Elissa Fink

Independent Board Director & Advisor

Reviewed Updated Jul 21, 2026

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Location Seattle, Washington
Last Verified Investment Keyplay (Seed) — Dec 7, 2022
Social @elissafink LinkedIn
Stage Focus
seed
Sector Focus
b2b-saas marketing-tech data-infrastructure enterprise-software

Background

Elissa Fink is the former Chief Marketing Officer of Tableau Software, where she led marketing from 2007 through her retirement in early 2019, taking the company from roughly $5M in revenue to more than $1B in annual revenue and through its 2013 IPO and 2019 acquisition by Salesforce 123. She now works as an independent board director, advisor, angel investor, and adjunct/affiliate instructor at the University of Washington Foster School of Business 12.

Fink holds a BA from Santa Clara University and an MBA in Marketing and Decision Systems from USC Marshall (1993) 12. She began her career selling advertising for the Wall Street Journal, an experience she credits with sparking her interest in analytics and readership data 4. Before Tableau she held marketing and product roles at Claritas (1990–2000), TopTier Software (2000–2001), Tele Atlas — now TomTom — (2001–2004), and CMO/EVP at IXI Corp — now part of Equifax — (2004–2007) 2.

She is based in Seattle, Washington 56.

Stated Thesis

Fink does not publish a formal investment thesis. In interviews she has described a personal framework she calls “Team TAM Time” for evaluating early-stage B2B/enterprise startups: she trusts her “gut backed by data,” and that gut “boils down to Team TAM Time” — is the team credible and hard-working, is the total addressable market large enough, and is the timing right for the product to mature into the market 7. Her public work focuses on B2B/enterprise SaaS at the zero-to-one and scaling stages 71.

Inferred Thesis

Fink’s public angel-investing footprint is small — only three seed rounds are independently verifiable — so quantitative percentages would be misleading. Qualitative patterns from those three deals plus her board and advisory portfolio:

  • Stage: Every disclosed direct angel check is at seed (Magnify, Goldcast, Keyplay) 8910.
  • Sector: B2B marketing and sales technology adjacent to her Tableau operating experience — virtual event software (Goldcast), account intelligence for GTM teams (Keyplay), customer retention/renewal software (Magnify) 8910.
  • Geography: Portfolio and board seats concentrate in the US Pacific Northwest (Seattle) and the broader US enterprise-software ecosystem 8105.
  • Co-investors: She has co-invested alongside Madrona Venture Group (Magnify lead), MHS Capital (Keyplay lead), Unusual Ventures and HubSpot Ventures (Goldcast leads), and operator-angels including Aaron Bird, Scott Belsky, Chandar Pattabhiram, Elias Torres, Sangram Vajre, Kris Rudeegraap, and Lenny Rachitsky 8910.
  • LP activity: She is a returning investor / LP in Madrona Venture Labs and a Venture LP at Stage 2 Capital, both operator-led funds — suggesting she prefers to deploy capital through operator-networks in addition to direct checks 1112.
  • Board vs. angel split: Board and advisory roles vastly outnumber direct angel checks. She is best characterized as an operator-turned-board-director who writes occasional seed checks in her domain of expertise (B2B marketing tooling), not as a full-time investor. Sample size: 3 verified angel deals.

Portfolio

Only publicly disclosed direct angel investments are listed. Board seats and advisory roles appear in the Connections section.

Company Year Stage Source
Magnify 2021 Seed ($6M, led by Madrona Venture Group; Decibel Partners also participated) 8
Goldcast 2022 Seed ($10M, led by Unusual Ventures and HubSpot Ventures) 9
Keyplay 2022 Seed ($3M, led by MHS Capital) 10

Only 3 direct angel investments could be independently verified from primary sources. Aggregator profiles report subsequent acquisitions for Goldcast and Keyplay; deal terms and precise dates were not disclosed in the primary sources reviewed 13.

In Their Own Words

“Your website is absolutely critical…It’s the bedrock of your customers’ experiences. So it’s essential that marketers run it well.”

