<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?><rss xmlns:dc="http://purl.org/dc/elements/1.1/" xmlns:content="http://purl.org/rss/1.0/modules/content/" xmlns:atom="http://www.w3.org/2005/Atom" version="2.0" xmlns:itunes="http://www.itunes.com/dtds/podcast-1.0.dtd" xmlns:googleplay="http://www.google.com/schemas/play-podcasts/1.0"><channel><title><![CDATA[Early Stage Founders (poach.vc)]]></title><description><![CDATA[Find undiscovered pre-seed / seed founders by tracking ~350 top VCs.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc</link><image><url>https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png</url><title>Early Stage Founders (poach.vc)</title><link>https://news.poach.vc</link></image><generator>Substack</generator><lastBuildDate>Sun, 06 Sep 2026 05:30:47 GMT</lastBuildDate><atom:link href="https://news.poach.vc/feed" rel="self" type="application/rss+xml"/><copyright><![CDATA[poach.vc]]></copyright><language><![CDATA[en]]></language><webMaster><![CDATA[poach@substack.com]]></webMaster><itunes:owner><itunes:email><![CDATA[poach@substack.com]]></itunes:email><itunes:name><![CDATA[Alex V]]></itunes:name></itunes:owner><itunes:author><![CDATA[Alex V]]></itunes:author><googleplay:owner><![CDATA[poach@substack.com]]></googleplay:owner><googleplay:email><![CDATA[poach@substack.com]]></googleplay:email><googleplay:author><![CDATA[Alex V]]></googleplay:author><itunes:block><![CDATA[Yes]]></itunes:block><item><title><![CDATA[(0190) 1X Robot Hands Lead, ComfyUI Co-Founder & Jane Street to Anthropic]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0190-1x-robot-hands-lead-comfyui</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0190-1x-robot-hands-lead-comfyui</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 27 Aug 2026 22:00:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Aarav Wattal</strong> (<em>California</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Stanford EE+CS student and undergraduate researcher, building <a href="https://majesticlabs.ai/">Majestic Labs</a>. Previously ML and design verification intern at AMD.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/aaravwattal">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aarav-wattal">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Andrew Chan</strong> (<em>Greater Los Angeles</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Venture capital investor and Managing Partner at Atas VC. Previously worked at BuildersVC, NASA JPL, and Caltech. Also co-founder of Veridian Technologies and serves on the VC Advisory Board at Los Angeles Venture Association.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/chandr3w">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chandr3w">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Caleb Winston</strong> (<em>West Hollywood</em>)</p><ul><li><p>AI systems researcher at Stanford, currently director at a stealth startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/realcalebwin">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/caleb-winston-548503316">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Cris Lenta</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>AI researcher with work published at MIT Press and one exit under his belt. Now building a general-purpose emergent life simulator at a stealth startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/crislenta">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://de.linkedin.com/in/cristian-lenta">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Georgia Witchel</strong> (<em>New York</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Deep-tech founder and CEO of <a href="https://mantisbiotech.com/">Mantis Biotech</a>, previously CTO at Louiza Labs and algorithm engineer at Theo Health. Also an author, painter, and ice climber.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/gwitchel">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/georgia-witchel-852b78149">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Mack Hopen</strong> (<em>Seattle</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Materials engineer turned entrepreneur, currently Partner + Engineer at Acequia Capital. Previously founded an energy storage startup and serves as advisor at Milvus Advanced.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/mackhopen">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mackhopen">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Michael Wax</strong> (<em>Munich, Germany</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Engineer turned GP at <a href="https://blueyard.com/">BlueYard Capital</a> and Co-Founder and Chairman at <a href="https://forto.com/">Forto</a>. Previously studied at TUM and CDTM. Active business angel with investments in 70+ companies.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/themikewax">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://de.linkedin.com/in/mikewax">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Nils Cremer</strong> (<em>Cambridge, United Kingdom</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Computer Science student and software engineer who worked at JetBrains and QuantCo before co-founding Tendrils Compute, a chip company.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/nilscmr">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/in/nils-cremer">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Oliver Stark</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Former Senior Mechanical Engineer and Team Lead for hands at <a href="https://www.1x.tech/">1X</a>, now founder of a stealth robotics startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/realoliverstark">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/oliver-stark">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Omar H.</strong> (<em>Landsberg, Germany</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Competitive programmer turned VC investor at <a href="https://www.project-a.com/">Project A</a>, focusing on AI and deep tech at pre-seed and seed stages. Co-founder of DealDock and mentor at TUM.ai.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/hedeyay">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/omar-hedeya">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Robin Huang</strong></p><ul><li><p>Co-founder of <a href="https://www.comfy.org/">ComfyUI</a>, a node-based interface for Stable Diffusion and other AI image generation models.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/robinjhuang">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/robinjhuang**">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Shaya Zarkesh</strong> (<em>Saratoga</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Quantitative trader at Jane Street who moved into AI research and engineering, working at <a href="https://anthropic.com/">Anthropic</a> after a stint at Adept.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/shaya_zarkesh">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaya-zarkesh-1042729a">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Tianwei Yin</strong> (<em>Australia</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Working on multimodal AGI at <a href="https://t.co/NAbItnm6Dc">Reve</a>. Previously at MIT and Adobe.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/tianweiy">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tianwei-yin-b057a7169/zh-cn">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Tj Richardson</strong> (<em>New York metropolitan area</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Data scientist at Advent International, previously investment banking analyst at Perella Weinberg Partners. Now founder of <a href="https://fundable.ai/">fundable.ai</a>, building real-time venture news and deal sourcing tools for VCs.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/fundable_ai">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tj-richardson">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><h3>Already Funded Founders Followed</h3><ul><li><p>Alex Koumpas (<a href="https://x.com/alexkoumpas">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandroskoumpas">LinkedIn</a>) - Lucent and an Entrepreneur in Residence at Entrepreneurs First</p></li><li><p>Andrew W. (<a href="https://x.com/wangandrewd">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/wangandrewd">LinkedIn</a>) - Valon and former Principal at Soros Fund Management</p></li><li><p>Chintan Parikh (<a href="https://x.com/chintanparikh94">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chintan-parikh-0241ab51">LinkedIn</a>) - Stealth (YC F25) and former VP Engineering at <a href="https://secureframe.com/">Secureframe</a></p></li><li><p>Gabriel Dymowski (<a href="https://x.com/gabrieldymowski">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabrieldymowski">LinkedIn</a>) - Pocket (YC W26) and former CEO at DoxyChain, recognized as Forbes 25 Under 25</p></li><li><p>Lindon Gao (<a href="https://x.com/lindon_gao">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lindon-gao">LinkedIn</a>) - Dyna Robotics and former Vice President of Engineering at Instacart</p></li><li><p>Narayana Aaditya (<a href="https://x.com/narsagna">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/narayanaaaditya">LinkedIn</a>) - Skillsync (YC W26) and Creator at Ideal Gas</p></li><li><p>Sai Krishna Srirampur (<a href="https://x.com/saisrirampur">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sai-krishna-srirampur-1741b019">LinkedIn</a>) - <a href="https://clickhouse.com/">ClickHouse</a> and CEO and Co-founder of PeerDB, which was acquired by ClickHouse</p></li><li><p>Sai Mandhan (<a