#15 – How Megan Quinn went from building products to investing in companies that build products

The Role Models Podcast

Megan Quinn is a General Partner at Spark Capital, a venture capital firm that has invested in companies like Twitter, Postmates, Tumblr, and Slack. Megan grew up in Los Angeles surrounded by 4 sisters and first didn’t intend to enter the technology sector. After moving up north to graduate from Stanford, she took a job at Google and helped the then-small company go public. As an avid collector of historical maps, she found her perfect dream job in Google’s Maps division where she has held several leadership positions in marketing, product, and business development during her tenure at Google. After 8 years at Google, she joined the next rocket ship as the Director of Product for payment processing company Square before switching sides and becoming an investor at Silicon Valley venture capital institution Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers where she led a number of the firm’s early-stage and growth consumer investments. As the first female partner at Spark Capital, today she invests in companies like Medium, Slack, and Grammarly. In this episode, you’ll learn from Megan: – What skill she recommends everybody should master, regardless of role or company. – How she says “Yes” to an opportunity first, and deals with the fear later. – How she transitioned from one role to the next. – How former Google exec and Yahoo CEO Marissa Mayer helped her manage a tricky situation. – How she assesses investment opportunities. – How she approaches working with mentors. … and much more. Follow Megan on Twitter and Medium: https://twitter.com/msquinn https://medium.com/@msquinn