After working with Garrett Goldberg every day now for over a year, we are thrilled to finally introduce him to the Bee Partners family. His bio and LinkedIn profile are here. Read on to learn why we enjoy working with this guy!

 

What were your expectations when you joined Bee Partners?

Coming back to the Bay Area from Boise was all-win for me. I didn’t have expectations, that was the beauty of the scenario. I didn’t come expecting an important title or big salary. I came wanting an opportunity in a field I love with a team I enjoy working with. And I’m lucky. I found that great team. Cynthia is positively energetic, and openly shares her resources and network. Michael is an emerging fund manager whom I can connect with on a personal level and respect immensely as an investor.

 

What do you love about early stage investing and what grates on you?

I love whiteboarding with Founders and exploring strategy surrounding emerging opportunities. I get excited learning something new and applying it right away. I like the honest feedback loop that Bee Partners strives to share with Founders, which is hard to find. What grates on me is uncertainty, but out of uncertainty comes opportunity. The uncertainty and long feedback loop of coming up with a strategy, implementing, and not knowing for a long time if it’s going to work – it’s tough. We work hard for a day and yet won’t know the outcome for weeks or years.

 

What skills are you refining as an investor and how do you hope to improve?

I feel like I’m continually improving the art of providing thoughtful and constructive feedback. It’s one of the most important things we do as early stage investors, and how we often provide value to the Founder ecosystem, especially since we pass on the vast majority of the opportunities presented to us. Just last week, I spent the day at a new portfolio company, (stealth, sorry), and explored with the Founders their critical path. They get it, and now in subsequent interactions together, we can maintain the urgency so necessary in this early stage while still focusing on the long-term goal.

Improving the depth, specificity, and constructiveness of this feedback is an area for improvement. Continuing to sharpen and refine that dialogue is necessary too, while I strive to be efficient with Founder time.

 

What excites you and keeps you up at night?

The thought that we’re laying the foundation for tomorrow’s great businesses excites me. When we were at Skycatch a few days ago, you could feel the excitement and the energy – they are innovating on the fringes and stretching the rules! FOMO (fear of missing out) on unique opportunities keeps me up at night, and yet, we must remain extremely selective when adding new companies to our portfolio.

 

What’s your advice for someone joining a Seed-stage VC firm?

Manage your expectations. We’re company builders, not just investors, and yet, we can only influence. We don’t have all the answers. Be productive, creative, positive and constructive. Working in venture capital is a long game with very few validation points along the way. Be patient.

 

What’s your most memorable moment since you’ve joined Bee Partners?

Getting that call from Michael and committing on the spot to join him in this journey!