Introducing: Brittany Brown, ISA Ventures’ Analyst
Last month, ISA Ventures added Mikayla Sullivan to our team. A few weeks later, Brittany Brown joined us as our Analyst. Brittany will be working with us on the math modelling and financial evaluation aspects of potential investments, helping to ensure we make smart investment decisions.
Brittany received her MBA from the University of Iowa in 2012, and BBA Accounting & Finance from Mount Mercy in 2007. She worked at Collins as a Senior Financial Analyst from 2007–2014, and then similar roles at GreatAmerica, where she worked on investments in the AAVIN private equity fund. While there, she did essentially the same work she’ll be doing for ISA Ventures: analyzing deal financials, modelling returns, evaluating investment performance, and portfolio analysis.
She brings an analytical mind to bear as we build ISAV, which is obviously a key part of a successful fund. But perhaps more important, she’ll be able to work with portfolio companies to build their financial models, monitor them with our founders as they grow, and to guide those founders on managing the business from a financial perspective.
Brittany, along with Mikayla, brings important gender diversity to an industry that is overwhelmingly male. Though we’re proud of the diversity of this young fund’s portfolio (and our prior fund’s), there is still a lot of progress needed there, and in the state of Iowa. We want this team to reflect the state’s diversity as much as possible, which may encourage more diverse founders to start and grow businesses here. And, we hope to continue to bring more highly qualified leaders into the venture industry like her.
Finally, we’ve already seen the impact on our team. More than just an Excel wonk, Brittany has already brought important insights to the surface that I wouldn’t have seen on my own as we look at deals. Her ability to organize and discern the patterns and insights locked in the data help us make better decisions for our fund, and for our portfolio companies.
There’s lots more to come. Our team of four is ready to help Iowa’s emerging companies to grow, and to invest in the best and brightest founders in the state.
