Joanne Wilson

Joanne Wilson (born 1961) is an American businesswoman and angel investor. She is best known for backing female-founded companies.

Joanne Wilson
Wilson in 2016
Born1961 (age 59–60)
Los Angeles, California
NationalityAmerican
Alma materSimmons College
Occupationbusinesswoman, angel investor
Years active1994–present
Spouse(s)Fred Wilson
Websitegothamgal.com

Biography

Early life and education

Joanne Wilson was born in 1961 in Los Angeles, California.[1] Her mother was a teacher and her father was an underwater nuclear warfare engineer.[1] Both parents were entrepreneurs and had their own businesses. They divorced when Wilson was 16.[1]

Wilson majored in Finance and Retail Management at Simmons College in Boston, which she graduated in 1983.[2][1] She met her future husband Fred Wilson while at college and they moved to New York City.[3]

Career

Wilson began her career at Macy's, working there for 4 years in retail apparel department.[4] Her first job at Macy's was overseeing a cosmetics department.[5][6] After Macy's she oversaw a company in the garment center, then worked at sales for the startup magazine and events company called Silicon Alley Reporter.[4][7] She also chaired the nonprofit MOUSE (Making Opportunities in Upgrading Schools in Education), the organization focused on technology in inner-city schools.[8][9][10]

Wilson has been blogging since 1994 under the name Gotham Gal.[11] Later, she named her investment fund Gotham Gal Ventures.[12][13]

She turned to investing in 2007.[14][6]

In 2010, together with Nancy Hechinger from the New York University she co-founded and co-chaired an annual Women Entrepreneurs Festival.[15][16][17]

From 2010 to 2015, she chaired the board of Hot Bread Kitchen, a nonprofit that promotes and trains female and minority bakers.[13][18][19] She also was the first co-Chair of Path Forward, a non-profit, established in 2018 with a mission to get people back to work after they’ve taken time off for caregiving.[20]

Since 2009, Wilson is involved in real estate development in the New York City.[21][22]

Investments

In 2007, Wilson made her first investment into Lockhart Steele’s startup Curbed.[23][14][6] Some of her early investments included Food52, Rick's Picks, DailyWorth, Hot Bread Kitchen and Scoot.[24][25][26] In 2014, she invested in Blue Bottle Coffee, a coffee roaster and retailer, and in Spoon University, a food media company, in 2015.[27][28] Later in 2015, she invested in Nestio, the NY-based leasing and marketing platform for residential landlords.[29]

Wilson became known for investing in women-led startups.[30][31][32] In 2012, 13 of her 17 investments were in tech and out of those 13, 10 were women-founded companies.[6] As of 2016, around 70 percent of her investments were in companies led by women.[14] By 2017, she has backed more than 90 female-founded companies, including 3 of the 11 black women-led startups to have raised over $1 million.[33][34][35]

In 2017, Wilson made two angel investments in the cannabis industry: Octavia Wellness and Beboe.[36][37][38]

In August 2018, Forbes ranked her 25th in the list of "50 Angel Investors Based On Investment Volume And Successful Exits" with 63 investments.[39]

Personal life

Wilson is married to venture capitalist Fred Wilson, a cofounder of Union Square Ventures.[40] The couple live in New York City. They have three children, two daughters and a son.[41][42][43] In 2016, Crain's New York Business included Fred and Joanne Wilson into its "Power Couples" list.[44]

Recognition
Year Recognition Recognition type Awarding body
2012 THE ANGEL 100: New York's Top Early Stage Investors[45] Feature Business Insider
2012 THE SILICON ALLEY 100: The Coolest People in New York Tech This Year[46] Rating Business Insider
2012 League of Extraordinary Women 2012[47] Rating Fast Company
2013 The 15 Hottest Women in Tech Who Were Not Hot Enough For Complex's '40 Hottest Women in Tech' List[48] Feature Forbes
2013 40 Women To Watch Over 40[49] Feature Forbes
2016 Women of Influence[50] Award New York Business Journal
2017 10 Investors Who Are Authentically Committed To Funding Female Founders[51] Feature Forbes
2018 50 Angel Investors Based On Investment Volume And Successful Exits[39] Rating Forbes
2018 30 women in venture capital to watch in 2018[52] Feature Business Insider
2019 Notable Women in Tech[20] Feature Crain's New York Business

