Lisa Calhoun is a  venture capital visionary who created the Inclusion Premium investing philosophy.  She founded the South’s first woman-led institutional venture capital firm, Valor Ventures, which has an inclusive portfolio full of fast-growth software companies with diverse teams.

Before Valor, Lisa founded a digital marketing agency recognized by Hubspot as one of the “Top 10 Agencies for Tech Startups.” There she supported hundreds of high growth tech startups in early scale through their exit to public markets and acquisitions. In her early career, Lisa worked in IT consulting, helping large organizations solve complex problems with code.

With her passion for the premium returns possible through inclusion,  Lisa founded the Startup Runway Foundation, a nonprofit which has grown into the largest pitch event for underrepresented founders in the country.

Catch up with Lisa on the Atlanta Startup Podcast,  where she hosts weekly episodes from the Atlanta VC scene.

Education

Lisa earned her MBA from the University of Texas with a concentration in management science and quantitative methods. She credits her graduate stat professor Raydell Tullous for opening her mind to the beauty of finance. Lisa earned her undergraduate degree with honors on a National Merit Scholarship at Baylor University.