Ashley Brasier

Ashley is an active angel and advisor to consumer and marketplace businesses.

As a former operator, Ashley works with early-stage companies to crack their growth strategy. Previously, she was a Partner at Lightspeed, a multi-stage VC with a portfolio that includes Bonobos, Handshake, and Verishop.

On her morning routine.

Once I’m awake, I reach for my phone and catch up on texts from my night owl friends on the West Coast. I try my best to avoid getting sucked into the endless scrolling trap that is TikTok, but I do love starting off my morning with some laughs on TikTok or Instagram.

On the days where I have some extra time to get ready, I’ll sit in my window seat and do some journaling – it helps me reflect and ground my thoughts in what I’d like to accomplish that day.

I find that walking in the morning really helps improve my energy levels for the rest of the day.

So, I try to make it outside for a quick jaunt before any work calls or meetings. 

Since I’m not a big breakfast person, I usually just pour myself a glass of orange juice. If I have time to hit a coffee shop, I’ll sip on a chai or grab a mid-morning everything bagel.

On setting intentions.

I’m actively trying to be more intentional about starting my day off on the right foot.

I am so much more productive, and stress is way more manageable when I set an intention during my morning journaling.

I literally write out the intention in my journal, which sits on the dresser next to my desk. Just seeing the journal and remembering what I wrote helps me focus and refocus throughout the day.

I also try to block time for uninterrupted deep thinking. As an introverted person and thinker, I gain energy from the ability to go deep - get inspired, do research, and pull the threads together on a business problem.

On the best part of venture.

My absolute favorite part of the week is strategizing with entrepreneurs.

I really enjoy sitting down with entrepreneurs and helping them work through problems in real-time. 

As a former operator, ideation and thinking about the future are huge passions of mine. It’s great to be able to bring in my experience in a way that’s helpful for the founder I’m working with. I meet with multiple companies a week, and I think founders really appreciate my broad point-of-view on new trends and spaces.

I like to help founders think through questions like: ‘should we go do this thing?’ and ‘how should we go do this thing?’

I use my counseling toolkit to break problems up into smaller and more manageable chunks for founders and their teams to answer.

On navigating overwhelm.

Great deals move ridiculously fast: you have to get to conviction with limited information in just a mere matter of days. Cue the overwhelm.

If you want to stay in the game and put money on the line, you have to move fast and accept that you can’t plan for everything or answer every question.

By the time Friday rolls in, my week usually ends up looking a lot different than what I thought it would like when I first planned it out.  

When that overwhelming feeling hits me, I recalibrate.

I’ll open a new Google doc window and type out a quick shortlist of my top priorities. Once I’ve reframed my next steps, I’ll jump back into work. Taking a step back to refocus and organize my thoughts really makes all the difference. 

I’ll also step out for a walk, which is an easy way for me to clear my mind and re-energize. I love to listen to the birds as I walk around the neighborhood. There are so many cardinals and bluebirds flying around at this time of year.

On her evening routine.

Once 6pm rolls around, I’m finished with my calls and it’s time to join my family for dinner.

After dinner’s all done and put away, I’ll spend a couple of hours on emails, follow-ups, and any other work just to tie up any loose ends so don’t leave myself additional work (or overwhelm) for the following day.

Once I’ve finished up work, I’ll start settling down. Recently, I’ve been reading before bed. I’m currently speeding through Katharine Graham’s autobiography, and I also like leafing through self-improvement books. I love reading and re-reading Eckhart Tolle’s book ‘A New Earth.’

I always gain new perspectives.

Finally, I’m usually lights out by 11:30 on the dot.