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Yoko is one of the Founding Partners of First Row Partners, a pre-seed stage venture capital firm based in Seattle and investing across North America. First Row Partners invests in technology that superpowers emerging brand builders, content creators and storytellers in a world transformed with new interaction modalities and AI. In addition to investing in pre-seed startups. Yoko teaches new and upcoming entrepreneurs through the Masters of Science in Entrepreneurship program at the University of Washington.

Before starting First Row, Yoko built a portfolio of 50+ companies as an angel investor through her active participation in angel networks like Grubstakes. Being in the heart of Silicon Valley while at Stanford connected her deeply into the tech sector, including 8 years at Google, working on product operations and partnerships for the launch of Google eBooks (now Google Play), and subsequently as a product lead for startups. With her “professional life,” Yoko loves to think about product-led growth and shortening an end user’s “time to delight.” Personally, she also fosters a deep passion for bringing more founders and funders into the ecosystem and balancing the power imbalance between the two sides of the table through education.

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Strategic and creative marketing executive delivering results in brand transformation, AI GTM strategy, and full-funnel campaign execution across global enterprise and healthcare organizations. I specialize in building high-performing teams and integrated marketing engines that connect storytelling to growth—uniting brand, product, and demand to drive measurable results.

At Oracle, I led a global marketing transformation, rebranding the company with a human-centric design system, launching a storytelling engine, and aligning marketing, product, and sales to improve pipeline performance. I later led product marketing for Oracle Health during the Cerner acquisition, pivoting the product and GTM narrative to focus on healthcare providers and patients. At ServiceNow, I built the AI GTM strategy from the ground up, partnering across product marketing and field to commercialize GenAI and AI Agent-powered innovations.

My approach is equal parts strategic and operational. I know how to modernize legacy functions, launch into new markets, scale messaging across personas and regions, and build cross-functional alignment from the C-suite to the field. I bring deep experience in enterprise SaaS, AI, healthcare, and platform marketing, and I advise early-stage companies on how to position, scale, and grow.

JD and BA from Stanford. Former M&A attorney in Hong Kong. Advisor, investor, and nonprofit board member.

(And my name is pronounced "MAY-me")

LinkedIn | https://www.sandhillangels.com/

Experience in engineering, research, consulting, startups, and nonprofits applied to the most meaningful intersections of people and technology

Venture Investing • Philanthropy • Sustainability • Equitable Empowerment • Performing Arts

Karen has spent 20 years working at the intersection of people and technology. She conducted research and analysis for the Global Climate and Energy Project, Sandia National Laboratories, U.S. Department of Energy, U.S. Department of Homeland Security, National Academy of Sciences, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, California Energy Commission, and Air Resources Board, as well as numerous NGOs and private companies. In London, she built Medallia's professional services operations and led enterprise SaaS implementation & customer success teams.

She manages Infinite Community Ventures, a fund to strengthen communities by investing in Sustainability, Equitable Empowerment, and the Arts along the capital-philanthropy spectrum. She serves on the board of directors of Sand Hill Angels, one of the most active and experienced angel investment groups in the U.S. As an advocate for women and BIPOC in leadership and STEM, she is frequently engaged as an advisor, speaker, fundraiser, and volunteer for community-enriching organizations. Karen received B.S. and M.S. degrees in Mechanical Engineering from Stanford University and was named the American Society of Mechanical Engineers "New Face of Engineering" in 2012. She is a signatory of the Business for Racial Equity pledge and the Silicon Valley Nonprofit Racial Equity Pledge.