If they’re technical, I reach out to their academic advisor. I go through references, and that’s really where I start. And I see how specific they can get and how on-point, versus whether they are distracting from the question or if they are able to answer it very directly. I ask nonlinear questions and see how they respond. My first meeting-it’s audio because I think it’s actually a lot better than going through a linear presentation. You have to get to know them and how they think and how they operate. You have to really spend time with the founder. A lot of mistakes, I think, were made in venture and in the market because you cannot make a decision with a company in a day or two days. Simmons: One of the things that I think is really important is values and ethics-and what I was seeing in 20 is just not going to fly for the long term. (Portions of this interview have been edited for brevity and/or clarity.)įortune: We talked last December, and one thing that really stood out to me about our conversation was how you had figured out a way to determine whether a founder who was pitching you was being honest or not.
Here’s a portion of our recent conversation, and how Simmons pins down the founders she wants to work with. Some of her strategies include discussing their personal values, studying the promises they made in old pitch decks, conducting a post-mortem on a challenge they’ve faced, or even climbing a mountain during a pitch meeting. But Simmons takes things a step further to learn what makes a founder tick and whether they follow through on what they say they’ll do. There are the normal culprits, like background checks and reference calls. Simmons recently sat down with me to talk about her unique approach to due diligence.
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Simmons has offered founders she works with free virtual workout classes, and she says she’s thinking about putting together a program for 24/7 mental health care access and resources for helping them manage their personal wealth. And she’s acutely focused on helping founders with both their ventures, but also their personal lives. Since she launched her firm, Simmons has backed companies including Overstory, a startup that uses vegetation analysis to reduce power outages and wildfires, and Overture Life, which is focused on egg freezing and IVF. Simmons left Khosla in 2021 to go off on her own and launch her own firm called Overwater Ventures, and she recently closed her first $20 million fund, focused on early-stage founders building companies related to human and planet health. Kristina Simmons, a former Lululemon operator, a16z partner, and the ex-chief of staff and investor at Khosla Ventures, thinks she can cut through all the noise, and that she’s figured out a way to pinpoint what a founder really believes and discern whether they’re telling the truth.
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