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LinkedIn co-founder Reid Hoffman (left) joined Leslie Feinzaig, creator of the “VCsforKamala” pledge, for a fundraising event on a Zoom call Wednesday.
The latest Zoom call to help raise money for Kamala Harris’ presidential run featured hundreds of venture capitalists, a startup pitch deck, and more than $135,000 in donations.
VCsforKamala, a pledge initiative created last week by Seattle-based investor Leslie Feinzaig, hosted a video-conferencing call on Wednesday to encourage donations and to discuss how a Harris presidency would boost innovation in America.
Feinzaig, founder of Seattle venture firm Graham & Walker, launched VCsforKamala in response to recent support for Donald Trump from deep-pocketed entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and Marc Andreessen — a trend that sparked intense political debate across the tech industry.
“I felt the dominant voices were not speaking for most of us,” Feinzaig told GeekWire last week.
More than 750 investors have signed the pledge over the past week. Tech luminaries such as Mark Cuban and Reid Hoffman were among the first signees. The initiative is also open to founders, tech leaders, and others.
One of the themes to emerge from Wednesday’s call was the relationship between the country’s stability and innovation.
“People who worry about little corner cases in crypto or taxation or regulation are missing the fundamental importance of a stable, unifying force, both domestically and internationally,” Hoffman, the LinkedIn co-founder and Microsoft board member, said on the call Wednesday. “And that’s the reason why Kamala Harris is actually in fact the business candidate.”
It’s not yet clear how Harris would approach regulation of tech companies or her stance on other tech-related policies.
Mac Conwell, managing partner of RareBreed Ventures, said that regulations can sometimes “get in the way” or “make things harder” for startups.
“But they also make sure the system doesn’t collapse,” he said during a panel discussion on the call Wednesday.
The call on Wednesday included Ron Conway, a Silicon Valley mainstay and founder of SV Angel; Tiffany Dufu, president of the Tory Burch Foundation; and Roy Bahat, head of Bloomberg Beta, who presented a half-serious parody pitch deck to help explain the support for Harris in “our common language.”
“Let’s not forget who the competition is.,” Bahat said during his pitch. “They are the past and quite unstable. We are the future and very stable. Total unicorn.”
Here’s an explainer on the connection between Harris and the coconut emoji.
The call did not feature any speakers with roots in Seattle or the Pacific Northwest, though some of the real-time comments came from Spencer Rascoff, the former longtime CEO of Zillow, and Caroline Lewis of Portland’s Rogue Women’s Fund.
Seattle investors that have signed the pledge include Greg Gottesman of Pioneer Square Labs, Len Jordan of Madrona Ventures, and Sheila Gulati and Stacey Giard of Tola Capital.
Feinzaig told GeekWire last week that many investors shared support for the pledge but declined to sign because of fund policies.
Zoom, the video-conferencing app that was widely adopted at the onset of the pandemic and remote work, is catching another wave of popularity in recent weeks as a fundraising tool for Democrats.
A “White Dudes for Harris” call raised more than $4 million last week, and other identity groups have held similar fundraising calls.
“There’s a raw, unpolished feel to these meetings that I think helps explain their popularity,” New York Times columnist Kevin Roose wrote in a recent column titled “How 2024 Became the Zoom Election.”
“Most of the speakers aren’t dressed in suits and reading from prepared remarks; they’re ad-libbing into grainy webcams in their garages and home offices, often framed by terrible lighting and occasionally interrupted by their pets,” Roose wrote.
Trump, the Republican presidential candidate, has appeared in various interviews with online influencers, including a livestream on Monday with internet celebrity Adin Ross. His running mate, J.D. Vance, posted his first TikTok video last week.
