In early 2020 we made the decision at Compound to bring on our first team member in ~4 years. We spent the better part of five months reviewing hundreds of applicants, meeting with over 50 people, and working through a fairly involved process with a select few.
Entering the hiring process, I knew that what we were looking for at Compound was somewhat different than many friends who had built out junior investing roles at their firms. After a few months, I found myself swimming in a sea of MBAs who knew they wanted to invest but couldn’t passionately articulate what they wanted to invest in. I was discouraged.
One day I was on my 100x daily scroll of my twitter feed and realized a woman I followed was tweeting about potential career moves and asking for advice on the merits of joining a big company. I shot her a DM and told her she definitely shouldn’t work at Google and instead asked if she had ever thought about a job in venture capital. She said no.
That was a good sign.
I met Nicole Williams (now Ruiz) on Twitter as she was posting about a variety of interesting topics surrounding AI/ML, Space, the interesction of culture and technology, and more. Her twitter was all over the place, as mine is from time to time, and her passion was palpable.
Nicole’s final interview was scheduled to be in NYC the day the city shut down due to COVID. We Zoom’d for over 3 hours and eventually Nicole started at Compound in May 2020 without any of us having met each other.
As we have said in prior job postings, Compound is not an easy place to work. We are a small team that is autonomous but demanding and asks for only the best out of each other. Joining a place like this in the middle of a pandemic, fully remotely, as your first job in venture, does not make it any easier.
Over the past 2.5 years I’ve gotten to know Nicole as both a person and an investor. We eat lunch together 1:1 every Wednesday before our investment team meeting and she is one of the people I have spent the most time with in my life in this time period. In this time we’ve had countless discussions about life, venture, and the pursuit of happiness and greatness. We are different people that at times debate our different opinions on a variety of topics (and align on a bunch), but at the core, respect each other deeply. This has allowed us to push each other to become better investors and in my case, a better person.
In the world of venture, I believe GPs don’t give enough credit for the hard work that non-partners do out of some form of insecurity, ego, and more. In these 2.5 years, Nicole has helped across all of Compound, from investing to supporting founders to onboarding other team members. Some of these tasks are at times thankless but they are always noticed and have made an impact on the firm that she has helped build in her time here.
Compound is a place that is shaped by every individual that works with us. Each person leaves their own mark on what we do over the next 1, 5, and 10+ years whether that’s via forming a new thesis, investing in a founder, or pushing forward an internal project.
Compound is also a place that we hope people come and stay forever. At the same time, we recognize that people can become the best version of themselves through a collection of experiences early in their career and lives, and we do our best to support that.
With that said, Nicole will be moving on from Compound in the new year. We couldn’t be happier for her and what is to come next. We are sure it will be filled with passion, empathy, and greatness.
Thank you, Nicole for everything you’ve done. You will always be part of Compound and Compound will always be better off having you been apart of it.
— Michael & The Compound Team
