Sallie Jian

Director, Head of Ventures North America

2023 - Current

Oversee Distill Ventures and Diageo venture capital (VC) activities including investments (lead, co-invest), partnerships, joint ventures, and M&A in North America. Board observer, advisor and director.

Board Director & Observer

2023

Advisory Board Member

2021 - 2024

Director, Head of SAP.iO NY (VC & Corporate Innovation) & Corporate Development

2018 - 2023

Identified and led due diligence on partnership, investment and M&A opportunities with a focus on enterprise software technologies. Advised Fortune 500 executives and partners on innovation initiatives, partnerships and commercial contracts with startups. Special projects for Office of the CEO and Corporate Development. Launched SAP.iO NY from ground up as a startup concept within SAP; 25% of SAP.iO startups I sourced were acquired by the likes of Digimarc, Fiserv, Klarna, Snap. Advised 50+ startups on sales & marketing, business development/go-to-market, partnerships, organization structure, hiring, fundraising, product, UI/UX, automating workflows, technical integration. Oversaw 200+ partnerships and relationships with Fortune 500 executives, SaaS leaders, VCs, accelerators and operators. Led sourcing, due diligence and committee for 1000s of startups including: - Customer Experience - Hero, Narrativ, StyleSage, Linc, Perksy, Popwallet, VNTANA, Mercaux, LISNR - Sustainability - Algramo, EcoCart, LimeLoop, Inspectorio, Specright, Goodr, COI Energy, Queen of Raw - HR & Future of Work - CariClub, StellarEmploy, Daivergent, Bravely, Profinda, Anthill - Supply Chain - Rheaply, Wise Systems, everledger, EVRYTHNG, Inspectorio, Specright, Ivaldi, Cogniac - Health & Wellness - meQuilibrium, SilverCloud Health, MyMeds, Droice Labs - Web3 - Amberdata, Everledger, Obsess, VNTANA, EVRYTHNG, Obsess, Bigthinx

Visionary Voices (Inaugural Speaker)

2020 - 2021

Startup Mentor & Advisor @ WeWork Labs

2020 - 2021

Startup Mentor & Advisor

2020 - 2021

Startup Mentor & Advisor

2019 - 2020

Vice President

2016 - 2018

Led the Venture Capital team and was the fastest promoted Vice President. Responsibilities included discovering exceptional companies and entrepreneurs, evaluating startups, conducting due diligence, negotiating terms and leading investment committee. Some deals I sourced or helped on: B2B - Dante Labs, Credibll, Jobletics, Gryphon, Advir, EVEN, Algopix, Voyajoy, Pico, Shelf.io Consumer - Martenero, From Molly with Love, Ellebox, Dabba Foods, Rosca Finance, Wearable X

Chief Financial Officer & Head of Business Development

2015 - 2016

In under 3 months, promoted to CFO & Head of BD from Director of Business Development & Corporate Operations. Business Development, Fundraising, Corporate Finance, B2B and B2C Partnerships, Corporate Development, Operations, Event Planning, Product, Digital Media, Marketing, Strategy, Brand Ambassador Program