(0:00 ) Intro

(1:25 ) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel

(2:12 ) Start of interview

(3:01 ) Karen's origin story

(3:44 ) Early Career and Transition to Technology

(5:40 ) The Dot-Com Era and her time at Brobeck and later at Orrick.

(8:50 ) Her transition to Prosper Marketplace (Chris Larsen's company) 

(9:40 ) Her time at Box, Inc. and Apple *Reference to E179 with Jack Lazar

(13:14 ) Her journey to Venture Capital.

(14:16 ) Joining B Capital (in 2019) and the firm's investment focus

(16:16 ) The nature of B Capital's partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG) 

(19:32 ) Governance in Early Stage Companies

(20:42 ) Her role as a board partner of her firm. *Reference to VCBA program

(23:22 ) Building Trust in Governance "It starts on day one. And that trust is just, is literally earned through every conversation, every interaction, and certainly every board meeting."

(25:41 ) Founder-Friendly Terms and Market Changes

(28:43 ) The Importance of Governance During Crisis

(31:52 ) CEO Succession and Leadership Transition

(37:45 ) Advisory Boards vs. Fiduciary Boards

(40:06 ) On board observers

(44:08 ) Board Committees and Their Evolution

(48:10 ) The Debate: Stay Private or Go Public

(51:37 ) Books that have greatly influenced her life:

1. Annie Duke's Thinking in Bets (2018)
2. Ray Dalio's Principles (2017)
3. Shoe Dog by Phil Night (2016)

(52:00 ) Her mentors: David Geyer (Brobeck), Aaron Levie (Box), Howard Morgan (B Capital)

(52:48 ) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "never cut what you can untie". And the other is "never confuse motion with progress."

(53:03 ) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves. 

(53:25 ) The people she most admires

(55:50 ) Diversity on Boards in Venture Capital

Karen Page is a General Partner and Board Partner at B Capital. As a Board Partner, she collaborates with portfolio company leadership, B Capital’s investment team and the firm’s network of advisors to provide best-in-class strategic guidance

You can follow Evan on social media at:

X: @evanepstein

LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/ 

Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/

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Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License