#310: Caroline Casson, Partner at Vitalize VC, on Pattern Recognition, What Makes a Rock Star Founder, and How to Choose Great Investments

Caroline Casson is a Partner at Vitalize Venture Capital, where she spends her time sourcing potential investments, assisting portfolio companies, and managing the due diligence process for Vitalize. She also writes founder spotlights on her blog.

Prior to joining Vitalize in 2018, Caroline worked for GE Ventures in San Francisco where she helped incubate and operate a startup in the drone space. Before transitioning into venture capital, Caroline worked in corporate finance for various GE businesses in Chicago, Atlanta, London, and San Francisco. Caroline received a BBA with honors in math and psychology from Boston College and a Master of Science in Management from the University of Notre Dame, where she was valedictorian of her class.

Caroline is originally from Madison, Wisconsin and enjoys going home to spend time with her family whenever she can. She currently lives in the San Francisco Bay Area where she loves to bike, hike, sail, and play golf with her husband, Tom, and their dog, Sailor.

Topics Covered by Caroline Casson in this Episode

• How Caroline got her start in VC

• Caroline’s experience at GE Ventures and how she ended up at Vitalize

• Doing a cross-country bike ride with Bike & Build

• Caroline’s process for due diligence on a company

• The importance of excellent founding teams in early stage ventures

• How they filter through companies and decide which to invest in

• Where Caroline chooses to invest personally as an angel investor

• What makes a rock star founder

• Justin and Caroline’s perspective on Vitalize’s angel investor community

• What has helped Caroline learn and grow as an investor

• How she has developed her pattern recognition

• Caroline’s advice for founders and how to execute a successful cold outreach

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