Karen Page: Venture Boards, Founder Governance, and the Path from Startup to Scale
Karen Page is a General Partner and Board Partner at B Capital, a global multi-stage venture firm founded by Eduardo Saverin and Raj Ganguly that partners with Boston Consulting Group to help scale high-growth startups. Karen brings decades of experience as an operator, investor, and board member across the technology and venture ecosystem. We discuss her career journey and path into VC. Karen shares insights into her investment focus at B Capital and reflects on how governance has evolved across early- and growth-stage companies.
Boardroom Governance with Evan Epstein · Karen Page, Evan Epstein
Audio is streamed directly from the publisher (cdn.simplecast.com) as published in their RSS feed. Play Podcasts does not host this file. Rights-holders can request removal through the copyright & takedown page.
Show Notes
(0:00) Intro
(1:25) About the podcast sponsor: The American College of Governance Counsel
(2:12) Start of interview
(3:01) Karen's origin story
(3:44) Early Career and Transition to Technology
(5:40) The Dot-Com Era and her time at Brobeck and later at Orrick.
(8:50) Her transition to Prosper Marketplace (Chris Larsen's company)
(9:40) Her time at Box, Inc. and Apple *Reference to E179 with Jack Lazar
(13:14) Her journey to Venture Capital.
(14:16) Joining B Capital (in 2019) and the firm's investment focus
(16:16) The nature of B Capital's partnership with the Boston Consulting Group (BCG)
(19:32) Governance in Early Stage Companies
(20:42) Her role as a board partner of her firm. *Reference to VCBA program
(23:22) Building Trust in Governance "It starts on day one. And that trust is just, is literally earned through every conversation, every interaction, and certainly every board meeting."
(25:41) Founder-Friendly Terms and Market Changes
(28:43) The Importance of Governance During Crisis
(31:52) CEO Succession and Leadership Transition
(37:45) Advisory Boards vs. Fiduciary Boards
(40:06) On board observers
(44:08) Board Committees and Their Evolution
(48:10) The Debate: Stay Private or Go Public
(51:37) Books that have greatly influenced her life:
- Annie Duke's Thinking in Bets (2018)
- Ray Dalio's Principles (2017)
- Shoe Dog by Phil Night (2016)
(52:00) Her mentors: David Geyer (Brobeck), Aaron Levie (Box), Howard Morgan (B Capital)
(52:48) Quotes that she thinks of often or lives her life by: "never cut what you can untie". And the other is "never confuse motion with progress."
(53:03) An unusual habit or an absurd thing that she loves.
(53:25) The people she most admires
(55:50) Diversity on Boards in Venture Capital
Karen Page is a General Partner and Board Partner at B Capital. As a Board Partner, she collaborates with portfolio company leadership, B Capital’s investment team and the firm’s network of advisors to provide best-in-class strategic guidance
You can follow Evan on social media at:
X: @evanepstein
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/epsteinevan/
Substack: https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
To support this podcast you can join as a subscriber of the Boardroom Governance Newsletter at https://evanepstein.substack.com/
__
Music/Soundtrack (found via Free Music Archive): Seeing The Future by Dexter Britain is licensed under a Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 3.0 United States License