Guru Hariharan is the Founder and CEO of CommerceIQ, a unicorn-valued AI platform that helps 2,200+ consumer brands - from Nestle to Kellogg's - automate and optimize their retail ecommerce operations across Amazon, Walmart, and other major retailers. A veteran of Amazon and eBay, he co-invented the Amazon Selling Coach, sold his first company Boomerang Commerce's analytics unit to Lowe's in 2019, and pivoted to build CommerceIQ into a $136.6M ARR business by 2024. In May 2025, he launched AllyAI, a suite of agentic AI teammates purpose-built for retail - a product he describes as pioneering the next era of algorithmic commerce.
Jonathan Rat is the Co-Founder and CEO of Archy, an AI-powered all-in-one dental practice management platform based in San Jose, California. A French-born software engineer with a master's in computer science, he spent a decade building payments infrastructure at Facebook, SurveyMonkey, and Uber before co-founding Archy in 2021 alongside former Uber colleagues Ben Kolin and Nimish Sheth. His motivation: watching his wife, Dr. Christine Liu, struggle daily with outdated, fragmented dental software. Archy has since raised $47 million in total funding, serves 2.5 million patients across 45 states, and processes over $100 million in annual payments.
Toma builds AI voice agents that answer the phone for U.S. car dealerships, booking service appointments, fielding parts requests, and saving BDC teams hundreds of hours a week. Founded by Monik Pamecha and Anthony Krivonos in early 2024, the company has raised a $17M Series A from Andreessen Horowitz and is approaching eight-figure ARR with more than 100 dealership customers.
Fred Helou is the founder and CEO of Vagaro, a cloud-based business management platform used by over 75,000 beauty, fitness, and wellness businesses across four countries. Born in Beirut in 1969, he escaped the Lebanese Civil War at 18, arrived in the United States penniless after being pickpocketed in France, and worked his way up from a $5-an-hour pickup boy to director of software development before being laid off in the 2008 recession — the catalyst that led him to build what is now a billion-dollar company. Vagaro has processed over $15 billion in payments, booked over 600 million appointments, and achieved unicorn status with a $1 billion valuation following a 2021 reinvestment by FTV Capital.
Steve Reardon is the CEO of Alpine Software Group (ASG), a Walnut Creek, California-based acquirer and operator of vertical SaaS businesses. Born in Durban, South Africa, he is an alumnus of the University of Cape Town and Stanford GSB's MSx Sloan Fellows program. Before leading ASG, Reardon founded multiple businesses including Peldon Technologies, ran South Africa's largest cycling retail chain, then pivoted to software M&A — overseeing 60+ acquisitions across legal tech, marketing tech, and other vertical software niches. Under his leadership, ASG has grown to ~160 employees and ~$25M in annual revenue, with a 65%+ growth rate and notable exits including Innovative Systems sold to GTCR for $400M enterprise value in 2025.
Jeff Richards is a Managing Partner at Notable Capital (formerly GGV Capital), where he has been backing enterprise software, vertical SaaS, SMBTech, and fintech companies since 2008. Before venture, he lived both sides of the founder equation - building QuantumShift (a TPG-backed telecom startup that failed spectacularly) and R4 (a supply chain SaaS acquired by VeriSign). That dual experience of building and failing informs his unusually empathetic, operator-first approach to backing founders. His portfolio includes Coinbase, Handshake, Brightwheel, Homebase, BigCommerce, and Tile, with investments ranging from seed to Series B+.
Nina Achadjian is a Partner at Index Ventures, one of the world's leading VC firms, where she invests at seed, venture, and growth stages with a focus on AI, robotics, software for hardware, and vertical SaaS. A Harvard-educated former bond trader and Google AdSense leader, she founded HIVE Ventures — the first seed fund for Armenian entrepreneurs — before joining Index. Her portfolio includes Anthropic, ServiceTitan (IPO 2024), Gong, Physical Intelligence, and 20+ other companies. Known for backing category-defining vertical software companies years before they become mainstream, she sits on 24+ company boards.
Unit is an embedded finance platform that lets software companies add bank accounts, cards, payments, and capital to their products via API — without becoming a bank. Founded in 2019 by Israeli entrepreneurs Itai Damti and Doron Somech, Unit reached unicorn status in 2022 at a $1.2B valuation, becoming the first BaaS provider to hit that milestone. The company processes $80B+ in annual transactions and serves 2M+ end-customers across 140+ software platforms, from workforce management apps to real estate marketplaces.