Anna Barber: Venture Capital Investor
Introduction
Anna Barber is a partner at M13, a venture capital firm that invests in tech startups with a focus on ecommerce, infrastructure, and the future of work. In her current role, Barber pursues her own curiosity through solving problems for her existing portfolio of companies, meeting new entrepreneurs to evaluate their ability to scale and thinking about what companies will be successful in the future. Barber has not had a linear career path, but all her prior roles help her succeed as an investor. She notes “a hallmark of my career was saying yes to doing things that I had no idea how to do, but I just had confidence that I would figure it out. And I did figure it out.”
Throughout high school, Barber enjoyed science and decided to major in Biology at Yale. In her first semester, Barber received her first ever B- and immediately switched majors. She was taken by surprise because, up to that point, she had never “failed” before, so she made a rash decision to switch fields. She ended up graduating with a degree in American Studies, a hybrid English, History, and Social Studies major. Following graduation, Barber didn’t know what she wanted to do, but felt drawn to law school because she thought a law degree would be a great way to have a positive impact on the world. Throughout law school, she was interested in environmental protection and worked at nonprofits such as the National Resources Defense Council, and the Sierra Club Legal Defense Fund. She graduated law school with two job offers, one with the Natural Resource Defense Council and the other at a law firm. Although she was passionate about environmentalism, it made more financial sense for her to pursue the law firm job – there was just no way she would be able to support herself while working at the nonprofit.
While working at the law firm, Barber enjoyed the issues she was tackling, but not the work itself which she found to be focused on the minutia of the deals she was working on, rather than the business issues. Coincidentally, McKinsey was looking to hire people without business degrees, but who graduated from highly competitive graduate programs in other fields. Barber ended up working at McKinsey for two years and got a general background in business through her experience. This experience allowed her to solidly pivot out of law and into business.
During the dot-com boom Barber got an offer to move to San Francisco and be the Director of Marketing for a venture backed startup called petstore.com, an early ecommerce site. Within 2 weeks of her starting, the whole product team quit. Unable to hire a new team in the competitive environment at that time, the CEO promoted Barber to VP of Product. Barber loved working in product because she was able to think about what the customer wants and then turn it into reality. The company ended up getting sold to a competitor during the dot-com burst in 2001. Barber took the opportunity to pivot once more into a more creative field, so she moved to Los Angeles to start her own talent management agency. She, however, found it difficult to get the business off the ground because she had no prior industry network or experience. Ultimately, Barber lacked the intellectual satisfaction she had in tech and was overall frustrated by the industry’s clubbiness and the fact that she wasn’t able to sell the work of her very talented clients. Thinking back, Barber also notes that it “might have been better, instead of jumping into the deep end of the pool and trying to start my own thing in a new industry, to get an intermediate job in the industry to build my network working for someone else. And then to step out on my own.”
While Barber was considering what to do next, an approaching moment of serendipity clarified everything for her. On a plane ride across the country, Barber sat next to a woman who pitched her a startup idea, a make-your-own bookstore for children. At that moment, Barber decided that is what she was going to do next. But it was not really a decision because her gut had already chosen for her. She immediately went home and told her husband she was closing her management agency to start a company with a stranger, while having 3 children and a fourth on the way. Although it was crazy, Barber was excited for this next step in her career. That business idea became Scribble Press, where Barber fulfilled her love for business and her necessity for intellectually stimulating problem solving. “I was already thinking about the details of how we were going to do it. My mind just really wanted to solve that problem and figure it out. And so I didn't have time to think about being scared because I was too busy thinking about all of the things we were going to have to figure out and solve. I was getting really excited about solving them and figuring it out.” She built up Scribble Press for 6 years, during which they printed over 50,000 books between their Los Angeles and New York locations. But in 2015, Barber and her partner were both ready to move on in their lives and decided to sell Scribble Press.
