“Steady as She Goes”: Intel Capital Veteran Tammi Smorynski on Boards, Down-Cycles, and Why She’s Teaching the Next Generation

Interviewed August 14, 2025

Nicolas Sauvage interviews Tammi Smorynski—24-year Intel Capital veteran and now GCV Institute instructor—on her winding path from J.P. Morgan to venture and why great CVCs must balance strategic impact with financial discipline. She shares boardroom best practices (say the hard thing first, observers can be powerful, use her eight-slide handover pack) and lessons from Intel Capital’s leaders summed up by Les Vadasz’s mantra: “steady as she goes.” Smorynski compares past downturns to today’s uncertainty, offers guarded optimism for deep-tech hardware, and urges aspiring CVCs to find mentors, treat failures as tuition, and prepare rigorously.