Katelin Holloway on HR’s Critical Role in Venture Capital
On this episode of Redefining Work, I’m joined (for the third time) by my friend Katelin Holloway, an influential figure in HR and investing who is a founding partner at Seven Seven Six, a venture capital investment firm. We explore her transition from HR to venture capital and why the HR skill set is so important when making investment decisions.
A self-proclaimed “career chameleon,” Katelin worked as a Pixar crew member and led Reddit’s people and culture team, among other roles, before finding her calling as a venture capitalist.
Each of those job roles helped Katelin satisfy her curiosity and explore new interests — and she encourages others to do the same. “We spend far too much of our lives at work and committed to our careers,” she says. “Please make it one that is not only enjoyable, but one that you can look back on and feel very proud of.”
Find out how Katelin uses her influence as a venture capitalist to create cultures where people can grow and create impact on the world.
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Amplifying Positive Culture Across the Startup Ecosystem
At Pixar, Katelin saw how the company’s intentional approach to positive culture directly contributed to success. That got Katelin thinking. “Is it possible to take these lessons that I've learned, these experiences that I've had as an employee, and translate those to the world of startups?” she says
She immediately learned that startups not only could benefit from a positive culture, but that there was a huge appetite for it. The problem was a lack of bandwidth. “There is a gap here,” Katelin says. “We don't have a leader, we don't have an owner, we don't have someone creating the process, the systems, the frameworks, the policies, the structure to enable this.”
That’s when Katelin began asking her tech friends to create tools for HR — automating administrative processes so HR leaders could spend their time on strategic, people-centric work. This led to passive income and, as Katelin says, “I became a totally accidental investor.” That led to a new calling: to embed the principles of people-centric culture in venture capital.
Bringing HR Expertise to Fledgling Companies
Before she knew it, Katelin was investing in and advising portfolio companies, as her strategic HR skill set was in high demand. “After a check is written, that's where the real work begins,” Katelin says. “And so I was getting calls asking me for support.”
Founders in her cap table sought her guidance on everything from hiring and firing to building functional teams. And while Katelin’s HR expertise was initially a rarity in the investment community, she’s working to change that.
“I want more people with our backgrounds to be supporting these young fledgling companies,” she says. “Because I fundamentally believe if we can impart any of our knowledge and our collective skills from the earliest possible creation of a company, weave it into the DNA, we are going to see dramatically different financial business results in the long run.”
Helping Founders Recognize the Importance of People
Katelin found herself revolutionizing how startups view HR — a shift from thinking of HR as an administrative function to seeing it as a strategic people and culture initiative. But then the pandemic added a new layer of disruption.
“There was a moment in time where organizations recognized how deeply dependent on their actual people they were,” Katelin says. “These are not budget-line items. These are humans. And these are humans who are experiencing collective trauma.”
During the pandemic, startups leaned more than ever on HR, even as people leaders were operating beyond their capacity and bandwidth.
To compound the problem, investors today are challenging founders to do even more with less. Katelin notes that HR programs, including diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, are often first on the chopping block.
When Katelin’s portfolio companies seek her counsel, she helps them see the people part of the equation. “What I do is start with curiosity,” she says. “I ask questions about this business problem.” Once founders understand that their business problems are actually people problems, Katelin can help them address and resolve those challenges. But founders have to make the leap themselves.
“If you can help them come to that conclusion alongside you,” she says, “then you can build a partnership around solution.”