Who We Are
When you hire 808MPH, you get both of these partners. Not their junior staff. Not their frameworks. Them.
Founded by former entrepreneurs, VCs, and operators who have together built, scaled, and exited multiple companies, we bring real-world experience to every engagement. Although we are incisive, we do not just advise. We roll up our sleeves and help you execute.
Valerie Hoecke
Valerie has built businesses in over 40 countries, founded two startups with successful exits, and led digital transformation for some of the most iconic brands on the planet.
She spent eight years driving tripled revenues by making Benefit Cosmetics a leader in its category, and was then promoted to Global Chief Digital Officer for LVMH Beauty's $8B portfolio, leading digital transformation for 16 luxury brands. After LVMH she ran all business functions as COO at Dia&Co, the Sequoia and Union Square-backed startup. While COO she drove a brand pivot, integrated an acquisition, and managed a restructuring of the business before joining Mach49 as the head of the Board Member in Residence practice. Earlier in her career she co-founded Fire Engine Red, a boutique venture consultancy, with clients including Accel Partners, Oracle, Sony Entertainment, and Mayfield Fund. She created and exited her first technology startup before she was 25.
Growing up with immigrant parents taught her that adaptation is not just survival, it is advantage. Her continued work across Chinese, Korean, European, British, and Latin American markets, plus time spent living in the Philippines, Tanzania, and Zanzibar, make her a natural translator between cultures, markets, and mindsets in ways that boardroom education never could.
She’s a surfer who understands timing matters. She has competed at the World Championship level across two paddle sports and has an unparalleled drive to win coupled with natural instincts for team building. She grows food in Hawaii and tends a garden that helps to feed her family and her community. The ocean, the soil, and place keep her grounded in what actually matters for the planet and for humanity.
Recent Experience
Board Member In Residence at Mach49, COO at Dia&Co (Sequoia-backed), Global Chief Digital Officer at LVMH Perfumes & Cosmetics
Chris sees the future. He saw the internet coming before most people knew what a website was, and he has been ahead of the curve ever since.
Chris Tacy
He has been a founder or executive at five successful startups (with five wins), managed a $325M corporate venture fund, and closed deals worth over $2B. His investment track record: over $100M returned on less than $7.5M invested. Clients have included Google, TDK Ventures, Oracle, Nike, Lockheed Martin, Baker Hughes, Sony, Inflect Capital, Viacom, Goodyear Ventures, and Xerox. Most recently he built the Venture Strategy practice at Mach49, spending five years partnering with Global 1000 leadership teams on growth that actually moved the needle.
Growing up poor and outside the mainstream taught him that the view from the margins is clearer than the view from the center. That instinct, spotting what insiders miss because they're too close to how things are supposed to work, is still the engine behind everything he does. The kitchen and the stage reinforced it. Working the line as a cook taught him that excellence happens in real time. Being in bands and DJing taught him timing, and how to read a room.
He still cooks, grows food in Hawaii, writes fiction, and DJs. He has competed at two World Championships as a US National Dragonboat team member and was a sponsored professional rock climber. He grows and cooks food to share, because abundance means nothing if you keep it to yourself. He does not do things halfway.
Recent Experience
General Partner-in-Residence at TDK Ventures, Chief Strategy Officer at Mach49, Board Member at Inflect Health, Corporate Development at Mozilla Corporation.
If we sound like the kind of people you’d like to work with, we should chat.
