In this edition, we catch up with Shefali Roy, MSc Economic History (2005-06) who talks about challenge, change and nearly not making it to LSE
I almost didn’t get to the LSE.
I call that my First Act.
I had luckily got in a year before but I deferred. I had a great job in Melbourne and a very exciting career path. To think of uprooting all that, to then move home and life to London and go back to school for a masters program all the way across the world, made my head explode.
But this was the LSE. The London School of Economics. To study Economic History. A dream amongst dreams.
It was a no brainer.
So I gave up my job - but not before my boss told me that I could come back if I’d like - and moved life, and home to London to study Economic History at the LSE.
It isn’t an understatement to say that that move shaped the rest of my life.
London was overwhelming. The LSE too. But in so many ways it centred me. Economic History was a deliberate choice. I’ve always thought that the John F Kennedy Jr quote - “you can’t know where you’re going until you know where you’ve been” - is a fundamental thesis upon which to take on any endeavour. And so also for me. Economic History to me is the anthropology of our global and economic interactions. I thought the grounding and teachings I undertook at the LSE would position me for a career that I had wild aspirations for.
And I wasn’t disappointed.
The Economic History Department and what we were taught positioned me, equipped me and made me curious in ways that were unimaginable. It opened my eyes to new ways of thinking, strategising and executing. I think the culmination of having some super talented classmates and people way smarter than me in the room, made my education and study experience adventurous and incredibly fulfilling. I’m lucky enough to call them my friends till today.
Learning the history of economic theories and the economics of countries, being prepped on the industrialisation of organisations, and dabbing into the behaviours of corporations, made for fascinating conversations and discussions. It made me wake up to adapting and adopting those ideas for my future career.
The tragedy of course is that the course for me was short, fleeting and over in the blink of an eye. And before I knew it, we were ending the academic year, preparing for exams, and the future post the School and the Economic History department.
I finished my Masters and then joined Goldman Sachs which as you can imagine was a rollercoaster. By then I’d done 10 years in finance and so yearned for something different. I left Goldmans and then joined Christie’s, the auction house, and spent a number of years there working in operations and compliance. Chatting to the specialists in the Old Masters and Impressionists Department were particular highlights. I was finally able to use my studies in art history that my Indian parents thought would be a pointless endeavour for employment (side note: the desi people reading this will know exactly what I mean!). After a few years there, I moved to tech - first with Apple, then Stripe, and then TrueLayer. All unique and different in so many ways.
But after all these roles, it seemed a change was important. I was a bit bored and the status quo wasn’t challenging. I needed to figure out my Second Act.
So in 2020, I decided to start my own investment firm called First Look. I invest in companies started by women or diverse people who build technology in finance, health, work or real estates. And as you’d know, starting a venture fund in this economic cycle might be a silly thing to do. So why do it?
Starting a venture fund is a hard business. I’ve had a terrific career, built a reputation, and I think credibility, and have enough on my plate professionally to lead a pretty accomplished and fulfilling life. Did I really want to put all this on the line to start a VC fund from scratch? Overwhelmingly the answer has always been yes. The opportunity to create a new type of firm in the venture market, investing in categories of founders who are often vastly underestimated but building extraordinary products and services was too exciting and economically attractive to pass up.
Very deliberately First Look is a different kind of firm. It’s built by women and diverse operators and investors, to invest in women and diverse entrepreneurs. We understand this founder class better than the current crop of our peers in venture in Europe, because we are them.
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We’re more often than not, the first institutional fund to look at their business.
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We understand the trials and tribulations of starting one.
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We know how many invisible obstacles there are in their paths to success.
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We know what “great” looks like.
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We know that if we all do our jobs right, everyone participates in fair economic incentives and outcomes.
We know the impact this model will have generationally.
Starting a venture firm is a hard business. Risky too. But as Jimmy Duggan once said, “it’s the hard that makes it great”. So what’s my Second Act? Spending the next 20 years with my collaborators establishing First Look as the pre-eminent firm that changed the venture model globally. And objectively, as Second Acts go, I think that’s a pretty good one!
The last twenty years has led up to this. And candidly, none of it would have happened had I not left Melbourne and joined the LSE. So to the School , and the Economic History department - a million thank yous; I finally know where I want to go because I know where I’ve been.
If you would like to be featured as a profile article, or would like to nominate someone, please contact Tracy Keefe.