In this episode of Here@Haas, we sit down with the remarkable Jeep Kline — Haas lecturer, founder and managing partner of Raise Well Ventures, and former World Bank economist whose career spans deep-tech venture capital, global economic development, and transformative leadership. Jeep shares her journey from growing up in Bangkok during the 1997 Asian Financial Crisis, to advising ministers of finance in emerging markets, to becoming a Silicon Valley VC and founder of multiple funds. She also discusses the origins of the Haas Impact Fund, the rapidly changing job market shaped by AI, and what it takes to succeed as an entrepreneur or investor in today’s environment. Her story is one of purpose, grit, and redefining what impact really means.
Episode Quotes:
On navigating your career with purpose:
“ I like to tell people that the most important thing that you have to have (is) purpose—why you do what you do. And it has to fit your broad principle and your belief. Because in the journey that you’re gonna see in the next 20 years, it’s gonna be up and down. Things are gonna change way more rapidly than my generation. And without purpose, it’s gonna hurt—it’s gonna hurt you, it’s gonna hurt your mentality, but with purpose, you’re gonna allow yourself to fail along the way because, you know, it’s just a learning. You get up and do it again. You are gonna figure out. So, having a purpose of why you do what you do, you will allow yourself to fail and also succeed.”
On what truly makes a startup succeed:
“ It is the quality of the management team. That is by far the most important. Mostly, things are gonna change, especially today, as you mentioned, because of AI, that is going to create a rapid change in our society and technology development, and so on. And all of these are gonna come back to the founders. How do they adjust? How do they pivot? How do founders actually handle that? There’s gonna be a bunch of things that they’re gonna have to solve. How do they think about the industry? Where do they think an industry is going next, and how do they adjust the business, the management team, and themselves to take advantage of the industry and the new technology? That is the most important thing, more so than the technology itself.”
On long-term success and risk-taking:
“If I could tell my younger self, I would tell myself not to worry about how people perceive me. You don’t have to care about that. You play a long game, and you try to hit your ground running, take risks, and it’s okay to fail. You get up, you pivot, you learn from it, and you do it again. And I guarantee you, no matter how long it takes, you know this is a probability, right? When you fail enough, you will also succeed enough. It’s just a rule. And I just want us to think about the long game instead of the short-term KPI and how society and your friends, or like peer pressure, that a lot of you probably go through. Don’t worry about any of that.”
Show Links:
- Jeep Kline LinkedIn Profile
- Raisewell Ventures – Jeep’s deep-tech impact venture fund
- Haas Impact Fund – The experiential VC course & student-led fund at Berkeley Haas