My Moral Compass: Jenna Anita Nicholas on Innovation, Intention, and Contributing towards an 'Ever-Advancing Civilization'
Jenna Anita Nicholas exemplifies an investor wholly driven by values and goodwill. As the Vice President at One Planet VC, Jenna invests in early-stage innovative businesses that are transforming the landscape of various industries, including education technology, the future of mobility, media, and healthcare services. She and her team leave no stone unturned when it comes to evaluating the ways these businesses impact stakeholders and better humanity.
Jenna also views every endeavor through an inclusive lens. “We have a focus of ensuring that at least 60 percent of our portfolio includes businesses run by women and/or people of color,” she tells our founder, Eva Yazhari, about One Planet VC. (Currently, the fund has invested in 28 companies and is on trajectory to make about an investment a month.) This emphasis on diversity and inclusion is a through-line throughout Jenna’s work: In tandem with her VP role, she is CEO of Impact Experience, which focuses on addressing structural racism and tackling prejudice.
In her personal life and her work, Jenna is always asking questions and looking deeper. “Constantly curious” is how she describes herself. A compass to which she looks are the spiritual teachings of the Bahá'í Faith. Recently, Jenna sat with Eva over Zoom to talk about what keeps her fueled and the drivers behind her work. “There is an independent investigation of truth,” she says of the Baha'i Faith, “and that's definitely been a big part of what feeds my curiosity.”
A Conversation with Jenna Anita Nicholas
Eva: Let’s start with having you outline the work of One Planet VC.
Jenna: One Planet VC is embedded within One Planet Group. There are three main things within One Planet Group that we do: incubate, operate, and invest in businesses. One Planet VC is the investment part of the work, and our goal is to invest into early-stage businesses that are looking to contribute toward the betterment of the world.
There are a number of industries that we dive deeper into, which include the future of mobility, education, technology, healthcare, media, and marketplaces. We work closely with the companies that we invest in to engage them where there is a product or services within the broader One Planet group so we can help to add value to those companies. We require each of the companies that we invest in to sign what we call a ‘Betterment of the World’ agreement, which is part of our process to enshrine that culture and values alignment. We have a focus of ensuring that at least 60 percent of our portfolio includes businesses run by women and/or people of color.
Eva: What does the ‘Betterment of the World’ agreement ask of the founders?
Jenna: It’s to really think about the intentionality of what the impact of those businesses are having, both as it relates to within their own companies and within the communities that they work in, and within their broader stakeholders and vendors. It’s a starting point for conversation both in the diligence process but also as an ongoing engagement to keep an alignment around that social mission— which is often so much of the inspiration for the companies, but over time they can get further away from some of that initial intentionality. It helps to have a mechanism for being able to come back to that.
Eva: Why is it important to you and One Planet VC that innovation and intention coexist? I say ‘you’ because I know you as somebody who's really cared about impact investing for the past decade-plus and has built your career around it.
Jenna: I'll first briefly share the perspective of the firm. A big part of this idea is if there isn't intentionality within innovation, the potential for unintended consequences becomes that much greater. And that innovation—as an end in and of itself—isn't necessarily the most valuable thing unless there is this sense of the intended impact of that innovation. How each one can really reinforce the other has certainly been a key part of the growth of the One Planet Group more broadly.
For me, throughout my whole career, this intersection between innovation and intention has been a core part of the work. We see this in Silicon Valley and other places where there's a focus on innovation, but so often there isn't really an engagement of who are the stakeholders that are going to be benefiting from that innovation. Why, then, are we even innovating? So having a space to be able to engage around those questions is certainly something that's excited me about One Planet VC’s work.
Eva: What do you think needs to be reformed about venture capital investing to build more inclusive businesses?
Jenna: There are a number of elements. Within investing, less than 2 percent of capital is invested into women- and people of color-run businesses and funds. The broader shift for investors is to recognize the role that bias plays as part of their investment decision-making process, and to standardize diligence processes so that there is a level playing field for both entrepreneurs and the fund managers. A big part of that, and what we see, is people will invest in people who are part of communities and networks that they're part of. So the opportunities to be able to expand the pools and networks is an incredibly important aspect of the work.
