Whether you always dreamed of being a founder or grew up in Chicago not knowing what venture was, building is the great equalizer. Starting from nothing is always unpredictable and full of setbacks. Focusing on the process, spending the hours and sometimes banging your head against the wall is an exercise in endurance and what it takes to create something truly different.
The people you grow up with and the way you’re raised have a lot to do with how stubborn you are about your goals. They’re not the only things that shape your drive when things get hard, but they keep you pointed in the right direction. I’m the oldest of three sisters; we went to public school, looked confusingly similar, and all became rowers (I got there first).
Growing up we had to have each other’s backs. In my family, working hard and standing up for one another wasn’t a slogan, it’s just how things work. I hold the founders I work with in the highest regard and treat them the same way.
As influential as rowing has been in my life, it wasn’t my initial plan. I ran competitive cross country until an eight plus inch growth spurt meant I suddenly wasn’t built for long-distance. That setback helped me discover a passion I wouldn’t have uncovered otherwise. In my lanky high school freshman phase (standing at 5’11”), I figured I’d give a new sport a go.
What I love about rowing is that it’s similar to running. It’s measurable and predictable in terms of tying inputs linearly with outputs. After a long career and losing the Oxford/Cambridge boat race (twice), I shockingly still agree with that sentiment and am grateful for the learnings and discipline rowing taught me.
“Endurance/pain tolerance and a process focus are deeply important to me. More kilometers rowed generally equals getting faster. This translates well into early stage company growth.”
While I was studying epidemiology and continuing to row at Stanford, I encountered an entirely different level of sport and accidentally got exposed to the startup scene. During my time as a teaching assistant for a healthcare and climate startup class, I realized the part that I loved about epidemiology was the complexity of the problem and the ability to affect macro outcomes with limited funding. I discovered those themes were more effective when combined with the right economic incentives, so I headed to London and attended Oxford for grad school. Given my interest in early stage venture, I began to learn more about investing in emerging markets and got involved in VC.
I love watching the earliest phases of company (and idea) creation and seeing how a few dollars at work can drive outsized results. I came back to the Bay for a job at Longitude Capital, where I spent three years working at the growth stage biotech/healthcare focused fund spending my time in healthcare software and services. That’s when I met James Green through a friend of a friend, also a former rower. I’d always admired CRV’s history and incredible investments, but was increasingly impressed with the team. When multiple people outside the firm told me, “You’re a CRV person,” throughout the recruiting process, I thought I should probably spend more time across the partnership.
“In meeting the rest of the team I quickly found that everyone is aligned in the way they approach venture - through a lens of competition and hard work - while also being genuine, blunt and kind to one another.”
At CRV I’m excited to continue to spend time in healthcare, while opening the scope of my focus across further verticals and into infra/consumer areas as well.
Outside work I’m a voracious reader. My parents were ahead of their time when I was growing up with regards to tech usage, so TV was off limits. It wasn’t uncommon for me to rip through 50-100 books per year (my nickname in elementary school was “sneak reader” and I army crawled out of class to the library on occasion). When I maxed out my library card limits, I was unfortunately known to occasionally read instruction manuals.
These days I’m a fan of epic sagas and science fiction, especially books that make you to think critically about our world today. The Overstory by Richard Powers, the Red Rising Saga by Pierce Brown and anything fantasy from Terry Pratchett that has his trademark British biting critiques of the real world are just a few of my current favorites, but I’m always willing to take recommendations! I try to stay in shape by running the Marina green and then offset my running habit by hosting and cooking weekly Sunday dinners.
