Brianne Kimmel
Born 1988 · Age 37
Ukrainian-American venture capitalist and angel investor; founder & managing partner of Worklife Ventures, operator of SaaS School and active early-stage investor focused on the future of work.
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Life & Career Timeline
Born in Ukraine
Brianne Kimmel was born in Ukraine (later raised in Youngstown, Ohio).
Raised in Youngstown, Ohio (family in Rust Belt)
Kimmel was raised in Northeast Ohio (Youngstown), in a hard-working family in the Rust Belt.
Started college while in high school at Kent State
Began attending Kent State University while still in high school (she enrolled early due to boredom at high school).
Graduated Kent State University
Graduated from Kent State University with a degree in Journalism and Mass Communication (reported to be top 10/1% of class on LinkedIn).
Moved to Sydney, Australia after college
Moved to Sydney with a high-school best friend to start her career and find work overseas.
First job: Social Media Manager / Influencer Marketer (Nikon, ad agency)
Hired at an advertising agency in Sydney as a social media manager and influencer marketer working on Nikon and other accounts.
Started a Sydney side business earning ~$100k/year
Built a side business while in Sydney that generated approximately $100,000 per year.
Joined Expedia (performance marketing)
Moved into performance marketing at Expedia, beginning a multi-year tenure where she later expanded responsibilities.
Promoted: Head of Social Media at Expedia
Scaled into Head of Social Media at Expedia, leading paid acquisition, community, customer support and cross-product platform initiatives.
Started teaching Product Marketing at General Assembly
Began teaching evening and weekend product marketing courses at General Assembly (Sydney, San Francisco, Seattle), which helped her meet and teach early-stage founders.
Began angel investing on the side
Started angel investing in startups during evenings and weekends while working in product / GTM roles.
Joined Zendesk (GTM strategy & integrations)
Moved to Zendesk to focus on go-to-market strategy, self-serve revenue, and technology integrations.
Worked on Zendesk apps marketplace (650+ partner apps)
Led programs around the Zendesk apps marketplace, which grew to over 650 partner applications; partnered with Slack, Microsoft Teams, Dropbox, and others.
Launched 'Zendesk for Startups' program
Created Zendesk for Startups to provide free software to early-stage companies to build relationships and defend against competitors.
Worked with Microsoft on launch of Microsoft Teams integration
Collaborated closely with Microsoft during the Microsoft Teams launch to integrate Zendesk and access enterprise channels.
Taught >5,000 students at General Assembly (cumulative)
By the end of her teaching period at General Assembly, she had taught over 5,000 students across campuses.
Helped scale Zendesk from single product to multi-product platform
Contributed to Zendesk's transition from one product to a multi-product platform with cross-sell strategies and enterprise expansion.
Reported early investments: LunchClub & Girlboss (angel)
Listed among early angel investments in creator and networked-startup companies such as LunchClub and Girlboss.
Launched SaaS School (invite-only educational program)
Started SaaS School, an invite-only program for early-stage founders to learn GTM and growth from executives at Airtable, Notion, Superhuman and others.
Worklife initial capital raise (~$5M)
Worklife raised an initial fund or early capital reported as approximately $5 million to invest in early-stage 'future of work' companies.
Invested in startups including Dev.to, Humble Dot, Webflow (angel)
Continued active angel investing across developer, creator and workplace tools such as Dev.to, Humble Dot and Webflow (years approximate).
Founded Worklife Ventures
Founded Worklife (also referred to as Worklife Ventures), a VC firm focused on the future of work and enterprise software, with a GTM/operator-first approach.
Business Insider recognition: Top angel investor
Named by Business Insider as a top angel investor that every startup should know (alongside other well-known angels).
Renovated historic Los Angeles house during pandemic
Worked from home during COVID-19 pandemic and renovated a historic Los Angeles house, including designing a karaoke room.
Invested in Primer (education startup)
Reported investment in Primer, an online education company for kids focused on interest-driven curriculum (investment timing circa pandemic era).
Podcast: SomethingVenture guest (episode published)
Guest on the SomethingVenture podcast (episode published March 4, 2020) discussing why she started her own VC and the future of distributed workforces.
Public speaking & media: My First Million podcast appearance
Appeared on the 'My First Million' podcast (discussing money, investing and the experience of being a female VC).
Built large professional network & social reach
Reported to have built a network of roughly 30,000 colleagues and amassed ~80,000 followers on Twitter (public influence milestone).
Relationship with Jimmy O. Yang made public
Public Instagram posts revealed Brianne Kimmel's relationship with comedian/actor Jimmy O. Yang (first public post September 2021).
Worklife raise: $35M fund
Worklife announced a follow-on fundraise of approximately $35 million to invest in early-stage 'future of work' startups.
Worklife portfolio market cap milestone: $40B
Reported that the combined market capitalization of Worklife's portfolio companies reached roughly $40 billion (aggregate portfolio milestone).
Active operator-first VC role: Managing Partner of Worklife
Continues as founder and managing partner of Worklife Ventures, providing GTM support and operator networks to portfolio founders.
Public profile & media coverage expand
Profiled in lifestyle and business outlets (e.g., TUKO, L'Officiel) summarizing career, investments and personal life; widely recognized in 'future of work' media.
Key Achievement Ages
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