
Maren Kate Donovan
Building a 'reverse Amazon Prime' to make it easy for people to declutter and do good
marenkate
Austin, Texas
Joined February 2025
Network
1.1K connectionsSummary
Serial founder with deep, hands-on experience building remote-first talent businesses and marketplaces. After founding Zirtual and growing it into a large virtual‑assistant service, Donovan applied those learnings to create Avra Talent, which she scaled from a boutique recruiting agency into a community-driven marketplace focused on remote hiring and interim talent operations. ozanvarol+1
Leader who learned and taught hard lessons from a public startup failure. Donovan wrote a widely read post about Zirtual's implosion (burn and finance mistakes) and has discussed publicly how the experience shaped her approach to hiring, finance and ops in later ventures. medium+1
Talent and recruiting practitioner and operator. Multiple roles and public descriptions position Donovan as a talent leader — founding Avra Talent to solve persistent hiring problems for startups, serving as Head of Talent / Operating Partner roles at firms supporting portfolios, and running interim talent teams for early-stage companies. joinodf+1
Work
Education
Projects
Writing
Going Remote
January 1, 2020A book / long-form guide about remote work practices and building remote careers (Donovan is listed as an author / co‑creator on public references to the 'Going Remote' project).
Zirtual: What Happened and What's Next
January 1, 2015A first-person account by Maren Kate Donovan explaining the operational and financial factors that led to Zirtual pausing operations in 2015 and the subsequent asset purchase by Startups.co.