Meet our Team

Jim is one of the leading consumer growth experts in Silicon Valley and is now widely known for naming Zoom as one of the earliest investors. At Maven, Jim focuses on emerging tech with a heavy focus on consumer AI. Jim has been fortunate to have achieved six unicorn exits in his career in roles ranging from founder, executive, and investor. Jim has a deep love and special talent for coaching, whether it be his childrens’ sports teams or the team at Maven. Jim loves helping people identify their life’s passion, and coaching them to achieve it. Before founding Maven, Jim had a successful startup career with executive roles at NBCi, Bebo, and Tango. Jim graduated from Duke University where he studied Psychology, and earned a J.D. from UC Davis.

Sara specializes in consumer software including digital health and personalized medicine, consumer applications of AI, consumer climate, family tech, and other high-growth consumer sectors. At Maven, Sara has led pioneering investments at the Seed stage in companies including Daybreak Health, Hello Heart, Carrot Fertility, Nest Genomics, and Wildtype. Sara has been at Maven for a decade since joining as the first employee. She previously worked with startups around the globe, including at The Idea Village in New Orleans, helping founders articulate and achieve a bold vision against all odds. She is Lecturer in Management at the Stanford GSB where she teaches an MBA elective course on startups and is a regular contributor to Forbes on Venture Capital. Earlier in her career, Sara was a management consultant in the Healthcare Strategy practice at Deloitte. Sara graduated from Xavier University with a B.S. in Finance and received her M.B.A. from Stanford.

Robert is Maven’s “boomerang VC,” starting as the firm’s first Associate in 2015, pivoting to work in Finance and Operations at a portfolio company, and eventually returning to Maven, now as an Investment Partner. Robert focuses on AI, fintech, and longevity, working closely with the founders of Daybreak Health, Trainwell, Validity, House Numbers, and Ottopia. As a son of immigrant entrepreneurs, Robert loves the rush and gratification of solving complex consumer problems and the opportunity for social and economic mobility that startups create. Robert graduated from Duke University, where he earned a BS in Economics, and recently returned to his alma mater as a Lecturer in the Masters of Fintech program.

Annaka is a Bay Area native and has over 16 years of experience in Finance. Her recent role was the VP of Finance for two pre-seed/seed and incubator Venture Capital firms based in California and New York. She began her professional career working for a middle and back office for Hedge Funds calculating NAVs for over 50 portfolios. Switching to the private equity space, she was the accounting manager at Bertram Capital based in San Mateo with $850M of AUM. Launching her Venture Capital career, she was the Controller at Aduro Advisors where she supported many leading Seed VC funds across all fund administration matters. Annaka graduated from UC Santa Barbara with a B.A. in Global Studies and received her M.A from the University of Leipzig and University of Vienna.

Kelly has been working in Finance for over 3 years now. She previously worked at a Private Equity firm in San Francisco. She graduated from Sonoma State University with honors. In her free time, she enjoys pilates, getting her steps in, reading, and baking. She also likes to spend quality time with her family and their two Bernese Mountain dogs. She is the oldest of three girls, who were all raised in the Bay Area.