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&lt;p&gt;Sarah Tavel&#39;s career path from &lt;a href=&quot;/school_profiles/undergrad/harvard-university&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Harvard&lt;/a&gt; graduate to first female partner at one of the biggest swinging Silicon Valley venture capital firms is an inspiring one. Tavel, recently featured as one of &lt;em&gt;Paper&lt;/em&gt; magazine&#39;s &lt;a href=&quot;http://www.papermag.com/sarah-tavel-greylock-partners-it-girls-1647484196.html&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;I.T. It Girls&lt;/a&gt;, says that one of the secrets to her success is being &quot;open to the fact that you don&#39;t know.&quot; Another is knowing the questions, not the answers.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&quot;I&#39;m really good at asking the right questions,&quot; she explains of her ability to thrive in unfamiliar conditions. &quot;I think that&#39;s how I became successful. I still wasn&#39;t technical, and yet I was leading the most technical teams at Pinterest. The way that I did that wasn&#39;t by faking it; it was just knowing the right questions to ask.&quot;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;While at a small venture capital firm called Bessemer, Tavel invested in Pinterest when it was just a tiny, four-person firm. She later joined &lt;a href=&quot;/blog/innovate-with-influence-global-high-tech/ben-silbermanns-unlikely-path-to-pinterest-ceo/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Pinterest&lt;/a&gt; as one of its first 35 employees. And while she worked at Pinterest as a product manager, one of the oldest and most storied venture capital firms in Silicon Valley came looking for. And when &lt;a href=&quot;http://recode.net/2015/06/11/greylock-just-hired-its-first-female-investment-partner/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Greylock Partners&lt;/a&gt; (which has invested in Pandora, Airbnb, Instagram, and &lt;a href=&quot;/company-profiles/internet-social-media/facebook,-inc/company-overview.aspx&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Facebook&lt;/a&gt;, among other tech giants) comes looking for you and wants to hire you, you say yes.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;Here&#39;s Tavel speaking about her transition to Greylock from Pinterest.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;She says that it wasn&#39;t her previous experience at Bessemer that she considered to be her biggest asset as she transitioned back into the world of venture capital, but her enthusiasm and experiences with Pinterest.&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;blockquote&gt;&quot;It was when I invested in Pinterest that I felt for the first time that I saw what an advantage it was to be a woman. I felt like I had insight into the product that I wouldn&#39;t have if I wasn&#39;t,&quot; Tavel explains. Even now, Tavel feels as though this otherness gives her an edge. &quot;I might be interested in companies that other people aren&#39;t interested in.&quot;&lt;/blockquote&gt;&lt;p&gt;Perhaps her interests at Harvard also give her a different perspective than most VC investors. Tavel received her degree in philosophy and captained the Crimson&#39;s women&#39;s rugby team.&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;em&gt;Follow us on&#160;&lt;a href=&quot;https://twitter.com/vaultfinance&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;Twitter&lt;/a&gt;.&lt;/em&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&lt;strong&gt;Read More:&lt;strong&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;/strong&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/blog/interviewing/how-your-mothers-advice-can-lead-to-a-great-vc-job-in-silicon-valley/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;How Your Mother&#39;s Advice Can Lead to a VC Job in Silicon Valley&lt;/a&gt;&lt;br /&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/blog/workplace-issues/what-do-young-venture-capitalists-do-all-day/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;What Do Young Venture Capitalists Do All Day?&lt;br /&gt;&lt;/a&gt;&lt;a href=&quot;/blog/interviewing/5-interview-questions-venture-capital-firms-ask/&quot; target=&quot;_blank&quot;&gt;4 Interview Questions Venture Capital Firms Ask&lt;/a&gt;&lt;/p&gt;&lt;p&gt;&#160;&lt;/p&gt;

Derek Loosvelt

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