From Fashion to Startups: My Journey to Venture Capital in New York
I am extremely excited to share that I am officially joining White Star Capital as an Analyst in their New York office. This is a very important and wildly rewarding moment in my life, and I am beyond grateful to the White Star team for being so open and welcoming to my not so in-the-box background.
Growing up in Prague, I always imagined pursuing foundational experience abroad. To that end, I took the International Baccalaureate program during high school, spent a year at a boarding school in England at 16, and applied and got accepted to top universities in New York City and London. However, shortly before graduating, I was scouted by an international modeling agency. Already considering a gap year, I thought, “Perfect, let’s do it!” A few years forward, I never thought I would end up being pretty successful at it, walking shows for top designers like Chanel and Miu Miu, landing major international magazine stories and covers such as Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, and Elle, becoming financially independent, moving to New York, and traveling around the world. Despite the incredible things I achieved through modeling, I also had goals and plans, that went beyond fashion. Therefore, I restarted studying finance and marketing at NYU Stern — thank you, NYU, for your support and for letting me defer for quite a while! And here’s me graduating with Latin honors this year 👋
Why Venture Capital?
I think that I got the entrepreneurial bug from growing up, watching my dad successfully go from selling batteries post-Velvet Revolution to building two companies from the ground-up. (He is currently on his third… and killing it!) Unsurprisingly, Venture Capital was not really a thing back home, and most businesses in the Czech Republic were, and still are, self or debt-funded (often collateralized by majority of personal belongings, including cars and homes). The first time I found out about the VC industry was during my first year of college. Considering my past experience, education in finance, and curiosity for the fundamentals of building a business, Venture Capital was a perfect fit.
Why White Star Capital? ⭐
As you may know, White Star Capital is an early stage tech-focused VC fund investing on both sides of the Atlantic. We have offices in New York, London, Montreal, and Paris. And recently, our Venture Partner Shun Nagao is leading our fifth and latest office in Tokyo. Check out his excellent post on the startup industry and early-stage investing in Japan. The international strategy makes White Star Capital the only early-stage investor based in the North East of the US, Canada, the UK, and France, equipped to provide support to companies expanding internationally to any of its core hubs.
“International” is not only the company’s strategy but it runs through the DNA of every single team member. Collectively we speak 8 languages, hold passports from 10 countries, and have network essentially all around the world. Not only does the international strategy speak to my background, but I also get to learn and do the following list of amazing things at White Star:
1. See the Investment Process A-Z: As the only analyst in a team of 6 in the NY office, I get to be included in every step of the way, which means a steep learning curve, quick feedback (thank you Lylan, Elie, Nick, Sanjay, Ed!), and close connection to everyone in the team from associates to partners.
2. Learn From an Incredible Team: In New York, I’m learning directly from our Founding Partner Eric, with over 20 years of experience in M&A and early-stage investing, who led our investments in Dollar Shave Club (Acquired by Unilever for $1bn), in Freshly, Drop Loyalty, Meero, Butternut Box, and Clark to name a few. I also get to work with our Partner Lylan, a Kauffman Fellow, with 14 years of experience in Software Engineering and Product Management at Microsoft and Microsoft Research, who recently led our investment in a location data company, Unacast. Finally, I get ample support from our Principal, Elie, and Venture Partner, Sep (read his post on joining White Star and on Blockchain), who collectively hold dozens of years of experience in PE, early-stage VC, and banking. #mentorjackpot
3. Build a Thesis: At White Star we invest in 3 areas: 1) The Disruption of Commerce, 2) Digitalization of Finance, and 3) Sensors and Algorithms. This gives us a wide playground in terms of what we can explore. But also, from the top-down, the White Star team is very interested in and supportive of thesis-driven investing, which I believe is crucial to any investment.
On a personal note, I have been particularly intrigued by companies that have managed to build a strong consumer brand, something I can relate to from my own experience in fashion. I believe that today, brands are built very differently than only 10–15 years ago. Traditional marketing channels don’t work as well, and social media, dialog-driven, and experiential marketing is taking over. Consumers are looking for brands that embrace certain lifestyle that they can associate with, and which are authentic. This is something I have been exploring across several verticals since joining White Star. Freshly, AdoreMe, and Butternut Box are great examples of these authentic brands we are excited about.
4. Support Women in Business: Finally, as a woman in VC I hope to eventually help other women, be they founders or fellow investors, which is very important to me. The firm has been very vocal about their support of female entrepreneurs and we are looking to invest more and more into female-founded companies. You can read Lylan’s article for The Entrepreneur HERE.
All this said, I am grateful for this opportunity to be part of the White Star Capital world and family. And if you are building a company in the above-mentioned areas, or if you just want to chat, you can contact me at karolina@whitestarvc.com
