Upfront Ventures is committed to ensuring a safe and supportive environment for and between entrepreneurs, our employees, and our community. We have zero tolerance for harassment, discrimination or retaliation of any kind.

Beginning in 2017, there was a groundswell of “silence breakers” who began speaking up and forcing our society to confront its position towards men in power exploiting this authority for sexual gain. Real change is clearly needed and we applaud those women and men who have bravely made their stories heard.

As VCs we find ourselves in power relationships in nearly every interaction we have, which means we need a much higher standard of accountability for our actions. There are things that are never appropriate, like physically forcing yourself on another human who doesn’t want to be touched or groped. Those in a power situation must also be extra conscious not to use power in ways that are exploitative but where you feel you might be able to get away with it, especially with someone younger or in need of money, access, or connections. It isn’t appropriate to use a power imbalance to invite someone to your hotel room, to flirt or touch somebody inappropriately in a business environment. It isn’t appropriate to make comments about somebody’s physical appearance in ways that would make them uncomfortable. In our industry this has happened much more frequently than perhaps we would care to admit, so we are choosing to be explicit that we won’t tolerate it in our firm, in our portfolio, or with business partners of ours.

When there’s a pattern of behavior, we must speak up and make sure this kind of behavior won’t be tolerated, no matter how powerful somebody is. In VC we must have zero tolerance for our peers who behave badly. Men in our industry must call out bad behavior when they see it or know about it. Women alone should not have to deal with the consequences of the bad behavior of a minority of men in our industry. In an industry with only 9% of female VC partners — it must fall on men to also speak up.

And when a person has exploited a position of power, we believe they don’t deserve sympathy above that of the victims, and they don’t deserve a free pass back into power. Any women or men affected by an abuser must always deserve more respect than a flawed human being in search of redemption.

Of course we must be thoughtful in examining and investigating accusations of sexual harassment and misconduct and examining evidence whenever possible. However, for too long, our industry has turned a blind eye, covered up, and explained away bad behavior of powerful people.

To report any issues of harassment involving an Upfront employee or at an Upfront-sponsored event, please contact Megan Healy, our Head of Talent, who will handle any reports with extreme seriousness and confidentiality.