Follow the Money - Are Venture Capital Investors Ethical?
Meeting for the week of October 19 - October 25, 2020
This Meeting at a Glance:
Program: Follow the Money - Are Venture Capital Investors Ethical?
Speaker: Johannes Lenhard
Is this your first time to visit us? If so, welcome to our weekly online meeting! To complete our meeting, please continue reading from here to the bottom of this page.Each Monday our week’s meeting is posted early in the morning, U.S. Pacific Time. These meetings are designed so that you can read and watch what we post anytime during the week. The entire meeting takes about 60 minutes to complete, with the video conference recording of the program being the bulk of the time. Note that you can easily read this meeting with your favorite device, so feel free to take our meeting on the go with you. Please also make sure to complete the attendance form at the bottom and leave a comment. Enjoy!
To properly attend this meeting, please:
Read and watch the content below in its entirety.
Complete the attendance survey.
Everyone is also encouraged to leave a comment in the Disqus section at the bottom of the page.
Welcome to the Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley!
Here’s a message from Member Tatiana:
Tatiana
Guests, we are happy to have you join us this week!
As we see it, our flexibility as an online, asynchronous club allows a special type of service to Rotarians around the world: we make it easier for anyone to strive for and maintain 100% attendance. That keeps you engaged with Rotary's events and ideas, and provides a moment of inspiration for devoting your creativity, talents, and resources to good causes.
You are certainly not required to pay anything in order to attend our meetings. However, if you would like to make a small contribution to our service efforts, you are welcome to do so in our secure Happy Dollars section down the page. This could be what you normally pay at your own club's meetings for lunch, for example. Any amount is welcome, but first and foremost, we're happy you've joined us, and hope you will share with others who we are and what we do to help inspire Service Above Self.
And don't forget to fill out our attendance form so you get an email you can pass on to your club's secretary!
The Four Way Test
The Four-Way Test is a nonpartisan and nonsectarian ethical guide for Rotarians to use for their personal and professional relationships.
Of the things we think, say or do
Is it the TRUTH?
Is it FAIR to all concerned?
Will it build GOODWILL and BETTER FRIENDSHIPS?
Will it be BENEFICIAL to all concerned?
Weekly Funny with Shags.
We believe laughter is an important part of life, and we should all make time to laugh a little. This segment of our meeting is meant to tickle you just enough. These funnies are curated by member Steven "Shags" Shagrin !
The Job Interview
Reaching the end of a job interview, the Human Resources Officer asks a young engineer fresh out of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, "And what starting salary are you looking for?"
The engineer replies, "In the region of $125,000 a year, depending on the benefits package."
The interviewer inquires, "Well, what would you say to a package of five weeks vacation, 14 paid holidays, full medical and dental, company matching retirement fund to 50% of salary, and a company car leased every two years, say, a red Corvette?"
The engineer sits up straight and says, "Wow! Are you kidding?"
The interviewer replies, "Yeah, but you started it."
Weekly Inspiration
Every week we start our meetings with a short video highlighting innovation, inspiration, entrepreneurship, or social change.
The maelstrom that is 2020 has been so consuming that it might be worth a moment to think back to some of the moments from 2019 that showed who we can be at our best. Google puts out a year-in-search video every year, and it always fascinates me. Hopefully, this one will have something that speaks to your heart, too.
Coffee With a Rotarian
Every 4 weeks, each member of our club is matched with another member for one-on-one conversations!
Here are the current matches!
Manuj Mittal and Angelica Marotta
Sarah Tuberty and Rushton Hurley
Maxi Bustos and Suzanne Van Stralen
Tzviatko Chiderov and Hardeep Kaur Singh
Nathan Gildart and Tanya Martin
Brett Sham and Catherine
Carlos Gabuardi and Gabi Lopez
Alexandra Heller and Imad Ghoummid
Keith Marsh and Nan Herron, MD
Ferheen Abbasi and Mark Dohn
Roger Plested and Kelly Ku
Rory R. Olsen and Cecelia Babkirk
Tatiana LaGarde and Olu
Nick LaGarde and Richard Knaggs
Mark Busani and Cal Mann
Caleb LaPlante and May Yam
Sandy Stabile and Felix Pretscheck
Steven -Shags- Shagrin and Susan Howell
Mahmood Khan and Emily Paver
Weren’t matched? 😔
Join the #coffee-with-a-rotarian channel in our club’s Slack workspace to participate in the next round!
World of Rotary
Every week we will focus on a particular story that tells of our organization and the work of Rotarians in the world.
Through a Rotarian's Lens
Sometimes a photo can capture an amazing moment. In this section Member Keith Marsh shares his incredible photography!
If you'd like to submit a photo for this section please contact Keith.
Amid all of the chaos in our nation's Capitol, there remains some order and beauty. The Reflecting Pond, Washington Monument and Capitol building all in a line with the Lincoln Memorial.
Learn Something New
This section is curated by members Shags Shagrin and aims to teach our members and guests something new, fun and useful! If you have any ideas on a fun trick or skill you'd like to share please contact Shags.
Throw the Best BBQ With These 5 Upcycling Ideas! Blossom
These are really neat ideas! I may even get adventurous and give some a try. For those of you in colder areas, get them together for next year's season. I'm lucky to be able to cook outside nearly all year!
Service Report
Tell us about service you’ve done recently in your community.
Click here to fill out The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley Service Survey
On the first meeting of every month, we feature service reports from club members for the previous month. Thanks for your service everyone!
