Venture with Grace

Anish Srivastava is a seasoned venture capitalist and innovation leader, currently a Venture Partner at Swisscom Ventures, where he focuses on Series A and later-stage investments in enterprise SaaS, AI, cybersecurity, next-gen IT, cloud technologies, and telecom. Anish also leads Telosity Ventures, investing in early-stage startups focused on digital wellness and mental health. In addition, he is the Founder and CEO of Vinaj Ventures, an innovation firm that helps Fortune 500 companies develop strategies and partnerships in the startup ecosystem.His previous roles include leadership positions at Citi Ventures, where he managed a global innovation fund, and JP Morgan Chase, where he played a key role in driving digital transformation. He also gained valuable entrepreneurial experience at tech startups like Egreetings, Geodesic, and Lexy, and led mobile innovation for Orange in Silicon Valley and London. Anish’s entrepreneurial experience includes executive roles at several technology startups such as Egreetings, Geodesic, and Lexy, where he focused on pioneering new consumer-facing mobile services. Topics: Building & Scaling Innovation Inside the EnterpriseCVC Trends Across Regions (US, EU, LATAM, APAC)Startup Readiness: What Corporates Actually Look For#Cybersecurity #AI #DefenseTech #VentureCapital #VentureWithGrace

Ernie is a Managing Director at Forgepoint and focuses on early stage investments. Ernie serves on the Boards of Huntress, DataBahn.ai, 1Kosmos, Synadia, RAD Security, Bishop Fox, and NowSecure. Prior to Forgepoint, Ernie served as the Chief Operating Officer of the Defense Innovation Unit. In that capacity, he was responsible for executing the organization’s strategy to identify and adopt emerging commercial technologies to solve national security challenges. Ernie helped grow the organization from roughly 20 to 80 employees across 4 offices and oversaw the approval and execution of over $250 million in contracts across cybersecurity, AI/ML, autonomy and human systems. Prior to the Defense Innovation Unit, Ernie served as the Director of the U.S. Cyber Command Point of Partnership. Ernie’s team advised U.S. Cyber Command leadership on cybersecurity technologies emanating from both the east and west coasts, which led to the acquisition and deployment of several cybersecurity technologies within the U.S. Department of Defense. Ernie began his career as an Air Force fighter pilot.Topics: The Future of CybersecurityGlobal Security & Defense TechAI x Cyber#Cybersecurity #DefenseTech #AI #NationalSecurity #VentureWithGrace

Laura Burkhauser is the CEO of Descript, leading the company in developing innovative AI-powered tools for audio and video creators. She is recognized for her expertise in product leadership, with previous senior roles at Twitter, Rent the Runway, and Le Tote. Laura holds an MBA from UC Berkeley’s Haas School of Business and a Bachelor’s degree from the University of Chicago. As CEO, she is focused on making creative tools radically more accessible through AI-driven content creation.Topics: Leading AI-powered video editing innovation Championing rapid user growth and feature launches in consumer techShaping the future of media with AI #Descript #AItools #ContentCreation #Leadership #ProductInnovation #CreatorEconomy

Jon Callaghan is a founder, an investor, and a Managing Partner of True Ventures, a leading early-stage venture capital firm he co-founded in 2005. With a foundational mission to empower entrepreneurs at the initial stages of company creation, True has partnered with over 1,050 Founders across more than 500 companies. The firm’s 12 funds have been a part of seven IPOs and over 60 acquisitions. Under Jon’s leadership, True was among the first institutional investors in now-iconic companies, including Automattic, Duo Security, Fitbit, Hashicorp, Peloton, and Ring. Jon continues to champion the next wave of innovation, currently serving on the boards of promising ventures such as Pipedream, Daydream, and Ernesta. True is also early and deep in AI, having made over 85 AI investments.A prominent voice in the venture community, Jon served as Chair of the National Venture Capital Association from 2015 to 2016. He holds a bachelor’s degree in government from Dartmouth College and an MBA, with distinction, from Harvard Business School. Topics: How to Spot Founders Who Build Generational CompaniesCapital Efficiency & The New Age of Company BuildingWhy EQ & Integrity Still Win in a Data-Driven VC World#VentureWithGrace #SmartVenturePodcast #TrueVentures #EarlyStageVC

