The 2% Chance: Trading Venture Capital for Olympic Gold

About this episode

Ethan Kurzweil interviews Olympic Gold Medalist Kristen Faulkner about her journey from Alaska to the Olympics and her experience in venture capital.

In this episode, Ethan Kurzweil (Managing Partner, Chemistry) interviews Kristen Faulkner (2x Olympic Gold Medalist) about her journey from growing up in Homer, AK, to winning gold in the 2024 Paris Olympics, with a stop as a successful venture investor along the way. Kristen embraces the "beginner's mindset," viewing it as an opportunity for rapid learning and progress. She is constantly surrounding herself with people smarter and more skilled than her, even while at Harvard. The conversation compares high-stakes cycling and venture capital, highlighting similar financial structures where the 'prize' is shared, and stresses leveraging the diverse team strength similar to the diversity of roles on a cycling team. Kristen’s story shows resilience, strategic thinking (similar to the "mind game" she plays with a rival at the end of the race), and courage to chase her biggest goal, even if it means leaving behind a safe career. Links chemistry vc Elements: A Chemistry Speaker Series Elements is produced by Chemistry VC in partnership with Pod People .

People in this episode

Host: Ethan Kurzweil

Guest: Kristen Faulkner

Topics covered

• venture capital
• Olympic gold
• resilience
• strategic thinking
• beginner's mindset
• cycling

Keywords

• venture capital
• Olympic gold
• Kristen Faulkner
• Ethan Kurzweil
• beginner's mindset
• cycling
• resilience
• strategic thinking

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Chemistry, Chemistry VC, Pod People

Places: Homer, AK

More episodes of Elements by Chemistry

• The Best Ideas Still come from Talking to Humans · November 17, 2025 · 27 min
• Brad Lightcap on Scaling OpenAI · October 15, 2025 · 27 min