Most people think venture capital is a gated community. Ivy League keys, Silicon Valley zip codes, warm intros from people whose Wikipedia pages are longer than your résumé. This episode quietly dismantles that myth.
Sarah Romanko didn’t follow the traditional VC playbook because she never had access to it. Instead, she built her own. Fellowships stacked on fellowships. Startup work mixed with real estate to pay the bills. Relentless networking. Speaking gigs. Cold outreach. And one slightly unhinged but brilliant move, walking into an interview with a 32-slide deck ripping apart a firm’s own investments.
It worked.
Today, Sarah is an investor at Geek Ventures, backing immigrant founders building deeply technical companies in AI and robotics. Her story isn’t inspirational in the motivational poster sense. It’s more useful than that. It shows what actually compounds when credentials don’t.
Venture isn’t about pedigree, it’s about pattern recognition
One of the biggest themes in this conversation is how early-stage investing is really learned. Not from spreadsheets. Not from brand-name firms. But from proximity to founders.
Sarah argues that empathy is the real moat. You can’t fake understanding what it feels like to ship a product at 2 a.m., miss payroll, or hear “almost ready to sign” for the fifth time in a row. That’s why she believes aspiring VCs should work at startups, or build something themselves, before trying to allocate capital.
Without that scar tissue, you’re just guessing with confidence.
The uncomfortable truth about breaking into VC
There’s a moment in the conversation where Sarah admits she left a stable job with no offer in hand. No safety net. Just conviction and an unwillingness to move back home.
This isn’t advice. It’s a data point.
VC, especially at the early stage, rewards people who act before permission is granted. The industry likes to talk about optionality, but careers in venture often require the opposite, burning the boats and betting that your ability to create value will outrun your fear.
Sarah’s edge wasn’t a résumé. It was clarity. She showed firms exactly how she would source deals, grow brand, support founders, and think independently. She didn’t ask to be trained. She showed up already operating.
What VCs actually notice in pitches
After reviewing hundreds, possibly thousands of decks, Sarah has a refreshingly simple filter.
Can you explain what you do in one sentence, without sounding like you swallowed an AI buzzword generator?
The founders who stand out aren’t always the most polished. They’re the ones who sound human. Who have fun. Who can make an investor retell the idea later that night without checking notes.
A great pitch doesn’t just make sense. It sticks.
Hype fades, character compounds
On the investment side, Sarah is candid about what kills deals fast. Lack of transparency. Inflated numbers. Playing games with investors. If trust breaks once, the round is over.
On the flip side, what pulls her in is founder character. People who can take feedback without becoming defensive. Who push back thoughtfully instead of blindly agreeing. Who know when to move fast and when to slow down.
Ideas pivot. Markets shift. Founders don’t change as easily.
The future of venture looks less polished, and that’s a good thing
Zooming out, Sarah sees venture quietly evolving. More emerging managers. Younger investors. More emphasis on access over aesthetics. Less obsession with where someone went to school, more curiosity about why they’re building what they’re building.
Geek Ventures’ focus on immigrant founders is part of that shift. Not because it’s trendy, but because talent has always been widely distributed. Capital just hasn’t been.
The opportunity now is for investors who can see around corners not by running better models, but by listening to people the old system ignored.
The throughline
If there’s a single idea that ties the episode together, it’s this: venture capital is not a career you wait to be invited into. It’s one you prepare for so thoroughly that the invitation becomes inevitable.
Sarah grew up watching Shark Tank, studying the judges. Now she’s the one deciding when to lean in, when to pass, and when to trust her gut.
Same table. Different seat. Same rule applies.
Bet early. Pay it forward. And don’t confuse hype for progress.
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Chapters:
00:01 Welcome and Guest Introduction
01:01 Sarah’s Early Curiosity and Business Background
02:26 Breaking Into Venture Without a Clear Path
04:26 Leaving Stability and Betting on Herself
05:24 The 32 Slide VC Interview Deck Strategy
07:54 Where Ambition and Drive Come From
09:55 Discovering Venture Capital and Founder Empathy
11:46 Advice for Aspiring VCs
14:18 Geek Ventures Investment Thesis
15:57 Learning to Prioritize Deals and Move Fast
17:45 Missing Deals and Investor Regret
19:21 Post Mortems and Learning from Failure
20:29 How Geek Ventures Supports Founders
22:09 Building Community and VC Culture
23:44 What Makes a Pitch Stand Out
25:34 Easy No’s and Red Flags for VCs
26:56 Market Trends and Emerging Managers
29:06 Redesigning Venture Capital
31:12 Fast Decisions and Due Diligence Tradeoffs
32:03 Remote First VC and Team Culture
33:47 Long Term Career Vision and Legacy
36:17 Common Fundraising Mistakes
37:09 Overhyped vs Underrated Startup Trends
38:12 Dream Investor Dinner
38:37 Frameworks and Mental Models
39:41 Lessons from Judging Hundreds of Pitches
40:47 The Hardest No
42:33 Rapid Fire Close
Transcript
Brian Bell (00:01:25):
Hey, everyone. Welcome back to the Ignite podcast. Today, we’re thrilled to have Sarah Romanko on the mic. She is on the investment team at Geek Ventures, where she focuses on sourcing and evaluating early stage startups led by visionary immigrant founders. We’ve done a lot of deals with Geek over the years and so excited to have her. She has hands-on experience across multiple VC firms. So we’ll talk about that. Startup ecosystems from Hustle Fund to Sputnik, Techstars. Thanks for coming on, Sarah.
Sarah Romanko (00:01:49):
Yeah, absolutely. It’s great to be here, Brian. As Brian said, I’m on the investment team here at Geek Ventures. I focus on sourcing, evaluating and diligencing prospective investment opportunities. What I really love is also working with our founders post-investment. And there’s a few founders that we’re currently in the process of working with. Haven’t announced the investments yet, but super excited. Hopefully we’ll announce that in a few weeks.