— Elissa Fink, Pantheon board-appointment announcement, January 28, 2020 14

“I’ve kept my eye on the way Conversica has assisted the marketing and sales communities through complex digital transformations.”

— Elissa Fink, Conversica board-appointment announcement, December 1, 2020 15

“It’s all about consistency.”

— Elissa Fink on brand-building, Founded and Funded podcast with Tim Porter, October 15, 2019 16

What Founders Say

No independently sourced founder testimonials found. Portfolio founders’ public references to Fink appear only in press-release boilerplate quoting her, not the reverse.

Connections

Public board seats (current or recent, per company or press announcements):

  • Board of Directors, Dataiku — appointed December 15, 2021 17
  • Board of Directors, Qumulo — appointed September 9, 2020; alongside CEO Bill Richter, with the appointment following Qumulo’s $125M Series E led by BlackRock 18
  • Board of Directors, Pantheon — appointed January 28, 2020; alongside CEO Zack Rosen 14
  • Board of Directors, Talend (Nasdaq: TLND) — appointed November 18, 2020; alongside Chairman Steve Singh and CEO Christal Bemont (Talend was subsequently taken private and merged with Qlik) 19
  • Board of Directors, Conversica — appointed December 1, 2020; first female board member 15
  • Board of Directors, Intellimize — announced by the company 20
  • Board of Directors, Uberflip — appointed 2020 21
  • Board of Directors, Concora — per her own website 1

Advisory / operator roles:

  • Advisor, Madrona Venture Labs — returning LP and advisor to the operator-led startup studio 11
  • Venture LP, Stage 2 Capital — GTM-focused fund led and backed by go-to-market operators 12
  • Advisory Board, SeekOut 22
  • Advisor, Outreach.io 2
  • Advisor, Amperity 2
  • Additional advisory relationships listed on her own site include Exasol and Saviynt 1

Prior employer / alumni network:

  • CMO, Tableau Software (2007–2019) — 11+ years leading marketing from ~$5M to >$1B ARR through NYSE IPO and Salesforce acquisition; longtime colleague of Tableau co-founders Christian Chabot, Chris Stolte, and Pat Hanrahan and CEO Adam Selipsky 123

Academic:

  • Affiliate Instructor of Marketing, University of Washington Foster School of Business 2
  • USC Marshall Corporate Advisory Board 2

Sources

  1. Elissa Fink Marketing, “About,” accessed July 2026. https://www.elissafink.com/about↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  2. University of Washington Foster School of Business, “Elissa Fink” faculty directory, accessed July 2026. https://foster.uw.edu/faculty-research/directory/elissa-fink/↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩↩

  3. Adam Schoenfeld, LinkedIn post referencing Fink’s tenure as Tableau CMO from $5M to $1B ARR, accessed July 2026. https://www.linkedin.com/posts/adamschoenfeld_marketing-sales-activity-7308515991859142657-YHXk↩↩

  4. Peer Signal, “The ‘CMO Whisperer’ Elissa Fink on scaling Tableau $5M to $1B, rethinking brand vs demand,” accessed July 2026. https://www.peersignal.org/p/the-cmo-whisperer-elissa-fink-on↩

  5. Crunchbase, “Elissa Fink” person profile, accessed July 2026. https://www.crunchbase.com/person/elissa-fink↩↩

  6. CB Insights, “Elissa Fink” investor profile, accessed July 2026. https://www.cbinsights.com/investor/elissa-fink↩

  7. Madrona Venture Labs, “MVL investor and advisor Elissa Fink on the art of marketing, customer engagement, and founder success,” accessed July 2026. https://www.madronavl.com/stories/mvl-investor-and-advisor-elissa-fink-on-the-art-of-marketing-customer-engagement-and-founder-success↩↩

  8. GeekWire, “Notable tech leaders back Magnify as software startup emerges with $6M in funding,” November 2021, accessed July 2026. https://www.geekwire.com/2021/notable-tech-leaders-back-magnify-software-startup-emerges-6m-funding/↩↩↩↩↩

