The Purse Podcast

Barbara Clarke is the Co-Founder of The Impact Seat LLC and Chair of the Board of The Impact Seat Foundation. 

Launched in 2021, The Impact Seat Foundation strives to create a world in which women, particularly women of colour, succeed as business leaders. Barbara’s vision of full stack philanthropy melds impact investing, advocacy and grant making to accelerate an expanded and equitable economy for all. 

As one of the top U.S. individual investors in women-led innovative tech startups, Barbara’s iconic investment strategy has inspired many others around the world.  Currently, she serves on a variety of boards, including Founders First Capital Partners, an innovative revenue based financing firm formed to support diverse small businesses around the country. 

She is also a founding member of Astia Angels who invest in impactful high-growth companies led by inclusive teams with women leaders. 

In addition, Barbara served as one of the founding members of the Portfolia, Inc Board of Directors. Portfolia is a venture fund focused on investing in the solutions women want in the world. In 2022, Barbara released her Amazon best-selling book, “Build Your Board, Build Your Business”. 

A polyglot, Barbara speaks five languages and splits her time between New England and Berlin.

We cover the following in our conversation:

• Women's relationship with money
• Why Barbara decided to start investing in female founder startups
• How she started on her journey as an angel investor
• How she invests in early stage businesses
• The value add that female investors can provide
• Barbara's favourite startup investment
• Startup lessons learned
• Why we need more female investors
• The role that wealth managers have to play
• Barbara talks to us about how women can start on their own journey to become angel investors. 

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