I had the opportunity to speak at the Exponent Women conference this year on a panel called Exponent Explore: The Pulse on Blockchain, Cannabis, and ESG. It is rare that I attend a conference with the quantity and caliber of women I experienced at this conference, and the level of experience on my panel alone was nothing short of inspiring. One of the most important pieces of this conference and this panel that needs more focus is the space for women in outlying or future investable technology and industries.

Why? When? How?

Before we jump into the gender-based part of this conversation, it’s important that we recognize how investing in future innovations is absolutely essential to our social development and economic progress. But why? When? How? Why is it so important to invest in future innovations? When is the right time? And how do we differentiate between long-term sustainable growth opportunities and short-term market pivot points? Investable technology is offering us a productive, efficient, and sophisticated future, if we want it, but we have to focus on use-case applications for others to:

1. See a clear value

2. Adopt on a mass level

3. Invest in these movements

Let’s Talk About the Why