The 2% Chance: Trading Venture Capital for Olympic Gold

From Alaska to Venture Capital

• 💡 Kristen Faulkner grew up in Homer, Alaska, in an entrepreneurial family, doing odd jobs in their hotel and developing a love for the outdoors.
• 🧠 She attended Harvard, where she excelled in crew, and later discovered computer science, leading her to a career in venture capital at Bessemer Venture Partners.
• 🎯 Her initial motivation for joining VC was to learn how to build a good company before potentially starting her own.

Embracing the Beginner's Mindset

• 🌱 Kristen values being a beginner because it allows for rapid learning and visible progress, which she finds highly motivating.
• 💡 She intentionally surrounds herself with smarter or more skilled people, a practice honed at Harvard, which fosters continuous growth and humility.
• 🚴‍♀️ Her journey into cycling began with an introductory class in Central Park, facing initial equipment struggles but persisting with a "never give up" attitude.

The 2% Chance: Pursuing an Olympic Dream

• 🚀 Kristen balanced her demanding venture capital career with intense cycling training, often working remotely from Europe during races.
• 🔑 She eventually made the difficult decision to leave VC, driven by a childhood dream to go to the Olympics and the belief that there was a "2% chance" of success, making it worth the risk.
• 💬 Key advice from her psychologist and brother reinforced that she had found something that made her feel alive and that a dream must be pursued.

Olympic Strategy and Resilience

• 📊 Despite USA Cycling's simulation showing a 6% chance of a medal in the road race, Kristen disagreed, citing smaller field/team sizes and her specific training as advantages.
• 🧠 She demonstrated strategic thinking in the road race finale, attacking solo knowing she was the weakest sprinter, and playing "mind games" with rivals to thin the group and time her break.
• 💪 Her mother instilled resilience from a young age, a characteristic that helped her overcome numerous setbacks like crashes, injuries (blood clot), and being cut from the team.

Parallels Between Cycling and VC

• 🤝 Kristen identifies striking similarities between professional cycling and venture capital, particularly in their financial and reward structures.
• 💰 Both fields involve splitting "prize money" (returns) among a team, with leaders potentially receiving bonuses, fostering a collective win mentality.
• ✅ Success in both requires leveraging diverse team strengths, where each member plays a specific role to achieve a common goal, transforming her into a better teammate.