Club Announcements
Haven't joined the conversation on Facebook yet? Consider joining the conversation by signing into our club members-only Facebook Group at https://www.facebook.com/groups/rotarysiliconvalley/
Service Project Information
Club members, if you are participating or have previously participated in a service project as part of our club, could you please complete the following form:
https://forms.gle/jxfpHHiKBv7P5YXy5
Mini - E- Grants Questions and Answer
Our Events & Projects
We hold our meetings online, but we do regular service projects and social events in the Silicon Valley! This section is updated every week with our upcoming events. We welcome guests to all of the events and service projects listed here.
Past Events:
Upcoming Events:
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)
District 5170 Events
All times are Pacific Time! (San Francisco time)
More events coming soon! All events are open to guests, unless otherwise mentioned. Feel free to join us! If you ever have questions, please email inquiries@siliconvalleyrotary.com
Happy Dollars: Do Good by Sharing Something Good
Each week we ask our members to share stories with the club and toss in a few dollars to support our efforts. The primary goal of this section is to provide a fun way of getting to know each fellow members and guests, while giving back to a good cause.
Happy dollars is an opportunity to share something positive that has happened in your life whether it is personal or business. Think of it as your opportunity to brag a little, but also put a little bit into a karma jar. The money donated through happy dollars is put to charitable use, and the message that you leave for happy dollars will be posted in our online meeting the following week for the entire week for folks to see! (Pending that it’s appropriate!)
Unless stated otherwise, Happy Dollar donations made in October will go to Polio Plus! Learn more at endpolio.org.
Here are the happy dollars contributions from last week!
This section is usually updated on the early hours of Saturday, so contributions made over the weekend may not be listed here.
Monique Ziesenhenne made a $25 donation.
Just happy! TRF-Annual Fund, please.
Rory Olsen made a $20 donation.
We avoided the hurricane. Nice weather this week. My three cats are in a good mood. All is well.
Selected Comments
Every week at the bottom of our meetings, there is a comments section for members and guests to tell us what they enjoyed about the meeting or to ask questions to the speaker. We select a few comments every week from last week’s meeting to be featured during this week’s meeting.
Here are the comments selected from last week’s meeting.
Tzviatko Chiderov said:
This week's inspiration video was so cool!
Dorsey and Mahmood thank you for the interesting presentation. Such a creative approach to a real problem. I was very surprised by some of the stats that were shared - 175% increase in youth homelessness in the past 2 years! Wow. Thank you for helping address this important issue.
Carl Mann said:
Excellent presentation. I like the way they have built a complete solution that addresses all of the student's needs. This will likely end up with a much higher success rate. Best of luck to the whole team at San Jose Conservation Corps & Charter School.
Monique le Conge Ziesenhenne said:
Really wonderful project to highlight this week! Thank you. Like Tzviatko, I'm surprised by the stats, but when I look around, perhaps its not so surprising and I observe the people you are helping every day! Thank you for what you do.
Be sure to leave a comment at the end of this week’s meeting after you watch the program below, and perhaps you’ll see your comment featured next week!
Program: Follow the Money - Are Venture Capital Investors Ethical?
Speaker: Johannes Lenhard
Every week we bring to you a new program on innovation, entrepreneurship, and education, and how those contribute to service to others.
The Rotary eClub of Silicon Valley seeks to explore perspectives on service from across the world. The views of the speakers in our programs are their own, and unless stated otherwise, are not necessarily reflective of the views of our eClub nor Rotary International.
If you have an idea for a cool speaker, please feel free to reach out to them directly or submit THIS FORM so our Program Committee can contact them!
Technology companies are often financed by venture capital investors. These VCs have a fiduciary duty to return maximum profits to their limited partners. Dr. Johannes Lenhard will start his discussion of ethics in the venture world with a focus on decision making and these structures VCs are bound by. The argument: VCs don't have time to be 'good'.
Additionally, Dr. Lenhard will look at a more 'normative' view of ethics and ask: Why does it make (financial) sense to be more ethical - rather than a psychopath, to say it in Reid Hoffman's words? This is where the conversation can also be linked to an outlook on the increasingly important influence of ESG/impact/tech-for-good VC investing.
Since 2017, Dr. Lenhard has been the Centre Coordinator of the Max Planck Cambridge Centre for Ethics, the Economy and Social Change. He is an anthropologist based at Cambridge University where he also finished his PhD. in 2017 writing about the economy of homeless people in Paris and London. Prior work in the VC investing world led him to his current research project for a book called The Ethics of Venture Capital. He has recently conducted fieldwork in San Francisco (affiliated with Stanford), New York, London and Berlin with VC investors. His writing has appeared in TechCrunch, Tribune, Conversation, AEON, Crunchbase, Vestoj and the Kings Review. He is currently also working on a book on diversity and inclusion in VC and the tech world with Holloway.
Members and guests, please welcome Dr. Johannes Lenhard!
Additional Resources
Learn more:
https://www.socanth.cam.ac.uk/directory/dr-johannes-lenhard
Upcoming Program Recording Schedule
All of our guest speakers and programs are recorded live online over Zoom video conference. We welcome members and guests to join us in one of these upcoming recordings. Recordings are approximately 30 minutes long and are subject to change without notice.
Our online video conference room link for these recordings is always http://zoom.siliconvalleyrotary.com/. You are welcome to join us! Please note the timezone listed for all recordings is US Pacific Time (San Francisco, California, USA).
If you can’t join the live recording, please send your questions for an upcoming speaker to programs@siliconvalleyrotary.com.
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