News & Events
Want to learn more about Operator Collective? Check out our latest news or join us at an upcoming event.
Our Blog
The Operator Collective blog is full of practical advice and inspiration from our amazing community.
Frequently Asked Questions
What’s an operator? How do you find your investments? Can I get funding? We’ve got these answers and more.
HEAR FROM OUR COMMUNITY
“We basically said, if I was building a company, who’s on the dream team of people I’d want to access as I'm building that company? And then we put that group together.”
— Mallun Yen, Operator Collective Founder and General Partner “To know there’s a resource out there full of people that have beat these same challenges – a group you can access as you go? You can’t put a price on that kind of help.”
— Rachel Carlson, Guild Education Founder & CEO, Operator Collective LP
“Whenever you need help, Operator Collective is a one-stop-shop. It’s much easier, and I truly believe it’s unique.”
— Eric Yuan, Zoom Founder & CEO, Operator Collective LP
"If you want to compete, just having your own founding team isn't enough. You need to have access to the right information and people to get a competitive edge. Operator Collective gives you that advantage." — Magdalena Yesil, Operator Collective Senior Advisor
“Operator Collective is solving two problems: It's bringing more operating expertise to portfolio companies, and it's getting more diversity into the venture ecosystem.”
— Erica Schultz, Confluent President, Operator Collective LP
“This model is different, and I believe Operator Collective is going to help find and surface under appreciated founders who can do much better than what the traditional venture route finds.”
— Tekedra Mawakana, Waymo COO, Operator Collective LP
“You don't just get to talk to the people that built Salesforce, Cisco, and Stripe. You can't just go ask them, ‘Hey, how did you do this?’ Only now you can.”
— Leyla Seka, Operator Collective Partner
“Startups need real support when it gets hard. Pushing for product-market fit, driving cost-effective growth, scaling service programmatically, creating a diverse and inclusive community of employees? These are in-the-trench challenges, and Operator Collective has a whole army of folks with perspectives on those exact things.”
— Lexi Reese, Gusto COO, Operator Collective LP
“I'm a first generation immigrant, and I know how hard it is to get ahead when you’ve got a different background. I want to be able to provide opportunities by investing in or offering advice to help others like me shine.”
— Li Fan, Lime CTO, Operator Collective LP “What we have to offer portfolio companies is our skill set and experience. We're all willing to talk to people and help them along the way. If there's anything we have to offer, we'll give it.”
— LaFawn Davis, Indeed VP of Diversity & Inclusion, Operator Collective LP
“Operator Collective has been phenomenal in connecting me to people I would have no way of getting to otherwise.”
— Henry Ward, Carta Founder & CEO, Operator Collective LP “We have visibility on what's happening right now in the world of successful companies, and we have our whole collective experience as operators. It's very hard to access that from the outside, but if you have an efficient way to get great advice on operational challenges, I bet a lot of portfolio companies would sign up for that.”
— Claire Hughes Johnson, Stripe COO, Operator Collective LP
“Operator Collective is the growth mindset personified. It’s basically taking the best operators in the industry and putting them all in the same room.”
— Jennifer Tejada, PagerDuty CEO, Operator Collective LP
“Most startups are operationally deficient. Sad, but true. A lot of founders have ideas and ambition, but don’t understand how to scale a business in a way that's sustainable, enjoyable, and ethical. Operators that have had those experiences – learning, making all the mistakes – have so much wisdom to offer these new companies that hope to be as successful as any of the ones these operators have come from.”
— Dug Song, Cisco GM, Duo Co-Founder & CEO, Operator Collective LP
“Operator Collective offers two major things. One, we bring real-life advice on how we'd use their product or company. And two, we can share our experiences and lessons learned. We’ve got a lot of wisdom built up, and we’re ready to give it to the next generation of leaders.”
— Christina Kosmowski, Slack Global Head of Customer Success, Operator Collective LP
“Anything you're going through, we can help. We've been there, done that, seen it. We can give you a steady and reassuring hand and you’ll know that you'll be okay, and we'll walk you through.”
— Monique Covington, Rocket Lawyer VP, Operator Collective LP
“I love the idea behind Operator Collective. First of all, I want to help actually build companies, not just be an angel investor. Plus, it’s this collection of amazing people – and who doesn't want to be a part of good people bringing the next generation of ideas to life?”
— Michelle Zatlyn, Cloudflare Co-Founder & COO, Operator Collective LP
“There's an advantage to diversity, and I believe it’s going to help Operator Collective find and surface underappreciated founders out there.”
— Dan Scheinman, Operator Collective Senior Advisor
