In 2015, then-Twitter product manager Terri Burns penned a piece about staying optimistic despite the sexism and racism that exists expansively within tech. “America has broke my heart countless times, but I believe that technology can be a tool to mend some of the woes of the world and produce tools to better humanity,” she wrote.
“It’s hard to continue to believe this when the industry holding this power takes so little interest in the basic rights of women and people of color. I actively choose to remain hopeful under the belief that myself and many of the incredible people also working toward equality and justice in technology and in America will make a difference.”
Burns left Twitter in 2017 to join GV, formerly known as Google Ventures. Her hope has now been met with recognition. GV has promoted Terri Burns to partner, making her the first Black woman to hold that role — and the youngest ever. Making history comes with its own set of pressures and spotlight, but Burns seems focused on simply finding a new place to put her optimism and hope: Gen Z.
Read on for a Q&A with Burns about her investment thesis, role change and plans as partner.
TechCrunch: Before you were in venture, you held product roles at Venmo and Twitter. When did you know that computer science was the right field for you?
Terri Burns: I grew up in Southern California, in Long Beach. And I think I’ve always just been a really curious kid. For me, I always spent a ton of time just asking questions and I always liked science. But, I actually did not have any interest in computer science until college.
I went to NYU and I remember thinking my freshman year, major-wise, that I’m not entirely sure what it is that I want to do. By chance, I happened to apply to this program called Google BOLD. It was a week-long program for people that are a little bit too young for a full-time internship. There we just talked about all the opportunities at Google that were not engineering.
It’s funny, I grew up in California, but growing in Long Beach, I didn’t know anything about Silicon Valley whatsoever. College was really the first time I had an introduction to Silicon Valley, to technology, to entrepreneurship, to Google. Even though [Google BOLD] was a nontechnical program, I was “I want to know what this coding thing is about.” So my sophomore year, when I went back to campus, I took my first computer science class. And that was the beginning.
What’s the most effective way to get on your radar without knowing you prior? Any anecdotes for how out of network founders grabbed your attention?
Yes! In fact, I met Suraya Shivji, the CEO of HAGS, through Twitter. I knew people who were buzzing about the company on Twitter, and I proactively reached out to her to do a virtual coffee. Social media, networking events and warm intros are pretty good paths. For what it’s worth, I read every cold email I receive as well; I’m just not able to respond to all of them!
What kind of companies will you always take a meeting with?
Mobile consumer and consumer in general is definitely what my background is in, and so I’ll always have a natural inclination
in consumer. I recognize that that’s broad, but I think software consumer companies are ones that I know and I understand. So that’s something I’m always going to lean into. One of the things that I really love about GV is that we are a generalist firm, which has also been a theme for me personally and something that I definitely want to uphold as an investor. Some other things that I’m interested in [are] fintech on the enterprise side and [ … ] enterprise collaboration tools.
I do want to know a little more about how a consumer company can get on your radar. It feels like consumer is having a moment, so how do you separate the good and the bad?
By nature of being a person who is a generalist, there’s not one specific metric that I am specifically looking for or specifically look for when it comes to deals and opportunities. In general, I think we want to make sure that we are looking at companies that have some signal of a market fit. We need to believe that a company will grow in some capacity, whether that’s looking at retention, whether that’s looking at sign-ups or the user base. But in general, I think that any sort of indication that people are getting really hyped about a consumer company, or that they will at some point in the future, is what I personally get really excited about.
You started your route in tech as a generalist. Do you feel like you’ve tried to remain a generalist throughout your first few years of tech? Or is it important to specialize once you come to VC?
I’d definitely say that being a generalist is something that’s been a theme throughout my life, and definitely, at least throughout my time as a person in technology. So when I was studying computer science, even then I liked a broad range of technologies. As a partner, I’m really curious about having a really diversified portfolio as well. So I would definitely say that [being a generalist] has been a theme of mine.
Before you entered VC, you spent time building some pretty cool products and working at Twitter and Venmo. In NYU, you built BEY Trader, a website that analyzed the stock market through Beyonce gifs, and The Periodical, a guide about periods. My question here is, how did you resist becoming a founder? Was there something about VC that felt more attractive to you?
I came into venture completely opportunistically. I happened to know one of the people on the operational team at GV through Twitter and my network, who eventually said, “Hey, you know, we’re hiring, we think that you might be a good fit.” And I recognized that it was super lucky and an opportunistic moment. The way that I’ve always thought about it is, as a product person, and even as a founder, you’re hyperfocused, there is only one team, one product, one technology that you are really spending time [on]. What I was attracted to in venture was the opportunity to have a much, much broader view of the technological landscape. I have been doing computer science and product as a hyperfocus, but what did the broader landscape look like? I think that’s another element that I was curious about as well.
I don’t know what it actually means to build a sustainable business and venture is a really great way to sort of learn that. So for me, you know, admittedly, it wasn’t something that was super strategic. It was an opportunity that I was presented with.
You plan to focus on investing in Gen Z founders. How do you define Gen Z, and what are you looking for in a founder?
My first investment HAGs was built by and for Gen Z. Everyone from the team was Gen Z (which I think of as born in ’95 or later). Their product was focused on high schoolers. That generation is coming to an age where they are building and they are creating and they are at the forefront of the cultural landscape. So to find founders and builders and engineers, and designers who are part of that generation and building for their own demographic, I think it’s just a new wave of entrepreneurship and builders that are coming into technology and in Silicon Valley.
I think that they have a lot to offer, are super creative and have a different way of kind of viewing the world and that we should take them seriously. So I’m really excited about continuing to monitor what Gen Z builds from a product standpoint and a team standpoint.
Sometimes it can be hard to know the difference between a tool that is born overnight and a company. How do you differentiate?
I had this conversation with [the] HAGS team. They started HAGS as a side project in a similar way I started BEY Trader and Periodical. It was a group of folks who were like, “Hey, there’s an interesting moment happening right now due to COVID, what might it look like to create a digital experience for high schoolers at this moment in time?” Eventually, there was a lot of traction and interest. And the team had been thinking about starting a company at some point.
A lot of the conversations that we ended up having were if this is something that you want to focus on for the next, however many years. What does the market look like? Is there an appetite with it? Is there something here that is sticky that people will want to continuously use? Not just overnight, but you know, in the coming cycles of time? Then the other question is, like, what does the team really want. I think there’s a lot of actors and creatives and builders who love just creating projects that are just that — projects — and there are some folks who really want to double down and focus on something for the long haul.