Brianne Kimmel, Founder of Worklife Ventures — 6 Unicorns, Solo Capitalists, & the Future of Work!
Listen on Apple | Spotify | Soundcloud
In today’s episode, I sat down with Silicon Valley investor, entrepreneur, community builder, and super-connector Brianne Kimmel.
Brianne is the Founder of Worklife Ventures. Worklife is a future of work-focused fund investing in the tools and services powering the next wave of work.
What do people love to know when a fund gets released, especially a first-time fund like Brianne’s? Who’s backing it, of course.
Well, Worklife‘s LPs are as good as it gets in tech:
- Andreessen Horowitz partners Marc Andreesen and Chris Dixon
- Alexis Ohanian of Reddit and 776
- Zoom CEO Eric Yuan
- Twitch Co-Founder Kevin Lin
- Cameo CEO Steve Galanis
- Stewart Butterfield of Slack
- Executives from companies like Dropbox
- And many more!
Worklife has invested in incredible companies including 6 unicorns already: Webflow, Tonal, Hopin, Clubhouse, and former Wharton Fintech guests Pipe and Public.com. Business Insider also recently named Brianne a top angel investor that every startup should know.
Brianne has been an active angel investor as well, securing deals through SaaS School. Prior to founding SaaS, Kimmel ran go-to-market strategy at Zendesk, had a stint at YC, was an instructor at General Assembly, led a number of initiatives at Expedia, and more.
You can learn more about Brianne on her website & Twitter, as well as Worklife at their website + Twitter. (Personally, I think Worklife’s website is stunning)
In today’s episode, Brianne is generous with investing anecdotes, candid takes on the realities of being a ‘solo capitalist,’ the transition from angel to VC, the future of work, and so much more.
Some notable moments below:
The Rise of the Solo Capitalist
“There’s a fundamental shift where people trust others more than institutions, and we’re seeing this in FinTech. We’re seeing this across all different asset classes where relationships matter. In venture capital in particular, founders are seeking like-minded individuals that can truly deliver value. What’s changed in the last 12 months is the fact that we see the solo capitalists now rising and leading Series A and Series B rounds.”
Jumping from Angel to Solo Capitalist, and How it’s Different from VC
“The benefit of the solo capitalist model is the majority of my week is actually spent finding ways to proactively engage and invest in companies that I’m really excited about. I think this is a distinct difference — if you talk to large firms, or if you talk to individuals that are more passively angel investing, you’re pretty heavily dependent on companies that come inbound or are going out to pitch.
I almost view [the solo capitalist model] very similarly to enterprise sales, where you make your target account list with where you have an opportunity to build a great relationship with the founder and you have very tangible ways to deliver value. Those are the types of companies that you want to spend your time on. You have a higher degree of confidence that you’ll be able to invest, which in this environment, is really hard.”
Why She Speaks With Every Female Hire of Her Portfolio Companies (and how she adds so much value)
Brianne thrives at ‘standard’ angel expectations such as sourcing talent, providing support, facilitating key intros, and more. However, where Brianne sets herself apart is in culture and community building. Talking to every female hire is just one piece. Community is a core part of her value add, and it’s becoming increasingly important in a remote-work world:
“Worklife is by design a community-focused firm. The community events that we host on a weekly basis are tailored for founders, but we’re now introducing a series of programs for early builders at the companies because I find a consistent DNA across the portfolio. And many companies ask very similar questions! And the people that join those companies are the most likely candidates to create a really strong community together…Culture is something that I work with many of our startups on, where many are remote-first or remote only. Our ability to build community is helpful for the firm…
There’s a really important component about employee engagement, [recruiting], and retention. It’s an area where a lot of investors should do closing calls. I think that single-handedly is one of the best things that you can ask your investors to do. If there’s a candidate in the pipeline that you’re really excited about, getting an investor on the phone to talk to that person does a few things. It gives the person, who’s likely on the fence and in this environment likely has multiple offers, the opportunity to hear firsthand why an investor is excited about the company. It also really signals you know the value of their equity and what the long-term potential is!”
Founders agree. When a twitter thread got started on who the most helpful angel was, Brianne was placed right at the top!
Why Anyone Trying to Get Into Venture Should Start Creating
“Twitter and Substack, where you can start to develop your own voice, and really have a strong opinion on where you see the world going, is very helpful…I think that idea generation is a really good muscle to be built, especially if you ultimately want to become a venture capitalist…I have large blocks of unstructured time purely for reading, for printing, and highlighting other people’s subjects. And for reading relevant books that help me to develop a thesis around where I see the world going…I think getting into that consistent cadence of saying, where do I see the world going? What are themes that I’m excited about? Openly sharing your ideas allows the right people to find you and specifically the right founders.”
We also cover her journey to Worklife, her investments in Pipe, Public, and Hopin, her great relationship with Harry Hurst, creating Stay At Home Valley on Figma (and surprising Figma’s CEO), her admiration for Kirsten Green her love of fitness, and much more!
Listen on Apple | Spotify | Soundcloud
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Previous Episodes You May Enjoy:
Y Combinator’s Michael Seibel & Dalton Caldwell — Lessons from 5000 Entrepreneurs
Jarrid Tingle, Managing Partner of Harlem Capital — Transforming the Face of Entrepreneurship
Former Vanguard CEO & Chairman Bill McNabb: The Future of Finance, Leading in Crisis, & ESG
Mayor Francis Suarez — Bringing Silicon Valley to Miami!
Republic Founder Kendrick Nguyen: Empowering 1 Million People with Private Investing!
Billionaire Investor, Activist, & Educator Tim Draper — China, Bitcoin, and Free Societies
Jeff Immelt, Former GE CEO — Globalization, Crisis Leadership, & 16 Years at The Top
Balderton Capital GP & Former GS Partner Rana Yared — Fintech Investing in Europe!
Jon Zanoff, Founder of Empire Startups & Stella Ventures — YOLO Fintech and the Get Sh*t Done KPI
Angel Investing with Jeff Seltzer of the NY Angels & Founder of Pierce Yates Ventures
Anish Acharya, General Partner at Andreessen Horowitz — Doubling Down on Fintech
Michael Sidgmore, Partner at Broadhaven Ventures: Why Alts Are Going Mainstream!
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Ryan Zauk
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Ryan Zauk is a recent MBA graduate of The Wharton School, where he ran the Wharton FinTech Podcast. He currently works with the US International Development Finance Corp looking at technology impact investments in developing markets. He will be joining Morgan Stanley’s Fintech & Technology team in Menlo Park after graduation. He has a passion for music, media, and all things FinTech.
You can reach him at rzauk@wharton.upenn.edu or on Twitter.
