Whitney “Whit” Bouck brings more than three decades of hands-on experience as a go-to-market leader, advisor, and operator. Her passion lies in helping B2B software companies scale, grow, and navigate pivotal moments with confidence and clarity.

Whit has a proven track record of driving transformative outcomes for both startups and global enterprises. She’s guided companies through IPOs, acquisitions, and major milestones, including leading HelloSign as COO through its $230M acquisition by Dropbox. At Box, she built and scaled the enterprise business as General Manager and CMO, following senior leadership roles at EMC and Documentum. Along the way, she’s facilitated three IPOs, two spin-offs, 15 acquisitions, and three successful company sales.

As Board Partner and Go-to-Market Advisor at Uncork Capital, Whit works closely with founders to develop the strategies and foundations needed for long-term success. She also serves on the boards of Paycor, Trengo, Mutiny, Writer, and BlueOcean, while advising numerous other high-growth startups.

Whit earned her BA in Philosophy, Politics, and Economics from Claremont McKenna College.

Factoids:

• Splits her time between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe.
• Enjoys skiing, hiking, and cooking.
• Writes her own food blog, Whit’s Kitchen.
• Recognized as one of the Top 40 Women in Revenue and one of the World’s 100 Most Innovative CMOs.
• Named a Silicon Valley Woman of Influence (2009) and Top 40 Under 40 (2003).

Amy invests in and advises seed-stage B2B startups. Her primary focus is on AI-enabled applications for engineering, product, and design teams, and the API layer that decreases the friction in the creation of these applications.

She has felt the heart-pumping sense of urgency that comes with the amplified risks and possibilities of building early-stage, hyper-growth startups. As a former product marketer and product manager at companies that have fundamentally changed the way the world communicates (Twitter), travels (Uber), and conducts commerce online (Stripe), she has seen customers discover the transformative power of technology as it comes alive in their hands. And as an investor and board member, she has fielded countless late-night phone calls with founders unsure of what path to take next.

Amy gravitates toward technical founders who question the limitations of the status quo and design from first principles in pursuit of building delightful experiences that will open up new worlds of possibilities for their users. She gets a thrill from working with technologies and teams that break open artificial constraints, such as solving problems within design limitations; improving communication across departmental barriers; and challenging preconceptions about the roles of people and technology in the workplace.

Amy deeply understands what it takes to bring new ideas to the world. She joined pre-revenue Twitter in 2010 and worked with then-CEO Dick Costolo through Twitter’s IPO in 2014, helping scale the company from 200 to 4000 employees, and $20M – $1.5B in revenue. While there, she built products for advertisers and developers and helped the company expand overseas, relocating to Singapore to open Twitter’s APAC HQ and launch the business in 14 new markets. At Uber, Amy worked in product management on Uber for Business. She met Stripe founders John and Patrick Collison when Stripe had a few hundred employees and worked on their team for three years in a cross-functional role blending product management and product marketing for Stripe’s Connect, Billing, and Atlas products. She left to become an early stage Partner at Accel, where she led the firm’s investments in Gamma, Beam, Complete, Sprinter Health, WellTheory, and others.

Amy earned an MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business and a BS in Science, Technology and Society at Stanford University, where she was a Mayfield Fellow and President of Stanford Women in Business. Recently, she spent three years lecturing about entrepreneurship in Stanford’s Management Science and Engineering department.

Factoids:

– Classically-trained singer who competed across California, sang backup in a Michael Jackson music video, and opened a cappella for Ben Folds and Sara Bareilles at LA’s Hollywood Palladium
– Avid traveler who visited 50 countries before she turned 30
– Lives in San Francisco with her husband and rambunctious kids
– Third-generation woman in STEM: mom is a physician and grandmother was a nuclear engineer
– Aims to break 10,000 steps every day: loves a walking meeting. Ask about her favorite routes in SF
– Created and fosters a burgeoning community for women in product and engineering

Sarah Du is Uncork Capital’s first associate. She invests in seed stage businesses across enterprise software & infrastructure, consumer services and marketplaces; research and crafts investment theses; sources promising new investments; and partners with the investing team on due diligence and portfolio support. She is most excited about businesses that offer 10x-better customer experiences, as well as products that benefit from organic distribution. Sarah looks at potential opportunities through a lens informed by cognitive psychology and sociology and considers how a company’s products and experiences connect to the ways people want to feel in their personal and professional lives.

