[author: Kange Kaneene]

Kange Kaneene is the Vice President of SAP.iO North and Latin America and Caribbean, SAP's global network of startup accelerators. She is an angel investor, a mentor for entrepreneurs, a scout for a VC syndicate, and the chair of the board of KIPP NYC, a network of 18 public charter schools that focuses on education parity. A computer scientist and MBA, Kange started her career in consulting, business development, and strategy before turning her dream of working with start-ups and scale-ups into her full-time job. Kange shares with us how she broke into the entrepreneurship ecosystem.

Q: When did you first discover you wanted to work with startups full-time?

Kange: I was working on a project for the company I work for now, SAP, doing business development, and I was doing what's called a market scan to find a company for SAP to acquire. That meant I had to find companies smaller than SAP, and it ended up being a lot of companies that were startups - or at least scale-ups - and I realized that my whole career I had worked at large organizations, Manhattan Associates, Citibank, SAP, really big companies. So I had never really worked for or seen a company before that could make decisions very quickly and be agile, innovative, or that were led by the people that actually created the company, the founders. It was really cool. So my first exposure was doing that market scan, and I realized how fun it was to talk to companies of that size. That was when I decided I would try to make that a career.

Q: How did you go about getting exposure to the ecosystem? How did you figure out what to do next?

Kange: Well, I don't remember how I first initially heard about venture capital, but my impression was that if you're a venture capitalist, your full-time job is to work with startups. So I thought that might be the next step in my career. But I didn't know if my professional background was marketable for venture capital. I also wasn't sure if I would actually enjoy working with startups because I only had that one specific experience when sourcing them for acquisition. So, I started to be really active in the NY entrepreneur ecosystem. I would Google events like free demo day, free pitch competition, meetups, whatever I could. I was trying to see what startups were doing, the projects they were working on and then the questions investors were asking the startups to see if I thought that was interesting. I loved doing that. Every time I went to an event I would meet different people, so I ran around the city for about two years doing that, and then I started getting invited to closed (invite only) events in New York and that's when I really started to see more of the sophistication in the space. Yet I also started seeing a lot more of the same. I was seeing founders who were solving similar problems in fintech and cryptocurrency and founders who were mostly male, white, and Asian. So I started to dig into that and realized that there's a very small demographic of people who get capital allocation. I was thinking about my network, which is very diverse and full of people doing cool things, but I wasn't seeing them at the events I went to. I became really passionate about more access to opportunity and access to capital. That was initially how I got exposed.  

Q: So you mentioned being in these rooms that other people weren't in. How did you get yourself in those rooms? What was the key to breaking into them?

Kange: Yeah, good question. I think at first when I would go to the events, I was very shy because I didn't know anything. I wasn't even comfortable asking questions. So I was in the back listening. The more I went to events and I would hear investors ask the same type of questions over and over again, I realized the kind of questions I could ask a startup without them thinking I didn't know anything. And then sometimes I would actually meet a startup that would be applicable for SAP. So then that always gave me some credibility because they would assume I was there for a business development purpose. But actually at the end of the day, I think really what got me into the rooms is creating relationships with people, trying to find a common ground, even if it had nothing to do with startups. What are you watching on TV? You know. And I think when people feel comfortable with you as a person, then everything else is easier.

Q: You successfully navigated switching roles internally at SAP – how did you navigate that? What do you think made that possible?

Kange: Yes. So at the same time when I was going around New York to see all the events, I also was telling everyone who would listen that I wanted to do venture capital. I thought they would give me advice about what else I should be doing or, maybe, in my wildest dreams, someone would just call me one day and say, you know, come over and work for us. I also got advice from a mentor that I met through this process – he recognized that I didn't have a traditional background to get in venture capital and suggested I work to create my own track record. So that's when I started doing angel investing, which is when you invest as an individual into a company. I started doing that through a group called Pipeline Angels. That's a group of women who invest in companies with at least one female founder. It had a boot camp that taught about investing and what to look for, and it also provided deal flow. Then when I got comfortable with that, I started volunteering to mentor startups for nonprofit VC focused on founders who were formerly incarcerated, which is a very different type of entrepreneur. Then I also started scouting for VCs, and scouting was helpful because when you scout, your main job is to pitch a company that you saw to the VC. So you're selling on behalf of the startup who's not even in the room. You have to be very educated about the startup but also have some conviction about what will happen and why it's a good investment. Those three opportunities really taught me a lot.  

Because I was doing those things, I was getting into more rooms and then at the same time SAP was starting a group called SAP.iO that was a corporate VC at the time. It was created by my manager of two roles prior, who was one of the people I had told I wanted to do VC. He was supportive of me doing things like mentoring some startups, joining their selection committee, and sending them startups. I would actually even attend events on their behalf, even though I wasn't technically working for SAPiO. I was a groupie of SAP.iO for nearly three years. Finally, I got a call and they said, we think you should come and run North America. I was shocked. I couldn't believe it. Since then, I am proud to say that last year we expanded to Latin America under my leadership.

