The team

Vertical AI founders &
product builders

We’ve sat in the founder’s chair — raising capital, shipping AI-native products, and carrying companies to real exits. That’s why we walk the walk, not just talk the talk, and why we’re often the first to say yes.

Pitch us → Meet our founders
PartnersFour operators
BasedSeattle · SF Bay Area
FocusVertical AI only
The partners of The Founders VC together
4Partners
Operators,
not spectators
Often the first Yes → then the best follow
GVNEAIndexForerunnerDraperMadrona

Our track record

The numbers behind the first yes.

Serial AI founders and tech execs who’ve built AI-native products from zero — and put real capital, real returns, and real exits on the board before backing yours.

$1B+
raised in venture capital, combined, as serial AI founders & tech execs
2B+
customers reached with AI-native products built 0–1, scaling to $3B+ in revenue
$1.4B+
in combined exits among the AI startups we’ve directed, advised and coached
10X
realized value (MOIC) as angels in AI startups now valued at $10B+
20+
exits across careers in quantitative trading, I-banking and venture capital

The partners

Operators, not spectators.

Four builders who founded, scaled, and exited their own companies — now writing first checks into vertical AI.

Mia Lewin

Mia Lewin

Founding Partner · Seattle
StyleGenome → Wayfair · $1B revenue

A trained VC who became a 3x founder CEO before launching The Founders VC. Her last startup, StyleGenome — AI-first personalized commerce for the home — was acquired by Wayfair (NYSE: W), where she led the personalization team and grew it to $1B in revenue. Previously a venture capitalist and investment banker with $2B+ in exit value created. MBA, Stanford GSB.

LinkedIn
Paul Longhenry

Paul Longhenry

Partner · SF Bay Area
Tapjoy → Unity · 2 exits

Former founder CEO and 5x growth-stage operator with two exits. Led product, strategy and corp dev through Tapjoy’s sale to ironSource / Unity (NYSE: U), where he built his first AI team. Earlier a VC at DE Shaw Ventures and 3i, with $1.4B in realized returns. USC, Finance & Economics.

LinkedIn
Shail Kaveti

Shail Kaveti

Partner · SF
Amazon · Wayfair · 1.2B+ users

A CS engineer turned investor. She led AI/ML recommendation systems serving 1.2B+ customers at Amazon and Wayfair (combined $2.2B in revenue), after earlier work in high-frequency trading on Wall Street. She is also an angel investor in Perplexity AI. MBA, Dartmouth.

LinkedIn
Jay Bartot

Jay Bartot

Technical Advisor & CTO · Seattle
4 exits · Co-founder/CTO, AirSignal.ai

An AI veteran and multi-time founder with four exits (to Hulu, Microsoft, Nielsen and Alliance Health). Former CTO and Managing Director at Madrona Venture Labs, currently co-founder and CTO of AirSignal.ai, and teaches entrepreneurship at the University of Washington.

LinkedIn

Building in vertical AI? We’d love the first look.

Send us what you’re building. If it’s a fit, you could have your first yes within the week.

Pitch us →

team@thefounder.vc · Seattle + SF Bay Area