Brian Bell (00:02:10):
Well, I’d love to get your origin story. What’s your background?
Sarah Romanko (00:02:13):
Yeah, absolutely. So I grew up very different from my peers. I was that child that loved to do homework, which I think is very weird. I remember when I was in kindergarten, I did my homework twice just for fun. And I, you know, I was kind of like that growing up when I was back when I was in high school. I grew up watching Shark Tank. I remember I had the opportunity to participate in more than 10 business classes. So I did business competitions and I was going to networking events when I was like 14, 15 years old. And I think that really early experience led, you know, charted the path for me because I just knew that I was, you know, always wanted to be that hard worker and not go to parties like my friends. I always had my nose in a book or studying. So when I got to university, I really wanted to dive deep into business. So I took several business classes, kind of just like when I was in high school. You know, I already had a great business background because of high school and I had some early VC roles, but they weren’t really, you know, they weren’t like, didn’t lead to a full-time role. It was more just kind of like getting that early experience, did some roles at my university, also did like fellowships, worked for some startups. And that’s where I’ll pause because I can go deeper.
Brian Bell (00:03:17):
Yeah, I’d love to kind of get that story arc from, you know, from university to having a full time role in venture. I’m sure a lot of younger folks out there listening to this podcast want to break into venture and it’s hard to do. So maybe you could kind of talk about that journey because it’s not easy.
Sarah Romanko (00:03:32):
Yeah, absolutely. So for me, I thought I had it all figured out. You know, I had that path. Like I mentioned in high school, I did business classes, competitions, majored in general business. I had great GPA. I did the honors programs. I thought I was following the path that everyone tells you to follow growing up, you know. But for me, the biggest challenge was when I graduated, I was told that I didn’t have enough experience. So for me, the roles I was applying for, they were looking for people who already had several internships under their belt, you know. And for me, the biggest challenge was that they also required someone to relocate. My personal life is very important to me. So I recently got engaged and I didn’t want to move because my fiance and I had already done long distance. So for me, I say that because I think that there’s so much focus on in the venture world of really focusing on, you know, the like work all the time, 24 seven, but there is that personal side that really helps you have that success. And so I was trying to prioritize both. And so there weren’t many roles in Austin and in Dallas, which is where I wanted to stay. And that’s ultimately why it was so hard for me to get a role. And what I did was I took several different like fellowship roles, internship roles, Sputnik ATX VC here in Austin, Moonshots Capital. I was on the advisory board at Able Partners. I did Venture Institute, put on by VC Lab.
Brian Bell (00:04:44):
Is that Moonshots Capital to say, is that Peter Diamandis or is it a different one?
Sarah Romanko (00:04:48):
Moonshots Capital, it’s like they invest in a lot of like defense tech companies. And also companies founded by former, founded by veterans. A great team, love them. And I also, you know, had the opportunity to kind of, I was kind of doing some speaking events around this time, but it wasn’t enough to fully break in. So I took a full-time job in real estate because as any good entrepreneur knows, you have to find a way to make ends meet while you’re pursuing your goal. I let my career build up while I was going to events. I was redoing a lot of outreach on linkedin and then one day i said this was really funny um i said once i hit 4 000 connections i’m leaving my job like true story and i remember why 4 000 what was that number i don’t know it was super random i just in this number thought it was this magic number that said this is the key to success i don’t know why but it was like that weird calling you know you ever get that calling that gut feeling like this is the right time and that’s when i left my role that was in i believe in 2023 kind of over the summer. And at that point, I moved back home. I gave up a stable job. I had no job prospects. People think I was crazy for doing this. I literally had no prospects. I just started applying to jobs, hoped for the best, did whatever I possibly could because I knew there was no back plan. If I didn’t get a job, I’d have to live with my parents and I hated that. And then I got a full-time VC role in the spring of that year or of the following year. It didn’t work out. The firm didn’t raise when they were expecting to raise, which unfortunately happens sometimes. And then I found Geek Ventures and I applied and I had several warm introductions and that helped, but I also created a 32-slide presentation. So that also definitely helped me in
Brian Bell (00:06:19):
Is that something EHR wanted you to do or you just said, hey, here’s the presentation?
Sarah Romanko (00:06:23):
It’s something I wanted to do. So I was actually inspired by Nicole De Tomaso. I hope I pronounced her name right, but she’s been such an inspiration. I saw her post on LinkedIn and I saw that she did this like presentation, like 10, 10 slides to help her land her full-time role. And I said, why not do something similar? I went a bit overboard though, because 32 slides is a lot. but I felt like it was very helpful in just explaining like deals. So I said deals that I would recommend, deals I hated in Geek Ventures. I think the team liked this. I actually ripped apart several of their portfolio companies. I said, these are terrible investments and here’s why. And I was very proud of that. Also investments that were really
Brian Bell (00:06:55):
VCs love that, actually. We love good VCs anyway. Love kind of thinking about... It’s almost like thinking about how you make decisions, right? Sometimes you get lucky. And sometimes you make a call to invest and it’s the right call. And you want to understand why you made the right call. But sometimes there’s actually... It’s a two-by-two matrix, right? Right call worked out. Right call didn’t work out. Wrong call worked out. Wrong call didn’t work out, right? So we’re always kind of analyzing in that two-by-two our decision-making process. And the good ones anyway.
Sarah Romanko (00:07:25):
Exactly. And I love to question. I love to ask them why. I said, like, why did you make this decision? I don’t agree with it. And I think that really helped. And they also just diving deeper into what set me apart. I said, like, for aspiring VCs out there, I was very prepared. I said, day one, if you hire me, this is exactly what I’m going to do. And this is why I will be the best hired. And all those things I said I would do, I actually did. I said, here’s how I’m going to source deals. Here’s how I’m going to increase the Geek Ventures brand. Here’s how I’m going to help founders. And here’s how, you know, what about me is very unique. So my LinkedIn following, like I’m now at 22,000 followers. When I joined, I think it was at nine or 10,000. And I really explained how I was going to use my network, got some really unique opportunities to speak, you know, in terms of just getting myself invited to events. There’s some events that have yet to be announced that I’ve been able to use my network to even get me into that I otherwise wouldn’t have access to. So I think those are just some of the ways. And it’s really about figuring what was my mode. I want to think like a founder, like what about me? I’m young, no tech background, no Ivy League degree. Why out of everyone else, why would I be a good fit? And so I think for me explaining that and just doubling down on my beliefs, that was so important. And they even, one of the great things they did during the interview was I think they tried to like question why I believe something. And I stayed true to my beliefs because that’s so important as a VC is when someone disagrees, you can’t just change your mind.
