Jo Marini is the CEO of Mother Superior, a venture foundry focused on bringing VC money and support to underrepresented entrepreneurs. The wheels in her head began turning during her MBA when she found out that 98% of VC investment goes to well-connected white men. Jo quickly realized that women, BIPOC, LGBTQ+, individuals over 60, and disabled people barely figure in the stats. Mother Superior is setting out to share the wealth, be it through knowledge, time, skills, or money.

Mentioned in this Episode:

Time Codes:
(2:30) – The origin of Mother Superior.
(4:41) – What was it about your MBA program that made it non-traditional?
(8:42) – What do the people who come to Mother Superior look like?
(10:36) – The importance of making things personal.
(12:55) – What types of ideas are your clients trying to bring into the world?
(15:03) – What is a social impact venture?
(15:58) – Do you have any examples of how businesses structure themselves for social impact?
(17:48) – What is a common good agreement?
(21:13) – How should people be thinking about their impact?
(24:12) – What’s the criticism you’re facing in your work?
(25:37) – What are the big friction points you see holding people back from investing in Mother Superior?
(29:14) – Implementing true systemic change.
(33:21) – Do you have any examples of how your operating systems ripples out to create businesses that run in different ways?
(36:26) – Working within constraints.
(39:01) – Do the founders you work with come to you wanting to work within your constraints or are they just looking for a path to the market?
(39:47) – Where Mother Superior is headed in the future.
(43:07) – What are you most excited to be talking about?
(44:11) – What are you sick of talking about?
(45:07) – What do you mean by “accessing the world”?
(52:15) – What is the purpose of business?