Justice: The Compounding Effect

We live in a world of startling realities.

A world where a life can be filled with incredible success but bound with searing inequities.

A world where your zipcode may be a stronger determinant of your future than any individual effort you put forth.

A world where your body can define you and who you choose to love can mark you.

A world where opportunity is held as an ideal but is seldom available to everyone.

We live in this unjust world, where one intrinsic characteristic of your being may define the trajectory of your life. Your race, gender, sexual orientation, physical capability, socioeconomic status, and more play undeniable roles in the domino game that we call life. For example, these markers determine your access, ability, and opportunity to:

• Get an education
• Receive healthcare
• Build and grow wealth
• Breathe clean air and consume clean water
• Eat healthy food
• Reside in affordable housing
• Live without the fear of being unfairly incarcerated

It is important to note that the burdens of these realities are not shared equally among all of us. Some of us come face to face with these stark realities every day while others get the privilege of seeing them from afar: in the news, on Instagram, through anecdotes from friends of friends. The acknowledgement of the status we hold, the privileges that accompany that status, and the powers we have to advance the lives of the underprivileged, marginalized, and often ignored — this is just the beginning of our reckoning here at the Justice team, and the genesis of our mandate lies in that recognition.

As Justice investors, we define justice as the opportunity to achieve and access any of the above bulleted ideals no matter your race, gender, sexual orientation, abilities, and so on, without requiring grand, life-changing sacrifices in exchange for these ideals.

We put pen to paper by talking to founders who inspire us by disrupting systems of power and privilege and companies which both fit and challenge us to expand our conceptions of what it means to achieve justice. Some products and businesses that excite us include:

• Technological solutions that fundamentally change the pre-, during, and post- trial outcomes (including employment) for the incarcerated
• Beauty, makeup, and consumer products centered around the Black womxn’s experience and aesthetic
• VR / AR / and the next wave of immersive experiential tools that advance diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging in the workplace
• Multi-faceted marketplaces matching childcare providers to hourly essential workers in low-income communities and vulnerable neighborhoods
• Platforms connecting patients of color with medical professionals who can understand empathize with their cultural, physical, and mental needs

The list goes on. In 2021, we will use our time, energy and resources to fight for justice organizations like the above, and challenge us to expand our notions of justice while remaining true to our thesis. We will look for any way to close gaps of access, opportunity, or outcomes for disadvantaged people in the United States, who include, but are not limited to, communities of color, LGBTQIA+ communities, and women. We are specifically looking to invest in companies whose target customers and beneficiaries are historically marginalized and disadvantaged communities and whose business models and impact missions have a fundamental aim of changing & reinventing systems and close gaps in opportunity or outcome.

We are by no means saviors. Instead, we aim to be a team of humble listeners and hungry learners who seek to use our collective skills and resources to direct capital to the solutions and subsequently, communities that have been historically ignored and trampled on by existing systems. We are a team of individuals who have had our own personal attachments and experiences with this topic — whether through individual injustices we have personally experienced or being unable to turn away from the stories we have seen and heard from others. Either way, we recognize the responsibility we carry and aim to use our power, thoughtfully.

Any good investor will teach you about the value of compounding where an initial investment will grow exponentially over time. We believe justice can compound, as well. Closing gaps in opportunity can only lead to compounding wealth, health and success for all people in generations to come.

So, come join us. If you believe your start-up is a good fit for our mission or know of anyone working to advance justice, please reach out to us at gsb_impact_fund-leadership@stanford.edu. While we may not arrive at a fully just world in the next month, year, or decade, we believe that by starting to channel capital towards people who have suffered injustices, towards structures that need to be dismantled in order to be rebuilt equitably, and towards systems that aim to put marginalized peoples at the center of their design, we are jumpstarting this cycle of compounding effects — thereby achieving justice not only for this generation, but for many to come.

GSB Impact Fund 2020–2021 Justice Investment Team

Alessia Morales

Ben Lazaroff

Carolina Oliveira

Lindsay Picard

Morgan Lundblad

Paula Minardi

Veena Katragadda

Jenny Zhou