Joining Erevena

Some personal news I’m extremely excited to share: last month I left Entrepreneur First, and I’m joining Erevena, an exec search company, where I’ll be working with early-stage companies focused on AI/intelligent software. I’m so looking forward to this next chapter in my career and thought I’d share some reflections on why I decided to transition from talent-investing into search.

At EF, we focused on finding exceptional technologists, assessing their founder aptitude, and working with them to find cofounders and develop high-growth companies from scratch — I’d been initially attracted to the company because of the chance to work with smart people on hard, impactful problems.

What I enjoyed most about it was searching for founders before they were founders, screening them for that potential, and building our 50-person cohorts. I liked bringing founders through the process and preparing them to start their building journey, curating the combination of abilities, skillsets, and personalities that they brought. And I liked contributing to a mission that believes that it matters what talented people do with their lives, and it’s vital to ensure they have access to paths that enable them to scale themselves, (whether that’s through capital, network, or access to great cofounders and teammates.) I knew I cared too about being able to do something similar in my next role.

I’d been working at the idea and pre-company stage, and I wanted to be able to contribute to founders beyond the very beginning stages of their company. I was particularly interested in what made an exceptional leadership team.

I looked at a few types of role — chiefs of staff in startups, operational roles in VCs — when I reached out to Hazel (via Twitter!) to ask about her experience in both a VC fund and in search.

Hazel’s enthusiasm had me immediately excited about search and Erevena in particular. It appeared consultative, relationship-oriented, and to hone in on understanding the best way to grow a founder’s leadership team. It had the breadth and depth I enjoyed; getting to know the intricacies of the founder’s business whilst also diving deep into the wider sector. And it ticked the boxes from what I had liked from my previous role — finding talented people, understanding their strengths, and guiding them into positions where they’re able to combine breakthrough technologies with big problems. I’d heard great things about Erevena itself, as well — they had a strong reputation across all sectors of the business and worked with the sort of high-growth clients I wanted to be around.

Everyone I’ve spoken to about the firm is universally effusive, and I’m particularly looking forward to being able to have an impact on founders at a crucial stage of their journey.

I’m so excited to get going. My time at EF was so foundational to me, and really shaped my belief that it matters that exceptional people have the opportunity to work on our most important technical problems, and I’m looking forward to continuing that at Erevena.

I’m back in London now, after almost 3 years in Berlin, so if you want to grab coffee, please do reach out!