Kira Colburn

Director of Comms for @SOSV (@Hax_co & @Indbio) focused on all things human & planetary health

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

@fendien our internal messages about settlers of catan are not this friendly 🐑

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

@erica_wenger Practice hills!! The nyc marathon is notoriously challenging and hilly, so make sure you're not training everyday on flat ground.

[Erica Wenger @Erica_Wenger]

I had the most wonderful night hosting a platform din with some of the best VCs in NYC! Nothing more fun than talking shop & laughing a lot… the best! 🥳

@anniesko_ @anneablum @gilbirnboim @kcolburn2011 + Alice + Ashton

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

@Work_Bench @fendien teenage girl vibes > dad vibes

[Jonathan Lehr @fendien]

I was negotiating a Term Sheet with a founder, and just before wrapping up, he says “I have something that may be awkward to ask…”

I had no idea where the conversation was about to go, so I braced myself for what he was going to say.

Before sharing his ask, some context: He’s been working on this startup for 4.5 years (this is a Seed II round) and previously worked on his last startup for 4 years without a big exit. He has a baby at home and his partner watches the baby so that he can focus on his startup.

His ask was whether he could sell some secondary to be able to get a nanny a few times a week to help with the load at home and also get some time where neither he nor his partner was busy.

My immediate answer was of course. This isn’t some egregious secondary to cash out millions from his early stage business. It’s to bolster his Seed stage founder salary with a quality of life improvement.

What bothers me is how many other founders may have been too nervous to ask. When a founder is raising it’s often tough to be vulnerable about something like this.

In fact, the opposite should be true.

As VCs, we need our founders fully locked into their businesses without worrying about putting food on their table, paying rent, caring for a child or elderly parent, etc.

Everyone’s situation is different and there’s no blanket answer for how to handle things aside from talking through things openly and without judgement. In fact, once a potential founder with several children realized that launching a startup was too risky given their own personal situation and Seed salary benchmarks we provided.

Hopefully more convos like this between investors and founders won't be nerve-wracking for the founder or seen as taboo by the investor.

[Work-Bench @Work_Bench]

Hello NYC Spring ☀️🌻😎

📸: @kcolburn2011

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

@kelleymak 🥹

[Work-Bench @Work_Bench]

The function of "VC Platform" can really mean anything under the☀️

For us, it's focusing on ENTERPRISE GTM TACTICS & amplifying that knowledge through our 2 flywheels:
📕Content
🤓Community

Read more about our Head of Platform @kcolburn2011 👇
https://t.co/lLzmtLB669

[Work-Bench @Work_Bench]

Thank you to everyone who joined our #Womenterprise End of Year Drinks last night!

Seeing so many women connect, collaborate & support one another was truly inspiring 💪

We have a lot more to come in 2024 - stay tuned! 🎉

[Jonathan Lehr @fendien]

So amped to see the incredible progress we’ve made as firm over the decade 🚀

Shoutout to our killer team @jerseejess @kelleymak @psomrah @DanielChesley @kcolburn2011 @kemWorkBench 🤓😎

🍻 Cheer to the next decade 🍻

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

Proud to be a part of this team for the past 3+ years!

[Jonathan Lehr @fendien]

This week marks @Work_Bench's 10th anniversary 🥳🥂

To celebrate, @jerseejess & I have been reflecting on the decade, digging through our favorite memories, and reminiscing on this wild journey

To kick off the week, here's photos from 10 moments over our past 10 years 📸

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

@fendien @jerseejess @Work_Bench @fendien and @psomrah are not allowed to sit at the same table. I want a clean and fair game!

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

Taking over 10,000 sq ft in Times Square was pretty cool💃

#Womenterprise23

[Work-Bench @Work_Bench]

So epic to see our #Womenterprise23 Summit & 9 incredible speakers up in lights on the @Nasdaq Tower this week🤩

Thank you @Nasdaq for making this a reality & helping amplify that women in enterprise software are a force here in NYC💪🔥

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

Couldn't agree more with this! As Head of Content at @Work_Bench my job is NOT to ghost write the blog for my investment team...its to provide the strategy, structure & overall guidance to help them write their own beautiful pieces🖊️

[Christina Farr @chrissyfarr]

Why so many VC content & thought leadership efforts aren't working 🧵👇

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

@kelleymak @psomrah @DanielChesley @kemWorkBench @jerseejess It was rigged

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

@kelleymak @DanielChesley No shame in the safari game

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

@DEVINENASH I've been wanting to try Getaway!! Looks so cozy🍂

[Work-Bench @Work_Bench]

We’re kicking off research for our updated #Womenenterprise Report💁‍♀️💪

🚨We have a favor to ask our community🚨

If you are or know any enterprise female founders, please tag them or email us, so we can add them to our comprehensive database
women [at] work-bench [dot] com

[Jonathan Lehr @fendien]

I have the best team ever

EOM

cc @jerseejess @kelleymak @psomrah @kcolburn2011 @kemWorkBench

[Kira Colburn @kcolburn2011]

@kelleymak @Work_Bench @fendien @brettgriffin @bcrussett @CrispAarons @Anisha_R_Nandi @TheoWllms @kemWorkBench @jamiemelendez89 Always trollin 🧌