href="https://x.com/saimandhan">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/saimandhan">LinkedIn</a>) - Remedy (YC F25) and previously worked in machine learning at <a href="https://nike.com/">Nike</a> and research at <a href="https://nasa.gov/">NASA</a></p></li></ul><h3>Investors Followed</h3><ul><li><p>Annmaria Antony (<a href="https://x.com/annmariakantony">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/annmaria-antony">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Cannon Kissane (<a href="https://x.com/cyris_kissane">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/cannonkissane">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Gaby Lorenzi (<a href="https://x.com/gabyllorenzi">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaby-lorenzi">LinkedIn</a>)</p><p></p></li></ul>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0189) Ex-NVIDIA, Ex-JetBrains & a $950K/yr App with Zero Employees ]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0189-ex-nvidia-ex-jetbrains-and-a</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0189-ex-nvidia-ex-jetbrains-and-a</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 21 Aug 2026 22:43:37 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Ademi Adeniji</strong> (<em>California</em>)</p><ul><li><p>PhD student at UC Berkeley AI Research, previously research intern at <a href="https://nvidia.com/">NVIDIA</a> and research assistant at Stanford AI Lab. CEO &amp; Co-Founder of Mecha, focusing on reinforcement learning and robot learning.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/ademiadeniji">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ademi-adeniji">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Caleb Winston</strong> (<em>West Hollywood</em>)</p><ul><li><p>AI systems researcher at Stanford, currently director at a stealth startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/realcalebwin">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/caleb-winston-548503316">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Emily Yuan</strong> (<em>California</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Co-founder and COO of Corgi, also co-founder of Basket Entertainment. Previously worked at Beagle.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/emily_yuan_">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/emilyyuan96">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Nils Cremer</strong> (<em>Cambridge, United Kingdom</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Computer Science student and software engineer who worked at JetBrains and QuantCo before co-founding Tendrils Compute, a chip company.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/nilscmr">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/in/nils-cremer">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Ryan Thorpe</strong> (<em>United Kingdom</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Ex-Revolut growth marketer who built 40 apps to 50M downloads. Now co-founder of <a href="https://fload.ai/">Fload</a>, running a $950K/yr app with zero employees using AI agents.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/helloryanj">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ryanjthorpe">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Soumyadeep Mukherjee &#127969;</strong> (<em>Bengaluru, India</em>)</p><ul><li><p>IIT Kharagpur grad turned co-founder and CTO of <a href="https://dashverse.tech/">Dashverse</a>, working on AI, infrastructure, and robotics. Previously Associate Director of Product and Engineering at udaan.com and founding engineer at Morphle Labs.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/dementorsam">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/soumyadeepmukherjee">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><h3>Already Funded Founders Followed</h3><ul><li><p>Ali Ahmed (<a href="https://x.com/ali_aka_ahmed">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ali-aka-ahmed">LinkedIn</a>) - Bread Labs and previously served as a Product Manager at <a href="https://github.com/">GitHub</a> working on Copilot</p></li><li><p>Chintan Parikh (<a href="https://x.com/chintanparikh94">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chintan-parikh-0241ab51">LinkedIn</a>) - Stealth (YC F25) and former VP Engineering at <a href="https://secureframe.com/">Secureframe</a></p></li><li><p>Frank Hutter (<a href="https://x.com/prior_labs">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://de.linkedin.com/in/frank-hutter-9190b24b">LinkedIn</a>) - <a href="https://prior-labs.com/">Prior Labs</a> and Professor of Computer Science at University of Freiburg, specializing in tabular foundation models and AutoML</p></li><li><p>Haakam Aujla (<a href="https://x.com/haakamaujla">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/haaaujla">LinkedIn</a>) - AgentMail (YC S25) and former Quantitative Trader Intern at Optiver</p></li></ul><h3>Investors Followed</h3><ul><li><p>Alan Markfeld, CIMA&#174; (<a href="https://x.com/alanf_feld">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alan-markfeld">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Ben Grabiner (<a href="https://x.com/bengrabiner">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bengrabiner">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Giovanni D&#8217;Antonio (<a href="https://x.com/regulargio">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/giovanni-dantonio">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Kyle Getsiv (<a href="https://x.com/getsivkyle">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kyle-getsiv">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Matan Roet (<a href="https://x.com/matanroet">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/matan-roet">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Michael Robinson (<a href="https://x.com/mike_robinson10">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/michael-robinson-93221659">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Nikita Andersson (<a href="https://x.com/nikitaandersso3">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nikita-andersson-2a1b77165">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Palak Goel (<a href="https://x.com/palak_go">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/palak-goel1">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li></ul><p></p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0188) Ex-Apple, Ex-Shopify & Midjourney Hardware Founders]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0188-ex-apple-ex-shopify-and-midjourney</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0188-ex-apple-ex-shopify-and-midjourney</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 06 Aug 2026 17:27:06 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Andy Li</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Former Apple product designer and YC W24 founder building <a href="https://keywordsai.co/">Keywords AI</a>, an LLMops platform. Previously worked in product engineering at John Deere.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/andydy42">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/hanheli">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Anirudh Oppiliappan</strong> (<em>Finland</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Software engineer turned co-founder of <a href="https://tangled.dev/">Tangled</a>, a decentralized git hosting and collaboration platform. Previously worked on managed Kubernetes at UpCloud and was a founder in residence at Antler.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/icyphox">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://fi.linkedin.com/in/icyphox">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Christopher L. Jones</strong> (<em>California</em>)</p><ul><li><p>US Navy veteran and Caltech PhD turned founder, now CEO at <a href="https://suitebriar.com/">Suitebriar</a>. Previously worked at Google and serves as guest lecturer at UC Berkeley Haas. Building AI for behavioral health and startup tooling.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/dr_chrisjones">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/christopherjonesl">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Ethan Shaotran</strong> (<em>Greater Los Angeles</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Harvard researcher turned founder of Energize.AI. Previously worked as a machine learning developer at Energy Impact Partners. Currently working at DOGE.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/eshaotran">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shaotran">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Ilan Zerbib</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Repeat founder and former Director of Engineering at <a href="https://shopify.com/">Shopify</a>, now building Sapiom to create AI-native financial infrastructure for the agentic economy. Previously founded Earny, which was acquired.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/i_zerbib">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/izerbib">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Jessie Dong</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Stanford CS student and co-founder &amp; CEO of <a href="https://t.co/IZi7PWnoam">Airstitch</a>. Previously worked at Tesla and Mithril Compute, currently doing research at Stanford AI Lab and serving on the investment team at Phoenix Rising focusing on AI infrastructure.