Previously, Sarah spent two years at Bessemer Venture Partners. While there, she sourced and supported companies in the seed, Series A and Series B stages, including peer-to-peer home-swapping marketplace Kindred and risk management platform Chaos Labs. Earlier, Sarah was a venture fellow at Pear VC and worked at Sierra Ventures and Drop, a fintech startup.

Sarah graduated with honors from Princeton University, where she studied Political Science and Computer Science and co-founded Prospect Student Ventures, Princeton’s first and only student-led VC organization. PSV aims to bolster the university’s student entrepreneurship ecosystem and provides $1k-10k grants, as well as resources and connections, to aspiring founders.

“At the seed stage, there are more questions than answers. As a company’s first institutional investor, I like that beyond cash, you can contribute knowledge, connections, and emotional support and forge genuine relationships.”

Factoids:

– Bi-lingual lifelong learner, addicted to Duolingo’s gamified language lessons
– Hip-hop dancer with the occasional dip into contemporary, Chinese traditional, classical Indian and swing
– Podcast addict, currently listening to “No Stupid Questions,” “The Best One Yet,” and “On Being”
– Grew tired of being the only girl out of 100+ kids playing hoops at camp in Beijing, so she recruited girls from neighboring schools and launched her own all-girl basketball camps
– Loves building community in unexpected ways, such as partnering with two time NBA All-Star Baron Davis on an interactive fireside chat and pick-up games

Adriana is a trusted confidante, experienced thought partner and strategic advisor to Uncork portfolio company founders and leaders on a range of “people”-related issues, including recruiting, people operations and systems, and employer branding.

As workplace dynamics become more complicated and startup leaders struggle to determine the right work-from-home balance, whether and how to get involved in political and societal discourse, how to attract, engage and incentivize top talent, how to continually drive innovation, and what kind of company culture to cultivate, the role of people officer is becoming more critical than ever before.  

Throughout her career, Adriana has helped multiple hyper-growth tech companies thoughtfully scale their teams in ways that map to their strategic objectives, while working closely with leadership to help them understand the psychology and anthropology of human interactions in the context of their business and industry. As Adriana’s career evolved, she has found that the “playbooks” of the past have proven to be obsolete; in their place, she has helped develop new ways to safely experiment and pivot when necessary to unite disparate teams behind shared beliefs and help them accomplish challenging feats.

Adriana has seen firsthand many of the team-related issues startups face. She joined Uncork from Mural, a maker of visual team collaboration software, where she was Chief People Officer as the company grew from 150 employees to 900 in just two years. Prior to that, Adriana was VP, People and Places at Segment, a customer data company that grew from 50 people to 650 in four years and was acquired by Twilio in 2020. Earlier, Adriana led employer branding and managed a large recruiting team at Dropbox. She was also a recruiting manager at Salesforce and a recruiter at Google.

Born and raised in Venezuela, Adriana immigrated to the U.S. when she was seventeen. She earned a Master’s degree in Organizational Psychology at New York University and a Bachelor’s degree in Psychology at College of the Holy Cross.

FACTOIDS:

• Immigrated to Boston from Latin America with her parents when she was in her senior year of high school, spent a year in Paris, France, lived in New York City, and later built a career in tech in Silicon Valley, so you might say she’s good at adapting to new environments
• Fluent in French and Spanish
• Happiest in or near water — scuba diving, swimming, water skiing, etc., and has gone so far as to paint numerous walls in her home the color of the ocean
• “Any Given Sunday” in Adriana’s family means an open door, dozens of friends, and lots of food — most likely including homemade Arepas
• Long before pursuing a career in “people,” Adriana thought she would grow up to work with animals, so she adopted and cared for lots of pets. Among them: an English Sheep Dog, a Rottweiler, two land turtles, three canaries, ten parrots, multiple tanks full of numerous kinds of fish, a bunny, a horse, and an Anaconda named Kana

Ashley is the operational cornerstone of Uncork Capital. As the firm’s first hire, she played a pivotal role in establishing its foundational processes and systems. Today, her contributions span every facet of the business, encompassing operations, compliance, fundraising, HR, and events—all while ensuring the firm operates at peak performance.

