Kate Hanick, New Redbud VC MBA Associate
Reach out to Brett Calhoun, Managing Director & GP at Redbud VC, at brett@redbud.vc to learn about Redbud, and subscribe to our newsletter here.
Meet Kate Hanick, the newest edition to the Redbud VC team. Kate joins us as Redbud VC’s first MBA Associate.
Kate is an MBA Candidate at Chicago Booth. She began her career at Sixth Street, a global investment firm with over $75B in assets under management, where she started as an Analyst and then served in several roles, most recently as Vice President and Chief of Staff to the CEO. She is an MBA Intern at KB Partners, an early-stage sports tech venture firm. During the school year, Kate also interns with Westbound Equity Partners, an early-stage fund focused on capitalizing underrepresented founders and companies serving underrepresented consumers. Prior to enrolling at Booth, Kate received a B.A. in Economics from Oberlin College, where she played both Varsity Lacrosse and Soccer.
Kate’s interest in venture capital grew while at Sixth Street, where she worked closely with Sean Mendy as he incubated Westbound as an Entrepreneur-in-Residence. She was able to gain first-hand exposure to the start of a best-in-class venture firm from its infancy through to its second fund (over $100M). “I discovered that what spoke to me the most was the hands-on process of building something from scratch alongside a team focused on improving with each iteration. With early-stage venture, you’re able to take the frameworks and learnings from your experiences and apply them at scale to help founders be successful — you’re in it together.”
When asked about what excites her about Redbud VC, Kate shared that being a pre-seed fund in the Midwest makes Redbud a best-kept-secret. “The team at Redbud is known for getting in the weeds with founders. They’re a great resource to everyone in their network and incredibly disciplined about what they choose to invest in. I’m excited to be part of a team that goes so wide from an industry perspective, but simultaneously deep on the diligence and founders they find the most exciting.”
From her time at Westbound and at KB Partners Kate knows what it’s like to invest at the early stages and is excited to dive into pre-seed investing at Redbud. She spoke about the thrill of watching a company evolve rapidly from idea to pre-seed to seed. Kate is eager to dig in with Redbud’s portfolio companies, offering her support and operational experience and helping Redbud source top-tier founders across the country by leveraging her network from Booth and the broader Chicago ecosystem. Brett Calhoun, General Partner at Redbud, said, “We’re beyond excited to have Kate join the team. She’s exceptionally talented, polished, and just a great person. We’re looking forward to having Kate bolster our sourcing efforts and support for our portfolio companies.”
