Who We Are
At Ad Astra Ventures, we know that you want to be a powerhouse founder who is seen and heard. In order to do that, you must leverage your unique skills as a leader. The problem is, many of the leadership qualities women possess are overlooked and undervalued, which makes us feel like we don’t belong. We believe women don’t have to behave like their male counterparts to succeed, and that includes the way they scale and fund their companies. Having spent decades in startups, venture, corporate America and academia, we know what it feels like to be excluded because of our gender. This is why we’ve set out to change the status quo. We have turned our passion for empowering women into a startup growth experience, and since 2018, have trained more than 70 founders to spot and neutralize implicit bias, unleash their badassery and get noticed.

How We Facilitate Change
We’ve combined decades of experience with proven techniques to help women Get to Even. How? We are equipping founders and investors on both sides of the venture table with the tools to:
1) recognize and neutralize bias & 2) lead authentically
The three partners at Ad Astra have diverse backgrounds and various investment styles, and have come together to help women Get to Even. Our society deserves this. Let’s get started.

Allison Long Pettine

Vidya Dinamani

Dr. Silvia Mah
Our Pillars
What We Stand For
Discovery: We believe that a focus on individual strengths leads to authentic leadership.
Advocacy: We highlight female founders and investors knowing that examples are critically important.
Knowledge: We readily share our experience because we understand that makes it easier for the women following us.
Our Methodology
How We Get to Even
Awareness: The first step to change is to pause and recognize what is happening around us.
Impact: After becoming aware, we have to understand the impact on us personally.
Action: Armed with knowledge and understanding, we can implement solutions that lead to immediate change.
Our “Collaboratory”
Champion
Each small group is assigned an AAV Leader
Your go-to person throughout an AAV experience
Continually & mindfully connecting the dots
Cohort
Deliberately curated small groups
Designed to be in similar industry
Curated to share specific experiences & resources
Community
Connect with other tenacious & fierce female founders
Get to know mentor-investors who value equality, integrity & impact
Amplify wins, offer help & raise awareness
14
portfolio companies
77
bootcamp alumnae
40+
mentor investors
$24M
raised by founders