Last month, I accidentally started a movement. I was feeling frustrated that a few loud voices in tech were creating the impression that our whole industry had gone MAGA. In my frustration, I bought a URL, wrote a three-paragraph pledge, put it in Google Forms, designed a logo, built a website, and, with the help of friends, volunteers, and one very prominent LP, collected signatures from more than 100 venture capitalists—all in less than a week. Upon its reveal, the “VCs for Kamala pledge” went viral and changed the conversation in our industry. As of today, more than 850 VCs representing more than $300 billion in assets under management, including a who’s who of Silicon Valley, have signed.
Let me be the first to admit that I am an unlikely political voice of venture capital. For one thing, I have not been a VC for long—I spent most of my career as a founder and operator before raising my first fund in late 2020. I am also an immigrant from Costa Rica who up until recently couldn’t vote in America—this will be the second presidential election in which I can participate. What might shock you most of all is that I’m not even a Democrat. I am an independent voter whose beliefs were shaped in a very different culture and don't map cleanly to the American political spectrum.
