Investor Websites

Hirad is an engineer, entrepreneur, and investor. He understands technology from the silicon up and has started multiple software businesses, including co-founding Dr. Bill, which was acquired by a major Canadian bank. He partners with industry experts to launch niche software businesses. Hirad also hosts a podcast exploring books and ideas that challenge conventional thinking, covering topics from evolution to anthropology.

Michael de la Maza is a Professor of Business Analytics and Machine Learning at Hult International Business School. His research focuses on understanding why high-potential corporate management teams underperform and developing data-driven interventions to optimize their effectiveness. He holds a PhD in Machine Learning from MIT and is an Amazon bestselling author. Michael is also an angel investor and founder of Immaculate Conception Ventures, with a portfolio that includes four unicorn investments from seed stage. He co-founded companies acquired by Oracle and Microsoft. He is a Scrum Alliance Certified Enterprise Coach and has guided digital transformations at industry leaders. Outside of his professional pursuits, Michael competes as a master’s long jumper, ranked in the top 25 in the USA for his age group.

Jennifer Kaehms is an angel investor and advisor. She is passionate about supporting groundbreaking tech startups and businesses. Currently, she serves as an angel investor and advisor to Tennr, Lambda, and Omneky. From 2021 to 2023, she was a Partner at Foundation Capital. Before that, she spent nearly two years at Forethought, first in operations and then as Head of Revenue Operations in 2020. Earlier in her career, she was an Investment Associate at Canvas Ventures from 2016 to 2018. She had internships at NASA Ames Research Center in 2009 and 2010. She was named an Ann Craig Scholar and served as the Bioengineering Class Speaker at UC San Diego in 2014. She was actively involved in track, cross-country, and triathlon at UC San Diego. She lives in Austin, Texas.

Chris Sparling is the co-founder of Tiny. He has spent years in the entrepreneurial world, working through various tech ventures. He served as the CFO at MetaLab and has a passion for building companies. Chris has co-founded several tech startups, ranging from SaaS platforms to digital goods and services businesses. In 2013, he teamed up with Andrew Wilkinson to start Tiny Capital, which focuses on buying software businesses. In 2019, Chris took WeCommerce, one of Tiny’s companies, public on the TSX:V. In early 2023, Tiny and WeCommerce merged, and Chris now serves as Chairman of the combined company. Tiny owns over 40 companies, including Dribbble and We Work Remotely.

Brian Hertzog is a technology enthusiast, writer, investor, and photographer. Based in the PNW area, he focuses on allocating his time, energy, attention, and capital to the important things in life. He aims to share lessons learned and help others do the same, learning from the smartest people he can find. This site shares his story and the wisdom he's collected.

Sam Broner is building and investing in NYC and online. He is generally happy and interested in blockchains, distributed systems, dev tools, CRDTs, and local-first software. He focuses on UX+AI as an Investor at a16z. Previously, he was at Dorm Room Fund, MIT, and was a founding engineer at Fluid Framework at Microsoft.

Jordan Roga is an experienced investor and financial professional. He was Head of Business Operations at Open Core Ventures, where he supported companies with their commercialization strategy and operational efficiency. In prior roles including Managing Partner and COO at Founders Committee Ventures and Vice President at NorthStar Investment Banking, he honed expertise in strategy, finance, and operations. He co-founded Alice Property Solutions and has advised over a dozen startups since. Jordan holds a bachelor's degree in Biological Sciences from Cornell University. He is passionate about startups, technology, and finance.

Pablo Fernandez is a geek, manager, coder, maker, author, and entrepreneur. He can be found on Mastodon, LinkedIn, Bluesky, Threads, GitHub, Twitter, Instagram, and Facebook. He currently works at Canva.

Beverley is a technology entrepreneur focused on building internet businesses. Entrepreneurship, to Beverley, is about freedom: the freedom to shape one's own life. Beverley's focus is on building and owning calm companies, exploring the potential of technology, and connecting with like-minded people. Beverley's career has involved creating, investing in, buying, and selling IP, software businesses and products. Beverley co-founded and actively manages a custom software development studio and has invested in and exited several startup ventures. Beverley has experience navigating complicated challenges, aligning diverse personalities, and fixing projects, products, business ventures, or entrepreneurial spirit. Beverley is interested in creating and supporting platforms that empower individuals to shape their lives according to their terms.

Nick Gray is an author, businessman, and investor. He wrote "The 2-Hour Cocktail Party," a book about hosting events. He is also known as the Founder of Museum Hack, a company that gives museum tours. Nick helped build and grow his family business, Flight Display Systems, which made avionics equipment. He led their hiring, marketing, and international sales efforts. In the past, Nick founded vs3 Web Services and BuddyGopher. He currently lives in Austin, Texas. He runs a small family office and is working on a Patron View project. He sends out a monthly Friends Newsletter.

Jean Yang runs Engineering, Product, and Design for the Postman Insights product. She arrived there via the acquisition of her startup, Akita. She is also a scout for a16z, investing small checks in early-stage startups. Jean has a PhD in Computer Science from MIT, with a focus on programming languages. Before starting Akita, she was a tenure-track professor at Carnegie Mellon University. She was profiled in The MIT Tech Review’s 2016 “35 Under 35.” During the pandemic, she co-produced two Zoom-to-Twitch reality shows, Zoom Bachelorette and Zoom Bachelor. She is a member of the San Mateo County Bicycle and Pedestrian Advisory Commitee. Her goal is to make it easy for everyone to build software.

