Ellen Pao

Background

Ellen Kangru Pao (born 1970) is an American lawyer, businesswoman, investor, and diversity advocate ¹. She holds a B.S.E. in Electrical Engineering from Princeton University (with a certificate in public policy), a J.D. from Harvard Law School, and an M.B.A. from Harvard Business School ².

Pao began her career as a corporate attorney at Cravath, Swaine & Moore from 1994 to 1996 ¹. She then transitioned to Silicon Valley, working at WebTV in 1998 and later as Senior Director of Corporate Business Development at BEA Systems from 2001 to 2005 ¹.

In 2005, Pao joined Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers as technical chief of staff for senior partner John Doerr ¹. In 2007, she became a junior investing partner under Ted Schlein ¹. While at Kleiner Perkins, Pao led the firm’s expansion into China as a founding member of the KPCB China investment committee ³. She sourced and led investments in RPX Corporation (which IPO’d in 2011), Datameer, and Flipboard, and served on the boards of Flipboard, Datameer, and Lehigh Technologies ⁴⁵.

In 2012, Pao filed a gender discrimination lawsuit against Kleiner Perkins, alleging she was denied promotion and eventually terminated because of her gender ⁶. On March 27, 2015, a jury ruled in favor of Kleiner Perkins on all four claims, voting 10-2 on the first three counts and 8-4 on the fourth ⁷. Despite losing the legal case, the trial catalyzed a national conversation about gender discrimination in venture capital ⁸. Pao dropped her appeal in September 2015 ¹.

Pao joined Reddit in 2013 as head of business development and strategic partnerships, becoming interim CEO in 2014 ¹. She resigned in July 2015 following user backlash over content moderation decisions ¹.

In 2016, Pao co-founded Project Include, a nonprofit focused on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the technology industry, alongside Erica Baker, Tracy Chou, Freada Kapor Klein, and others ¹. In January 2017, she joined Kapor Capital as Venture Partner and Chief Diversity and Inclusion Officer at the Kapor Center for Social Impact, investing in seed-stage startups focused on education, healthcare, and economic inclusion ⁹¹⁰. She left Kapor Capital in 2018 to focus full-time on Project Include, where she continues to serve as CEO ².

Pao currently serves as a Director and Audit Committee Member on the board of Expensify (since its 2021 IPO) ² and as Treasurer of the board at Data & Society ¹¹. She is also an Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow ¹². She published her memoir, Reset: My Fight for Inclusion and Lasting Change, in September 2017 ¹³.

Stated Thesis

Pao has publicly described her investment focus as supporting diverse founders and companies addressing underserved populations. She has stated that she sees diversity and inclusion as “the biggest opportunity in tech right now,” noting that diverse teams “are able to retain employees better, build products better and achieve better financial results” ¹⁰.

On her approach to working with founders, Pao has stated that she believes “coaching founders is overrated,” arguing that “founders are so much deeper in their business than their investors” and that investors should “offer advice or an opinion but know they know way more about their company than you do” ¹⁴.

Pao has published detailed analysis of the diversity metrics in her own angel portfolio of 24 investments, measuring dollars allocated by founder gender and race/ethnicity, tracking intersectionality, and reporting that 23% of founders she invested in were women of color ¹⁵.

Inferred Thesis

Note: Ellen Pao is primarily an operator, executive, and activist rather than an active full-time investor. Her investment activity is modest in volume and secondary to her roles leading Project Include and serving on corporate boards. The analysis below is based on a small sample of verified investments.

Based on 8 verified investments (out of a self-reported 24 angel investments), Pao’s portfolio shows the following patterns:

Stage distribution: All verified investments are seed-stage, consistent with her stated $10K-$50K check size range ¹⁶. Her participation in Dagger’s $20M Series A in 2022 is the exception, though her check size in that round is not disclosed ¹⁷.

