Managing Partner, Initialized Capital
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It’s an honor to lead Initialized into this next chapter as managing partner with my friend @brettdg.
News alert: Congratulations to @jenhwolf & @brettdg, our new managing partners. Jen & Brett joined Initialized in 2017 and have been instrumental in building the modern version of the firm that is recognized today. Read more about our announcement here: wp.me/pckOt9-109
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1/5 We’re hiring for a partner to join our investment team, and anyone who loves working with early stage founders can apply.
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View from the @websummit venture stage. Just wrapped up a conversation with @brettdg and @garrytan on what we look for in strong early stage founders.
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Congrats to the team at Cohere.io! Yunyu and Rahul are some of the best founders I have worked with. I appreciate that they are always learning new things and tackling huge challenges.
Exclusive: @tryramp makes its 2nd acquisition, scooping up Cohere.io, which has built out an AI-powered customer support tool.
techcrunch.com/2023/06/26/as…
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I’m proud to announce @zcperret's promotion to principal where she'll be working with @kimmaicutler
on climate deals. We're also growing the talent side of the house with @mattern2light joining us to build out our talent services function. Read more here: blog.initialized.com/2022/11…
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Enjoyed this conversation with my friends @garrytan and @brettdg about what makes Initialized special. We're so excited for what's next.
New video drop: Hear from our new co-managing partners @jenhwolf and @brettdg with @garrytan discussing the future of Initialized, what we look for in founders, and how we help our companies scale from 0 to 1.
piped.video/ZbWjVS5pqV8
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4/5 I wrote a blog post outlining why we are conducting an open search and the importance of pay transparency in our process. blog.initialized.com/2023/06…
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5/5 Thanks to @AnneSraders at @FortuneMagazine for covering our story.
fortune.com/2023/06/22/initi…
To apply for the partner position, head to our website: jobs.lever.co/initialized
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We’re excited to welcome @Jenny_RTR as the newest partner to the Initialized investing team.
Jenny immediately stood out with expertise in both starting/scaling a company and her investing background.
Just as important, she shares our team-centric and founder-focused culture. Welcome Jenny!
We are thrilled to welcome @Jenny_RTR as our newest partner, bringing with her wealth of expertise in both company building as co-founder of @RenttheRunway, and early-stage investing. Based in NYC, Jenny’s investment focus will be on consumer e-commerce, marketplace, digital wellness, B2B, and financial services, as well as AI accessibility, personalization, and optimizing asset utilization.
"Jenny’s depth of experience, coupled with her relentless work ethic, positions her as an ideal partner for early-stage startups. She embodies what we value at Initialized: a generalist approach, network-driven mindset, and experience that makes her immediately credible as someone founders should listen to." - @brettdg
Thank you, @imkialikethecar and @axios, for sharing our news. ⬇️
tinyurl.com/49yaf2wj
Learn more about Jenny’s journey to Initialized from @brettdg. ⬇️
blog.initialized.com/2023/12…
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From the very beginning @shreyamurthy and the team at @partiful have always focused on reducing the feelings of loneliness, and using product in a thoughtful way to solve that larger goal. It's more than features and UI. Not surprised people love it.
partiful is a feeling, partiful is a commitment, partiful is a vibe, partiful is an expression of love
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I wrote about pay transparency to explain why founders in CA need a comp philosophy and why I think it’s a step in the right direction for women and minorities to compete fairly in the labor market.
A thread:
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2/5 It was important for me to conduct a public search (again) because I’ve always believed in providing more transparent and equitable opportunities in VC.
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Happy #WomensDay2023 to all the incredible female colleagues I'm lucky to be working with @Initialized.
Also very proud this is a super long list:
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Alix gives every family the tools needed to compound wealth across generations, starting with estate settlement.
We're excited to work with @AlexandraMysoor and @htamassia to modernize the outdated estate transfer system.
Read more about Alix in @Forbes:
forbes.com/sites/meimeifox/2…
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Brett launched a new podcast today where he dives into deep technical problems with his engineering guests.
Take a look: initialized.com/highbit
🎙️Today is the day! Introducing a new podcast "High Bit" hosted by our managing partner, @brettdg .
In each episode of "High Bit," we dive into a challenging engineering problem and share the journey of the builder's creativity and resourcefulness in arriving at a solution.
Join us as we explore the art of technical problem-solving with our guests @aaronhenshaw, @joseacain, @ethanf, and @RenukaApte.
Let us know what you think →
initialized.com/highbit
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@AldaLeuDennis, @kimmaicutler, @KatSteinmetz, @aelydens, @MMCandyCheng, @CyndiS, @dani_metz, @julianna_vitolo, @000mu_um000, Marinda Luk, Nicole Hashemi, @parulia, Raquel Aceves, Sophie Corwin, @vicsstagram, @tehviv, Zoe Beutel, @MatterN2Light, @zcperret
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For any client-facing software, the key differentiator is design. People expect intuitive interfaces and the ability to customize functionality based on individual client needs.
