Astasia Myers
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Developer tools should always start with the single-player mode and demonstrate extreme value. From there you can use this a jumping off point for team and company-wide value. Maniacal focus on the individual has to come first.
Astasia Myers is a General Partner at Felicis. Before joining Felicis, she was an enterprise partner at Quiet Capital and an investor at Redpoint Ventures. Astasia focuses on early-stage investing across AI, data, open source, developer tools, and security. She has invested in LaunchDarkly, Solo.io, Hex, Semgrep, Airbyte, and Supabase, among others. With experience from an early-stage startup, Baird IT systems equity research, and Cisco CorpDev, Astasia has spent over ten years dedicated to enterprise software. Astasia earned dual bachelor’s degrees with honors and Phi Beta Kappa from Stanford University and a master’s from the University of Cambridge.
Developer tools should always start with the single-player mode and demonstrate extreme value. From there you can use this a jumping off point for team and company-wide value. Maniacal focus on the individual has to come first.
What’s one way you’ve worked with founders?
I think of myself as an extension of the team to help with guidance and execution. When working with founders, I believe in 24/7 support. Whether discussing different business models, brainstorming customer acquisition strategies, or analyzing the financial plan, I enjoy digging into the details with founders to provide tailored feedback. Taking action is important to me. I’ve closed unicorn founders as angels, provided numerous buyer introductions during the discovery process, and introduced the first AI engineer hire. Working as a team, we have shared consciousness and are united with a common goal.
How has your lived experience shaped your worldview?
When growing up, my family flipped houses for a living, and I moved eight times. Loud construction sounds like hammering, chainsaws, and drilling were omnipresent. Despite the chaos and instability, I set high academic goals and focused on studying to get into a strong college that would enable me to take care of my family after their sacrifices. The first time I lived in a completed house was when I matriculated to Stanford. When building a company, there are always distractions and noise. It is important to block it out, prioritize, and execute.
What advice do you have for founders on finding product-market fit?
Often, early-stage teams don’t programmatically capture the customer’s rationale for not purchasing the product, the sales loss analysis. The sales loss data is a treasure trove that can provide great quantitative and qualitative insights into your market, ICP, and product. Read between the lines when customers offer their feedback. Be honest with yourself when looking at the data.
How do you recharge or find balance?
I enjoy gardening in my free time. It is thrilling to bring something new into the world and contribute to its growth. Each plant is different. There are ups and downs when learning what specific needs it has, from soil to light to watering, but the research and experimentation process is part of the journey. Discovering the exact environment each plant needs to thrive feels like unlocking a secret insight.