Episode 327: Karey Barker of Cross Creek: From Public Investing to Discovering Venture Capital’s Promise

Karey Barker  is Founder and Managing Director of Cross Creek, a late-stage venture capital firm headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah.  She has over 25 years of broad public and private investment experience and holds a number of Board roles, including ARUP Laboratories. 

Our conversation walks through Karey's career which saw the unusual move from analysis of public equities into venture capital investing, and we hear why they are more similar than we might think. 

We move then to the current opportunity set in venture investing - particularly at the late stage of venture investing (within 1-2 years of going public) which is the expertise of Cross Creek. Karey discusses some of the sectors where she sees the most compelling opportunity sets, including areas likely to impact the consumer, some of which have been overlooked in the current market hype.

We end with a reflection on lessons learned and the industry as it is today, from an LP and allocator perspective. 

With thanks to Baillie Gifford for sponsoring Series 4 of 2025. Baillie Gifford is a long-term investment manager, dedicated to discovering the innovations and changemakers that deliver exceptional growth opportunities for its client