Katie Rae: Changing the Face of Start-up Investing
Managing Director at Project11; Chairman of Techstars Boston; Co-founder and Chairman at Startup Institute, a career accelerator company; MIT Lecturer
Linked In: https://www.linkedin.com/in/katierae
Twitter: @ktrae
Bio:
Katie Rae has been described as the ringmaster of Boston’s start-up startup circus, having worked with startups for years, including in her former position of Senior Product Director at Microsoft Startup Labs. She currently is the Co-Founder and Chairman of her own startup, Startup Institute as well as Managing Director of Project11, a early stage venture firm that she founded and is based in Boston.
Innovating in Field of Work:
• Rae is has a fund that will invest very early into startups. She aspires to broaden the kinds of people that found and grow “tech startups”.
• While Managing Director of Techstars Boston the 64 startup companies that she selected and mentored have collectively created more than 500 jobs and attracted more than $120 million of private capital
• Startup Institute, which she co-founded two years ago, has already graduated more than 500 students, helped more than 80% of those find careers in high-growth companies, and has expanded to 4 cities
Impact:
• In 2013, she was named by Fast Company as one of the 100 Most Creative People.
• In 2014 she was included in Boston Magazine’s list of people who embody the Power of Ideas
Role Model:
Rae has never settled for an unfulfilling job and has always kept her mind and eyes open for new and exciting opportunities. She continuously works with young women who want to be entrepreneurs or work at a startup to help them see that they can create a fulfilling work/life balance without having to settle. She stands as a constant example that you can be direct and tough in business and yet simultaneously care deeply about the human side.
Reinvention / Risk / Momentum:
Rae gave up a prestigious job at Microsoft to pursue angel investing just a few years ago. Since then, she has become a co-founder of her own career accelerator company and has become a Managing Director at an investment program and firm for early stage startups.
“I try and help [young women] see that they can create the life they want if they just keep working at it!”