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For 20 years, Elizabeth Kraus was busy being an entrepreneur. So busy and stressed, she wasn't eating well, had wild energy swings and barely slept despite training for, and tackling long-distance triathlons. A host of other medical challenges led to a thyroid and hormone imbalance diagnosis and medication which she said, “put a band aid solution on all these health issues.” Until the band aid ripped off. “It was the perfect storm of disaster,” said Kraus, the chief investment officer for MergeLane Venture Capital Fund. “My body completely shut down in 2023.”Listen as Kraus and David Cohen, longtime friends with frequent career intersections, discuss the breakdown, the warning signs and how she clawed her way back to, almost, normalcy. Kraus recently announced after eight years and investments in 54 female-led companies, MergeLane has made their final investment. Kraus plans to write a book and start a podcast. “I think lots of people who are earlier in their career just think, well, I'll deal with the health stuff later because I'm young. What could really go wrong?”A lot, as it turns out. Tune in for more. Follow David Cohen on Twitter @davidcohen Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
As co-founder and Chief Investment Officer of MergeLane, Elizabeth Kraus invests in women-led startups and venture funds. And she hopes to one day make MergeLane obsolete—by achieving gender parity in entrepreneurship and VC.
We asked our Fund81 forum for venture capitalists to nominate portfolio companies to participate in a startup showcase. We received over 50 nominations. Four of those startups are featured in this episode. Presenting Startups: Veho, nominated by Morris Wheeler from Drummond Road Capital https://shipveho.com/ Nori, nominated by Hannah Davis from the Techstars Sustainability Program in partnership with the Nature Conservancy https://nori.com/ Soona, nominated by me, Elizabeth Kraus, from the MergeLane venture fund https://soona.co/ Leaf, nominated by Ethan Austin from the Western Union Accelerator powered by Techstars https://www.leafglobalfintech.com/ Fund81 Forum membership is by invitation only, but if you’re someone we absolutely must have in our group, drop me a line to tell me why. https://www.mergelane.com/fund81 This discussion is an expression of personal opinion and does not represent the opinion of MergeLane or any company we discuss. Our conversations are for informational purposes only, including any mention of securities or funds. This is not legal, business, investment or tax advice and is not intended for use by any investor. Certain MergeLane funds own, or may own in the future, some of the securities and companies discussed in this podcast.
Elizabeth Kraus has spent the last 15 years trying to figure out how to integrate her passion, specifically fitness, into her life without sacrificing her ability to be a badass businesswoman. Elizabeth’s day job is as the founder of Mergelane, a VC fund that invests in and supports women-led businesses. Elizabeth has curated the life she wants to lead without sacrificing her quality of work, workouts or relationships. She attributes much of her success in this area to a philosophy called Conscious Leadership which we talk about today. At the peak of her work-play experiment, Elizabeth skied 94 days in one season and was insanely productive at work. There were some parts of her life that suffered and it should be noted that she had the flexibility to craft a lifestyle that was geared almost exclusively around her needs. But for the most part, she proved that it’s possible. And she figured out how to make it happen. Today she shares her path and learnings with you. Here’s my challenge as you listen to today’s episode: This about this question. Are you living the best life for you? If not, what do you wish you could include that you don’t? Today we talk about: How to include fitness/sports into your life without giving up the other important things Body image: how different sports may affect our body image for different reasons Enneagram Test: What type are you? Specifically Type 1 - the Reformer - Check out your type today. The pursuit of perfection Fitting fitness into an overflowing life Hiking meetings (and other sports that allow for social interaction like skiing!) Conscious Leadership: The foundation for changing the way you think Cutting out the junk miles: First figure out what the junk miles are! Natural sleep and awake rhythm: everything changes when you figure yours out and change your schedule around it Mergelane: Being a woman in the primarily men's dominated world of investing Decision to forgo motherhood: This is a big topic In addition, after we recorded, Elizabeth posted this article that shares more details on how Conscious Leadership helped her save 5 hours a day. This is worth the read. We all need 5 extra hours every day to bring only our best selves to the world. I appreciate Elizabeth for so many reasons. She’s an open book. We talk about some really difficult topics and she shares with one goal: To help others. Elizabeth is smart, hard-working, driven, caring, compassionate. As she mentions with the Enneagram test, she’s also a perfectionist who must balance her pursuit of perfection with the natural messiness of life. I headed over to the enneagram website to see what type I am. I’m still trying to figure it out! You’ll have to check it out and let me know yours. In the end, we’re all seeking a life that allows us to live to our fullest. Elizabeth has cracked the code in a sense; I hope you got something from this episode that will help you run your world in a bigger and better way
In this AT/CP podcast from the ABA Section of Antitrust Law, hosts Kail Jethmalani, Elizabeth Kraus and Krisztian Katona are joined by guests Alexandre Macedo, Pablo Trevisan, and Oscar Cardoze, who give listeners an overview of key developments in competition law and consumer protection law in their regions. They discuss how their countries’ leniency programs have been refined and explain the challenges they have dealt with in the area of merger control. Alexandre Cordeiro Macedo is the general superintendent at the Brazilian Administrative Council for Economic Defense (CADE) in Brazil. Pablo Trevisan is the commissioner at Comisión Nacional de Defensa de la Competencia (CNDC) in Argentina. Oscar Cardoze is the administrador general at ACODECO in Panama. (Host) Kail Jethmalani is an associate at Axinn, Veltrop & Harkrider LLP (Host) Elizabeth Kraus is the deputy director for international antitrust at the Federal Trade Commission. (Host) Krisztian Katona is counsel for international antitrust in the Federal Trade Commission’s Office of International Affairs.
Venture fund legal terms can sound a bit like a foreign language to new venture capitalists and venture fund investors. In this Fund81 podcast episode, Liz Meade, a new angel investor considering venture fund investments, interviews me, Elizabeth Kraus, your host at Fund81, to decode some of the lingo in venture fund offering agreements.
This episode of the Real Leaders podcast features Elizabeth Kraus and Sue Heilbronner, co-founders of MergeLane, the investment fund and accelerator targeting companies with at least one female in leadership. Here Elizabeth turns the tables on Real Leaders Host Sue by asking her about her goals and motivations for building MergeLane as well as her approach to working closely with high-potential leaders. This episode gives real insight on the ways in which MergeLane is different, starting with the relationship between its founders. An intimate, revealing conversation.
It is with great pleasure that we welcome Elizabeth Kraus as our 1st guest of Angel Insights. Elizabeth is an entrepreneur and angel investor, and founder of the Impact Angel Group. Prior to founding the Impact Angel Group, Kraus ran her own startup, myUsearch.com, and has been founding, working for and consulting for startups for her entire career. She is an active angel investor, startup mentor and advisor, and she has been very active in the state and national effort to improve the entrepreneurial ecosystem and mobilize angel investors. As always, you can learn more about SyndicateRoom here: www.syndicateroom.com