The Exchanges

Q Not at all, but I want to start on two entries for you. And first, a question from the wonderful Mike Maples, who asks, what was the spark for founding TaskRabbit? And then secondarily, how did that lead to your position today with Chris at Fuel? Let's start with that.

A Okay, we'll start at the beginning. So my background is engineering. I was a software engineer at IBM for eight years before I had the idea for TaskRabbit. TaskRabbit came about one cold winter night in Boston. It was February of 2008. My husband, Kevin, and I were getting ready to go out to dinner when we realized we were out of dog food, and we had this hundred pound yellow lab named Kobe who we kept very well fed, and it was cold and snowing outside, and we had called a cab to take us across town to meet friends for dinner, and we thought, how are we going to get this dog food? This is such a simple problem. Why isn't there a simple solution? But in 2008, there was no app store. The iPhone had just come out four months earlier. It was a completely different time. And so my husband, who's also in technology, and we always have these very geeky conversations in the house, we had this whole idea around, what if you could just connect with someone in your neighborhood right now? Maybe there's someone at the store and we should be able to use this new device, this new iPhone. To leverage location awareness and the social graph and connect with them immediately. And that's really where the idea was born, uh, out of the need for dog food one night in Boston. And so if you now fast forward 10 years later, it has been a decade since the inception of that idea. We have had an amazing …

AI assessment note: “out of the need for dog food one night in Boston.”

Q What about the makes you want to replicate them? What made them so special?

A You know, I think there's something one really special about the early stage when investor is willing to bet on you and bet on your company before you're successful, before you have barely any traction, the belief that they have in you. I think that actually goes a long way. Wanting to work With someone who is aligned on your vision, is aligned culturally, has alignment around values and what's important to you as a person, as a company, as a CEO, as you build a team. I think those are all things that all four of those people I mentioned at the early stage, we just had alignment around and, you know, I use them in different ways. Ann was on my board in the early days. She helped me get set up with dashboards and metrics and really be thought About analytics and how to measure the business. Steve was someone I would call behind the scenes on the side if I was negotiating a partnership or a business development deal and just say, like, how do I get this done? Like, this is what's going on. What would you say? What would you do? And so I think that finding people to bring around the table that have the alignment around vision and passion and values is key, but then figuring out what their superpowers are and how to utilize them in different ways. Is really the leverage point. And so now myself as an investor, I love playing the role of the behind the scenes, the trusted confidant.…

AI assessment note: “now myself as an investor, I love playing the role of the behind the scenes”

Q So tell me, I need to read more this new year. What should I be reading? Favorite book.

A So this is a book I actually go back to a lot. It is a book that literally changed my life. I read it over 10 years ago, right before I founded TaskRabbit, and it's called Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston. And I was working at IBM as an engineer living in Boston. I knew nothing about startups. I knew nothing about the startup community. I didn't know anything about Y Combinator or any of these incubators or any of these companies, but I read that book, and I so connected with the authenticity of these founders' stories, and their journeys really resonated with me, and it's what inspired me to really quit my job at IBM and start my own company.

AI assessment note: “it's called Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston”

Q Not at all, but I want to start on two entries for you. And first, a question from the wonderful Mike Maples, who asks, what was the spark for founding TaskRabbit? And then secondarily, how did that lead to your position today with Chris at Fuel? Let's start with that.

A Okay, we'll start at the beginning. So my background is engineering. I was a software engineer at IBM for eight years before I had the idea for TaskRabbit. TaskRabbit came about one cold winter night in Boston. It was February of 2008. My husband, Kevin, and I were getting ready to go out to dinner when we realized we were out of dog food, and we had this hundred pound yellow lab named Kobe who we kept very well fed, and it was cold and snowing outside, and we had called a cab to take us across town to meet friends for dinner, and we thought, how are we going to get this dog food? This is such a simple problem. Why isn't there a simple solution? But in 2008, there was no app store. The iPhone had just come out four months earlier. It was a completely different time. And so my husband, who's also in technology, and we always have these very geeky conversations in the house, we had this whole idea around, what if you could just connect with someone in your neighborhood right now? Maybe there's someone at the store and we should be able to use this new device, this new iPhone. To leverage location awareness and the social graph and connect with them immediately. And that's really where the idea was born, uh, out of the need for dog food one night in Boston. And so if you now fast forward 10 years later, it has been a decade since the inception of that idea. We have had an amazing …

AI assessment note: “And that's really where the idea was born, uh, out of the need for dog food”

Q Penultimate question, and one from Craig Shapiro, one of your investors. What are the secrets to making a husband and wife partnership work so well?

