Scoop: Rostra expands with hiring of former venture capitalist, Gaby Goldberg
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Photo of Gaby Goldberg. Credit: Allison Nguyen.
Lulu Cheng Meservey's communications venture Rostra has made its first hire since launching in March.
Why it matters: The firm was built on a "go-direct" communications strategy — which has been a hot button topic within the comms space.
Details: Venture capitalist Gaby Goldberg will work directly with Meservey, COO Toya Holness and CTO Sergey Alexashenko to support narrative building, announcements and product launches for companies like Ramp, Notion, Anduril and Scale AI.
Context: Goldberg does not have a traditional communications background, which is representative of the firm's "experimental" approach, she says.
- Goldberg first served as an investment associate at Chapter One, a $10 million micro-fund, before joining Bessemer Ventures as an investor. Most recently, she helped launch the crypto group within investment firm TCG.
What she's saying: Her career switch was prompted by Rostra's promise to "change the trajectories of top companies" by encouraging founders to take more control of their company's narrative, she says.
Zoom in: While in VC, founders from across industries told Goldberg that their top priorities were attracting talent and telling a compelling story, yet they weren't dedicating time to it.
- "It [was] instead outsourced to HR teams, comms teams, or an external PR firm," she told Axios.
- "It always made me scratch my head... these are some of the things that founders know are most important to them, and yet it's not something that they feel is worth their time, or not something that they feel they have the skills to focus their time on. And so clearly, there's a disconnect here."
- Goldberg believes Rostra's counsel can help fill the void.
More on Axios:
- Lulu Cheng Meservey launches new firm for founder-led comms
- Activision Blizzard's corporate affairs chief uses wartime communication strategies
