What women can learn from the kingmakers in American politics
+ consumerism gone wild, the state of VC funding, radical pay transparency, and two great wines I drank last week.
Hi friends.
Last week was chaotic.
While I don’t want to make a habit of wading into politics here, it’s been difficult to think about much else lately. Between the assassination attempt, the RNC convention, and Biden dropping out of the race, the events surrounding the election have reached a fever pitch.
Rather than drive myself crazy thinking about all the things that could happen between now and November (we’ve got a long few months ahead), I’ve found myself reflecting on the concept of “kingmaking”—and the important role money plays in it.
In the corner of the internet I live in, the emergence of powerful businessmen publicly endorsing Trump has been unavoidable. As has the media chatter about their (alleged) influence in the selection of JD Vance as a running mate.
While maybe not the craziest thing to happen in politics lately, it is one of the most puzzling.
Sure there were early signals that this could happen. Peter Thiel has been a Trump supporter since 2016. There was a high-profile fundraiser in San Francisco last month attended by Silicon Valley elite. But the flood gates opened when Elon Musk announced his intention to donate $45M per month to Trump’s campaign.
This is a huge shift, especially for the tech leaders who have traditionally leaned left.
What is behind this sudden shift? According to some, Trump has been positioned as pro-Innovation and pro-Founder in an era when anti-tech regulation is at an all-time high. Kara Swisher hinted on Pivot that there would also have to be a clear financial gain at play given the institutional nature of the investors who back these new supporters. Mark Cuban thinks it comes down to crypto.
Any way you look at it, the answer is the same—money and power.
These men are leveraging their capital and influence to cozy up to (what they perceive to be) the winning side. They are making backroom deals to make sure that come November, if Trump wins, they will be positioned to succeed. Advocating for JD Vance, a former venture capitalist, is one more assurance that the future White House will be sympathetic to their interests.
Right or wrong, this is how the game is played.
So I can’t help but wonder why more women are not playing this game? With so many issues that greatly impact women on the line this election cycle, where are the women kingmakers (or queenmakers)?
Female Invest posted the below in response to Musk’s announcement:
They raise a harsh, but fair point.
I hope in my lifetime we see more women get “off the sidelines” and leverage their money and influence to shape the course of our nation in the same way men always have.
I’m sure people will disagree with me, say women should take the high road and not engage in such games. But I think it’s time for women to get a little more ruthless. A little more self-serving. Our future freedoms might depend on it.
On a lighter note, here is my usual round-up of interesting things on my radar, as well as one beautiful wine experience I had this week. ⬇️
xAllison
Welcome to On the Rise—weekly musings on founder life, navigating the business world, and women's empowerment from award-winning entrepreneur Allison Luvera, Co-Founder & CEO of Juliet. Subscribe (for free!) today.
On My Radar:
Is the country *finally* ready for a female president?: With Biden’s endorsement of Kamala Harris, it’s a possibility this election cycle—there is a comprehensive round-up from Nate Silver here outlining the pros and cons of that choice and a quick piece in the 19th making the case for an all-women ticket.
Sarah Huckabee Sanders also hinted at a future run, for herself or any number of qualified Republican women, to Politico in this interview that also bizarrely talks about getting winked at by Kim Jong-Un.
The single best thing I read this week: Courtesy of Azora Zoe Paknad’s Substack Free Rodeo. ⬇️
This is a near-perfect rant about the current state of consumerism and the general frustration a lot of people feel towards it. As a start-up founder who is currently living on a relatively low salary, I can empathize!
It is especially hard to avoid in the Summer when social media feeds are taken over by endless photos of European vacations (and the outfits people are wearing on them).
Nothing against those who can afford this life, seriously, good for you. But it’s important to also have honest conversations about the fact that most people can’t afford it, and that’s OK. Being smart, successful and happy is not contingent on having a wardrobe full of High Sport, Khaite, and The Row. And spending your Summers yacht-hopping in the Mediterranean is not a prerequisite to a satisfying life.
Thank you Azora for putting in writing what a lot of us are thinking—I feel seen!
VC funding bounced back in Q2 per Pitchbook: $55.6B in funding was secured, which is nearly a 50% jump from Q1 and the most money raised by start-ups since the record-selling Q4 in 2021.
Important to note that this data is skewed—most of the gains were driven by a few, large AI deals (X.ai, Coreweave). As a founder who is more-or-less tuned into the venture ecosystem, I would say that unless you are in AI, the vibe is not positive right now. It very much feels like we are still in the midst of a correction and investors are still taking a wait-and-see approach.
The percentage of deal count and value attributed to women-led companies also remained depressingly low, close to the worst results of the past decade.
Axios had an interesting suggestion, attributing this to a lingering post-me-too hangover, stating that:
Female-founded startup funding is way down, both from last year and its 2021 peak. This is true for both dollars and deal count. One hypothesis is that VC firms became more intentional about finding and funding such companies in the wake of Me-Too, and have since lost that focus.
Speaking of AI: When the brilliant team at Forerunner speaks, I pay attention.
They just shared their POV on what they think the intersection of consumer and AI will look like, with many consumer-facing AI applications focused on curation due to prevailing fatigue with access and consumerism.
Young women are embracing radical pay transparency: Some women on social media are shining a light on their finances, going against social norms to share detailed information about their weekly earnings and budgeting.
Since one of the barriers to closing the gender pay gap has always been lack of data, I see this as a positive trend and very much in line with the emergence of financial media and “finfluencers” targeting women.
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What I’m Drinking:
Last but not least, sharing some lovely wines I had during date night with the fiancé. ⬇️
Altro Paradiso remains one of the spots I go back to over and over again. The food is fantastic (the finocchio salad and cacio e pepe are not to be missed), and the wine list, ambience and service are also top notch.
I love that they have a good-sized BTG list that changes frequently, so I never get bored. The list emphasizes Italian wines, with gems from under-the-radar regions.
Last week, I had two wines that I hadn’t tried before —
Domaine de Marquiliani, ‘Blanc de Marquiliani’ Vermentinu, 2023: This crisp, white wine from a seaside producer in Corsica was on the expensive side ($24 per glass), but I love the Vermentino grape and am not familiar with Corsican wines, so I justified the expense for the sake of my wine education. Some thoughts:
Light and fresh, with notable white floral notes and a touch a salinity. Exactly the style of wine that I like.
It seems that Domaine de Marquiliani is actually best known for a Rosé wine that I now want to hunt down.
Foradori, ‘Lezèr’ Teroldego, 2023: This was a tasty and approachable chilled red from the Trentino-Alto Adige region in Italy. I visited there in January to ski the Dolomites and really enjoyed some of the red grapes native to the region, so have continued to experiment when I see them on menu. Some thoughts:
Bright red fruit aromas dominated this wine; cranberry, strawberry, red cherry. It reminded me of an Italian version of Cru Beaujolais. Not going to be everyone’s cup of tea, but I like this style of wine.
The “Lezèr” designates this as a lighter version of Foradori’s Teroldego, which was first created after hail storms destroyed much of a harvest in 2017. This wine was made using salvageable bits of the damaged vines. It was a hit, so they continued to make it every year.
Both were delicious with unique profiles, and made a stunning al fresco dining experience even better. 10/10 recommend the restaurant and wines.
That’s it for now—see you next week! ✨