Daniel Keelan

"OKRs are great, but I don't believe they're a replacement for a Key Performance Indicator." Amos Schwartzfarb, former managing Director of Techstars Austin and author of Sell More Faster and Levers, talks about goal vs. measurement on Tech Scenes Unplugged. #venturebacked #vcbacked #venturecapital #leadership #ceo #founder #operatingsystem #peakOS #foundermode #okrs #kpis

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Plaid is built to make it easier for businesses to build and scale financial products that people trust. That trust starts with knowing who you’re working with. As Plaid helps platforms onboard and support millions of businesses, verifying business identity accurately and efficiently is foundational. That’s why Plaid partners with Middesk to automate business verification during onboarding — confirming core business details, reducing manual review, and helping teams make confident risk decisions without slowing down the customer experience. Together, we help Plaid deliver faster onboarding, stronger compliance, and a more durable foundation for growth across the financial ecosystem they power. We’re proud to support Plaid as they help teams move fast while maintaining trust at scale. #KYB #KYC #AML #BEV #businessverification #financialservices #onboarding #compliance #smallbusiness #SMBs

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Last week, we got to do what Mayfield does best - spotlight the rising builders before the spotlight finds them. At the Golden Gate Club in the Presidio, we celebrated the Mayfield | Divot AI List honorees - founders, product leaders, researchers, media voices, and policy leaders who are shaping the next chapter of AI. Based on the energy in that room, it became clear the next decade of AI won’t be written by the usual suspects. The day brought together honorees, founders, and ecosystem partners for meaningful conversations about where AI is headed. Aparna Chennapragada (CPO for AI Experiences, Microsoft) sat down with Derek Andersen (CEO, Startup Grind) for a powerful discussion on how AI is transforming product development and the structure of modern teams. Then came my fireside with Garry Tan (CEO, Y Combinator) - one of the most thoughtful voices in tech today. We even ended on a fun note when I asked: “What’s one idea a founder could pitch where you wouldn’t even need 10 minutes to decide? Maybe not even a minute, just 10 seconds?” Garry smiled and said, “I just love the demo.” That spirit - a leader’s instinct to show, not tell, perfectly captured the energy in the room. From our conversation, a few themes stood out: - The era of abundance has begun. AI represents a 100x shift in how we build and operate. The challenge isn’t adoption, it’s moving fast and responsibly enough to create a durable impact. - The new AI-native company looks very different. Startups with 1/10 the headcount and 10x the output are redefining what scale means. Those that deeply integrate AI into their own operations will have a lasting advantage. - Founders are getting younger and hungrier. A new generation of AI-native, fearless, and global founders is building from first principles and experimenting faster than ever before. - Humans + AI is the next great partnership. The future belongs to builders who see AI not as a substitute for human creativity, but as a collaborator that amplifies it. The energy at the event was electric - hopeful, grounded, and deeply human. For us at Mayfield, this initiative has always been about recognizing the people doing the hard work behind the scenes before the world catches on. A huge thank-you to Startup Grind and Divot for partnering with us and to everyone who joined us in celebrating this incredible community of AI builders. The age of abundance is here - what opportunities do you think it will create for founders and builders? #Mayfield #Divot #AIList #StartupGrind

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We recently closed a funding round with Tunitas Ventures, Cota Capital, Sure Ventures, Hike VC, and Vibe Capital. For us, it’s fuel for accelerating what we've been building toward since our first day. The funding enables us to focus on two critical priorities that directly impact our customers' bottom lines. - Expanding our Smart Sweep capabilities to give customers access to safe, interest-bearing investment products. This means more options for optimizing yield while maintaining the liquidity and safety requirements that matter most to finance teams. - Accelerating our go-to-market focus specifically in real estate, where multi-entity cash management presents some of the most complex challenges. Real estate portfolios often juggle dozens of accounts across multiple banks, making visibility and optimization particularly difficult without the right infrastructure. Throughout this growth, our core mission remains unchanged: Make it effortless for businesses to see, control and earn on their cash without switching banks or adding operational burden to already stretched finance teams. To our existing customers and partners who believed in this vision early, thank you for your trust and feedback that continues shaping our product. To finance leaders still wrestling with idle cash earning nothing and fragmented account management across multiple entities, we're ready to show you what becomes possible when cash optimization actually works the way it should.

