Natalie Dillon

Natalie is a Principal at Maveron, a consumer-focused VC based in SF with over $1 billion under management. Maveron’s portfolio also includes notable investments in Keeps, Elysium, Neighborhood Goods, and Allbirds.

Prior to Maveron, Natalie was at Susa Ventures, a premier seed-stage fund in San Francisco. At Susa, Natalie worked with the team to source and help diligence several investments, largely in the consumer space.

On her morning routine.

I’m usually up at 8.30 and start with a simple breakfast of eggs and toast, followed by a cup of coffee. I couldn’t intermittently fast if I tried, breakfast is key for me. 

Then I’ll hop out for a quick walk with my dog, which allows me to reset myself and get into the mindset of work for the day. 

Once I’m back, I triage some emails and prioritize tasks for the day.

On her core workflow.

My morning workflow involves catching up with investors who I’ve known for a long time, just to check in on how they are doing, trade notes, and see if they need anything from my end. 

The bulk of my day is spent in meetings, previously in person now all on Zoom. I average 6 — 8 meetings per day, a mix of meetings with founders, investors, existing portfolio companies.

Fridays, I try to block off for heads down research time.

On friends vs colleagues.

I’ve always approached relationships within venture, be it with founders or investors, with an extremely long-term attitude.

One of the distinctive parts of VC relative to other asset classes is that you can do this job really well and genuinely be friends with people in the industry.

It’s just so much more meaningful to win alongside your friends, to root for others, and to extend your “team” to include people from different firms and different investment stages. 

It’s easy to get caught up in transactional deal trading, which is short term helpful. Long term the goal is to be a world-class investor, one of the most influential levers is to surround myself with trusted, long-term relationships. 

I see folks across the industry as friends, teammates, and thought partners who can really fine-tune my thinking, share business opportunities, and push me to work harder.

It makes the job a lot more rewarding and, frankly, easier when you have friends you can rely on.

On consumer psychology.

The first thing that attracted me to the team and investments Maveron was this obsession with consumer behavior and consumer identity. 

I’ve been obsessed with consumer behavior and psychology for as long as I can remember, and finding other folks with a similar level of obsession felt like I had finally found “my people.” 

The team at Maveron was also a really tight-knit group that I felt I shared a lot of values with. That can be tough to find in any industry. 

Maveron curates a culture that celebrates differences in culture and consumer experiences. We’re allowed and encouraged to bring our full selves to work.

On overwhelm and resets.

Throughout quarantine, I’ve definitely hit points of Zoom and digital fatigue.

It gets super easy to stack back to back meetings because now you don’t have those 10 minute of transportation time to reset before your next meeting.

The moments to clear your mind have evaporated.

To reset and find equilibrium in the middle of the day, I hop out for a walk, check on my garden, or hang with my dog. If I’m not up and moving, it’s easy to fall into a bad mood.

Venture at large requires a ton of mental stamina. 

If I’m feeling down or running low on energy, I know I can’t give my full self and attention to the founder who’s taking time out of their day to jam with me.

On her evening routine.

Winding down starts with dinner. It’s wildly therapeutic for me. If I’m especially stressed after a long day I’ll block out time to prep and cook these elaborate, complex dinners. (Elaborate for me, simple for your everyday cook!)

After dinner, usually try to watch a bit of standup comedy or documentary. Big fan of Chappelle, Mulaney, Nate Bargatze, Ronny Chieng. Jordan Firstman and Christina Najjar for short-form humor. 

While I try not to be glued to my laptop in the evenings, I’ll occasionally check my email on my phone.

That being said, I really do try to protect my nights to just kick back.

Lastly, the best reset you can get is through a solid night of sleep. No caffeine after 3 pm sharp, no snacks right before bed, and always rocking a sleep mask to ensure quality sleep.

I aspire for 8 hours plus of sleep, I’m pretty religious at hitting that goal.