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/jessiedong_">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/-jessie-dong-">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Karl-Gustav Kallasmaa</strong> (<em>London, United Kingdom</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Fellow at AI Circle and Unicorn Mafia, currently founding Attensira to help businesses with AI recommendations.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/kallasmaa">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/in/kallasmaa">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Kelsey Pool</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Serial robotics entrepreneur and co-founder of a stealth robotics startup focused on building general purpose robots. Previously founded Bright Block and co-founded Zeroth Bot.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/_kelsey_pool">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kelsey-pool">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Neil Mitra</strong> (<em>Waterloo, Canada</em>)</p><ul><li><p>UBC Presidential Scholar who worked on hardware at <a href="https://midjourney.com/">Midjourney</a> before founding Mitra Biotechnologies in 2020. Masason Foundation member and Z Fellow.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/neilmitra_">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://ca.linkedin.com/in/neilmitra16">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Nils Cremer</strong> (<em>Cambridge, United Kingdom</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Computer Science student and software engineer who worked at JetBrains and QuantCo before co-founding Tendrils Compute, a chip company.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/nilscmr">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/in/nils-cremer">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Shrish P.</strong> (<em>Stanford</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Stanford student working as a VC analyst at Stanford Sustainable Investment Group and VC scout at Afore Capital. Also organizing sponsorships for TreeHacks.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/shrish_is">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shrishp">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Vignesh Rajendran</strong> (<em>New York</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Former investor at GSV Ventures turned product leader at LILT AI, now co-founder of a stealth startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/vpr125">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/vigneshprajendran">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Wayde Gilliam</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Full-stack web and ML developer, creator of blurr (an open source deep learning library), and active contributor and community leader at <a href="https://fast.ai/">fast.ai</a>. Previously founded Cantos Labs and worked as a software engineer at Rutter. Currently co-founder and CTO at a stealth startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/waydegilliam">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/waydegilliam">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><h3>Already Funded Founders Followed</h3><ul><li><p>Abhijay Rana (<a href="https://x.com/abhijaymrana">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhijayrana">LinkedIn</a>) - <a href="https://brex.com/">Brex</a> and founder of Nuntius (YC S25)</p></li><li><p>Aryan S. (<a href="https://x.com/aryanxshah">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aryan-shah1">LinkedIn</a>) - Metis and former Partner at Dorm Room Fund</p></li><li><p>Daniel Rupawalla (<a href="https://x.com/rupawalladaniel">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/danielrupawalla">LinkedIn</a>) - Nuntius (YC S25) and previously founded a company that was acquired by US News</p></li><li><p>Grace Li (<a href="https://x.com/predictionbench">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/grace-li-721a4017b">LinkedIn</a>) - Design Arena and an AI/ML researcher at Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences</p></li><li><p>Liam Fuller (<a href="https://x.com/liamfuller_">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/liam-fuller-499637283**">LinkedIn</a>) - age 17 after dropping out of high school</p></li><li><p>Luciano Arango (<a href="https://x.com/ai_luce">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/whosluciano">LinkedIn</a>) - Flex and previously co-founded and served as CEO at Maza</p></li><li><p>Sai Krishna Srirampur (<a href="https://x.com/saisrirampur">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sai-krishna-srirampur-1741b019">LinkedIn</a>) - <a href="https://clickhouse.com/">ClickHouse</a> and CEO and Co-founder of PeerDB, which was acquired by ClickHouse</p></li></ul><h3>Investors Followed</h3><ul><li><p>Aidan Pak (<a href="https://x.com/aidanpak">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aidan-pak">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Andy Kangpan (<a href="https://x.com/kangpandabear">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewkangpan">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Eleanor Liu (<a href="https://x.com/eleanorliuu">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/eleanorcliu">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Felix Martinez (<a href="https://x.com/felixjmartinez_">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/felixjmartinez">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Maria Heyen (<a href="https://x.com/mariaheyen_">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/maria-heyen">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Phil Brady (<a href="https://x.com/phil_brady_">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/philbrady">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Sasha McKenzie (<a href="https://x.com/sashamac17">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sasha-mckenzie">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Shayan Shafii (<a href="https://x.com/shayanshafii">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/shayan-shafii-6a3667bb">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li><li><p>Vikram Ramakrishnan (<a href="https://x.com/vik_rama">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/vikramramakrishnan">LinkedIn</a>)</p></li></ul><p></p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0187) Ex-Google, Ex-Tesla & an Ex-MMA Fighter Turned Founder]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0187-ex-google-ex-tesla-and-an-ex</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0187-ex-google-ex-tesla-and-an-ex</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 25 Jun 2026 18:18:07 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Abhishek Sethi</strong> (<em>India</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Tax manager at Grant Thornton turned co-founder of En Pointe Adwisers, which he&#8217;s been building since 2017.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/abhisheksethi96">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://in.linkedin.com/in/abhishek-sethi-4b913b72">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Alon Gubkin</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Co-founder and CTO of Aporia, which was acquired by <a href="https://coralogix.com/">Coralogix</a>. Now VP AI Engineering at Coralogix and building something new on the side.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/alongubkin">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alongubkin">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Anne Marie Droste</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Former Chief of Staff at Basecamp Research and COO at Yema, now building something new. Currently serves as a Trustee at Code First Girls.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/amdroste">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/amdroste">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Bala Selvam</strong> (<em>Kailua</em>)</p><ul><li><p>CTO at U.S. Indo-Pacific Command focused on scaling next-generation national security technology. Works on unblocking builders at the edge with emphasis on AI, quantum computing, and American dynamism.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/balaselvam">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bala-selvam-958a3910a">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Beto Moreira</strong> (<em>Australia</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Ex-lead engineer at <a href="https://leonardo.ai/">Leonardo.Ai</a> (acquired by Canva). Previously co-founded Good Pair Days, an ML-powered wine startup, and grew it from 0 to $40M+ ARR. Now building Vinte.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/betocmn">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://au.linkedin.com/in/betocmn">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Ebrahim Hussain</strong> (<em>United States of America</em>)</p><ul><li><p>19-year-old Stanford researcher and co-founder of Architect. Previously interned on Autopilot Hardware at Tesla and worked at Apple.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/axi_master">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ebhussain">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Geetha Manjunath</strong> (<em>Bengaluru, India</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Computer scientist turned healthcare entrepreneur, founder and CEO of <a href="https://niramai.com/">Niramai Health Analytix</a>, an AI-powered healthcare company. TEDx speaker recognized by Forbes Top 20, also serves as Director at IIMB INNOVATIONS.