Interview with Kelly Navickas, Investment Office at Netcapital
This week, we had the opportunity to talk with Kelly Navickas, an Investment Office at Netcapital. Kelly is a 2019 graduate from Wellesley, where she majored in anthropology.
We talked to Kelly about her role at Netcapital, why her job is a great fit for her, and how Wellesley students can position themselves to do well in the interview and onboarding process for firms like Netcapital.
Hi Kelly! Thank you for taking time to speak to the Investment Society and the Wellesley community. Will you please introduce yourself?
Kelly: I’m Kelly Navickas, and I’m a member of the Class of 2019. Go yellow class! I was an anthropology major, and for the position I have now, my background was a little unorthodox. My first summer, I worked at Hillary for America. Then the following summer, I worked at Keystone Girl State, which was a political camp where Pennsylvania high school students simulate Pennsylvania’s government. The following summer, I went to New Mexico and studied at the Maxwell Museum, the Office of the Medical Investigator, and the Office of Archaeological Studies. During that summer, I did my anthropology thesis research on the effects of pregnancy on human bone.
Now, I work at Netcapital as an Investment Officer where I help build relationships with potential partners and investors and see what value can be created through those relationships. Even if I didn’t have a background in finance, I’m still really happy with the experience I had at Wellesley. There, I was also the Vice President of Mock Trial, the President of the Guild, and the Coordinator of the Public Speaking Program.
How did you learn about this position and why do you think it is the next best step for your career?
Kelly: In high school, I worked at a credit union for a couple of years, and I really enjoyed that experience. In my last semester of college, I did one of the MIT co-ops at Space Enabled, which is part of the MIT Media Lab. There, they had this interesting program where they were studying startups in the Boston area, specifically in robotics and clean energy. It was part of a larger program based out of the European Union where they were studying innovative practices in emerging startup companies and seeing how the organization of these startups would affect their overall success. They had this branch that was also working in the Boston area so in that position, I was able to study specific robotics incubators and see what practices they used in order for the startups in their incubator to be successful. That was my first foray into the Boston startup space. That, and because of my prior experience at FMFCU (the credit union I worked at in high school), I ran into this company online called Netcapital and realized they had an interesting story. In 2016, Congress passed the Jobs Act, and it allowed anyone to be able to invest in private companies. Before that, it was impossible for anyone who didn’t have a specific income level or net worth to be able to invest in this asset class. I thought that was a compelling idea, so I reached out to Netcapital and interviewed, and that’s how I started working with them.
It’s really been a great experience. I never at Wellesley imagined I’d be going into finance. It wasn’t on my radar for a long time, but the more I read about Netcapital and the more I talked to the people at the company, the more I realized I wanted to be there. It was important that I worked at a company that had a compelling mission, and it’s equally important to get in on the ground floor and show the world that value. On our advisory board we have the Chairman and CEO of napster, the former CEO of Sprint, the CEO of Draft Kings, the former CEO of Verizon, and more. Before looking at the startup space, I never had that on my horizon, but I love building relationships and value for Netcapital and having responsibilities that I wouldn’t necessarily be able to have working in a large corporation.
What is it like to work at Netcapital?
Kelly: It’s thrilling because I don’t think people have realized how revolutionary it is yet. The value that’s created in investing is often created in these private companies. We’ve noticed data in the last few years that companies are staying private longer, and run into problems when they do go public. Consider WeWork as an example. If you consider companies like Facebook, they raised $5 million during their seed round. Then eight years later, they went public with a $104 billion valuation. Now, it’s possible for anyone to invest in private companies, and I’m proud that I can share in that mission. In order to have larger gains when you’re investing, you need access to these private deals from the very beginning. Yes, there’s more risk, but it also means you have the potential for higher rewards. When Congress passed the Jobs Act in 2016, that was a game-changer where you didn’t have to be an accredited investor. Anyone could invest in these companies. The other thing about the Jobs Act, too, is it allows these private companies to generally solicit for the offer and sale of their securities, so meaning that they can, for example, fund a Twitter campaign, put a billboard on the highway saying that people can invest in their company. Netcapital allows any company, if they decide they want to raise capital, to sign up and sell their securities on our website. We have to do a couple of things like help the company prepare and file their offering materials with the SEC, and we help them through that onboarding process to eventually host an offering page.
What has been the most fulfilling part of your job?
Kelly: I have a direct impact on the company because we’re early. Everyone here has such a pivotal role in determining whether our startup is actually going to succeed or not. I decide what it is that I want to be doing with my day to day in order to contribute as much value as I can. You are responsible for whether the company is going to do well or not, so I really love that freedom and being able to determine so early what should the company do in order to be better than we were the day before. For example, one of the things that I’m working on in the company is how we better organize ourselves as a team. What does a company look like when it’s at this stage before it becomes further along? You really get to see how these companies are built from the ground floor. Talking to other startups across the country and seeing their innovative ideas that they bring to the table is incredibly valuable. Knowing that we can help them raise capital to help make that vision a reality is also very powerful.
You were an anthropology major who has demonstrated that an economics major is not necessary to start a career in financial services. How did your anthropology major help you in your job search and current post?
Kelly: I think it’s hard when you’re first going into college to say, “Okay, this is what I want to do for the rest of my life.” However, I think what you do know, even when you’re first starting out in college or even in high school, is what activities make you happy and what skills you need to build. So when I was deciding what I wanted to do each summer, I was looking at the organization’s mission, whether I believed in that mission, and whether if I took the position, I’d be building on the skills that I wanted to while I was there. Even when I was in college, it started to stress me out a little bit where I thought, “Okay, I am working for this political organization. Here’s another semi-political, but also nonprofit organization. Now I’m doing biological research. Where is this going?” When I was going into my senior year, I started wondering how this was all going to connect even though I felt like I was still building the skills that I needed to. I realized with my major in anthropology, doing political work, doing research, that all of it was because I really loved learning about people. I loved learning about culture and how to connect with others, so when I first started interviewing at Netcapital, that’s exactly how I phrase it. I wanted to start learning how we can build relationships with others, and how learning about potential partners and having a background in anthropology can help the company make certain decisions. What are some things that the company should consider because I have that background, and what knowledge do I have from my courses in anthropology that can help in setting the company’s mission?
I think part of it too is if you want to go in financial services, you don’t have to have a major in economics or political science to go into this field. If economics is interesting to you, then of course you should think of majoring in it. However, I think what’s really important is that you keep building on the skills that you need to in order to provide value and continue finding what is your passion.
Final question: What do you like to do outside of work?
Kelly: In my spare time, I still play clarinet. I didn’t play much at Wellesley because as we all know, Wellesley students are very busy, so I’ve been trying to get back into that again. When I was at Wellesley, I played in the Guild of Carillonneurs, and I miss that a lot. Surprisingly, there’s not a carillon sitting in the middle of Boston, but I do want to start that again.
Kelly, thank you for speaking to us. We appreciate all your advice and insight.
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