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Accelerate the future by building and backing legendary companies

I love to build and back legendary companies. Since 2010, I have backed many unicorns from early-stage mostly seed, preseed and sometimes first check such as Gusto, Airtable, Ginkgo Bioworks, Boom, Benchling, Carta, Human Interest, ClearTax, Linear (first check), Ironclad, Astra, Astranis, Superhuman, Mercury (first check), Solugen, Relativity Space, Stoke Aerospace (first check) and many others.

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Background

I founded and ran Golden (backed by a16z, Founders Fund, Giga Fund, DCVC, and others), where we built a large knowledge graph and interface to view topics. This was acquired by ComplyAdvantage in 2024. I also previously co-founded Heyzap, which sold to a public company in 2016. I was accepted into Y Combinator in 2008 and have attended every single Demo Day since then, taking detailed notes on which companies I would back, which ones I would not then looking back on which ones turned out to work. I have a Master’s degree in Engineering from the Gonville and Caius, University of Cambridge where I learned everything from Stirling engines to design to how the eye functions and manufacturing of the world’s products. I live in the bay area.

Indexing core world problems

Many times I will think on a thesis for 10+ years before I come across the correct market timing to be the first cheque into the company. I have thousands of startups in my head that I’m either waiting for, seeking, shaping or in the case of Golden - building. In a nutshell, the objective is to solve the world’s largest problems via backing and building the best founding teams.

Early cheques into iconic companies

  1. Ginkgo Bioworks — 2014 Seed. Custom organisms. Synthetic biology’s first unicorn.
  2. Airtable — 2013 Seed. Hybrid spreadsheet database. Unicorn with Series C. Valued $11.7B in 2021.
  3. Gusto — 2012 Seed. HR software. Unicorn with Series C. Valued $9.5B in 2021.
  4. Carta — Cap table management. Unicorn with Series E. Valued $7.4B in 2021.
  5. Benchling — 2014 Seed. R&D cloud platform. Unicorn with Series E. Valued $6.1B in 2021.
  6. Relativity Space — 2016 Seed. 3D printed rockets. Unicorn with Series D. Valued $4.2B in 2021.
  7. Ironclad — 2015 Seed (first cheque). Intelligent contract management. Unicorn with Series E. Valued $3.2B in 2022.
  8. Mercury — 2017 Seed (first cheque). Digital banking for startups. Unicorn with Series B. Valued $1.6B in 2021.
  9. Astra — Satellite delivery and launch services. Went public at $2.1B in 2021.
  10. Calm — Meditation and sleep app. Mental health’s first unicorn. Valued $2.2B in 2020.
  11. Solugen — 2017 Seed. No-emissions chemical production. Unicorn with Series C. Valued $1.8B in 2021.
  12. Boom Supersonic — 2016 Seed. Commercial supersonic planes. Unicorn with Series C.
  13. Astranis — 2016 Seed. Next generation internet satellites. Unicorn with Series C. Valued $1.4B in 2021.
  14. Human Interest — 2015 Seed. SMB 401(k) provider. Unicorn with Series D. Valued $1B in 2021.