Access: The accidental investor with an eye for talent
"Innovation is born out of people challenging the status quo.” - Anjula Acharia
Hello reader,
Welcome to our 5th edition of Access - Melissa is out of office today, so you’re stuck with me - the most clicked link from last week’s newsletter was this interview with Charlie Hunnam.
Access made it’s LinkedIn debut this week, which prompted a flurry of new subscribers. To our first-time readers, thank you for taking a chance and signing up - it’s a privilege to be in your inboxes, I hope we don’t disappoint.
For a newsletter centred around interviews, it’s been quite the week.
A TikTok user went viral after documenting the abrupt end to a job interview that required weekend working
Kanye West is at it again, this time from the back of a dimly-lit car
Krishnan Guru-Murthy was suspended after a hot mic caught his 4-letter insult following a ‘robust’ interview with Steve Baker (the same 4-letter word that Robert Peston accidentally dropped when referring to Jeremy Hunt earlier today)
As I was finishing off this note, Liz Truss resigned. Not wishing to get too political, I will simply leave you with this delightful round up of the day’s best memes.
Until next time,
Liz
In case you missed it…
Last week’s newsletter included interviews with Elon Musk, Lizzo, and Charlie Hunnam.
Our In-Depth section featured Steve Young on his journey from NFL quarterback to private equity fund manager.
FEATURING:
This week’s best interviews
The founder of Girls Who Code talks work-life balance
Justin H. Min on ghosts, androids and the power of silence
The computer scientist who’s tackling internet privacy
In-depth: Meet Anjula Acharia, celebrity manager and serial investor.
IN BRIEF
“It’s not just the women in my life - women everywhere are refusing to go back to the pre-COVID status quo.”
Reshma Saujani, founder and CEO of Girls Who Code, on empowering women, workplace equality and motherhood.
***
“As clichéd as it sounds, I wanted to make a difference. And then I realised it is incredibly difficult to do that because of how the system is set up.”
Meet the Korean American actor best known for playing a dead person in the wildly successful Netflix show, The Umbrella Academy.
***
“The web was not built with security and privacy in mind, although people subsequently tried to address those concerns as sort of an afterthought”
Harry Halpin wants our internet conversations to be more private. He’s helped create a new kind of network that might make it possible.
Featured job of the week
Global consulting firm looking to hire specialists with experience in delivering low-code solutions for leading private equity clients. (London, hybrid)
Knowledge of business analysis techniques, incl. process mapping and workflows
Skilled in low-code solutions; both development and deployment
Client-facing experience preferred; must have exceptional stakeholder engagement skills and ability to train and coach users.
IN-DEPTH
“I’ve learned to trust my instincts over time and ignore the noise around them…”
Anjula Acharia has been many things over the course of a 25-year career. She started off in executive search for TMP, spotting talent for tech start-ups, before founding her own media company in LA in 2006. Her LinkedIn profile lists a number of board advisor roles, including ClassPass where she was an early investor.
Despite protestations that she’s simply an ‘accidental investor’, Acharia’s portfolio is impressive - Bumble was a recent exit - and in 2021, she was named Investor of the Year at Vogue’s Women of the Year awards.
It’s not just companies that Acharia backs; she is also manager to actor Priyanka Chopra Jonas, and has been widely credited with helping Chopra Jonas make a successful crossover from Bollywood to Hollywood.
“Priyanka and I share a very unique relationship – I actually don’t like calling myself her manager because we really operate more like business partners.”
It’s a relationship that seems to have worked for both women. After joining Acharia to invest in Bumble, Chopra Jonas became the face of the app’s launch campaign in India. Acharia talks proudly about hearing Chopra Jonas discuss issues of AI gender bias at a tech event, saying “Everyone was like, ‘Wow,’ that [Priyanka] would even be thinking about that. But she’s thinking about that because she’s thinking about female engineers, and we’re thinking about how we change the landscape.”
Indra Nooyi, former CEO of PepsiCo describes Acharia as '“kick-ass”. “She has a nose for spotting trends and connects the dots on investments that may not be obvious to others. But most importantly, she gives female founders wings to do the right thing.”
“Ultimately, I believe investing in women makes money, and - I put my money where my mouth is.”
On spotting talent
“Today I recognize talent before it’s realized, much as Jimmy Iovine did with me when he first met me years ago. At the time I was running a startup that he told me would ultimately fail, but he invested in me anyway, saying that I was ‘an album not a single’.”
On investing
“Everyone I invest in has three things in common: their ideas are great and fill a space that has otherwise been ignored, they don’t know a lot about the space they are about to build in, and they always bet on themselves.”
On racism
“It [racism] leaves you in a vulnerable place, fighting for visibility. Something had to change. I saw the opportunity to change it.”
On fundraising
“I received this advice when I was fundraising: ‘If you ask for advice, you get money; if you ask for money, you get advice.’”
Why she passed on investing in Uber
“I questioned if they’d be able to manage the complexities of regulation, and weirdly, I didn’t think I’d use it. Getting into strangers’ cars was something we’ve been told all of our lives not to do. But that’s the disruption of tech.”
On self-belief
“You’re only worth as much as you think you are. The ‘next great so and so’ starts with someone who approaches a challenge with confidence, vision and faith. And that’s someone I’d bet on.”
On collaborating with friends
“Work doesn’t often feel like work when you’re brainstorming and finding ways to disrupt industries with friends.”
On the importance of networks
“I firmly believe that you can’t accomplish anything alone. So much of success has to do with the people who help you get there - which is why knowing how to build and maintain relationships is one of the most important things you can do in your career.”
ITP Live partnered with UN Women to host the ITP Live 2021 Conference ‘The Power of Female Influence’ on March 30, 2021 - Anjula Acharia shares her journey as a female entrepreneur and what it took for her to dominate both Hollywood and the Silicon Valley.
Sources
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