Brian Bell (00:08:39):
Yeah. And there’s a thousand ways to do adventure and most of them are wrong. Or maybe they’re all have shreds of truth. You seem like very ambitious and motivated. Where do you think that comes from?
Sarah Romanko (00:08:50):
Yeah, that’s a great question. That’s something I’ve asked myself. So for me, I’ve always been very stubborn. Like the most stubborn person ever exists. I think I was actually born stubborn because I remember when I was little, my parents were very ambitious parents. So I’m an only child. And they forced me to do everything. I was taking languages. When I was little, I was learning German and Chinese. I don’t speak either of those now. I hated German, loved Chinese. No Chinese heritage, 25% German. So my mom got really offended when I didn’t want to learn it. I was also learning Spanish. I stopped learning that in college. I did all the clubs. I did sports. I did music. But what I really hated was trying to do music for some reason because my parents forced me to do it. They never forced education on me. Not once. I love that on my own. They just encouraged me to learn. They they just there’s just this feeling of I genuinely loved it. And I think it was something I was born with. I can’t explain why. And it’s even something like I’ve talked at length about with other people and said, like, why are you wired this way? Because I think for me, it was also an outlet because like I was always very different than my peers growing up. I also had a lot of health challenges, a lot of injuries, like just chronic issues from playing sports. And so for me, school was always a way that I could just relax and have fun and do something that maybe when I wasn’t feeling well, school was always there for me. So I think it was the fact that I loved to learn, but it was also a sense of comfort. And that together just created this motivation of, hey, there’s a way that I can be seen, I can be heard, and I won’t be seen as different from everybody else. Because I did see that. I would often be on the sidelines, literally, just while my peers were out doing other things, and I would just be at home studying. So I think that was kind of what that motivation, that ambition, and that really set the path for me. And that’s also why I chose eVentures is those that are different than everybody else and don’t have the same story.
Brian Bell (00:10:31):
Yeah, I love that. So what first drew you into VC or venture capital generally? Was there an aha moment? Was it like watching Shark Tank back in the day? Like, what was it where you’re like, that’s what I want to do?
Sarah Romanko (00:10:41):
Yeah, I think for me, it was the fact that these founders gave up everything. And they really were staying true to their dreams. I wanted to support somebody. I wanted to support people who were not supported by those in their community when they were initially starting out. So what I mean by that is when I was starting out in venture, when I was growing up, I had a lot of people who didn’t believe me. People who were like, this isn’t going to be possible. I was actually once told that I would not succeed in college because I didn’t have a high enough IQ and because of all my health issues. And, you know, just that was something that was very hard for me to hear. But I said, you know, I may just have to work harder than everybody else, but I’m OK with that. And so I think like knowing that, you know, in venture capital, you have people who are like the dreamers, the crazy like I think it’s this quote from Steve Jobs where it’s like you make people may not think it’s possible, but you know it is. And so I wanted to be the early believers. And that’s also why I chose like pre-seed and seed, because. I want to be there with people day one, like from the very beginning who like I just can see the vision. And so like that’s kind of the way I see it is like I spot that talent early on. And it’s not just it’s not just startups. Like I’ve even referred people to VC programs who went on to have to land some great VC roles. And so it’s like I like to say that I’m kind of that like a sorcerer. you know, or the sorceress. So not just for stars, but for talent. So I think that’s why I chose venture. It was also just the fact that I felt like I could be, I’m not saying understood by everybody, but the people that did understood me understood me really well. So it’s like, you can’t please everyone and not everyone’s going to like you. And that’s totally fine. Like, you know, there are people that are going to disagree with what you do. And I’ve, I’ve had that and I’m used to that, but it’s the people that really, that, that small community of people that say, Hey, you’re doing something really good. And we want to back you. That’s kind of that like inspiration and my overall vision for venture.
Brian Bell (00:12:20):
Yeah, I love that. So there’s lots of aspiring investors out there struggling to get that first break. You told us a little bit about how you broke in, but kind of generally, what’s your advice for young people in their 20s trying to break into VC? Should they even try to break into VC? Should they go be a founder first? You’ve probably talked to lots of young people like that coming out of college. What’s your general advice in that area?
Sarah Romanko (00:12:41):
Yeah, so this is one that when I first started out in venture, I first thought that, oh, I want to get a job immediately after college and go right into venture. And I also saw a lot of posts from people on LinkedIn saying whether it was good or whether it was bad. now that i’ve been in the industry for some time like what my advice is just from my experience i personally think it was really valuable the path that i took so working at several startups working directly with founders having had corporate experience i worked in real estate understanding what a corporate job looks like before landing my dream role because i think if i hadn’t had that i’m not saying it would have been impossible because obviously like everyone has different backgrounds. But because I had that like startup and VC experience and corporate experience before going in the stroll, and I already built a network that made me so much more successful. So like, what I would say is like, if someone’s like started a company in college, or they’ve had VC roles in college, or they’ve had startup experience, going right into venture after college is like a no brainer, like that makes a ton of sense. But I think like, if you’re saying you want to go into venture without like any prior background or any like understanding at all, I think that would be a bit harder. And I, of course, like if people, this is one thing I love is I love when people debate me on this because I have so many opinions on this. And so it’s like my specific view is like, I think you need some type of startup experience. However, there are cases where people may not need that because they understand the market so well. But I think like for me, generally speaking, I’d recommend working at a startup or a VC in some capacity first, whether that’s after college or during college.
