Gen Z women are joining the venture-capital ‘boy's club.’ Here's why one 25-year-old decided to break into the space after college

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Less than one year after graduating from Boston College in 2019, Meagan Loyst landed a job as the youngest investor at Lerer Hippeau through a cold email.

“I didn't even know if they were hiring, and they weren't actually at the time, but because of the timing that I reached out, I ended up being the first person they interviewed for the position,” she said.

By the time Loyst interviewed at the New York City-based firm, she had major employers like J.P. Morgan and General Atlantic on her resume. But in sum, Loyst only had about six months of full-time work experience.?

“I was way underqualified for the job,” she said. “They were looking for someone with 2+ years of full-time experience at a minimum. I just really had to hustle to prove my worth and show my value. Luckily, it worked.”?

Now, with two years under her belt at Lerer Hippeau, the 25-year-old is also the founder of Gen Z VCs — a global collective of over 17,000 Gen Z venture capitalists across more than 80 countries.?(Note: Gen Z VCs is independent from Lerer Hippeau.)

?“There are very few spaces for young people that want to collaborate and learn with no agenda, and Gen Z VCs fills that void,” Loyst said. “The core focus is impact before anything else.”?

Through mentorship programs, job boards and events, Gen Z VCs is fostering a community for young investors as they build their careers in venture capital.

I spoke to Loyst, who is also a LinkedIn Top Voice, to learn about the inspiration behind Gen Z VCs, as well as how she broke into the venture-capital “boy’s club” after college.

Below are excerpts from our conversation:

Was venture capital what you always planned to pursue??

No, it wasn't. I think this is largely because there's such a lack of education for what is venture capital. When you study finance in college — I studied finance and information systems — you're taught that there are three career paths that matter: investment banking, consulting and accounting. What really opened my eyes to investing broadly, so not just VC, was doing Girls Who Invest my freshman year of college. I was also involved in Smart Woman Securities in college, and I had the opportunity to go to Omaha, Nebraska, and have dinner with Warren Buffett, which was really cool. I just had, very early in my career and college, exposure to the investing world, which really shaped my interest in investing in general.

I didn't really discover VC as a career path until my sophomore year. I did this class in college called 'Tech Trek' where you study either a venture capital firm or startup for the semester. Then you actually go out to Silicon Valley as part of that class to meet with the founders of those companies and the people that work there … It felt like playing pretend as a VC, and I loved it.

What challenges did you face breaking into the male-dominated space?

Depending on the fund that you're working with, there's not always a ton of female mentorship at the top, so you have to look elsewhere. Luckily, I've always had the benefit of being surrounded by strong women in my life. I have no shame when it comes to reaching out to people, hence why I sent a note to Andrea Hippeau. Honestly, what's so important is if that's something that you really value, being surrounded by women who care and want to mentor, you have to put that at the top of your priority list when you think about choosing a career and choosing a job. Even in my cold email to Andrea Hippeau, that was something that I mentioned. I was like, 'I love that Lerer Hippeau clearly hires and values women in senior positions.'?

What inspired you to start Gen Z VCs in 2020??

The inspiration behind it actually stemmed from being a little bit lonely. I started my job during the pandemic. I was living at home with my parents at the time. Your job as a young VC, especially when you have limited years of experience and you don't have a huge network, is to meet a lot of people, go to events and be the boots on the ground. But I literally couldn't do that because of the pandemic. The one thing that kept happening that I noticed was a pattern was because I was the youngest person at the firm by a factor of a decade, I was always the person that they tapped for thoughts on Gen Z companies. So the thinking in my mind was like, 'There must be other token Gen Z people at other funds that I can meet and learn from and work together with.' It was really just a ploy to make friends. I also thought that there were really unique insights that each of us held individually, but we weren't?working together in any way.?

It started with a tweet that I had posted like, 'Hey, any Gen Z investors investing in Gen Z companies? If so, comment below. I'd love to meet you.' I spoke with 71 young investors all over the world, and I'd never had global friends before. I spoke to people in Barcelona, Africa and Hong Kong. It was crazy. I then wrote an article, 'Gen Z VCs Weigh In: Top 4 Trends We’re Watching and Our Favorite Companies.' That was when I coined the term 'Gen Z VCs,' and then I started the community on the back heels of that article because everyone that I had met had the same question. They were like, ‘I also just started my job. I also have no friends. Who else are you meeting?' I was like, 'Oh, this is great. I know everyone, but they don't know each other. Why don't I start a Slack group so we can all connect?' I put us all in a Slack group ... and then from there, it was crazy. I posted about it publicly. People just started inviting people organically to the original group of like 30 people. Once I posted about it publicly, we went from 30 people to 1,000 in four days ... and then 3,000 a month later. Now we're over 17,000 and it's a global movement.

How is Gen Z disrupting venture capital??

Everything that we do, honestly, as Gen Zers defies the notions of venture capital. Being in venture, historically, has meant you were a founder yourself before. You have 5-10 years of operating experience. Even by just existing as Gen Z investors, we defy those norms. Because when you look at my years of experience, I have three years of full-time experience. But my perspective as a Gen Z person, helping Gen Z founders or even founders building for Gen Z, I'm the voice of the customer. It's a very helpful perspective.?

It's like rewriting the narrative that your youth is actually an advantage. Being Gen Z is not a weakness. Your limited years of experience is not a weakness. It just provides you with a different perspective around the table, which is equally valuable to founders and the folks that you're investing in.?

Why do you think VC is becoming an attractive career path for Gen Z??

Gen Zers in general are very interested in building wealth. Think about the Gen Z side hustle. It's hard to find someone that doesn't have some type of passion project or side hustle that they're doing in their free time. So investing is inherently about building wealth. But also, more importantly, Gen Zers care about impact. We're very entrepreneurial. We love the opportunity to be creative. VC is a career path that allows for all of that. You're entrepreneurial in the fact that you're working with founders and helping them build things.?

What’s your advice to others who want to break into VC??

Start doing it now. You don't have to have an investor title to start writing about areas that you're interested in, meeting other investors and going to events. Build your brand online. I think it will be very fruitful to see young people starting early and having some type of sort of virtual track record that they can refer back to like, 'Look, I've been writing about the creator economy since 2022, and now it's 2026. I am a thought leader in this area.' That really, really helps with getting hired into VC. ?

You landed your job at Lerer Hippeau through a cold email. What makes an outreach note stand out?

There's actually no template, truly. You have to tailor it to not only the company that you're looking to get hired by, but also the individual. It's helpful to include context. Maybe you know what areas they focus on because you saw a recent article by them in the news. Maybe you know their focus area at XYZ fund, so you can tailor your areas of interest around that. Share things that you've done. How your interests overlap with theirs. You basically want to give them no excuse not to respond. The way that I think about it is a really good, tailored cold email, if people don't respond, it's almost offensive. You've put so much time and thought into it the least they could do is say, 'Sorry, not interested but really appreciate the outreach.' The worst they can say is no.?

Editor’s note: Some quotes were edited for length and clarity.?

??What's your advice on finding a community within your industry or profession? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

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