All about alternatives

Emma Pratt is the cofounder of Girl Math Capital, an alternative investing community for women that aims to democratize access to investing education and deal flow. She’ll be celebrating Women’s History Month with us at the upcoming Brew Markets event, Eyes on Her: Women, Wealth and What’s Next, on March 18th. Ahead of the event, we caught up with her to hear how she’s betting on what others still undervalue: community.

2026 is already rewriting the investing playbook. What’s one opportunity investors should be leaning into right now that still feels underpriced, misunderstood, or underdiscussed?

One opportunity that still feels widely underappreciated is the value of community-driven consumer brands. Some of the companies with the most momentum today are launching with an audience already built in, whether it’s founders who double as creators or brands that build in public from day one. That kind of community dramatically lowers customer acquisition costs and creates faster feedback loops for product development and go-to-market strategy.

Traditional investors might underestimate the value of a social media following, but community is increasingly becoming one of the most valuable moats a company can build. We’re seeing this play out across brands like Bandit with its running community, Good Girl Snacks’ viral pickle content, and new skincare brand beecee, which is building its product alongside its audience before launching this spring.

Community is also the foundation of everything we do at Girl Math Capital, so we’re very bullish on businesses that treat their audience as a core asset, not just a marketing channel.

We talk a lot about diversification. What does “smart diversification” actually look like in this market cycle, and where do you see women taking a more strategic edge?

Smart diversification today means diversifying not just across asset classes, but across industries, stages, and liquidity timelines. Public markets can move quickly and unpredictably, while private investments often play out over longer horizons, so the goal is building a portfolio where those cycles don’t all move in lockstep.

At Girl Math Capital, we focus on alternatives like startups, real estate, and other private investments, but we strongly believe they should complement, not replace, core holdings like stocks, bonds, and ETFs. The most resilient portfolios over time tend to blend both.

Where I see women having a strategic edge is in their approach to risk. In 2021, research from Fidelity found that women’s portfolios outperform men’s by about 0.4% annually, largely because women tend to trade less, stay invested longer, and diversify more thoughtfully. In a market cycle where discipline and long-term thinking matter, those instincts can become a real advantage.

The largest wealth transfer in modern history is underway. What’s one mindset shift women need to make to not just inherit wealth, but actively shape it?

Trillions of dollars are expected to transfer from baby boomers to younger generations over the coming decades, and interestingly, much of it will first move horizontally, to women who outlive their spouses, before flowing down to Gen X and millennials.

The biggest mindset shift is moving from protecting wealth to actively building it. Women’s thoughtful approach to risk can be an advantage, but it can also hold us back if it leads to being overly protective of wealth or erring too far on the side of caution. It’s important to shift from a scarcity mindset to an abundance mindset: seeing capital not just as something to preserve, but as something that can create new opportunities.

That also means being intentional about where money flows. Whether it’s backing a technological breakthrough, investing in a biotech cure, or supporting the next big consumer brand, women have a chance to direct capital toward the ideas and companies they want to see exist in the world.

AI is everywhere, but not always actionable. How are you personally using AI, whether in portfolio management, deal flow, due diligence or decision-making?

This question is very topical for us right now. My cofounders and I are actively thinking about how to integrate AI more deeply into our workflows. The goal is to use AI to handle repetitive, operational tasks so we can spend more time on higher-value work like strategic thinking and building relationships with founders and investors.

Today, we’re already using AI to help streamline things like sharing deal flow with our community and organizing information across opportunities. Longer term, I think AI will become an incredibly powerful tool for synthesizing information shared, surfacing patterns across companies, and helping investors make faster, more informed decisions. The human side of investing though will still matter just as much!

What’s one investing “rule” you’ve completely unlearned in the last five years?

One investing “rule” I’ve completely unlearned is that angel investing is only for the ultra-wealthy. While investors still need to be accredited in most cases, you don’t need to be writing massive checks to participate anymore. Platforms and technology like Sydecar and Play Money have made it much easier to pool capital through structures like SPVs, allowing individuals to invest smaller amounts alongside others. The result is that more people can become angel investors, and in turn, a broader range of companies and founders can get funded.