Gabrielle Munzer took 10 years to get into VC. Here's how she did it.
She's now a partner at one of Australia's most successful deep tech funds Main Sequence, investing in startups that want to change the world.
Gabrielle Munzer is a partner at Main Sequence where she is deeply involved in a number of company creation opportunities including Samsara and Eden Brew. She talks to Capital Brief about her 10 year dream to break into VC, and why she's so passionate about it.
So what was your path to VC?
So, I've basically spent 20 years in finance, with the first 10 years mostly in the UK, primarily in public markets. Then I returned home to Australia in 2010, trying to figure out my next steps. I was really interested in learning how people built businesses here. For about a year, I looked for products that appealed to me, finding those I loved. I'd then contact the founder, asking if I could spend some time with them to hear their story and understand how they built their business. And what that started was my dream to work in venture and really understand how to do early stage company building.
This was around 2010, and the venture market was just re-emerging after a pretty tricky period in the wake of the tech bust, among other things. Blackbird's first fund was in 2012, and then Airtree and Square Peg emerged. Suffice to say, for almost the next 10 years, until 2019, I was circling the hoops, trying to figure out how to get a chance to enter the venture realm. I vividly remember, after having my first child, breastfeeding with one hand, while the other was on the laptop, one finger meticulously crafting the mother of all spreadsheets. I was analysing the venture portfolios of these new next-generation funds, trying to understand their investment strategies and what set them apart.
Then, an opportunity at Main Sequence emerged; they announced they were hiring. I thought it was a long shot for me, but I decided to go for it anyway. Additionally, during that period, I had completed a course in Leadership for Sustainable Development, and had become deeply interested in the impact side of investing. I don't know how it happened, but I got incredibly lucky and landed a position there in 2019.
