Tell us about yourself
I grew up in New Hampshire and studied finance at UNH. While in school, I ran investment operations for a family office, managed deals for an angel investment group, led a student-run angel fund, and worked at a pre-revenue startup.
Before AngelList I worked as a credit analyst at Silicon Valley Bank, where I focused on venture debt for tech and life science startups that needed to expand runway while avoiding dilution. Outside of work, I enjoy backpacking in the White Mountains, exploring new restaurants, and lifting. I currently live in Boston, MA.
What attracted you to AngelList Venture?
My prior experiences centered heavily around venture capital and startups. I wanted to continue working directly with founders and investors working on interesting problems. AngelList was attractive because it represented a new onramp for an abundance of money that previously had poor distribution into startups. I couldn’t find anyone else in the market that was helping aggregate this capital into the most exciting companies out there, and doing so at scale.
When did you know you ‘had to have’ the Venture Associate job?
I found myself talking about AngelList’s products with founders and VCs in my network all the time. When they started coming to me with questions about these products, I realized I could talk about it for a living as a Venture Associate.
For ‘non-technical’ people like myself, it’s not always easy to find an operating role at startup that aligns with your core skill set. As a finance worker with a strong interest in technology investing, I saw the Venture Associate role as an opportunity to build startup operating experience in a field that I’m passionate about.
How did your job at Silicon Valley Bank prepare you to be a Venture Associate?
Silicon Valley Bank served as a foundational entity in the venture ecosystem for decades. My time there taught me a lot about what a well capitalized company looks like “under the hood.” More importantly, it taught me the importance of relationships in the tech industry. Even though the rate of startup creation is accelerating faster than ever, it’s still an incredibly small world. People remember how they are treated and recognize the value of good actors.
What do you hope to accomplish during your time at AngelList Venture?
I want to build lasting relationships with the next generation of incredible fund managers. Historically, venture capital has been a tight-knit community where a small pool of investors run the whole show. We’re now in the age of the solo capitalist, where smart people can easily translate their thesis on a market into a real investing career. I don’t think anyone truly understands what this market will look like when anyone can have a seat at the table, but I know I’d like to play a role in this transformation.
What have you learned about the venture industry through your job?
I’ve learned that many of the best companies in Silicon Valley (and beyond) are actually quite willing to take on small checks from supportive people. It’s somewhat of a myth that being an angel investor means you need to be writing $50K+ checks on a weekly basis. As Harry Hurst puts it, “Amazing operators can leverage their networks to raise funds with awesome LPs. They write smaller checks, but have an incredibly favorable ‘check size to helpfulness ratio.’ They hustle.”
How did AngelList / the Venture Associate role exceed your expectations?
I think the most surprising part about my first few weeks at the company was realizing how small it is in relation to its impact. With a team of just over 100 people (when I joined), we deploy millions of dollars into startups every month. It wouldn’t be possible without everyone having a deep level of trust in each other, paired with constant drive to increase efficiency and scale. The supportive Venture Associate team and company as a whole absolutely exceeded my expectations.
What’s your top life hack for Venture Associates?
Learn how to treat your email inbox like a to-do list. Organized tagging, message snoozing, and scheduling responses for later can help you reach (and maintain) inbox zero.
What advice do you have for new Venture Associates?
Become deeply familiar with the wants and needs of angels and VCs. Try putting yourself in the shoes of someone who wants to capitalize on their proprietary deal flow. When might they want to run a syndicate? At what point would it make sense to launch a fund? Use these guiding questions to put our product offerings into perspective. This helped me understand how impactful the AngelList product suite is to the broader VC market.
What do you do for AngelList now, and how did the VCA role prepare you?
As our offering improved and expanded, so did the size of our funds and investors. I learned so much about the GP side of the business and wanted a fresh perspective on how the fundraising process works from end-to-end. At the beginning of 2023, I left the VCA team to help build our LP Relations Team. We create tools and processes that allow GPs to confidently close capital from the largest institutions in the industry.
The VCA role helped me understand the fundamental dynamics between GPs and LPs during fundraising. In my new role, I’ve been able to leverage my existing knowledge of fund structuring to create solutions that reduce friction for all parties in the closing process.