Why I am joining Ulu Ventures

Grounded crew continues being bullish on the consumer.

Recently, it was my 7 years anniversary of being in venture  and I could not be more grateful for how I got to spend them. I was a lucky 22-year-old who found an amazing team early in my career that grew into an incredible Partnership at Unshackled Ventures with Manan and Nitin. Together, we proved there is an untapped pool of entrepreneurs, that these same entrepreneurs would trust us in the earliest part of the company-building, and that a community of them would propel them further than their individual drive would on its own.. This is thrown around often, but I mean it when I say the decision to move on was bittersweet because the Unshackled family will always be a critical and beloved part of my career journey. I am most proud of the team we built and the founders we’ve backed. I am confident that because of them the industry is better not just in returns but in its humanity.

I am excited to announce I am joining the Ulu partnership. I am doubling down on a couple of things I believe matter most in this industry: people, vision, and a healthy sense of paranoia. I am confident that Ulu Ventures represents the best of these.

People. 

I met Miriam on November 2017, a few months past my one-year anniversary in venture.. Aside from my own GPs, I can say with certainty that Miriam Rivera was the first GP to give me the time of day.  . During our first ever conversation, I recognized her story wasn’t the same one I had heard from others. She was the first GP in this industry whose family, professional journey, and love for her fund did not feel foreign to me. Her story and where she came from drove her to envision a different future for venture capital as an asset class and she had the impressive resume to pull it off. Since that conversation, Miriam has been an incredible mentor. One of my go-to people for career decisions, LP advice, and fund building. She has always been the most responsive individual even though I know she's one of the busiest as well. She doesn’t receive enough credit but I consider her one of the GPs that has done the most to support the next generation of diverse investors and entrepreneurs with her time, work, and leadership. I couldn’t be more excited to spend the next phase of my career learning from her.

Then this past year, I’ve also had the opportunity to meet the rest of the team. Clint is one of the brightest minds in decision analysis. Steve, Kathy and Nancy are each incredibly impressive in the areas they are focused on and a broader team that is built on something I have come to learn means everything: trust, team-first mindset, and mutual respect.

Paranoia.

The country is changing and the industry responsible for rapid innovation won’t be an exception. This means we as an industry must continue taking bold bets not just on the founders we back but on the risk we take as fund builders. Those that know me, know I am a highly competitive individual and always paranoid about what my edge is. At Ulu, I found answers to questions I have been obsessed with since realizing how long the feedback loops are in the venture. Clint and the team have developed frameworks for making high-quality decisions from a position of uncertainty and best practices for supporting entrepreneurs to take smart risks as they build companies. I am confident these frameworks will compound into making a great investment team and exceptional fund returns.

Vision.

Ulu has firm conviction that seed-stage investing generates the best returns over the long term and is the highest leverage toward promoting a diverse entrepreneurship community. The team knows something I have long held as a belief: diversity of thought and experience is not only a social good, but an investment thesis that increases the probability a firm will go the distance. 

Most specifically to my interests, I am excited to apply these frameworks to an area that I am always surprised by its little sophistication: early-stage consumer investing. A lot more to come on this part which I am very excited to share, so stay tuned! But if you are a consumer founder raising your first round shoot me a note to maria@uluventures.com.