With her kids being a little older and no company to manage, Barber wanted to help other entrepreneurs and became certified as an executive coach. While coaching, Barber had the opportunity to launch TechStars Los Angeles, a tech accelerator. This was the perfect opportunity for Barber because she was still able to support and mentor entrepreneurs, but in a more communal setting. Eventually, Barber moved to M13, a tech venture capital firm, to help expand their LA office. For the past seven years, she has been investing in early stage startups with a focus on software and the future of work.
Looking back, Barber sees the ways in which all her past jobs significantly impact her current one. She notes, “I practiced law for two years, so I know my way around a term sheet. And a lot of what we do is negotiating deals and reading contracts. From McKinsey, I brought my strategic thinking, so I'm able to help my companies come up with their strategic plans. From talent management, I built a roster of clients and having a portfolio of CEOs is very similar. You have to work with a lot of different personalities and everybody's different. When I had experience building products, I was an entrepreneur, myself, I raised money, I ran my own startup, I managed a big team. So all of those experiences make me a better investor.”
Mentorship
Barber believes that the idea of mentorship is fluid, changing over time and differing by person. Throughout her life, Barber has had a few close mentors whose guidance has helped her through the toughest of challenges. The close mentor relationships are best for advice and wisdom, but may not lead to new opportunities. On the other hand, weak tie mentorship usually leads to new opportunities and positions. Most career professionals have a wide group of weak tie advisors who think well of you, but may not know you the best.
Barber’s chemistry teacher was the first person to have a significant impact on Barber. Her teacher was a woman in an extremely male dominated field, but didn’t let her gender stop her from pursuing the sciences. Her teacher built confidence in Barber that enabled her to compete and achieve as well as anyone else. Due to her teacher’s encouragement and example, Barber ended up winning the Chemistry Prize in High School, which was very rare for a girl to win at that time.
In law school, one of Barber’s professors served as a mentor for her. He helped her network in the environmental policy field and was instrumental in her receiving a job offer from the National Resource Defense Council. However, he was disappointed when Barber turned down the position. This experience led Barber to realize that mentors are not always permanent and may only be there for a part of your life.
Barber’s mentor from McKinsey offered her the role in San Francisco at Petstore.com. Without him, she wouldn’t have had the courage to move across the country and work with no one she knew. He also gave her the strength and courage to work on her own. He told her she was a terrible employee, and she said “What do you mean? I don't understand. When you tell me to do something, and I agree with it, I always do it. And he looked at me and said, ‘That's exactly my point.’ This story has been told many times, and became a joke between the two of them.” Barber realized that she only followed directions if she agreed with it. He also said “you should be an entrepreneur, you're not meant to be an employee.” He helped her realize that Barber is wired in a certain way that may be suited for entrepreneurship, rather than trying to fit into a hierarchical organization.
Barber’s co-founder of Scribble Press was also a mentor for her. In Barber’s previous positions, she felt the need to always put on a costume or a mask, leading to losing a sense of her identity. However, her co-founder enabled her to find the confidence to bring her whole self because it would actually make her a better boss, employee, and co-worker. Although it requires a significant amount of vulnerability, there is a level of strength that comes from showing everything. No one can poke holes or deflate her since she is putting all her cards on the table. She finally understood there is more value in being your true self, and success will come with that.
In addition to her co-founder of Scribble Press, Barber and her co-founder also received guidance from Nancye Green, who built the brand for American Girl. Green stressed the importance of having a clear, strong, and commanding brand for any company. At the time, this advice was crucial for Barber because she originally thought that the idea of “brand” was all fluff.
Overall, Barber’s favorite part about her job now is advising the entrepreneurs who build these “really cool and exciting” companies. She loves “being their first phone call when things are going great, but also their first phone call when things are going terrible.” Barber finds fulfillment from helping them grow and blossom, while also not being in the spotlight.
Future
Barber is thriving in her position and does not currently have plans to change careers. However, in the far future, she can see herself working full time as an executive coach. She loves advising aspiring entrepreneurs and individuals.
