Christie Jenkins
Melbourne
Australia

Christie Jenkins

Investments
Associate
Melbourne
Australia

This Blackbird has flown the nest. You can get in touch with them below.

About Me

I’ve been number 1 in Australia and top 10 in the world in three different sports: Trampolining, CrossFit and Beach Volleyball.

I also love to speak and write about how founders and their teams can bring the athlete mindset to startups.On the personal front I love to travel (50 countries and counting), hike (to the top of Kilimanjaro and the bottom of the Grand Canyon), cook (and eat, otherwise what’s the point?) and read (my mum is an author).

Passion follows skill.

What do you do at Blackbird?

I’m in the Investments team in our Melbourne office. Everyday I get to meet founders whose ideas will make a dent in the world, and I have the honour of helping them succeed by investing time, money, advice, encouragement and most of all unshakeable belief in their potential.


What did you do before Blackbird?

I was (and still am) an Advisor at Athletic Ventures - a syndicate of Australian elite athletes investing in startups. Before that I spent a decade in management consulting for companies like Bupa, ANZ and CBA. I’m a keynote speaker on athlete mindset. And I ran away and joined the circus for a year too!


What do you believe that others do not?

Passion follows skill. Everything I’ve become passionate about in life has not been love at first sight. Instead, passion is created through the journey of becoming skillful - spending time, effort and thought on something makes you fall in love with it. Some of the worst advice we give young people is ‘find your passion’. You don’t find passion, you create it as you build skill.


What ideas are you excited by right now?

I’m obsessed with human performance - how can we make humans smarter, stronger, faster, sleep better and live longer? I love businesses that are tackling healthcare with a focus on affordability and globalisation. Education businesses bringing a system designed for the industrial age into the future, but keeping the teacher-student connection. And creator economy companies that help humans unleash their ideas, and unlock markets to share those ideas in. It’s a long list and every day there is more I want to dive into.

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Christie Jenkins