Eva: How do you describe a transformative industry, and what are you really looking for deeper in the company profile?
Jenna: There are a couple of elements. A big part of it is looking at being aligned with the needs of the time. There are companies that are looking at shaping these broader trends. I'll give some examples: Within the future of mobility, one of the companies that we invested in is Volansi, which is a drone delivery company of particularly last-mile medical devices. They were even helping to deliver COVID vaccines. There is a power of these companies that are able to both envision where, in this case, the mobility industry is going and also to be able to shape and impact how that industry is developing. That is definitely a core part of what we look at.
Within healthcare we've been investing in a number of companies that are looking at social determinants of health and the intersection with telemedicine. So similarly, we’re seeing where the healthcare industry is going.
Eva: Are there any qualities of leaders that you think will make innovation and intention and business more possible?
Jenna: There are a few qualities that we look for. One is growth mindset. This orientation and ability to see what's possible, both within their own companies and teams but also within the world more broadly, and to have a desire to play an active role in shaping how industries are developing.
Another quality is a sense of compassion..I would link that to humility. So many of the founders that we invest into have an orientation towards empathy. They really try to understand the communities that they're seeking to serve and engage rather than having a fixed idea of what success looks like and not being responsive to the needs within the particular stakeholders or communities that they're working in.
And then there's a purpose orientation. A motivation beyond just financial returns to really try to make a positive dent on the world.
Eva: This almost seems like a silly question, but do you, personally, believe that returns and impact can coexist?
Jenna: Yes, definitely. It’s certainly something that I believe on one side of the spectrum there are companies that make great financial returns and have no social or maybe negative social impact, and on the other side there are organizations doing amazing work and having great social impact that I don't think lends itself to a revenue producing model. I think there are a lot of companies that are in the middle that are able to do both and each one reinforces each other. It’s identifying sectors, geographies and companies that you know are really at that sweet spot of the social impact and financial impact.
Eva: I know that your work is faith-based. You are of the Baha'i Faith. How do you draw from the Baha'i Faith in your work, or how does faith play a role in your work?
Jenna: Thank you for the question. We spent a lot of time upfront and we spend a lot of time coming back to Baha'i principles and the ways in which it influences how we think about the types of companies that we invest into and how we engage with those companies over time.
One of the core principles is the power and importance of consultation. That's something that we utilize both internally within One Planet as we are actively looking at different investment opportunities, as well as with our companies. It has been powerful to really engage in this kind of consultative model. When we are in conversation with the companies, both before the investments, as well as after the investments, we really see that we are walking on this journey together. We recognize that there can be inherent power dynamics and we try to be intentional about that through creating a consultative mode of engagement.
There's a lot of emphasis in the Baha'i Faith around equity, both racial and gender equity, so that's certainly a lot of the principles that drive our work. It actually ends up being closer to 70 or 80 percent of our portfolio are women and people of color run businesses. The other question is that even with companies that maybe aren't necessarily run by women and people of color, but there’s the power of engaging with companies to think about the hiring processes and the board selection processes and to have an increased lens focused on these questions.
There's a concept in the Baha'i Faith about the idea that everything leaves a trace. It’s about really thinking that there are consequences of our actions. It's definitely something that we both think about and we also encourage as we're mentoring companies that we're investing into or have invested into.
Another dimension is about reflecting on how we are contributing towards an ever-advancing civilization. Both the thesis that civilization is ever-advancing, even though it may not always seem like that, as well as the consideration of how we are investing into companies that both resonate with that principle and are also actively looking at making a contribution toward an ever-advancing civilization.
Eva: How does consultation change your due diligence process?
Jenna: A number of ways. One is certainly within our own team. We have a very flat hierarchy in terms of our own decision-making processes to ensure that we really are creating a space to engage others, even outside of the organization. We take a collaborative approach to our due diligence.
