Joanne Wilson
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Joanne Wilson | |
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![]() Wilson in 2016 | |
Born | 1961 (age 59–60) Los Angeles, California |
Nationality | American |
Alma mater | Simmons College |
Occupation | businesswoman, angel investor |
Years active | 1994–present |
Spouse(s) | Fred Wilson |
Website | gothamgal |
Joanne Wilson (born 1961) is an American businesswoman and angel investor. She is best known for backing female-founded companies.
Biography[]
Early life and education[]
Joanne Wilson was born in 1961 in Los Angeles, California.[1] Her mother was a teacher and her father was an underwater nuclear warfare engineer.[1] Both parents were entrepreneurs and had their own businesses. They divorced when Wilson was 16.[1]
Wilson majored in Finance and Retail Management at Simmons College in Boston, which she graduated in 1983.[2][1] She met her future husband Fred Wilson while at college and they moved to New York City.[3]
Career[]
Wilson began her career at Macy's, working there for 4 years in retail apparel department.[4] Her first job at Macy's was overseeing a cosmetics department.[5][6] After Macy's she oversaw a company in the garment center, then worked at sales for the startup magazine and events company called Silicon Alley Reporter.[4][7] She also chaired the nonprofit MOUSE (Making Opportunities in Upgrading Schools in Education), the organization focused on technology in inner-city schools.[8][9][10]
Wilson has been blogging since 1994 under the name Gotham Gal.[11] Later, she named her investment fund Gotham Gal Ventures.[12][13]
She turned to investing in 2007.[14][6]
In 2010, together with Nancy Hechinger from the New York University she co-founded and co-chaired an annual Women Entrepreneurs Festival.[15][16][17]
From 2010 to 2015, she chaired the board of Hot Bread Kitchen, a nonprofit that promotes and trains female and minority bakers.[13][18][19] She also was the first co-Chair of Path Forward, a non-profit, established in 2018 with a mission to get people back to work after they’ve taken time off for caregiving.[20]
Since 2009, Wilson is involved in real estate development in the New York City.[21][22]
Investments[]
In 2007, Wilson made her first investment into Lockhart Steele’s startup Curbed.[11][14][6] Some of her early investments included Food52, Rick's Picks, DailyWorth, Hot Bread Kitchen and Scoot.[23][24][25] In 2014, she invested in Blue Bottle Coffee, a coffee roaster and retailer, and in Spoon University, a food media company, in 2015.[26][27] Later in 2015, she invested in Nestio, the NY-based leasing and marketing platform for residential landlords.[28]
Wilson became known for investing in women-led startups.[29][30][31] In 2012, 13 of her 17 investments were in tech and out of those 13, 10 were women-founded companies.[6] As of 2016, around 70 percent of her investments were in companies led by women.[14] By 2017, she has backed more than 90 female-founded companies, including 3 of the 11 black women-led startups to have raised over $1 million.[32][33][34]
In 2017, Wilson made two angel investments in the cannabis industry: Octavia Wellness and Beboe.[35][36][37]
In August 2018, Forbes ranked her 25th in the list of "50 Angel Investors Based On Investment Volume And Successful Exits" with 63 investments.[38]
Personal life[]
Wilson is married to venture capitalist Fred Wilson, a cofounder of Union Square Ventures.[39] The couple live in New York City. They have three children, two daughters and a son.[5][40][41] In 2016, Crain's New York Business included Fred and Joanne Wilson into its "Power Couples" list.[42]
Recognition[]
Year | Recognition | Recognition type | Awarding body |
---|---|---|---|
2012 | THE ANGEL 100: New York's Top Early Stage Investors[43] | Feature | Business Insider |
2012 | THE SILICON ALLEY 100: The Coolest People in New York Tech This Year[44] | Rating | Business Insider |
2012 | League of Extraordinary Women 2012[45] | Rating | Fast Company |
2013 | The 15 Hottest Women in Tech Who Were Not Hot Enough For Complex's '40 Hottest Women in Tech' List[46] | Feature | Forbes |
2013 | 40 Women To Watch Over 40[47] | Feature | Forbes |
2016 | Women of Influence[48] | Award | New York Business Journal |
2017 | 10 Investors Who Are Authentically Committed To Funding Female Founders[49] | Feature | Forbes |
2018 | 50 Angel Investors Based On Investment Volume And Successful Exits[38] | Rating | Forbes |
2018 | 30 women in venture capital to watch in 2018[50] | Feature | Business Insider |
2019 | Notable Women in Tech[20] | Feature | Crain's New York Business |
Bibliography[]
- Saujani, Reshma (2013). Women Who Don't Wait in Line. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-544-02778-7 – via Google Books.
