Seed to Scale: Episode 9 with Clara Sieg, Partner at Revolution Ventures

On the capital gap outside Silicon Valley, perspective on how founders operate businesses differently and advice to founders managing their board

Founding General Partner Tim Young speaks with Clara Sieg, a Partner and Founding member of Revolution Ventures. Clara has been featured on Forbes’ 30 Under 30 for Venture Capital and named LinkedIn’s Top 10 Professionals Under 35 for VC & Finance.

In this episode, Clara discusses how her hometown of Pittsburgh has evolved as a tech hub and how it has influenced her passion for finding and investing in companies outside of Silicon Valley. She speaks about the early days of Revolution and why they were one of the first funds that strategized around the opportunities in second and third-tier cities. She also gives her perspective on the growing ecosystems across the up-and-coming cities, local talent and how she leverages this to recruit and scale companies.

Clara shares her perspective on the mindset and unit economics of founders outside of the valley, how they operate businesses due to less capital flow and can think differently about taking on investments and dilution.

Clara also gives advice to founders managing and optimizing their board and how to make sure you get the best possible people around the table versus just optimizing for valuation.