Gina Yocom, Developing Talent and Networks at Primary Venture Partners
April 26th, 2021
Starting her career in Operations at New York City Football Club, Gina soon discovered her passion and skillset in Talent. She entered the world of VC through Platform roles including Partner - Market Development at Andreessen Horowitz and now, Director of Talent at Primary Venture Partners. In her current role, Gina continues to harness her strengths in finding talent and connecting people to build a strategy, inclusive of networks and communities, at Primary Venture Partners.
In this feature, Gina shares her key learnings from her first role, how and why she entered VC, how her roles have progressed in Primary Venture Partners, and her day-to-day as Director of Talent. Read along to soak up her incredible career advice for ambitious women, such as yourself.
Early Career
You graduated from University of Colorado Boulder with a Bachelor in Journalism and Mass Communication, News Editorial and started your career in Operations at New York City Football Club. What key learnings did you take from your first role?
I came into NYCFC as one of the first employees (I was employee #12 including the coaching and training staff) reporting into the CFO and wearing all of the hats. The biggest learnings were about myself. I am forever grateful to have had a boss who empowered me to explore so many functions, which allowed me to understand what I loved, and just as important, what I didn’t (always great to confirm that indeed, my gut was right, I am not suited for finance). Looking back, it’s hard to believe that I was able to run with grassroots marketing campaigns at soccer bars during the World Cup, write JDs and run phone screens for candidates, write general internal and external content, and then spend my evenings trying to make sense of our financial model. I found myself leaning into the talent side of things, and eventually, as we grew up and the season started, I found myself excited by the operations challenge of turning Yankee Stadium into a soccer stadium. That experience, while maybe not obvious, has prepared me to where I am to date: As Director of Talent at Primary, I still wear many hats, switching from writing content, running operations for the firm’s various talent communities, and of course, working closely with our founders to hire the best talent for their teams. It was also a great bootcamp for resiliency––that role trained my soft skills in remaining calm and producing deliverables under immense pressure and navigating chaos and staying sane during constant changing circumstances.
Your next role was at the VC Fund, Andreessen Horowitz, as Partner - Market Development. What initially drove you to enter the world of VC? And how do you think gaining operating experience in a previous role helped prepare you for working in VC?
The organization had matured and grown to 200+ employees, and for the first time, my growth and learning started to feel stagnant. I knew I needed the next challenge, but I had no clue what that was going to look like. I turned on my LI recruiter and started taking some networking calls in a variety of industries and opened the funnel to how I was thinking about my next opportunity. Given my generalist background—I was looking at marketing operations, corporate events, and field marketing roles—I was having a hard time finding a role that I was super excited about and that would be broad enough to leverage my skill sets. Just as I was starting to feel discouraged that I would never find the right fit, I spoke to a recruiter about a role that sounded very interesting—it would sit on the Market Development team and work with various startups, operationalize the business development program in NYC, and be the liaison between the business development partners and the founders. It was enticing, and as I dug in deeper, it felt like the perfect next step—it would leverage my operations skills in a very different capacity, and I loved the idea of working with so many startups instead of being embedded in just one. I feel fortunate that in a way, VC found me. It was never something that was even on my radar.
Now, as I speak with folks who are actively looking for VC roles, I always advise to optimize for more startup experience, especially for early-stage VCs and post-investment roles. I personally wish I had more operating experience sometimes, even just for the credibility and trust that it builds with founders right away. The operating experience gives you intimate training and knowledge about the exact companies you are supporting: You understand the challenges, the team dynamics, the constant moving targets, and metrics so much more intimately than if you just saw it from the investor standpoint. It also is hugely beneficial to have that scrappy, roll-up-your-sleeves experience and apply it in the VC ops world.
Primary Venture Partners
You joined Primary Venture Partners as Director of Community and transitioned into the Director of Talent a year later. How do these roles differ?
