Explaining venture capital to kids with Lux Capital’s Deena Shakir

Usually, I work my way up to that. But talking to Lux Capital general partner Deena Shakir, I asked her almost immediately because it was (for the first time) undeniably relevant: Shakir’s children’s book about startups, Leena Mo, CEO, was just published by Simon & Schuster. 

Explaining venture capital to, say, a small child isn’t as clear-cut as “I’m a doctor” or “I’m a firefighter.” Shakir has found her ways to do it with her own kids. For one preschool career day, she brought a chia pet that, when water was added, became a unicorn. But the book represented a turning point. 

“My older kids now understand that I help people who are starting businesses, and the book really helped explain it to them,” said Shakir. “Before that it depended. They’d see me on Bloomberg, and thought I was a TV personality. They know I taught a class at Stanford, and they used to think I was a teacher.” 

Shakir—who’s invested in unicorn fintech Ramp and women’s and family health startup Maven—had a rather founder-like experience in writing Leena Mo, CEO. It was a process that began back in 2020 and, much like a startup, the likelihood of failure was high. 

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