Eight years after joining Benchmark as the first general partner of the firm, Sarah Tavel announced in X that he is making the transition to a more limited role in the risk firm.
In his new position as a risk partner, Tavel will continue to make investments and serve in the boards of existing companies, but he will have more time to explore “the ia tools on the edge” and reflect on the direction of the AI, he wrote.
Tavel joined Benchmark in 2017 after spending a year and a half as a partner in Graylock and three years as product manager at Pinterest. Before Pinterest, Tavel was an investor in Bessemer Venture Partners, where he helped obtain Pinterest and Github.
Since its foundation in 1995, Benchmark has deliberately maintained a small team of six or less general partners. Unlike most risk capital companies, where higher partners generally receive a majority of management rates and profits, Benchmark operates as an egalitarian association, with all the general partners that divide rates and returns equally.
During his mandate as a general partner of Benchmark, Tavel invested in the market of the Campsite Hipcamp market, the cryptocurrency intelligence startup chain and the Supergrate beauty platform, which was acquired by Whatnot in 2023. Tavel also supported the paparazzi application, which closed two years ago, and the AI 11x sales platform, on which technology recently wrote.
