Chanel Johnson · Washington, DC

Fractional right hand to the GP for emerging VC funds.

As your fractional chief of staff, I take on operations, LP updates and investor comms, founder community and events. Pick what you need — ops and comms, community and events, or the full stack — and I slot in part-time.

Email meSee what I take on
Chanel Johnson

I do my best work close to the center of a fund: in the ops, in the comms, and around the deal flow.

Venture came to me sideways. I spent years as an engineer at Meta, was the first technical hire at a startup, and then did growth and partnerships. Ops, comms and deal flow all feel familiar because they're the same work in different rooms. I'm open across sectors, strongest at early stage, and open to later stage too.

What I take on

  • Ops & Comms

    • LP updates and investor comms, drafted and shipped on schedule.
    • Pipeline and deal tracking kept clean, so nothing slips.
    • Fund admin, calendar, travel, and meeting prep.

  • Community & Events

    • Founder community and member events, strategy through execution.
    • Venues, vendors, and sponsors negotiated against a real P&L.
    • Ticketing, promotion, and volunteer teams that actually show up.

  • The Full Stack

    • Sourcing and screening from networks other funds aren't watching.
    • Diligence calls, market sizing, and written memos.
    • Technical product diligence from a former engineer.

  • 50+

    pre-seed companies screened at Rarebreed

  • Zooly AI

    sourced and advanced through full diligence

  • Eight Sleep

    diligence led to a recommendation to invest

  • 200+

    attendees per signature event I lead

  • 47%

    faster development workflows built at Meta

Venture experience

Rarebreed Ventures

Washington, DC (Remote) · Oct 2025 – Present

Venture Fellow

  • Source and evaluate pre-seed startups from overlooked founder networks; 50+ companies screened.
  • Sourced Zooly AI, ran the founder call, and introduced the CEO to the GP; Zooly advanced through full diligence.

The Council

Washington, DC (Remote) · May 2025 – Present

Venture Scout / Deal Sourcer

  • Source and screen early-stage CPG, consumer, healthcare, and fintech deals; evaluated 25+ companies, with 3 advancing to diligence.

Girl Math Capital

Washington, DC (Remote) · Aug 2025 – Present

Member → Associate Deal Lead & DC City Lead

  • Co-led diligence calls and conducted diligence on Eight Sleep, resulting in a recommendation to invest; the group was later bought out of the round.
  • Lead the DC chapter: monthly meetups, venues, and recruiting support for 11 members.

Venture Cooperative (Laconia)

Washington, DC (Remote) · Feb 2026 – Present

Venture Fellow · Cohort 26Program

  • Collaborate on due diligence and founder engagement in Laconia's investment process.

Girls into VC

Washington, DC · Sep 2026 – Present

Regional Lead, DC

  • Host quarterly events for early-career professionals.
  • Built partnerships with 4 local funds, startups, and universities, including Georgetown and UMD.

VC University (NVCA)

2026

Venture Forward ScholarshipProgram

  • Venture Forward scholarship recipient, 2026.

GoingVC

Present

Member · Cohort 19Program

  • Part of GoingVC's Cohort 19, training and building alongside emerging investors.

Operating & engineering background

The Madison of Washington, DC

Washington, DC · Apr 2026 – Present

Director of Special Events (Volunteer)

  • Lead strategy and execution for three 200+ attendee signature events, owning P&Ls, vendor negotiations, sponsorships, ticket sales, and a cross-functional team.
  • Raised $2,000 for SOME (So Others May Eat) through Disco in the District.

Pickle

Washington, DC · Sep 2026 – Present

Growth Fellow (Part Time)

  • Cold-pitched 50+ DC-area organizations in three weeks, securing 6 partnerships including GIRLISM, SOME Break the Cycle Gala, and Nourish Now.
  • Co-led the 222 partnership, proposing Pickle Perks and a multi-city event series; a November Friendsgiving event is in progress.
  • Built a co-marketing pipeline from 5 discovery calls and handed 3 warm leads to the manager.

St. Stephen's and St. Agnes School

Alexandria, VA · Oct 2025 – Present

Upper School Computer Science Teacher & Technology Integrator

  • Teach CS, cybersecurity, and AI; lead the MERIT digital citizenship team.

Mandy (Consumer Tech Startup)

Brooklyn, NY (Remote) · Jun – Sep 2025

Frontend Engineer · First technical hire

  • Joined as the first technical hire, building and shipping product independently with minimal existing infrastructure.

Meta

Remote · Aug 2020 – Jan 2025

Senior Software Engineer

  • Designed a performance-monitoring system adopted across Instagram, Facebook, and Messenger.
  • Built automation that accelerated development workflows by 47%; mentored four engineers and maintained 99.9%+ reliability for Facebook's iOS app.

Brown University — B.A. Computer Science, Class of 2020 · Providence, RI

Investment memos & notes

I write a memo for every deal I take to diligence. I'll post examples here as soon as I can share them.

Skills

Investing

  • Due Diligence
  • Deal Sourcing
  • Market Sizing
  • Founder & Pitch Evaluation
  • Pre-Seed / Seed

Operations & Growth

  • Partnerships
  • Cold Outreach
  • Sponsorships
  • Event P&L
  • Community Building
  • Cross-Functional Coordination

Technical & AI

  • Software Engineering
  • System Design
  • Technical Diligence
  • Claude / Claude Code
  • ChatGPT / Codex
  • Grok
  • Cursor