One Alumna and Entrepreneur’s Three-pronged Approach to Success

Before most people knew what it was to be a venture capitalist in the early 2000s, a new startup called “The Facebook” received some of its first capital from investor Peter Thiel. Shalanda Armstrong, MBA ’12, was curious to know how this investor was able to get the money to invest in this company and it inspired her to one day become a venture capitalist. She set out with what she called a “three-pronged approach” to achieve her goals and launched her own venture capital firm in 2023. Today, she is helping other women like her scale their startups. 

“Women are often over-mentored and under-sponsored, and so we’re trying to make sure that we’re closing the gap,” she says. 

Armstrong’s firm, 100KM Ventures, invests in two vertical markets: companies related to the future of work and digital health companies with women-centric solutions. They try to point entrepreneurs to the resources that are out there so that they can continue to expand. “Hopefully we'll start to see some real movement in that space as we see more and more women leaving the corporate space to pursue entrepreneurship,” she says. 

The journey to leading her own firm began when she earned an undergraduate degree in computer science, then a master’s in engineering and finally an MBA from Smith. These were the steps in her three-pronged approach: the technical, the strategic and the finance education.

Armstrong says she chose the Smith School because of the flexibility of the Flex MBA program and for how well the curriculum complemented her background as an engineer. “[Smith] appreciated the engineering lens and that is what I really liked about the Smith School.”

Once she earned her MBA, Armstrong says she wanted to remain connected with Smith. She has done so by leaning into the alumni network to connect with other Smith grads – who she says are “special” and “extremely beneficial for career growth.” She also serves on the Board of Advisors for the Dingman-Lamone Center for Entrepreneurship.

“I think the Dingman-Lamone Center does a great job of supporting entrepreneurship and really fostering all of the ways that you can go into entrepreneurship,” Armstrong says.

“She has been a key contributor to our mentoring network, providing guidance to students working on early-stage ventures,” says Michael Hoffmeyer, director of the Dingman-Lamone Center. Hoffmeyer adds that Armstrong helps MBA students prepare for the Venture Capital Investment Competition (VCIC) each year and also serves as a judge for the annual Pitch Dingman Competition. “She continues to be a source of inspiration and knowledge for our students, often providing long-term support well after the competition ends.”

In addition to working with Smith students, Armstrong is proud to sit on the board of Girls Inc. in Washington, D.C., as well as the board of the Hampton University Computer Science Alumni Council. She was also recently named to the Washington Business Journal’s 40 under 40 class of 2024 and named one of the D.C. Power Players for Modern Luxury Washington, D.C., Magazine. 

For current students, Armstrong’s advice is to enjoy the journey. “I think sometimes as a student you get so focused on the goal and you don’t really take time to appreciate the journey itself and all the lessons that you learn along the way.”