Brian Bell (00:14:06):
Yeah, that’s generally the advice I give too. I’ve had a lot of MBA interns come through that actually have work experience and undergrads too. And I’ll tell them to be a really good VC, I think you need the empathy of the founder and the operators that are operating that startup. And if you have no operational experience, then you just don’t know what it’s like day to day in the trenches, like failing and trying to get a product shipped and trying to sell it and trying to market it. And you just don’t have the empathy. So I would agree. I think you’d need to get some operational experience. I don’t know how much is right, but at least one, you know, multi-year kind of role just to have some, and better yet, try to found a company, right? I think that’s even better empathy. So tell us about Geek Ventures. What’s the thesis? What made it stand out for you?
Sarah Romanko (00:14:47):
Yeah. So Geek Ventures, we invest in immigrant founders to the U.S., So we define that as founders that were born outside of the U.S. and moved to the U.S. We are focusing on AI and robotics. Specifically with an AI, we’re saying companies that are, you know, doing, that are basically doing AI broadly. So it could be like a vertical AI, horizontal AI, but really there needs to be a really strong technical mode, technical differentiation, you know, et cetera. And we write 100 to 700K checks. We typically do like one new investment per month. And for us, you know, we want founders that really strong, like domain expertise are passionate about what they’re building. They know how to sell. That’s a really big one for us. So knowing how to sell to investors, knowing how to sell to customers. And we, you know, love founders that know how to take feedback because For me, there’s a founder, we haven’t announced the investment yet. By the time this podcast is released, it might be announced. We’ll see. But I’ve gotten to work closely with them.
Brian Bell (00:15:40):
We’re probably two or three weeks out, just so you know.
Sarah Romanko (00:15:42):
So it might be released by that time. And of course, I’ll comment on who that founder was later. But I really love getting to work with them. They’ve been really receptive to the feedback in the sense that I’ve said, I think you should do this in terms of your product development, in terms of your fundraise. But they’re also not blindly agreeing. That’s also really important. I don’t want a founder that’s just going to blindly agree. I want them to kind of push me a little bit, you know, like that, that kind of good rapport. We built a great relation with them over quite a long period of time. And I think that really helped. So, and that’s kind of, I think what’s important to us.
Brian Bell (00:16:11):
So you’ve reviewed hundreds, if not thousands of decks now.
Sarah Romanko (00:16:13):
Yes.
Brian Bell (00:16:15):
What do you wish you knew then when you got started that you know now?
Sarah Romanko (00:16:17):
Yeah, I think what I wish I knew now, are you saying in terms of like the evaluation process, in terms of time spent, like I can go very in depth.
Brian Bell (00:16:25):
All of it, yeah.
Sarah Romanko (00:16:26):
All of it. I think what I wish I knew when I first started was time management in terms of not only my specific responsibilities and the fact that I’m not only doing sourcing, meeting with founders, closing deals, had the opportunity to work to close several deals, which has been really, really exciting and fulfilling for me. But I think also just understanding how like when to prioritize a deal versus when to kind of say, okay, I’m going to go work on something else because I’ve also, I’ve closed some great deals, but I also had an experience of losing some deals because of not spending enough time when I, you know, earlier on. So I think like for me, What I really wish, and this is something I wish I would know, like maybe even to aspiring VCs is like when you’re getting into the industry, really talk with investors to understand like what makes a deal exciting? What makes a deal fast moving? What are those signals that says this deal is going to close really fast? Because there’s this one deal that we lost. I remember when I first started and we didn’t get excited until it was too late. And the founder kind of knew that we, you know, we were pretty far along and then they already had, like, they got oversubscribed and it was really hard for us because I was really excited about this deal.
Brian Bell (00:17:27):
Like I was, we all, we all have those, you know, you move too slow. You don’t prioritize the deal. I actually have a label in my, Gmail now called Fast. And it’s like, that’s the one I go look at every day. I’m like, am I pushing this deal forward? Because I feel like if I don’t, the round’s going to close. It’s 75, 85% committed. It’s a really amazing team. I better move fast. We’ve all had that situation, right? Where the round gets over, subscribe, and they’re like, sorry. And you’re like, but, but, and you’re like, sorry, next round.
Sarah Romanko (00:17:55):
Definitely. Or times where it’s like we invest in a founder and they end up doing really well, but we missed out and we try to get in later. So I think another thing is learning how to learn from deals that you’ve missed out on, but not dwell on them too much. I think that’s a really important lesson because it can be really easy to get caught up in on LinkedIn. And there’s this case right now, there’s some companies where we’re monitoring, we’re like, man, we really missed out, but At the same time, moving forward and working on new exciting deals.
Brian Bell (00:18:21):
Wrong call worked out. That’s actually more painful. That’s the one for me where I’m like, I need to really evaluate why I said no to this deal that worked out. That’s now like a multi-hundred million dollar company.
Sarah Romanko (00:18:35):
Yes.
Brian Bell (00:18:36):
Those are the most painful.
Sarah Romanko (00:18:38):
Or what about saying yes, but it shouldn’t have worked? It was like those cases where it’s like you said yes, it was really technically on paper a bad investment, but then it had a great return. How do you learn from those?
Brian Bell (00:18:49):
Yeah. And then I’d love to learn how you do it at Geek. What I try to do if I can is I try to get the founder on the call after they shut down or they give up or whatever. And I try to get a postmortem going where I’m like, hey, let’s be fellow VCs here for a second. What did we miss? Because we both... I’ll put money and time on the line here that we lost. So let’s try to talk about it. And to their credit, most founders will get on that call. I’ve only had maybe a couple over the years that won’t do that call. But I think it can be illuminating for both the founder and the VC in that situation. A lot of them don’t want to do that. But it’s like you kind of want to hide from your failure. But I tell them, hey, no, I want to learn. I think you’re a great founder. And let’s try to learn together and do better in the future.
