Wealth Fitness: Golden Seeds Co-CEO Loretta McCarthy Funds Women Entrepreneurs' Dreams

Loretta McCarthy, co-CEO and managing partner of Golden Seeds and Take The Lead board member, speaking recently at Aspen Ideas Festival.

“It’s like health fitness; it is wealth fitness. Many women know they will be fully responsible financially for themselves,” says Loretta McCarthy, co-CEO, and managing partner of Golden Seeds, LLC,  an investor consortium that invests in early-stage, women-led businesses.

Managing the nationwide network of nearly 300 angel investors, McCarthy has been working with Golden Seeds for 20 years and in that time, “We have invested in 253 companies with $185 million from 1,100 investors,” she says. Before becoming co-CEO and managing partner in 2011, McCarthy was managing director of Golden Seeds beginning in 2005.

Read more about Loretta McCarthy in Take The Lead

A Take The Lead board member for 10 years, since its founding, McCarthy says, “The thing that drew me to Take The Lead was there are many organizations out to train people on leadership techniques. But what I appreciated about Gloria Feldt (Take The Lead co-founder and president) was to have women focus on their power.” She adds, “Don’t be bashful about your secret powers, utilize them fully.”

“The thing that drew me to @TaketheLeadWomen was there are many organizations out to train #people on leadership techniques. But @GloriaFeldt1 has #women focus on their power. — @LorettaMcCarthy”

While the recent presidential election results in this country were disappointing to millions of women— and men— who were anticipating a woman in the White House for the first time in history, this is not a time to back down in defeat. It is time to pursue a mission and dive into action to reach goals.

“And when you think about American voters really prioritizing the economy, immigration, maybe not seeing a woman as the person that embodied the characteristics of strength or power around those issues, I think that this was absolutely an election that was gendered,” Errin Haines, editor at large of The 19th News, told PBS.

Acknowledging facts and moving ahead for a different present and future is necessary.

“As women we are motivated regardless. In this instance, it is a magnificent opportunity to celebrate the progress women have made,” says McCarthy who earned her bachelor’s degree in business from the University of Arizona and her MBA from the University of Colorado-Boulder.

“As #women we are motivated. In the instance of the #election, it is a magnificent opportunity to #celebrate the #progress women have made. — @LorettaMcCarthy”

“In graduate classes, I was the only woman and I was the only woman graduating that year with an MBA,” says McCarthy of her time at University of Colorado.

The enrollment of women in graduate business schools has been increasing slowly and steadily, but has not reached equity. In 2023, according to a new Forte Foundation report, women made up 42% of enrollment in MBA classes.

McCarthy has witnessed the shift towards gender and racial equity in leadership in all fields that is the mission of Take the Lead for the last decade.

While politics this year saw a defeat for the top position, other gains for women, women of color, and those identifying as women is notable. 2024 is the year 13 governors identifying as women were elected, the largest percentage in history. 

“While #politics this year saw a defeat for the top position, other gains for #women, #womenofcolor, and those identifying as women is notable. 2024 is the year 13 governors identifying as women were #elected, the largest percentage in history.  ”

Read more in Take The Lead on women’s businesses

“This is not the only glass ceiling remaining to be broken. We can continue to excel, have our opinions known and keep moving forward.”  McCarthy adds, “Women will keep on doing this in all fields. We cannot be discouraged about the amazing progress of the last 50 years.”

Her own progress in business is exceptional and noteworthy.

Growing up, McCarthy says, “I was always interested in business. My father was an entrepreneur, and I followed what he did. I was always interested in how things work and how companies succeed or don’t.”

After earning her MBA, McCarthy went to work for Dayton-Hudson Corp. in Minneapolis, as a buyer and moved her way up through the retail giant that later became Target. 

Read more in Take The Lead on women entrepreneurs from Gabrielle Union

McCarthy says a manager at Dayton-Hudson “started promoting me at a fast clip so I got noticed. She put me in jobs that were a stretch for me, and she was 15-20 years older than me and was revered.” She was a sponsor, not a mentor and McCarthy says there is a difference. “Sponsorship is just as important as mentorship.”