A Kevin and I work really well together. Anyone who has worked with us will tell you this. In fact, people at TaskRabbit sometimes did not know that we were married. And Kevin sat in exec meetings. He reported directly to me. He He scaled the early days of our IT and servers and engineering team, and, you know, I think it just really comes down to, of course, respect, but then also realizing sort of what each person is really good at, where their strengths are, where their weaknesses are, where their vulnerabilities are, and when you're married to someone and you're with them twenty-four-seven, like, you have a really, really deep, insightful perspective, On those things. And so if you can leverage that perspective and that insight to work together really well and sort of say like Kevin is really, really good at the tech, deep technical aspects of scaling servers and it and that engineering team. And that was an area that I'm not as strong in. I'm more of a programmer, a designer and engineer. So we complimented each other very well from a skillset standpoint, but But then from an emotional standpoint as well, just having enough respect to kind of support each other where it's needed, I think is really key.

AI assessment note: “it just really comes down to, of course, respect, but then also realizing sort of”

Q So tell me, I need to read more this new year. What should I be reading? Favorite book.

A So this is a book I actually go back to a lot. It is a book that literally changed my life. I read it over 10 years ago, right before I founded TaskRabbit, and it's called Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston. And I was working at IBM as an engineer living in Boston. I knew nothing about startups. I knew nothing about the startup community. I didn't know anything about Y Combinator or any of these incubators or any of these companies, but I read that book, and I so connected with the authenticity of these founders' stories, and their journeys really resonated with me, and it's what inspired me to really quit my job at IBM and start my own company.

AI assessment note: “it's called Founders at Work by Jessica Livingston.”

Q And then final question before we move into the quickfire, you mentioned the balance there between supply and demand side. I'm always increasingly worried with market Marketplaces, whereby one side is always incredibly high MPS and the others can be very low, and it can be that terrible equation in some ways. How do you think about the balancing of that MPS across both demand and supply?

A Okay, so no one is ever happy with you. If you change things on one side and customers are really happy, chances are that on the other side of the marketplace, you've really made someone mad, and that, that is also just the complex nature of Of a marketplace business. Now, that's not always the case, but we certainly saw that with TaskRabbit all the time. If customers were having a great experience, that in some cases could have been at the detriment of the supplier. If the suppliers were having a great experience and were, you know, making a lot of money, that sometimes could have been at the detriment of the customers. And so, it's a tough balance. It's a tough mental balance, too. As a management team, as an executive operating one of these marketplaces, to never quite Feel like you're winning on both sides, but I think it's the nature of the business. It's one of the pieces that make them so complex, and I think that's okay. I think it's okay that sometimes the NPS for both sides are the inverse of each other, and you just have to balance that over time.

AI assessment note: “I think it's okay that sometimes the NPS for both sides are the inverse”

Q Penultimate question, and one from Craig Shapiro, one of your investors. What are the secrets to making a husband and wife partnership work so well?

A Kevin and I work really well together. Anyone who has worked with us will tell you this. In fact, people at TaskRabbit sometimes did not know that we were married. And Kevin sat in exec meetings. He reported directly to me. He He scaled the early days of our IT and servers and engineering team, and, you know, I think it just really comes down to, of course, respect, but then also realizing sort of what each person is really good at, where their strengths are, where their weaknesses are, where their vulnerabilities are, and when you're married to someone and you're with them twenty-four-seven, like, you have a really, really deep, insightful perspective, On those things. And so if you can leverage that perspective and that insight to work together really well and sort of say like Kevin is really, really good at the tech, deep technical aspects of scaling servers and it and that engineering team. And that was an area that I'm not as strong in. I'm more of a programmer, a designer and engineer. So we complimented each other very well from a skillset standpoint, but But then from an emotional standpoint as well, just having enough respect to kind of support each other where it's needed, I think is really key.