Sarah Romanko (00:19:30):
Definitely. And then we take those learnings for future investments because I’ve noticed that there is one company that we invested in that is not doing well. I saw a similar company kind of operating in an adjacent market. And I told our team, I said, hey, I’m really excited about this. And they said, well, for these reasons, you may be excited, but this investment kind of failed before I joined and I wasn’t as aware. And so then they’re like, hey, maybe be a little more critical because of this. And so that kind of helps me understand more when I’m looking at opportunities. And so I think another thing for aspiring investors to know is, When you’re looking at opportunities, evaluate the existing portfolio and really spend time asking questions about why a company is performing well or performing badly, because that can actually help influence why your firm may or may not do an investment. It may have nothing to do with the actual investment. It could just be that, I forgot the word for it, but it’s like that, those battle scars, I think is what it is.
Brian Bell (00:20:18):
So post-investment, how do you guys like to help founders beyond capital kind of support do you guys do?
Sarah Romanko (00:20:24):
Yeah. So I love this. This is one of my favorite parts. So I think, you know, one thing I’ll start with is the fact that we host a lot of events. So we have events that we’ve hosted. I hosted an event during South by Southwest here in Austin. We’ve done events in San Francisco. We’ve done events a lot, actually recently did an event in Lisbon during Web Summit. I wasn’t there this year. Our team was, was there last year. You know, we’ve done events in New York. We’ve done events in Zurich and we bring together founders from our portfolio LPs. Some are invite only, some are curated. That’s been really helpful for our founders in terms of helping them just get access to people they otherwise wouldn’t be able to talk to in terms of like people that are high profile. We do online events with our LPs. So our founders actually have the chance to present to our LPs, which is why we’ll get feedback. We bring in experts, you know, GTM, hiring, et cetera. We have a CEO community only for our founders. That’s really helpful because, you know, we have founders that need help with specific things that only other founders will be able to help them with. Like we like to acknowledge when we don’t know the answer to something. And that’s, I think, the market also a great VC. So our founders can ask each other for help there. We help with fundraising. Of course, that’s a really big one. We have several hundred investors, you know, combined, and we’ve been able to make introductions to help them complete their raises. We do an investor newsletter. I started this in January. So it goes out to the investors in our network and it’s able to stay updated on how our portfolio is doing, hiring. We can basically introduce them to potential customers. We have a recruiting agency that we work with. But I think the most important thing that I like to highlight, of course, there’s a lot of ways that VCs can help and there’s many more we help. But We have that empathy for founders. And I like to say it’s because we’re nerds at heart.
Sarah Romanko (00:21:57):
I had the opportunity to go up to New York and spend some time with our managing, with eHeart in person, our managing partner, and get to learn, spend some time learning more about what he’s passionate about outside of work. And I think that was so helpful because for us, it’s like we do a lot of team building activities for our team even as a remote culture right and so i think that’s so valuable and like that translates to our founders like i talk about my hobbies i love dnd dungeons and dragons like i love arcades and we find ways to incorporate that so i tell the founders and that’s like they love that their eyes light up when i say hey like i want to nerd out with you about this like i may be a business person by nature but hey i’m willing to learn like if you want to practice telling me technical like stuff like i’m all for it like i think it’s yeah what’s your
Brian Bell (00:22:41):
favorite video game
Sarah Romanko (00:22:42):
Yeah, favorite video game. Actually, funny thing. I played Halo when I was using a Halo or Call of Duty when I was a kid, which is really funny because I don’t know why I was playing that in third or fourth grade. Probably not the smartest idea. But I also I also really like in terms of like more actual games, I like pinball, like physical. I love going arcades playing pinball and crane games. Crane games are my game.
Brian Bell (00:23:00):
Yeah, I keep all my gaming stuff in the background. So founders, if you’re in the know, they’re like, oh, I see all your gaming stuff there. I’m like, yeah, I’m a gamer.
Sarah Romanko (00:23:07):
I should do that.
Brian Bell (00:23:08):
yeah it’s fun like i still game like i game last night the new escape from tarkov just came out which is like simulation shooter extraction from russia of all places so it’s a really tough game anyway so you’ve judged everything from high school deca contests to startup grinds and different pitch battles what makes a great
Brian Bell (00:23:21):
pitch stand out to you immediately
Sarah Romanko (00:23:26):
yeah so for me and this is actually interesting because i’ve actually seen some high school students pitched better than the founders that are you know full-time And I think what really stands out is not letting, taking the seriousness out of it. And this is why I love judging high schoolers and also, you know, judging like founders that are doing this, like I said, like full-time is because it’s the ones that know how to have fun and can explain what they’re doing in one sentence. And this is like kind of when you think of the YC founders, like if I say like, can you sell me this pen? And why is this important? It goes back to that. Like, I remember when I was doing these, these high school DECA competitions, I’m doing another one in December. I’m so excited. Actually, I just signed up about an hour ago is the, They know their numbers. They know their research. In one minute, I can walk away and just tell all my friends what they’re doing. And it’s like they tell me in layman’s terms. And so I think this is a great lesson for founders. Like, you know, if you can pitch your company to, you know, an everyday person, like pretending you’re pitching maybe to like your five-year-old. you know daughter or son right like that’s what makes a really good pitch i think is if i have a really clear takeaway and it’s like it’s also memorable because i go through like you said hundreds if not thousands of decks like am i going to remember after you know a really long work day late nights you know catching up on work like will i remember your company is it going to stand out i had a founder like that that we’re in talks with right now it was just one of the best pitches like i i couldn’t stop thinking about it it was that like i literally felt like if i had my own money, I would write them a check right now. Like that’s what I want to pitch.
Brian Bell (00:24:51):
Yeah. That’s a good, that’s a good heuristic, right? Is like, would I put my own money in this? Would I want to work for this person? What are some characteristics or things that you guys look at where like you’re leaning in, this is definitely an easy yes for us, or this is like a hard pass. Like this is definitely an easy no for us.