Ross Fubini is the Managing Partner at XYZ Venture Capital, which he founded in 2016 after a successful career as a founder and operator. A 2025 Midas List honoree (#88) and #8 on the Midas Seed List, Ross is recognized for early investments in Anduril, the defense technology company founded by Palmer Luckey, and cloud security leader Verkada. Under his leadership, XYZ has grown to over $1.2B AUM across four funds, backing bold founders in frontier technology, AI, and enterprise innovation. Before venture, Ross founded CubeTree (acquired by SuccessFactors) and served as Director of Engineering at Plumtree Software. He also co-founded Village Global, sits on the boards of Sardine, Legion Technologies, and others. Topics: What it takes to scale an emerging VC firm to $1.2B AUMGoing from engineer and founder to top investor on the Midas ListEarly bets on Anduril, Verkada, and how to spot frontier founders#VentureCapital #MidasList #AI #DefenseTech #StartupInvesting

Natalie Dillon is a Partner at Maveron, a consumer-focused venture capital firm based in San Francisco. She joined Maveron in 2018 after working at Susa Ventures, where she helped source and diligence early-stage consumer investments. Prior to that, she was a financial analyst at Goldman Sachs and a research associate at Silicon Valley Bank, where her passion for consumer businesses and identifying market patterns flourished. A San Francisco native and Stanford graduate, Natalie is known for her hustle, relationship-building skills, and deep understanding of consumer trends. She actively invests in companies like Daring, Dolls Kill, and Peoplehood, and is committed to supporting founders with the right mix of guidance, trust, and strategic connections. Natalie combines her love of consumer insights with a collaborative approach to venture investing, helping build and scale innovative consumer brands.Topics: Consumer Trends and InvestingAdvice for early-stage consumer startups on product-market fit and brand buildingHow AI is Revolutionizing Consumer Experiences and Shaping the Future of Brands#AI #ConsumerTrends #TechInnovation #DigitalTransformation

Manmeet Singh Bhasin is a technology entrepreneur and VC. He is currently the founder of a stealth-mode startup and was the founder and managing partner of PGV Fund 1 from January 2022 to March 2025, a venture capital fund investing in AI/ML and blockchain early-stage companies. Before that, he was the founder and CEO of Dataguise, a company focused on data privacy and security, which was acquired by PKWARE for over $100 million. Earlier in his career, he worked in engineering and technology management roles, including at Oracle Corporation.Topics: The evolution of data privacy and security technologies over the last decadeThe impact of regulatory changes on data privacy and startup innovationKey trends and emerging opportunities in AI, ML#venturecapital #venturecapitalist #vc #startup #startups #entrepreneur

Conor Brennan-Burke is the founder of Hyperspell (YC F25), which builds memory and context infrastructure for AI agents. Before starting Hyperspell, he helped scale software products to over $50M in ARR and advised on more than $1B in private equity and M&A deals. He’s a repeat founder with experience across five countries and a focus on making AI systems more capable and useful in the real world. Hyperspell is also featured on Smart AI 100 list as one of the most promising early stage ai companies. Disclosure: Grace is an investor in Hyperspell. Topics: Building Memory for AI AgentsThe Future of Agentic SystemsThe Next Interface for Work#AI #Agents #YC #Founders #Startup #VentureCapital #TechInnovation #ArtificialIntelligence

Lari Hamalainen is a Senior Partner at McKinsey. In the past he has led McKinsey Digital in Northern Europe and Northeast Asia and served as managing partner for McKinsey’s Finland office.Lari’s passion is to help companies build new businesses while renewing their existing business models. He comes from a family of entrepreneurs and has from a young age been involved in building technology businesses and helping organizations better adapt technology to their needs. Over the last 15 years at McKinsey Lari has helped numerous organizations build new services, channel models, and set up digital attackers. He has also been the Chief Transformation Officer at a major technology company supporting them in their renewal journey. Recently, Lari has also been a front-runner in driving artificial-intelligence- and analytics- related thinking and in advising companies on how to best utilize the technologies at scale.Topics: The Rise of Agentic AIMcKinsey’s GenAI StrategyEnterprise Transformation#GenAI #AgenticAI #McKinsey #QuantumBlack #AITransformation #EnterpriseAI

Allen Wang is the cofounder and CEO of Ditto AI, a dating matchmaker built for college campuses that eliminates swiping and texting, using AI to get users to in-person dates without the usual app friction. After dropping out of UC Berkeley, Allen started Ditto AI with Eric Liu to help a roommate find a girlfriend before graduation—a story that quickly evolved into a VC-backed startup, raised from top investors including Gradient Ventures and various tech leaders and well known founders. Topics: AI and Innovation in Social AppsGrowth, Marketing, and Network EffectsFounder Journey and Leadership in a Gen Z Startup#DittoAI #AllenWang #AIStartup #DatingAppRevolution #GenZFounder

