Michelle Coventry

VP Talent (inc Platform Partnerships)

2024 - Current

Head of Talent

2021 - 2025

Creandum is one of Europe's top 3 venture capital firm investing in innovative and fast-growing technology companies. Hubs in Stockholm, Berlin, San Francisco and London. CREANDUM funds have invested in over 130 companies including companies such as Spotify, Vivino, iZettle, Klarna, Kry, Trade Republic, Neo4j, depop, Vay, Bolt, Pleo, Taxfix, Voi, Embat, Blast.tv, Cargo.one, Factorial, CarOnSale, lemon.markets, Topi and many more. Interested to learn more, always happy to hear from you.

VP People

2017 - 2022

Self-driving cars represent one of the most significant research and engineering challenges today. Five.ai develops software for autonomous vehicles, backed by $61M in funding from leading VCs through to exit (acq'd by Bosch). As VP of People, I oversee all People topics, including Talent Acquisition & Management. We're a diverse team of world-class Research Scientists, ML/Data/Infrastructure/Software Engineers, Automotive Engineers, Product and shared services teams. My responsibilities span across: HR/People Operations: *Policy approach, design and implementation *Retention strategies inc Compensation, Progression and Benefits inc Equity allocation *Onboarding and offboarding *Organizational design and development *HRTech automation, tooling and processes Talent Acquisition: *Sourcing and recruitment marketing *Employer Value Proposition (EVP) *Candidate assessment *Preferred Supplier List (PSL) management *Executive search Talent Management: *Performance management *Training and development *Career pathing *Personal growth *Employee engagement

Founding Talent Partner, now Talent + People Operations Advisor to Fund I and Fund II

2016 - 2021

Kindred is a venture fund investing in mission-driven ambitious founders across Europe & Israel. Every entrepreneur, adviser, and team member that we work with become a co-owner in our fund, which means that everyone shares in the profits of one another's success - we call it ‘equitable venture’. When we make an investment in a business we work hard for the founders to help them get further, faster. As a Talent Advisor, I support the portfolio teams in implementing best-in-class Talent Acquisition, Retention and People Operations solutions for their high-growth scaling companies. I am also a qualified performance coach, helping leaders and teams perform beyond their grasp, applying common sense with uncommon discipline. ***Portfolio : Dexory, Paddle, Lystable, Five.AI, Verve, LabGenius, Animal Dynamics, Gaia, Disperse.io, Farewill, Accurable, Vault HR, Beit, Legl, Tapdaq, Leaf.FM & Unmade + more

Mentor/Workshop - Building High Performing Teams

2015 - 2018

Mentor (Talent & People Operations)

2014 - 2017

Founder, Partner

2008 - 2017

*Sample clients*: TransferWise, Betfair, Lovefilm, Citymapper, Farfetch, Apps4Good, Allinea, Calastone, Celoxica, Nujira, Digico, Graze, eBay, Hailo, Matches Fashion, Qype, NotOnTheHighStreet, Podio, Bebo, Openet, SecretSales to name a few. Pan-European boutique recruitment and talent management consulting for early-stage start-ups from top VCs portfolio. **VP Talent, VP People Operations** for: > Depop (backed by Holztbrinck, H-Farm & Balderton Capital) FTE 7-170, London & NYC. > Appear Here (backed by Forward Partners, Balderton Capital, Ballpark Ventures) FTE 3-47 London. > Forward Internet Group. Forward Labs. Forward Partners including portfolio companies Hailo, Appear Here, SnapTrip, LoyaltyBay, Driftrock, Top10, Stylect, Makers Academy, hubbub, LostMyName & ParcelBright. > Talent Leader for M&S Digital Labs cohort with @KyleMcGinn,@Mike Blakemore,@MeriWilliams, @SimonDoggett, @VivSung, @DaveThompson & stellar team from hi-growth UK startups.

Head of Talent (via Maven)

2013 - 2014

Supported founders and the fund through transition of Forward Labs to Forward Partners: “startup catalyst”, combining funding with practical hands-on expertise and insight. We're investors in very early stage eCommerce companies. Our team have the experience to enable entrepreneurs to succeed. We do more than advise and mentor. We help the best entrepreneurs quickly find a great product-market fit with our expertise in customer discovery, coding, design, customer acquisition, testing and analysis as well as offering office space. Companies invested in include: Hailo, Zopa, Wool and the Gang, Thread.com, Sleepio/Big Health, Stylect, Parcelbright, Makers Academy, Driftrock, SnapTrip, Loyalty Bay, Appear Here.

Founding Team, Partner - Perm Investor backed Tech Team Builds

1999 - 2008

Working with Tier 1 transatlantic Tech Investors and their portfolio companies to attract and secure Chairman, Non-Executives, C-Level, VPs and Country Directors across EMEA & the US.

Consultant - Private Equity and Venture Capital

1996 - 1999

Recruitment of Partner, Directors and Associate into Technology Venture Capital funds and Private Equity Growth funds.