Sarah Romanko (00:25:06):
Yeah. So I think I’ll start with the hard no for, or sorry, the easy no first is like, I think for us, we’ve seen like, if there’s really challenges with the company structure in terms of like, you know, let’s say there’s like certain, there’s, there’s too many pivots, you know, there’s like complex structures in terms of like how they’re spinning the company out. This could be really, it’s just, I just speak from personal experience. Every situation is unique. I think other things is where if the founder is not being transparent with us, that is, that is the number one. I mean, we can get over some of those other things I mentioned, if we’re understanding why there’s certain like ownership structures or whatever, If you’re going to lie to me, if you’re going to tell me you have this revenue when you don’t, if you’re going to pretend that your net revenue or GMV is net revenue, that’s a big frustration I have. That’s going to be an automatic no from us or just lying to us and just trying to pit investors.
Brian Bell (00:25:54):
Yeah, they’re about to sign the contract. I’m like, great. Can you send over the red line?
Sarah Romanko (00:25:59):
Exactly.
Brian Bell (00:25:59):
Oh, well, we don’t have a red line yet. Okay. Can you send me over the draft contract that they have in their hands?
Brian Bell (00:26:03):
Oh, well, we haven’t sent the draft. So how are they about to sign the signed contract, this huge contract, stuff like that?
Sarah Romanko (00:26:09):
Exactly. Yeah.
Brian Bell (00:26:11):
And there’s hundreds of these little things that we pick up on as we kind of dig in. And what are you excited about in the coming year or two and even longer term, like five or 10 years out?
Sarah Romanko (00:26:21):
Yeah. So are you saying in terms of industry or specific role?
Brian Bell (00:26:25):
However you want to take that question.
Sarah Romanko (00:26:26):
Yeah. So I think for me, what I’m really excited about is how the market is shifting in terms of how we’re making investment decisions and who we’re investing in. So what I mean is looking at it from the top down. So looking at LPs and how they’re actually distributing their funds into VC. So if we just say LPs distributing it, more LPs, I believe are distributing it to emerging managers because they’re starting to see that the typical like venture playbook is, is not like it was 20 years ago in the sense that great, you know, and this goes back to geek ventures thesis that opportunity, what was that? Or opportunity is not equally distributed, right? But talent is, everywhere or something like that. But essentially it’s like, you know, we founders, great founders can come from anywhere and emerging VCs have really unique ways to access this talent based on those unique experiences. So like in my specific case, I’ve built certain founder networks because I’m based here in Austin, because the connections I build over the years, because I’m Gen Z. I can access these younger founders that may be harder for the more established VCs to access based on how they built those networks over time. And so this is what LPs are seeing in terms of the emerging managers they’re backing. That’s why we’re seeing a lot of emerging managers that are actually in their 20s, which I think is a really interesting dynamic because 20 years ago, you wouldn’t see that. In terms of founders, we’re also starting to see more younger founders. Now, what I will say, though, is to be very careful of the hype. And one of my connections, her name is Zap. She made a really great LinkedIn post about this recently, is she said that all those young founders out there, be very careful of just hyping everything up with AI and just using those words like, oh, we’re vibe coding, we’re getting this early revenue. Don’t let all of that influence you to make the wrong decisions or just focus on all this publicity. Actually build something useful. It’s great if you’re young, but don’t just get caught up in that hype. like doing things for the right reasons. And you can be successful if you have this different background, but don’t like try to overuse it, if that makes sense.
Brian Bell (00:28:20):
Yeah, yeah, that makes sense. If you could redesign a VC from scratch, what would you change?
Sarah Romanko (00:28:23):
Yeah, I think for me, I would try to eliminate bias. When I was in university, I did a report on how, you know, I did a like an honors capstone on how investors are allocating capital and why they make certain investment decisions. And historically, it was based on founders that had similar backgrounds, similar characteristics, certain universities. and nowadays like what i’m so proud to say is when i look at our past investments i can’t tell you what universities they went to and that’s a great thing instead i can tell you their background and i can tell you of course we know if i look in the the you know history but it’s you know what was their story what was like why did they start this and so i think it’s really investing more based on the person as opposed to the idea and it’s kind of like would you bet on the jock you’re about on the horse right and i think like every vc has the reasons for me because i’ve seen so many pivots i am more wanting to back a really good founder with you know maybe the idea isn’t as good but if there’s a really good founder like i am totally willing to to double down on which which may everyone may not agree with may say well you need a really good idea but like if it’s a great founder that has past success they can just pivot so it’s almost like if you see on shark tank which is not realistic of a VC by any means but it’s great learning for those starting out you know sometimes the the strikes will say hey I want to back this founder I don’t like what they’re building but I want to back you for who you are and so that’s kind of like what I what I would want to do but at the same time I would also say hey like don’t just back someone like without doing your diligence because I think nowadays sometimes and and I think every VC is guilty of this we get really excited back a founder without doing our proper diligence and then we we see what happens when we mess up To put it nicely. But I think, you know, not just saying, hey, like, I’m going to immediately write a check without doing the proper diligence because it goes back to the hype, right? So I think it’s balancing the hype versus the reality, but knowing what the difference is and knowing when someone is actually telling the truth versus just selling. And that’s a skill that’s really hard to develop that I’m personally still working on.
Brian Bell (00:30:17):
Do you guys ever forego the due diligence process when it’s like the timing? It’s like, it’s easy. Yes. And it’s like, there’s a really strong lead and you, you’ve got to make a decision by tomorrow.
Sarah Romanko (00:30:26):
Yes. And that’s, that’s the hard balance. And that’s why I say that it’s contradicting when I say that because I know a deal I worked on. We moved really quickly. We did diligence, but it was a lot faster diligence. And this is hard because I think if you don’t have as much time to build the relationship with the founder, it’s a lot harder to see how they react in certain situations. Because this one company mentioned earlier who I’m working closely with this founder, I’ve gotten to know them over a long period of time. And I’ve seen how they react. And that’s why I felt so comfortable really telling the team like, hey, we need to back this deal. And, you know, we passed on them at first, we monitored them for a while, and then we invested. And I remember from the first time I met them, and this was in person, usually we do our meetings online, there’s half to the other person, I was just like, there’s something about this company. And I just really felt that like vibe with the founder, which is such a Gen Z thing to say, but I think we’ll be saying it in the future.
