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Winning a gold medal is a lot like being a VC, according to Olympic champion Kristen Faulkner
Kristen Faulkner’s astonishing Olympic success of two gold medals stems from lessons learned from her former career as a venture capitalist.
Faulkner was an associate investor at Threshold Ventures, and at Bessemer Venture Partners before that, leaving the VC world in 2021 to pursue cycling. She wasn’t initially scheduled to ride in the 158-kilometer (98-mile) road cycling race but took her teammate Taylor Knibb’s spot at the last minute. Faulkner passed the favorites to win gold that day. She won a second medal as part of the gold-winning U.S. women’s velodrome track cycling team.
“As a VC, you sit down with entrepreneurs every single day who are going to do something they’re passionate about. They have these big ideas. They’re taking risks,” she told Fortune, add that such thinking helps her win races. “If a VC thinks there’s a 50% chance the company is going to be successful, that doesn’t mean they go 50% all-in for the company. When you invest, assess the risk and make your decision, but then you go all-in. You don’t look back. You have to commit. I think that’s something that shaped me.”