Zain Jaffer is the Founder & CEO of a stealth startup. He started his first company at 14. He later moved to the U.S. and co-founded Vungle, an ad tech platform that scaled to $400M+ in annual revenue before being acquired by Blackstone for $780M. Since then, he has invested in 20+ startups and built companies across multiple industries. He supports causes worldwide through the Zain Jaffer Foundation. He has been honored with awards such as Forbes 30 Under 30 and Inc. Magazine’s 35 Under 35. His work has been featured in Mashable’s “Behind the Launch” series and CNBC’s Squawk Box.

Pradeep Nalluri is a technology enthusiast with a passion for learning and building things. He is interested in Cloud Computing, DevOps, and Data Engineering. He currently works as a Cloud Architect. He enjoys automating infrastructure and building CI/CD pipelines. He is also interested in data engineering and building data pipelines. He is always looking for new things to learn and new challenges to tackle. He shares his learnings on his blog.

Noah Berkson is a 3x exit founder and serial entrepreneur who has co-founded 8 businesses and sold 3 by the age of 32. He recently launched Irreplaceable, an education platform teaching soft skills to students and young professionals. He was the Founder of DevBase and Candor Ventures, both of which were sold in 2021 and 2022 respectively. Noah currently leads Austin Capital, a single family office, and Commonground, a farmland leasing marketplace. He built Outcove, an invite-only retreat for founders and investors, and Weekend Of Man, an invite-only adult summercamp. He is an active member of Young Presidents Organization.

Nik Hulewsky is the Co-Founder of CoFounders.com. He is also the host of the Nikonomics Podcast. Nik graduated college in 2012 at 27. He spent nearly a decade in the healthcare industry, helping grow a $15M division into a $150M powerhouse. He has built, scaled, and sold multiple businesses that have collectively generated over $100 million in revenue. In 2020, he bought a medical billing company and co-founded a home health and hospice business. He has since started and invested in companies across industries.

Edwin Dorsey is the author of The Bear Cave and Sunday’s Idea Brunch Newsletter. He is most well-known for exposing bad companies. The Bear Cave newsletter focuses on corporate misconduct, specifically writing about $1-billion-to-$10-billion, U.S.-listed public companies that he feels are misleading investors or harming customers. He graduated from Stanford in 2020. The Bear Cave boasts more than 50,000 subscribers, with about 1,300 paid subscribers. Sunday’s Idea Brunch features interviews with investors.

Christopher Petkas is a former U.S. Navy SEAL who has transitioned into a career in defense innovation, technology, investing, and operating businesses. Born in Houston, Texas, he graduated from the United States Naval Academy in 2010 with a Bachelor of Science in International Relations. He was a member of the Men’s Lacrosse team for four years. Chris served as a Surface Warfare Officer before joining the Navy SEALs in 2012, serving until 2020 with five deployments. He earned an MBA from the University of Virginia Darden School of Business in 2020. Chris led the commercial artificial intelligence group at the Defense Innovation Unit (DIU). Today, Chris is the General Partner at Contrarian Thinking Capital. He and his wife Codie reside in Austin, Texas.

Cate Diaz is the Founder of Market Chemistry, where she and her team build high-conviction investor pipelines for early and growth-stage companies. They combine sharp positioning, compelling investor materials, and direct outreach to connect founders with the right capital partners. Cate has worked across industries including healthcare, SaaS, CPG, biotech, renewable energy, and aerospace. She has held strategic leadership roles, including Director of Marketing at ibble and Chief Marketing Officer at Rally. She also advises early-stage companies like WICKED Protein on marketing and fundraising strategy. Her expertise lies at the intersection of storytelling, systems, and private investments. Cate lives in Austin, Texas with her wife and their dog, Echo.

Austin Rief is the Co-founder and Executive Chairman of Morning Brew. He was born and grew up in Baltimore, Maryland. His interest in the business world began during his junior year of high school. He graduated from Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in 2013 and started college at the University of Michigan’s Ross School of Business in 2014. In 2015, he joined Alex Lieberman to build Morning Brew, officially launching it as a daily email newsletter where he served as co-founder and COO. In 2021, he became CEO of Morning Brew and began making personal investments through Austin Rief Ventures. He transitioned to the role of Executive Chairman in 2025. He is also an investor in Oceans Talent.

John Arrow is the CEO of FreedomGPT and a General Partner at Age of AI. He builds and invests in companies at the forefront of the AI revolution. He founded Mutual Mobile and bootstrapped it into a 300-person firm, which was later acquired by Grid Dynamics. His work has been featured in Forbes’ “Most Promising CEOs Under 35” and Inc. Magazine’s “30 Under 30”. John studied economics, advertising, and computer science at The University of Texas at Austin. During college, he earned his pilot’s license and met his co-founders.

Jacob Voncannon is an entrepreneur and investor with experience in real estate, direct-to-consumer business, and digital marketing. He is the founder of Bold Virtue Management, specializing in multifamily property acquisition and management. He also owns and operates Circle J Meat, delivering organic, non-GMO, hormone-free grass-fed beef directly to consumers from Circle J Ranch in Hempstead, TX. Jacob is passionate about exploring how artificial intelligence, generational psychology, and faith intersect to shape our evolving world. He hosts gatherings at his event space, bringing together diverse minds to spark innovation. He lives in Houston, Texas.