Experiences are a form of exploration - Ansel Adams
After 6+ years at Meta (formerly Facebook) I have decided to start a new chapter in my professional journey, returning to my startup roots as part of the venture capital ecosystem. I’m excited to be joining Nate and Chris at Union Labs to spearhead their “Founded at Union” efforts which we will be unveiling later this year with a focus on de novo incubations, and a UNION EIR program specializing in deep-tech.
Prior to the pandemic, Nate and I met at a Kleiner HardTech dinner which he had organized during his tenure there as EIR. We bonded over our journeys in IoT — with Nate at August and I at Samsung:SmartThings. We reconnected months later after he and Chris formed UNION and the values and culture they wanted to instill there resonated with me.
With a long stint in corporate, jumping back into startup-land took some consideration. Upon reflection, there were three patterns of professional experience that informed my decision: entrepreneurship, advisory, and leadership. What’s been consistent for me across all these roles was the need for constant learning and constructive collaboration, powered by a strong desire to build a future which inspires people.
As an entrepreneur I’ve been fortunate to experience success as well as multiple failures — a.k.a. “a lot of learning on the job” — where failing fast and carrying those learnings forward onto the next thing was critical. The thrill and energy of working closely with people that learn, solve, and grow together is what draws me back to the early-stage — often transcending what it was we were actually working on.
As an advisor and angel investor I’ve had the privilege to work and learn with some amazing founders — helping them to navigate the business, strategic, and personal challenges that are inherent to building a startup. It is always rewarding for me to witness the inspiration that comes from having a team figure out if something might be possible, telling that story, and making it a reality.
As a product and strategic leader in larger companies I was mentored in how to tell the innovation stories for diverse internal and external stakeholders. Combining strategic narrative with a long term vision for how products and services would offer value in people’s lives — ultimately committing the investment and resources needed to realize big bets that were often multi-year commitments.
Now, I’m looking forward to leveraging some of this experience and working closely with founders again — discovering how we can get their ideas (or even informed notions) from formation-stage all the way to making a positive impact at planetary scale.
Our mission at UNION is to help people build a more inspiring future. We believe this can be made possible through the application of deep technologies to real-world problems. If you’re passionate about challenges in such areas as climate, mobility, connectivity, digital infrastructure, or prop-tech then I’d love to have you come build with us here.
/Sri
Follow me on this journey as I dive into industries, build startups, and share insights from founders and thought leaders.
Union Labs is a seed stage venture capital firm that both backs and builds companies. We work alongside entrepreneurs to apply deep technologies to real-world problems, leading to intelligent homes, smarter cities, and healthier lives. To keep up to date with UNION news follow us on Twitter or Linkedin.