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/geethamhp">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/geetha-manjunath-82b8058">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Greg Foster</strong> (<em>New York metropolitan area</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Former Google and Airbnb engineer, now co-founder &amp; CTO of <a href="https://graphite.dev/">Graphite</a>. Currently building <a href="https://cursor.ai/">Cursor</a>, an AI-powered code editor.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/gregfoster996">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gregmfoster">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Jahanzeb Khan</strong> (<em>Atlanta metropolitan area</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Georgia Tech alumnus and ex-MMA fighter turned serial entrepreneur. Founder/CEO of <a href="https://4earthinc.com/">4Earth</a> since 2020 and Co-Founder/President of Twistient since 2024. Previously led a stealth startup as Managing Director.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/jahn4earth">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jahanzeb-khan-9413521a3">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Jasmin Kaur</strong> (<em>United States of America</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Biochemist and former GSK researcher building bio machines at <a href="https://tacitmachines.com/">Tacit Machines</a> to derisk clinical trial failures. Previously worked on ML for cell dynamics and bioimaging brain architecture, and served as director of pandemic challenge trials. Currently a Founder in Residence at Entrepreneurs First and FDA advisor.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/jasminkaur_">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jasminkaur06">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>JX Mo</strong> (<em>United States of America</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Ex-<a href="https://kscalelabs.com/">K-Scale Labs</a> founding engineering team member, now co-founder of Gradient Robotics. Previously co-founded Zeroth Bot and served as Head of Product &amp; Engineering.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/gradientrobots">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jingxiangmo">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Matt Suiche</strong> (<em>Dubai</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Low-level developer since the early 2000s, previously Head of Detection Engineering at Magnet Forensics. Now building <a href="https://x.com/onchaindb">@onchaindb</a> and doing Vibe Engineering at enidon.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/msuiche">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://ae.linkedin.com/in/msuiche">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Micah Hill-Smith</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>McKinsey consultant turned co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://artificialanalysis.ai/">Artificial Analysis</a>, an AI model comparison platform. Previously interned at Google.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/_micah_h">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/micahhill-smith">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Mohamed Habib</strong> (<em>California</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Amazon engineer turned founder of <a href="https://digger.dev/">Digger</a>, an open source infrastructure automation tool. Previously part of Entrepreneur First&#8217;s LD15 cohort.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/motatoeshq">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/motatoes">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Sinan Kanatsiz</strong> (<em>San Clemente</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Long-time CEO of KCOMM (since 1995) and founder/chairman of the Internet Marketing Association. Also founded the International Executive Council in 2017.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/sinankanatsiz">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sinankanatsiz">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Tj Richardson</strong> (<em>New York metropolitan area</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Data scientist at Advent International, previously investment banking analyst at Perella Weinberg Partners. Now founder of <a href="https://fundable.ai/">fundable.ai</a>, building real-time venture news and deal sourcing tools for VCs.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/fundable_ai">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/tj-richardson">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Victoria Mei</strong> (<em>New York</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Global brand marketer and internet personality with 600K+ followers, founder of <a href="https://asiancreativesclub.com/">Asian Creatives Club</a> and Victoria Mei Studio. Building communities at the intersection of Web3 and AI.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/victoriazmei">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/victoriazmei">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Yash Rathod</strong> (<em>India</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Computer science student at University of Illinois turned consultant in strategy and operations. Previously worked in the founder&#8217;s office at ImpactGuru and now focused on growth at Kirana Club. Co-founder of Origin Bio.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/yashrathod_75">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/yash-rathod-39985918a">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><h3>Already Funded Founders Followed</h3><ul><li><p>Abhijay Rana (<a href="https://x.com/abhijaymrana">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhijayrana">LinkedIn</a>) - <a href="https://brex.com/">Brex</a> and founder of Nuntius (YC S25)</p></li><li><p>Ali H. &#199;evik (<a href="https://x.com/alihcevik">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/in/alicevik">LinkedIn</a>) - <a href="https://deepmind.google/">Google DeepMind</a> leading the Gemini API product and is a Y Combinator alum</p></li><li><p>Aryan S. (<a href="https://x.com/aryanxshah">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aryan-shah1">LinkedIn</a>) - Metis and former Partner at Dorm Room Fund</p></li><li><p>Benedict Dohmen (<a href="https://x.com/dualentry">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ai-accounting">LinkedIn</a>) - <a href="https://t.co/pi5yc2pX1b">DualEntry</a> and previously co-founded Benitago</p></li><li><p>Connor Loi (<a href="https://x.com/connortbot">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/connor-loi">LinkedIn</a>) - Replicas and previously worked as a Software Engineer Intern at <a href="https://helicone.ai/">Helicone</a> and <a href="https://cohere.com/">Cohere</a></p></li><li><p>Dan Piemont (<a href="https://x.com/danpiemont">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dan-piemont">LinkedIn</a>) - Long Wall and previously co-founded ABL Space Systems</p></li><li><p>Kush Bavaria (<a href="https://x.com/bavaria_kush">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kush-bavaria">LinkedIn</a>) - Ornn and an Investor at Link Ventures</p></li><li><p>Lukas Czinger (<a href="https://x.com/lukasczinger">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lukas-czinger-a8752462">LinkedIn</a>) - Divergent and Founder and CEO of Czinger Vehicles</p></li><li><p>Scott Breitenother (<a href="https://x.com/s_breitenother">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/scottbreitenother">LinkedIn</a>) - Kilo Code and previously founded Brooklyn Data and co-founded LocallyOptimistic</p></li><li><p>Tal Peretz (<a href="https://x.com/talperetz_">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/talper">LinkedIn</a>) - <a href="https://runlayer.com/">Runlayer</a> and Creator of Zapier MCP, serving as an AI Advisor at Ravenna and Quack AI</p></li><li><p>Vincent Micheli (<a href="https://x.com/micheli_vincent">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://ch.linkedin.com/in/vincent-micheli">LinkedIn</a>) - Technical Staff at General Intuition, previously serving as a Research Scientist at Wayve</p></li><li><p>Wayne Nelms (<a href="https://x.com/wayne_nelmz">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/wayne-nelms">LinkedIn</a>) - Ornn and a former quantitative trader at Susquehanna International Group</p></li></ul><h3></h3>
