Sarah Romanko

Sarah is an Associate at Geek Ventures, focusing on deal sourcing, screening, and conducting in-depth analyses of prospective startups. Geek Ventures drives equal opportunity for visionary immigrant entrepreneurs (to the U.S.) through capital and connections.

Before joining Geek Ventures, Sarah gained experience at several different early-stage VC firms, where she focused on 1) building relationships with VCs, founders, and community builders, 2) sourcing and evaluating startups, and 3) performing due diligence. She's also worked for several startups, including Bulletpitch and WingDriver (Techstars '23).

She's very active in the startup and VC community, and served as the Chief of Staff, member of the investor Committee, and a Founding Speaker for the Inaugural Texas Venture Gala and Forum, as well as a SXSW 2024, 2025, and 2026 Conference PanelPicker Evaluator. On top of this, she's had 60+ speaking engagements on pitching, funding and investing, selecting a viable startup to invest in, and obtaining experience in VC. 

Drawing on her industry experience, she served as a guest judge for one section of the University of Texas at Dallas Jindal School of Management's undergraduate Innovation and Entrepreneurship class, where she judged final student pitches. She also served as a Finalist Judge for the Global Summer Marketing Challenge (GSMC) 2023, served as a judge for the 2024 McNeil High School Mock DECA Competition, served as a judge at the 50th, 51st, 52nd, and 53rd Edition of GGW Sharks, and served as a judge for the 2025 Stony Point High School Mock DECA Competition. Most recently, she served as a judge for the 2025 Texas DECA District 5 Competition (where she evaluated students' written plans and oral presentations in the Entrepreneurship Innovation Plan Competition), served as a judge for the 2025 Startup Grind Global Pitch Battle - Austin (where she judged 10 startups, with the winner moving on to the North American Semi-Final), served as a judge for the HubSpot X Literally Helping StartupsFlash Pitch Competition, and served as a judge for Startup Grind’s StartupMania Pitch Competition in Miami.