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Looking forward to our #SXSW conversation on venture trends in #Texas, the rise of frontier models and their implications on company building, and what’s ahead for founders starting companies in Texas!

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Ever wonder why 'AI-native VC firms' are the future of venture capital? And more importantly, how do you actually build one? Collin West talks to 10xVC about the same

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Interesting insights about AI (you never learn enough) by Blair Garrou of Mercury Fund at the Plug and Play Tech Center Fall Expo 2025 here in Sugarland Texas Key Insights: 1) B2B over a 10 year span was more favorable towards middle market and SMBs. AI However, is now all in on enterprise 2) Revolutionizing/Modernizing older industries is where AI will be seamless (in construction, certain types of engineering and older processes in energy) 3) It's better to invest in AI that equips workers with another skillset than ones that result in layoffs #startups #venturecapital #ai #emergingtech

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📣 This is a call out to early stage enterprise infra/security/dev focused founders. And/or if you have a friend who is starting to build, pls forward 📣 Back by popular demand - we're excited to hold office hours again at 🤠 Cowboy Ventures 🤠 for founders building in enterprise infra, dev tools or security - joined by some awesome VC/operator friends . If you haven’t yet raised a seed round - come join office hours with friends like Shomik Ghosh from boldstart ventures, Kevin Crosby from GitHub Fund, Leigh Marie Braswell from Kleiner Perkins and Tim Tully from Menlo Ventures, CISO Michael Coates, head of ML&AI Kartik Khanna, plus OFC your friendly Cowboy Ventures investors. Get feedback from folks who have been involved at the earliest stages with companies like Codeium, Drata, dbt Labs, Lightstep, Neon, Pinecone, Protect AI, Scale AI and more... We're excited to spend time with founders & share confidential feedback on your product plan, technical approach, business model, fundraising story, or whatever you want feedback on. How to sign up: ✅ Rolling applications thru Mon, June 2. Teams will hear back by Fri, June 6 ✅ Office hours date: Wednesday afternoon, June 18, 2025 ✅ In-person at the Cowboy office in Palo Alto, CA ✅ Founders will get a get a meeting slot that afternoon, then join for a mixer with founders / investors / operator friends at the end of the day. If you’re tackling core enterprise challenges and planning to raise VC, please apply. This will be a great opportunity to refine your idea in a safe space with experts, and we’d love to meet you! How to apply: Please fill out the short form linked in the comments. Thanks for reading & sharing! #EnterpriseInfra #DevTools #Security #AI #VC #startups cc Rohan Puranik Caroline Duffy Tyrone Anderson

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I spoke with Christien Louviere of BDE Capital about his journey from a $330mm exit to becoming an independent sponsor. Christien shared excellent insights for folks looking to partner with business owners, rather than buy sellers out completely. Below are a few of the topics we covered: - Why he moved from “zero-to-one” startups to a buy-then-build strategy - How Christien's background shaped a focus on growth vs. cost-cutting - Why 20–40% rolled equity is central to his deal structures—and how it builds trust with sellers - Using scenario analysis with AI tools to evaluate management teams and uncover hidden key-person risks - How to identify when a $3–5M EBITDA company truly has a middle management layer—or is still founder-reliant For anyone investing in or buying small businesses, Christien’s approach provides a fresh lens on growth, alignment, and deal structuring. 🎥 Watch the full interview here → https://lnkd.in/ekfkaiej 🎧 Listen on Spotify: https://lnkd.in/e86Agx6V

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Huge step forward from the Dyad team. AI that actually clears the inbox and kills rekeying (not just talks about it): 📨 Email Triage Agent to route submissions automatically 📃 Extractor to pull data from PDFs straight into ALIS DX If you’re an MGA, wholesaler, or program administrator who wants teams focused on underwriting, not manual work, this is worth a look: https://hubs.la/Q03T_Q1S0

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"You're only as good as the quality of contracts that you've signed." Vista Equity Partners Founder, Chairman, and CEO Robert F. Smith shares why an "enterprise software company's economic position is defined by their contracts." Watch the entire conversation on Alt Goes Mainstream here: https://lnkd.in/eTQ3vPpK

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