How top venture capitalists stood out in a rough year for startups; tackling conflict in the workplace; and more

Welcome to Forbes Edge, your insider’s guide to career and entrepreneurial success, exclusively on LinkedIn. This week, we’ll share one of the trends we noticed among newcomers to this year’s Midas List, Forbes’ annual ranking of the world’s top venture capitalists (Spoiler: it’s patience). We also have a few steps you can take to defuse workplace conflict, as well as a friendly reminder on the limits of a credit score.

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Success Story of the Week: Rising Venture Capital Stars Invested Early and Scored Big In The Long Run

At just 37, investor Lauren Kolodny is one of the newcomers to Forbes’ Midas List this year after more than a few of her early bets have come to fruition. Take Chime, for instance, which provides online banking services with no monthly or overdraft fees for accounts. Kolodny led a Series A round into the fintech startup that valued it at $34 million in 2016. Today Chime is valued at $25 billion.

For Kolodny, making the right investment isn’t just about the numbers, but the thesis. In the mid-2010s, she knew millennials were entering the workforce in droves but still living paycheck to paycheck—partly because they were reeling from financial headwinds, distrustful of banks and open to alternatives. Chime fit perfectly into her thesis.?

In Her Words: “One of the greatest stressors in life for humans is money,” Kolodny says. Now an investor and founding partner at Acrew Capital, her goal is for more of us to be free from financial struggles.

With this focus on fintech, she has written checks to 21 startups like fertility financing platform Future Family and Creative Juice, a startup that provides banking services and business tools like tax help to creators. Kolodny was also early to spot payroll and HR software provider Gusto in 2016, which today has a valuation of $9.6 billion. Other companies in her portfolio include Mexican banking services provider Klar, last valued at $500 million, and unicorn Branch Insurance, which provides home and auto insurance.

Kolodny is one of just seven newcomers to the 2023 Midas List, less than half of the 15 newcomers seen last year, largely due to tumbling startup valuations and fewer exits last year. Investors who did secure a spot this year have used the tried and tested tactic of making small and early bets in startups that have yielded substantial returns years—or even decades—after the initial investment.

Read the full story here.?

More from Forbes’ Midas List coverage:

• For Top VCs, ByteDance’s Historic Windfall Remains A $220 Billion Mirage
• The Midas Seed List 2023

Tips and Strategies: 3 Ways To Manage Conflict In The Workplace

You’d be hard-pressed to find a worker out there who hasn’t encountered conflict in the workplace. The truth is conflict can be productive in that it surfaces problems that need attention. But such disagreements can trigger a fear response, evolution’s way of safeguarding us from a perceived threat—not necessarily an ideal response in the modern era, where we aren’t being chased by a predator or at risk of physical harm.?

But there are tactics to channel workplace conflict and resolve it in a healthy way: First, try to determine the root cause. Then identify where people from different perspectives might be stuck. Often, feeling justified or maintaining one’s ego can be the culprit here. Lastly, keep an open mind and stay curious about viewpoints that don’t align with your own.

Read the full story here from Forbes contributor Holly Corbett.

Practical Advice: What Your Credit Score Says (And Doesn’t Say) About You

While there are benefits to having a higher credit score, before you let yours stress you out, it's worth understanding its purpose and how it’s calculated. The bottom line: Credit scores measure whether you're good at borrowing money, not managing it. It doesn’t consider your income, investments or job history.

FICO calculates credit scores based on five components tracking your relationship with debt, like making timely payments, how long you’ve had debt and the type of debt you have (mortgage vs. credit card). Of course, a person’s debt doesn’t tell their entire financial story, so try to avoid giving this number too much power over your self-worth.

Read the full story here from Forbes contributor Bernadette Joy.

More:?

• Why Content Creation Is Essential For Your Business And How You Can Improve Your Approach
• Employed And Still Financially Stressed? 5 Ways To Cope
• The Words TikTok Parent ByteDance May Be Watching You Say

Calling all success seekers:?

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Beyond The Newsroom:?

• Announcing the 2023 Forbes 30 Under 30 Local Lists. We’re looking for the top young founders and leaders in the innovation hubs of Atlanta, Austin, Boston, Chicago, Cleveland, Los Angeles, Miami, Puerto Rico, Seattle and Toronto. Nominations are now open.
• The 2023 Forbes Future Of Work Summit will take place in New York and virtually on June 1. Here, we’ll explore the forthcoming impact of artificial intelligence, shifting dynamics between workers and employers, and more. Sign up to stay tuned for updates.?

Thank you for reading! We'll be back next Tuesday morning with another Forbes Edge.?

This edition of Forbes Edge was written and curated by senior editor Sarah Whitmire.