      <p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0186) Ex-BlackRock Quant, a Counter-Drone Startup & a Magnet Launched to Space]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0186-ex-blackrock-quant-a-counter</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0186-ex-blackrock-quant-a-counter</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 05 Jun 2026 00:07:32 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Alex Rigler</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Building <a href="https://mindcraeft.com/">Mindcraeft</a> with Choochoo HQ.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/alexrigler">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexrigler">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Alex Shan</strong> (<em>Stanford</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Researcher at Stanford AI Lab and former Research Lead at Juniper Networks, now co-founder and CEO of Judgment Labs, building open source agent behavior monitoring tools.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/alexshander03">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-shan-446321202">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Andreas Hennie</strong> (<em>Oslo, Norway</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Former Head of Design at Mittanbud Marketplaces and Senior Product Manager at Schibsted SMB, now founder of a stealth startup. Previously founded Lets.dev and describes himself as an &#8220;agentic coder.&#8221;</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/andyhennie">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://no.linkedin.com/in/andreashennie">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Anoop Mehendale</strong> (<em>McLean</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Health tech and enterprise AI entrepreneur with multiple exits and healthcare executive experience across payers, providers, and pharma. Currently co-founder at <a href="https://opsflow.sh/">Opsflow.sh</a> and founder of Guident AI.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/aprateem">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/anoopmehendale">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Aymeric Beaumet</strong> (<em>Paris, France</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Lead Platform Engineer at REKKI turned co-founder and CTO of <a href="https://t.co/cc3jfQ9hus">Interface</a>, building Beside - an AI that takes action on conversations across iOS, macOS, and Android.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/withbeside">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://fr.linkedin.com/in/aymericbeaumet">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Eric Richmond</strong> (<em>Canada</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Lawyer turned operator, currently General Counsel &amp; Head of Business Development at <a href="https://shakepay.com/">Shakepay</a>. Co-founder of Tetra Trust Company and board member at FRNT Financial.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/ericrichy">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://ca.linkedin.com/in/erichmond1">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Evan Feinberg</strong> (<em>Stanford</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Applied Physics grad from Yale who developed deep learning methods for drug discovery at Stanford&#8217;s Pande Lab. Former deep learning consultant at Merck, now founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.genesistherapeutics.ai/">Genesis Therapeutics</a>, applying AI to molecular discovery.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/enfeinberg">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/evanfeinberg">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Gavin Leech</strong> (<em>United Kingdom</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Fellow at <a href="https://cosmosinstitute.org/">Cosmos Institute</a> and co-founder of <a href="https://arbresearch.org/">Arb Research</a>, a consultancy focused on research. Previously a Fellow at Foresight Institute.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/arbresearch">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/in/gleech">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Henry Gasztowtt</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Former quantitative developer at BlackRock and Goldman Sachs intern, now co-founder of a stealth startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/hegasz">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrygasztowtt">LinkedIn</a><br><br></p></li></ul></li></ul>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0185) Synthetic Blood, Maintenance AI & a VC Portfolio Autopilot]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0185-synthetic-blood-maintenance</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0185-synthetic-blood-maintenance</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Sat, 30 May 2026 00:52:16 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2><strong>Early Stage Founders</strong></h2><p><strong>Ana Ediberidze</strong> (Tbilisi, Georgia)</p><p>Former law student turned digital marketer, now building a social app. Previously worked as Marketing Manager at Pyme and co-founded CandiKandy.</p><p>Followed by <a href="https://x.com/briannekimmel">@briannekimmel</a> &#183; <a href="https://x.com/anamika__x">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://ge.linkedin.com/in/ana-ediberidze-285405166">LinkedIn</a></p><p><strong>Chinmay Pala</strong> (Chicago)</p><p>Early member at M&#246;bius Industries, now founder and CEO of <a href="https://t.co/uO7CYM5moM">Odola Labs</a>, developing synthetic blood substitutes. Also works on the investment team at Callapina Capital.</p><p>Followed by <a href="https://x.com/turnernovak">@turnernovak</a> &#183; <a href="https://x.com/chinmay_pala">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/chinmay-pala">LinkedIn</a></p><p><strong>Chris Turlica</strong> (Miami)</p><p>Founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.maintainx.com/">MaintainX</a>, a maintenance and operations management platform. Previously an investor at Ditto, a member of the Forbes Technology Council, and currently an Entrepreneur in Residence at DTCP Capital.</p><p>Followed by <a href="https://x.com/anandc">@anandc</a>, <a href="https://x.com/pejmannozad">@pejmannozad</a> &#183; <a href="https://x.com/cturlica">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/cturlica">LinkedIn</a></p><p><strong>Oliver &#197;strand</strong> (Stockholm, Sweden)</p><p>Software engineer turned team lead at Depict (fashion merchandising app), now co-founder &amp; CTO of Tandem Health.</p><p>Followed by <a href="https://x.com/ilyamkin">@ilyamkin</a> &#183; <a href="https://x.com/oliverastrand">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://se.linkedin.com/in/oliverastrand">LinkedIn</a></p><p><strong>Sharan Jhangiani</strong> (New York)</p><p>Founder of <a href="https://onepager.vc/">OnePager</a>, automating portfolio support for VCs. Previously led go-to-market engineering for AI agents at Yoodli and currently serves as a venture scout at Madrona.</p><p>Followed by <a href="https://x.com/davemcclure">@davemcclure</a> &#183; <a href="https://x.com/sharanjhangiani">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/sharanjhangiani">LinkedIn</a></p><p><strong>Already Funded Founders Followed</strong></p><ul><li><p><strong>Max Brenner</strong> (<a href="https://x.com/maxtbrenner">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/maxbrenner-ai">LinkedIn</a>) &#8212; <a href="https://withcoverage.com/">Coverage</a>; previously at Compound. Followed by <a href="https://x.com/pitdesi">@pitdesi</a></p></li><li><p><strong>Yuly Djaparidze</strong> (<a href="https://x.com/yulydjaparidze">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/yulydjaparidze">LinkedIn</a>) &#8212; Azuro Capital; Investment Director at ABV Investments. Followed by <a href="https://x.com/aashaysanghvi_">@aashaysanghvi_</a></p></li></ul><p><strong>Investors Followed</strong></p><ul><li><p><strong>Avery Watkins</strong> (<a href="https://x.com/averywatkins27">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/avery-watkins-56b608175">LinkedIn</a>) &#8212; followed by <a href="https://x.com/caseyaylward">@caseyaylward</a></p></li><li><p><strong>Barr Yaron</strong> (<a href="https://x.com/barrnanas">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/barryaron">LinkedIn</a>) &#8212; followed by <a href="https://x.com/auchenberg">@auchenberg</a>, <a href="https://x.com/oanaolt">@oanaolt</a></p></li><li><p><strong>Fabrizio Serafini</strong> (<a href="https://x.com/fabrisera2000">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/fabrizio-serafini-26a22915b">LinkedIn</a>) &#8212; followed by <a href="https://x.com/illscience">@illscience</a></p></li><li><p><strong>Gaby Lorenzi</strong> (<a href="https://x.com/gabyllorenzi">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gaby-lorenzi">LinkedIn</a>) &#8212; followed by <a href="https://x.com/bschech">@bschech</a></p></li><li><p><strong>Michel A. Del Buono</strong> (<a href="https://x.com/mdb_cio">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mdelbuono">LinkedIn</a>) &#8212; followed by <a href="https://x.com/davemcclure">@davemcclure</a>, <a href="https://x.com/howardlindzon">@howardlindzon</a>, <a href="https://x.com/ianrountree">@ianrountree</a></p></li></ul>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0184) Ex-Tesla Cybertruck Engineer, Stanford AI Researcher & an AI-Run Storefront]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0184-ex-tesla-cybertruck-engineer</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0184-ex-tesla-cybertruck-engineer</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 14 May 2026 23:09:08 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Alex Shan</strong> (<em>Stanford</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Researcher at Stanford AI Lab and former Research Lead at Juniper Networks, now co-founder and CEO of <a href="https://www.judgmentlabs.ai/">Judgment Labs</a>, building open source agent behavior monitoring tools.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/alexshander03">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-shan-446321202">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Andrew McKinzie</strong> (<em>New York</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Investor at <a href="https://acrew.vc/">Acrew Capital</a> focusing on applied AI/ML, fintech, and enterprise SaaS. Former fellow at Perplexity and now co-founder of <a href="https://www.assembli.ai/">Assembli AI</a>.