“Sponsorship is just as important as mentorship. — @LorettaMcCarthy #womeninbusiness #femaleentrepreneur”

She then moved to New York to be vice president of marketing at American Express for six years, before joining Oppenheimer Funds as executive vice president, chief marketing officer.

“There were not many women in business,” McCarthy says of the first few decades of her career. “I knew I was choosing fields a lot of women are not in, and I find that challenging.” Her work as a Take The Lead board member embraces that challenge as well.  

What Take The Lead does with its multiple resources of workshops, training programs, executive coaching, as well as multiple levels of useful content, fits well with what McCarthy does in her field of work.

“The Power Tools resonate with me,” McCarthy says.” And now they have been modified and expanded. “

Enroll here in the new New 9 Leadership Power Tools Course

She adds, “I remember thinking there are many women out there who don’t get a sense of owning their power. They don’t have those insights that power is a good thing, and that if I own my strengths, I get noticed.”

For herself, McCarthy says she has two relevant superpowers that assist her in her work. “I have a level of observation about behaviors, teams, organizations, that is well-developed from my marketing experience. “ She adds, “I am an observer of the landscape, constantly sizing up where we fit in—my company, and what it is offering. You can’t do all that without being a keen observer of wins and losses. And constantly assessing where we are today, then sitting back and just observing. That is related to listening. I am a very good listener.”

Listening is her second superpower. “I care a lot about how things are said and how to say things to persuade, convince, and thoughtfully respond.”

“Listening is @LorettaMcCarthy ‘s superpower. “I care a lot about how things are said and how to say things to #persuade, #convince, and #thoughtfully respond.” ”

This notion of power and positivity is echoed by many entrepreneurs and leaders.

Melissa Houston,  CFO and founder of Fractional CFO Agency, and author of Cash Confident: An Entrepreneur’s Guide to Creating a Profitable Business, writes in Forbes, “Start thinking about wealth as a means to fund the life and goals you care about and let go of any guilt surrounding it. Wealth in your hands can fuel dreams, support communities, and empower others.”

Clarifyng her role as someone who seeks and allocates funding for deserving women entrepreneurs, McCarthy says, “I’m not a financial advisor, I invest in companies. I do feel that in this, our 20th year, several generations of demographics have learned and are fully aware they have accumulated wealth and are empowered because of that. We see more and more women active investors in the work we do.”

The Center For Venture Research reports, “In 2023 women angels represented 46.7% of the angel market, an increase from 2022 (39.5%) and 2021 (33.6%). Women-owned ventures accounted for 46.3% of the entrepreneurs that were seeking angel capital, a marked increase from 2022 (37.1%) and 2021 (28.6%).”

The report continues, “The yield rate for women entrepreneurs seeking angel capital was 28.8%, higher than the 2023 market yield rate and also an increase from the 25.6% women yield rate in 2022. This data indicates that the increase in women angels may in turn be encouraging more women entrepreneurs to seek high risk angel capital. This high percentage of women presenting, and the higher women yield rate (above the overall market yield rate) indicates that these women led deals were of high quality.”  

McCarthy knows this to be true. She adds that at this time in our culture. “Women accumulate their own wealth, are managing their own portfolios, making their own decisions and developing competencies of managing wealth.”

“Women #accumulate their own #wealth, are managing their own #portfolios, making their own #decisions and developing #competencies of managing wealth. — @LorettaMcCarthy on increasing rates of #womenentrepreneurs”

According to McCarthy, “Just as we manage fitness and health, we have to articulate about wealth issues. We have learned how to be comfortable with spending and how it is invested. Women are in a lot of fields doing really well, they negotiate, use financial advisors, are managing assets.”

According to the Mastercard Index of Women Entrepreneurs globally, the U.S. gets the highest rating at almost 70%, with New Zealand a close second, and Canada, third.   

At Golden Seeds, “We started an organization that has created an environment where women entrepreneurs can enter our world, present their ideas and have a real shot funding,“ McCarthy says. “That brings me joy.”