Laurie McGraw is speaking with Inspiring Women Alyssa Jaffee, Partner at 7wireVentures.  When you listen to this episode, you will hear clearly that Alyssa is passionate about her work, which she finds addicting.  Healthcare has become her calling.  Every single day she believes she has the opportunity, and responsibility, to change healthcare for the better. And that is a long game.  She feels the gravity of this while also being energized.

Her commitment to making a difference with her work does not get in the way of being very committed to her family – in her perfectly imbalanced life.  Alyssa is a strong advocate for other women leaders.  Her best advice….. Remember that you are not alone, your community is here, so reach out and use it.  A rising tide lifts us all.

Hear Alyssa talk about:

• Success requirements in Venture:
  
  • Pickers v Makers: At 7wire, the team is made up of operators.  Alyssa spends half her time working with her portfolio companies.  This means more than just making introductions – it’s getting on planes, being in the meetings and helping to close deals.  7wire companies often sell to the same organizations, so continuing to build those relationships is key.
    
  • Vision and conviction: Alyssa believes that the job also requires being a thought leader.  She spends considerable time in the industry and sharing her observations externally.
    
  
  
• Consumer Directed Healthcare: it is the vision and the current 7wire companies focus on the informed connected health consumer.   Alyssa also talks about the cycles in venture and areas they are currently revisiting such as cardiac health or personalized medicine.
  
• #1 Strength: WOO.  Winning Others Over.  Insatiable curiosity ….love for learning. That’s Alyssa.  She loves convincing others to be as excited about something as she is, which means a lot of WOO!
  
• Managing Balance: There is no such thing as balance for women at work, in fact, the act of being unbalanced IS balance!! Alyssa penned THIS article for Fortune,– please stop asking us about balance!  We don’t have it!!
  

*****************************

BIO

Alyssa Jaffee is a Partner at 7wireVentures where she focuses on investments in digital healthcare and technology-enabled services that empower consumers to be better stewards of their health in today’s changing healthcare ecosystem. Alyssa sits on the board of Ayogo Health and is a board observer with MedArrive, Brightline, Zerigo Health, NOCD, and Jasper Health.

Alyssa’s prior experience in venture capital includes her time as an investor at Pritzker Group Venture Capital where she led investments in Bright.md and Tovala as well as worked closely with Apervita, Mingle Health, and AiCure. Additionally, she worked at Hyde Park Angels (HPA), one of the Midwest’s largest angel organizations and Healthbox, an early-stage healthcare innovation firm, supporting their accelerator program called the Studio. Alyssa is also a Co-Founder of TransparentCareer, a 2016 NVC winning company focused on helping people make more data-driven career decisions.

Prior to business school, Alyssa worked as the Senior Director of Performance Technologies for the Advisory Board Company. There, Alyssa was charged with expanding new business through the sales of technology platforms. With an extensive travel regimen, Alyssa met with hundreds of hospital executive teams to understand their strategic needs and recommend various solutions. She has copious amounts of experience in launching new products and thinking about go-to-market strategies.

Alyssa holds a bachelor’s degree in Marketing and Spanish from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and an M.B.A. from the University of Chicago – Booth School of Business.

You can follow Alyssa on LinkedIn.