In venture capital, credibility is often framed around access, networks, and pattern recognition. This episode challenges that foundation by asking a harder question: what if the industry’s biggest blind spot is also its most persistent source of mispriced opportunity?

My guest this week is Sharon Vosmek, CEO and Managing Partner of Astia. With more than two decades of early-stage investing experience, Sharon has built one of the most structured bias-mitigation processes in venture through Astia’s Expert SIFT methodology. A documented and disciplined system designed to eliminate individual, network, and process bias from investment decisions.

Sharon explains why the gender gap in venture funding is better understood as a market inefficiency, and how removing warm-introduction gatekeeping meaningfully expands high-quality deal flow. 

We also discuss:  

• How to recognize and eliminate pattern-matching bias in investment decisions
• The alpha thesis: Why inclusive teams generate 4x average returns
• How to reframe impact investing in the U.S. market by emphasizing values-based returns

This conversation examines inclusive investing not as concessionary capital, but as a rigorous venture discipline designed to capture overlooked alpha.

Featured Guest
Sharon Vosmek, CEO & Managing Partner, Astia

Episode Resources:

• Sharon Vosmek on LinkedIn
• Astia Website
• Astia on Instagram
• Astia 25th Anniversary White Paper
• Previous SRI360 episode with Sharon Vosmek: 

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