# Nic Baird

> Nic Baird is the San Francisco-based co-founder and CEO of Koah, an advertising network built for AI applications. A Yale graduate in history and political science, he was the 2019 College Sailor of the Year and a four-time collegiate All-American before coaching at Stanford and moving through startup operations, consulting and South Park Commons. He co-founded Koah with Mike Choi and Herrick Fang to help AI app developers support their inference costs through contextual advertising.

- **Role:** Co-founder and CEO at Koah
- **Organizations:** Koah, South Park Commons, Stanford University sailing, Yale University sailing, Thinktiv, Thync Global, MarkSetBot
- **From:** Newport, United States
- **Nationality:** American
- **Education:** Double major in history and political science, Yale University, Shorecrest Preparatory School
- **Known for:** 2019 Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year, awarded the Everett B. Morris Trophy., Four-time ICSA Coed All-American skipper at Yale., Team Race National Championship wins with Yale in 2016 and 2019.

## Career timeline

- **2013** — Won the U.S. Junior Singlehanded Championship for the Smythe Trophy.
- **2014** — Selected for Sailing World’s Jobson Junior All-Stars.
- **2015-2019** — Sailed for Yale; earned ICSA Coed All-American skipper recognition in all four college seasons.
- **2016** — Member of Yale’s Team Race National Championship-winning team.
- **2019** — Won College Sailor of the Year; helped Yale win the Team Race National Championship; graduated in history and political science; began coaching at Stanford.
- **After college, before Koah** — Worked in startup operations and as chief of staff at Thync, then consulting; joined South Park Commons staff before becoming a community member.
- **2024** — Co-founded Koah with Mike Choi and Herrick Fang; South Park Commons backed the team through its founder fellowship.
- **2025-09** — Koah publicly launched with a $5 million seed round led by Forerunner.
- **2026-02** — Koah announced a $20.5 million Series A led by Theory Ventures.
- **2026-09** — Published Koah’s announcement of an advertising format built for coding terminals.
- **2026-10** — Announced David Vespe, Jason Morse and JR Santosdiaz joining Koah.

## Achievements

- 2019 Marlow Ropes College Sailor of the Year, awarded the Everett B. Morris Trophy.
- Four-time ICSA Coed All-American skipper at Yale.
- Team Race National Championship wins with Yale in 2016 and 2019.
- 2018-19 ICSA All-Academic Sailing Team selection.
- Co-founded Koah, which announced a $20.5 million Series A in February 2026.

## Latest updates

- **2026-10** — On October 19, Baird announced David Vespe leading engineering, Jason Morse leading operations and partnerships, and JR Santosdiaz as founding head of sales at Koah.
- **2026-10** — In an October 1 Future Nexus interview, discussed how his team’s own AI app monetization problems led to Koah.
- **2026-09** — On September 23, published Koah’s coding-terminal advertising launch, placing keyboard-interactive ads during agent execution.
- **2026-09** — In a September 11 interview, described AI as a consideration channel and identified supply-side growth as a current priority.
- **2026-02** — On February 24, announced Koah’s $20.5 million Series A, led by Theory Ventures with Forerunner and South Park Commons participating.

## Links

- Website: https://www.koahlabs.com/
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nicbaird
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/bairdone

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/nic-baird
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-26