Our guest today, Gale Wilkinson, founder and managing director of Vitalize Venture Capital, is working to change how we work, how we learn, and how people can access investing in startups.
Vitalize is known for investing in the future of work and the future of learning startups. They typically invest $250K-$1.5M at the pre-seed and seed stages. Portfolio companies include Placer, The Mom Project, Toucan, Zero Grocery, Zingtree, hiitide, and many more. They have also recently launched a platform that allows non-qualified investors to invest in start-ups before they hit the public markets.
About Gale Wilkinson:
Gale started in analyst roles at Nielsen and Orbitz before moving into investing in 2012 by founding Irish Angels, a network of angel investors affiliated with the University of Norte Dame. In 2017 she launched a formal fund, Vitalize Venture Capital. She did her undergrad at Notre Dame and got her MBA at the University of Chicago. She is currently a member of the Kauffman Fellows class of 2023.
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In this episode we discuss:
03:26 Why the future of work is such an important area of Gale’s investing
07:37 Is future of work just a code name for automation
09:23 How remote work and gig economy interact with each other
10:42 What Vitalize is excited about with Future of Work
13:23 How the metaverse and online will mix with real-world opportunities
14:03 Overlooked opportunities in the future of workspace
15:24 The ethical questions around working for multiple employers
16:39 Areas Gale is wary of in the future of work
19:10 Areas in the creator economy Vitalize is looking to bet on
20:54 Future of learning and where college degrees will be in the coming years
22:40 How the pandemic has affected the future of work and the future of learning
23:32 Opening up Venture to populations that have been historically excluded from investing
24:48 Gale’s goal for Vitalize and how founders and investors can connect
25:26 Gale’s secret to being so great on Twitter
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Gale Wilkinson of Vitalize VC on the Future of Work and how to invest in it