Mahi de Silva is the Co-Founder & Chief Strategy Officer (CSO) of Higgsfield AI. Higgsfield is the AI-powered Cultural Engine for creators and marketers to amplify engagement and monetization In the new Attention Economy. Prior to that he was the Co founder and CEO of Amplify.ai. Amplify.ai is a global leader in Conversational AI, having delivered more than 10 billion interactions with more than 500 million people around the world. Higgsfield AI was also featured on our Smart AI 100 List among the top early stage AI companies. Topics: AI Video Technology & Platform EvolutionCreator Economy DisruptionBuilding and scaling AI startups#GenerativeAI #CreatorEconomy #AIVideo #HiggsfieldAI #CreatorAI

Tony Conrad is a Partner at True Ventures. He worked with amazingly talented founders, operating teams from companies like Automattic (WordPress), ZERO Longevity Science, Modern Animal, Blue Bottle Coffee, Sweetgreen, MakerBot, Voiceflow, Giftshop, Cast, Bumo, Typekit, Pluralsight, Connectifier & Holey Grail Donuts. He also co-founded about.me & Sphere, both acquired by AOL. Tony is a personal investor in Slack, Automattic, Lowercase Capital, Cygni, Ghia, Empirical Spirits, International Smoke, Saltwater Oyster Depot, Elk Fence, flour+water pizzeria, flour+water, Trick Dog, Samovar and August. He is a board member of Flour + Water Hospitality Group, the Tony Hawk Foundation and formerly a T40 National Co-Chair of Technology for President Obama.Topics: What's overhyped in AI? What's underhyped?Building Community & Network EffectsCraft Businesses That Scale#StartupCommunity #NetworkEffects #AITrends #VentureCapital #FounderJourney

Vivek Krishnamurthy is a Partner at Commerce Ventures. At Commerce Ventures, Vivek focuses on tech-first opportunities in FinTech & InsurTech – as well as where these two categories intersect with other verticals. He works closely with a number of CV companies, including Bureau, Canary Technologies, Flueid, Mudflap, Zeal and Zentist. Vivek was previously a member of the investment banking team at Financial Technology Partners where he worked on ~$1B of private capital raises, M&A, and IPOs for FinTech & InsurTech companies like GreenSky (Acq’d by Goldman Sachs), Marqeta (MQ), Yapstone, Enservio (Acq’d by Solera) and others. Along the way, he’s also spent stints working on credit portfolio management at GE Capital and airplane economics at Boeing. Topics: Macro FinTech/InsurTech TrendsThe current M&A environment & IPO readiness for FinTech/InsurTechVertical AI agents in financial services and insure tech #FinTech #InsurTech #VentureCapital #AIinFinance #EmbeddedFinance

Adam D’Augelli is a Partner at True Ventures, a leading early-stage venture capital firm founded in 2005. With a foundational mission to empower entrepreneurs at the initial stages of company creation, True has partnered with over 1,050 Founders across more than 500 companies. The firm’s 12 funds have been a part of seven IPOs and over 60 acquisitions.Adam joined True as an analyst in 2010, immediately after graduating magna cum laude from the University of Florida with a bachelor’s degree in science and a master’s degree in finance. Adam currently serves on the NVCA’s Board of Directors. Adam has led True’s investments in Splice, Pendulum Therapeutics, Deep Genomics, Kettle, Radiant Graph, Dinamo Bio, The Nuclear Company, SuppCo, Howie, and others currently in stealth. His notable past investments include HashiCorp (NASDAQ: HCP), TripleLift (acquired by Vista Equity), Ring (acquired by Amazon), Runscope (acquired by CA Technologies), and Moleculo (acquired by Illumina).Topics: The State of the Seed Market 2025: Why this is the best—and hardest—time to be a seed investorAbundance vs. Scarcity: How compounding innovation across AI, biotech, and blockchain is reshaping early-stage opportunityBuilding for the Next 30 Years: Why the future of venture belongs to investors with clear differentiation and conviction#VentureCapital #SeedStage #TrueVentures #FrontierTech #AIInnovation

Soham Mazumdar is a serial entrepreneur and technology leader, currently the Co-Founder and CEO of WisdomAI, an AI-powered data insights platform that helps enterprises query their data using natural language. Previously, he co-founded Rubrik, where he served as Chief Architect and helped scale the company to IPO. Soham also co-founded Tagtile (acquired by Facebook), led core search infrastructure at Google—earning the prestigious Founders’ Award—and held engineering roles at Facebook. An alumnus of IIT Kanpur and UIUC, he was named an IITK Distinguished Alumnus and a Silicon Valley 40 Under 40 honoree. Throughout his career, Soham has been at the forefront of cloud, security, and AI innovation.Topics: AI’s Role in Enterprise IntelligenceFrom Zero to IPOThe Shift from BI to AI-Assisted Insight#VCPodcast #AIStartups #EnterpriseAI #TechFounders #Rubrik #WisdomAI

