This is our framework for how we think about helping founders build scaled and incredibly successful businesses that also improve the lives and livelihoods of people everywhere.
We believe that the most successful, next-generation companies will increasingly align with new societal values. By embracing responsible innovation at the earliest stages of company building, and by bringing it to the forefront of decision-making at every stage, founders will build truly enduring companies that compound over time.
The seven principles of Responsible Innovation
Innovate Intentionally
Innovate Intentionally
Advance Inclusive Prosperity
Advance Inclusive Prosperity
Respect People & Their Privacy
Respect People & Their Privacy
Operate with Accountability & Transparency
Operate with Accountability & Transparency
Build Sustainably
Build Sustainably
Champion Diversity
Champion Diversity
Promote a Healthy Society
Promote a Healthy Society
Beliefs and principles that guide our firm
Creativity of Approach
Our creative approach to supporting founders and building businesses is born of the depth of experience among our team alongside an ongoing commitment to unconventional thinking. Creativity leads to the less obvious answers and connections, enabling us to bring solutions into the world that wouldn’t exist otherwise.
Creativity of Approach
Our creative approach to supporting founders and building businesses is born of the depth of experience among our team alongside an ongoing commitment to unconventional thinking. Creativity leads to the less obvious answers and connections, enabling us to bring solutions into the world that wouldn’t exist otherwise.
Generosity of Spirit
We are openly generous with our advice, experience, and connections, believing that time and effort invested in ambitious, talented people will always bear fruit over the long-term. This is true of our interactions with each other, as well as with those outside of our firm.
Generosity of Spirit
We are openly generous with our advice, experience, and connections, believing that time and effort invested in ambitious, talented people will always bear fruit over the long-term. This is true of our interactions with each other, as well as with those outside of our firm.
Depth of Relationship
We are comprehensively engaged and supportive — personally and professionally — inside and outside of the business. Our lifelong relationships with founders are fueled by the genuine empathy that comes from our own experiences building and operating businesses, and by our shared visions of a better world.
Depth of Relationship
We are comprehensively engaged and supportive — personally and professionally — inside and outside of the business. Our lifelong relationships with founders are fueled by the genuine empathy that comes from our own experiences building and operating businesses, and by our shared visions of a better world.
Audacity of Ambition
Changing the world requires insane ambition, and we meet the audacity of our founders with our own formidable ambition. We believe in the potential for innovative software and services to create meaningful societal change, so we take what we do seriously; we never do anything half-right or half-hearted. It’s our privilege to play a role in shaping the future for the better.
Audacity of Ambition
Changing the world requires insane ambition, and we meet the audacity of our founders with our own formidable ambition. We believe in the potential for innovative software and services to create meaningful societal change, so we take what we do seriously; we never do anything half-right or half-hearted. It’s our privilege to play a role in shaping the future for the better.
Mindfulness of Impact
While others might “move fast and break things,” we move intentionally and build things. We never lose sight of our responsibility and the opportunity to make a positive difference — for our entrepreneurs, our investors, our people, and society. The product we make on our best day is change.
Mindfulness of Impact
While others might “move fast and break things,” we move intentionally and build things. We never lose sight of our responsibility and the opportunity to make a positive difference — for our entrepreneurs, our investors, our people, and society. The product we make on our best day is change.
Diversity of Thought
Our team is comprised of talented individuals with varied experiences — not just as operators, founders, professional investors and CEOs, but as authors, athletes, parents, musicians, and even an Academy Award-winning filmmaker — all collaborating and co-creating on a daily basis. Different backgrounds beget diverse thinking that leads to better decisions and outcomes.
Diversity of Thought
Our team is comprised of talented individuals with varied experiences — not just as operators, founders, professional investors and CEOs, but as authors, athletes, parents, musicians, and even an Academy Award-winning filmmaker — all collaborating and co-creating on a daily basis. Different backgrounds beget diverse thinking that leads to better decisions and outcomes.
A key part of our identity and responsible innovation framework is to hold ourselves accountable for doing what we can to combat systemic racism and promote diversity, access, equity, and inclusion within our firm, portfolio companies, and industry. The GC team embraces our responsibility to create a sense of belonging for all races, genders, and backgrounds across our industry, and to create greater access to capital.
Gender Diversity at General Catalyst
53%
Female
53%
Female
47%
Male
47%
Male
0%
Non-binary
0%
Non-binary
Racial Diversity at General Catalyst
24%
Asian
24%
Asian
6%
Black or African American
6%
Black or African American
5%
Hispanic or Latino
5%
Hispanic or Latino
61%
White
61%
White
5%
Two or More Races
5%
Two or More Races
0%
American Indian or Alaskan Native
0%
American Indian or Alaskan Native
0%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
0%
Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
