Sarah Kunst

Who they are

Sarah Kunst is Founder, Managing Director, and General Partner of Cleo Capital — she previously founded Proday, a celebrity personal training fitness app backed by the LA Dodgers, before pivoting into venture.

Person

Sarah Kunst started in advertising — studying at Texas Christian University and then Michigan State — before moving through brand-side roles at Apple, Red Bull, and Chanel, then into media at Marie Claire. That consumer-brand fluency preceded a founder chapter: she launched Proday in 2014, a celebrity personal training fitness app backed by the LA Dodgers, and ran it as CEO through 2018. She joined Mohr Davidow Ventures as a Senior Advisor and spent time at Bumble before founding Cleo Capital in February 2018, starting with a first fund of $3.5M. In March 2020 she created Chrysalis, a $3.5M fund specifically to support workers laid off during the pandemic — a signal that she treats the fund structure itself as a tool, not just a vehicle. She writes for Forbes, TechCrunch, the Wall Street Journal, Fortune, and Entrepreneur.com on venture capital, women in tech, and diversity in investing, and speaks at SALT, London Tech Week, Techsylvania, and TechEU Summit 2026. Marc Andreessen named her one of 55 Unknown Rock Stars in Tech; she sits on the Venture For America investor board and the Michigan State University Foundation endowment board. The through-line is brand instinct → founder credibility → investor platform, each stage compounding the one before.

Company

Cleo Capital launched a dedicated cybersecurity accelerator program in November 2024 — a notable sharpening of focus for what has been a generalist pre-seed and seed fund since its 2018 founding. The firm writes checks of $500K–$1M at pre-seed stage, with an emphasis on women and underrepresented founders. Sarah Kunst founded it from scratch; its origins were a $3.5M first fund. Portfolio touchpoints include KoBold Metals co-founder Josh Goldman among its founder network.

Market

Cleo Capital plays in the pre-seed and seed segment of early-stage venture, where competition for access to underrepresented founders has intensified as larger funds have launched diversity mandates. The November 2024 cybersecurity accelerator marks a sector bet at a moment when enterprise security spending is climbing. Peers in the thesis-driven early-stage space include funds focused on underrepresented founders across the US, but Cleo's brand — built partly through Sarah's media platform — is a differentiated sourcing channel.

Network

Sarah's orbit spans established venture (Roelof Botha at Sequoia Capital, Theresia Gouw, Alfred Lin) and the operator-to-investor pipeline she came through herself (Alex Bangash as collaborator). Portfolio founder Julia Collins and KoBold Metals co-founder Josh Goldman represent the founder side of the network. She also holds board seats at Venture For America and the Michigan State University Foundation endowment, giving her institutional anchors beyond the fund.

Roelof Botha· Partner, Sequoia Capital
Theresia Gouw· Investor/collaborator
Alfred Lin· Investor/collaborator
Alex Bangash· Investor/collaborator
Julia Collins· Portfolio founder
Josh Goldman· Co-founder and President, KoBold Metals

How they likely show up

Built Cleo Capital from a $3.5M first fund with no institutional anchor → likely operates with a high tolerance for ambiguity and is comfortable building infrastructure from zero.
Active public writing across Forbes, TechCrunch, WSJ, Fortune, and Entrepreneur.com → comfortable being a visible, named voice on contested topics; probably responds well to direct, substantive conversation.
Founded Chrysalis in March 2020 as a standalone fund for laid-off workers → acts quickly when she sees a structural gap, and uses the fund vehicle itself as a lever rather than waiting for consensus.
Career arc from brand-side operator (Apple, Red Bull, Chanel) to founder to investor → likely evaluates founders through a consumer-brand and go-to-market lens, not purely a technical one.
Possibly — mixed tenure shape across roles (Senior Advisor at Proday, time at Bumble, then firm founding) suggests she moves fast when a situation stops compounding and commits fully when it does.

Conversation tips

→ Reference a specific piece she's written — she publishes across multiple outlets on venture and diversity in investing, and she'll notice if you've actually read one.
→ Ask about the cybersecurity accelerator launched in November 2024 — it's a deliberate sector bet and she'll have a thesis behind it.
→ Don't treat 'diversity fund' as her whole identity — she speaks at SALT and London Tech Week on investment performance, not just representation, so lead with returns and conviction.
→ She's a former operator who ran a startup and worked at Apple, Red Bull, and Chanel — she thinks about brand and distribution, so connect any idea to how it reaches and retains customers.
→ She sits on institutional boards (MSU Foundation, Venture For America) alongside running the fund — she's used to juggling governance contexts, so a well-structured ask lands better than an open-ended one.

Toolbox

Openers

Open on the November 2024 cybersecurity accelerator — it's a specific sector bet from a fund that started as generalist, and asking what drove the focus change will surface her current conviction.
Mention Chrysalis, the $3.5M fund she stood up in March 2020 specifically for laid-off pandemic workers — it shows you know she treats fund structure as a tool, not just a wrapper, and it's a concrete differentiator from her peers.
Reference her Proday chapter — she built a celebrity fitness app backed by the LA Dodgers before moving into VC, which is an unusual path, and it signals you understand she's a former founder evaluating other founders.

Discovery questions

You launched the cybersecurity accelerator in late 2024 — what in the market made that the right moment to get more specific, after running Cleo Capital as a generalist fund?
You came through brand roles at Apple, Red Bull, and Chanel before founding Proday — how much does that consumer-marketing background shape how you evaluate a startup's go-to-market today?
Chrysalis in 2020 was a fund structure used as a rapid-response tool — do you see that kind of programmatic experimentation as a repeatable part of how Cleo Capital operates?

Avoid

Don't frame diversity investing as a trade-off against returns — she speaks publicly on how diversity leads to better investment performance and will disengage from any framing that treats the two as in tension.

Make it yours