Ashley leads Uncork’s Operations and Platform team, with a mission to help founders and their teams succeed. She builds scalable networks, resources, tools, strategic playbooks, and knowledge to drive growth across the portfolio—whether by saving companies hundreds of thousands of dollars, negotiating key contracts, or forging strategic partnerships. Ashley also curates high-impact events and professional development opportunities designed to strengthen teams, accelerate success, and foster a thriving founder community.

While Ashley has a natural talent for optimizing processes and finding the most efficient paths forward, her true passion at Uncork lies in building and nurturing relationships. This shines through in the events she crafts, including networking happy hours, strategic dinners, curated founder-focused “Uncork Sessions,” the annual summer party, the Annual General Meeting (AGM), and the Uncork Capital Summit—a two-day event where portfolio founders come together to exchange ideas, share experiences, and learn from one another.

Ashley is also the Co-Managing Director of Let’s Talk Ops, a community dedicated to elevating the next generation of operations leaders. Driven by her passion for mentorship and knowledge sharing, she works to create pathways for emerging operators to grow, connect, and lead, ensuring the future of the industry is stronger, more diverse, and better equipped to scale successful companies.

Before joining Uncork (then SoftTech), Ashley spent more than a dozen years in the finance industry. She served as a marketing director and registered insurance and securities assistant at Rosenbaum Financial in Portland, Oregon. Prior to that, she was a licensed broker at Morgan Stanley, managing accounts for two vice presidents and serving as a client relationship manager. She began her career at Smith Barney, where she conducted mutual fund due diligence and specialized in client relations, marketing campaigns, and organizing special events for high-net-worth clients.

Ashley earned her BS in Business Administration with a focus in Marketing from the University of Oregon.

Factoids:

• Passionate traveler who loves exploring new places and experiencing different cultures
• Opera-trained singer who now prefers the audience to the stage
• Happiest when living life with her family, preferably by water
• Aspiring painter of portraits. Favorite medium: acrylics
• Expert at creating crowd-pleasing meals from a half-stocked pantry in just 20 minutes
• Avid reader of crime and fantasy novels

Joyce leads finance for all of Uncork Capital’s fund operations, including valuations, portfolio reviews, limited partner reporting, firm-wide budgets, strategic financial planning, and fund formation. Her professional rigor, tireless work ethic, and positive energy have been instrumental in strengthening Uncork’s financial systems as the firm continues to scale, allowing the investment team to spend more time with founders.

Joyce joined Uncork Capital in 2022 after serving as Vice President of Finance at Sierra Ventures, where she spent fourteen years leading the firm’s financial reporting, accounting, limited partner communications, and regulatory compliance functions. She began her career at Ernst & Young in San Jose, where she audited clients in the technology and biotech industries.

Reflecting on her venture experience, Joyce believes, “While meticulous attention to detail is essential, the real impact lies in maintaining a clear vision of the broader strategic goals.”

Joyce holds a Master’s in Accounting from the University of Notre Dame’s Mendoza College of Business and a Bachelor’s in Business Economics from UCLA. Growing up in Silicon Valley after immigrating from Taiwan, she was deeply influenced by her father, an engineer whose dedication instilled in her a strong work ethic.

Outside of work, Joyce is an avid sports fan and a strong believer in the power of teamwork and perseverance. She’s a dedicated supporter of the Golden State Warriors, San Francisco 49ers, and San Francisco Giants, and never misses an opportunity to watch the Olympics — drawn to the competition, drive, and resilience athletes demonstrate at the highest level. Her love of fast-paced collaboration also extends to her love of action movies, particularly those starring Tom Cruise, Matt Damon, and Liam Neeson. She is also a passionate foodie, always in search of the best Japanese cuisine in the Bay Area.

Factoids:

• Immigrated from Taiwan to California at age six and has lived in the Bay Area ever since
• Raised two young sons during the pandemic, further sharpening her multitasking abilities
• Diehard Warriors, 49ers, and Giants fan — and proud Warriors season ticket holder
• Always on a quest to find the best Japanese ramen (recommendations welcome!)
• Obsessed with word games and aims to complete The New York Times crossword puzzle every day
• Believes that any great day can be made better with an action movie marathon

Jess sees herself as a net that prevents and catches problems that crop up throughout the day:  a missed flight; a lost communication; a rushed meeting; a frozen screen in the middle of a high-stakes presentation. She is motivated by knowing that the people around her feel supported and valued. Her skillset, which includes flexibility, empathy, and thinking fast on her feet, helps her deliver on that promise.

