Julian was the VP of Marketing for Webflow ($4B+ valuation). He then ran growth for Heap Analytics ($960M+ valuation), and helped grow Clearbit (now acquired by HubSpot). He later founded Demand Curve (YC 19) to help tens of thousands of startups grow (including Imperfect Foods, Tovala, Outschool and others).

Leo manages Humba Ventures, an early stage fund focused on deep tech companies, and on critical sectors like defense and manufacturing. Humba Ventures writes $500k checks at pre-seed and seed.

Leo previously co-founded Susa Ventures (seed investor in Robinhood and Flexport) and was the 2nd engineering hire at LinkedIn. He studied computer science at Caltech.

An accomplished venture investor, company advisor, and entrepreneur, Chris manages a portfolio of over seventy technology and consumer startups through Lowercase Capital, as well as countless dozens more at his firm Lowercarbon Capital.

Primarily known for its investments in early stage technology companies like Twitter, Uber, Instagram, Twilio, Stripe, and Kickstarter, Chris and his wife and venture partner, Crystal English Sacca, have grown Lowercase into one of the most successful funds ever.

Ariana Thacker is the Founding Partner of Conscience VC, an early-stage firm investing in science-led companies empowering humanity.

Ariana has an extensive background in early-stage and deep tech investing. She is a chemical engineer with technical operating experience spanning Fortune 500 companies to formation-stage start-ups and academic spin-outs.

Joe Wilson is the Founder and Managing Partner of Undeterred Capital, an early stage venture firm investing exclusively in deep tech and bioscience companies at the pre-seed and seed stages. Joe has worked as a deep tech operator for over a decade and was previously the co-founder and COO of Multiply Labs, a pharmaceutical robotics company that was spun out of MIT in 2016 and that has raised over $25M to date.

Undeterred has a portfolio of 17 companies collectively valued at over $1 billion. Investments to date include AI for drug discovery and formulation, gas fermentation for carbon-negative food production, advanced robotic systems for fish processing, and diagnostics for early detection of ovarian cancer, among others.

Gaurab is the co-founder and CEO of Solugen. As a physician-scientist, Gaurab took an oath to first do no harm—and for him, that goes beyond patients or medicine. So in 2016, he started Solugen to decarbonize the chemicals industry, one of the most damaging for people and the Earth. Gaurab believes in using biology in unconventional ways to solve incredibly complex problems and is building a world-class team to join him on the journey.

Gaurab studied computational neuroscience as an undergraduate at Brown University and received his MD & PhD in cancer biology and enzymology at the University of Texas. He is an author or co-author on more than 20 peer-reviewed publications and patents, and he is a Forbes 30 Under 30 in Industry and Manufacturing.

John Gedmark is CEO & Cofounder of Astranis and an aerospace engineer. Astranis builds and operates small, low-cost telecommunications satellites for high orbits, starting with geostationary orbit (GEO). Astranis is deploying satellites on contract for enterprise and government customers around the world, bringing low-cost broadband internet to remote and underserved areas. The company has raised over $500 million to date with rounds led by Andreessen Horowitz, Venrock, and Blackrock, and has a team of 300 based out of their San Francisco Bay Area headquarters.

John cofounded and served as Executive Director of the Commercial Spaceflight Federation, the industry association for new space companies including SpaceX, Blue Origin, and Virgin Galactic. John reported to a CEO-level board of directors and led the commercial space industry's efforts to privatize flights of NASA astronauts to low Earth orbit, a historic shift worth more than $10 billion to the commercial space industry.

Founder & managing partner of ex/ante. Previously, Zoe served on the National Security Commission on Artificial Intelligence and at Google AI. Prior she focused on national security, working in Mosul Iraq during the counter-ISIL operation in 2017. She was an investor at the International Finance Corporation of the World Bank and at Goldman Sachs. Her work on national security has been published in the New York Times and Foreign Affairs and she co-hosts the podcast Next in Foreign Policy. Zoe received her JD from Yale Law School, MBA from Stanford Graduate School of Business, and BA from Harvard College. 

Packy writes the Not Boring newsletter and invests at Not Boring Capital, an early stage fund that backs hard startups and helps them tell their stories. Prior to Not Boring, Packy worked at a real estate startup, Breather.

Nichole Wischoff is the Founder and General Partner at Wischoff Ventures. Wischoff Ventures is a leading pre-seed and seed stage venture capital firm investing at the intersection of money, movement, manufacturing and marketplaces.  Prior to investing, Nichole spent seven years as an operator. She was the 50th employee at Blend and worked directly for the CEO/Founder to start and scale new businesses. Blend went public in 2021. She was on the founding team of One Finance, which was acquired by Walmart for $420M in January 2022. She also spent two years at Built Technologies to help scale the business to a $1.5B valuation.

Wischoff Ventures is an early backer of notable companies such as (list above) as well as 30 other great companies.

Rayyan is the Co-founder and General Partner of 8090 Industries, a VC firm backed by global energy and industrial titans, focused on breakthrough science, decarbonization and national security. The companies Rayyan has invested in have grown to $8B+ in private market value and employ 5,000+ people across the US -  including groundbreaking companies like EquipmentShare, Astranis, Infinium, Quaise, Regent, Living Carbon and Liberation Labs. Rayyan serves on the Boards of Oklo, Cemvita, Circ, Maple Materials and is a Co-founder of Gold Hydrogen, a producer of abundant clean hydrogen from microbes and old oil wells for less than $1/kg.

