Be the change you want to see | Christie Pitts (Operator and Investor)

The Chacho Show

We have one of my favorite people on today’s show, Christie Pitts! Christie was one of my first bosses when I started working in venture capital. I’ve long considered her a mentor and good friend.

Christie is both an operator and investor, having invested in 200 companies led by underrepresented founders at Backstage Capital and having co-founded several organizations. Including running multi-level organizations in billion-dollar+ P&Ls. We cover a lot of ground in today’s episode ranging from motherhood, growing up in a religious home, starting a career in retail, career transitions, to navigating difficult conversations.

Last, be sure to subscribe to your favorite podcast player. I’ll release episodes weekly and my focus is to change one thing in each episode to make it better than the previous one.

In this episode, we discuss:

(2:00) A phrase that Christie lives by

(6:00) How growing up in a religious home shaped Christie as an adult

(15:25) The positive impact of Christie’s mom as she was growing up

(16:45) Growing up in the Bay area and exposure to the tech industry

(19:30) San Jose State University and Christie’s first pitch competition for eBooks

(20:20) Working at Verizon through school

(23:16) Advice for navigating the corporate world and a hard lesson to learn

(26:00) De-risking and deciding to leave Verizon Ventures for Backstage Capital

(28:44) How working in retail served Christie as a venture investor

(32:45) The story of nearly quitting Verizon before her 401k vested and the 90-day conversation she had with her dad

(36:28) Living in the present moment as a mom

(38:06) How to have uncomfortable conversations

(42:33) Oprah, Mr. Rogers, and Motherhood

(45:50) What Christie wants her kids to remember about the way she loves them

(47:12) Greatness and writing your own obituary