I was born in a one room cottage in Seattle. My parents, students at the University of Washington, did what was necessary to provide a life for me. My mom worked in retail and later as an administrative assistant. She moved to outside sales and ultimately found her way into a growing local company called Microsoft. My dad cut his economics degree short to go to work. He hauled trash year round and fished for crab in the Bering Sea during the fall. He later founded a painting business to take advantage of the Seattle housing boom. My parents worked hard and took the best opportunities wherever they led.
Take the best opportunities wherever they lead. This is the underlying theme that has shaped the arch of my life and career. It brought me from Seattle to New York City, where I went to Columbia to study economics and start my career on Wall Street. It’s what led me to San Francisco to join Goldman Sachs’ technology equity research team and later to Technology Crossover Ventures as a growth equity investor. I followed opportunity to co-found a tech startup, Petwave.com. It brought me to Google where I helped build the Android business.
I left Google and Silicon Valley to join Drive Capital because it is the opportunity of a lifetime. I’ve been here since we closed our first fund in January 2014 and I have more conviction in our thesis -- that the best companies will build where they are the strongest -- than ever before.
I believe this because of the caliber of entrepreneurs I meet with every day. I believe this because of the bigness of their visions and the quality of companies they are building. I believe this because I see market defining companies growing in cities from Minneapolis to Kansas City, Chicago to Detroit to Pittsburgh.
I am thrilled to be a partner at Drive Capital and to serve you, the entrepreneur. The common thread through all of my investments is an entrepreneur that is targeting a massive market opportunity ($1B+ in the US) and is hellbent on building the #1 company in the space. If this sounds like you, I’d love to meet.