Bibliography
  • Saujani, Reshma (2013). Women Who Don't Wait in Line. Houghton Mifflin Harcourt. ISBN 978-0-544-02778-7 – via Google Books.
  • Feld, Brad; Batchelo, Amy (2013). Startup Life: Surviving and Thriving in a Relationship with an Entrepreneur. John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-1-118-49386-1 – via Google Books.
  • Krotz, Joanna (2015). Being Equal Doesn't Mean Being The Same. Motivational Press. ISBN 978-1628652505.
  • Pimsleur, Julia (2015). Million Dollar Women: The Essential Guide for Female Entrepreneurs Who Want to Go Big. Simon & Schuster. ISBN 978-1-4767-9029-9 – via Google Books.
  • Waldman Rodriguez, Jessamyn; Turshen, Julia (2015). The Hot Bread Kitchen Cookbook: Artisanal Baking from Around the World. Clarkson Potter/Publishers. ISBN 978-0-8041-8618-6 – via Google Books.
  • Maher, Josh (2016). Startup Wealth: How The Best Angel Investors Make Money In Startups. CreateSpace. ISBN 978-1533606013.
  • Anid, Nada; Cantileno, Laurie; Morrow, Monique J.; Zafar, Rahilla (2016). The Internet of Women: Accelerating Culture Change. River Publishers. ISBN 978-87-93379-68-8 – via Google Books.
  • Cabot, Heather; Walravens, Samantha (2017). Geek Girl Rising: Inside the Sisterhood Shaking Up Tech. St. Martin's Publishing Group. ISBN 978-1-250-11226-2 – via Google Books.

References
  1. Griffit, Donna (February 10, 2017). "It's Not All About The Concept". Medium. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  2. "Alumnae/i achievements". Simmons. Simmons University (Fall 2012): 14. 2012. Retrieved November 10, 2019 – via yumpu.com.
  3. Shontell, Alyson (April 13, 2014). "FRED WILSON Q&A: The Legendary Investor Talks Retirement, Tumblr's Exit, And Getting Over A Tough Year". Business Insider. Archived from the original on November 24, 2018. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  4. Suster, Mark (April 19, 2011). "8 Startup Lessons You Could Learn From Gotham Gal". Fast Company. Archived from the original on November 10, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  5. Cabot, Walravens, 2017, p. 71
  6. Shontell, Alyson (February 29, 2012). "Meet Joanne Wilson, an investor in 17 startups who's part of a tech power couple". Business Insider. Archived from the original on March 27, 2013. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  7. Rewick, Jennifer L. (February 29, 2000). "Silicon Alley Reporter Seeks Some Silicon Alley Investors". The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved November 10, 2019.(subscription required)
  8. "Joanne Wilson: The Woman Empowering Angel Investor". Columbia University. 2016. Archived from the original on June 20, 2016. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  9. "Activate New York 2013: Judging panel". The Guardian. September 18, 2013. Archived from the original on September 5, 2014. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  10. Allbritton, Chris (April 23, 2000). "A MOUSE THAT ROARED The crusade to get city students online". New York Daily News. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  11. Maher, 2016, p. 43
  12. Chernova, Yuliya (February 28, 2014). "Sweeten.com Tries to Make Home Renovation Process Less Bitter". The Wall Street Journal. Archived from the original on November 12, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  13. Kowitt, Beth (September 3, 2014). "The Most Innovative Women in Food and Drink". Fortune. Archived from the original on August 25, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  14. Johnson, Mary (February 18, 2016). "Gotham Gal Joanne Wilson is an angel investor — and 'chick magnet'". Albany Business Review. Archived from the original on March 2, 2017. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
  15. Allison, Keith (April 11, 2014). "Looking Forward at the Women Entrepreneurs Festival". New York University. Archived from the original on April 23, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  16. Krotz, 2015, p. 53
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  18. Waldman, Turshen, 2015, p. 293
  19. Waldman Rodriguez, Jessamyn (December 7, 2015). "Farewell to Outgoing Board Chair Joanne Wilson". hotbreadkitchen.org (Press release). Archived from the original on November 17, 2019. Retrieved November 17, 2019.
  20. "Notable Women in Tech". Crain's New York Business. April 8, 2019. Archived from the original on May 8, 2019. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
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  22. Hughes, C.J. (January 17, 2020). "Five Stories Tall and Made of Wood". The New York Times. Archived from the original on January 22, 2020. Retrieved April 30, 2020.
  23. Maher, 2016, p. 43
  24. Boyd Myers, Courtney (December 11, 2011). "Breakfast of Champions: Joanne Wilson on writing, investing and mentoring". The Next Web. Archived from the original on October 8, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
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  29. Tepper, Fitz (December 1, 2015). "Residential Real Estate Platform Nestio Lands An $8M Series A Round". TechCrunch. Archived from the original on January 1, 2016. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
  30. Saujani, 2013, p. 121
  31. Anid et al., 2016, p. 109
  32. O'Brien, Sara Ashley (May 5, 2015). "How this investor is bridging the 'bravado gap'". CNN Business. Archived from the original on April 10, 2015. Retrieved December 1, 2019.
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  36. Williams, Alex (March 17, 2017). "The Hermès of Marijuana". The New York Times. Archived from the original on November 10, 2019. Retrieved November 10, 2019.
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  40. Pimsleur 2015, p. 135
  41. Cabot, Walravens, 2017, p. 71
  42. Feld, Batchelo, 2013, p. 61
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  48. Hill, Kashmir (March 26, 2013). "The 15 Hottest Women In Tech Who Were Not Hot Enough For Complex's '40 Hottest Women in Tech' List". Forbes. Archived from the original on December 16, 2016. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
  49. Dill, Kathryn (June 25, 2013). "'40 Women To Watch Over 40' List Rewards Innovation And Disruption". Forbes. Archived from the original on June 28, 2013. Retrieved November 25, 2019.
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