Leaving a $250 Million Fund: Ollen Douglass Speaks Out about being a Black Man in Venture Capital, the Power of Diversity to Drive Returns

Ollen Douglass is a name that many have come to recognize in the venture industry, in particular for building the first venture fund for the Motley Fool; a popular news and media platform providing investing insights and financial advice to millions of people for over 25 years. But his story takes an unexpected twist as he walks away from a $250 million outfit he helped start. His abrupt departure left industry insiders hungry for answers. And today, he's here to reveal in his own words what happened and why; and importantly we’ll chat about his mission to challenge the status quo as a Black man in this industry.

Some notable quotables from Ollen:

1. ON IMPLEMENTING DIVERSITY:

“Often you run into this situation where people want change— as long as they don’t have to change anything about what they do.”

Ollen emphasizes how the current system is broken: and is creating a certain result. Unless we’re willing to evaluate each little piece that is making the system, where the problems are embedded, nothing will truly change.

2. ON VENTURE AS AN ASSET CLASS:

“Even though companies are staying private longer, there’s still a tremendous amount of wealth creation to be had in venture capital. It punches above its weight like any other, like no other kind of asset class.”

3. ON DOING THE WORK:

“You can’t watch it from the outside the stadium. You gotta, you gotta buy a ticket and get into the arena.”

About Ollen Douglass

Ollen Douglass is the CEO of Hanover Street Advisors. Prior to starting the consulting business, he was the founding Managing Partner of Motley Fool Ventures. Founded in 2018, he led the growth of the venture capital firm from -0- to $250M in five years.

Prior to that, he served for 14 years as the corporate CFO of The Motley Fool Holdings, worked in finance for several commercial banks, and was a KPMG auditor.

He currently serves on the nonprofit boards of Young Artists of America (board President), and The Motley Fool Foundation (Finance Chair), and supports multiple non-profit organizations in the Baltimore-Washington metropolitan area. He remains active in venture capital as an advisor and ecosystem participant.

Ollen was born in Cherry Hill, Baltimore, the community at the southwest corner of the Hanover Street bridge.

FOLLOW OLLEN | LinkedIn

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