With the companies that we’re working with, we make sure to remember that often for entrepreneurs, their companies are their life and soul. It can be so easy in a diligence process for people to become quite transactional. We really try to be intentional about coming back to recognizing the inherent nobility of all people. As we're engaging with companies, even if we don't invest in them, we have heard many say that they felt like they were acknowledged as human beings. That’s one of the things that is most exciting is that some of the companies that we haven't invested into, for a number of reasons, have then referred us on to other companies, and introduced them to other investors when there may be alignment. Having ongoing opportunities for engagements, even if there isn't an actual investment that's made, is something that's important to us as part of our process.
Eva: When you’re managing your investment portfolio, are there other Baha'i principles that will help you manage relationships more like a human rather than a traditional transactional VC?
Jenna: There are a couple of elements. There’s a concept in the Baha'i faith of the world being one human family and the idea of unity and diversity. How that relates to our portfolio and how we see the portfolio is that we’re really looking at the interconnections between the portfolio. We've already been doing this in terms of actively making introductions between the different companies. One of the other core principles in the Baha'i Faith is the idea of accompaniment. We walk alongside our companies together and in community, so we can be supportive and also we hope the companies can be supportive of each other, and our co-investors are able to actively engage. It’s about having the opportunities to do so in a way that we truly feel like we're all part of one human body. We’re really recognizing the role of power dynamics and the leveling of those power dynamics in the process.
Eva: Is there one area of your work where you independently investigated the truth and then it turned into you learning something and then into an investment?
Jenna: I'll share a couple. Some may be more or less relevant, but just to this point around seeing people as whole people. One of the elements that we don't always talk about enough is mental health and burnout, and the importance of taking this into consideration. In particular, what does it really mean to walk alongside a founder even in some of the hardest moments?
On a personal level, very sadly my mom passed away last year. She had cancer and she had immunotherapy as part of her treatment. This made me personally interested in learning more about the future of what's possible as it relates to healthcare, particularly around personalized medicine. We invested in a company that did come from this personal exploration of looking into the idea that we're seeing so many advances in science that are happening on a day-to-day basis and how could we help to contribute towards that. One of the companies we invested into is a microbiome therapeutics company coming out of Stanford, InterfaceBio. We also invested in a company called LifeDNA that is focused on personalized medicine. Related to that, some of the companies that we've been investing in are focused on the social determinants of health, such as MemoryWell, who are using data to help with the advancement of how we can create more opportunities for doctors to be able to give more effective care. My interest in that company came from seeing how my grandmother navigated the health system.
Eva: I am sorry about your mother. Thank you for sharing all of that. You seem to have endless energy. You even describe yourself as ‘constantly curious’ in your bio. How do you stay ‘constantly curious’?
Jenna: To the broader point around energy, part of staying curious is what feeds the energy and the energy feeds the curiosities. I do think the two are reinforcing each other. I stay very intentional about trying to be exposed to a broad range of people that think very differently about different ideas and concepts. It can be very easy to get siloed in terms of talking to people who reinforce the ways that we already think about and see the world. I try not to do that. So I think about the people that I spend time with and my friends are of a very broad array of backgrounds. And related to that, I think reading and listening to different types of sources of information and traveling (when it's possible) to places that expose me to different ways of thinking about things. I’m constantly trying to question preconceived notions and not take anything for granted.
Within the Baha'i Faith there is an emphasis on independent investigation of truth and that's definitely been a big part of what feeds my curiosity. How do we keep looking for what truth means, and in many different circumstances, how it applies to investing. Part of what I love about investing is the power of learning about many nuanced industries and sectors that I maybe wouldn't have had an opportunity to be able to learn about otherwise.
But again, not taking anything for granted and constantly being in a state of openness is definitely something that I’ve tried to continue to cultivate.
To learn more about Jenna and One Planet VC, visit oneplanetvc.com.
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