AI assessment note: “comes down to, of course, respect, but then also realizing sort of what each person”

Q In terms of the challenges, what would you say some have been in terms of scaling that learning curve and really getting to grips with venture itself?

A Well, you know, it wasn't until I started pitching at my investors LP meetings that I realized my investors had investors. And then on sort of this side of the table, so fuel has, you know, institutional investors that make up our fund. You realize that some of those investors also have investors, right? There are fund of funds, these LPs that run funds, and they also have investors. I mean, there's many layers deep here of capital that That I think was a surprise to me has been a learning curve about what those dynamics and what those interactions are. And then just getting ready to sort of go out and prepare for the next stages of fuel and how we interact with our LP community, what we're looking for in our investors, what our investor makeup looks like. It's actually sort of similar in thinking to being an entrepreneur and pitching venture capitalists about investing in your business. It's just, we're pitching limited partners about investing in our fund, and what makes us different, and where we fit in the ecosystem, and what our portfolio looks like, and what the returns have been. So that is a side I hadn't been exposed to, but it's been so much fun to get ramped up on and to learn about.

AI assessment note: “That I think was a surprise to me has been a learning curve”

Q And then final question before we move into the quickfire, you mentioned the balance there between supply and demand side. I'm always increasingly worried with market Marketplaces, whereby one side is always incredibly high MPS and the others can be very low, and it can be that terrible equation in some ways. How do you think about the balancing of that MPS across both demand and supply?

A Okay, so no one is ever happy with you. If you change things on one side and customers are really happy, chances are that on the other side of the marketplace, you've really made someone mad, and that, that is also just the complex nature of Of a marketplace business. Now, that's not always the case, but we certainly saw that with TaskRabbit all the time. If customers were having a great experience, that in some cases could have been at the detriment of the supplier. If the suppliers were having a great experience and were, you know, making a lot of money, that sometimes could have been at the detriment of the customers. And so, it's a tough balance. It's a tough mental balance, too. As a management team, as an executive operating one of these marketplaces, to never quite Feel like you're winning on both sides, but I think it's the nature of the business. It's one of the pieces that make them so complex, and I think that's okay. I think it's okay that sometimes the NPS for both sides are the inverse of each other, and you just have to balance that over time.

AI assessment note: “I think it's okay that sometimes the NPS for both sides are the inverse”

Q start today on the theme of transferable learnings and discussing kind of the many successful years in operations there with TaskRabbit, and I want to ask you a two-fold question to start with. Firstly, and one from Sean Flynn at Shasta, in terms of how it kind of influences you today, how does your time in operations influence founders you choose to back, and why you choose to back them?

A Well, you know, TaskRabbit, again, was an incredible journey, and we were so early in the space. Sometimes I feel like, oh my goodness, Were we too early? There were moments during that journey, during that life cycle of that company that I worried. Maybe we were a little bit ahead of our time. Maybe we're a little bit early. Maybe the consumer mindset wasn't quite right. Maybe the product market fit wasn't working the way it should. And to persevere through each one of those moments and continue to push forward and innovate and educate and bring the customers with us, I think, Now ends up being a key criteria, a key attribute I look for in founders when I meet them. I love to sit across from a founder and look them in the eyes and just ask them, why are you here? What brought you to this moment? What is your story? You know, how are you purpose built for this particular opportunity that you're telling me about? And you realize that when a founder has the passion and the drive and the story that goes along with what they're Building, that that perseverance is really going to shine through, and that passion is really going to carry them through all of those walls that they're going to need to bust through, all of those hurdles that they're going to need to jump over, and so I'm really looking for that perseverance and that passion.

AI assessment note: “ends up being a key criteria, a key attribute I look for in founders”

Q What about the makes you want to replicate them? What made them so special?

