“We know that we can achieve alpha by investing in inclusive teams. Teams that are inclusive of men and women outperform both for innovation more broadly and for their investors. We pursue inclusion all about that investment target of achieving alpha, and what’s really cool is we’ve embedded our values within it, we’re a different type of investor investing in a very different way, and that’s how we achieve different results. ”
— Sharon Vosmek
In venture capital, credibility is often framed around access, networks, and pattern recognition. This episode challenges that foundation by asking a harder question: what if the industry’s biggest blind spot is also its most persistent source of mispriced opportunity?
My guest this week is Sharon Vosmek, CEO and Managing Partner of Astia. With more than two decades of early-stage investing experience, Sharon has built one of the most structured bias-mitigation processes in venture through Astia’s Expert SIFT methodology. A documented and disciplined system designed to eliminate individual, network, and process bias from investment decisions.
Sharon explains why the gender gap in venture funding is better understood as a market inefficiency, and how removing warm-introduction gatekeeping meaningfully expands high-quality deal flow.
We also discuss:
– How to recognize and eliminate pattern-matching bias in investment decisions
– The alpha thesis: Why inclusive teams generate 4x average returns
– How to reframe impact investing in the U.S. market by emphasizing values-based returns
This conversation examines inclusive investing not as concessionary capital, but as a rigorous venture discipline designed to capture overlooked alpha.
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Listen to the episode on Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Overcast, Podcast Addict, Pocket Casts, Castbox, YouTube Music, Amazon Music, or on your favorite podcast platform. You can watch the interview on YouTube here.
What was your favorite quote or lesson from this episode? Please let me know in the comments.
SHOW NOTES:
[27:19] Reframe Market Gaps as Financial Opportunities, Not Social Causes
[44:41] Eliminate Network Bias by Removing Gatekeepers
[50:13] Assess Fundamentals Before Founder Meetings
[01:08:52] Lead Deals to Shape Governance Outcomes
[01:36:25] Address Systemic Perceptions, Not Just Process
Additional Resources:
- Sharon Vosmek on LinkedIn
- Astia website
- Astia on Instagram
- Astia 25th Anniversary White Paper
- Previous SRI360 episode with Sharon Vosmek here
MORE QUOTES FROM THE INTERVIEWS:
“It’s in those uncomfortable moments that inclusion happens. Venture as an industry has an obsession with comfort, hire your friends, and make sure they’re like you. Well, that’s not how innovation is achieved. True innovation is achieved through a diverse set of perspectives and very varied backgrounds, and that’s why we really want that juicy, messy stuff of social interaction that is uncomfortable. ”
— Sharon Vosmek
“Less about why I didn’t get fixated on the question of why women don’t raise capital. Instead, I asked the question, why does venture fail to see these companies led by women? Why does venture struggle to invest in these companies that are led by women? When you ask the question subtly differently about the market rather than about the women, you end up with a very different solution set. ”
— Sharon Vosmek
