Since our founding nearly 10 years ago, Forerunner has remained a small but mighty team.
We’ve learned from each other, worked together tirelessly to accomplish goals, weathered the markets, celebrated wins, overcame losses, and beat the odds. Forerunner’s mission and vision have always stood firmly upon our core values of teamwork, original thought, integrity, and community. We don’t win as individuals; we win as a team.
Nicole Johnson embodies these qualities as a collaborator and so much more. That’s why we’re so incredibly proud to name Nicole Forerunner’s newest Partner.
When Eurie and I met Nicole seven years ago, she had hopes of networking with our portfolio. She had a depth to her — not only in her knowledge, but in her personality and people skills. When we were looking to hire our first analyst, she immediately came to mind. Luckily for us, she accepted and joined us.
How far we’ve come together since then.
During her time at Forerunner, Nicole has proven time and time again to be a critical and strategic thinker, as well as a dedicated and trusted team player; the combination of which makes her effective at spotting great investments and building lasting relationships with entrepreneurs. Not only does she understand the merits of a quality company and investment, she knows how this industry works forward and backward and has proven to be keen at spotting potential. She is original in her thinking and unabashedly unafraid to challenge ideas. And she is just as good at building trust and relationships with people as she is at critical thinking and analysis.
Importantly, Nicole has a keen eye for identifying consumer trends, and she intuitively understands where originality and delight meet business potential. Nicole has been instrumental in sourcing, diligence, and implementing investment execution within our portfolio including companies such as Calibrate, Heroes, Neighborhood Goods, Nécessaire, Prose, and Stadium Goods (exited), among others.
The founders she works with rely on her and appreciate her candor and guidance in helping them refine strategy, evaluate market opportunity, and evolve consumer experience. “Nicole intuitively understood our mission from our first conversation. She pushed us to define a new category for consumers and to meet consumer needs with a product that resonates. From copyedits to closing candidates, she has been an invaluable and unstoppable asset to our team,” said Isabelle Kenyon, founder of Calibrate.
Nicole has risen quickly on the Forerunner team to be an incredibly valuable and equal thought partner, someone I can truly rely on. Having a partner like Nicole makes us all better at what we do, both at work and in our lives. We look forward to Nicole continuing to make a lasting impact at Forerunner, our portfolio companies, as well as on the broader venture ecosystem.