A You know, I think there's something one really special about the early stage when investor is willing to bet on you and bet on your company before you're successful, before you have barely any traction, the belief that they have in you. I think that actually goes a long way. Wanting to work With someone who is aligned on your vision, is aligned culturally, has alignment around values and what's important to you as a person, as a company, as a CEO, as you build a team. I think those are all things that all four of those people I mentioned at the early stage, we just had alignment around and, you know, I use them in different ways. Ann was on my board in the early days. She helped me get set up with dashboards and metrics and really be thought About analytics and how to measure the business. Steve was someone I would call behind the scenes on the side if I was negotiating a partnership or a business development deal and just say, like, how do I get this done? Like, this is what's going on. What would you say? What would you do? And so I think that finding people to bring around the table that have the alignment around vision and passion and values is key, but then figuring out what their superpowers are and how to utilize them in different ways. Is really the leverage point. And so now myself as an investor, I love playing the role of the behind the scenes, the trusted confidant.…

AI assessment note: “now myself as an investor, I love playing the role of the behind the scenes”

Q You mentioned that kind of the determining of culture fit and alignment with both in entrepreneur and investor. I'm intrigued in the fast moving world of deal cycles in the Valley stage. Do you think that from both perspectives, founders and VCs have enough time to really make that personal determination? And how do you think about that now investing and assessing that relationship as an investor?

A That's a great question. I think it depends on stage and size of company. I think it depends on the role you're playing. So at fuel, Uh, we tend to get involved at the earliest stages. If you're raising a pre-seed round or a seed round or maybe a small series A round, that's usually our sweet spot. And so for us, things do tend to move quickly. We don't typically lead deals, although we have in the past. And so we're very collaborative. We're working with a lot of other investors that we co-invest with. And so things do move quickly. And I would say my entrepreneurial instincts of sort of Trusting your gut, being really quick to make decisions, quick to, you know, make an analysis, to spark a relationship with an entrepreneur have all come in handy at this early stage. I think at the later stages, it's different when you're raising a series A, a series B, a growth round, and someone's, you know, going to sit on your board for the next seven years. Those end up being different dynamics and different relationships, and in some cases, you probably do have a To make that analysis and make that assessment.

AI assessment note: “I think it depends on stage and size of company.”

Q In terms of the challenges, what would you say some have been in terms of scaling that learning curve and really getting to grips with venture itself?

A Well, you know, it wasn't until I started pitching at my investors LP meetings that I realized my investors had investors. And then on sort of this side of the table, so fuel has, you know, institutional investors that make up our fund. You realize that some of those investors also have investors, right? There are fund of funds, these LPs that run funds, and they also have investors. I mean, there's many layers deep here of capital that That I think was a surprise to me has been a learning curve about what those dynamics and what those interactions are. And then just getting ready to sort of go out and prepare for the next stages of fuel and how we interact with our LP community, what we're looking for in our investors, what our investor makeup looks like. It's actually sort of similar in thinking to being an entrepreneur and pitching venture capitalists about investing in your business. It's just, we're pitching limited partners about investing in our fund, and what makes us different, and where we fit in the ecosystem, and what our portfolio looks like, and what the returns have been. So that is a side I hadn't been exposed to, but it's been so much fun to get ramped up on and to learn about.

AI assessment note: “a surprise to me has been a learning curve about what those dynamics”

Q to warn you, I did do a little bit of stalking behind the scenes for this interview, and one of the things that you've said before is that authenticity and transparency are now table stakes, but there is a gap. I'd love to hear, what do you think can be done to kind of greater enhance this, and where the gap is in the VC product now coming in afresh?

A Yeah, you know, I've thought a lot about this because, you know, as an entrepreneur over the last decade, I've pitched hundreds Hundreds of VCs, hundreds of family offices, and private equity all the way up and down the chain, and I do feel like there is a gap, particularly at the early stages, and my philosophy is this. We live in a day and age where there's so much transparency. If you look at any social media platform, Instagram, Snap, Facebook, there's full transparency between you and your friends, but even more than that, you and People you follow, maybe people you don't know, but you feel like, you know, right? Because you're following them and you're following their lives and you're following their stories. There's just no barrier any longer. I think that there's been a barrier in VC. There's been this black box for entrepreneurs that particularly first time entrepreneurs as I was that you may not know how to navigate. You may not know how to raise money or what it means to be in the middle of a fun cycle for a venture firm and how that could impact Your investment or follow on or prorata. And there's so many things I think that have been held close to the chest in the VC community that I feel like deserve transparency. And so one of the things that drew me to fuel was Chris Howard and his values around authenticity and transparency and working with founders. And we've …

AI assessment note: “There's been this black box for entrepreneurs that particularly first time entrepreneurs”

Q You mentioned that kind of the determining of culture fit and alignment with both in entrepreneur and investor. I'm intrigued in the fast moving world of deal cycles in the Valley stage. Do you think that from both perspectives, founders and VCs have enough time to really make that personal determination? And how do you think about that now investing and assessing that relationship as an investor?

