VC Talks #3: Elaine Zelby, SignalFire
Welcome to the third episode of the VC Talks, a short interview series which shares the wisdom and experience of Venture Capitalists and investors with just a few short questions.
I’m very excited to have Elaine Zelby for the third episode of the VC Talks. Elaine is the Principal & Director of Growth of SignalFire. She splits her time between investing out of the seed fund and working with the portfolio on growth and GTM strategy.
Prior to joining SignalFire, Elaine built and led the Product Marketing team of nine at ConsenSys, led Enterprise Product Marketing at Slack and spent 5 years at Capriza, an enterprise software company with investors such as a16z and CRV. She is also a co-founder of Product Marketing Masters, a group focused on communication, education and advisory for top Product Marketing professionals.
I also would like to add that I’m a fan of her lists and curations such as the Remote Work Tools, Modern Day Jobs 💸 and The Ultimate Back-Office Guide for Startups.
Let’s dive into the conversation with Elaine.
Efe: If you could hang out with any cartoon character, who would you choose and why?
Elaine: If I could hang out with any cartoon character, no question it would be Inspector Gadget. I’ve always loved building mechanical things and from a young age used to rig up pulley systems in my room to do things like send a message downstairs in a tennis ball can, turn on and off the lights from bed (guess Alexa and Google Home have solved this problem now :)), and some other silly things. One year for Hanukkah I actually asked for plungers because I used to make elaborate fort systems and plungers acted as great bases. I always dreamed of building crazy suits and gadgets like Inspector Gadget and using them for adventures. I guess this passion led me to study mechanical engineering for both undergrad and grad school!
Efe: What is your biggest problem/challenge nowadays?
Elaine: Focus and patience have always been challenges for me and seem to be exacerbated as a generalist VC. I love bouncing from thing to thing, idea to idea, space to space but I find that I’m an inch deep and mile wide which is sometimes frustrating. Sometimes I feel like I should pick a few areas and go really deep to develop some level of modest expertise but that just really isn’t in my nature.
Efe: What do you do when you feel like you are not making any progress or you feel overwhelmed by the challenges?
Elaine: I’m really into fitness and pretty much any outdoor activity which serves as a great escape for me and also my alone time where I can think. I run, swim, bike, rock climb, backpack, ski, and will try almost any adrenaline-filled activity like bungee jumping or skydiving (though I promised my parents that I wouldn’t go hang-gliding because apparently more people die doing that each year than all other extreme sports combined). I’ve been thinking about a concept that I really want to build that I’m calling “TheraPunch”. It’s a 1hr session at a physical space where the first 15 mins involve going into a 10ft x 10ft room with padded walls and things to punch, kick, rip, pop, etc (but nothing that can really hurt you) with rage music playing and then the rest of the time you go into the Zen Zone where you can do guided meditations, just relax with spa water and nature sounds, take a nap, or do whatever you need to center yourself. Real estate should be at a discount this year so maybe i’ll build the first one!
Efe: What is one thing you expect from or you are most excited about the next decade? (Could be related to business, technology, entertainment, health etc.)
Elaine: I’m obsessed with everything audio (podcasts, smart home, connected car, conversational AI, etc) and am looking forward to seeing a lot of improvements and new innovations here. When anything can become a “screen” there should be some many opportunities that open up to having voice control our world. In the podcast space, there are a ton of really smart teams trying to tackle all of the current problems around discovery, analytics, monetization, and overall experience so I’m really excited to see how far we go in the next decade.
Efe: What advice would you give to a new graduate or an experienced professional who wants to become a VC or find a job at a VC firm? How can they start adding value to startups and VCs?
Elaine: Every break I’ve ever been given in my career started by me giving away my time for free with zero expectation of any kind of return. I cannot emphasize enough how far this can take you. I really do believe in the adage “your net worth is your network” and building up your network by truly listening, following up with what you say you will do, and focusing on the one thing that you can help the other person with (be it a founder, investor, operator, exec, you name it) will open doors.
I’d like to thank Elaine for joining me and sharing some great insights for the VC Talks.
We’ll interview new VCs and investors every episode, so if you’d like to attend or know someone who would, please DM me via Twitter. Also happy to hear your feedback and if you enjoyed the VC Talks please follow, comment and share with your friends.
