Bijan Sabet is a first-generation American venture capitalist, co-founder of Spark Capital, and former U.S. Ambassador to the Czech Republic. The son of Iranian and Korean immigrants who met in a New York medical school, he drove from Boston to Silicon Valley after a 1991 Macworld, built foundational consumer internet companies, then returned east to co-found Spark Capital in 2005 - backing Twitter when it had 11 employees, Tumblr before it sold to Yahoo for $1.1 billion, and Discord before it became the home for every online community. After stepping back from Spark in 2021, President Biden appointed him Ambassador to Prague, where he served until January 2025. He is also a film photographer, board member of Human Rights Watch, and trustee at Boston College.
Niraj Shah is the CEO, Co-Founder, and Co-Chairman of Wayfair, Inc. (NYSE: W), the largest online home furnishings retailer in the United States. Starting from a spare bedroom with a TV-stand website in 2002, he and co-founder Steve Conine built a portfolio of 200+ niche e-commerce sites before consolidating into the Wayfair brand in 2011 and taking the company public in 2014. Known for his data-driven management style, demanding work ethic, and long-term vision, Shah has grown Wayfair to $12.5 billion in annual revenue and returned it to operating profitability in 2025.