I've heard you use the phrase "Networking with Intention." Can you explain what you mean by that and how you think it helped you?

Kange: Yes, especially in the role I have now. I've used it the most. I learned from another mentor, with VC in particular, the way to network is to give people FOMO about you. So when I was scouting for the VC and doing angel investing, I had access to a bunch of deal flow. So I would just email people who I thought were impressive in big VC firms and say, "Hey, just want to let you know, I saw this startup and I thought you might want to look at it." Right? No strings attached. And sometimes they would respond, sometimes they wouldn't. But over time they would think of me as this person sending deals all the time. So then when you meet them in-person at a South by Southwest or something, it's like, OK, I already have a connection. So when you get coffee eventually, it feels like there's something in it for them. Then they start asking you what you are looking for. And so I guess that's a long way of saying, smart networking to me is understanding what's in it for the other person and seeing what you can do to meet that so that they are more motivated to talk to you on a regular basis.

Q: What is the coolest company you've invested in recently?

Kange: There's a new company that we just accepted recently based in Latin America called Bankuish, which is super cool. So in Latin America, one out of eight people are part of the gig economy. So that means like Uber driver or something that's not full-time. And when you are working the gig economy, you're not seen by a bank as fully employed. And so it's really hard to get access to credit because it's volatile and they don't know your habits. This company creates a credit score for you based on your performance in the gig economy and sends it to banks so you can get loans. Super interesting. It's a really cool way to think about financial inclusion.

Q: You have a passion for diversity and creating equally distributed access to opportunity. Do you have a call to action for those of us who care about building a more equitable and inclusive ecosystem?

Kange: I think there are a number of things that venture capital firms do that are maybe unintentional but really do rule out underrepresented people. Sometimes it's literally just a spreadsheet exercise that an analyst does that can take them all out. 

1. Stop eliminating sole founders from consideration.

A lot of people think that if you're a sole founder, that makes the startup less sustainable, but in fact, one of the main reasons that startups fail is because of cofounder drama. Overwhelmingly, underrepresented people are more likely to be sole founders for a number of reasons.

2. Stop eliminating part-time founders from consideration.

A lot of times VCs will eliminate people who are building their company as a side hustle. But obviously a lot of people cannot sign up to go without a paycheck indefinitely, including me. And so that means you're looking at people who already have a lot of savings or a trust fund or something, where they can just not work. Again, overwhelmingly underrepresented people. But my thought is, especially as an angel, it's my responsibility to invest more in you so you can quit your job. That's the point, right? That's why they're asking for funding.  

3. Be more open to founders with different professional backgrounds. 

You don't have to have a direct experience in something to run a good company. Maybe you felt the pain of something and because of that you started a company. Not having a specific expertise shouldn't be a default reason to not even consider having a conversation with a founder.  

4. Stop requiring warm introductions.

Only relying on warm introductions is the definition of no diversity, right? Because it's only who you know, and nobody knows every type of person. So that is a really quick way to make sure that you don't have diversity.

Those four things I think are sort of table stakes to get more representation. 

Q: What advice can you share with founders or aspiring angel investors who are in the early stages?

Kange: I have all the respect for founders, I think it's so brave. One piece of advice I would give is that I think there's this glamorization of venture capital funds, but VC is not the only route to making money. Another route to making money is actually making money, like generating revenue. At SAPiO we focus on revenue sharing, getting founders big contracts with large companies. So if you can avoid fundraising altogether because you make revenue, or you can just delay it, that can really help you. Definitely easier said than done. 

I would also say, be resilient. You're going to get so much rejection and everybody's going to give you advice. Sometimes the advice is good, sometimes it's not. So just try to remember the reason why you founded your company. You are the best person to run it. So be confident in that. And at the same time, don't be afraid to pivot if you realize what you are building is just not the right thing. Maybe the market changed. So you have to balance that.

Q: As folks think about their future and charting their own career path, what message would you like to share?

Kange: I have been underqualified for every job I have ever applied for - at least on paper. If I would have looked at the job descriptions, I would have felt crazy to apply. So my advice is simple – always apply. It's going to be a no if you don't apply, so just apply and you never know what could happen. Someone might look at the application and say you're not a good fit but then call you down the road.  

At the same time, its important to understand the skills you need for a role. So for example, when I was thinking of applying to Business School only a year out of undergrad, I opened the application and I couldn't fill out almost any of it. But looking at the application early helped me know the things I needed to focus on. Knowing what you need to do to get somewhere helps. And then when you're there, again, still apply for jobs that may feel like a stretch.