Sector breakdown: Based on 8 verified investments: femtech/healthtech (2 of 8: Flex, Expectful), enterprise/developer tools (2 of 8: Datameer, Dagger), fintech (1 of 8: Truebill), consumer (1 of 8: Kit), media (1 of 8: Flipboard), other (1 of 8: Crittercism/mobile analytics). Sample too small for reliable percentages.

Founder diversity focus: Pao has explicitly tracked diversity metrics in her portfolio, reporting that 12 of her founders were women of color (23% of all founders across 24 investments) and 5 were Black or Latinx women (10% of founders) ¹⁵. This represents a significantly higher rate of investment in underrepresented founders than the venture industry average.

Geographic focus: San Francisco Bay Area ¹⁶.

Co-investor patterns: From the small sample, Pao has co-invested with Cyan Banister (Flex), Harlem Capital (Expectful), and Redpoint Ventures (Dagger) ¹⁸¹⁹¹⁷. The co-investor set suggests alignment with diversity-focused and emerging-manager investors.

Notable gaps: While Pao publicly emphasizes her role as an investor, her investment activity appears to have been modest and intermittent since leaving Kapor Capital in 2018. Her most recent verified investment (Dagger, March 2022) was over three years ago. Her primary professional activity is leading Project Include and serving on corporate boards.

Portfolio

This table represents approximately 10 of a self-reported 24 angel investments, plus 4-5 investments made while at Kleiner Perkins. Years marked with ~ are estimates based on company founding year or round timing; exact investment dates for several entries could not be independently verified. Kit, Truebill, and Expectful are recorded as portfolio exits ²⁰.

In Their Own Words

“Yes, I have no regrets. I think it opened a conversation and shed light on a problem that many people didn’t want to talk about.” — Ellen Pao, on her Kleiner Perkins lawsuit, Fortune, October 2022 ⁸

“I lost — but I feel like in many ways, I won.” — Ellen Pao, Fortune, October 2022 ⁸

“The accountability is still missing — all those people are back in the tech industry. It’s embarrassing.” — Ellen Pao, on the #MeToo movement’s impact in tech, Fortune, October 2022 ⁸

“Women’s investments were doing significantly better. We have more experience. We have more education on average. And we’re not getting promoted.” — Ellen Pao, on gender disparities in venture capital, PBS NewsHour, September 2017 ²¹

“There are a lot of — like 1,000 cuts in little small things that would make it very hard for a woman to be successful.” — Ellen Pao, on barriers to women in VC, PBS NewsHour, September 2017 ²¹

“Coaching founders is overrated. Founders are so much deeper in their business than their investors. Offer advice or an opinion but know they know way more about their company than you do.” — Ellen Pao, LinkedIn, February 2024 ¹⁴

“Some of us lose, and some of us win. What’s important is that we’re telling our stories.” — Ellen Pao, ellenkpao.com ¹²

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Pao’s portfolio companies have not publicly attributed specific founder quotes about her as an investor. Expensify’s board disclosure notes she qualifies for board service “due to her focus on diversity and inclusion and her experience as a board observer, board member, investor and advisor to technology startups since 2005” ², but this is a corporate governance statement, not a founder testimonial.

Connections

• Board member, Expensify — Director and Audit Committee Member since IPO (2021) ²
• Board member (Treasurer), Data & Society — nonprofit research institute ¹¹
• Co-founder & CEO, Project Include — alongside Erica Baker, Tracy Chou, Freada Kapor Klein (2016-present) ¹
• Former Venture Partner, Kapor Capital (2017-2018) — worked with Mitch Kapor and Freada Kapor Klein ⁹
• Former Partner, Kleiner Perkins (2005-2012) — worked with John Doerr, Ted Schlein, Randy Komisar ⁴¹
• Former Interim CEO, Reddit (2014-2015) ¹
• Aspen Institute Henry Crown Fellow ¹²
• Co-investor with Cyan Banister on Flex seed round (2016) ¹⁸

Sources