Paige Finn DohertyFounding Partner, Behind Genius · Founding Partner at Behind Genius Ventures

How has Cendana Capital Partner Kelli Fontaine's role evolved as Cendana has grown?

3 Feb 2023 · 1 min

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In this interview segment, Kelli Fontaine discusses how her role at Cendana Capital has changed as the firm expanded. She recounts joining Michael after a decade-long personal connection, bringing a background in operations and traditional finance from both operating companies and startups. Recognizing Cendana’s access to extensive data, she led a major data initiative that sharpened the firm’s investment focus and portfolio construction, aligning with market trends. Fontaine also notes that the firm’s limited partner (LP) base has shifted as they raise Fund 5, prompting a more strategic approach to LP selection.

Chapters

I'm curious if you could share a bit more about how your role has evolved as Sandana has grown. Yeah, so I mean, when I joined Michael, I'd known Michael personally for over a decade when I joined Sandana. My background had been in operations and traditional finance roles and operating companies and startups. And so when I joined Michael, one of the biggest things I saw was that we had access to amazing data. And so I took a big initiative on the data, and we've used that data to really hone our investment focus and our own portfolio construction and where we see the market moving to. And, you know, so it's great to see that evolve and how we have been able to utilize the data. You know, also, I would say our LP base has changed as we've grown and evolved. You know, we're raising Fund 5, and I think that with that, we've been more strategic with our LP choice.