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/onnbase">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrewmckinzie">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Axel Backlund</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Former data engineer at McKinsey &amp; Company, now co-founder of Andon Labs, whose AI <a href="https://andonlabs.com/blog/andon-market-launch">runs a store in San Francisco</a>.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/axelbacklund">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/axelbacklund">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><h3>Already Funded Founders Followed</h3><ul><li><p>Joan Cabezas (<a href="https://x.com/josancamon19">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/joancabezas">LinkedIn</a>) - <a href="https://wefunder.com/">Wefunder</a> and Co-Founder at Cifrato, a Y Combinator W25 company</p></li><li><p>Lucas Crupi (<a href="https://x.com/lucas_crupi">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/lucascrupi">LinkedIn</a>) - Loombotic (YC F24), building a wire harness factory, and previously worked on battery and connectors for the Cybertruck at Tesla<br></p></li></ul>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0183) Ex-JetBrains, Ex-Amazon & a Line Cook Building in Stealth]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0183-ex-jetbrains-ex-amazon-and-a</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0183-ex-jetbrains-ex-amazon-and-a</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 07 May 2026 22:51:11 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Nils Cremer</strong> (<em>Cambridge, United Kingdom</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Computer Science student and software engineer who worked at JetBrains and QuantCo before co-founding Tendrils Compute, a chip company.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/nilscmr">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://uk.linkedin.com/in/nils-cremer">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>William Zhang</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>UT computer science dropout and Neo scholar working as a line cook while building Nebula on the side. Previously worked as a software engineer at Amazon.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/phytalia">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/wzhxng">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><h3>Already Funded Founders Followed</h3><ul><li><p>Bolun Li (<a href="https://x.com/i_am_bolun">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bolun-li-12393573">LinkedIn</a>) - Vamo and previously founded Zogo, which he sold for $36 million at age 22</p></li><li><p>Gabriele Volpato (<a href="https://x.com/vlpgrl">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/gabriele-volpato">LinkedIn</a>) - Universit&#224; degli Studi di Padova and founder of a startup</p></li><li><p>Kabir Nagrecha (<a href="https://x.com/kabirnagrecha">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/kabir-nagrecha">LinkedIn</a>) - Tessera Labs and holds a PhD from UCSD</p></li><li><p>Luciano Arango (<a href="https://x.com/ai_luce">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/whosluciano">LinkedIn</a>) - Flex and previously co-founded and served as CEO at Maza</p></li><li><p>York Yang (<a href="https://x.com/yorkyang5050">Twitter</a>, <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ysyyork">LinkedIn</a>) - Dyna Robotics and former Principal Research Engineer at <a href="https://instacart.com/">Instacart</a></p></li></ul><p></p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0182) Investor Turned Founder + Ex-DeepMind & Ex-Google Health Builders]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0182-investor-turned-founder-ex-deepmind</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0182-investor-turned-founder-ex-deepmind</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 01 May 2026 00:31:23 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Carwan R.</strong> (<em>Stockholm, Sweden</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Founder &amp; CEO of <a href="https://vashly.com/">Vashly</a>, an AI agent for talent discovery that aligns with team culture. Previously founded Genvalues, also in the sourcing/recruiting space.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/carwanrasoal">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://se.linkedin.com/in/carwanr">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>Bihan Mahadewa</strong> (<em>Palo Alto</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Fellow at ODF and Founders, Inc. Co-founder of <a href="https://madvision.com/">madvision</a>, working on something in the vision/AI space from Palo Alto.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/bihanmahadewa">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Danny Denenberg</strong> (<em>Omaha</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Harvard student and co-founder of a stealth AI startup. Previously interned at <a href="https://www.palantir.com/">Palantir Technologies</a> and performs with the Hasty Pudding Theatricals.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dannydenenberg">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0181) "Stealth founders from Meta, Saronic, and an MD-PhD at ETH]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0181-stealth-founders-from-meta-saronic</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0181-stealth-founders-from-meta-saronic</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 29 Apr 2026 00:32:02 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Andrawes Bahou</strong> (<em>California</em>)</p><ul><li><p>CPU engineer at ARM to AI ASIC chip researcher at ETH Zurich to ML engineer for options pricing at UBS. Co-founded Universe Energy as CTO, then worked on AI compute infrastructure at <a href="https://meta.com/">Meta</a>. Now CEO of <a href="https://www.compute-desk.com/">Compute Desk</a>, focused on financial infrastructure/analytics.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/andrawesbahou">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrawes-b">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Holly Peck</strong> (<em>New York</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Previously co-founder of <a href="https://bytez.com/">Bytez</a> and the founding team at The Sanctuary AI. Currently working on a stealth robotics startup. Focus on humanoids, embodied agents, and AI research.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/hollympeck">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/hollympeck">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Juan Ebrath</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Thiel Fellow and repeat founder working on engineering self-organization in living matter. Previously founded Macondo, which was acquired by Bricksave.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/realjpge">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/jpebrath">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
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          </a>
      </p>
   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0180) Ex-xAI, Scale & Palantir Founders Building in Stealth]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0180-ex-xai-scale-and-palantir-founders</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0180-ex-xai-scale-and-palantir-founders</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 23 Apr 2026 20:41:15 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Dolev Algam</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>AI infrastructure founder currently building in stealth. Previously worked on AI agents at scale at <a href="https://www.ipsos.com/">Ipsos</a> and built the first zero-latency AI compute platform for the Israeli Defense Forces.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/dolevalgam">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/dolevalgam">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>Abdellatif Abdelfattah</strong> (<em>Oslo, Norway</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Co-founder of <a href="https://agentset.com/">Agentset</a>. Previously co-founded Tarteel AI, an AI-powered Quran memorization app.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/abdellatifabdelfattah">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Benjamin Wong</strong> (<em>Brooklyn</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Stanford GSB and Vanderbilt alum who previously worked at D. E. Shaw and Mercor. Currently building at a stealth startup while also doing ML engineering at Elysian and angel investing.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/benvwong">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://news.poach.vc/p/0180-ex-xai-scale-and-palantir-founders">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0179) Ex-Google Gemini, Ex-Airbnb, and a Quant Trader Turned Surgical Roboticist]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0179-ex-google-gemini-ex-airbnb-and</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0179-ex-google-gemini-ex-airbnb-and</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 21 Apr 2026 20:40:35 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Ashu Duggal</strong> (<em>United States</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Quant trader turned CEO who founded and ran Aventus Technologies for 4 years before joining AlphaSense in growth strategy. Now co-founder of PillPilot working on robotic surgery applications.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ashu-duggal">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Edward Vernon</strong> (<em>United Kingdom</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Repeat founder who previously built and sold Flexbike. Former Product Manager at Teya, now co-founder &amp; CEO of Kulu, an AI video calls platform for customer onboarding. Backed by Antler &amp; Redbus Ventures.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/e-vernon">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Geoffrey Tisserand</strong> (<em>Miami</em>)</p><ul><li><p>VP of Engineering at Payscale, previously co-founded Agora. Now co-founding a stealth startup as CTO.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/geoffreytisserand">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
