Andrea Saravolac

My career path to VC has been quite an eccentric one. After spending the first 8 years of my career between KPMG and Macquarie, I moved to Canada for 3 years and pivoted to PE at a boutique fund admin. I've always loved the funds space, but there was something different about seeing the full lifecycle of deals that had me hooked. After a brief stint in property funds in New Zealand, I decided it was finally time to come home - both to Sydney, and to the PE/VC space.

Values are really important to me. I feel like we do our best work with people whose values align with our own. For me, reading AirTree's values was like a breath of fresh air, as each one spoke to something I felt was missing working in big corporates.‍

I love startups and the VC space for doing something different. After all, insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results. I truly believe startups are doing important work in finding new solutions to old problems, and I look to emulate this in my approach to work. That's why I love learning new skills (VBA and SQL through online learning are recent favourites) to make things more efficient.

I believe in seeking joy in the journey, not the destination, and I look up to our founders (people braver than me) for their patience and resilience. If they can get up and do what they do every day, I certainly won't let myself be bested by a tricky spreadsheet!  

In my spare time you'll find me planning my next trip, learning a new language (hot tip: if you listen to rap in said language, it'll help you learn it faster!) or getting adventurous in the kitchen with a new recipe.