— Kristen Hamilton is joining San Fransisco-based startup advisory firm Enjoy the Work as general partner.
The longtime Seattle entrepreneur previously founded Koru, a predictive hiring startup. The company also developed a bootcamp platform that helped employers find top entry level talent and graduates land jobs. Koru sold both businesses in 2019.
Enjoy the Work, founded in 2014 by tech veteran Jonathan Lowenhar, helps founders make decisions and navigate their businesses. Clients include Shef, Tiplati, HoneyBook, Mudflap, InDinero, Paper, and others. It is paid through a monthly retainer and receives equity in startups. The San Francisco-based firm has 11 partners.
After taking a break from work over the past year, Hamilton realized she wanted a new gig that had connection and impact. Enjoy the Work fit the bill.
“VCs refer us into their portfolios because they understand the value/upside we create and we do a lot to educate their whole portfolio,” Hamilton told GeekWire. “While we all have varied experience and backgrounds, we share a philosophy based on a set of core values and methodology — which means we bring efficiency and ever-refreshing best practices and a lot of love to our clients.”
Hamilton will remain in Seattle, working with startup execs in the region and elsewhere. Ruben Ortega, a longtime Seattle tech veteran who led engineering teams at Amazon, the Allen Institute for AI, Pinterest, and others, is also a general partner at the firm.
Hamilton previously co-founded Onvia and was an entrepreneur-in-residence at Maveron.
Other key personnel changes across the Pacific Northwest tech industry:
— Portland Seed Fund added Devon Horace as principal. Horace is senior manager for innovation and technology solution delivery for the Portland Trail Blazers and was a manager at Nike. He is also a venture partner with Oregon Venture Fund. His role at Portland Seed Fund is being funded by nonprofit Regional Accelerator & Innovation Network Catalyst, the Portland Business Journal reported.
— Seattle clothing rental startup Armoire hired Shelley Knisley as head of customer success and sales. Knisley was previously a sales exec for event tech startup Glisser, and also worked at talent management consulting firm CEB, which was acquired by Gartner. She also leads the Seattle chapter of Ellevate Network, a global professional women’s network.
— Portland, Ore.-based health tech startup Reperio Health named Naomi Levinthal as its chief growth officer. Levinthal previously worked as vice president of strategy at Memora Health.
— Seattle healthcare supply marketplace Bttn hire Nick White as VP of product and marketing. White formerly served as the VP of growth of crypto app Makara, which sold to Betterment in 2022.
— Former Funko Associate Director of Social Media Ashley Anderson is joining action figure-maker Super7 as director of community and social.
— Seattle AI speech coach startup Yoodli hired Sharan Jhangiani as its head of product. He previously worked as a machine learning engineer at Productiv.
