Katie Jacobs Stanton brings an unusually broad operating background spanning the White House, Twitter, Google, Yahoo, and Color Genomics, giving her a cross-sector lens across government, consumer internet, media, and genomics that she applies when working with founders. She explicitly uses "don't be a jerk" as an investment filter, making kindness and integrity hard requirements rather than nice-to-haves when choosing where to spend her time and capital.

• Interest in applying artificial intelligence to modernize legacy industries. Highlights include a strong focus on founders building AI-native solutions for traditional verticals like legal services and real estate. For instance, excitement was expressed about an investment in a founder who left a big law firm to build a solution aimed at ending the billable hour, as well as a startup bringing the real estate industry out of the stone ages.
• Appreciation for startup ecosystems beyond Silicon Valley. Enthusiasm is frequently shown for founders in diverse geographies, with specific shoutouts to Canadian startups and excitement about markets like Denver, Paris, Miami, and New York appearing in top data sets.
• High value placed on founder communication and discipline. Regular investor updates are viewed as a superpower that helps the firm support the portfolio more effectively. There is also a hands-on approach to talent, with mentions of personally reading hundreds of job applications to find candidates with high energy and hustle.
• Focus on consumer health and scientific integrity. Observations often contrast the efficiency of services like veterinary care against the complexities of human healthcare, alongside interest in wellness technology such as hydration tracking. There is also a strong stance on protecting scientific institutions that conduct climate research and public safety analysis.
• Willingness to make rapid, high-conviction decisions at the earliest stages. There is a clear openness to backing founders at the idea stage, described in an anecdote about meeting a founder at a tech event and moving immediately to invest based on the strength of the concept and the individual, rather than waiting for later metrics.