Our founders
Amy Lester is a leader, operator and investor known for scaling billion-dollar businesses and helping shape technologies that have changed how the world connects and communicates. With leadership roles at Walmart, Udacity and BDT Capital Partners, she’s had a front-row seat to some of the most defining shifts in tech, e-commerce and private capital.
At Walmart, Amy led communications for the company’s e-commerce division during a period of explosive growth, scaling Walmart.com into one of the world’s largest online retailers. At Udacity, she positioned the startup at the forefront of AI and autonomous systems, defining a new category in global tech education. And at BDT Capital Partners, a merchant bank and global private equity firm, she elevated the firm’s investment brand and advised founders and portfolio companies through IPOs, cross-border M&A and high-stakes situations where capital, leadership and reputation converge.
As Co-Founder of Sabertooth Ventures, Amy works directly with founders to sharpen their narratives, build marketing engines and navigate key milestones from fundraising and customer growth to strategic positioning and exits. She brings a rare blend of operational rigor, creative instinct and financial fluency, acting as a hands-on advisor to startups building at the intersection of tech, culture, and real-world impact.
Amy serves on the Board of The Jackie Speier Foundation which supports women and children living in poverty in Silicon Valley. She’s a forever beginner on the yoga mat and a die-hard Radiohead fan. Amy holds a journalism degree from Drake University and completed the AI Executive Program at Stanford Graduate School of Business.
Kat Dykeman's career is a masterclass in transformation—shaped by a relentless pursuit of knowledge, a passion for storytelling, and a talent for connecting people, data, and ideas. From her early days in media to leadership roles at Facebook and Amazon, Kat has built a career at the intersection of creativity, strategy, and innovation.
While based in London for over a decade, Kat founded Facebook’s Marketing Science team in London in 2010, which played a pivotal role in transforming the platform into an advertising giant. By developing tools to measure return on investment, her team set the standard for data-driven advertising effectiveness. Later, at Amazon, she demonstrated leadership by building and directing a completely new team that empowered the world’s largest advertisers to measure and maximize their investments on Amazon’s emerging advertising platform, setting a new standard for performance-driven insights.
Kat’s impact extends beyond corporate roles. As co-founder of Sabertooth Ventures, she champions authentic storytelling through irreverent, impactful media. She is also a partner at Dome Vineyards and is an amateur astronomer who spends any extra hours in her observatory. Kat has spent the last three decades in New York City, London, and San Francisco, but has never forgotten her midwest upbringing. Through every endeavor, Kat has stayed true to her mission: creating meaningful connections between ideas, people, and the stories that define them.