5Moritz Sudhof is the Co-founder and CEO of Bigspin. He additionally sits on the AI Task Force for the International Coaching Federation, specifically focused on the impact of artificial intelligence in coaching. Holding a BS and MS in Computer Science from Stanford, Moritz has authored influential research on emotion and politeness in language and collaborated on AI research with institutions such as Stanford University, Berkeley’s Haas School of Business, and the Federal Reserve.Passionate about using AI to foster empathy and understanding, Moritz led development of the first AI-enabled employee engagement solution as Chief Data Scientist at Kanjoya and then Principal Data Scientist at Ultimate Software (now UKG). Most recently, Moritz co-founded Motive Software, a company dedicated to helping organizations leverage language data to better understand and support their people. Moritz served as CEO until BetterUp acquired Motive in 2021. He's most excited to participate in building a future where AI responsibly helps every person become their best.Topics: AI, Coaching & Human-Centered IntelligenceFuture of Work & AI EnablementBuilding & Scaling Responsible AI Startups#AI #ResponsibleAI #FutureOfWork #HumanCenteredAI #LeadershipDevelopment

Jamie Davidson is the Co-founder at Omni. Omni is a business intelligence and embedded analytics platform that empowers everyone—regardless of technical ability—to easily analyze data using SQL, spreadsheets, AI, or point-and-click interfaces. Prior to that he was the VP of product at Looker. He was also a Partner at Repoint Ventures. Before that he was the founder of PrimaTable which was acquired by HotelTonight. Topics: Reinventing Business IntelligenceBuilding See-Through Analytics PlatformsScaling Teams, Products, and Cultures#OmniAnalytics #BusinessIntelligence #DataDemocratization #AIinBI

Connor Heggie is the co-founder and CTO of Unify, a San Francisco-based startup building an AI-driven “system of action” for go-to-market teams aimed at enabling companies to reach the right customer, at the right time, with the right message at scale. Prior to Unify, Connor worked at Scale AI as a Machine Learning Research Engineer and earlier at Helm.ai, developing unsupervised perception systems for autonomous vehicles. He holds a B.S. in Electrical Engineering from Rice University. With a strong background in machine learning and a vision for transforming sales and growth through AI, Connor leads Unify’s engineering and product roadmap as the company continues to scale rapidly.Topics: Lessons from identifying a market gap and building an AI product that drives real revenue outcomes.How Unify blends automation with human judgment in go-to-market decision-making.How AI will reshape sales, marketing, and customer success roles.#AI #GoToMarket #SalesTech #StartupFounders #MachineLearning #B2BSoftware

Yash Sheth is the Co-founder and Chief Operating Officer of Galileo, an AI observability and evaluation platform that helps organizations build reliable, high-performing large language model (LLM) applications at scale. Before founding Galileo in 2021 with Vikram Chatterji and Atindriyo Sanyal, he spent nearly nine years at Google, where he led the Speech Recognition Platform team powering over 20 products and advanced the state of AI speech-to-text systems globally. A machine learning expert driven by the goal of improving model quality and usability, Sheth holds an M.S. in Computer Science from the University of California, Irvine, and a B.E. in Computer Engineering from the University of Mumbai.Topics: Building Trustworthy and Reliable AIEvolution from ML Observability to Agent ObservabilityEvaluation-Driven Development in AI#AI #MachineLearning #LLM #AIObservability #AIEvaluation #AIInfrastructure

Marc Boroditsky is the Chief Revenue Officer at Nebius and a seasoned tech executive with over 30 years of experience leading high-growth software companies. Previously, he served as CRO at Twilio, President of Revenue at Cloudflare, and VP at Oracle following the acquisition of Passlogix, one of several startups he founded and successfully exited to major acquirers including Cisco, Oracle, and Twilio. Marc has deep expertise across SaaS, cloud, and security, and is known for scaling organizations from early concept to billions in revenue while building world-class go-to-market and product strategies.Topics: -Scaling SaaS and Cloud Businesses from Zero to Billions in RevenueBuilding the Future of Cloud and AI Infrastructure at NebiusFrom Founder to CRO: Lessons from Building Four Startups and Driving Three Successful Exits#SaaS #CloudComputing #Leadership #GoToMarket #StartupGrowth