Reframing Risk and Putting People First in Venture Capitalism with Janet Bannister

Janet Bannister began her career in the corporate world, before transitioning to a role at eBay in Silicon Valley. She went on to found Kijiji, which may be the accomplishment she is most well-known for. However, she didn’t stop there. Bannister subsequently launched Staircase Ventures—a Canadian seed-stage venture capital firm that prioritizes founder development, focusing on Canada’s highest-potential tech companies.

Bannister’s life as a Canadian National Triathlon Champion and her professional career have been guided by the credo, “Make the small decisions in life with your head and the big ones with your heart.”

All business is people business

Initially reluctant to enter venture capital due to preconceived notions about venture capitalists, Bannister quickly realized how people-focused all business is, particularly in venture capitalism. She says, “Most successful venture capitalists are people who build great relationships with their founders and can work collaboratively with their founders

and help those founders grow, develop, and build great businesses.”

Finding the right fit

Staircase Ventures sees 1,000 companies each year and invests in just four. Finding the right company is “not just the needle in the haystack, it’s the golden needle in the haystack.” The firm evaluates all ventures using the business lens and the human lens, and, “If we believe in the vision, we ask ourselves whether we think this is the team that can realize that vision. Do they have that tenacity and grit to get it done? Have they shown personal accountability and growth, and do they take accountability for the results?”

Less risk with the right people behind the wheel

While many view venture capital as risky, Bannister does not, thanks to some wisdom from her father that has helped shape her perspective on business. Her father was a commission-based salesman with IBM, and he would say, “Some people think being a commission salesman is risky, but I don’t think it is, because your fate is always in your hands.” As someone who makes informed choices about the companies she invests in, she has some level of control over her risk,

in addition to her personal influence with the founders.

Empathy, insight, and connection

Bannister understands that the best companies have their choice of who they’ll receive funding from, which is why relationships must be built on trust and respect. She notes that with venture capital, since you’ll be locked into your investment for several years, it is crucial to really understand the business and the people you are involved with. In turn, by forging strong relationships with her founders, she gets to see them grow and overcome challenges—a favourite part of her job.

Her operational and entrepreneurial experience has been invaluable to her role as a venture capitalist and working with founders because she has:

➥ Empathy from having been in their shoes

➥ Practical experience that can be used to help them understand who they should hire and how they should build their operations

Putting the people-first approach into Staircase Ventures

When launching Staircase Ventures, Bannister built an unparalleled founder growth platform with a people-first philosophy at its core. Bannister notes that both founders and their teams are critical to the success of the business and sees the vital need to help founders and their teams scale at the same rate as their businesses. Staircase Ventures has a distinct, five-pillar platform that they fund for founders, providing them with access to:

➥ Executive coaches➥ Peer support groups with other founders facing similar challenges➥ Confidential health coaches➥ Personal financial advisors➥ Family support via a cash payment in the first year to spend however they want with the purpose of balancing needs between their work and their loved ones

Finding the right company is “not just the needle in the haystack, it’s the golden needle in the haystack.”

A competitive runner since grade 6, Bannister understands the importance of getting to the front of the pack before it narrows. She equates her philosophy toward enterprise success with the fundamentals of athletics. Inspiring performance, she believes, can be fostered by coaches, great teammates, and a focus on health. Bannister says, “Some

people think we’re really easy on our founders.” She counters, “We have high standards, and we help them rise to the standards. We give them all of these things, show them that we believe in them, and raise the bar constantly.”

Own your path and build resilience

Bannister says that, too often, people make the mistake of letting their career just happen to them. She urges people to figure out where they want to be, develop a plan, and just go for it. “Be deliberate about where you want to go and how you are going to get there.”

To push through moments of doubt, Bannister focuses on building resilience. Her approach is to rely on “belief and confidence in yourself and what you are doing” and think back on times that have been tough and how you’ve done it all before.

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