Welcoming Sarah Hodges to Pillar

When we started Pillar earlier this year, we had a plan to approach the business differently. We wanted to throw away the traditional VC playbook and build a new firm from scratch, based on what we thought entrepreneurs needed. We started with a team of 16 world-class executives who could share their vast experience, insight and contacts with young entrepreneurs. We challenged the traditional structure of investments by offering a far more simple model, focused on alignment. And today we announce the third piece of the puzzle.

Sarah Hodges is joining Pillar as a Partner. Sarah will make investments on behalf of the firm, but the bulk of her energy will be to build and manage our Access Program. Access will give our companies access to the things they have told us they need most to succeed — access to top talent, access to customers, access to marketing guidance and access to resources to help them develop as leaders.

Sarah has the perfect background for this role. Her success as an entrepreneur and leader at Carbonite, RunKeeper, Smarterer and Pluralsight gives her the understanding of what our startups face everyday. Her role in creating Intelligent.ly, a leadership development company that has helped over 1,000 tech executives in our region, helps her understand the individual challenges that our founders experience as they grow their companies. The combination uniquely qualifies her to build this important capability for Pillar.

But beyond her experience, Sarah brings an infectious energy to work everyday and an authenticity and caring that our portfolio companies will value. I couldn’t be more excited to partner with Sarah in building Pillar. If you have feedback about how we can strengthen our Access program or want to get involved with one of our startups, she’d love to hear from you. Shoot Sarah a note at sarah@pillar.vc.