  9. PR Newswire, “Goldcast Raises $10M in Seed Funding Led by Unusual and HubSpot Ventures,” February 17, 2022, accessed July 2026. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/goldcast-raises-10m-in-seed-funding-led-by-unusual-and-hubspot-ventures-to-help-b2b-marketers-run-engaging-events-and-drive-revenue-301484077.html↩↩↩↩

  10. GeekWire, “Keyplay, a new Seattle startup led by veteran entrepreneur Adam Schoenfeld, raises $3M,” December 2022, accessed July 2026. https://www.geekwire.com/2022/keyplay-a-new-seattle-startup-led-by-veteran-entrepreneur-adam-schoenfeld-raises-3m/↩↩↩↩↩

  11. Madrona, “Madrona Venture Labs — New Funding, New Partners,” accessed July 2026. https://www.madrona.com/madrona-venture-labs-new-funding-new-partners/↩↩

  12. Stage 2 Capital, “Elissa Fink” profile, accessed July 2026. https://www.stage2.capital/team/elissa-fink↩↩

  13. Tracxn, “Elissa Fink” portfolio and exits, accessed July 2026. https://tracxn.com/d/people/elissa-fink/__sPZkECvxcWgD1UkS4hFDyRM9llOVlbXhNPKBvfWFK0g↩

  14. Pantheon, “Former Tableau CMO Elissa Fink Joins Pantheon Board of Directors,” January 28, 2020, accessed July 2026. https://pantheon.io/press-releases/former-tableau-cmo-elissa-fink-joins-pantheon-board-directors↩↩

  15. GlobeNewswire, “Conversica Names Former Tableau CMO, Elissa Fink, to Join Its Board of Directors,” December 1, 2020, accessed July 2026. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2020/12/01/2137452/0/en/Conversica-Names-Former-Tableau-CMO-Elissa-Fink-to-Join-Its-Board-of-Directors.html↩↩

  16. Madrona, “Building a B2B Marketing Culture from the Ground Up with Elissa Fink, former CMO of Tableau Software,” Founded and Funded podcast with Tim Porter, October 15, 2019, accessed July 2026. https://www.madrona.com/building-a-b2b-marketing-culture-from-the-ground-up-with-elissa-fink-former-cmo-of-tableau-software/↩

  17. GlobeNewswire, “Dataiku Names Two Industry Leaders in Marketing and Finance to Board of Directors,” December 15, 2021, accessed July 2026. https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2021/12/15/2352711/0/en/Dataiku-Names-Two-Industry-Leaders-in-Marketing-and-Finance-to-Board-of-Directors.html↩

  18. BusinessWire, “Qumulo Appoints Elissa Fink to Board of Directors,” September 9, 2020, accessed July 2026. https://businesswire.com/news/home/20200909005244/en/Qumulo-Appoints-Elissa-Fink-Board-Directors↩

  19. PR Newswire, “Elissa Fink, Ryan Kearny Join Talend Board, Bringing Tech Industry Marketing and Product Expertise,” November 18, 2020, accessed July 2026. https://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/elissa-fink-ryan-kearny-join-talend-board-bringing-tech-industry-marketing-and-product-expertise-301175755.html↩

  20. YouTube (Intellimize), “Welcoming Elissa Fink, Former CMO of Tableau, as Intellimize’s Newest Board Member,” accessed July 2026. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DOiYpiQNv8o↩

  21. PRWeb, “Uberflip Unveils New Demand Solution for Marketers and Adds CMO Elissa Fink as Board Member to Propel Content Experience Growth,” 2020, accessed July 2026. https://www.prweb.com/releases/uberflip_unveils_new_demand_solution_for_marketers_and_adds_cmo_elissa_fink_as_board_member_to_propel_content_experience_growth/prweb17456398.htm↩

  22. SeekOut, “Elissa Fink, Former CMO of Tableau, Joins SeekOut Advisory Board,” accessed July 2026. https://www.seekout.com/blog/elissa-fink-former-cmo-tableau-joins-seekout-advisory-board↩