Congrats to @morrisor and the @coordinatehq team.
We're excited to announce our investment in @coordinatehq, a project management system designed for client service organizations.
"The CoordinateHQ team has an incredible understanding of their end user and has built a product that has already proven itself as transformative."
-@jenhwolf
We look forward to supporting @morrisor, Jud Gardner, and the rest of their team on their journey.
Their system offers customizable functionality, emphasizes user-friendly design, and simplifies communication by replacing email, spreadsheets, and messaging platforms.
Learn more about CoordinateHQ ⤵️ coordinatehq.com
coordinatehq.com/library/coo…
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3/5 We are looking for a partner who has a broad skill set who can work with us to find the best founders and provide practical advice to our growing portfolio.
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The @partiful team has always been good at articulating the vision of the company, the social emotion behind the story, and staying focused on solving the loneliness problem. They are hot because they've always stayed true to their mission.
modernretail.co/technology/h…
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I've loved working with @andrew_sather for 25 years, starting at his first design agency. He showed me that a great boss has empathy and is collaborative with all team members.
few people as supportive and consistently there for us as Andrew Sather from @Initialized
thank you Sather for all the support and keeping @indify on the right track, this is going to be a special year 🙏🏽✨ (@andrew_sather)
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Ever confused by the open door button on elevators looking like doors closing? Design affects us all.
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It's all about the size of the bubbles.
"Shreya Murthy, the CEO of party-planning app Partiful says the next theme-party trend will be sparkling water tastings."
~ for @TheCut I wrote a fun one on the rise and rise of wilder-than-ever theme parties where you have to bring your ex or a stranger, dress like an espresso martini or better yet, like it’s your sugar daddy’s funeral <3 read here:
thecut.com/2023/04/theme-par…
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Head to our blog for more tools and resources on pay transparency for founders:
blog.initialized.com/2023/01…
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If you value diversity you should continue to push for it, even if it's hard.
Diversity, equity & inclusion roles increased by 55% in 2020. By the end of last year, DEI-focused roles experienced a nearly 40% churn rate at companies engaged in layoffs.
nbcnews.com/news/nbcblk/dive…
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Congrats to @jessechor and the team at @mytandaofficial.
1/ We're thrilled to share that we've invested in @mytandaofficial, a platform developing a mobile app for digital Rotating Savings & Credit Associations. Users contribute fixed amounts to reach shared financial goals, focusing on simplicity to empower small business workers.
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$76.5 billion is spent annually in the US optical industry on eye exams, prescription glasses, and contact lenses. With their experience in the optical field and in building large-scale payment systems, the founding team at SpecCheck is well-equipped to modernize this space and bring its systems into the 21st century.
1/3 We're excited to announce our investment in @SpecCheckRx, a startup aiming to revolutionize the optical industry by centralizing billing, ordering, and communication.
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“Our designs reflect their tastes and the party vibe they want to convey. Partiful pages feel fun, fresh and less formal than legacy platforms.” -@shreyamurthy
Evites are so last decade. People are using Partiful, a colorful, text-based service to invite friends, family and classmates to parties. on.wsj.com/417cmZJ
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2/10 Think: If women received equal pay, the country’s economy would grow by an estimated $482 billion, and the poverty level of working women would be reduced by half.
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6/10 Develop a tier system that balances equity and salary based on risk. Earlier employees can get more equity and less salary because the risk is higher in joining a three-person company. But as the company progresses, risk is slightly reduced, and you can offer more salary.
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10/10 “Centering pay equity in your compensation philosophy is more than a compliance box check, and more than a moral responsibility; it also has profound implications on your organization and our society at large.” - Tiffany Foo, head of talent at Initialized.
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7/10 Don’t take a "set it and forget it" approach to compensation. A comp system should be a living entity that needs to be reassessed annually in the context of where the business is, how much risk has been removed, and how much money has been raised.
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5/10 Think of your compensation philosophy as a framework that outlines the guiding principles around how you should pay and motivate employees. You don’t want to hire three engineers on the same team, all with different compensation packages.
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1/10 According to the most recent Census Bureau data, women earn about 82 cents for every dollar a man earns. The pay gap widens when you include white men vs. women of color.
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8/10 Having a well-thought-out comp plan not only helps you hire and retain the best employees but also helps maintain trust from the start. If your hiring process is not transparent from the start, employees are more likely to quit within six months, according to PayScale.
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4/10 There are currently 17 states in the US that have pay transparency laws. With more states likely to pass similar laws in the future, founders should expect and prepare for more employees wanting to discuss compensation with their peers and supervisors.
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9/10 Your best employees will want to know their career ladder and how they can climb to the next level. So even if you are an early stage startup with under 30 employees, it's still essential to create roles with titles and pay ranges for each level.
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