Sara joined Accel in 2022 and works with early-stage consumer, enterprise, and AI companies, partnering with founders as they scale category-defining businesses from early traction through global scale. Prior to Accel, Sara spent a decade operating inside hypergrowth startups, including formative years at Faire and Uber during periods of rapid expansion. She serves on the boards of scaling companies among them Cinder, depthfirst, and AssemblyAI. Sara’s investment interests are focused on the security foundations required to build durable AI-driven applications, as well as the category-defining consumer and enterprise applications enabled by them. She is originally from Chico, California, and graduated from Northwestern University and Stanford.
Get to know Sara
What was your first job?
I worked at a shoe repair shop as it expanded to also selling shoes, so I was combo sales and repair shop front desk. It's not an original view, but I share the belief that everyone should work front line service and sales at some point. It also taught me to appreciate people who care for their belongings. Don't trash them, reheel them!
What’s your all-time favorite movie, TV show, or book?
I'm cheating and instead sharing a genre. I love documentaries. There are parallels to the conversations we get to have with founders, where you get to understand what drives individuals, ecosystems, and markets at a level of detail you wouldn't otherwise get. A few I heartily recommend: Herb & Dorothy, Jiro Dreams of Sushi, Obit, Donut King...there's more where that came from when we meet.
If you could master any skill instantly?
Is it cheating to say predicting the future? Outside of work I'd say either meditation or cooking. Cooking because it's not a place I feel confident but I love hosting and amazing cooks host with such special ability. Meditation because I believe in the impact on mental clarity, but I haven't put in the time to develop the practice...yet.
.avif)