In her primary role as Executive Assistant, she works most closely with Amy Saper and Tripp Jones to help them accomplish more in less time. As an office manager, Jess makes sure the logistics of the office flow as smoothly as possible. She also cares about and for Uncork guests, making an effort to understand their unique needs and providing each of them an experience that enables them to feel comfortable and at ease throughout their visit.

Prior to joining Uncork, Jess was Recruiting Coordinator in candidate care and recruiting at Meta, most recently for executive office hires. Earlier in her career, Jess was an inventory manager for a cosmetics retailer, where she perfected the art of customer service through ruthless prioritization.

Jess is a curious person who loves technology and is evidence that you don’t need to be in a technical role to meaningfully contribute to fast-growing companies. She is enthusiastic to be working with a team of people who see companies not only for what they are, but also what they can become.

Factoids:

• Born and raised in the Bay Area and graduated from San Francisco State University.
• Voracious reader of fantasy novels
• Fan of classic, mostly-downbeat jazz: Chet Baker, Duke Ellington, Miles Davis, Oscar Peterson
• Salsa aficionado goes out dancing at least once a week, especially if the music is Cuban or Peruvian

Lisa Jo Cohen (aka LJ) is Air Traffic Controller and Calendar Tetris Master for Jeff, Andy, and Susan. She loves finding ways to iterate on processes in order to find the most efficient pathway or organization. If there is a bug in a system she will find it, and enjoys the challenge of QA for new tech gadgets and apps. She tries to think 5 steps ahead and be thoughtful about priority and scheduling shifts.

Prior to joining Uncork, LJ was the Executive Personal Assistant to the CEO at Houzz, where she helped grow the company from 750 employees to over 1,800 and expand internationally while also overseeing the Co-Founder’s family estate. At Yahoo she supported the CDO with M&A process development and implementation from initial research of potential acquisitions to compiling deal presentations for quarterly Yahoo BOD and Comp Committee meetings. LJ began her career at a tech incubator supporting the Founder & CEO, where for 9 years she oversaw all logistics of multiple start-ups from initial engineering concept meetings and building core teams to developing the technology, funding and spinning out viable technologies.

LJ graduated Cum Laude from San Jose State University with a BS in Business Administration/Accounting.

FACTOIDS:

• Graduated college at age 16, started her own business, and then sold everything at 18 to backpack through Europe
• Shares the love of int’l travel with her husband, and just returned from a 10-mo adventure worldschooling their 4 kids in Egypt, Central, and South America.
• Named inventor on patent for Mova Motion Capture technology used in the Marvel movies (she formulated the red/green color balance for the makeup application technique)
• WWA ranked wakesurfer who would spend every summer day at the lake if possible!
• Regularly runs away to join the circus to perform/train for flying trapeze…but always comes back because it’s her family (both and home and Uncork) that grounds her

Tilly is an Uncork Capital Operations and Platform team member who supports the network founders, executives, and partners. As Community Manager, Tilly’s focus is adding value for founders and their executive leaders by understanding their needs and cultivating resources that drive professional development. Tilly’s career spans 15 years of community management at investment firms and startups. She’s been a database guru, social marketer extraordinaire, and workflow & process development expert. You name it!

Tilly has discovered a lot working alongside investors and entrepreneurs. She learned that it’s tough to grow your company alone and that you need people willing to help you along the way. She’s found that staying connected with other founders and giving back to the community is the best way to ensure that happens. That’s why she’s super committed to helping entrepreneurs grow their companies so they can get more done faster, which means she spends her time coming up with new ways to help you get the most out of the resources Uncork Capital has to offer.

Regardless of your growth stage, you’ll find Tilly enthusiastic about supporting your goals. She loves working with founders, executives, and entrepreneurs because their passion is contagious. Tilly is the kind of person who will make you feel like anything is possible.

Tilly grew up in Portland, Oregon, but has called San Francisco her home for 15 years. You can find her out and about walking her corgi around the city or online @misstillytilly on all socials.

Factoids:

– Low-Code automation wizard
– Logged over 1,500 hours on Animal Crossing during the pandemic
– Impeccable taste in pop music
– Owns over 120 pairs of sunglasses
– Sagittarius Sun, Scorpio Moon & Scorpio Rising