A That's a great question. I think it depends on stage and size of company. I think it depends on the role you're playing. So at fuel, Uh, we tend to get involved at the earliest stages. If you're raising a pre-seed round or a seed round or maybe a small series A round, that's usually our sweet spot. And so for us, things do tend to move quickly. We don't typically lead deals, although we have in the past. And so we're very collaborative. We're working with a lot of other investors that we co-invest with. And so things do move quickly. And I would say my entrepreneurial instincts of sort of Trusting your gut, being really quick to make decisions, quick to, you know, make an analysis, to spark a relationship with an entrepreneur have all come in handy at this early stage. I think at the later stages, it's different when you're raising a series A, a series B, a growth round, and someone's, you know, going to sit on your board for the next seven years. Those end up being different dynamics and different relationships, and in some cases, you probably do have a To make that analysis and make that assessment.

AI assessment note: “I think it depends on stage and size of company.”

Q Can I ask what have been the biggest challenges to you? We mentioned the first few months. What have been the biggest challenges to you in the first few months, really scaling the learning curve? Have there been any that stick out?

A You know, so I would say some surprises as well, um, go along with that question. So one of the things that surprised me the most was now that I meet 30 companies a month minimum, I mean, sometimes it's more, sometimes it's a hundred. You're meeting two or three companies a day. You realize that there's so many reasons that have nothing to do with the actual company, with the actual entrepreneur, for reasons why you wouldn't make an investment. And I think as a founder, you go in, and sometimes you can take it so personally, like, oh, why didn't this person invest in me? Like, we had such a great connection, a great conversation, but there's a thousand other reasons why an investor isn't going to make that investment that have nothing to do with you or the company. They may already have too many investments in the space. They may not know enough about the space. They may not be educated enough. That was a big surprise.

AI assessment note: “I would say some surprises as well, um, go along with that question.”

Q start today on the theme of transferable learnings and discussing kind of the many successful years in operations there with TaskRabbit, and I want to ask you a two-fold question to start with. Firstly, and one from Sean Flynn at Shasta, in terms of how it kind of influences you today, how does your time in operations influence founders you choose to back, and why you choose to back them?

A Well, you know, TaskRabbit, again, was an incredible journey, and we were so early in the space. Sometimes I feel like, oh my goodness, Were we too early? There were moments during that journey, during that life cycle of that company that I worried. Maybe we were a little bit ahead of our time. Maybe we're a little bit early. Maybe the consumer mindset wasn't quite right. Maybe the product market fit wasn't working the way it should. And to persevere through each one of those moments and continue to push forward and innovate and educate and bring the customers with us, I think, Now ends up being a key criteria, a key attribute I look for in founders when I meet them. I love to sit across from a founder and look them in the eyes and just ask them, why are you here? What brought you to this moment? What is your story? You know, how are you purpose built for this particular opportunity that you're telling me about? And you realize that when a founder has the passion and the drive and the story that goes along with what they're Building, that that perseverance is really going to shine through, and that passion is really going to carry them through all of those walls that they're going to need to bust through, all of those hurdles that they're going to need to jump over, and so I'm really looking for that perseverance and that passion.

AI assessment note: “ends up being a key criteria, a key attribute I look for in founders”

Q to warn you, I did do a little bit of stalking behind the scenes for this interview, and one of the things that you've said before is that authenticity and transparency are now table stakes, but there is a gap. I'd love to hear, what do you think can be done to kind of greater enhance this, and where the gap is in the VC product now coming in afresh?

