1/x A few years ago, I spoke at a conference of Black founders. I had just backed a Black female founder and the person running the conference wanted me to share advice about the VC process.

2/x The speakers were on a reply all thread. I made a comment about coming from a middle-class background, not from wealth. My dad was FDNY and my mom worked in the school system.

One of the other speakers wrote, "What a white privilege thing to say."

She wasn't wrong.

3/x It's very typical of white people coming from the middle class not to believe they had any advantages compared to the rich.

I had an absolutely visceral reaction to it.

4/x I didn't think much about how forces like the biased criminal justice system and unfair hiring practices made the support I had a privilege--two working parents with flexible job schedules that could also be home for me after school.

5/x I didn't think much about the advantages of having stable housing in a safe neighborhood either.

I don't know what it's like to have any other life but my own--and that's the history and perspective I bring into every pitch meeting that I take with a founder.

6/x Being conscious about how different that life might be from someone else of a different racial or other kind of identity background is incredibly important for investors--and something we need the help of others to truly get at.

7/x That's why I asked @nadiaramadan to evaluate my responses to a set of pitches I took in a forum I did over the summer with super early-stage founders of diverse backgrounds. I wanted to see what she had to say about my reactions to different founders and how they pitched.

8/x I'm running an event for investors in which she'll share her commentary with me and we'll discuss it, as well as unconscious bias in the process. It might be uncomfortable--but it's necessary and important work.

9/x If you're doing any investing--if you're a veteran or whether you're new to it, this is an extremely important conversation to have. Please share and encourage your team's participation. https://www.eventbrite.com/e/newtovc-unconscious-biases-in-the-pitch-meeting-tickets-118957722751