Aileen Lee Quotes, born in 1970 in New Jersey, is an American venture capitalist and founder of Cowboy Ventures, a seed-stage investment firm established in 2012. A daughter of Chinese immigrants, she coined the term “unicorn” for startups valued at $1 billion or more in her 2013 TechCrunch article, “Welcome To The Unicorn Club.” With degrees from MIT and Harvard Business School, Lee spent over a decade at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers and co-founded All Raise in 2018 to boost funding for female entrepreneurs. Named to TIME’s 100 Most Influential People and Forbes’ Midas List, her investments include Dollar Shave Club and Rent the Runway. These 15 quotes—sourced from interviews, public statements, and posts on X—reflect her vision for innovation, diversity, and startup success, capturing her strategic and inclusive spirit.
15 Aileen Lee Quotes
- “We’re in this incredible age where new brands are making people’s lives easier, more convenient, more personalized.” (BrainyQuote, n.d.)
- “You have to get under the hood and spend some quality time with someone to understand what they’re really good at.” (BrainyQuote, n.d.)
- “Relative to all the start-ups out there, getting a valuation of $1 billion is rarely accomplished.” (BrainyQuote, n.d.)
- “From a pretty early age, I developed an interest in travel. I told my parents I wanted to live abroad, and they said, ‘Well, you have to have money to do those things.’” (Creatosaurus, n.d.)
- “I think there’s too much money and multiples have gotten out of whack.” (Quotes.net, n.d.)
- “Savvy companies are quietly changing up their boards of directors and teams, and this is giving them better collective intelligence, more community admiration, and better financial results.” (Creatosaurus, n.d.)
- “There needs to be more deliberate effort on the part of folks at VC firms to bring in a more diverse team of talent.” (BrainyQuote, n.d.)
- “What is social proof? Put simply, it’s the positive influence created when someone finds out that others are doing something.” (BrainyQuote, n.d.)
- “We used to tie-dye T-shirts and sell them to classmates. We used to make egg rolls and sell them at street fairs.” (BrainyQuote, n.d.)
- “The role and importance of females in companies can make a big difference.” (BrainyQuote, n.d.)
- “Each major wave of technology innovation has given rise to one or more super-unicorns—companies that could change your life to work at or invest in.” (BrainyQuote, n.d.)
- “Spend the first six to 12 months building a great product or service that people love, rather than chasing investors.” (Creatosaurus, n.d.)
- “A lot of the entrepreneurs and founders have big dreams and are on a mission to build things that the world has never seen before.” (Creatosaurus, n.d.)
- “If the next gen of tech winners are co-founded by women & people of color, wld be a force multiplier to change the🌏.” (Post on X, @aileenlee, 2020-06-08)
- “There’s tons of bias, there’s discrimination, there’s not enough inclusion and diversity in all business, in all environments. We have got to keep fighting for it.” (Forbes, 2019-04-02)
Aileen Lee’s quotes spark inspiration for innovation, diversity, and purposeful entrepreneurship, urging readers to build impactful ventures and champion equity. Which one fuels your drive to create change? Drop it in the comments and keep her visionary legacy thriving!
Emma Thompson
Hi, I'm Emma Thompson, founder of MyLittleDesire. I share relationship advice, love quotes, and thoughtful gift ideas to help you express your feelings and strengthen your bonds. Let's celebrate love together!
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