Brian Bell (00:31:16):
So you guys are an online first VC firm. And I feel like a lot of VC firms are now like, how do you guys, what are some best practices? And like, what do you guys do internally to try to stay connected and kind of balance that remote work?
Sarah Romanko (00:31:26):
Really great team culture. From the moment I joined, I felt like they knew everything there was about me. We’ve done so many team building activities, like some fun ones, like two truths and a lie. We’ve done this thing called like scribble.io. I think it’s called, or it’s kind of like online Pictionary. I think, you know, a lot of people may say, oh, that’s silly. Like why spend all this time on, on all this team building? But it really plays deeper into thinking about VC as a team sport, because when you think about it, we’re in really stressful environments. We’re dealing, like we’re dealing with founders who have put everything at stake. And, you know, you need a team that is mentally well and is able to have hard conversations with each other when they disagree on certain investment decisions. And so when you have a team that genuinely cares for each other and knows that if anyone disagrees or says anything, it’s never personal. It’s only just because it’s for the good of the business. Once you have that great foundation, I think that’s why our culture is so strong and why I love it so much, because like the team knows so many things about me. Like we did a team building activity when we were in San Francisco during tech. We went to an old, like an antique museum arcade. And they know I love arcades. And it was just a great way to get to know the team better and just take a break from work and things like that. It’s like when the team really takes the time to care for you, it feeds into the founders that you work with and that feeds into their culture. So that I think is one of the most important things that’s not widely talked about, especially in VC.
Brian Bell (00:32:45):
So looking forward, what do you hope to be known for five or 10 years from now?
Sarah Romanko (00:32:49):
I’ve thought a lot about this. And the funny thing is this has been asked in even some of the applications when I’ve applied for various roles or scholarships. I think for me, the most important thing is that I’ve made a positive impact on the founders and the VCs I’ve worked with. And what does that actually mean? So, you know, I think for the longest time, I was like, oh, I want to invest in this number of deals. I want to have this extra return, which I think is great. Like, of course I want that. And what does that look like to be determined, right? Because I think I’m very early in what return am I actually looking for, right? Based on the dynamics of our fund but i think like that will happen if i look at the bigger picture which is my goal really is to think okay how many startups have i been able to you know help whether that’s us actually investing referring to other investors but to where they’re actually companies that are making a difference in the world and actually are doing something that’s for the good of the world and i’m not saying like we’re not like by definition impact investor but it’s a company that like You know, maybe it’s improving productivity or it’s, it’s some, you know, mental health platform that’s, that’s making people’s lives better. And then on the flip side with investors, it’s thinking about the investors that I’ve referred to programs that’s helping them land jobs. That’s ultimately helping them invest in companies that. go with their personal mission. And so I think like that’s how I really track the success and what I want to be remembered for. And I think like that’s something, you know, I applied for VC university and I’m in their like mentorship program right now. I got like a full scholarship and that’s something I shared because that’s what their mission is. And I share this because this is a great program for aspiring VCs. who really want to get a leg up because you’re actually paired with two VCs who are in the industry and can give you advice. And you’re also doing a formal program along with mentorship, office hours and all this other stuff, right? And so like, I think that’s really what’s important to me is making that positive difference and not just saying, oh, I only want to get the sex return because if you focus on paying it forward first, Then everything else comes later. And I wouldn’t be here if I hadn’t paid it forward. Because I remember my first ever VC role was someone I worked with in college. And I said, how can I ever repay you? She said, the one thing I ask of you is to pay it forward. Because she’s like, hey, you’re a great fit. She personally referred me to this role. And they just interviewed me. And they’re like, got it. You got this role. And so that’s really what I tell people. If you don’t know how to help, you just pay it forward. And that’s why I’m here today.
Brian Bell (00:35:03):
Love it. Well, let’s wrap up with some rapid fire questions. What’s one common mistake you see first-time founders make when fundraising?
Sarah Romanko (00:35:10):
Yeah. Common mistake, I would say, is assuming that a VC is just automatically going to, I would say, say yes without diving deeper. If they get the VC excited enough and the VC is like, oh, I’ll just immediately commit after maybe a few meetings. I think just understanding that you need to keep keeping keep the vc excited keep following up but just understand that it’s not going to be like in the reason i say this is because you see the things in the news where like it’s like i raised my round in two days here’s how i did it that is great for some founders But that’s not really the reality for most founders. So don’t expect that if you don’t do that one, it’s bad. And two, that you have to do that or you fail.
Brian Bell (00:35:52):
Yeah. Which startup trend feels overhyped to you right now and which one is underrated?
Sarah Romanko (00:35:56):
Yeah. I would say, let’s see, overhyped right now. I think startup trend is overhyped right now is... And using AI for like GEO, for search, we actually just talked about this because we’ve seen so many companies that are like, and like there are some companies that are doing really well, right? But there’s so many that are like doing this. It’s like really hard for that differentiation and what sets you apart. so that’s what i’d say is overhyped i think under under hyped or i don’t know if that’s the right word i would say like we’re really excited right now about the robotics space so we’re looking at like software for robotics people who can use specific software to help program robots without having the technical background because right now so many people are learning how to use ai at such a young age who may not be technical and there’s a lot of programs for vibe coding so i think finding some solution that makes it really really easy to learn how to program without actually knowing how to program, that’s going to be a huge winner for sure.
Brian Bell (00:36:51):
If you could have dinner with any investor or founder living or dead, who would it be and why?
