Hayley Barna is one of the few venture investors who previously built a large consumer subscription brand from scratch, co-founding and growing Birchbox to over 1 million monthly subscribers and raising $70M before joining First Round Capital as a partner. She brings a founder-as-bridge-to-VC identity to her investing, positioning herself as a relatable translator between entrepreneurs and the venture ecosystem by leaning on her own fundraising and operating experience to create open dialogue rather than taking a distant advisor posture.

• Emphasis on sectors that generate real-world impact and ripple effects, particularly in complex or regulated industries like healthcare, supply chain, and climate. This includes a history of backing diverse healthcare teams ranging from mental health platforms like Alma to innovative models like subscription-based gene therapy with Quantile Health.
• Strong commitment to the NYC tech ecosystem, leveraging personal experience building Birchbox in the city to champion it as a premier hub for starting companies. actively participates in local summits and community building with other firms to support the next generation of New York-based founders.
• Focus on the mechanics of Product-Market Fit (PMF) and the tactical side of company building. Frequently promotes frameworks and educational resources, such as the PMF Method retreat, to help early-stage B2B founders validate hypotheses and navigate the initial years of operation.
• Appreciation for strong founder-product fit where entrepreneurs reimagine familiar concepts or objects. A prime example is the investment in Mirror, where the founder transformed a standard home object into a workout tool, or &Open, which brought intentionality to corporate gifting.
• Interest in data-driven insights regarding founder psychology, burnout, and time management. Highlights deep-dives into the founder lifestyle, such as the founder of Levels tracking every 15 minutes of his life for five years to reveal counterintuitive truths about scaling and engineering management.
• Attraction to founders who defy conventional wisdom and trust their gut instincts when making strategic decisions. Commended the founders of Clay for making moves that felt wrong on paper but right in practice, viewing this intuition as a key component of navigating the path to success.
• Observation of shifting trends among female founders moving away from pure consumer goods toward hard tech categories like biotech, software, and AI. Validates this shift by highlighting data that shows women building in high-growth, technical fields rather than just traditional lifestyle sectors.