Life’s tough. Wear a helmet.
Hi – I’m Mel, the Venture Gal. I started VentureGal.com as a way to record and share my life ventures.
Most of my ventures are in tech, health, wellness, fitness, food, improv, entrepreneurship, & traveling, but I’m always looking to try new things.
Some of my past & present ventures include:
10 days in Patagonia, Chile
Improv training at The Second City
Derby enthusiast in Drew Barrymore’s film “Whip It!”
Jill of all trades at RPM Ventures – hands on, early stage venture capital
Estudiante de espanol y italiano
you’re likely to spot me at tech related events from mobile to electric cars
collecting real flair & sharing virtual flair at energyflair.com
living the sweet life at Iorio’s Gelateria
playing cards on the beach at the Black Sea
raising millions of dollars to help Michigan companies enter new markets
convincing people to buy apparel made with organic cotton. do you know about the insecticides used in cotton growing?
figuring out the voluntary carbon market
getting 1,000 lb animals to do what I want (aka horseback riding)
running hundreds of miles to prepare for a 13.1 mile race
singing opera monologues
climbing fake rocks
connecting people
singing karaoke, making friends with locals, sailing, ziplining, snorkeling, peeing in sacred water in the Maya Riviera in Mexico
**The views reflected on Venture Gal are my own and do not represent any company I am affiliated with.
Mary, you rock. I will definitely be a regular reader.
Thanks Ryan. I hope you enjoy my posts and that they are helpful for you in building your company.
This is awesome! I’m excited about keeping up with your blog!
Hey Venture Gal,
Nice webby you have here. I am interested to learn more about VC in general, especially regarding the analyst level.
I’ve got an opportunity to join in as an analyst at a local VC firm in my area, but I am not sure if this is the right time for me. Usually, people go into the industry after working somewhere else and garnering enough experience so that they can add values to VC firms. As for me, I’ve just graduated, and I am not sure if this is a good starting place to for my learning and career. Sure, I will get ample of opportunities to go out and network, but at the same time, I have a feeling that I would not be able to focus on my learning on valuations and other technical stuff as other financial related jobs allow.
Would you mind sharing your short-term and long-term career goals and how far have you got to in terms of your career development? And also, any advice if I were to become a VC analyst in the future?
Many thanks for your help!
4i’s
Hi 4i’s!
Thanks for the comment. Sounds like you’re thinking similar thoughts as I was when deciding whether working in the VC world after graduating was the right decision for me. I feared that working on the other side of the table (VC) would make me lose my operating capabilities & not be enough creating, product & business development, etc. Fortunately, that hasn’t been the case. Because I am at an early stage VC firm, a lot of our portfolio companies are early on & there are opportunities for me to help them with various projects.
My advice to you is to:
1) consider the VC firm you have an opportunity to work with – is it early stage, late stage? are they investing in the types of companies you are interested in starting or working with? VC is a lot of pattern recognition, so there is a lot to learn by seeing what works & what doesn’t work when starting & building companies.
2) Make a list of all the things you want to learn. Share that with the VC partners & ask what they think you will be able to learn working at their firm.
My short term vision at RPM are to learn as much as I can, help our portfolio, & continue to build my network, experience & skill set, & figure out where my passions & interests lie. The latter is most important for my medium term vision to go work on an early stage tech company, from ideation through exit. To do so, I want to make sure it’s something I’m really passionate about & ready to dedicate my life to over a several year period. My long term vision is to make a positive impact in the world. Whether I do that by starting & building impactful companies, supporting a portfolio of companies changing the world, or something otherwise, I will be satisfied. Life is a process though & I continue to learn more about myself, my goals, & vision for the future!
Venture on,
Venture Gal
All,
Mary is not as awesome as she seems because she has simply figured out how to make each day last about 30 hours. If the rest of us could figure that out, we’d be able to accomplish just as much as she…