A Yeah, you know, I've thought a lot about this because, you know, as an entrepreneur over the last decade, I've pitched hundreds Hundreds of VCs, hundreds of family offices, and private equity all the way up and down the chain, and I do feel like there is a gap, particularly at the early stages, and my philosophy is this. We live in a day and age where there's so much transparency. If you look at any social media platform, Instagram, Snap, Facebook, there's full transparency between you and your friends, but even more than that, you and People you follow, maybe people you don't know, but you feel like, you know, right? Because you're following them and you're following their lives and you're following their stories. There's just no barrier any longer. I think that there's been a barrier in VC. There's been this black box for entrepreneurs that particularly first time entrepreneurs as I was that you may not know how to navigate. You may not know how to raise money or what it means to be in the middle of a fun cycle for a venture firm and how that could impact Your investment or follow on or prorata. And there's so many things I think that have been held close to the chest in the VC community that I feel like deserve transparency. And so one of the things that drew me to fuel was Chris Howard and his values around authenticity and transparency and working with founders. And we've …

AI assessment note: “There's been this black box for entrepreneurs that particularly first time entrepreneurs as I was”

Q and scaling faster, often that's also the slight role in, in some cases of the board and the VCs. And you've worked with many of our prior guests and friends of the show. And so I'd love to hear with both the operations background and now being in VC, how do you view the optimal relationship between VC and founder and what that interaction really looks like having had both?

A Well, you know, I've been lucky enough To have some incredible relationships with my venture investors. Ann Miraco from Floodgate Fund, who led our seed round of investment, you know, I consider a great friend and a mentor. She led our seed round. She sat on my board for three years. She rolled off, I think, when we raised the Series B round, because those early stage investors, you know, they evolve. They tend not to stay on boards forever, and so I had great examples with Ann, with Rob Hayes at first round, with Steve Anderson at baseline, with Craig Shapiro at Collaborative fund. I had great examples of relationships that I want to replicate with founders that I invest in.

AI assessment note: “great examples of relationships that I want to replicate with founders that I invest in”

Q and scaling faster, often that's also the slight role in, in some cases of the board and the VCs. And you've worked with many of our prior guests and friends of the show. And so I'd love to hear with both the operations background and now being in VC, how do you view the optimal relationship between VC and founder and what that interaction really looks like having had both?

A Well, you know, I've been lucky enough To have some incredible relationships with my venture investors. Ann Miraco from Floodgate Fund, who led our seed round of investment, you know, I consider a great friend and a mentor. She led our seed round. She sat on my board for three years. She rolled off, I think, when we raised the Series B round, because those early stage investors, you know, they evolve. They tend not to stay on boards forever, and so I had great examples with Ann, with Rob Hayes at first round, with Steve Anderson at baseline, with Craig Shapiro at Collaborative fund. I had great examples of relationships that I want to replicate with founders that I invest in.

AI assessment note: “I had great examples of relationships that I want to replicate with founders”

Q numbers, but as if we couldn't go more personal than asking your husband for questions, I would love to turn it on yourself now. We discussed some of the kind of influences from operations to VC. In terms of those first A few months in venture. I'd love to hear what's it been like on the other side of the table, and have there been some big surprises for you?

A There have. So first off, it's been incredible. I'm just so excited and so thrilled about this next chapter of my career, and I feel like, you know, TaskRabbit was my first baby. I now have two other children, so I consider myself with three children, TaskRabbit being the first. And so when you're in it and you're so deep in it, it's hard to think about being out of it. And looking beyond it. Now I can say sort of coming out on the other side that I feel like this last decade has really prepared me for what I am meant to do. And I think that is because I am so passionate about emerging technologies. I'm so passionate about helping first time founders in particular founders that don't have a network that may feel like outsiders that, you know, may not The typical mold or may not have the pedigree may not pattern match with all the other entrepreneurs that investors see all the time. I certainly didn't match any of those patterns. I really am passionate about bringing more inclusion, bringing more diversity to the founder community and supporting these founders to build the next incredible companies, because I believe that the next billion dollar business Is going to come from a woman. It's going to come from a person of color. It's going to come from someone who does not fit the typical mold. And I really want to be there at the beginning for that person and support them and ope…

AI assessment note: “There have. So first off, it's been incredible.”

