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Ryan Murphy

Background

Ryan Murphy is a sourcing associate at Norwest Venture Partners on the growth products and services team, where he has been approximately one year into his first career role after professional swimming. He is a 9-time Olympic medalist (5 gold) and former world record holder in the 100m backstroke. He competed in three consecutive Olympics (Rio 2016, Tokyo 2020, Paris 2024) and served as team captain for Team USA in Tokyo and Paris.

Ryan attended UC Berkeley's Haas School of Business, where he was part of a Cal swimming program that produced six members of the 2016 US Olympic team. Beyond investing, he is a USA Swimming Foundation ambassador focused on drowning prevention and the franchise owner-operator of a Goldfish Swim School location in Jacksonville, Florida, which opened in October 2024. Ryan spent roughly three years (2021-2024) exploring career paths through ~300 networking conversations before joining Norwest.

Ryan is publicly considering training for the 2028 Los Angeles Olympics alongside his sourcing career and family commitments.

Appearances

Key Views & Frameworks

  • On Career Transition: Spent three years (~300 conversations) exploring options before committing. Advice: "be pretty thorough as you do the research" and find a few patient mentors you can ask "embarrassing" questions. (Ep. 22)
  • On Junior BD Onboarding: First 90 days should be spent as a "sponge" — sit in on calls across multiple industries, figure out adjacencies between verticals, and identify traits of talented colleagues to replicate. (Ep. 22)
  • On Breaking Through the Noise: "A unique subject line is such an overlooked part of the job." Personalize every cold email, leverage unique background elements (Olympic credentials, franchise ownership, advisory board experience), find unexpected connection points. (Ep. 22)
  • On credibility: When you lack personal track record, "hype up" the senior team and position yourself as a gateway. Be self-deprecating on calls. Use your own relevant experiences (multi-unit fitness, youth enrichment, franchise ops) as genuine connection points. (Ep. 22)
  • On Value-First Outreach: Offer market research, similar-company findings, and network introductions as value in first conversations. (Ep. 22)
  • On founder assessment: Elite sports psychology translates to founder diligence — ability to love the work, leadership magnetism, self-awareness about blind spots. (Ep. 22)
  • On Lifestyle of Success and longevity: Elite habits (nutrition, sleep, recovery, process orientation) are "loosely correlated to performance" but critical for longevity — a framework he first learned from Natalie Coughlin in swimming and now applies to his sourcing career. (Ep. 22)

Notable Quotes

"The greatest indicator of long-term success is consistency over time." — Ep. 22

"A unique subject line is actually such an overlooked part of the job." — Ep. 22

"My goal is to go into rooms, be a sponge, learn as much as I can and try to figure out from the people in the room what are some traits that they have that I could try to replicate." — Ep. 22

"I use the team as the way to build credibility." — Ep. 22