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sarahtavel's profile
Sarah Tavel
Sarah Tavel
Sarah Tavel
@sarahtavel

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Sarah Tavel

@sarahtavel

At @Benchmark, I invest in consumer, marketplaces, & crypto. Formerly product @pinterest. Ball and chain for @cklemke and 👶🏼.

san francisco
medium.com/@sarahtavel
Joined May 2008

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    1. Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019

      Yes, sometimes there are setbacks and frustrations, but you are always making progress towards that tangible Point B, and when you get there, you have the satisfaction of “shipping”.

      1 reply 2 retweets 73 likes
      Show this thread
    2. Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019

      In venture, you are at Point A, and Point B is this intangible “I want to make a great investment”. You don’t know how you’ll find it, you don’t know if you’ll know it when you see it, and it will take years to really confirm it ("ship").

      3 replies 11 retweets 149 likes
      Show this thread
    3. Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019

      One of the wheels you need to get on the track: you need to shift your focus to your process and inputs, not the outcome. It’s more like the uncertainty and unpredictability of gardening than building a house brick-by-brick.

      5 replies 16 retweets 290 likes
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    4. Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019

      Many operators make too many investments their 1st yr bc they are (a) not calibrated, & (b) used to achieving outcomes & therefore focus on the tangible outcome “making an investment”. It takes a while to internalize that the true outcome for VCs is "return capital to your LPs.”

      4 replies 10 retweets 223 likes
      Show this thread
    5. Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019

      This is part of what makes VC easy to “do” (make investments), and really freaking hard to be great at (generate great returns). So mentally prepare yourself for months of activity and no tangible evidence, and a looooong feedback cycle.

      3 replies 10 retweets 240 likes
      Show this thread
    6. Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019

      Second, in venture, you make basically ten big decisions a year – ~8 companies that you really dug in on and ultimately passed (or lost), ~2 that you say yes to and invest in. Those decisions are big one-way door decisions. Once you say yay or nay, there is no going back.

      1 reply 5 retweets 162 likes
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    7. Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019

      And then of course, the feedback cycle on those decisions are YEARS. YEARS! With plenty of ups and downs in between. At Pinterest, I’d ship an experiment and three days later have a good sense for whether the experiment was going to be good or bad.

      4 replies 3 retweets 124 likes
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    8. Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019

      It’s a crazy transition. Operating, you’re making dozens of two-way door decisions every day. The one-way door decisions are exceedingly rare. The adjustment is another wheel you must get on the tracks.

      1 reply 5 retweets 109 likes
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    9. Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019

      Lastly, when you’re operating, you feel the stress of execution. As a VC, you trade that stress for anxiety: You have the anxiety of making one-way door decisions on a potential investment, and the anxiety of influencing but not controlling the outcome after you invest.

      4 replies 14 retweets 194 likes
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    10. Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019

      It’s impt to internalize this last point. Too many operators think they’ll transition to VC and “scratch their operating itch” by working with their companies. NO! That’s a delusion & unhealthy for companies. You’ll need to find other outlets (tweet storms!) to scratch that itch.

      6 replies 15 retweets 275 likes
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      Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019

      So again, it’s a big transition. But once you get that train on the tracks, if you’re someone who loves to learn, is endlessly curious, gets energized by working with & supporting founders, is inclined as an investor, loves to sell, & is competitive: I can’t imagine a better job.

      10:16 AM - 19 May 2019
      • 11 Retweets
      • 391 Likes
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      23 replies 11 retweets 391 likes
        1. Romeen Sheth‏ @RomeenSheth 19 May 2019
          Replying to @sarahtavel

          This is great insight. Would love to have you on my podcast to dig in deeper - I've had a number of great SV operator/VCs on to share perspective (Keith Rabois, Megan Quinn, Jason Lemkin, etc.). DM me or email at romeen@gmail if interested - would love to have you on the show!

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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        1. Sumeet Shah‏ @PE_Feeds 19 May 2019
          Replying to @sarahtavel

          I absolutely agree with you. I'm transitioning back to VC after a year and a half of operating and it's been a weird feeling because I want to work with all companies but know there's going to be a threshold of being helpful... Thank you for writing this!

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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        2. Joey Cofone‏ @joeycofone 19 May 2019
          Replying to @sarahtavel

          Seems like apples to oranges. Saying VC goal is 'make a return for LPs,' then comparing it to shipping a test/feature/product. If VC goal is not to 'make an investment,' similarly Ops goal is not to ship the above—those are steps, just like VC meetings/investments are steps.

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        3. Sarah Tavel‏ @sarahtavel 19 May 2019
          Replying to @joeycofone

          Fair. I should have clarified I assumed you wouldn't ship something if it wasn't moving metrics in right direction, not shipping for shipping's sake.

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
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        1. Ben Grynol‏ @bgrynol 19 May 2019
          Replying to @sarahtavel

          Solid thread 👍🏻

          0 replies 0 retweets 0 likes
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        2. ross hoffman‏Verified account @hoff 19 May 2019
          Replying to @sarahtavel

          This is awesome — thx for sharing!

          1 reply 0 retweets 1 like
        3. ross hoffman‏Verified account @hoff 19 May 2019
          Replying to @hoff @sarahtavel

          1/2 Thought on this a bit more — one thing I’ll say is when your remit grows as an operating exec and you’re leading hundreds of folks globally, recognizing macro progress becomes harder. You’re never “done” and it often feels like you have not accomplished much.

          2 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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        2. scott belsky‏Verified account @scottbelsky 19 May 2019
          Replying to @joshelman @sarahtavel

          josh, you once explained it as micro stress vs. macro stress, and i liked that description. personally I like the everyday drive of iterating+shipping (micro stress), with a sprinkling of investing in the future... ;-)

          0 replies 0 retweets 15 likes
        3. End of conversation
        1. Rick Heitzmann‏ @rickheitzmann 19 May 2019
          Replying to @sarahtavel

          Would also add that the operating arcs are longer and deeper — multi month fund raising, big partnerships that create set periods of intense work which ultimately end and things slow down. VCs who serve on 10-12 boards have more frequent less intense waves to manage consistently

          0 replies 0 retweets 1 like
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