- Feld, Brad; Batchelo, Amy (2013). Startup Life: Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship with an Entrepreneur. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-49386-1 – via Google Books.
- Krotz, Joanna (2015). Being Equal Doesn't Mean Being The Same. Motivational Press. ISBN 978-1628652505.
- Pimsleur, Julia (2015). Million Dollar Women: The Essential Guide for Female Entrepreneurs Who Want to Go Big. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-9029-9 – via Google Books.
- Waldman Rodriguez, Jessamyn; Turshen, Julia (2015). The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook: Artisanal Baking from Around the World. Clarkson Potter/Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8041-8618-6 – via Google Books.
- Maher, Josh (2016). Startup Wealth: How The Best Angel Investors Make Money In Startups. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1533606013.
- Anid, Nada; Cantileno, Laurie; Morrow, Monique J.; Zafar, Rahilla (2016). The Internet of Women: Accelerating Culture Change. River Publishers. ISBN 978-87-93379-68-8 – via Google Books.
- Cabot, Heather; Walravens, Samantha (2017). Geek Girl Rising: Inside the Sisterhood Shaking Up Tech. St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-250-11226-2 – via Google Books.
References[]
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Griffit, Donna (February 10, 2017). "It's Not All About The Concept". Medium. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ "Alumnae/i achievements". Simmons. Simmons University (Fall 2012): 14. 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2019 – via yumpu.com.
- ^ Shontell, Alyson (April 13, 2014). "FRED WILSON Q&A: The Legendary Investor Talks Retirement, Tumblr's Exit, And Getting Over A Tough Year". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 24, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Suster, Mark (April 19, 2011). "8 Startup Lessons You Could Learn From Gotham Gal". Fast Company. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Cabot, Walravens, 2017, p. 71
- ^ Jump up to: a b c d Shontell, Alyson (February 29, 2012). "Meet Joanne Wilson, an investor in 17 startups who's part of a tech power couple". Business Insider. Archived from the original on March 27, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Rewick, Jennifer L. (February 29, 2000). "Silicon Alley Reporter Seeks Some Silicon Alley Investors". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 10, 2019.(subscription required)
- ^ "Joanne Wilson: The Woman Empowering Angel Investor". Columbia University. 2016. Archived from the original on June 20, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ "Activate New York 2013: Judging panel". The Guardian. September 18, 2013. Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Allbritton, Chris (April 23, 2000). "A MOUSE THAT ROARED The crusade to get city students online". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Maher, 2016, p. 43
- ^ Chernova, Yuliya (February 28, 2014). "Sweeten.com Tries to Make Home Renovation Process Less Bitter". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Kowitt, Beth (September 3, 2014). "The Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink". Fortune. Archived from the original on August 25, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b c Johnson, Mary (February 18, 2016). "Gotham Gal Joanne Wilson is an angel investor — and 'chick magnet'". Albany Business Review. Archived from the original on March 2, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Allison, Keith (April 11, 2014). "Looking Forward at the Women Entrepreneurs Festival". New York University. Archived from the original on April 23, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
- ^ Krotz, 2015, p. 53
- ^ Marinova, Polina (January 28, 2016). "What Women Want". Fortune. Archived from the original on September 1, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
- ^ Waldman, Turshen, 2015, p. 293
- ^ Waldman Rodriguez, Jessamyn (December 7, 2015). "Farewell to Outgoing Board Chair Joanne Wilson". hotbreadkitchen.org (Press release). Archived from the original on November 17, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b "Notable Women in Tech". Crain's New York Business. April 8, 2019. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
- ^ Hughes, C.J. (September 21, 2012). "On the Waterfront, Minus the Stevedores". The New York Times. Archived from the original on April 1, 2015. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
- ^ Hughes, C.J. (January 17, 2020). "Five Stories Tall and Made of Wood". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 22, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
