The Art of Spotting Unicorns: Inside a VC's Playbook with Risa Stack

When a PhD immunologist trades the microscope for the trading floor, then pivots to venture capital, you know something interesting is brewing. Meet Risa Stack, who runs GE Ventures’ New Business Creation team and has turned a rather unconventional career path into a blueprint for identifying breakthrough companies.

From Lab Coat to Trading Desk to VC: A Winding Road

Here’s where Risa’s journey gets interesting. While completing her PhD in cell biology at the University of Chicago, she was simultaneously running a trading desk on the floor of the Chicago Board of Trade—yes, you read that right. She was trading futures and options on government securities while perfecting her immunology research. “I enjoyed both and wanted to find a career that combined my love of science and my appetite to take risk,” Risa recalls.

That book “The Billion-Dollar Molecule: The Quest for the Perfect Drug”—the one about Vertex’s founding—became her north star. She saw something others didn’t: the massive potential in translating scientific discoveries into scalable businesses. A Kauffman Fellow herself, Risa joined JP Morgan Partners to help build out their venture capital practice, then spent a decade as a Partner at Kleiner Perkins Caulfield & Byers, where she invested in over a dozen healthcare companies and held board positions in several.

How GE Ventures Actually Works (Spoiler: It’s Not Your Typical VC)

At GE Ventures, Risa doesn’t just write checks—she builds companies from scratch. “In many ways, we ourselves operate more like a startup than traditional venture capitalists,” she explains. The team has already created seven companies, including Menlo Microsystems (spun out from GE’s global research center) and Avitas Systems (leveraging GE’s Predix platform to revolutionize inspection services across oil, gas, energy, transportation, and aviation).

The playbook is simple but rigorous. They seed new companies with up to $1M, starting with an idea and a lean team. The goal? Validate the business model and product-market fit before orchestrating Series A rounds. Sometimes they’re the only capital source; other times they attract respected partners to scale the company.

Three Questions That Rule Everything Around Risa

When evaluating opportunities, Risa and her team obsess over three questions:

What is the company solving for? Not just solving a problem, but solving a real market problem with teeth.

How can we validate it? This isn’t theoretical—they run market research, write business plans, and interview potential management teams to stress-test every assumption.

Is the market big enough? Even brilliant solutions in tiny markets don’t make great ventures.

Their entire operation revolves around these three filters. They spend considerable time evaluating business ideas, performing deep market research, writing comprehensive business plans, and interviewing potential management candidates. The total portfolio value? Several hundred million dollars across 20+ investments, many of which became public companies.

The Startup’s Secret Ingredient: People, People, People

Here’s what separates winning teams from the rest: the humans. Risa is blunt about this: “You need amazing people throughout the journey.”

But here’s the nuance most founders miss—it’s not just about surrounding yourself with smart people. It’s about finding the right people at the right stage. In early product development, you probably don’t need a seasoned VP of Marketing yet. What you need is a cohesive team with complementary skills that actually gel together. “Finding the right people at the right time that gel into a passionate, cohesive team is an art,” Risa says.

What VCs Actually Look For (Beyond the Pitch Deck)

Risa has a philosophy about the entrepreneur mindset: there’s a delicate balance between being driven and being a good listener. The best founders create disruptive businesses, but they don’t operate in isolation. They seek out smart people with different perspectives and more experience. They’re hungry for advice and don’t mistake criticism for negativity.

“I encourage entrepreneurs to surround themselves with smart people who have different ideas,” Risa advises. That’s not just motivational speak—it’s the difference between companies that scale and companies that plateau.

Why Access Matters More Than You Think

The best ideas often come from unexpected places. For GE Ventures, that’s the ecosystem of GE itself and its global customer base. This unique vantage point creates a competitive edge: they spot market needs early because they have insider access and deep industry insight. It’s not just capital—it’s strategic capital paired with unmatched market intelligence.

After decades of building, investing, and advising, Risa Stack’s career is a masterclass in bridging disciplines, trusting data, and recognizing that breakthrough ventures are ultimately about people. Whether you’re a founder seeking investors or an investor hunting for the next unicorn, her playbook is worth studying.