From Local Strategy to Global Venture Capital: How Jane Kubryak Built Expertise, Visibility & Influence
Jane Kubryak transformed her early career in corporate finance into a position of global influence in the startup and venture capital ecosystem. By combining strategic discipline, thought leadership, and international visibility, she offers a blueprint for frontier-market professionals to scale globally — no matter their origin.
The Foundation: Finance and Strategy Expertise
Jane began her career in corporate finance, developing solid skills in financial modeling and strategic decision-making. Eager to learn the global best practices, she passed two levels of the CFA exam, which deepened her foundational knowledge of global standards.
Her work informed executive decisions at a $3 billion agriholding Sodru, where she worked directly with the holding’s CFO and CEO. As the lead analyst she oversaw an EBRD-financed acquisition in Turkey. Soon after, she was promoted to Head of Strategy, analytically supporting multi-million-dollar M&A decisions. The company’s C-suite described her as “a strategist who combines analytical precision with strategic marketing outlook and empathetic leadership style.”
Disillusioned with the slow pace of traditional industries, she moved into consulting at Bain & Company, on the brink of the COVID pandemic. Just at the moment when the world stopped, Jane was eager to move on. At Bain she led a research project stream, analyzing COVID-19’s impact on global transportation.
In 2021, she joined VK, a dominant social platform with over 100 million monthly active users, often described as “Russia’s Meta.” There, she led market research at the Startup Lab and co-founded a Fintech-community platform. “It was the first time I launched something entirely of my own,” she later reflected. Her strength in translating insight into innovation quickly made her indispensable.
Going Global: Founding Discover with Jane
After relocating to Montenegro in 2023, Jane launched her own consultancy Discover with Jane. She advised over 10 early-stage founders – primarily from Europe – on go-to-market strategies.
Her contribution to the startups’ product launches was based on finding unique market niches. For example, for a business community she focused on ‘traditional’ brick and mortar shops – just when they were feeling excluded from the AI talks. Even in the social media playing field with over 20 competitors, Jane found a unique positioning – ‘social media for productivity’. Jane’s product discovery approach gave the name to her business venture – Discover with Jane.
In 2023, she earned a Bronze Stevie Award for Best Female Entrepreneur, and was also invited to judge in the New Product and Sustainability category.
The Stevie Awards are internationally recognized and awarded since 2002 in categories like entrepreneurship, leadership, and innovation. The Stevie Awards for Women in Business are judged by over 200 professionals in various business fields, formally vetted by Stevie Awards. Judges include professionals from Amazon, Google and the like. Each nomination is evaluated anonymously by at least 5 volunteer judges, and only nominations marked 7.75 out of 10 or higher receive an award. Notable female Stevie winners range from JP Morgan’s Portfolio Manager Kathrine Relle, to Canadian business speaker Ann Kaplan, to Mia Pearson who founded North Strategic and sold to Publicis.
Scaling Impact Through Thought Leadership
Jane deepened her influence through mentorship, judging, and research. She moved from being a mentee into a mentor in Women in Tech to mentoring for programs like ETH Hackathon, and collaborating with Techstars, and judging prestigious startup competitions, like The Ventures.
She also pursued thought leadership, authoring research on AI-era skills for founders, and presenting at three international conferences—including Future of Women and Future of Education. She represented Montenegro at the latter and was nominated a top speaker in her track. A peer panelist commented: ”Her Eastern European perspective and personal storytelling make her presentation truly engaging”.
To expand the reach of her knowledge, Jane focused on visibility. She grew her LinkedIn following from 500 to over 5,000 in two years, with posts regularly achieving thousands of impressions. Her perspective on AI-era marketing earned her a collaboration with Product Marketing Alliance as an author.
Her visibility led to recurring invitations to judge Stevie and Globee Awards, reviewing dozens of startup pitches per cycle, and invitations to speak at events aimed at startup founders and entrepreneurs.
The Culmination: Transitioning to Venture Capital
Jane has always perceived venture capital as an unbelievable industry to get into — and for good reasons. In 2024 only about 5% of Harvard Business School MBAs and 6% of Stanford GSB MBAs took venture roles (and these are schools with the strongest VC pipelines, as per Clear Admit). The latest NVCA/Venture Forward survey covered 250 U.S. VC firms representing 4,700+ full-time employees, underscoring how few seats exist.
However, by 2025, Jane’s diverse experience led her to venture capital. She graduated in the top quartile among 380 participants (and over 3000 applicants!) at Venture Institute (Palo Alto), and joined Team Ignite as a Venture Resident, among c. 50 people who got a residency in her cohort.
At Social Discovery Group, she built a scouting funnel that sourced 300+ startups in six months across digital intimacy, AI companions, and the creator economy. She also created SDG Labyrinth, a Telegram group of 100+ founders sharing growth tactics and investor feedback.
One VC peer remarked, “Jane’s deal flow approach is both creative and meticulous. She just sees talent others miss.”
A Frontier-Market Playbook for Global Career Growth
So how has she done it? Here we recap the takeaways that are applicable for entrepreneurs who’d like to follow Jane’s steps.
- Master your domain. Build unmatched skills in finance, product, or strategy. And then look for the niches within that domain that interest you (like Jane did with strategy).
- Build external credibility. Mentor, research, become a panelist or judge to become a trusted voice. Use proven networks, like Techstars or Women in Tech.
- Scale your presence. Use platforms like LinkedIn, conferences, and community events to reach more people: first tens, then thousands.
With expertise, credibility, and connection, frontier-market founders and VCs can build careers that go global — far beyond their home country or region.