- ^ Boyd Myers, Courtney (December 11, 2011). "Breakfast of Champions: Joanne Wilson on writing, investing and mentoring". The Next Web. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ Primack, Dan (January 6, 2012). "Venture capital deals". Fortune. Archived from the original on December 1, 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ Perez, Sarah (September 12, 2012). "Scoot, The "Zipcar For Scooters," Grabs $550K In Seed Funding". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on October 8, 2012. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ Tsotsis, Alexia (January 30, 2014). "Tech Investors Buy Themselves Some Blue Bottle Coffee". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on August 24, 2014. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ Shieber, Jonathan (July 14, 2015). "Spoon University Raises $2M To Serve A Food Network To Millennials". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on July 15, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ Tepper, Fitz (December 1, 2015). "Residential Real Estate Platform Nestio Lands An $8M Series A Round". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ Saujani, 2013, p. 121
- ^ Anid et al., 2016, p. 109
- ^ O'Brien, Sara Ashley (May 5, 2015). "How this investor is bridging the 'bravado gap'". CNN Business. Archived from the original on April 10, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ Cabot, Walravens, 2017, p. 70
- ^ Kunst, Sarah (February 22, 2016). "Just 4% of Female-led Startups Are Run by Black Women—I'm One of Them". Fortune. Archived from the original on March 5, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ O’Connor, Clare (February 27, 2017). "Inside one woman investor's plan to get black female founders funding". Bloomberg L.P. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ Williams, Alex (March 17, 2017). "The Hermès of Marijuana". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Berke, Jeremy; Robinson, Melia (May 17, 2018). "The rising stars of marijuana's investment scene that everyone from Wall Street to Silicon Valley should know". Business Insider. Archived from the original on August 31, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Cabot, Heather (January 4, 2018). "Women In Weed Clap Back At Federal Government's Threat To Legal Pot". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Jump up to: a b Cremades, Alejandro (August 5, 2018). "50 Angel Investors Based On Investment Volume And Successful Exits". Forbes. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Pimsleur 2015, p. 135
- ^ Feld, Batchelo, 2013, p. 61
- ^ "Meet 'Gotham Gal' Joanne Wilson, an outspoken angel investor and a Woman of Influence". New York Business Journal. January 4, 2016. Archived from the original on January 6, 2017. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
- ^ "Fred Wilson & Joanne Wilson". Crain's New York Business. 2016. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Shontell, Alyson (June 21, 2012). "THE ANGEL 100: New York's Top Early Stage Investors". Business Insider. Archived from the original on July 26, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
- ^ Shontell, Alyson (October 25, 2012). "THE SILICON ALLEY 100: The Coolest People In New York Tech This Year". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 26, 2018. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
- ^ Rhodes, Margaret (June 5, 2012). "Joanne Wilson". Fast Company. Archived from the original on November 9, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
- ^ Hill, Kashmir (March 26, 2013). "The 15 Hottest Women In Tech Who Were Not Hot Enough For Complex's '40 Hottest Women in Tech' List". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 16, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
- ^ Dill, Kathryn (June 25, 2013). "'40 Women To Watch Over 40' List Rewards Innovation And Disruption". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
- ^ Moss, Jennings (November 23, 2015). "These 79 extraordinary business people are our Women of Influence for 2016". New York Business Journal. Archived from the original on October 18, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
- ^ Wang, Lisa (October 31, 2017). "10 Investors Who Are Authentically Committed To Funding Female Founders, Part 1". Forbes. Archived from the original on November 2, 2017. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
- ^ Bernard, Zoë (February 14, 2018). "30 women in venture capital to watch in 2018". Business Insider. Archived from the original on February 14, 2018. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
External links[]
- 1961 births
- Living people
- American investors
- American venture capitalists
- American women in business
- American women philanthropists
- American women writers
- Simmons College (Massachusetts) alumni
- Women investors