Haley Bryant

Bryant initially planned to become a journalist and graduated from the University of Virginia in 2010 with a degree in media studies and communications.⁠[1]

After college she joined AppleAppleApple is a public technology company founded in 1976 and headquartered in Cupertino, California, United States. Its business includes the iPhone, Mac, iPad, wearables, and services such as digital content, payments, and cloud storage. The company builds its product system through in-house hardware, operating systems, and services.Open the full entry’s retail stores as an associate and within four years rose to senior manager, leading stores with revenues in the millions of dollars. Along the way she launched Apple’s small business program in the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia region, which worked with companies including WeddingWire, Cava and Sweetgreen.⁠[1]

After Apple she worked as a customer success manager at a productivity startup and then as a technical support implementation lead at a virtual events startup; both companies were later acquired.⁠[1]

She then joined the content marketing agency Animalz, rising from director of customer operations to chief operating officer, with responsibility for a P&L and distributed teams; over about three years the agency grew from $2 million to $14 million in revenue and from 20 to 150 people. In September 2020 she appeared on the Superpath podcast as Animalz’s COO.⁠[1][2]

In summer 2020 her Animalz colleague Jan-Erik Asplund left to found Sacra, a private-market research company, and Bryant offered to invest — her first startup investment. She said an email from Animalz founder Walter Chen at the time, to the effect that “the world is not a fair place, but in a startup, you can build the world that you wanna see,” helped shape her angel investing thesis.⁠[1][3]

She made 15 investments in her first year.⁠[3]

Her personal investments have focused on companies solving problems she experienced herself, companies from or serving underserved markets, and those overlooked by institutional venture capital; she has invested in about 50 companies on her own, including Scout (formerly Merit), Rain, AngelListAngelListAngelList is a startup investment platform company based in San Francisco, United States. Founded in 2010 by Naval Ravikant and Babak Nivi, it began as a mailing list recommending startups to angel investors, went on to launch online fundraising, Syndicates (co-investing), rolling funds, and other products, and later shifted into a fund administration and back-office services platform for venture capital funds and private markets.Open the full entry and Dopl.⁠[1]

Bryant came to know Hustle Fund through its co-founder and general partner Elizabeth Yin. In summer 2021 she joined the firm’s angel investor community Angel Squad as a paying member, and that fall became a venture partner helping to build the community.⁠[1]

Recalling her path into the industry, she said, “I did not go to school for finance. I did not know what venture capital was.”⁠[1]

In 2022 Bryant was promoted to principal at Hustle Fund.⁠[1]

She conceived the Hustle Fund Venture Fellowship, a program within Angel Squad that brings together 50 members from around the world to take part in the full deal cycle, including screening the more than a thousand companies the firm sees each month; its fifth cohort was set to begin in January 2026.⁠[1]

Bryant is a partner at Hustle Fund, responsible for limited partner communications, the Venture Fellowship and fundraising. As of December 2025 she had invested in 48 companies during her time at the firm.⁠[4][1]

She describes her thesis as investing in great founders from anywhere who look like anyone, and in evaluating companies she emphasizes what differentiates an idea, the economics of customer acquisition and a founder’s capacity for sustained work in their market.⁠[1]

She is also co-chair of the Washington, D.C., Maryland and Virginia (DMV) chapter of BLCK VC.⁠[1]

Hustle Fund: Official website: https://www.hustlefund.vc/ (opens in a new window).⁠[4]

X: Public account: https://x.com/haleymbryant (opens in a new window).⁠[4][2]

LinkedInLinkedInLinkedIn is a social networking platform for professionals. It was founded in 2002 by Reid Hoffman and others, launched in 2003, and listed on the New York Stock Exchange in 2011; after Microsoft acquired it for approximately $26.2 billion in 2016, it became a wholly owned Microsoft subsidiary. Its revenue comes from membership subscriptions, advertising, and recruitment solutions.Open the full entry: Public profile: https://www.linkedin.com/in/haleymbryant/ (opens in a new window).⁠[4]