Recap: 2020 Glaring Gap Summit

Summit Recap

The Glaring Gap Summit, made possible with support from JPMorgan Chase, culminated last week. Our vision was to create an environment where women have access to the resources, expertise, and network to confidently lead as angel investors and within venture firms in Florida’s technology community. The Summit leveraged learnings from our Glaring Gap Report and brought together 50 women across the state to close the Glaring Gap and share insights and frameworks on how to execute investments. We saw this as our opportunity to grow the pipeline of investments for women-led companies and tap into the economic benefits of diverse leadership in the process, by doubling down on diversity in Florida’s investment decision-maker pool. Participants spanned different professional stages: college students, mid-career professionals and accredited investors.

Because of the virtual nature of the Summit, we split it into three parts:

• Day 1: Keynote with Alexa von Tobel (Founder of LearnVest and Inspired Capital), Sessions with Samara Hernandez (Chingona Ventures), Cheryl Campos (Republic) and an intensive investing fundamentals curriculum with Angela Lee of 37 Angels and Columbia Business School. More on this amazing day here.
• Day 2: Tampa Bay Wave’s TechWomen Rising Demo Day where the Summit participants built a diligence memo to evaluate the investment viability of each presenting company.
• Day 3: Regroup with Angela Lee to review the diligence memos for feedback.

The Feedback

This was our first year doing this Summit and the feedback proved that providing intentional and intensive education on this topic can create impact. This feedback reinforced the entire reason why we built this program:

“The Glaring Gap Summit was one of the most incredible experiences of my life. I’ve always been interested in investing, but I’ve felt shutout in education and gateways to learning about it. In the Summit, we were treated to the top experts in the field and an A+ curriculum on how to invest. I now feel empowered with the tools to invest myself and connect with other investors about future opportunities. Finally, we as women, need specific programs that speak to our needs. The Summit deeply understood our intricacies as women and was geared towards touching on the topics we needed to hear the most. I feel so lucky to have had this experience, as well as the open forum to ask questions. The Glaring Gap Summit was one of the major highlights of 2020.”

“The Glaring Gap Summit was so reinvigorating to my long career in venture. It gave me hope for the future of venture!”

“The Glaring Gap Summit created by Embarc Collective and 37 Angels was one of the most insightful and rewarding summits I’ve had the opportunity to take part in. Every minute of this summit was energizing, engaging, and empowering. I would recommend any woman who has the opportunity, or even has an inkling of interest in venture capital, to apply because you will walk away an even more capable, resourceful, and knowledgeable woman with an enhanced skill set ready to take a larger role in the VC space.”

“I have been interested in investing in startups founded by women for a while. However, I never felt that I had the understanding to do so. With the tools and advice I received during the Glaring Gap Summit, I am now ready to take the leap.”

What’s Next?

For us, creating change doesn’t end with the Glaring Gap Summit. In fact, the Summit is just the beginning.

• Commit to impact. Join the nearly 100 individuals in Florida who are committing to improving the landscape for women founders in Florida and sign the Glaring Gap Pledge. We’ll ensure that everyone who signs the pledge is the first to know about Year 2 of the Glaring Gap Summit.
• Create your own action plan. Hold yourself accountable and outline the steps you’ll take to stay engaged with women-led companies in Florida. Here are some of the action plans by the participants of the Glaring Gap Summit
  • “I plan to invest in at least one female-founded startup in the next 12 months and to also join an angel investing group.”
  • “I plan to apply to the 37 Angels Bootcamp, to get involved with New World Angels and intentionally engage with VC women across the Tampa and Florida landscape to enhance my knowledge and understanding of angel investing.”
  • “I’m a member of Miami Angels, which collaborates with Embarc Collective. I’ve shared with our team info on the 13 [TechWomen Rising cohort] companies and perhaps we’ll follow up with several of the presenters.”
  • I want to become an investor! I also want to create future companies that seek investors.
• Keep us in the loop. The Glaring Gap Summit participants asked to stay engaged with each other and with opportunities to invest in and support women-led companies. Email hello@embarccollective.com with opportunities you want this group to be aware of.