I am excited to announce I have become a Managing Director at Wilbur Labs!
Over the last two years, I’ve worked as the Head of Growth for Special Projects at Wilbur Labs. During this time, I’ve partnered with our co-founders, David and Phil, in addition to the phenomenal teams at Wilbur Labs and our portfolio companies to build, launch, and grow amazing businesses across several industries. While it hasn’t always been easy, it has always been exciting, incredibly fulfilling, and the realization of a passion for building that I’ve cultivated ever since I built my first lemonade stand at 4 years old.
Throughout my childhood, I was constantly building, tinkering, and trying to sell things. While my business concepts have evolved dramatically since those early days, my drive to create something sustainable and impactful has never wavered. In college, I pursued this passion aggressively, studying Entrepreneurship Leadership at Gonzaga University, while also participating in Gonzaga’s New Venture Lab. Shortly after college, knowing that passion and education can only take you so far, I moved to San Francisco to work at an emerging social media marketing platform, Wildfire. Shortly after, Wildfire was acquired by Google. Even in the early 2010s, Google was by no means a “startup.” However, the focus on constantly innovating and solving global problems is core to Google and served as a perfect fit for me as I worked alongside Google’s largest advertising partners and emerging brands to develop go-to-market and growth strategies.
During my time at Google, I was fortunate enough to meet Phil and David while working on Google’s Growth Team. In working with these two, it was immediately apparent to me that they thought about things differently. First, they constantly recognized growing consumer needs that were underserved, or neglected entirely, by entrenched companies. Second, they shared a vision on how emerging technologies can enable companies to solve big problems, better.
At the core, that is exactly what Phil and David built at Wilbur Labs. By developing a strong and consistent thesis, creating rigorous and repeatable operational processes, all while focusing on addressing customer needs, Wilbur Labs has built a new type of business — a startup studio — that is ambitious, agile, and capable of tackling major unsolved problems.
In my new role as Managing Director, I’ll be focused on carrying out the Wilbur Labs vision. To do so, I plan to concentrate on two areas: portfolio growth and new venture creation.
Since launching in 2016, Wilbur Labs has built and invested in 15 companies. While companies like VacationRenter, which became the fastest-growing travel company ever last year, have already seen tremendous success, each portfolio company is still very early in realizing their ambitious long-term vision. I couldn’t be more excited to work alongside each company’s determined leaders and their teams to find continued opportunities for growth.
As a builder at heart, I’m equally excited to be focusing on our next set of emerging ventures. To accomplish this, I’ll lead our rapidly growing Lab team — composed of analysts, researchers, consultants, and entrepreneurs-in-residence — to plan, launch, and scale new businesses.
I feel incredibly fortunate and proud to work at a place that prioritizes solving big problems and leaving a lasting positive impact. Our portfolio companies have already helped hundreds of millions of people travel the world, find a job, discover the right insurance plan, order everyday essentials, and care for their pets. I know with the team and leadership in place, Wilbur Labs and all of our companies are just getting started. I, for one, can’t wait to be along for the ride for decades to come.