Brianne Kimmel

Background

Brianne Kimmel is a Ukrainian-American venture capitalist who founded Worklife Ventures in September 2019 ¹². She grew up in Youngstown, Ohio, where her grandparents had immigrated from Ukraine; her grandfather began his career sweeping floors in a steel mill ³.

Kimmel attended Kent State University from 2007 to 2011, majoring in advertising within the School of Media and Journalism ³⁴. She received the Wyse Family and Arras Group Scholarships in 2011 and was named Kent State Student Leader of the Year in 2010 ³.

After graduating, Kimmel moved to Sydney, Australia, where she cold-DMed an advertising agency founder and secured visa sponsorship ⁵. She spent approximately two years doing performance marketing, including handling influencer campaigns for Nikon ³⁶. She then moved to Expedia, where she spent about three years advancing to Head of Social Media by 2016, working across Sydney, Hong Kong, and Silicon Valley ³⁴⁶.

In 2016, Kimmel joined Zendesk, where she led go-to-market strategy for self-serve revenue and built “Zendesk for Startups,” a program representing over 3,000 startups and 250+ incubators and accelerators ⁴⁷. During this period, she also taught entrepreneurship at General Assembly to over 5,000 students ⁴⁷. In 2017, she rebranded her curriculum to create “SaaS School,” an invite-only program for early-stage companies featuring classes taught by executives from Airtable, Notion, Superhuman, and other venture-backed startups ³⁷.

Kimmel began angel investing around 2017-2018, writing small checks of $1,000 to $5,000 from personal savings ⁵. She has described this moment as her proudest career achievement: “Writing my first check as an angel investor. I dipped into the small amount of savings that I had and it completely changed my life” ². She also participated in Y Combinator’s Winter 2016 batch ⁴.

In September 2019, Kimmel launched Worklife Ventures with a debut fund that closed at $10 million after an initial target of $3 million (TechCrunch reported a $5 million first close) ¹³⁸⁵. The fund was backed by Marc Andreessen, Chris Dixon, Garry Tan, Alexis Ohanian, Eric Yuan (Zoom CEO), NFX, and Slow Ventures ¹⁸⁵. The fund achieved 7x returns in less than three years ³. In April 2022, she raised a $35 million Fund II ⁹. As of 2024, a $50 million Fund III was reported to be in progress ³. Total assets under management across the first two funds were approximately $45 million ³.

Stated Thesis

Worklife Ventures publicly describes itself as “the first creator-friendly venture capital firm” focused on “the future of work” ²¹⁰. Kimmel has stated: “The desire for the fund is to take a step back and imagine how do we build great consumer experiences in the workplace” ¹.

The firm’s website frames its thesis around the belief that “anyone can start a business, creative project, or other endeavor” and that the firm invests alongside “thoughtful founders, building new opportunities for every creator, designer, developer and individual who uses the tech we’ve backed” ².

Kimmel has described several trends fueling the consumerization of enterprise software, including the rise of freelance and remote work, consumer familiarity with SaaS products, and the growth of low-code/no-code tools for developers ³.

When asked whether Worklife is “consumer or enterprise,” Kimmel has responded: “No, no. It’s actually neither. The lines will be incredibly blurred” ¹.

On Fund II, Kimmel described a “more down-to-earth definition” of the future of work, distancing herself from web3 and metaverse hype despite those being “the loudest features” of the sector ⁹.

Inferred Thesis

Based on 42 verified investments in the portfolio table below, the following patterns emerge. Note: Worklife has reportedly made 50+ investments total, so these 42 represent approximately 84% of the known portfolio.

Sector Allocation (computed from 42 verified portfolio entries)

• Developer Tools / Infrastructure: 13 companies (31%) – Supabase, WorkOS, Webflow, Vantage, Knock, BuildShip, Rowy, BaseDash, Dev.to, Daily, Mux, Stytch, Rive
• Enterprise SaaS / Collaboration: 8 companies (19%) – Hex, Hightouch, Forethought, mmhmm, Candor, Bubbles, ChartHop, Equals
• Creator Economy / Consumer: 6 companies (14%) – Pietra, Public, Clubhouse, Heylo, Flamingo Estate, Tanner Fletcher Studios
• Fintech / Payments: 5 companies (12%) – Settle, Deel, Pipe, Carry, Lightfield
• AI / Machine Learning: 2 companies (5%) – GC.AI, Tome
• Health / Wellness / Fitness: 3 companies (7%) – Tonal, Shimmer, Julie Care
• E-commerce / D2C: 2 companies (5%) – Italic, Bravado
• Events / Education / Defense: 3 companies (7%) – Hopin, Primer, Overdrive Defense

Note: Some companies span multiple categories; each is counted once in its primary category. With 42 of 50+ investments verified, the actual distribution may differ somewhat.

