Jessica Jackley is a venture capital investor at Untapped Capital who co-founded Kiva.org, one of the first person-to-person microlending platforms that helped start the crowdfunding movement, and developed her investing approach by living with micro-entrepreneurs in East Africa where she interviewed over 100 founders building businesses with as little as $100. She approaches capital as a tool for dignity rather than charity, emphasizing that loans and equity help founders see themselves as owners who build and reinvest rather than people who receive help, and is known for turning down eight-figure offers at Kiva when the money structure would have shifted the platform away from true person-to-person connection. Jessica Jackley is a venture capital investor at Untapped Capital who co-founded Kiva.org, one of the first person-to-person microlending platforms that helped start the crowdfunding movement, and developed her investing approach by living with micro-entrepreneurs in East Africa where she interviewed over 100 founders building businesses with as little as $100. She approaches capital as a tool for dignity rather than charity, emphasizing that loans and equity help founders see themselves as owners who build and reinvest rather than people who receive help, and is known for turning down eight-figure offers at Kiva when the money structure would have shifted the platform away from true person-to-person connection.