Sarah Romanko (00:36:55):
Yeah, I thought about this. It’d be Lori from Shark Tank. Reason being, she knows how to tell people no, but in a nice way. That’s a very important skill as a VC because she, from my understanding, it doesn’t seem like she’s burned very many bridges, if at all. And everyone loves her and respects her. And she’s seen as like the nice VC. So that’s how I like to position myself.
Brian Bell (00:37:14):
Love it. What’s a book, podcast, or framework that’s recently changed how you think?
Sarah Romanko (00:37:18):
Yeah. So there’s this founder that I follow and investor called... His name is Alex, the founder of acquisition.com. He recently made this post. Actually, it was earlier today, and I love this. So I’m just going to read it. It said, He said, people underestimate how much brute force you have to use to will your goals into existence. People work their whole lives for what they could get in a few years if they just went all in. Deleting work-life balance for a season gives you more work-life balance over a lifetime. You’re not crazy for working hard. You’re crazy for trying to get them to understand. What this means is I’d rather work really hard in my 20s so that way I can have more time to relax when I’m older. Building that, you know, building that brand, building that career, because then it gives you more freedom later on. And that’s what my fiance and I love. And it’s that like, you know, it’s hard to say work-life balance because it’s something different for everybody. But the harder you work when you’re young, it pays more dividends. You know, it’s kind of like why you should start literally investing at young age.
Brian Bell (00:38:11):
Yeah, I love that. What’s a lesson from judging hundreds of pitches that applies equally to life outside of startups in BC?
Sarah Romanko (00:38:28):
And I think it’s an important lesson for like aspiring investors as well as like when I think about one day, whenever I have kids, you know, it’s like, what do I want to teach them? It’s knowing what is your first impression of someone. And so I think when you’re pitching, you really have to learn how can you communicate something clearly? Can you get people to like you? And in the real world, When you’re doing business or you’re interacting with people, maybe regardless of profession, you really have to know how to convince people to trust you, right? For example, let’s think of a doctor. You know, you’re treating a patient and they’re telling you their medical history. You have to get them to trust you. And so that’s kind of the case when you’re giving a pitch. It’s you’re pitching yourself and your trust and your credibility. And if a founder can do that well, let’s say you’ve got like one minute to pitch who you are and what you’re doing and you can get that trust. That skill set can be very valuable in other areas of the world.
Brian Bell (00:39:16):
What’s the hardest no you ever had to give and what did you learn from it?
Sarah Romanko (00:39:19):
Yeah, so hardest no I had to give, there was this founder that we were working with. It was a company where I personally resonated with what they were doing. And I’m speaking very broadly about this because I can’t share too much, unfortunately, but essentially it was something that was like near and dear to my heart. And I felt like I really resonate with it. Like I was the target market. It was harder for me to explain to the team because, you know, they weren’t as much the target market in terms of who the business was designed for. And ultimately passed for good reason, because we knew this market really well. So it was like we had evaluated a company in a similar space previously. And so I think for me, it was hard because I built like such a good relationship with the founder. And I was like, it kind of goes back to like, I was so ready to invest and I wanted to invest my own money. But ultimately, it was understanding that, you know, when they pass, and this is what I loved is it wasn’t like, oh, we don’t get the problem. It was We’ve looked at the actual dynamics of the market. We understand the financials. It’s not that we don’t think this is a problem. It’s we’ve done the actual like, we’ve done both the quantitative and the qualitative. And so that’s why I like this because it was so respectful because sometimes you’re working in certain companies that can be very sensitive. For example, not this company, but different company was in the mental health space. And, you know, I’ve, had a lot of experiences with that, just people like in my family. And so it was like very sensitive in how you handle that when you’re passing on a company that is, if you pass the wrong way, it can be hurtful, right? And so it’s like knowing how to treat those situations with that care. And so I think that’s what I love about our team is we know how to treat founders with respect regardless of what they’re building. And it’s never a personal thing. And I think that’s so important. And that’s also what I tell founders is that’s another mistake from founders is don’t take it personally when a VC passes on your deal. It’s never against you like it i mean well maybe rarely but like not after they meet you typically yeah exactly like it’s just it’s just hey like we see a lot of great companies we can only pick one right that’s yeah that’s yeah those are the hard
Brian Bell (00:41:10):
notes right that’s like 90 95 are pretty easy and then it’s like that last like 9.5% is like really, really hard.
Sarah Romanko (00:41:17):
My first ever rejection email I remember writing a few years ago. I mean, I just was like, how am I going to do this? And eventually you just get used to it, but it doesn’t make it any easier. But that was hard. You kind of have to like, I don’t know the word. It’s like you have to get your, it’s like venture wheels. I think some investor told me that.
Brian Bell (00:41:32):
Yeah. Get your venture. I love that. Last question. If you weren’t in venture, what would you be doing?
Sarah Romanko (00:41:37):
Yeah, so I’d be running a YouTube channel teaching people how to win at crane games. And I’d also be running my own arcade ever since I was four or five years old. Well, actually, I don’t think YouTube existed when I was four or five years old. I have to do the math on that. But ever since, as far as I can remember, I was watching YouTube videos and teaching myself how to win at crane games. I remember I watched somebody at HEB, which is this grocery store in Texas. had like a crane game and i watched somebody win they had a bag full of stuffed animals and i said i’m going to be that person one day and so now i can go to any arcade pretty much decide if it’s possible to win at a crane game you know i know exactly how to win if someone can win and i’ve won hundreds of stuff actually probably more like thousands if i think about that i’ve donated so many and you know i also have won designer purses from the arcade i’ve won 12 designer purses by saving up points so like i’m i’m pretty much an expert at this like if i was an adventure i would actually be doing this genuinely for living um maybe if i ever retire which i couldn’t retire because i love this but yeah i’d start my own arcade because i know i know the economics i know the unit economics of all the arcade games because i’ve read all the amazing well i’ve
Brian Bell (00:42:37):
really enjoyed the conversation learned a lot i’m sure folks out there listening will will uh really appreciate it as well thanks for coming on
Sarah Romanko (00:42:40):
of course thank you.
