# Steven Fitzsimmons

> Steven Fitzsimmons is a San Francisco-based co-founder and former CEO of Freshpaint. His background includes product marketing at Heap and Quantcast, and his public writing examines early startup operations, fundraising, analytics and the practical work of bringing data products to market.

- **Role:** Co-founder at Freshpaint
- **Organizations:** Freshpaint, Heap, Quantcast, ChoiceStream, Raizlabs, EMD Millipore, Y Combinator
- **Education:** Bachelor of Science, Biotechnology, University of Massachusetts Lowell, Master of Science, Chemical Engineering, University of Massachusetts Lowell
- **Known for:** Co-founded Freshpaint, a Y Combinator Summer 2019 company., Helped build Freshpaint from its early pivot through its 2024 Series B., Published practical accounts of startup operations and seed fundraising.

## Career timeline

- **2011–2013** — Product management and marketing at EMD Millipore.
- **2014–2015** — Digital and mobile product marketing at Raizlabs.
- **2016** — Product marketing at ChoiceStream.
- **2016–2017** — Product marketing and growth at Quantcast.
- **2017–2019** — Product marketing at Heap.
- **2019** — Joined Michael Malis full time as co-founder as Perfalytics pivoted to Freshpaint near the end of YC Summer 2019.
- **2020** — Published a detailed account of Freshpaint’s $1.65 million seed fundraising process.
- **2022** — Freshpaint announced $14.5 million in financing and a free tier.
- **2024** — Freshpaint announced a $30.7 million Series B led by Threshold.
- **2026** — Freshpaint announced Ray Mina as CEO on March 3; Fitzsimmons is described here as co-founder and former CEO.

## Achievements

- Co-founded Freshpaint, a Y Combinator Summer 2019 company.
- Helped build Freshpaint from its early pivot through its 2024 Series B.
- Published practical accounts of startup operations and seed fundraising.

## Latest updates

- **2026-03** — Freshpaint named Ray Mina CEO; its current author profile continues to label Fitzsimmons co-founder.
- **2024-07** — Freshpaint announced a $30.7 million Series B; Fitzsimmons published an accompanying CEO message.

## Links

- Website: https://www.freshpaint.io/team-members/steven-fitzsimmons
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sjfitzsimmons
- Twitter/X: https://x.com/fitzrocks

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/steven-fitzsimmons
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-10-25