Q Can I ask what have been the biggest challenges to you? We mentioned the first few months. What have been the biggest challenges to you in the first few months, really scaling the learning curve? Have there been any that stick out?

A You know, so I would say some surprises as well, um, go along with that question. So one of the things that surprised me the most was now that I meet 30 companies a month minimum, I mean, sometimes it's more, sometimes it's a hundred. You're meeting two or three companies a day. You realize that there's so many reasons that have nothing to do with the actual company, with the actual entrepreneur, for reasons why you wouldn't make an investment. And I think as a founder, you go in, and sometimes you can take it so personally, like, oh, why didn't this person invest in me? Like, we had such a great connection, a great conversation, but there's a thousand other reasons why an investor isn't going to make that investment that have nothing to do with you or the company. They may already have too many investments in the space. They may not know enough about the space. They may not be educated enough. That was a big surprise.

AI assessment note: “I would say some surprises as well, um, go along with that question.”

Q Can I ask, in terms of, you mentioned the timing there, how do you assess and evaluate timing today when looking at kind of really new cutting-edge technologies with fuel?

A Yeah, I mean, that I think is also an influence I've had from TaskRabbit, because I was, as an engineer, so passionate and able to see the potential of these early technologies, mobile, social location. Back in 2008, mashing up those three technologies, just, it wasn't something people were doing. We were at the early cusp of that, and so I've seen the value of being able to look ahead and have a vision for how you can utilize the technology to push innovation forward and To push humanity forward, really, and so I would say that's made me, as an investor, more curious, maybe willing to take on a little bit more risk from a technology stack and a technology standpoint. It also helps that I'm an engineer, and I can understand the technical implications behind a technology stack, because I think that if you can understand how something is built, and you can build it yourself as a founder, then you're much more likely to be able to figure it out for Faster. And to scale it faster as well.

AI assessment note: “made me, as an investor, more curious, maybe willing to take on a little bit more risk”

Q Can I ask, in terms of, you mentioned the timing there, how do you assess and evaluate timing today when looking at kind of really new cutting-edge technologies with fuel?

A Yeah, I mean, that I think is also an influence I've had from TaskRabbit, because I was, as an engineer, so passionate and able to see the potential of these early technologies, mobile, social location. Back in 2008, mashing up those three technologies, just, it wasn't something people were doing. We were at the early cusp of that, and so I've seen the value of being able to look ahead and have a vision for how you can utilize the technology to push innovation forward and To push humanity forward, really, and so I would say that's made me, as an investor, more curious, maybe willing to take on a little bit more risk from a technology stack and a technology standpoint. It also helps that I'm an engineer, and I can understand the technical implications behind a technology stack, because I think that if you can understand how something is built, and you can build it yourself as a founder, then you're much more likely to be able to figure it out for Faster. And to scale it faster as well.

AI assessment note: “I've seen the value of being able to look ahead and have a vision”

Q numbers, but as if we couldn't go more personal than asking your husband for questions, I would love to turn it on yourself now. We discussed some of the kind of influences from operations to VC. In terms of those first A few months in venture. I'd love to hear what's it been like on the other side of the table, and have there been some big surprises for you?

A There have. So first off, it's been incredible. I'm just so excited and so thrilled about this next chapter of my career, and I feel like, you know, TaskRabbit was my first baby. I now have two other children, so I consider myself with three children, TaskRabbit being the first. And so when you're in it and you're so deep in it, it's hard to think about being out of it. And looking beyond it. Now I can say sort of coming out on the other side that I feel like this last decade has really prepared me for what I am meant to do. And I think that is because I am so passionate about emerging technologies. I'm so passionate about helping first time founders in particular founders that don't have a network that may feel like outsiders that, you know, may not The typical mold or may not have the pedigree may not pattern match with all the other entrepreneurs that investors see all the time. I certainly didn't match any of those patterns. I really am passionate about bringing more inclusion, bringing more diversity to the founder community and supporting these founders to build the next incredible companies, because I believe that the next billion dollar business Is going to come from a woman. It's going to come from a person of color. It's going to come from someone who does not fit the typical mold. And I really want to be there at the beginning for that person and support them and ope…

AI assessment note: “There have. So first off, it's been incredible. I'm just so excited”