Lessons from venture capitalist Heidi Roizen about influence
Notes from my interview with a Silicon Valley legend
Heidi Roizen is an extraordinary influencer.
She sits on the boards of Zoox, Planet, Polarr, Memphis Meats, DMGT (LSE: DMGT), and Invitation Homes (NYSE: INVH). Amazon recently announced it is acquiring Zoox.
I interviewed Roizen in March 2019 for a book I am writing, and like many others in Silicon Valley, I admire her.
Roizen’s career began after earning her undergraduate and MBA degrees from Stanford University. She co-founded a computer software company called T/Maker with her brother, and served as its CEO for more than a decade until Deluxe Corporation acquired it.
She was a VP of Worldwide Developer Relations at Apple, and eventually became a venture capitalist at Mobius Venture Capital, Draper Fisher Jurvetson (DFJ), and now Threshold Ventures.
Roizen was on the Corporate Board Member’s “Top 50 Women in Tech” list, and she was named “Financial Woman of the Year” in 2018 in San Francisco.
She is known for connecting others as a “mentor capitalist,” and hosting small dinner parties at her Silicon Valley home. In 2017 I was fortunate to attend one, where I met a group of like-minded technologists in the Bay Area.
A year after the dinner party, I reconnected with Roizen to ask her more about her modus operandi. I asked her for more details about how she catalyzes markets for others.
“First and foremost, I’m a person first,” she said. “I’m in my job second.”
Roizen is active on LinkedIn and Twitter, and in 2019 she wrote Medium posts titled Help Me Heidi! as a sort of Dear Abby for entrepreneurs.
She spoke with me about how social media exists because people “like to be liked.” When you can help others to be liked, you build a reputation.
One of Roizen’s secrets is that she thinks of networking as simply connecting with the people she’s most interested in.
Before a social gathering, she researches the people who will be there. She seeks out the people who she’s interested in the most, rather than going for volume.
She spends hours connecting with others through email, and even gave me several tips of other people to talk with about influence.
I asked her about how to build a personal brand.
“I think brand is a promise of consistency,” she said. “I am very consistent. In my personal life and my wardrobe, my style of speech, and communication. I’m the same person no matter what place I’m in.”
She’s found that consistency and performance are far more important than the frequency of interactions in maintaining a network.
Performance is about being responsive and doing what you can to help others. Consistency means that in each interaction, people understand how you’re going to respond.
“I don’t treat people differently,” she said. “I’m the same all the time.”
Roizen receives many business plans, and she spends hours actively responding to entrepreneurs through email. She’s a believer in speaking her mind with authenticity.
“Tell the truth,” she said. “It’s easier.”
To learn more about Roizen’s approach to creating value through your relationships, you can listen to interviews with her through these links:
Heidi Roizen: ‘A Good Board Member Has to Be Willing to Speak Truth, Even When It Is Unpopular.’ Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein.
Why Personal Branding Is Incredibly Important | Venture Capitalist Heidi Roizen
More videos of Roizen are available on YouTube.
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