Stage Distribution

The overwhelming majority of investments are at seed stage. Based on 42 verified investments, all appear to have been at pre-seed or seed stage, with a small number at Series A participation. Fund I wrote smaller checks ($50K-$250K); Fund II increased to an average check size of $2 million at approximately $20 million post-money valuations ⁹.

Geographic Concentration

Investments are heavily concentrated in San Francisco, with secondary concentrations in New York and Los Angeles ⁴. Kimmel has noted she also invests in Australian startups, reflecting her time spent living in Sydney ².

Founder Profile Patterns

Kimmel has stated that “all but one of her investments have had a female founder” and there is a “big emphasis on helping immigrants,” which she says has stayed consistent since the firm’s inception ⁹. She seeks founders who are “someone who understands the end-user” ¹¹. The portfolio reflects a strong preference for operator-founders coming from companies like Zendesk, Airbnb, Coinbase, and Uber ¹.

Co-investor Patterns

Frequent co-investors include Andreessen Horowitz (a16z), Y Combinator, Initialized Capital (Garry Tan), and various solo GPs in the emerging manager ecosystem. Worklife often participates alongside larger firms rather than leading later rounds ³⁸.

Notable Gaps

Despite the “future of work” branding, the portfolio extends well beyond workplace tools into consumer/lifestyle (Flamingo Estate, Tanner Fletcher Studios, Italic), health (Shimmer, Julie Care), fitness (Tonal), and defense (Overdrive Defense). The stated thesis is narrower than the actual investment scope.

Portfolio

Note: Many investment dates are approximate. Years marked “~YYYY” use the best available estimate based on fund deployment timelines and public reporting. Worklife has reportedly made 50+ investments total; this table represents approximately 84% of known investments.

In Their Own Words

On her path to investing:

“All my opportunities came from either cold emailing or DMing someone on Twitter.” ⁵

On starting as an angel:

“Look, all I can do right now is $5,000; even that’s a stretch.” ⁵

On the consumerization of enterprise:

“The desire for the fund is to take a step back and imagine how do we build great consumer experiences in the workplace.” ¹

On blurring lines between consumer and enterprise:

“Are you consumer or are you enterprise? No, no. It’s actually neither. The lines will be incredibly blurred.” ¹

On founder-investor fit:

“Founders should really find founder-partner fit. I think there are just different styles of relationships, there are different styles of company building.” ¹¹

On building a track record:

“I often encourage people who are thinking of building a track record as an angel to not be concerned with check size and just like prove your worth and get in.” ¹¹

On equity:

“Equity is ownership and ownership is responsibility.” ¹¹

On Deel as an investment:

“One of the first tangible examples of a company that could fundamentally make remote possible.” ¹²

On remote work and community:

She hypothesized that remote work would “bring back neighborhoods,” enabling neighbors to start businesses together and restore community activities ².

On being a female GP:

“I want to be mindful that I am a female GP and I feel honored to have that title.” ¹

What Founders Say

Eric Winters, Co-Founder of Heylo:

“We met through a friend and investor, and it was like we could finish each other’s sentences. Brianne lives and breathes what this space is all about. We have a shared vision of what the future will look like.” ²

Ronak Trivedi, CEO of Pietra:

“It’s hard for investors to build value in companies they invest in, but Brianne embodies the thing that she wants to help with. She works hard to get in on the best deals and she has this thesis on remote work, and side hustles. This is the next generation of younger entrepreneurs, and they have the tools to have multiple revenue streams.” ²

Unnamed portfolio founder (via dot.LA):

“Brianne is very involved with helping us recruit people and building connections with other companies. She reached out to us when we were early stage. She is super pro about the future of work and remote work.” ⁸

Unnamed portfolio founder (via dot.LA):

“Brianne’s network is phenomenal. She’s also willing to offer support in other ways, like flying cross-country for one of our company’s happy hours.” ⁸

No additional independently sourced founder testimonials found beyond the above. The Worklife Ventures website features additional testimonials, but these are firm-curated marketing materials ².

Sources