About the hosts

  • Annie Katrina Lee, Co-Founder & Principal at Penknife Collective
    For two decades, Annie has had the privilege of leading in the marketing world — now collaborating with B2C brands in an advisory, consulting, and fractional CMO capacity as Co-Founder & Principal at Penknife Collective. Her heart lies in supporting early-stage companies faced with the thrilling challenge of hyper-growth. Annie is a partner to founders and executives, offering honest guidance and pragmatic creativity to address their marketing needs and organizational design. Like a mechanic, her sweet spot is diagnosing and fine-tuning businesses and organizations to flourish and thrive.

    From humble beginnings to larger enterprises, Annie has gained invaluable experience building brands and guiding go-to-market teams across diverse disciplines such as product marketing, growth, brand, and content. You can learn more about her journey with multiple startups (Twitch, Amazon, Pinterest, and Microsoft) on LinkedIn.

    Originally from the Big Island of Hawaii, Annie now splits her time between Seattle and the Bay Area. Her alma maters hold a special place in her heart, with a Master of Communication in Digital Media from the University of Washington and a Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration from Seattle University. She has also had the honor of serving as an Adjunct Professor for Marketing Analytics at Seattle University.

    Beyond her professional endeavors, Annie holds a deep passion for Diversity, Equity & Inclusion, ardently championing the advancement of AAPI communities, women, and parents in the workplace. This cause is close to her heart as a 1.5 generation Korean American, daughter, wife, and mother. Annie understands the complexities of navigating the immigrant child experience, and is always striving to balance filial piety and personal aspirations — read more about her story and POV here.

  • Yoko Okano, Founding Partner, First Row Partners
    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.

Want to learn more about early stage investing?

Panelists & table leads

Session 1: Angel Investing in an Overall Portfolio

Session 2: Angel 101 Q&A | Getting to Your “Why”

Session 3: How to Get Involved

Event Q&A

  • A super angel is an angel investor who operates with a higher level of activity and influence than typical angel investors. This might show up as investing larger amounts, investing more frequently, or providing strategic advisory through their networks. 

    Here’s are some characteristics of Super Angels (gathered via AI):

    • Higher Investment Capacity – They typically invest between $100,000 to several million dollars per deal, more than a traditional angel but less than a VC firm.

    • Frequent Investors – Unlike traditional angels who invest occasionally, super angels are actively involved in multiple startups at any given time.

    • Early-Stage Focus – They primarily invest in seed and early-stage startups, helping companies before they attract venture capital.

    • Personal Capital – Unlike VCs who manage institutional funds, super angels usually invest their own money.

    • Strong Networks – They often have deep connections in the startup ecosystem, including with VCs, entrepreneurs, and other investors.

    • Mentorship & Advisory Role – Many super angels are former entrepreneurs who provide strategic advice and mentorship to startups.

    • Some well-known super angels include Ron Conway, Chris Sacca, and Naval Ravikant. Their influence can sometimes rival that of early-stage venture capital firms.

  • Beyond just writing a check, the most helpful and preferred angel investors offer strategic value that can significantly impact a startup’s success. At First Row, we call it being the “most helpful, least annoying investor.” It shows up as a combination of: bringing capital + high-value expertise / network / credibility + hands-on, but non-intrusive support. 

    We often say that angels are a good way for a founder to bring on support that they couldn’t hire. The support you provide outside of funding might include:

    • Deep Industry Expertise & Strategic Guidance

    • Strong Network & Warm Introductions

    • Credibility & Social Proof

    • Hands-on Mentorship & Operational Support

    • Founder-Friendly Terms & Long-Term Support

    • Emotional & Tactical Support

  • Minimum check sizes may vary by city due to investor access and competition. 

    • San Francisco (SF): While the minimum ($25K) is similar here, because of the fluency there, we do see some seasoned investors coming in at much higher amounts ($50K-250K).

    • New York (NYC): While fintech/SaaS deals might have minimums similar to Seattle and SF, there may be lower minimums dependent on the sector. 

    • Smaller Markets (Austin, Miami, Midwest): Lower checks ($5K–$100K), with more syndicate participation.

    Factors like founder preference, round demand, and syndicate options also impact check sizes. Hot SF/NYC deals often have higher minimums, but strategic angels may get in with less.


    Additionally, as Nichole and Minda shared, minimums are suggestions – a founder (or fund manager) can always choose to allow smaller checks. Note: For funds, there may be a limitation on a fund manager’s ability to take a smaller check due to the overall # of limited partners (LPs) they can take on. For funds <$10M, they can typically take up to 250 investors, while funds above $10M are limited to 99.

  • This is totally up to you - if you decide on a sector focus, other things that could provide some diversification include: vintage (or investing across a number of years), geography, stage, etc. At the earliest stages, if you’re unsure which sectors you’re most excited about, rather than choose a sector, you might think about what sectors you don’t want to invest in. For example, there are some sectors that require domain-specific expertise or networks (i.e. life sciences, some fintech).

  • Yes - we are currently raising and deploying out of Fund II. If you are interested in hearing more about what we’re up to, please reach out to Yoko (yoko@firstrowpartners.vc).

Schedule 1:1 time with Yoko Okano or Minda Brusse