      <p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0178) Ex-Blizzard Design Lead, Ex-HubSpot GM & a Roboticist CEO]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0178-ex-blizzard-design-lead-ex-hubspot</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0178-ex-blizzard-design-lead-ex-hubspot</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 16 Apr 2026 21:54:44 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Aditya Singh</strong> (<em>New York</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Product manager at <a href="https://ramp.com/">Ramp</a> (corporate cards and expense management) after starting in business operations. Previously at Evercore investment bank. Currently building something new in stealth mode.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/adityasingh2799">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Alex Sergeev</strong> (<em>California</em>)</p><ul><li><p>YC alum and co-founder of ngrow.ai, now working on a new stealth startup. Previously handled strategy and operations at Aurora First.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/adsergeev">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Chao Cao</strong> (<em>Menlo Park</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Roboticist and co-founder &amp; CEO at a stealth startup. Previously research scientist at RAI Institute and research intern at The AI Institute.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/caochao">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://news.poach.vc/p/0178-ex-blizzard-design-lead-ex-hubspot">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0177) Ex-SpaceX Rocket Engineer, Ex-Citadel & a Fortress MD Turned Founder]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0177-ex-spacex-rocket-engineer-ex</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0177-ex-spacex-rocket-engineer-ex</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 14 Apr 2026 20:08:20 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>People</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Alex Reinhart</strong> (<em>New York</em>)</p><ul><li><p>MIT grad and former investor at Pillar VC, now serving on the MIT Alumni Association board while building a stealth startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alex-reinhart-279a93140">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Aurora Feng</strong> (<em>Stanford</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Stanford student building at a stealth robotics startup. Previously founding head of North America at LimX Dynamics and lab manager at Stanford&#8217;s Management Science &amp; Engineering department.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aurora-feng">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Ayush Verma</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>UC Berkeley alum and former <a href="https://coinbase.com/">Coinbase</a> engineer now building something new as a founder. Previously co-founded a stealth startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/averma18">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
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          <a href="https://news.poach.vc/p/0177-ex-spacex-rocket-engineer-ex">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0176) Ex-DeepMind, Iterable Co-founder & 5 More Stealth Startups]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0176-ex-deepmind-iterable-co-founder</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0176-ex-deepmind-iterable-co-founder</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 09 Apr 2026 21:36:36 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>People</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Andrew Hoskins</strong> (<em>California</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Ex-YC founder (Upfront, W23) and former Senior Software Engineer at Affirm, now working in engineering at Block.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrew-r-hoskins">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Andrew Kinzer</strong> (<em>Seattle</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Co-founder and VP of Market Strategy at <a href="https://outreach.io/">Outreach</a>, then founded Tomorrow. Now working on a stealth hardware + AI + manufacturing startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/superkinz">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Anil Karmel</strong> (<em>Seattle</em>)</p><ul><li><p>3x security AI founder currently building something new in stealth mode. Strategic advisor to multiple companies including GLACIS Technologies and Symbiosis.io.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/anilkarmel">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://news.poach.vc/p/0176-ex-deepmind-iterable-co-founder">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0175) Ex-Palantir, Microsoft Research & Robotics PhD in Stealth]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0175-ex-palantir-microsoft-research</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0175-ex-palantir-microsoft-research</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 07 Apr 2026 21:24:06 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Aamir Rashid</strong> (<em>Brooklyn</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Ex-Palantir engineer (Forward Deployed Engineer to Engineering Team Lead) now co-founding a stealth startup as CTO.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aamirdrashid">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Aryan Ranjan</strong> (<em>United Kingdom</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Oxford Maths MSc and Columbia grad (Maths-Stats &amp; Economics) who worked as a quant at Citi and the Federal Reserve. Now co-founder of Baraza, building AI word models and decision intelligence infrastructure while also working as a quant analyst at Oxford Alpha Fund.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/aryan-ranjan">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Celia Gazepi</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Yale Math and Computer Science grad who worked as an ML &amp; Software Engineer at Aurora for 3 years. Currently exploring at <a href="https://www.southparkcommons.com/">South Park Commons</a>.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/celia-gazepi-4029baa0">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://news.poach.vc/p/0175-ex-palantir-microsoft-research">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0174) Cisco Exits, Next-Gen CPUs & Ex-Meta AI Builders]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0174-cisco-exits-next-gen-cpus-and</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0174-cisco-exits-next-gen-cpus-and</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Fri, 03 Apr 2026 05:06:26 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Mohan Zhang</strong> (<em>Menlo Park</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Software engineer turned founder of <a href="https://antigma.ai/">Antigma Labs</a> building self-contained agents. Previously worked at Amazon, Meta, and Mysten Labs, with experience founding a stealth startup. Likely has some initial funding.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/nocommas">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/mohan-zhang-09b46a2a">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>Alex Munk</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Co-founder of Dashbase (acquired by Cisco) who then became Sr. Director of Engineering at Cisco. Now co-founder &amp; CEO of Something New.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexanderm">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
      <p>
          <a href="https://news.poach.vc/p/0174-cisco-exits-next-gen-cpus-and">
