As Dawn’s US-based Talent and Networks Lead, Bridget advises European founders on launching in the US, runs strategic and executive searches for portfolio companies, and connects founders to the operators and networks they need to scale in the US.

I studied Anthropology at Bowdoin College, which sounds like a long way from venture capital, but has actually shaped how I approach nearly everything in my life. Anthropology taught me to be curious about people, and to look past the surface to the context that shaped them. It also taught me that the most progress is made when people from different backgrounds and perspectives have a seat at the table. That’s the lens I bring to every candidate conversation at Dawn: understanding how someone really thinks and works, what they want from their next chapter, what new perspective they could bring to a portfolio company, and how that aligns with the company and opportunity at hand.

A big part of my role at Dawn is helping our European founders break into the US by making their first US-based hires. These are often the most consequential bets a founder makes outside the founding team. They usually need to bring a different perspective on how to sell, build, and grow in the US, which means founders are asked to trust someone whose instincts they don’t yet fully share.

Founders spend years building something they think of as their life’s greatest work, and handing any piece of it off, especially to someone who wasn’t there from the beginning, is one of the hardest things they are asked to do. The most rewarding moment in my work is watching a founder come to believe that there are people who can do parts of the job far better than they can. Some founders know this from day one, and some have to learn it, but it’s the shift where founders discover that handing the right things off to the right people doesn’t slow growth. In fact, it accelerates it and turns their vision into something far bigger than one person could build alone.

When I’m not working, I’m either on a bike, hiking, skiing, trying a new restaurant with people I love, or reading (ideally next to a body of water).

Before joining Dawn, Bridget worked as a Talent Manager at OpenView Partners, a Boston-based VC fund specialising in B2B SaaS companies.