Rayyan was recognized by Business Insider as one of the top 100 early-stage investors of 2023 and amongst “the most powerful seed stage climate tech VCs” by Fortune Magazine. Every Sunday, Rayyan publishes Decarbon Weekly - providing energy transition insights to C-Suite execs, entrepreneurs and government leaders. Outside of 8090 Industries, Rayyan helps commercialize frontier science at Loomis Labs, advises the Earth BioGenome Project and helps equip the US defense apparatus with new capabilities and technologies.

Seth believes if we could have solved the really big problems that remain with SaaS apps, we probably would have already. We're really good at building them. He believes the really big problems the world faces require really hard solutions. Often this involves commercializing core research (like the foundation model companies) or building in atoms and not just bits.

Seth has seeded a range of deep tech startups shaping the world for the better — companies like Solugen (engineering enzymes to produce industrial chemicals sustainably), Astranis (small satellites to cover the Earth in Internet), Upside Foods (culturing meat to eat), Varda (manufacturing in space), and Opentrons (affordable lab robots). Seth was previously the founder & CEO of a startup.

He can occasionally be found in parks around the world attempting to hustle chess hustlers.

Ali Tamaseb is a General Partner at DCVC, Deep-Tech only VC fund with over $3.5 billion invested in founders solving trillion-dollar problems with complex engineering and science. For over 10 years, DCVC has invested in industries such as biotech (Abcellera, Recursion Pharma), defense (Fortem, Primer, Capella Space), robotics (Agility Robotics, Fulfil), agriculture (Pivot, Blue River), space (Rocket Lab, Planet), climate (Twelve, Fervo), energy (Oklo, Zap), as well as many other foundational technologies. The investments Tamaseb has made has generated an enterprise value of over $10 billion and the companies he sits on as a board director employ over 4,000 people.

Tamaseb has 7 publications, consisting of two books and five academic papers on ML/AI, holds several patents, and has won medals in national and international Physics and Computing Olympiads. Ali’s latest book “Super Founders: What Data Reveals about Billion-Dollar Startups” became the #1 bestselling Venture Capital and Startup book, is published in over 50 countries and is being translated into over 10 languages.

Ivy is a member of the deal team at Autotech Ventures specializing in applied software, robotic, and AI-driven automation. She began her VC career at Zetta Venture Partners, the first early stage VC fund exclusively focused on AI, and led early stage AI investments at Point72 Asset Management. Ivy graduated from Stanford University with a B.S. in Chemical Engineering.

Zal is the founding partner and solo capitalist at Refactor. He spent 10 years building software as a PM at Google, Netflix, and LinkedIn, and joined Andreessen Horowitz as a partner on the investing team in 2013. There, he transitioned into deep tech, helping launch a16z's first Bio Fund in 2015.

He then spun out and launched Refactor 8 years ago, where he typically writes $1-2M checks into pre-seed and seed stage companies across bio, climate, and other hard tech areas.

Ian is Founder & General Partner at Cantos, a first-check firm dedicated to founders tackling the world's most acute problems with real-world technology––across climate, biology, and aerospace & defense, though it prefers "n of 1" category-creators to founders who fit cleanly into other VCs' buckets.

Cantos is investing out of its $50M third fund and prefers to be technical founders' first investor partner from day one, investing anywhere from $500K to $2M.

Kristina Simmons is founder and Managing Partner at Overwater Ventures, an early stage firm helping technical founders to turn breakthrough tech and science into scalable businesses. As a trusted partner with proven venture and operating experience, Kristina has spent more than 15+ years building, advising, and investing in leading businesses. 

She joined the team that founded ecommerce at lululemon - helping the global brand become one of the first to tap into the online opportunity. From there, she led Emerging Products and Concepts, spearheading new initiatives including digital products, partnerships, and international expansion. Kristina then joined Andreessen Horowitz as a partner supporting market development. She was one of the first hires at Juicero to launch their brand, and then joined Khosla Ventures on the investment team and as Vinod's Chief of Staff.

A former deeptech founder and institutional investor, Mike brings a founder perspective to early-stage investing, often being the first call for founders to celebrate when things are going well and a steadfast supporter in the most challenging times.

Mike and Also Capital are known for being the first outside investors in Radiant Nuclear and a significant investor in Varda Space, where Mike has served as a Board Member since inception.

Victor Wang is a Partner at HOF Capital, where he leads the firm’s early-stage investments in AI, next-gen computing, & biotech startups. He is excited about partnering with visionary founders who are building category-defining companies that will accelerate the evolution of human biology, technology, & civilization.

Prior to joining HOF Capital, Victor served as a tech investment banker and startup advisor, helping VC-backed tech startups raise funding and achieve successful exits. Before that, he worked in business management and operations, leading a team of 150+ employees generating $30M+ of annual revenue.

Earlier in his career, Victor conducted genomic research at Stanford University and earned a Bachelor's Degree in Molecular & Cell Biology from the University of California, Berkeley.