The Female Economy, Reimagined: Building Capital F with Margaret Coblentz

#35. Women influence trillions of dollars in spending every year, so why are so many of their needs still overlooked by founders and investors? And what happens when you stop thinking about opportunity by industry and start thinking about the person at the center of it? This week, Kate Yarbrough sits down with Margaret Coblentz, co-founder and general partner of Capital F, a pre-seed and seed-stage venture fund investing across AI, women’s health, and digital commerce. Before becoming an investor, Margaret was an operator, growing the e-commerce division of a major retailer from $20 million to nearly $100 million in revenue, and later founded and scaled her own luxury DTC brand, Frances Austen, through a successful acquisition. In this conversation, Margaret shares how her experience as both a founder and operator shaped the way she now evaluates and supports entrepreneurs, and why Capital F is built around the $15 trillion female economy. She explains what gives her conviction in a founder at the earliest stages, why deep expertise matters more than an obvious solution, and where she sees opportunity emerging across women’s health, AI, and consumer technology. In this episode, we discuss: Margaret’s path from operator and founder to venture investor How building Frances Austen shaped the way she now supports founders Why Capital F is focused on the $15 trillion female economy How understanding the end consumer can uncover opportunities across industries What Margaret looks for when evaluating an early-stage founder Why deep expertise and non-obvious solutions create conviction How Capital F works alongside founders after making an investment Where Margaret sees opportunity across women’s health, AI, and digital commerce Why the next generation of women’s health companies may require both deep scientific expertise and consumer understanding The importance of curiosity and “trust but verify” in business and investing Why Margaret believes women should speak more openly and ambitiously about making money How motherhood changed the way she thinks about time, efficiency, and saying yes Why clear priorities are one of Margaret’s biggest tools for working more efficiently The founder lesson she learned the hard way: the value of having a great co-founder Why complementary skill sets and aligned values matter when choosing a business partner How geography, community, and proximity to customers can influence early-stage companies Why becoming a lifelong learner requires getting comfortable with being bad at something first