In praise of quiet excellence

Last year, in September 2023, I wrapped up eight months of funemployment and quietly joined Spero Ventures as the team’s Operating Partner. Making this move without much fanfare suits my professional style: I spent nearly nine years at Stripe working on all sorts of high impact but behind the scenes initiatives across the company. 

I joined Spero because doing outstanding work, consistently and just outside of the limelight, is a hallmark of how the firm operates. Spero is singularly focused on enabling founders who are building a more abundant future: people who are taking on the biggest challenges of our times, who know from experience that the solutions won’t be easy, and who are dedicated to putting in the time and effort necessary to build a successful company. It’s our job to be experienced thought partners and calm voices of reason as we champion our founders on their mission-driven pursuit of excellence.

The kind of ambition, creativity, and teamwork that it takes to tackle ambitious goals doesn’t just happen – it has to be cultivated. While my experience building 0 to 1 (to many, many more) teams and programming at Stripe spanned the organization and the globe, it all shared a common thread: creating a culture where everyone could do their best work on the highest impact priorities. 

I was lucky enough to learn from and collaborate with incredibly smart people, build from first principles, experiment and iterate as we grew and evolved, and lean into being a disruptor. At Spero, I get to share the knowledge and skills that I had the privilege to gain at Stripe with the next wave of founders building excellent products with purpose. 

I can’t imagine a better way to spend my days.