I joined the firm with a very ambitious and ambiguous goal of building a network of the best go-to-market operators in New York City tech. The idea being, as a firm that invests in NYC-based startups, if we are getting to know the operators within startups that have deep expertise in go-to-market functions, that would be hugely beneficial to the founders that we back, and ultimately grow the portfolio. This was a lot of coffee meetings and trial-and-error strategies to figure out how to find and build relationships with the best talent at all levels—and beyond that how to build a community and trust. As I started to build this network out, I started to learn where my skills and interests were leaning into: It always came back to the talent and connecting people. As I started to understand what the portfolio was looking for and what the folks in our network were seeking when they wanted to build a relationship with a VC, I was able to harness my strengths and piece together a strategy to empower both through meaningful connections. The hires into the portfolio out of the networks I was building started happening, and it became clear that was the most helpful and impactful thing we could do for our founders. My role evolved into Director of Talent because that is where my learnings, experience, and interests led me . Now, my role is still evolving as we continue to adapt and iterate, but the approach is still the same. If we continue to build relationships with best-in-class talent, provide meaningful value to them, and earn their trust, then ultimately we should be able to make more hires either directly or through their networks. The biggest difference between the two roles has just been the metrics that I am measured on—and building the networks with more of a hiring lens than before.
What does your role as the Director of Talent at Primary Venture Partners entail? What does your day-to-day look like?
It varies, which keeps it interesting, but in a typical day, I try to block off time in the morning for no meetings and to catch up on emails, general network operation work, content, candidate emails, and general network communications that need to go out. Throughout a week, my calendar is filled with a variety of different calls ranging from discussing hiring with founders and their people teams, building relationships with new operators, sharing career advice with folks in our network, or discussing advising opportunities with our Expert Network (the network we leverage to advise our founders). Between those calls I am usually moderating 3-5 group discussions for our networks a week. Since the pandemic, when we could no longer host in-person dinners, I started to host virtual “Huddles” with functional leaders, where we discuss anything across best practices, going deep into specific topics or general leadership advice. I also host a variety of roundtables, happy hours, and book clubs for our Sales Mastermind Network and Chief of Staff Mastermind Networks. Oh, and of course, Tuesday afternoon is always blocked off for our team meeting from 1-5:00, where we cover everything from deal flow to portfolio updates across the firm.
How has working in VC helped you accomplish your career goals to date, and how do you think it might prepare you for your future endeavors?
VC has helped me in a number of ways. The most meaningful is probably the network of truly incredibly talented people I interact with on a daily basis and learning from them. Also, the way that VC has expanded my ability to go deep into industries by asking the right questions and learning about industries that I had never thought of before. It has broadened my horizons more than I could have ever imagined. I’ve leaned into my natural intellectual curiosity and remain energized by early-stage founders. I believe because I was able to navigate the ambiguity of my role and create impact, I was able to learn and iterate faster than if I were at a larger institution with lots of hierarchy and structure. As for the future, I hope whatever that looks like, I am still creating impact and empowering people through networks and my role here continues to be the best training ground for that.
Career Advice
What do you wish you knew when you were first starting your career?
Ask for more money! They didn’t teach negotiation in college, and that seems like a big miss. You have to be your biggest advocate, and when I was early in my career, I didn’t truly understand what that meant. Your boss and others hopefully have your best interest in mind, but you have to do things that feel potentially selfish, and constantly bring up your own goals and professional development (and cash!) to actually have it prioritized.
Also—more than anything, and ESPECIALLY early in your career, hands-down, the most important thing is who you work for. The leadership team and your direct manager will have the biggest impact on your growth and your overall development more than anything else.
What advice do you have for young women who want to enter VC?
Try to optimize for operating experience and start to network early. Network, network, network. The VC community, especially on the post-investment front, is very tight knit and every VC team structure is different. So, start to reach out and meet people, understand their roles, how they structure the team, what value they bring to their founders, and how they measure their success. From there, plug in and figure out what stage, sector, and environment is right for you.
Who is one woman you aspire to be like?
I will pick two, if I may be so bold! Cassie Young & Rebecca Price, two Operating Partners at Primary (and both of my bosses) are not only the two best people I have worked with, but their partnership is the most aspirational. Cassie was formerly CRO at Sailthru, where she worked with Rebecca who was Head of People there. They continued the relationship after Rebecca left to be Chief People Officer at Enigma. Both of them prioritize empowering their teams, and ambitious professional women in their network. You can see that in their track record of coaching and developing their team, and their reputations with people who have worked for them and never want to leave. I can see it on their calendars as they still have touch bases with former direct reports, and always make time for young professionals who want to learn from them. When we we’re looking for an Operating Partner to lead People - Rebecca was Cassie’s first call. We interviewed many incredibly talented and impressive people leaders, but it was clear that Rebecca was the best fit for the role and our team. They’re strong collaboration has already had a massive impact on my growth and development, the firm, and the broader portfolio. I aspire to build professional relationships like theirs--it is the perfect example of why networking and staying in touch with professional friends is so meaningful.
