mantra, she started the Click Academy within Click Ventures. It is a global initiative to give back to startup ecosystems by nurturing innovators and ecosystem stakeholders.
They do so by running training programmes, workshops, periodical reports, etc. “As a VC, we should spend at least 80-90% of our time learning. When we share knowledge, we learn, so it’s a win-win,” said Carman. With the Academy, she hopes to share observations and learnings from decades of building and supporting early-stage ventures to aspiring entrepreneurs.
But aren’t there a slew of accelerators, academies, and incubators aiming for the same? She instantly hit back with, “yes they are dime a dozen, but what about the people outside the ecosystem?”
In 2020, Chan wants to tackle this challenge and she is working with corporates and Universities to design an education programme of sorts to usher in curious minds who are not a part of the startup ecosystem. As a fair bit newbie to the environment, what I like about this notion (and hope to see it to fruition soon) is that there is no prerequisite i.e. unlike an accelerator or incubator one does not need to have a startup idea, team or a startup yet.
“Just bring in the curiosity,” Chan added.
Also read: Click Ventures’ Carman Chan on the most exciting changes in Hong Kong
She believes this kind of knowledge encryption has dual benefits. Not only will it create more entrepreneurial value but also enable businesses, investors, and corporates to understand the needs of startups and entrepreneurs. When you inspire a fresh graduate or student or even a mid-level employee with necessary knowledge and tools about the ecosystem there is a high chance they will be better empowered to become entrepreneurs.
Similarly, traditional businessmen jump into the ecosystem by becoming investors without knowing it too well and sometimes end up placing harsh terms (sometimes suffocating startups). Chan said, “I have seen investors ask for a personal guarantee from founders before funding. Or inflating success rates. If business investors were more educated (about the ecosystem), it could lead to better synergy.”
Women in tech
As one of Nikkei Asian Review’s Women to Watch in Asian Tech, Chan’s journey as a tech columnist-turned-serial entrepreneur- turned VC is inspiring for women entrepreneurs in Asia and the world. So I could not help quizzing her on if and how this education will empower women in the tech and business world?
“There is a lot of discussion about unconscious bias and it is very real,” said Chan. “I am often the only woman on the advisory board and I have to put in a lot of extra effort just to be heard.” She pointed to a “big inertia” when it comes to women in the fraternity and said that not a lot was being done to address the gender gap.
Women need to organise themselves and come together to tip the scales. Women-only investor networks, women entrepreneurs’ groups, and founder groups are growing and are a good sign. Chan herself is a part of SheVC, HK Female Founder and Funder, and WomenVC Network.
She likes their decentralised nature and says, “these networks can be game-changers for traditional Southeast Asian societies.” Startups need a global network to grow as every startup sooner or later will expand. Being a part of these networks come in handy. At Click Academy, she also runs a programme to discover and empower women-led or women empowerment projects to keep her company in the VC/startup world.
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