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0173) Ex-Grammarly CEO in Stealth | Meta FAIR Researcher | Ex-Blue Origin]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0173-ex-grammarly-ceo-in-stealth</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0173-ex-grammarly-ceo-in-stealth</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Wed, 01 Apr 2026 00:02:51 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Henry Gasztowtt</strong> (<em>London</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Former quantitative developer at BlackRock and Goldman Sachs intern, now co-founder of a stealth startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/hegasz">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/henrygasztowtt">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Micael Marques </strong><em>(Brazil)</em></p><ul><li><p>Founder &amp; CEO of <a href="https://ararahq.com/">AraraHQ</a>, building messaging infrastructure. Currently participating in YC Startup School.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/micaelmrsilva">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/micael-marques/en">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Nick Balestra-Foster</strong> (<em>Seattle</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Engineering leader turned founder of Couch Labs, an AI companion for the visually impaired. Previously Director of Engineering at OP Labs and software engineer at <a href="https://meta.com/">Meta</a>, with earlier experience at <a href="https://cloudflare.com/">Cloudflare</a> and <a href="https://opentable.com/">OpenTable</a>.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/nickbalestra">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/nickbalestra">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0172) Meet the DeepMind and Stanford alumni automating the future]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0172-meet-the-deepmind-and-stanford</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0172-meet-the-deepmind-and-stanford</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Thu, 26 Mar 2026 20:37:53 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!lYOm!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F59fde3b4-5bda-4652-8e21-d8317f93ac84_700x700.png" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Amit Kumar</strong> (<em>Singapore</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Former Uber and Slice growth marketing executive, now co-founder of <a href="https://www.grovio.ai/">Grovio AI</a> automating marketing.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/amitkumar0331">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://in.linkedin.com/in/amit0331">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Jason Hreha</strong> (<em>Nashville</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Stanford neuroscience grad and former Global Head of Behavioral Science at Walmart, now founder and CEO of Persona, a talent-as-a-service company. Also serves as Senior Advisor at Edelman and works as an independent behavioral strategist.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/jhreha">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/hreha">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><ul><li><p><strong>Abhishek Jain</strong> (<em>Menlo Park</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Ex-Google director (Product &amp; Operations at Google Cloud, previously Global Business Development Lead for Search, Play &amp; Fiber) turned co-founder of a stealth startup. Previously spent 17 years at Google after earlier experience at Amazon.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/abhij">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
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   ]]></content:encoded></item><item><title><![CDATA[(0171) Ex-Scale AI, Databricks, and SIG quants building in stealth]]></title><description><![CDATA[Hey, this is news.poach.vc, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.]]></description><link>https://news.poach.vc/p/0171-ex-scale-ai-databricks-and-sig</link><guid isPermaLink="false">https://news.poach.vc/p/0171-ex-scale-ai-databricks-and-sig</guid><dc:creator><![CDATA[PoachVC]]></dc:creator><pubDate>Tue, 24 Mar 2026 22:53:30 GMT</pubDate><enclosure url="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Al4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif" length="0" type="image/jpeg"/><content:encoded><![CDATA[<p>Hey, this is <a href="https://news.poach.vc/">news.poach.vc</a>, where we help you discover pre-seed / seed deal flow by tracking the people the top 350 VCs are interacting with online.</p><blockquote><p>For raw data feeds and social media tracking, check out <a href="https://www.poach.vc/">poach.vc</a>!</p></blockquote><h2>Notes</h2><ul><li><p>We curate interesting people that have some signals that they might be interesting founders either now or in the future. They are <em>not guaranteed</em> to be currently founding or interested in investment. </p></li><li><p>If you have any questions, suggestions, or need custom tracking, please reach out to <a href="mailto:contact@poach.vc">contact@poach.vc</a></p></li><li><p>Thanks for your support! If you enjoyed this edition, please share with your investor friends!</p></li><li><p>We post two times a week, with 2/3 of the content behind a paywall.</p></li></ul><div><hr></div><h6>TODAY&#8217;S SPONSOR</h6><div class="captioned-image-container"><figure><a class="image-link image2 is-viewable-img" target="_blank" href="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Al4!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif" data-component-name="Image2ToDOM"><div class="image2-inset"><picture><source type="image/webp" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Al4!,w_424,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Al4!,w_848,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Al4!,w_1272,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Al4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_webp,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw"><img src="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Al4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif" width="1200" height="675" data-attrs="{&quot;src&quot;:&quot;https://substack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com/public/images/1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif&quot;,&quot;srcNoWatermark&quot;:null,&quot;fullscreen&quot;:null,&quot;imageSize&quot;:null,&quot;height&quot;:675,&quot;width&quot;:1200,&quot;resizeWidth&quot;:null,&quot;bytes&quot;:347755,&quot;alt&quot;:null,&quot;title&quot;:null,&quot;type&quot;:&quot;image/gif&quot;,&quot;href&quot;:null,&quot;belowTheFold&quot;:false,&quot;topImage&quot;:true,&quot;internalRedirect&quot;:&quot;https://news.poach.vc/i/190589507?img=https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif&quot;,&quot;isProcessing&quot;:false,&quot;align&quot;:null,&quot;offset&quot;:false}" class="sizing-normal" alt="" srcset="https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Al4!,w_424,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif 424w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Al4!,w_848,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif 848w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Al4!,w_1272,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif 1272w, https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!2Al4!,w_1456,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1ba7a267-307d-443e-8717-d0779ff05343_1200x675.gif 1456w" sizes="100vw" fetchpriority="high"></picture><div class="image-link-expand"><div class="pencraft pc-display-flex pc-gap-8 pc-reset"><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container restack-image"><svg aria-hidden="true" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 20 20" fill="none" stroke-width="1.5" stroke="var(--color-fg-primary)" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg"><g><path d="M2.53001 7.81595C3.49179 4.73911 6.43281 2.5 9.91173 2.5C13.1684 2.5 15.9537 4.46214 17.0852 7.23684L17.6179 8.67647M17.6179 8.67647L18.5002 4.26471M17.6179 8.67647L13.6473 6.91176M17.4995 12.1841C16.5378 15.2609 13.5967 17.5 10.1178 17.5C6.86118 17.5 4.07589 15.5379 2.94432 12.7632L2.41165 11.3235M2.41165 11.3235L1.5293 15.7353M2.41165 11.3235L6.38224 13.0882"></path></g></svg></button><button tabindex="0" type="button" class="pencraft pc-reset pencraft icon-container view-image"><svg xmlns="http://www.w3.org/2000/svg" width="20" height="20" viewBox="0 0 24 24" fill="none" stroke="currentColor" stroke-width="2" stroke-linecap="round" stroke-linejoin="round" class="lucide lucide-maximize2 lucide-maximize-2"><polyline points="15 3 21 3 21 9"></polyline><polyline points="9 21 3 21 3 15"></polyline><line x1="21" x2="14" y1="3" y2="10"></line><line x1="3" x2="10" y1="21" y2="14"></line></svg></button></div></div></div></a></figure></div><p><strong>Become the VC founders tell their friends to take money from.</strong></p><p><a href="https://cura.inc/?utm_source=poach.vc&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=poach.vc_v1">Cura</a> is your AI portfolio analyst that reads and remembers everything - every board deck, iMessage, LinkedIn post, Granola note, and tweet. Always one iMessage or Slack away.</p><p>Your portfolio is your best deal flow. Stop scrambling across six tools to keep up with it. <a href="https://cura.inc/?utm_source=poach.vc&amp;utm_medium=referral&amp;utm_campaign=poach.vc_v1">Get started with Cura today.</a></p><div><hr></div><h2>Early Stage Founders</h2><ul><li><p><strong>Andre Nakkurt</strong> (<em>San Francisco</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Software and ML engineer currently on sabbatical. Previously worked on developer productivity at Scale AI and as a software engineer at Domino Data Lab.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/andrenakkurt">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Ivory Tang</strong> (<em>United States</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Product and growth lead at Cartesia, now investor at Chemistry and co-founder of a stealth startup.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/ivorytang">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li><li><p><strong>Abdullah Shareef</strong> (<em>New York</em>)</p><ul><li><p>Ex-quant trader at Susquehanna International Group turned founder, now working on something new in stealth mode. Previously interned at SIG before joining full-time as a quantitative trader for several years.</p></li><li><p><a href="https://x.com/itsabdullahs">Twitter</a> / <a href="https://www.linkedin.com/in/abdullahshareef">LinkedIn</a></p></li></ul></li></ul><p></p>
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